Week Nine(ish)

Week Eight

Week Seven

Freezing fog + a tree in my backyard

Week six

Another dried up branch and sky picture

Week Five

Back outside again for week five

Week Four

Continuing with the indoor photography - here's one of Mom's houseplants

Week Three

Cute window display at Pinch and Pour in downtown Fargo

Week Two

And so it begins

One down, 51 to go

:)

Welcome 2016!!

My resolutions
Do a #Photo52 project (take and post one photo a week)
Keep reading (at least 20 books)
More walks for Callie

What I'm looking forward to
Drawing every day in January
More getting my photography out there
Making a triangle cowl

What I'd like to try in 2016
Cross country skiing
Snowshoeing at Newton Hills State Park
Taking pictures with my Brownie camera
Block printing (curtains for dining room?)
Sashiko embroidery

2015 Resolution Success
Read more books (at least 12) 23 books!! (partly thanks to the Kindle I got for my birthday)
Do a 5K  Did two :) 
Get my photography out there - had photos in two juried shows (Northern Area Arts Council - Red Show, Frederick Arts Center Resident Artist Gallery - Lush Vibes show)

Favorites from 2015
I'll Have What Phil's Having
The Great British Baking Show
African Peanut Stew
Skillet meatballs and marinara
Hamilton
Lawrence trip with Christina and Heather

Firsts from 2015
Ran a 5k! (and then ran another one)
Camped at Palisades State Park
Roasted a chicken (for Mother's Day, with help)
Went to yoga class in an actual yoga studio (Sunflower Yoga, Hutchinson, KS)
Got a smartphone
Made maki rolls
Made naan
Stayed at an Air BnB
Picked out and painted trim for my kitchen
Got a fence for my backyard

And another one...

I did my second 5K this morning - the Tour the City 5K Race in Madison. I finished in 27:52:50 (less than 9 mins a mile) and was 17th out of 42 participants.

I didn't have anyone to take my picture - but here's an excellent car selfie from after I finished

I did it!

After putting it in my new year's resolutions for years, I finally did it - ran my first 5k!

At the finish!

I did it in 28:52 (timing with my watch) including two inflatable obstacles (with things I had to climb over, scrambling kids, and slides) and that comes out to 9:17 per mile.

I was really excited to finish at that pace. I started with a walk-jog program, and I've been running based on time only (running 30-32 mins). I had NO idea how far I was going (no smart phone, not running on a track, etc.) so I wasn't sure whether 32 mins would get me to 5k or not (I was thinking/hoping I ran between 10-11 minute miles). I also resisted the urge to look at my watch (so discouraging when you realize you've only been running for 3 minutes) so it wasn't until after I finished that I saw I'd made it in less than 29 minutes. So, while I'll remember this as my first 5k, it seems likely that I've been running 5k+ for a while :D

Mom and me after the run

My parents and Kailee came to support me during the run (and saved a table in the Pub House).

2015! 2015! 2015!

My resolutions:
Read more books (at least 12)
Do a 5K
Have friends over to my house more often

What I'm looking forward to:
Finishing painting my kitchen cabinets Done!
More photography (and more getting my photography out there)
More camping

What I'd like to try in 2015:
Block printing fabric
Cross country skiing
Taking pictures with my Brownie camera

Firsts from 2014:
Hiked Harney Peak
Online dating
Hit a raccoon with my car :(
Did the Tour Sioux Falls bike ride
Went stand up paddle boarding
Went climbing at the Palisades
Saw the Avett Brothers in concert
Saw Jason Isbell in concert
Tried Ethiopian food

Favorite things in 2014:
Planet Money podcast
Haley Bonar
Sylvan Esso
Baked oatmeal from Budget Bytes (like this one)

Catching up - Italy trip

Catching up on my Italy trip from last June

Day 4:
On the fourth day, we took a train to Naples and a bus from Naples to Positano. The drive was so beautiful it made be sick (or that was the switchbacks and my tendency toward carsickness...luckily no longer being on the bus = no longer having a stomachache).

We ditched our stuff at the Hostel Brikette and grabbed lunch at the pizza place across the street (margherita pizza, caprese salad, and white wine). Then we walked down ALL the stairs to the beach and back.

Our feet in the sea

After we walked back up ALL the steps (daunting!), we grabbed dinner at a grocery near the hostel (cheese, bread, salami, salad, and olives). We ate on the hostel's patio and sat there while the sun set. We also made plans for the next day (Sentiero Degli Dei!).

Catching up - Italy trip

I'm continuing to catch up my blog by writing about my trip to Italy from last June.

Day three:

We started the day at a round, originally Pagan, church named San Sebastiano.


This is a model (of something), and there are chairs in case you'd like to sit by it.

If you look closely, you can see that the painting includes a handy key - they've labeled all of the different gruesome deaths with letters that correspond to the descriptions below.

Flowers outside San Sebastiano

Then we went to the Villa Celimontana. I loved the orange trees and the water fountains that looked like wolf heads (which I drank from but didn't get a picture of).

After that, we went to the "church with the layers" (aka Basilica San Clemente) which, to steal some info from a Fodor's Travel review, is a "12th-century church [that] was built on top of a 4th-century church, which in turn was built over a 2nd-century pagan temple to the god Mithras and 1st-century Roman apartments" (Fodor's Travel).

It was so amazing to go from one church down into another and down into another - and to think that rather than eroding with time (which is what I generally think time does), Rome just keeps getting more and more built up.

If I was picking, I'd say this is THE church to go to. It combines the regular church-y stuff (frescoes, religious art, beautiful tiled floors) with underground exploration and getting to feel (a little bit) like Indiana Jones. Seriously, it can't be beat.

My photographs don't do it justice - it's very, very cool.

Then, we spent some more time underground. 

For lunch, we had a prix fixe meal at L'Asino d'Oro, which serves Umbrian food - so delicious. We also stopped in a few shops in the neighborhood.

Next, we took a train to Ostia Antica. If you'd like to be surrounded by ruins (rather than people - especially people trying to sell you stuff), and if you'd like to feel (somewhat) like Indiana Jones (again), Ostia Antica is IT. We were there for hours, saw a handful of other people, and barely got halfway through the place.

Brenna and I also spent a bit of time pretending to be "bogus tour guides" and making up stories about the various buildings, statues, and mosaics.  I'm wishing I could remember the stories (I can't), but I have a feeling that dragons were involved.

They were *serious* about their tiled floors. 

 So many ruins, so few people

More crazy blue sky

This was as far as we got. Ostia Antica is HUGE!

We headed back to Rome and had pizza at Li Rioni for dinner.

Catching up - Italy Trip

Day two:
We went to St. Peter's Square and Basilica.

Inside, we saw the Pietà, and I failed Brenna's quiz about whether anything seems odd about it (answer: Mary is weirdly big compared to Jesus). We looked at the markers on the floor showing all the not-as-big cathedrals, we talked about Renaissance rivalries, and I rubbed St. Peter's toe to guarantee that I would come back to Rome.

Size does matter?

The doors were pretty. 

After getting sandwiches for lunch and walking over the Angel bridge (which was also pretty, but I'd had it up to HERE with people trying to sell stuff - no splat animals or mini-Popemobiles for me thanks)), we caught a bus to Trastavere - a beautiful medieval neighborhood and home of my first Spritz. 

The outside of the Santa Maria in Trastavere is decorated with chunks of old tombs. This little bird was my favorite.

More pictures from walking around Trastavere

Next, we went to the Colosseum. I couldn't get over how blue the sky was.

Next, we went to MACRO, a gallery located in a former meat packing plant (you can see the hooks and cables along the ceiling). The show in their main building (below) was Soft Work by Sterling Ruby.

The main reason we went to MACRO was to see the Big Bambú by Doug and Mike Starn. Brenna had written about visiting (and climbing around on it) on her blog, and it was definitely on my TO DO list. Unfortunately, they weren't allowing people to climb on it because it was too windy.

As we left MACRO and walked out onto the sidewalk, there was a musician practicing trumpet in the building next door and the sun was starting to set - one of those perfect moments. 

There was even more prettiness as we walked to dinner

We had delicious, delicious trapizzini at 00100. I had a chicken one - so good that I wished I'd had the stomach/appetite/fortitude to eat more than one. I did manage to save some room for more gelato from Fatamorgana in Monti - orange/chocolate and pistachio this time.

We walked by the Colosseum again, and I spent most of my time there bracing my camera against railings, sign posts, and stone walls, trying to get a steady shot. Success! :)