1095 days!

I can't believe it's been three years since Ben and Lana's wedding.

Lana & Ben as Mr & Mrs. Ruley! 9.30.06

Happy Anniversary to the perfect match!

Three of my favorite things about these two:

1. Lana is/has been my BFF for life!
2. Ben & Lana always, always make us laugh!
3. Aaron & Ben are like two peas in a pod... we only wish that they lived closer!

Happy Anniversary you two!! ♥ ♥ ♥

Lana & Ben at the Lake 2009

What's new?

Not a whole lot...

We've been making a lot of progress on wedding "stuff". I'm back in class (classes, 3 of them). I have been working a few extra shifts here and there at Millers. I have also been working to keep the phones under control at the Schlomka office- fall is NUTZO for us!

Ok, I guess that might sound like a lot... but nothing very interesting.
I am enjoying the wedding stuff, I just wish it was the only thing I had to worry about these days.

School is NON-intense which is nice, just class, no interning-awesome! I am DONE with school in Dec!

It's "never a dull moment @ Millers on Main" but it has been pretty slow the last few nights I've worked- come and visit, eat some chicken and ribs!!

At Schlomka's Aaron and John are very busy while Gpa and Larry are working hard to get our new truck out on the road.

Hopefully I will be back with something a little more fun to write about- and soon!

Enjoy this cold front!!! Burrrrrrrrrrr (yah, sweatshirt weather!)

p.s. My Blackberry decided to quit working on me... so I have been without a phone for about 4 days now, and won't get it back until maybe Tuesday- booooooo

Sunday Football

As I mentioned last week- the football season has started. Today Aaron is off to Billy's to hangout with the guys to eat food, drink beer and talk crap to one another as they all cheer on their fantasy teams!

I asked Aaron to pose for a picture before he headed out the door. He was ready to go wearing his Vikes jersey, carrying his new FAVRE glass and some PB/Chocolate rice crispy treats to share.

Skol Vikings!!

"We Don't Have Any Food!!"

If you are anything like Aaron and I- we aren't home enough to visit the grocery store on a regular basis. Too much food would go bad in our fridge.

Aaron LOVES making food with what we have (and that is usually NOTHING). But some how some way he always finds something to make. I usually end up going with spaghetti or tuna and noodles.

So today... I found a really cool website (via facebook) and I will more than likely give it a whirl since Aaron is out of town for the weekend.
Website is ---> www.myfridgefood.com

You can go to this site, click the food you DO HAVE and it will come up with something simple and easy to make! HA COOL! If you try it out, let me know how it goes. I'll be sure to share what I come up with as well.

Wknd @ Home!?

This past weekend Aaron and I were home for a change. Even though we were home we still had a packed weekend with work, hanging out with friends, going to weddings and attending the annual Schlomka Fish Fry.

Here are a few pictures to help show the fun we had all weekend long.

Friday night I had the 1st cut shift at Millers (THANK GOD) it was HayDays so Millers get a little nutty- I was happy to bolt out of there by 8:30pm. I was able to meet up with Aaron at home where I was additionally welcomed by our Friday night guests, Josh & Jen. We spent the evening just hanging out- we started with dinner at the BH and then games back home. Whoonu was a new fav for Jen and we also played In a Pickle until we were all ready for bed about 1:30am.

Thanks for stopping by Josh & Jen- Have a great week in NY!

Next up was the Thomas/Van Dyke wedding (9.12.09) at The Wilds in Prior Lake- it was a HOT wedding with the ceremony held outdoors under the sun. The couple looked great- Robyn was adorable when reading her vows and the party to follow was entertaining. More great ideas went into my "wedding notes". Their wine and chocolate theme was fun and different.

Congrats to Mr & Mrs. Thomas- enjoy your Honeymoon in Hawaii!

Following the wedding, Aaron and I stayed the evening with Swem at his home in Prior Lake. Swem has been doing well and definitely rocking out with his bar- it looks really good. Remember Aaron making this bar for him? After a couple rounds of catch phrase and getting to know Swem's lovie, Katie and his Mom, Marsha the gang headed over to Captain Jacks to end the night- it was a fun night just hanging out and having fun.

Swem- Thank you for our comfy futon overnight stay AND the new pizza craving for banana peppers and cheese pizza!

On our last leg of the weekend- we started Sunday off with some Sunday Football- it was the first game of the season and all of the boys go bonkers for it! We stuck around Swem's for most of the 1st half- then Aaron and I had to get going. The Fish Fry at Gary's was set for 5pm!

We showed up just in time... Aaron jumped into the "cooking fence" to help out with cooking the sweet corn, frying the fish and taste testing. As usual it was a good time hanging out, eating fish and visiting with friends and family. There was a lot of baby love going around this year with having both Anthony and Gabriel in attendance- we just can't get enough of the babies!

Our weekend didn't end there- Aaron and I still had some work to do for Schlomka's, BUT... I won't bore you with those details. Just know that we finally got home from a very long, but fun, weekend at 10:00pm. I am not sure how I could fall asleep riding passenger in Aaron's work truck but I did!!
Hopefully with Fall being right around the corner it will bring along more relaxing weekends at home.

BBF

BBF = BlackBerry Friends.

I love that more and more of my friends are joining the BB world, Kris, Melissa, Josh, Jen... just to name a few.
I recently had dinner with Kris- we were really dorky and talked phones most of the time. When you hang with a fellow BB user you find that they know BB tricks that you don't know and you just have to share the knowledge. Blackberries are addicting is so many ways!

September Cooking

Sept 8th, following the Holiday weekend, we had cooking class as usual!

The class was again small, but like we say- it was still fun and the food was awesome. It always is no matter who is able to attend.

This month we made SIMPLE Baked Potato Chowder, Focaccia Bread and a Veggie Stir Fry.

I think the group decided that the soup was #1- Even though all of it was great, I would have to agree with the soup being my favorite as well!

No group picture- with night time coming earlier and earlier these days everyone seemed quick to head out except for Mich. Mich was celebrating day #1 of retirement- we had a bottle (or 2) with dinner to help celebrate this milestone in life!

Congrats to you Mich!!

Labor Day '09

Friday 9/4- Monday 9/7 Mom, Paul, Reggie, Aaron, Tiki, Kevin, Kyle and I all headed back to the lake for the weekend. As you may remember- this same group (minus Lana & Ben) hung out at the lake for Memorial Weekend to kick start summer- my how summer flew by!

This weekend was very relaxed with great weather, water sports, some fishing, many hands of Rummy 500 and of course great food!

Too keep this post short and to not bore you all with the details, I wanted to share a video link showing off Aaron's great skills in the water for the weekend- notice Paul's "1day" mo hawk as he navigates the Booger Boat.

I also wanted to share with you the concept of "Omelet in a Bag" this was our breakfast each morning. So good, So easy and SUPER impressive. Break 2-3 eggs into a FREEZER ziplock, add any and all ingredients as desired (I liked cheese, ham and bacon), zip shut, mash up, and plop your "egg bag" into boiling water to cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the water after the time is up, release omelet from the bag and enjoy!! yummmm!

We hope everyone else enjoyed a fun, happy, safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend as well.

Teeker Beeker

Along with getting back into the groove of class, I have been a little preoccupied this week.

Tiki has been throwing up daily since LAST Saturday (it's been a week and 3 days!!) But there are a couple of good things I can say of this and these things are keeping me from being too worried.

Tiki is still eating and drinking like usual, going to the bathroom (#2) without any problems, she looks to be her same weight/size, her nose is wet and she is acting like herself in being playful, taking naps, chasing bugs and barking at the mailman.

The throw up is mainly just saliva- it comes in threes and sometimes it's yellow "stomach juice". Sorry if that's too graphic but I am hoping everything is ok with her and she will stop all of this soon. It has only been happening once a day- as far as I can tell. Any advise on this? Should I call the vet and spend $100 I don't have for a little peace of mind??

Feel better Tiki!!

The Eve of 70

Last night I headed down to New Trier, MN for a fun little gathering. The main highlight was non-other than a good 'ol Happy Birthday celebration.

Grandma (Gma) Schlomka turned 69 yesterday and had a good time celebrating. She spent the day at the casino with her friend Rita. They played Bingo and slots- to make the day ever better she ran out of there money ahead! Way to go Gma!!

After a successful afternoon at Treasure Island, she met up with Grandpa (Gpa) and headed for the Trophy House to have supper. She didn't know she would soon be greeted by a few other guests. Gpa & Gma gathering here with friends for supper is not an unusual event- so she knew there would be some people waiting for her... but she didn't know that I would be there. She also didn't know that my Dad would be there, Donny, Cindy & Charlie (my Aunt & Uncles) and a few other very close friends. I always love small surprises and the smile it brings to one's face.

Happy Birthday GMA!! LOVE YOU!