Sunday in the Snow

This weekend, Troy and I relaxed for what seems like the first time in a long time. We watched movies, made x-mas cookies with his family, and we also made some delicious meals. I cooked raspberry balsamic glazed chicken on Friday and Troy made stoofvlees (Flemish beef stew cooked with Belgian beer) on Saturday. He even made homemade frietjes and mayonnaise!

We've been finding ourselves missing Belgium a lot lately, so this was a special treat. Christmas is really a festive time of year there. Each town creates its own little Christmas market with food and hot drinks as well as crafts and even ice skating. Despite cold temps and gray days, people get outside and enjoy themselves.

Our plan today was to take advantage of Minnesota's snow and cold by getting out cross-country skiing. We have our own skis, but ironically, they are in storage in (the state of) Virginia. We found some cheap used ones at the Salvation Army for Troy. I was going to borrow Troy's old skis but the bindings of my borrowed skis didn't match the thrift store boots Troy found for me last week. But we didn't let that hold us back. Feeling a desperate need to get out into the woods, we went on a trudge through the snow instead. I'm glad we did. It was just what we needed. Snow and sunshine can be really invigorating! It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

A Tasty Family Tradition

Last weekend my mom decided to make potica (pronounced po-teet-sah). This delicious but difficult to make dessert is very dear to our hearts. It's a traditional Slovenian treat that my grandmother always makes for Christmas, Easter and other special occasions. Like, for example, my sister's wedding reception.

Potica consists of a thinly rolled yeast dough and a sweet walnut spread. Though I love to cook, making potica is a daunting task, I've never attempted to make it from scratch myself. I was excited to be home to help my mom with the task.

The dough has risen!

The filling. Ground walnuts, spices and honey.

Mom rolling the dough out

Mom called in grandma (who won a ribbon for her potica at the state fair this past year) for the toughest part--stretching the dough. It's really tricky to stretch it out over the whole length of a table without tearing it, but grandma is an expert.

First you stretch the dough, then you spread the filling over it. Grandma says it's best to do the spreading by hand.

Three generations

The next step is to roll it all up. In case you didn't notice before, there is a bed sheet spread over the table. This makes the process of rolling much easier.

The finished product! Delicious!

One!

My little niece Ria Rain turned 1 on Monday. We celebrated with a small family gathering. I feel fortunate to have been here for it and for the last five months so that I can witness her little personality grow.

Ria loves her Tante Lissa. And I just melt when she smiles at me with her crinkled up nose or reaches up towards me so that I will pick her up.

Robot News

Troy leaves today for Miami. I am a little more than disappointed that I'm stuck in the cold and snow, but I'm excited for him. He will meet up with Steve and Aurie and he'll also be reunited with the robots. They will doing street performances for a festival of electronic music and art.

Also, for those of you who may not have heard, Expressive Machines Musical Instruments (EMMI) and Ear Duo just launched a fundraising campaign through Kickstarter to (hopefully) fund a new batch of robots. They've already got an East Coast and European tour planned, so we are crossing our fingers that the money comes in. So far it looks promising, in the first day they've already raised $1,225 of their $7,000 goal!

Check out this video to see what they have planned.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Giving Thanks

This was the first year in maybe a decade that Troy and I have been home to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. Thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday because I absolutely love the food. And eating and being with loved ones is probably my favorite activity. Plus, Thanksgiving is not nearly as stressful as Christmas!

My mom's family Thanksgiving (accidentally cut out grandpa and Alice)

All the grandparents (plus mom) enjoying their pie

Rogers family Thanksgiving

Pie was a big part of the celebration this year. I'm not even going to tell you how many pieces I ate. Troy stayed up all night on Wednesday, making two pumpkin, one apple/honey/thyme, and one French silk pie. As you can see from the photos, we ate two Thanksgiving dinners, one at my folks' and one at Troy's. Grandma Jean brought pecan and pumpkin pie to my mom's and Cassie and Bre brought pumpkin and apple to the Rogers. Yum!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. I have to admit that it was a bit of a rough reality for us to return from Belgium. Troy and I essentially got to live out our dreams there for a while, he with music robots and me with journalism. And the picturesque, medieval city of Ghent provided us with an incredible amount of culture and fun.

We know that we both got to enjoy the experience of a lifetime there. And now that we are back and broke, we have the unconditional support and love of our families. And even though it's not always as fast as we like, with their help we are moving forward. Thanks moms, dads and siblings!

A Real Business Trip

This week I traveled to Charleston, West Virginia to meet some folks I've been working with/for in person. It was a bit exhausting since I had a 6:30 AM flight out of Duluth (which is an hour's drive from here) but it was nice to have a little getaway.

The people at this small marketing firm were very friendly and welcoming, I even got a hug from the director. West Virginians, like Minnesotans, tend to be friendly people. I had a really busy couple of days but they treated and fed me well and put me up at the Marriott. And I've got lots of work from them for the foreseeable future, which is a little overwhelming, but also great.

As an added bonus, I got to meet up with my friend Catherine (who I met in Charlottesville) for dinner. We had a terrific time catching up. She took me to a fun place called Tricky Fish that serves deep-fried veggie dogs. She's a vegetarian and says she dreams about these greasy dogs and tries to stop in to get one every time she makes it to Charleston. I had the mahi mahi tacos, which I think were equally delicious.

The whole business travel culture is interesting to me. I'm not sure I'd want to have a job where I was expected to regularly travel like this. Airports make me nervous and turbulence gives me a queasy stomach. When the guy sitting next to me on the plane asked why I was traveling, it felt strange to say "for business." The experience made this Minnesota Kid feel quite grown up.

We've Got Snow!

Our mild fall came to an end this past weekend. Over a couple of days, we got over half a foot of snow dumped on us. And it's been cold enough that it's sticking around. I don't mind it for now. I've actually missed real winter. It's been about 10 years since we've been through one.

The main challenge will be keeping up my walks (and Troy's runs) with the slippery sidewalks. And I can't say I'm a fan of scraping my windshield.

But for now, I'm enjoying the winter wonderland. I took a walk around out hometown on Sunday and really enjoyed the scenery. It's interesting how moving away can change your perspective on such things.

Overlooking an old mine pit

The main street of our hometown

Lake walk around our hometown.

Healthy Habits

One serious lesson I took from living abroad is the importance of staying active. Coming back to the States, I really noticed how unhealthy so many Americans look when compared to Europeans.

I think it's because of our sedentary lifestyle. We are used to walking a few steps to our cars, getting in, and then driving to and from everywhere. Even if we are only going a quarter of a mile, we drive. I'm guilty of this myself, but I've been trying as hard as I can to break the habit. I've been walking to the grocery store and trying to finding excuses to get out every day to run other errands by foot or bike.

Lucky for me, we've been having unseasonably warm weather in Minnesota. The challenge will be keeping it up when the cold and snow arrive!

Boo!

I didn't have the money or creativity to come up with a great costume this year for Halloween. Luckily, I was able to borrow this incredible, handmade costume from my friend Lisa. She invited me over to look through two Rubbermaid bins full of wonderful costumes, mostly hand sewn by her. Medusa won out over the others because of the scare factor (Wonder Woman was my second choice). Lisa's masterpiece for this year was a fantastic mermaid costume. 

Unfortunately, Troy didn't make it out with me this year to celebrate (too busy with academic/robot stuff). But I made sure to enjoy the holiday for the both of us. 

I went out with Lisa and some other friends on both Friday and Saturday nights. We were a little disappointed not to win any costume contests. On Saturday, it was actually a bit sickening. The judge clearly picked some cheap, store-bought costumes (one was Princess Leah) because the women that were wearing them were well endowed. Blech.

Mother Nature, Mermaid, Little Red Riding Hood, Medusa and Lady Gaga

In any case, I had fun with this creative group of girls. On Friday, we went to the nearby casino, Fortune Bay, to see Hairball. The band put on a good show. They cover the songs of Guns n' Roses, AC/DC, Motley Crue, Prince and more. The two lead singers take turns singing and dressing up like the front men of the bands they cover. It was pretty entertaining!

In Honor of Halloween

We weren't able to celebrate Halloween in Belgium last year. Although it's slowly catching on as a holiday, we didn't have costumes or friends to enjoy it with at the time. Maybe that's why I have extra anticipation about the holiday this year.

As a kid, I grew up wearing the same costumes year after year since my mom hated Halloween. I can't even tell you how many times I've been a clown, hobo or gypsy. Those were the costumes that were easy and cheap to throw together.

Despite my mom's lack of enthusiasm for the holiday, in my adult years I've always enjoyed finding fun new costumes. Troy and I have hosted lots of dress up parties over the years too. Something about the creativity that goes into it just makes themed parties that much more fun. One of Troy's birthdays featured a surprise robot theme and we've thrown a number of "sophisticates" parties where everyone has to dress up and act fancy.

In honor of Halloween, and getting into the playful spirit of the holiday, here are some pictures of our costumes over the years. If you have some more good ones, please share!

This updated, x-mas lighted version of Captain 82 featured cardboard and tinfoil to prevent heat blisters.

The Log Lady and Laura Palmer (wrapped in plastic) from Twin Peaks

From our friends' pirate-themed Halloween party. Troy was the Jolly Rogers, appropriately enough.

Party-bot

Lil (another Twin Peaks reference) from Fire Walk With Me

Wasn't sure what to do for the Prog Rock party so I improvised

The Green Fairy bearing a bottle of absinthe

Troy at the end of our friend Loren's Halloween party, decked out in a Dutch Hazmat suit (among other things)

Troy's birthday. The theme (made up by Troy for selfish reasons) was "dress as your favorite bunny bearing bourbon."

Working It

It's been busy around here lately! I've been keeping myself busy with odd jobs: cleaning, babysitting, painting, etc... and I've been helping with the estate sale I mentioned previously a bit. It's really eye-opening and overwhelming to go through the contents of an established household and prepare them for sale.

I managed to score a gig with a marketing firm that specializes in working with nonprofits. Since I want to make a living at writing (and am a bleeding heart idealist) this is right up my alley. One project turned into two, and today I had a conference call that implied that there will be a long term working relationship with this firm. I'm waiting to hear back about another good opportunity. Bit by bit I'm piecing together a freelance career.

Troy has been incredibly busy with new robot designs and grant proposals. He's got a concert in Miami with the robots scheduled for December and in April he has plans to be back in Belgium for a show at the Logos Foundation.

I think it's been interesting for our parents to see how we work. Working at home on the computer rather than going into a job with set hours is not really something they are used to. My folks comment about how we are constantly on our laptops and joke about charging us a fee for the wireless.

It is a bit strange and isolating at times to work from home, but mostly I like it for the freedom it allows: working in pajamas and breaking up the day with laundry, yoga, cooking or a walk. Let's hope I can continue to make it work!

Indian Summer

It's rare for fall temperatures in Minnesota to reach the upper seventies, but that's what happened last week. This burst of warm weather (unfortunately) coincided with me getting an editing gig on Elance. I was more than happy to have a project but just a little bummed about not to be able to get out to enjoy the sun for a few days.

Thankfully, the warmth continued into the weekend. We made the most of it by venturing up to Fenske Lake near Ely with my dad's canoe. Most of the leaves are gone now but the Tamaracks are looking lovely and this peaceful lake is bordered mostly by beautiful evergreens. We pretty much had the lake to ourselves and the water was very calm. It was a perfect day for a paddle.

Stuff

I've had a lot of time lately to think about stuff. Troy and I have moved from Minnesota to Oregon to Virginia and then to Belgium and back. All of these moves have been painful, primarily because we never seem to realize how much stuff we have until we try to move it. And Troy's robots and robot parts keep demanding more and more space.

I thought that the move from Belgium back to the States would be a piece of cake because we were only allowed a couple of bags each on the flights. Boy was I wrong! We acquired more stuff than I realized. In our last week there, we sold some of these household items (mostly kitchen/cooking stuff). By the last days we started giving things away and finally we resorted (unfortunately) to trashing some things.

Throwing things away is tough. I'm always thinking I can find a use or re-use for stuff. I probably get this trait from my dad who finds all sorts of interesting ways to use things. He's currently using an old deep fryer to steam wood so that he can bend it for different woodworking projects. And an old steering wheel came in handy for a contraption he built that allows him to lift heavy pieces of sheet rock to the ceiling without another set of hands.

This past weekend I started helping my mom and Tim clean out his parents' house in preparation for an estate sale. Imagine how much stuff you can accumulate living in a house for several decades! Add the pack rat behavior of my step grandma to this scenario and you might be able to understand what we are dealing with. It's pretty overwhelming. Picture a kitchen with every gadget created since the 1950s. I think they discovered 6 different bundt pans and at least as many jello molds.

The burning question for me this week: Why do people feel the need to accumulate so much stuff?

Glorious Scenery

With the fall colors as an excuse, we ventured up the North Shore of Lake Superior on Sunday for what might be our last camping trip of the season. The temps were nice during the day but the evening was chilly. I've got a sleeping bag rated down to about 35 degrees and I was still shivering!

Nevertheless, we weren't disappointed by the scenery. We got a gorgeous backpacking site at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. The walk in near sunset was filled with glorious hues of gold, orange and red.



Later the nearly-full moon and stars were shining beautifully over our own little private bay.


Here's a daytime view for comparison.


A view of the lighthouse from afar.


Yesterday we ventured further north to hike a bit inland (where the colors are peaking) on the Superior Hiking Trail near Silver Bay. The colors on our 5-mile hike to Bean Lake and back were incredible. Pictures don't even do this scenery justice, but you can get an idea from them.




As usual, I've got many more pics on my Flickr page from the trip in case you are interested.

Fall Colors

Yesterday, Troy and I took a walk at Lookout Mountain in the Laurentian Divide Recreation Area. Within the last week we've started to see some glorious fall colors. I did my best to capture them.




I was a little overzealous in my picture taking, you can see more shots here.