Hello friends and family!!
Another long blog for you but its my day off and I'm feeling very share-y today! Hope you enjoy the stories and updates!
As my dear roomie, Sandy, and I were watching the Biggest Loser last night, quite a bit of excitement occurred. First of all.. today is garbage day, which means last night was "set the garbage outside on the sidewalk night." A little piece inside of me gets really excited about garbage day because its so easy and its a twice-a-week purging all of the garbage from the house. Maybe its such a delight because recycling here is so annoying.. they only pick up plastic and tin every other monday and cardboard only once a month and sometimes they just don't show up for whatever unknown reason and then we end up suffocating from recyclable material, as we are right now.. ugh. So being able to open the front door, twice a week, and just drop the bag of garbage onto the sidewalk is a secret, simple little purging pleasure of mine. :) hmm... enough about my feelings on garbage!
So last night as were sitting in the living room, I heard the rustling of plastic bags outside the window. I knew exactly what it was, because this happened on Saturday, too. Someone was rummaging through our garbage. yup... what was once a satisfactory pile of waste was now an attraction for those in need. I whispered to Sandy to tell her what was happening, we shut the lights off and looked out the window.. and there he was.. sitting on our steps, our front stoop, pulling things out of the garbage. What he was retrieving, we couldn't tell, but only hoping it was the spinach-gone-bad or the rotted apple instead of the pay stubs she'd thrown out. We debated what to do. He wasn't harming us.. he was probably just hungry, but sitting on our step? Rummaging through our stuff.. granted, it being garbage and set outside, i think makes it officially not our stuff anymore, but nonetheless, this was not the fate we expected for our once-belongings. My first instinct was to make him food but of course the mom in me said, "no!" It was a little creepy. Sandy's was to call the cops! lol.. which she did but of course he was long gone and the cops never even came. whatever.. it was alarming, sad, and annoying all at the same time since he left the random pieces of garbage sitting out on our steps. I wanted so badly to step out the door and talk to him.. and I think if there'd been a guy in the house, I'd have felt protected and comfortable doing so. bah..
A bit of time passed and as Sandy was reading me an e-mail she was sending to her boss, I saw movement in the kitchen.. LF. LF is what we named the "mouse" in our house (that's us telling ourselves there's only one). LF is the acronym of a not-nice name.. sorry, but we don't really like him. We'd hired an exterminator who closed up the holes on the exterior of the house, made recommendations, and set traps in places where he figured they were nesting (ewww!). But my friends, if you haven't heard me say it before, I've discovered in my last few years, in different places lived, that city mice are smarter than country mice. I've literally watched mice run around traps. In the house I lived in in St. Paul, the mice were eating the M&M's off the sticky traps. I know!
So Sandy and I scared the mouse behind the love seat and prepared for war. I was in ready position, on the tips of my toes, big tennis shoes on, tennis racket in hands, ready to dodge in any direction and step or swing. Sandy was in charge of moving furniture. We barricaded what we thought was its only other exit with traps and moved the love seat.. even tipping it upside down to see if it got into the couch somehow.. only to find nothing.. no holes, no mouse, no holes in the floor boards, only the rude, random remnants of a mouse. sigh... so LF is still on the loose.. ugh.. all the invasion!
More random thoughts.. since I know I'm going to be here for a while and its getting too cold to work-out outside (too cold for my wussy self), I finally joined a gym here. I went to meet with Carin, my first ever personal trainer, today. She's great! Nice, laid-back, fun, etc. I also concluded that she was a great fit for me as I heard the other trainer next to me yelling at his trainee as a form of encouragement.. like crazy Jillian on Biggest Loser :-/ and my trainer just said, "all right, 'atta girl, 2 more reps! good deep breaths!" perfect! If some hot guy was yelling at me, I'd probably drop the weights, run out the door, and cancel my membership!
Anyway, I'm super, super excited to be a gym-member again. There's something about gyms! I walk in and I'm instantly happy! Without even working out, being inside the gym brings some sort of strange, instant satisfaction. I belonged to a gym the last three years I lived in St. Paul, and I really fell in love with the frequent gym visits/workouts. I think there's something encouraging about joining a new gym, too because I haven't gotten into a routine yet. Its all new and foreign which I think will leave me more willing to try new things and add variety (which is "always important"). wahoo! oh, funny random side note, i love daily mass on EWTN. There's a priest there this week (not sure for how long) who is just phenomenal! I really enjoy his homilies. So as I hopped on the treadmill this afternoon, I was flipping channels (cause the treadmill had its own tv monitor!!) and came across daily mass! I was actually excited to get to exercise and kind of go to mass at the same time- talk about multi-tasking! ;) ;) I'm sure the people behind me thought I was crazy as I smiled at the monitor and laughed as Father made jokes.
So that's all for now.. I'm also excited because Andrea and I are going to do something tonight.. I'm off for a few days because I work nights this weekend and she's out of town the next few weekends, so I'm happy we get to hang out tonight!
I think that's probably plenty to chew on for now, eh?
Thanks for checking in, for your prayers, love, and concern.
Love to you,
Laura
mom is now on her way back to iowa.. and again we had a lovely time despite the first few rainy days here in baltimore. quick rundown (oh, my camera is still being fixed so we had to buy a disposable, thus, picture will be added later!). s
thursday: picked mom up at the airport. we walked all around the inner harbor in the rain! had lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen, got lots of info at the b'more visitors center, perused barnes and nobel, walked through the 2 mini-malls, and went to the top of the world trade center building in baltimore to see views of the entire city!
friday: lazy, relaxing day at home with coffee and time to just talk. friday night, with the helpful suggestions from my lovely roomie, sandy, the three of us went to a small, neighborhood-y theater on charles street that had a fantastic tapas restaurant attached (tapas are fancy little appetizers). We had mini crab cakes, roasted squash, potato soup, and lamb meatballs! We saw the movie, Into the Wild http://www.intothewild.com/ See it if you can.. the amazing story of Christopher McClandness.
saturday: oh whatta day! we took a sketchy (word of the day), but awesomely cheap bus into New York city! With the help of a suggested website hopstop.com (thanks, gruber!) and some friendly New Yorkers, we were able to navigate our way from chinatown to the theatre district right up to braudhurst theatre where Les Mis was playing! it was still raining in the city so we pretty much looked like sad, drowned rats! luckily, we'd packed a backpack with a few extra articles of clothing! :) the show was absolutely amazing!!! we had fantastic seats on the first level and we were both in tears by the final song (my favorite!). The actor who played Jean Valjean was incredible... ah. it was all just beautiful. It was, for both of us, the first time seeing a show on broadway.
And praise be, when we walked out of the theater, the sun was out and the rain was gone! yay!!! we enjoyed the bustle of Time Square and wandered around for a while seeing all the interesting people and sites. We eventually met up with Gruber (and for those who read this and don't know, Gruber [nickname] is one of my dearest friends in college.. we were pretty much attached at the hip for 4 years; an amazing woman with whom I share many great memories and though we don't see each other that often anymore, she will always be an important part of my life and one of the many amazing friends who've helped shape me into the person I am today! Thanks, friends! :)). She's engaged nonw, glowing, and as beautiful as ever! We had an awesome dinner at a fancy, little Belgian restaurant called Marts, then said a quick goodbye and headed back to chinatown and back on the bus. At one point we were giggling and giggling about how uncomfortable and sketchy the bus was.. but it sure makes for some good laughs and stories to share and tell.
sunday: i took off for the farmers market at 7:45a with Andrea and Mariah. Mom had originally planned to come with but that was before when we realized were weren't going to bed before 2am! After a quick trip to the usual spots at the market, we headed over to Fell's Point (one of the many neighborhoods of inner Baltimore) and had an incredible breakfast at Mama's on the half-shell, then back to Fed. Hill. Mom and I spent the afternoon walking around the neighborhood and harbor. Had the famous crab pretzels (I don't know if they're actually famous, but they should be! they're medium-sized, warm, soft pretzels with crab-dip smothered over them). That evening we went to mass at my little church just around the corner. :) we stayed after for the hospitality hour and met a sweet little couple from the neighborhood. :) when we got home we watched Love Actually with Sandy. such a great movie and a lovely way to end the lovely day.
monday: tasty, mexican-themed breakfast at home with a little relaxing in the AM then off to the hospital! mom wanted to see where i worked and i was excited to show her (but not excited enough to let her take a picture of me in front of the sign of the hospital.. sorry folks!). I gave her a little tour and then we took off for Fells Point- to the H&S Bakery outlet. Someone at work had recently brought in this package of cookies and called them Berger cookies. She said it was a "Baltimore thing" and since its pretty much just a big hunk of chocolate on a shortbread, I knew mom would love them so we stopped at got some! when we got home we went for another walk up to the actual hill of Federal Hill. Nice and steep.. and a great view of the city. Came home, I went for a run, which unfortunately involved tripping on one of the many cracked sidewalks of this town and skinning my knee. I write of this because I'd like to say, "ouch!" i forgot how much it hurts to skin the knee! that night we decided to order in my favorite pizza of the neighborhood, Boli's, and watch a movie.. which sadly ended up being crude, distasteful, only occasionally mildly humorous (thanks to the 7-year-old actress) and ultimately a waste of time and money- Knocked up. If you haven't seen it, don't bother!
Tuesday: this morning I realized that I didn't want Mom to leave. :( We managed to literally buy her some more time by paying a small fee to change her flight to a later departure! yay! :) With the extra time we headed over to Fort McHenry, which has been one of my favorite places to run/walk/and hangout at (along with the rest of the young residents of Fed Hill and Locus Point). Anyone know about this fort? Its pretty fascinating.. so if you don't know about it and you're not planning to visit me while I'm here, google and learn, my friends! After a walk around the fort and a stop at the visitor center, we drove up to the Cross Street area and had lunch at Metropolitan with more crab dip! :) We then walked around the neighborhood a bit more and enjoyed the gorgeous weather!!! We came back home and spent the rest of our time sitting on the roof deck, enjoying the view, the sun, hot apple cider and some relaxation before heading back to the airport. Mom should be back on the farm in less than 4 hours and I'll be back to the real world of work tomorrow. this time always comes..
It was a great visit and good for my heart to have my mom here. Oh.. and come to think of it, her and I have now been in Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Long Beach, San Diego, De Witt :), Baltimore, and New York in less than 3 months! We also figured out that I've been in/driven through 15 states since May: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virgina, Maryland, and New York! Wow.. what a year! Seems like its all gone so fast but how incredibly thankful I am for all that I've been blessed to experience!
Thanks again for checking in... hope all is well in MN, CA, TX, IA, IL, and everywhere else!
Much love from MD!
LKM ;-)
For the first time ever, after years of talking about doing it, Mom and I are going to the Big Apple together! It is indeed an exciting moment.. after much debate over all the incredible choices of live shows to see, we've decided on Les Miserables! I saw it in St. Paul several times while it was still touring, but never on Broadway and I'm thrilled that my mom finally gets see it, too!
After help from Gruber, we found a bus company that travels to NYC from Baltimore with times that allow us to spend some time in the city before the show and some time with Gruber after the show! I haven't seen Grubs for a lonnggg time.. so I'm definitely thrilled for tomorrow's events!
off to a movie!
Rachel.. LOVE the idea about a sisters event in Baltimore/NYC to see Grubs! LOVE IT!
love to all!
laura
hello!
just wanted to update you all.. i did officially extend my contract here in B'more. This means my first assignment ends at the end of december. i decided to work Christmas so I could take a whole 2 weeks off in between contracts to spend time at home (IA and MN). I'll start back on the 10th of January and end in mid-april. after that... who knows! still toying with the idea of getting my masters as a clinical nurse specialist.
staying in one place for more than one assignment will definitely help with the whole "saving money" gig. honduras is still on my heart but it most likely wouldn't happen for another year.
MN often tugs on my heart.... but as I said to my friend, I'm afraid if I ever move back that I'll never leave again.. its just that special because of all of the people (family, co-workes/friends, friends, friends of friends, etc!).
mom mangan arrives tomorrow! fun for us!! its raining a bunch but that won't stop us! i'm excited to do some touristy stuff that i've not yet explored and we're thinking maybe even a bus ride to NYC, catch a show, dinner with Gruber, who knows!
my big brother turns 35 tomorrow!!! 35!!!! holy cow.. i adore this man and miss seeing him and his amazing fam. got the perfect card for him but forgot to send it.. typical laura, but praise God for big brothers like him! :)
work is getting easier as i learn the routines. i'm enjoying it. one of my patients told me today that before he was discharged, he was going to make sure ****insert name of hospital*** offered me a full time job, "i don't like the idea of you traveling, you need to stay here." definitely a nice thing to hear. :)
so yes, all is well!
praise be for the blessings of this opportunity.
thanks for checking in.
love to all......
i was just checking out my friend, bryan's blog (he was one of 5 neighbor boys at 998 apt.) when I realized how much I miss those guys. I realized, upon reading his blog, that Bryan passed the Bar exam.. and that I had no idea if Brendan or Costa did.. and how I have no idea what's going on in any of their lives! After a year of practically living with them, I'm a little bit saddened by this. I used to be a part of their daily lives (whether they all liked it or not;0)).. as they were just a short staircase away, and now i'm down to seeing them every three months when I'm back in MN :(. Though I'm so very grateful for my current adventures, i do miss running up the steps and spending the evening visiting, debating, or watching whatever lame-o reality show brendan had on. I miss hearing my name being called out from the back yard.. i miss dollar burger nights at the nook and shamrocks. i miss the house parties and outings around St. Paul. basically, i miss, but am even more thankful for the incredible year at 998. what a blessing!!!!!!!!!! cheers to the continuation of dollar burgers with Lindsey and the boys even though no one lives at 998 anymore!
thanks to my parents, here are a few pictures of the scene i described in the previous blog! :) click on pic for a bigger view...
i heart home!
....finally HERE in Baltimore and oh, the nostalgia is kicking in!
After living (or what felt like vacationing) on the west coast of California for the summer, where every day felt like a perfect late-spring afternoon, it was a bit of a shock to head east and find mid-west-like humidity and the tail end of the dog days! For some reason, I blindly assumed that the weather would be cooling and that fall would be starting. Either way, I decided I really couldn't complain about a few weeks of humidity knowing full-well that I'd escaped an entire sweltering, mid-western summer. So.. I decided that I would attempt to gracefully tolerate the rest of the thick-aired summer of Maryland.. (that's if you call sweating the minute after stepping out of the shower, graceful)! But, what other choice did I have?
Its now mid-October and it finally feels as though fall is making its seasonal nest on the east coast, so I'm trilled! The windows are open and the air is crisp as the sun peaks its head over the bay, gently warming the afternoon and leaving the evenings cool as it buries itself in behind downtown earlier and earlier each night. My cozy, chocolate brown turtleneck sweater has made its first appearance of the season, I'm teaching myself how to make pumpkin everything out of real pumpkin, and I can once again enjoy an outdoor workout. ahhh...
But something is missing....
I sit in a small, old, beautiful row home in "The Historic Federal Hill" neighborhood, reflecting on life (meh, its my day off). I hear the rumbling of machinery outside the front door. The construction of new, gigantic, luxurious, 21st Century-esque condos-attempting-to-look-like-row-homes forges on every day. These monsters continue to mutate and tower over the neighborhood, blocking whatever view anyone had of downtown, slowly creeping forward with an eventual goal of hoarding the view of the bay, as well. Despite my (obvious) frustration by this, the noise of the machinery is eerily familiar and leaves me feeling curiously... at home. They remind me of what I'm missing.. harvest.
Fall is harvest.
Fall is Dad in the fields and Mom's beautiful yard.. corn shocks bustled at the end of the deck, hay bales, pumpkins, gourds, and beautifully flowering fall-colored mums warming the yard. Climbing into the combine, squeezing into a space not intended for 20-somethings and spending time with Dad as he explains how long it takes for the machine to cut the dried stalk, husk the ears, and harvest the corn (or beans). Occasionally, he lets me sit in the big seat and steer! He can tell me how many seeds he planted in the spring, and can thus the estimated number of bushels he's harvesting this fall. Heck, he probably knows how many kernels, too! I've always wondered if all farmers think in those terms or just my adorably quirky, detail-oriented father.
Fall is a clear night, star-studded sky, cool, crisp air with the dust and faint smell of the husk of the corn. The fan of the corn dryer running, the whooshing of the corn and beans as they fall from the auger into the bins for storage. The distant lights and sounds of the machinery running late at night. Watching my brother work side-by-side with my father to bring in the crop. Taking the dinner that Mom made out to the fields so the boys can eat. Sitting on the deck, enjoying the weather and time with one of my closest friends, my mom. Its those every day moments, those memories, that will forever warm my heart and nurture my dream to some day live across the road with my amazing husband (still waiting for that one) and beautiful children (and them, too) who really know and adore my parents as much as I do.
Fall is remembering how special it was to grow up in a small community like Central. The opportunity to know almost everyone in school. To have teachers who taught your parents, know your grandparents, siblings, and cousins, too. Where the football game is everyone's Friday night plan and Homecoming is the excitement of the season. The parades, marching band, pep-rallies, TP-ing, window-paintings and more. Planning festivities, getting involved in as much as possible, and working at the store your classmates' parents own. Who graduated from the same school as you and your parents; who were once doing all the same things and thus encourage their young employees' school spirit and involvement. Where the school's photographer (another classmate's parent) takes pictures of the class prank (an old boat painted in school colors and left in the middle of the parking lot) and includes it in your package of pictures from the dance.
Fall is remembering the blessing of growing up with an amazing group people, of life-long friends. "To the end of time..."
Fall is.. my roots, my home, and though I won't be making it home during autumn this year, the memories are so vividly cherished that I can relive it any time I close my eyes, or write a silly nostalgic blog, or hear value-destructing construction outside the front door of my small, big-city home.