Adding to the family

I am getting a new sister-in-law! On Friday, Darren and Allison got engaged. They are planning to be married at the end of June.
When Allison came to visit in September, she was so cheerful and fun. She will make Darren a great wife, and I am so happy for them!
I can't wait to go down (we already had a family trip planned down south for April) and start talking wedding flowers :)

Din Din

The progressive dinner was just as much fun as I thought it would be. Actually, more!
Cor and I hung out in the kitchen, chatting and chopping food, before the guests arrived at our place, and that set the tone for the evening... Lots of girl talk and laughter.

Our apartment hosted appetizers, with help from Kendra and Meghan.
Some of our food...

Hanging out, chatting, deciding what to text a guy...

Group pic! 26 girls total.

The main meal (yummy tacos) was hosted by the Greenfield gals.

Dessert was at the Daav-Honk townhome, with help from Rita and Anna. Amy even made gluten-free brownies for me, so sweet of her!

Stripes....

The Daav girls taught us an exciting new game that they learned from their grandma :) Two teams, sitting across the room from each other, with two chairs in the middle, facing each other. A blanket is held up in the middle, and then dropped, and the two girls (opposite teams) on the chairs try to be the first to say the name of the other. Whoever wins takes the loser onto her team.

Both teams were trying all sorts of tricks, covering their faces, flashing, bunching up around the girl on their chair...

Classic mid-name shout.

Ahhhh. Can hardly wait until next year's dinner. The guys were really hoping to be invited to this one, but maybe we could do one in the summer with them.

Girls Annual Progressive Dinner

It's tonight.... Can't wait!
It's our third year doing this, and there has always been good food and lots of laughs.
The first year we went all out with places for everyone to sit, and napkins and REAL silverware (we even bought more knives for the occasion) for all. Last year we had an Italian theme. This year is more relaxed. Just three courses and yummy food.
I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow.

More race day pictures

Kayla and I were just standing around near the starting line, waiting to cheer on Jill, when a lady came up to us and asked us to step forward. She told us to hold out our arms so no one would trip over the cords by the mats.
It was exciting to see the action up close!

I got these pictures from an old friend that we randomly saw down there. We both hadn't seen her in years, so it was fun to reconnect, if only for a short bit.

Drizzly 5K

I was nervous, and I didn't sleep well last night, but as soon as we got to registration, I got more excited. Everyone around was in a good mood, and that made me smile too. We got to talk to Jill and cheer her on when she took off, and then it was our turn.

The weather was 35 degrees, windy, and drizzling rain, but it didn't bother us too much. Mile 1 was easy, mile 2 was hard and long, and mile 3 not so bad, despite the hill right at the end. Kayla pulled ahead of me and finished with 26:59, and my time was 27:40. Not as good as I wanted, but oh well.

This is us before the race, all excited and stuff.
Dave Ryan from KDWB radio was the announcer for the event, so we went and got a picture with him afterward (sweaty faces and all). We're both big fans of his, and we just couldn't stop grinning during the picture taking.

Kayla afterward, with our mug and shirt (black), and my extremely wet shirt (red).

I told Kayla afterward that I'm hooked. Hooked on racing. But I actually HATE running. I just loved the atmosphere, and the feeling of accomplishment afterward. I need to get over the stigma in my head of hating running, and decide that it's not so bad.

For my next 5K, I'd like to run under 27 minutes. I'm thinking about doing another in February.

First real race

Tomorrow I am running the SP Winter Carnival Frozen 5K. Eek. My first real race. I've been training, but didn't follow the schedule to the letter.... hopefully it goes well. Kayla is running with me, and Jill H is running the half-marathon. Stay tuned as to how it ends up...

Contemporary

is one of the classes I have right now. We're learning a whole bunch of new styles and techniques. It is so much fun, but at times it can be frustrating if what we're doing is outside of my comfort zone. I like the exposure to new things though, and the chance to change my comfort zone.

This is done in the Biedermeier style- concentric circles.
This is a waterfall. Not my favorite. We had to add a detail, so the orange loop in the focal area I made from angel hair wire.

This is a landscape design, which mimics the way things are in found in nature. I gave it to my mother for her birthday on Saturday.

Close up of the bird. The nest is made of the same angel hair wire as before.

I like to stretch

after a run, when I wake up, after a long drive in the car...
It just feels so good.

The story of the other shoe dropping

At R Ladies Weekend in October, my cousin Anna, my sis Joce and I were standing around the dessert table, looking at all the gluten-free items, each of us glad we could eat anything we wanted. We joked how we were just waiting for the other shoe to drop (many members of my mothers family do not eat gluten). Little did I know it was hovering on the edge (where does it drop from?).

About a month later, I started having stomach problems. Aches, pains, bloating and constipation, you get the picture. Since I could not think of anything else causing it, I decided to try going gluten-free. Almost immediately, I felt better. I had more energy too, which was wonderful after months of dragging an exhausted body around.

So I was a gluten-free Krista. And then I thought, "what if it's all in my head?" So one morning I had a piece of toast (and let me tell you, it tasted good in my mouth). It did not go over well with my stomach. I had a stomach ache and bloating for the rest of the day. Good to know I wasn't making it up.

The best part about going gluten-free (GFF, gluten free forever, as we call it in the Salmen household), is that it's not hard to do. It's not hard to find recipes, or food I CAN eat. It's not hard to avoid things with gluten, because I know they'll make me sick. Also easy is that there is a new Trader Joes a mile from my apt, and they gave me a list of everything in the store that is gluten-free. So nice of them. Another good thing is that my mother is currently not eating gluten either. Everything over the holidays was gluten-free (to the slight dismay of some of the others), and her pantry holds many things my stomach can appreciate. My birthday dinner, for example, was chili, chips, gluten-free cornbread (YUM), salad, gf gingerbread cake, and ice cream. My mother is amazing. I love her.

And that folks, is the story of me turning into one of THOSE people, the GFF ones. I have joined my relatives on their "crazy diet" that fortunately keeps us happy and healthy.

And I feel older too

It's weird, but I do. I've been reminiscing about those first years that I lived in the cities, and wow have I grown up since then.

I think what made me start thinking about growing was my internship evaluation. My boss said the one thing he noticed was that I don't seem to fluster easily. What! Is that me? I DO fluster easily. But I didn't there. I think I felt comfortable in my abilities, and I didn't know the other workers well enough to complain if I felt scared. It's nice to know that I can be mature.

It balances out all the times I still act like a kid. :)

I am officially 23

It was a great birthday yesterday. Highlights include:

• Kyds at Mom & Dad's. I got sung to. Pretty sure my face was 12 shades of pink.
• Family dinner consisting of the 6 kids who live in MN and their offspring. Yummy meal and gingerbread cake.
• Boot hockey! Perfect weather for it.
• Bowling with Kayla. I didn't do so hot, but we had a fun time.
• Presents: got the neatest vintage hard-side suitcase in my favorite shade of blue, among other thoughtful things.

Some Pics from Christmas

Finally got the pictures off Daddy-o's camera...

Hey, she stole my toy!

Viv loved Sierra

Me and the girlies playing the piano

Christmas Eve tea for Nat's 30th birthday

Ladies: this man is single. And he plays the piano.

Mya Mouse being cute as usual...

Grandma did a lot of this over the holiday

Grandpa only did this once. But Larsy liked it :)

Shane entertaining his baby girl

Isaac took a while to warm up to me. Even a smile could send him running to Mommy.
I think I have a picture of Kaisa from last year with this same face :)

Brad just loves his Bathroom Readers

Dave modeling Brett's gift. No, he didn't dye his tips...

Grandpa working his magic on Mya Mouse

Mom and two of her daughters before church on Christmas night

This picture is from today, but I had to put it up. Viv knows how to crawl now, and is getting into everything, including Mike's magazines.

It's time for my TMM

or Total Money Makeover. I just started reading the book (by Dave Ramsey) yesterday. It's inspiring. And as my mother can attest, I really need to do something about my finances. So this is it. Wish me luck!

Girl Time

Joce, Claire, and I introduced our sister-in-law Brittany and her daughter Mya to the Mall of America. None of us bought much, but we still enjoyed our time together.

We kept Mya Mouse happy in her stroller...
Sistas!!!

We all decided to save our change jars for what is going to be an annual trip to the mall after Christmas.

Girls Xmas Party

This is a flash-back to last year (haha) and the city girls Christmas party. I kept forgetting to blog about it.

Becky vs. Erin in a quick thinking game.
Merry Christmas from Apt 109!

There were 35 girls total there. It was hosted by the Greenfield apartment gals, in their unreal new party room.

It was nice to get all the girls together for a good time, because we don't always hang out, especially in the winter when everyone halfways hibernates.

Resolutions

I wish I could remember what mine were from last year... They're right on the edge of my brain...

This year, they are: Talk less, listen more. Be more confident.
I tried to employ them in MI at New Year's, and I think I did alright on the 2nd one, but the 1st I really need to work on.

Speaking of MI, it was a blast!!! Lots of fun girl time. We stayed with Steph, went to Kristen's for dinner, celebrated Karen's birthday, went to the Tech basketball games, and of course, went to kyds.

Shannon's car needed some extra help with cleaning the windshield.
We ate at the Waterfront for Karen's birthday.

We may or may not have needed these (Red Bull shots). :)

Kristen had us over for dinner: delicious!!!

* One of my resolutions was to blame myself more and others less. I think I'm better at it. Except when I'm crabby or tired... Gotta work on that.