One more day!

 August is over in one more day and it's my birthday! One more day of being 54! 

I'm back to running. Starting out slow at a mile with Zoey running along with me. I'm also doing a very slow mile, might be due to Zoey stopping to pee. It's some where at 11 to 12 min mile. Not exactly 9:30 like I used to run leisurely. At least my feet feel good. Now to increase the miles slowly. My legs felt pretty sore last night with running and biking even on the e- bike! 

One last dinner with Annie before she goes back to France. She has been here for over a month. It was a nice long visit for her. It's sad to think we will never see her again. I am able to text and send snap chats to stay in touch. Thankfully, she speaks great English! 

Dieting.. I'm tracking but not staying under 1500 calories more like 2000. I'll keep trying to eat less! 

Monday Steve and I went kayaking out on Lake Marion in Lakeville. He caught some sunfish and a big northern. I didn't have much luck, the fish kept taking the bait. 

I'm not sure why we didn't fish and kayak sooner on some lakes around here. It would have been a good covid thing to do. Well, at least we can do this now. Might have to check out other places to fish. 

Last days of August...

 So sad to see the last days of August. We only have a few left. Good thing the weather the next 10 days out in September look like summer weather! 80's! We've had a few cool low to mid 70 degree days and it felt like fall. We were all freezing! Not ready for fall at all! 

We really didn't know what to do yesterday. Me, Steve and Celina all went fishing in Hastings along the Mississippi River. It was kind of gross a big dead carp and a bird all were floating in the water. It just stinks of muck too. We didn't even get a bite! Very disappointing fishing! 

It was still a nice day to sit in the shade and fish for an hour or so...

I went to watch Celina's soccer game Sunday morning. They lost 2 to 3. It was a good game overall and a nice morning to sit outside. 

We made the favorite fair food, Chan's grilled chicken with the sauce Celina purchased from the fair. We just added sriracha and it was exactly the same! I made fried rice and Celina made some rice noodles with veggies and Logan made the chicken on sticks. All turned out really good, we were all stuffed. 

I have the day off this last Monday in August. I only work Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I'm off Thursday for my 55th birthday until the following Wednesday. I just want to go to the lake for my birthday. It will be just the 5 of us, without extra friends for the weekend. Just taking the boat up and hopefully, doing more fishing, swimming and relaxing! Should be perfect mid 80's temps! As long as I have some cupcakes for my birthday, I'll be good! 

It's also the last weekend with Logan as he goes back to school Tuesday. We have furniture to move into his apartment and food/supplies to pick up for him to last the month of September. We might see him again the middle of October depending on the weather. It's the last time we can stay at Harrington beach before they close for the season and it gets too cold for camping. Might have to go out there and stock him up on food/supplies again. Plus, it's always fun to go to Milwaukee. 

I'm working on building up more clients on my business. Time to pick up extra work! I'll start that after Labor Day. 

Waconia

 I had a pretty lazy Saturday morning after being at the fair Friday for 12 hours. I went back to bed for about 2 hours. Finally got moving around noon and we made plans to go to Waconia to visit some wineries. 

The wine wasn't very good. Annie said it tasted like Vinegar. Not good! 

I didn't bother with wine at the next place and just got a beer, which was good! It was a nice drive out in the country and something to do with his parents and Annie. 

Annie leaves on Sunday, Sept 3rd.  We should be home on Sunday to say goodbye to her. It will be sad to see her leave as it was nice having her here. 

I made Chicken tender hot sandwiches with toasted buns for lunch yesterday. Delicious! 

Last night, it was chilly out so I made a bon fire in the back yard after seeing our neighbors out front with their fire pit. I burned up some of the pallet that I want to get rid of. Maybe today we will burn the rest of it?? We still have a lot of branches to burn up and get rid of. This was the first bonfire we had at home this year! I'm guessing once the weather cools and the mosquitoes die off, we might have a few more. 

I've been off my weight loss diet since the end of May. Time to get back on as I can tell I've gained weight. Ugh! I haven't gained it all back, so it's time to re-start and count calories again staying in the 1000 to 1500 range. No better time then now! 

Dieting will be back to popcorn for lunch, snacks fruit/yogurt. Low cal foods and protein! Maybe it's time to make my Thai soup again?? I'd love to try it with Thai basil from the farmer market. 

I've also decided to start advertising a lot more again now that it's fall. I'll start next week after we drop off Logan at college. It's time to start making more money! Plus, its more exercise and less sit time during the day. I'll still have to find time to get to the gym. I've really been lacking there! It's either too hot, I'm tired or now it's cold in the mornings. Too many excuses and not enough reasons to ignore them and just go! 

What do we have planned for this Sunday? 

Maybe the St. Paul Farmer Market? Not really sure I want to go since we just went last week. 

I want to ebike since it's going to be 75*F today. I should go for a run at the park with Zoey. She would like that! We need to tar the driveway and I need to get some eggs and some turkey at the store. 

MN State Fair - 2nd day

 We had a great day at the fair. It got hot 88+F! 

Here's all the food we tried. 

Cheese curds from the food building, Cheese cake cheese curds with strawberry sauce. 

A big foot break. 

Birthday cake mini donuts 8 out of 10. Also a bite of the amish donut 7 out of 10

Beer batter onion rings at the ball park was a 10 out of 10! Garlic fries were okay this year, needed more garlic

Tator tot hot dog with nacho cheese sauce (too salty, but very crispy, not enough cheese flavor from the dip) and the cheesecake curds with strawberry sauce ( too small of bites, hard to taste any cheese, strawberry sauce should have been thicker to stay on the bites) 

God beers. 

We also tried, but not pictured, the Korean BBQ taco and the elote fried chicken taco from the international market. They came with a few corn chips. The BBQ chicken was a 9 out of 10. Great flavor, but could have used more chicken. 

A taste of the cookie dough pie with vanilla ice cream. Too sweet and doughy. Would have been better with cooked apples. 

Thursday.. yes we are still hot and very humid! Aug 24th

 Thankfully, its still August. I hate when summer ends. It just never lasts long enough. I'm already sad that Logan will be back to college and we won't see him until November. We will miss celebrating his 21st birthday with him. We will have to make his coming home extra special on Thanksgiving. One good thing is that he is in his 3rd college year, almost done! We will at least have him home for one more summer, I think? 

I have a very, busy work day ahead. I'm looking forward to it being done! One more good positive note, I might pick up a referral! I sure hope so! I should start advertising to pick up a few more new clients this fall. 

I'm looking forward to going to the State Fair even though it's going to be 88*F! HOT. There are a few new foods I am wanting to try this year. Mainly the cheesecake cheese curds with strawberry sauce and the birthday cake mini donuts. There was also a corn dog covered in tater tots and dipped in nacho sauce that also sounds good. I think this is the first year I'm excited about the new fair foods to try. Usually, I just want the roasted corn, regular mini donuts and a few cheese curds plus the garlic fries. I'm sure we will still have the favorites too, but just not the regular mini donuts. It's going to be a day of lots and lots of walking! Not sure if I want to wear tennis shoes or my sandals? Maybe bring both? Just seems hot to wear tennis shoes all day! I also don't want a repeat of Chicago when my feet hurt from all the walking. Not sure what I want to wear either?? A black skirt and what top? hum...?? Didn't really want to wear black tank with that but ? 

We most likely will stay home again this weekend. I'd like to go somewhere but I think after the fair we will be pretty tired the next day. It would be too much to plan a lot of biking, camp set up etc all for one day.  We will just bike around here or take the kayaks fishing. Something will be planned. Maybe a picnic somewhere too as the temps will be a lot cooler, back in the mid 70's to 80+F will less humidity. 

I have my drivers license to update which I plan to do on Monday. I'll have to style my hair. Still thinking of getting bangs as I guess it's the new look for fall. We've had no bangs for years. I just don't want them in my face. We will see if I can actually go thorough with getting them again. 

I'm almost out of readers too. I keep breaking my glasses. Time to get a few more dollar store pairs to have around the house! I can handle coloring my hair to get rid of the grays, but the eye sight is not fun. I hate not being able to read or see anything up close without my readers. I'm sure soon I'll have to work with readers chained around my neck. I'm putting off that day even though I could probably use them right now. 

We need to mow the grass once it cools off and tar the driveway. Might be good Sunday/Monday projects. I also need to power wash the front rug. It's looking a little dirty and Zoey peed on it when we didn't let her out the other night. She was barking to let us know, but no one got up. Ugh! I should probably do that today so it can dry in the heat. 

Hot and humid!!

 It has been very hot here the last few days. More hot days ahead! 

Celina, Logan and I took Evan to get ice cream at the waffle bar. 

We all tried something different! 

I also went for a bike ride with Celina. We did the close to home loop but had to detour as a road was closed. 10 miles in the heat! 

Steve and I went to happy hour at the Red Rabbit in St. Paul last night. 

wings and a salad! 

I defiantly need to start dieting again and be on the losing side. Back to popcorn, watermelon and counting calories. 

Today is work in the morning. Too hot for a bike ride. doing some laundry, maybe do some returns and my auto loan payment. I could go to the gym and lift weights. Which I might just do in the afternoon instead of laying around. 

I like it hot when at the lake, but not when it's this hot and you can't even go biking or sit outside without sweating. 

We have plans to go to the State Fair Friday and it's going to be in the high 80's! Saturday cools down so that would be a better day to go when its 78*F! hum...?? 

Minnehaha Biking

 Steve and I went biking along the Mississippi River and past the Minnehaha waterfalls yesterday afternoon. Talk about perfect weather. It was somewhat cool in the mid 70's but a little humid too which made it feel perfect for a bike ride. 

We rode 15.2 miles in all. We were a bit disappointed to not be able to bike through Ft. Snelling. They were doing construction on the path by the fort. Parking there isn't free either, so we found a parking spot at a soccer field just down the road. It's a bummer that they no longer allow free parking for walkers/bikers. 

Back to work Monday and summer is going too Fast!

 

Here we are another Monday. Thankfully, it's still august with 10 days left of the month. Not many, but I'll take it. We do always have a nice September too and at least a week or two in October of nice weather before it gets too cold out. I just really hate November - April. 6 months of staying indoors and not being able to go outside much. I do love to ski, but really hate the months of January and part of Feb as they are the coldest and seem to take forever to get through. I would live all year around in summer if we could! 

I have a busy work week. Working all days M-F. My only less busy day is Tuesday right now. All the money I earn is going towards bills this week as I have my car payment due and our auto insurance. Plus, I'll be paying Logan's apartment rent for the month of September. At least this coming month he will be living there so it's not throwing away money for nothing every month. We started paying in May... Two years of payments and he will finish up college! Looking forward to that day! 

We stayed home this past weekend. It was really hot on Saturday, but nice Friday and Sunday with temps only at 80*F with a nice breeze. We are supposed to be in the 90's all week and cooling off again for the weekend. It might be a good weekend to take the kayaks and bikes to Lanesboro for the weekend? I just don't want to stay home again! 

We will head to Grand Marais the last week of September or 1st week of October for the fall colors. We hit it perfect with weather and fall colors last year. Hopefully, we will do the same this year! 

I would have liked to go to South Dakota this year too, but since we have to go to Milwaukee to take Logan back to college, it just won't work out. Maybe in three years and we can keep going to yellow stone. There just isn't enough of summer to fit in everything. 

I have a few errands / Returns to do today. Plus, Zoey needs a bath. I am out of my favorite lunch, popcorn so a trip to Costco will have to happen today. 

I want to ebike ride too. Plus, should make time to go workout at the gym. My car also needs to go into the shop tomorrow at 8am for fuel pump recall. I get a loaner car at least so that's good. 

Farmers market, Car Show and Wine Tasting!

We had a packed fun day on Sunday.  First Steve and I went to the Farmers Market. Mostly to just look and buy some sun flowers. I also purchased a strawberry/rhubarb hand pie that we split. It was delicious!!! 

The Hastings Car show was going on. We were supposed to take Tim's Old Car, but he didn't get back soon enough to get the code to the garage. 

After the car show we went to the winery for a picnic lunch. They had a band playing, so that was nice. 

Sunday...

 We have plans today, Sunday Aug 20th to go to the Farmers Market, then to the Hastings Car show and finally wine tasting along the river. Should be a fun day. 

Friday Biking Hastings 21 miles!!

Friday the kids and I went for a 21 mile bike ride. We rode past the buffalo and all the wild flowers.  

Stopped in Hastings to have a coffee flight at Cork and Froth. 

I loved all the flavors this month!! 

Over looking the River. 

St. Croxi 90*F August weekend!

 It was a hot August day on Saturday. We decide to spend the day boating on the St. Croix river. Made for a perfect day just relaxing in the water and having grilled burgers on beach. 

We did a little fishing before picking up Celina, Don and their friends. Just boated to the Island and grilled burgers, hung out on the boat and floated in tubes. A hot but relaxing day on the very crowded river! 

The water felt great! Nice and cool on a hot day! 

After we went to Kings to get dinner with Steve's parents and Aunt. A late night out!