cars, cupcakes and crayons

hello 4 people who read this blog! it says i have 5 followers but my little sis anna is on there twice ;) so this has been a crazy week! last weekend i got back into horse back riding going on a horse-trail-riding-camping trip with nellie and my dad. i got to ride daisy duke my dad's new horse he got for my step mom billie. i was a little apprehensive at first since i haven't been riding in like 5 years but daisy duke was great and turned out to be our best trail riding horse we brought with.
on saturday we got up early and left in search of some easy/medium trails - we ended up on the triple black diamond hardest trail ever! we were basically scaling a rock and dirt mountain with horses. apparently the couple who owns the trails, the husband has recently been getting really sick and hasn't been able to groom the trails like usual. well since they didn't warn us of this we got really lost and stuck a couple times but after 3 hours in the wilderness we made it back to camp in one piece! it was so bad that we had to get off our horses and walk them up the cliffs at some spots.
anyway we had fun riding, eating junk food, watching friends on nellie's little dvd player and just relaxing. sorry but i don't have any pics yet of this trip but when i get them i will put them up! nellie has to make me copies.
anyway monday after that weekend was not a good day for me. i was SUPER sore. everywhere.
tuesday i got to work at 6:30am and at about 7am started to have chest pains. wasn't sure if it was cause i did something over the weekend but it freaked me out a bit when it didn't go away after a half hour. i have a blood clotting disorder so that kinda made me worried too. so i asked the nurse what she thought i should do. she went and asked one of our surgery center nurses who came back to me and said she was going to have to call 911 for me! i was like wait can't i just walk two feet over to st. joe's hospital right across the street? she said no i couldn't walk someone would have to wheel me over. i was like oh alright - not believing that it was entirely necessary. so i got to st. joe's and had an iv started, which really hurt cause she had to stick me like 5 times! i was thinking i can do a better job than you lady! oh well. then i had a ct scan and they said that everything looked fine and that i was probably just having chest wall pain and that it can be from stress. eric got a ride to the hospital from josh cause i had our only car downtown with me. he thought it was an elaborate way for me to get outta work that day. yeah elaborate and fricken expensive. i went home and rested up for the rest of the week.
thursday eric and i got into a fight about getting another car, his fall class schedule, his not working a ton right now and basically we were both just stressing out a ton. money sucks. i hate money. all i need is $50,000 and everything would be perfect... okay maybe not perfect but i think that i would be a lot more relaxed!
so i went and indulged myself in one of my favorite comfort food restaurants - panera bread. most amazing chocolate chip cookies i have ever had in my life. better than homemade. trust me they are gold when i am stressed out. they don't solve any of my arguments with eric or pay any of our bills but they are the best.
i'm listening to lily allen right now. my australian family introduced me to her and i love her.
anyways... lots of stuff to do this weekend. grad party, father's day, hang outs with friends that are long overdue. nothing tonight though.
well i guess thats all for now peeps.
xoxo
p.s. its titled cars, cupcakes and crayons cause those are things i wish i had at this moment :)

wishin for a happy snap

i wish i had a little pocket camera; a happy snap as dannii would say. we only have eric's huge camera that he always brings places but then never uses cause its such a big thing to lug around.
if i had a little camera i would have taken photos of the horse auction that i went to on saturday morning where my dad brought home two new horses. i would have taken a picture of hunter's face when the auctioneer started off with the first horse of the day. they must go through some serious training to learn to talk that fast. it was a gloomy, rainy saturday but we made the most of it. later on eric and i went to the j kids where we ate chicken and watched 40 year old virgin and the hangover.
sunday i went with my mom, my cousin amanda and my auntie lisa down to grand ave for grand ol days. we met up with my auntie debbie who was working for salut at grand ol days and when she was finished we took her out for her birthday.
we parked and made our way down 5 blocks of crowded, dirty street to where debbie was working. there is some great people watching to be done at grand ol days. debbie wasn't quite finished yet so we wandered a couple more blocks until we made it to the bonfire restaurant. it was so packed in there we couldn't even make it up to the bar to order a drink. it was just like a mosh pit except everyone else had been there for a long time and was sweaty and drunk and we, having just arrived, were still smelling pretty and sober. debbie met us there and we decided to go somewhere else so we walked back to our car and drove over to the muddy pig. we stood around for a bit waiting for a table to open up while a plump server pushed her way past us quite rudely a dozen times or so until we could finally find a seat. we ordered washington apples for everyone which was fun and then had some brushetta and chicken wings and talked and sat for awhile. later on i had eric come pick me up because the blaring music was starting to give me a migraine. i really can be a grandma sometimes :)
i went home and curled up in bed watching BBC's life while eric rode his bike over to old chicago to meet up with some friends for a $2 burger and beer.
all in all it was a pretty good weekend... just wish i had a camera so i could show you. xoxo

memorial day

memorial day weekend. i was ready for the long weekend what with the hard week of work behind me. i don't think i even did anything friday night, i was so tired. i needed one night of nothing just to recharge.
saturday eric and i ran errands to aldi (our new favorite super cheap grocery store) cub (cause you can't get everything at aldi - i.e. produce), target, the usual. we spent our little bit of money and that was all we had until our next paychecks. i hate living paycheck to paycheck. and we've been living like this since we left for australia in december. it is a constant stress. always in the back of my mind. how are we gonna pay bills? i hate that feeling, that little voice that says you're broke! you're broke! six months of that can make a good girl go crazy! i am thinking of giving plasma twice a week. eric used to do it when he was at bethel for extra cash. sounds easy enough - too bad its not worth more than $20. i have been bugging eric to post an ad on craigslist for his senior picture photography. a ton of high school seniors get their pics done the summer before they graduate while the weather is nice. he took my sister BJ's pictures and my cousin maggie's pictures. BJ is the super blond and maggie is one on the train tracks. recommend him to everyone you know!
saturday after we were done being sad that we have no money i went to my sister nellie's. she got an above ground pool and it was hot out that day! of course the water was ice cold cause it was coming straight from the hose! it felt refreshing though. then nellie, my nephew hunter and i drove to somerset wisconsin to babysit my cousins (would my cousin's kids be my cousins?) cole age 7, jack age 4 and vada and cash 2 month old twins. and we also had hunter age 5. i'm so glad i had nellie with me! i was almost going to be all alone - waaaayy too many kids for one person! the twins are adorable! we had fun - didn't get home til 1:30am but it was fun.
sunday we went to mom's for a bbq and it rained but the food was good. craig made his famous ABT's which are a jalapeno with a little smokie and cream cheese inside wrapped in bacon and grilled!! super good! i made a practice corn salad that i was also gonna make for BJ's graduation party but it didn't turn out the best so i think i will have to go back to the drawing board and try something else... good thing it was a practice!
monday we went up to chisago to the j kids cabin. then eric had to work so he dropped me off at my aunties house where she was having a small picnic. i got to play with another baby - a different cousin's baby - 9 month old ethan and he is cute! all in all it was a good memorial day weekend. lots of good food, good rest, good company.
p.s. just a few samples of eric's photography for you to enjoy!