AVEDA Volunteer Event

Aveda is known for being a industry leader in its environmental practices. We just finished celebrating Earth Month and raised over $3 million for clean water. Aveda encourages all of its employees to give back to the community and Earth. 

For the past few months, my coworker Jodi and I had been planning a volunteer event for the Creative Department at Aveda. We chose to help the National Park Service with their Mississippi River Restoration Fund. We picked Garlic Mustard (an invasive plant), planted trees and flowers. At the same time, we also learned about the Mississippi River and the Coon Rapids Dam. 

The garlic mustard actually smelled like garlic. Apparently it can be used for cooking, however, it has taken over the park. Everywhere we looked there was garlic mustard. You would clean up a patch and look up and see a whole field. It was overwhelming. Hopefully we made a somewhat of a difference. This was just one of many piles that we created.

My director Jason and I worked well as a team planting trees. He dug the hold and I put the tree seedling in. If I am correct, altogether we planted 500+ tree seedlings. I hope we did some good with that too. After we planted the trees we tried to avoid stepping on them on our way out of the woods.

  

As I said above, we were by the Coon Rapids Dam on the Mississippi River. I can officially say that I have walked across the river via the Dam. It was pretty cool to see. I am always amazed that I live by the Mississippi River after reading about it in school.

The day seemed to be a success. We all had a great time and the Park Service was great. Somehow I got nominated as the social director for future events. So I guess that means everyone had a great time. I was happy to get everyone out of the office to enjoy the weather and not think about work. 

I am really enjoying my job at Aveda despite the many environmental challenges we face in developing packaging. The best part is that I am starting to feel comfortable with coworkers and have begun to develop some great friendships. 

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

A couple of weekends ago my parents came into town for a quick visit. They drove 12 hours in ONE day. I warned them and suggested they stay over night somewhere in the middle, but they insisted they wanted to do it all in one day. I think after the drive, they have decided to take my advice next time.

They arrived late Friday night and left early Monday morning. They drove back to Chicago for a few days to celebrate their 35th Wedding Anniversary. 

We had beautiful weather although Saturday was on the chilly side. Mom and I went to my neighbors Pampered Chef party while Dad and Alex did a few things around the house that we weren't sure how to do . . . getting our wireless internet to work and setting up our water softener. Later that day we all went to the Mall of America for a few hours. Afterwards, we went to Oceannaire for dinner and celebrated their anniversary together.

On Sunday we went to Stillwater to take a boat brunch cruise. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. A perfect day for a boat ride on the St. Croix river. The last time I was in Stillwater was when we got engaged.

 

The only good thing about the boat was being outside and the company. The brunch was absolutely horrible. You could have bounced the eggs off of the floor. 

 

We picked up the boat by the famous lift bridge that Alex had to see and then got down on one knee and proposed. The bridge actually lifted for our boat to go underneath. I have never seen a bridge "lift" and was surprised how fast it went up and down.

The day was so relaxing and peaceful. It was a great way to enjoy the day with my parents.

 

 

This is one of my very favorite pictures of my parents. I can only hope Alex and I are like this after 35 years.

I was happy to have my parents in town to visit even if it was for a short time. Alex and I will be home over the 4th of July weekend so we'll visit soon enough again. Currently, I am busy trying to plan out Joe's visit. He is coming to visit in little over a week.

SPRING is here . . .

After a long and cold winter, spring has finally arrived. Alex and I have been trying to take advantage of the beautiful weather as much as we can. One of the first nice weekends we packed a picnic lunch and headed down to Lake Calhoun. One of the things I have noticed is that it is a bit on the windy side here in Minneapolis. I usually am still cold and need a jacket.

We headed over to the Sculpture Garden and Alex took pictures of all of the flowers blooming . . . which could possibly be the best thing ever after seeing white for 5 months.

 

You can't go to the Sculpture Garden without seeing the iconic Cherry in Spoon sculpture. 

I am looking forward to the many more beautiful weekends. I have a feeling we aren't going to get much done in the house this summer, which is fine by me. 

"No Taxation without Representation!"

Alex and I headed over to St. Paul on April 15th to take part in the local Tea Party. I was excited to take part in this grassroots movement. I am mad at myself for letting the protesters at the Republican National Convention keep me away, so I was determined to go. Alex had never been to any sort of political rally, so he did not know what to expect. I think he thought there would be protestors, but I had to explain that we were the protestors. 

It was the first time I visited the State Capitol. I was blown away by the amount of people that showed up. There were reports of 7,500+. There were a lot of great signs and several people even dressed up in period clothing.

Of course, I contributed with my own sign. 

It is not a tea party without tea . . .

From my observation, despite all the media reports, there was a mix of people rich/poor, black/white, Republican/Democrat . . . and a lesson learned to not judge a book by its cover. I would have guessed this guy would be someone that would protest the protest but I was wrong.

The whole experience was pretty neat. At the end of the day, despite what you believe, America is a great country and we are all lucky to live here.

USA! USA! USA!

Unfaithful Blogger

If anyone is even reading this I apologize for my lack of blogging. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I a) got a new camera and am still trying to adjust and just have not been as diligent about taking pictures b) have been busy at work and home and c) haven't had that much exciting stuff to post. 

However, I hope in the next week to be able to share BEFORE & AFTER of our basement "renovation" and my attempt at growing a green thumb, my parents recent visit, my new bike and any other random photos from Alex.

This Spring/Summer should be filled with lots of new adventures . . . Festivals, State Fair, Boating (hopefully) . . . Stay tuned . . . 

Cheap White Wine

A few weeks ago I found the recipe for my favorite dinner from McCormick & Schmicks online – stuffed Atlantic Salmon. I was determined to recreate the meal for us. After researching ingredients and locating them in the grocery store I was off to the liquor store to get white wine, another ingredient. (In order to get alcohol, you need to go to the local liquor store. It is not sold in the average grocery store or Target. You also cannot purchase alcohol on Sundays in Minnesota.)

I absolutely know nothing about wine. Imagine me walking up and down the aisles looking for "cheap white wine." The store clerk must have noticed my look of confusion and asked if he could help. I replied with "I have a very stupid question. I know nothing about wine, but I am looking for a cheap white wine." The clerk told me no problem, they sell Cheap White Wine. He took me over to the rack and this is what he showed me . . .

CHEAP WHITE WINE!

I went ahead and bought it. How could I not? With my Cheap White Wine, I was off to my make my favorite meal. The meal turned out fine but I think it tastes much better at the restaurant when someone else is making it for me. 

Out of Order

For some reason, the next series of posts from our long weekend in Grand Marais are out of order. Sorry!