Sunday, now what?

The last two nights we have slept on the deck in our tent. Not the huge tent but our 10 person tent. It fits on our deck which is great! Even though we have the AC on in the house, it is usually a lot cooler outside at night. Plus, it we do a little glamping too! I slept on my cot and Steve had the whole air mattress to share with Zoey. She loves sleeping out in the tent and there is plenty of room for her to share the air mattress. It was pretty warm last night, so we both had a fan blowing on us all night. We didn't put the top on so looking up at night and seeing some stars is always nice. 

 I was worried it was going to rain on us, but the rain held off till around 8a.m and I had it all packed up and down before the rain came. It did cool off outside but it still feels humid. Its suppose to be another 90 day. We can only hope! 

I woke up super hungry. Probably because I had more liquid calorie then food. We made a quick trip to Thymes for food. 

I tried to eat a healthy breakfast, but Steve made hash-browns and then I made some of those can cinnamon giant rolls with the frosting on top. I had two rolls and then loaded up a bowl of fresh fruit. I'm stuffed! I should have skipped the cinnamon rolls but I went to the store hungry! That's just what happened! 

Not sure what our plans are for today. I am still tired from not sleeping the best outside and being out all day on Saturday. I'd like to bike, but I'm feeling too full right now and tired. It might be a lazy Sunday with just dinner plans. Steve's parents are joining us for dinner on the deck or inside depending on how hot it really is going to be today? 

90*F Day on the St. Croix river

It was just the three of us out at 8am on the St. Croix river. We planned to go early and be off the river by 2pm. It was going to be a crowded Saturday with boats and the temperature was 90*F. Perfect weather to be out on the boat. Our plan was to fish a little, swim and go for a boat ride to Hudson for lunch. We at least did one of those things. Just a boat ride and lunch on the roof top at Mallery's a new place we had not tried. It was pretty good! 

 Roof top view of the river. 

Friday night we went to Hastings, 

It was hot, but we sat outside anyway next to the Mississippi river Friday night. Had a drink, played cribbage, shared some wings then walked down the road to the next restaurant on the river. We shared a chimichanga. Delicious but needed more salsa. 

Saturday night  we headed to St. Paul to check off another brewery on my list. We have only two left in St. Paul to visit. We both liked this one. I think it was Duel Brewery? We liked the beers, I tried one that tasted like a peanut butter cup. 

Then it was off to dinner where we sat outside at Burger Moe's and shared wings and a burger. 

Friday, Friday.. it's Friday!

I'm ready for the weekend. First I have to get through my very busy work day. I plan to start early because it's going to be a Hot Friday and I want to be done working! 

Steve and I started off our morning with a 8 mile bike ride. I wanted to just do a quick loop since I have a busy work day and I need energy to get through work! It was a very humid morning which makes bike riding perfect! 

I was out shopping at TJ Maxx, looking for a glass refill-able hand soap dispenser with soap and found this cute pen jar. I needed another jar to hold my glasses and pens. I had them scattered on the table and was always losing pens. 

I don't have a photo of my new gray shorts, but I'll have to wear them today to get a photo. I was looking for new white shorts but my old ones fit loose and look just fine. They were at Old Navy for $10, half price so I had to get one pair. I don't think I've ever had gray shorts? I'm a white and black with maybe a jean short person. 

I've been eating lots of these peppers every day for lunch. It's getting kind of expensive since one bag which I can eat two is $3.99. That's about $8 for just lunch. Maybe I should go back to sweet potatoes? I took a break after having a not so great potato. I think I'm ready to eat them again. I also had a mostly liquid dinner since we went to happy hour at Union 32 where you pour your own beers. I had two and then had two more with another home made pizza. Far too much and I paid for that last night. 

Not always workout time!

I sometimes put on real clothes, just not the workout kind. I bought this dress two years ago for our trip to Texas. I knew it would be hot, 90's and wanted something cool and light to wear. I don't often wear anything other then yoga pants and a tank top. There are sometimes, I feel like wearing real clothes and a dress! It was a little big on me, but it worked. 

I sat out front for a second, then realized the neighbor's house was creating lots of cement dust from the workers removing the stucco. Probably not good to breathe! 

Even thought I changed out of my workout wear, I still got in a 8 mile bike ride in the afternoon. I didn't have as hard of a time convincing myself to get out and bike. My trick, take a half a caffeine pill to boost my energy. I don't drink anything that contains caffeine, so I cheat and buy pills that I split in half. This way, I'm not getting too much, but the right amount of energy boost. I feel more awake and why not? I think this was what I was lacking in my afternoon blah's. I'll try this for a while and see if it does help. The down side? I didn't sleep well last night. I was up till after 1:30am. tossing and turning. Not sure if it was from the boost of caffeine or ? just couldn't sleep because it was hot. We forgot to turn on the AC until our house was hot. 

Sometimes it takes a hit!

Mental health sometimes takes a hit! I had one of those days. Well, to be truthful I feel like I was struggling last week with motivation and just felt blah! This week I am motivated some what more but still feel like I struggle to keep my head above water. 

I lost a customer due to their family reasons. That always bums me out. Something I can't control but I know that I just need to advertise to replace. This too shall pass with being a little proactive on my part with getting more new customers. It's part of the business, they come and go all the time. Its also hard to hear any constructive criticism. I just am thankful for the reminder that there is always room for improvement. I'm not perfect, but I strive for that in my work. I'm always learning and that's a good thing even if its hard to hear at the moment. I just need to make the corrections and move on and not dwell on any negatives  because I can only move forward and I can not go back. 

Last night, I did not have diet low cal food. I had three drinks (not my best choice) and made home made pizza crust. We have tons of all kinds of cheese in the frig so we needed to use up some. Might as well make pizza's for dinner. I used a tomato pesto for the sauce, some blue cheese, cheese curds, and some other soft cheese with peppers, mushrooms, fresh basil, tomatoes and Italian chicken sausage. It was delicious and I ate the whole 8" pizza. 

I finally forced myself out the door to bike. It was extra windy. I just gave myself an okay to not push my self to hard. Just a nice easy bike ride of 8 miles. I did feel better and I needed it for a mood boost. Exercise really does the trick to make me feel better. 

We got our jetski back from the shop last night. I got the news that it was just the spark plugs (3). They changed them out and now it runs perfect. No need to replace the super charger. It came to $68 dollars and not $700 like we were thinking! It was a nice surprise! Plus, they got it back to us the next day. We weren't sure if it would be done by the 4th and to have it done, working and back so soon was such a nice surprise! Finally, something is going right! I took Zoey with us for a ride. Dogs need to get out too! She needs to travel in the car more often then going to the vet or groomer. She was a little bit crazy in the back seat. We buckle her into the car seat with her dogie attachment. This way we all stay safe. 

Weekend Wrap up a day late

We had another fun weekend in Brainerd. I had the day off Friday so we went up on Thursday night to extend the weekend. 

It was a bit cool in the mornings but ended up being nice weather. We sat out on the pontoon, did a little diving off the new board into the lake. 

Hung around the cabin and enjoyed Gull Lake. 

I went for a run both Friday and Saturday morning. Just 4 miles each day. I forgot my socks so I ended up almost getting blisters on the bottom of my feet. It rubbed a lot but not enough to cut through my skin. 

We got to wake surf. The water and air was about the same temperature. Not super warm. I wasn't able to get up this time! I'm sure it had something to do with a few drinks before. We did get to watch Jon surf. 

Diving board fun. I'm not a flipper or diver, but I did jump off multiple times. 

Our jet ski's battery was dead, so we got a new one. Then the jet ski wouldn't go over 35/40mph so something was wrong. It ended up parked on the shoreline. We now have it in the shop and hopefully will get it back before the 4th of July. 

I made desert for Saturday night. Cinnamon nacho's with cheesecake chunks, caramel and chocolate syrup with whip cream. Delicious it was messy but a hit! 

 We slept out in the camper. So much nicer then our pop up. It had a bathroom! Nice!!! The bed was a lot smaller but it worked fine. 

 A little coffee in the morning by the lake. 

 Super relaxing.

Sleeping in the camper. 

Pizza on Sunday night when we came home. We never got to Zorba's our favorite lake pizza place so we had to go for pizza. 

It's my Friday!

I just need to get through my work day and then I'm off to a mini vacation this weekend. Back to Brainerd. 

It's not going to be the best weather weekend. Only in the low 70's with a 40% chance of rain or thunder storms every day. That's not fun cabin/lake weather! It will be still nice to get out of town. At least next weekend looks a lot better! We'll have to just go on the river for the weekend. 

I don't have much to say about my fasting/dieting efforts. It's been a huge challenge for me. I still skip breakfast, but today I ate raspberries. I've been eating around 1500 calories, which is not going to help me lose weight! I'm just bored, not wanting to bike or do much after work and I just can't get out of it. I did make dinner last night. Tried a Pinterst meal, Satay Chicken. Turned out excellent and sooo easy to make

I made rice and added some coconut milk to it. I should have taken a photo of my plate. I did a side corn salad and made some pea pesto. Delicious meal! I need to make this meal again! 

Sleeping in the great outdoors!

I love sleeping outdoors in a tent. It might be cold some nights, but it just feels great being outdoors, listening to all the bugs, frogs and animals at night. I've been testing out our new tent with the air mattress and cot. Here's what I discovered... 

I'm loving the new huge tent with three big rooms. I set up two air mattresses and our air couch. So far only one mattress held up. 

Last night, I slept outside with Zoey in the new tent. I tried out the cot. Two days ago I slept with Steve on the air mattress. I didn't love sleeping on the air mattress, it was hard on my back and I never felt comfortable. It can be cold laying on air even with sleeping bags under you. 

The cot was comfortable because it had a 2" pad, I also put two thin sleeping bags under me and used an old comforter for my blanket. We do have other warmer sleeping bags but I didn't want to use those for back yard camping/sleeping. I had my three LED lantern lights and I was set with my little folding table next to me. I like having something to put my phone on and water bottles. If it rains, I don't have to worry about them getting wet or me stepping on my stuff by having it on the floor. Feels more like glamping then camping! 

I would stay after sleeping on both the cot and air mattress they both have pro's and con's. The only con on the cot, is the size. It would be nice to have at least a double bed cot option. That would be heavy and large so maybe not for car camping trips. I did have the air couch next to me for extra room for Zoey since the cot isn't big enough for the dog and me. I am sold on the cot. We'll probably always take both the air mattress for Steve and Zoey, with the cot for me. Best of both beds when camping! I'm just not going to buy any more air mattresses as they only last one summer and then they deflate. At the cost to replace every year which is around $60 - $70. The cot which lasts forever is only $74 for the deluxe bed. 

She was happy to have her own bed. 

I had a different kind of Tuesday. I went to the U of M, so Logan could earn $120 for two hours of his time. He participated in a brain study 17 months ago and this was the follow up. He had to do school volunteer time the first time he did this study and also got paid $120 for that time too. I waited outside while he had an MRI and then played a few brain games on an Ipad. 

It was a nice day to sit out in the sun. After the study, I had to go to work and then again later last night back to work for me. It wasn't bad splitting up my work day! 

It's a quiet part of the U of M campus so not a lot of people around. 

I have a full list of todo items after work this morning.It will be getting a car estimate to get the bumper fixed for the insurance claim. Biking/running, making dinner, and then maybe painting one of my many projects. 

Father's Day Weekend in Brainerd MN

Happy Father's Day to Steve, Wayne and my dad. 

I never did get a photo of our kids with Steve, but at least I remembered to get one of Steve and his dad at the winery picnic for Father's day. 

We started the weekend off in Brainerd Friday. Took the long way there since we left Friday at noon and our neighbor friends weren't going to be up at their cabin till after dinner. 

Friday was the best day in Brainerd. I'm glad we got to enjoy a little time outside. We decided to eat at Earnie's on Gull Lake, just a short boat ride or drive to our friends cabin. We got drinks and waited for our patio table lake side. 

 We were lucky to miss the storms that we could see off in the distance. All the rain missed us! 

 We shared some wings and split a burger. I tried to stay on my diet as much as possible. 

Saturday we woke to a lot cooler temperatures. I went for a short 2 mile run by the cabin's past the gull dam and around the resort at the end of the road and back to the cabin. 

A cooling off photo after my run on the deck. I didn't stop to take any photos while running. I just wanted to keep going. It was a hilly two miles! I didn't want to risk stopping and not keep running up those hills! 

 Just hanging out on the deck for a little while.

 I at least got to put my toes into the stand and dipped just my toes into the water. It was chilly!! 

What a nice view. Even thought it was too chilly to do any water stuff. We still went for a boat ride to a few resorts around the other side of the bay. 

We had some dinner and drinks while checking out two other resorts and went into the hot tub to warm up. Steve and Jon took a funny photo years ago so we had to re-create it on Saturday. 

Lunch was not the healthiest. Steve and I didn't split food. I got the turkey sandwich with out mayo, but I did eat all my fries. 

 
We stopped at two breweries in Brainerd/ Nisswa. I'm starting to like a few of the beers. I mostly just liked the beers that tasted more like coffee. 

 We played a game of Chinese checkers after seeing some other people playing a similar game at the last brewery. 

It made for a fun day since it was a cold, chilly day at the lake. 

One of the resorts had horse wagon rides. We probably could have gotten a ride but we were off to the next place to visit. 

A super fun weekend! We have another cabin weekend this Friday and hopefully the weather will be better for some water fun. It does look like more rain and only in the 70's. 

Our new tent was delivered Friday so I was all excited to set it up. It's 20 x 18 feet, HUGE! It's a three room tent with the 3rd room being a screen porch. I think our other 12 x 12 pop up screen porch will work to attach to the front of this tent making it even better! 

Steve got the fire going after my many tries. Gasoline helps! I set up the air mattress to see if they still would hold air all night. One down, one good to go! This is why I decided to purchase a cot. My back was killing me all night on the air mattress. I think tonight if I sleep outside, I'm going to try the cot. It was a bit chilly but it felt good sleeping outside under all the covers and listening to the many frogs. 

Since it has three rooms and is angled, if it's just the two of us, we'll probably just sleep in the middle of the tent when camping so we don't have to be near the sides of the tent. Plenty of room for us to do that! I'll have to take an inside photo. I need a small picnic table we can set up inside too and get one more outdoor rug to put down on the floor of the tent. 

 It was a perfect night to sit out and burn up some of those tree branches. I trimmed our rose bush and we had lots of dead, thorn covered branches in the fire pit that needed to be burned. We still have a pile of branches!

Once again, back at Monday but it's a short work week since we have cabin plans again. We have to purchase a new microwave. Our only one year old microwave's power is out. Hopefully, we can find one we like and get that installed today! Its so hard not having a microwave.