Feeling Strangely Fine

I won't lie - I stole the title of this post from an album from the group Semisonic that was popular back in the mid-90's - but it describes me at the moment.

I have had many different reactions to the concept of me having Lasik. A large number of those have been "Wow, I could never do that, I can't believe you're doing that, you're so brave." I don't know, maybe there is something wrong with me that I'm not terribly freaked out about this yet. I have a few days left, I suppose it could happen, but I feel ok right now.

Even last night at dinner my own husband is like "so how are you feeling about your surgery, are you nervous yet?" And I'm like, no not really. Should I be? Ha ha.

I guess when I let myself truly think about the actual things that will be going on - sure it gets the heart going a little bit, but for the most part, I'm just not that worried about it. I will be getting a sedative if I want it that day. They are going to be using quadruple strength numbing drops. The most I've been told I'll feel is a little pressure, as if if someone is pushing on my eye with their thumb. And even that only last about 10 seconds.

My mom asked today what would happen if something goes wrong - but I'm kind of like, ok sure, there is always a risk, but I'm not thinking in terms of something going wrong. And my doctor is one of the best at Lasik - he'll stop if there's a danger and he'll fix it if something gets messed up. I have a lot of faith in the doctor and I don't anticipate issues.

I'm just calm about the whole thing. Zen even. And again, we're still a couple of days away, there is always that chance I'll get panicked before then. But I don't know. With other major things like when I had my wisdom teeth out, or got my braces or even when I know I'm facing a blood draw, I could be angst about it for days. Not so far with this. Eyes just don't freak me out. And I'm so excited about the end results that I guess that is what I'm mostly focused on.

Ok, wait, I got it, there is something scary about this - I won't be able to wear eye makeup for a couple of weeks afterward. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I wrote last year that we don't necessarily make a huge deal out of Valentine's Day because we don't feel we need a specific day to tell each other that we love each other - I love my husband every day, not just on Valentine's Day.

But we do still try to do a little something to make the day special - and we're going to do this year what we did last year. No gifts, just a nice dinner out for the two of us. And this year, we're trying someplace we have never been before - Erte in Northeast Minneapolis. I am excited about that. The downside, the only reservation I could get was for 5:30 - so we're actually going to meet there.

I joked, we could pretend we're meeting on a blind date - I could wear a red ribbon in my hair and Nate could bring a red rose. Ha ha. But despite arriving separately, I think we'll have a nice dinner. My parents just ate there a couple of days ago and have just been raving about it.

I'll be sure to report back and let everyone know what we thought of the restaurant. I'm guessing that after dinner we'll bring home dessert and crash on the couch with some of the TV shows we've been watching. Super exciting? Nope, but I wouldn't trade it for the world, it's my favorite thing to do with my favorite person in the world.

To all my readers, whether you're into the holiday or not - Happy Valentine's Day!

Not much to share at the moment

Man I just feel like I've been slacking on the blogging lately. It is certainly not due to lack of things going on, we are as busy as ever, but at the same time life has slowed a bit, at least allowing us quite a few evenings that we've been able to just chill in front of the ole TV with our favorite shows.

I'm still coming up dry. I don't have my Lasik proceedure for another week, so I really have nothing fun to report there quite yet. We have some things going on with Praise Project, but that's kind of the norm. We've gotten to do a couple of things on the "Winter Bucket List" I posted a couple of weeks ago. I'm not stressing over that list though - if we get to do some of it great, if not, no big deal.

We've been trying to save our money as I've mentioned a bit too, so we haven't really been out to eat much or trying any fun new restaurants. We are going somewhere on Valentine's Day, which usually I kind of rebel against, but this year I felt like we should do something special, so we are. Kind of a reward for our good behavior or something!

So, I have just had a lack of interesting words to share at the moment. I'm sure that will change eventually. I'm glad it's not November when I try to post every day for NaBloPoMo! Then I'd be in trouble!

I'll be back next week hopefully with more fascinating things to talk about! Until then, happy weekend one and all!

Wordless Wednesday

These guys help me chase the winter blues away. Love my kitties.

The Super Bowl of Beers

So yesterday may have been the actual Super Bowl, but on Friday night, Nate and I attended what I can only describe as the Super Bowl of MN Beers!

Yes, it was finally the big night of Winterfest and Nate finally getting to enjoy his Christmas present just over a month after the holiday. It was well worth the wait and the money invested, I have to say that much.

We headed over to the MN History Center which may sound like a strange venue for this kind of event, but it was perfect. The doors were scheduled to open at 7:00 and we made it in by 6:45. Parking was free - total plus and the line wasn't so bad that we were still able to wait inside in the lobby.

We were given a stamp on our hand and a booklet listing what breweries were in attendance and what they were offering, plus a map showing where they were and where the food was on each of the three floors. Omar, the founder of Surly Brewing, gave a very short welcome and then opened the doors, we were led inside by bagpipers. We then stopped to grab our commemorative tasting glass (about 2 oz in size) and to drop off our coats. We then beelined for our favorite brewpub in attendance, Barley Johns, because they listed a beer we had never tried before and we wanted to grab it before it was gone.

After that I let Nate lead the way as this was his evening. We went to Surly next and a couple of smaller breweries before decided we needed to get some food in our stomachs. We made our way through the food line and chowed down on white chicken chili, cornbread, cheese and veggies. Very nice spread of food.

We stopped at several other breweries tables, including a couple of new breweries. I paced myself since I agreed to drive us home. I wanted Nate to experience as much as possible. We hit the food line again and then sampled a few more brews and then were ready to head home as it was a quarter to ten and the event was only lasting another 15 minutes.

It was quite loud - as people drank the noise only grew - but it was fun to be amidst other beer lovers. My favorite brews of the evening were a Blackberry porter from Brau Brothers, something called the Pink Eye from the Town Hall Brewery and Surly's Moe's Bender, kind of a coffee/vanilla tasting beer, not surprising since I love vanilla lattes. The other two were more fruity in nature, something else I'm finding I like in beer.

Below are a couple of pictures from the event. I hope we have an opportunity to go again sometime, it was a lot of fun and probably the highlight of our winter so far!

Nate and I - self portrait

I think I have MooJoo's Oatmeal Stout by Brau Brothers here

Nate enjoying some type of IPA I believe

New sight

Spectacles. I have had a few different ones over the years:

Age 15

Age 26



Age 28

I have needed corrective lenses of some form for about twenty years or so now. Maybe even longer than that, but it was the summer between my 5th and 6th grade years that my parents finally realized (and I admitted too) that I should probably see an eye doctor when I had to sit right up by the TV in order to play my Nintendo games. And sure enough, we found out that yes, I definitely needed glasses.

It didn't bother me, in fact, growing up I used to think it was cool when my friends ended up getting glasses and actually used to secretly hope I might need them too. Yeah, strange kid right? Not worried about being teased or anything.

Of course, a few short years later when boys and makeup entered my world I got a little more vein and decided to go for contact lenses. I stuck with them a pretty long time too, giving it up after moving on campus my junior year of college due to pretty much just being tired of dealing with them and having to lug stuff back and forth from my parents house to campus.

And then I went back to them once again after I had my first real job, because I did enjoy not having to deal with glasses, especially in working with kids. I had them through my wedding and even into the first couple of years we were married and then gave up on them once again when Nate was out of work and I couldn't justify the expense of them any longer. So it's been back to glasses ever since mid 2008.

So now you're probably wondering, where am I going with this? Well I had to build suspense see, because I am excited to announce that I have made the major decision to have Lasik Eye Surgery. No joke.

I have thought about it often in the past but kind of cast it off because I figured, it's pretty spendy, I don't need to spend that kind of money. Nate actually thought about it more seriously than I did at one point and even had a consultation about eight years ago. At that time, he was definitely not a candidate though, so neither of us gave much thought to it again.

Flash forward to the last few months and it turns out, Nate's IT firm provides support for a brand new eye clinic that specializes in Lasik. And it also turns out they are offering a discount to the employees of Nate's work and their spouses. So he and I talked a bit about it and decided, couldn't hurt for me to get the consultation done and just see what we could find out.

Turns out I'm a perfect candidate. After walking through all the specifics with the awesome staff at the clinic I decided that yes, I want to do this. So, in a couple of weeks I'll go in for a relatively short procedure, and will be able to see that very same day. Without glasses. Or lenses. Just out of the eyes I was born with for the first time in over twenty years. I am so excited. More to come after the surgery so stay tuned!

Generosity

I used to be a pretty big fan of the show "ER" when it was on television. And one of the most memorable moments for me was the episode in which the character of Dr. Mark Greene dies from a brain tumor - he has a very touching conversation with his pre-teen daughter in his final moments, saying he wanted to impart some sort of wisdom on her and couldn't figure out the perfect thing and then realized what it was. He says "Generosity. Be generous. Generous with your time. Generous with your love. Generous with the life you have."

Generosity. Seems simple doesn't it? Yet, how many of us can say we are generous with our time, love and life? I know it's something I could work harder on.

Right before Christmas I was witness to something extremely generous - I wanted to get Nate tickets to an event called Winterfest - it's put on by the MN Craft Brewers association and it's a pretty big deal, all sorts of local craft breweries will be there, you get a meal and a chance to sample their best brews. So, I decided this would be a fantastic Christmas present for my homebrewing husband. One problem. Tickets to this event sell out fast because they only sell about 700. And even though I was on the website right when they went on sale, somehow, I could not get through.

I found out that the tickets sold out in five minutes. Maybe even less. They started showing up on Craigslist right away for double their value, even triple in some cases. I love Nate very much, but I didn't want to spend THAT much more on his Christmas present. I had resigned myself to come up with something else. And then something happened.

I had friends who did manage to get tickets. And when they heard I did not they said "You know what? We'll sell you our tickets at face value. None of our friends were able to get tickets so it would just be the two of us and we figured, Nate would appreciate this more because he brews beer and will get a lot of value out of going and trying out the different beers." I asked them more than once if they were sure and they said yes and that if I didn't want them they'd probably just put them up on Craigslist anyway. So, I thought about it and took them up on their very generous offer. And Nate's reaction on Christmas morning was priceless. I can't thank them enough for being so kind.

In another instance, I recently had a Partylite party through a good friend and was recounting to her about the first time I had a Partylite party with a different consultant, I ended up in "candle hell" because the orders were all goofed up from the warehouse and I had spent a great deal of time on the phone with my consultant straightening them all out (and the consultant did help a good deal on that - this is not dissing her). Anyway, we laughed a bit about that and then my friend said "well tell you what, when your orders show up this time, I'll come over and help you sort them. And I'll even help you deliver some of the orders if you'd like." Now of course, this is a dear friend and I know if I had just asked, she'd have done that anyway - but the fact that she offered I think is a very generous thing. It's not anything I expected and I appreciate it so much.

I could count many other things I am witness to that are gifts of generosity - both sets of our parents treating us to dinners out, coffee on Saturdays, my sister-in-law making me a scarf, all the things my dad does helping us with the house, my big "brother" treating me to a manicure in honor of no longer picking my fingers. The list actually could go on for awhile the more I really think about it.

Sometimes it is hard to see the good in humanity. But looking back over some of these things - sure some are simple - but just fact that I can find many examples of times people have been generous to me, shows that indeed, there is good in the world. I am amazingly blessed by all of these wonderful people and the generous things they do/have done for me. I am inspired by them.

Have you been witness to generosity in your world?

Be generous. I can dig it.