I drove to Woodstock, Maryland (near Baltimore) for the wedding of my college friend, Jennifer Bertsch.

Vince and Jen ~ They had the most beautiful ceremony


Jen and I


Jen's Parents with Jud's wife Amy and little girl Milly ~ the wedding party was not present as they were taking photos.


Jud, Amy and Milly Bertsch ~ Our senior year at Augsburg College, Jud was our 7th roommate at the PSI house.


I visited with Jen and Vince's friends from TMH hall and Vince's colleagues.

Shane, Jen and Ysabel stopped by and took our official moving picture. Spike is sporting his tank top from Amy and Ted. They thought he needed a little help fitting in with the other New Jersey dogs. Look for your card coming via snail mail soon.




Ysabel was yelling "CHEESE" for the photo

Front of the house ~ The house was built in the 1890's



Spike and I have the backyard all to ourselves ~ Come on over for a BBQ!! The bulbs were already planted ~ come on you know I don't have a green thumb!!



The view from New Jersey. On the far right you can see the Empire State Building

I went to Central Park today with Shane, Jennifer and Ysabel for a concert (Earth Day). What a beautiful day ~ high 70's and sunny.


It was great having company my first weekend in New Jersey. Jennifer (friend from highschool) and Kristin (friend from college)


Kora and Ysabel thought it would be great to have a sleep over.

I am having a BBQ today. This has forced me to kick it up and unpack all of my belongings, well almost all. I took some pictures of the place.

Livingroom from the front door. Off to the right is the front room but I cannot take a picture of that particular room at the moment.


If you take the doorway on the left it will lead you to the two bedrooms and the bathroom. The doorway to the right will take you to the kitchen and the backyard.


The only items that fit in my bedroom is my king size bed and dresser. The nightstands are in the hallway ~ they are making a wonderful linen closet. :-)




This is the second bedroom ~ shades need to be ordered. That is on my to do list for next week. This room is ready for a visitor!!


Partial picture of the kitchen.


More pictures to be posted shortly. . . . .

Carol

My belongings that have been in storage in Raleigh/Durham North Carolina arrived Tuesday morning. My front room and the extra bedroom was the dumping ground for all of the boxes. I have been unpacking and getting very creative with storage in my new apartment. I am also forced to go through and discard items. The dog house that was made by Tom, JT and Sam is still sitting on the front porch of the house. To get to my backyard you have to go through the house. It made it into my apartment but it would not go through the doorways once inside the livingroom. I really did not want it as furniture inside my apartment. My landlord, Peter, is going to help get it into my backyard.

The dog house can be seen in the picture below taken at Robbinsdale, MN. It is built like a house ~ siding, shingles etc. Oh and it is extremely heavy. I cannot believe I have brought this dog house to 3 states already. :-)

The drive is over! We arrived in Weehawken, New Jersey around noon today. Spike did really well for the long drive. He was attempting to come out of his car seat but thank goodness he was strapped in.

Shane, Jennifer and Ysabel came over to see the place (and to see Spike). They brought me all the necessities (aero bed, towels, paper products and food) until my belongings arrive from Durham (Tuesday).

Ysabel and Spike got along great. They were looking out my front window ~ checkin' things out. Spike is still in his harness (also his seatbelt) from the LONG drive. Spike is standing in his car seat ~ It is GOOD to be Spike.


The winds were not as bad as expected. We did receive a LOT of rain.

Drove 480 miles today. I am staying in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. Spike and I have about 250 miles to drive tomorrow. The news of the hour is that a huge storm will be hitting NJ/NY around noon tomorrow. Got to love my timing!! :-)

Spike and I drove to Portage, Indiana. The timing of our arrival in Chicago could have been better. We arrived just at the end of the working day. I also enjoyed the road construction. Overall the trip was not that bad.

It was Tom's last day at Select Comfort. It was great seeing a lot of my friends.

The man of the hour - Tom Burkhart


Troy and Renee


Sarah


Beth B (we also worked at Fingerhut together) and Dan

The car is getting packed. It is times like this that I wish my car was a little bit bigger.

Met up with Jill (friend since 1st grade) at the Galleria ~ Crave Restaurant. The sushi combo was excellent!


I visited friends in Robbinsdale (my old neighborhood) last evening. Spike hung out at the Bettenga's ~ he made himself immediately at home. It was great visiting with Taylor and Mark (Kathy and Emily were both working). I had dinner (takeout from Athen's Cafe) with Judy and Sharon.

It is snowing in Minnesota today! This is insane!! Spike and I leave Friday morning for the drive to Weehawken, New Jersey. I found a 2+ bedroom apartment (actually the first floor of a house) with a backyard. The plan is to drive 500 miles the first day, 400 miles the second day and 300 miles the third day. I will keep you posted.

Spike was groomed yesterday in an effort to make him appear presentable to the landlord.

Tom (my brother) and Spike ~ Spike adores Tom, Tom attempts to put up with Spike.


Sam and Spike ~ the roomies
Sam took great care of Spike when I was in Brooklyn.

Monday: Met up with friends from Select Comfort for breakfast (Mike, Larry and Steve)




Sunday: Easter celebration at mom and dad's house.
Spike - I missed him when I was in New York. He is excited about becoming a Jersey DAWG!


Marie, Carissa and Megan were assisting my mom in the kitchen.


THE BOYS: Back row - David, Spike and Sam. Front row - Ben and J.T.



Saturday: Met up with the girls at Bulldog NE. What a great restaurant!! I had the truffle burger with Brie ~ WOW!!! Amy, Buffie, Karla and I enjoyed some much needed girl talk.



Friday Night: Celebration of Heidi's life at Green Mill. Barb, Kristin, Bart, Wendy and Cindy.

Spring is upon us so I am sending out my yearly reminder to wear sunscreen. I cannot believe it has been 5 years since we lost Heidi Huber to skin cancer. We are getting together tomorrow night at The Green Mill in Uptown to celebrate her life.

I am off to Astoria and Hoboken today to view apartments.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Pick up your sunscreen today (SPF 15)

Carol

For my Minnesota visitors - Please hold June 9th

Finnegan's Summerfest is a benefit concert on June 9, 2007 at the Cabooze in Minneapolis to benefit Heading Home Hennepin, a 10-year directive to end homelessness in Hennepin County. Along with the Minneapolis Jaycees, Finnegan's Irish Amber will host 18 bands on 3 separate stages for an all-day music festival. Band line up will be announced soon.

I am headed back to Minnesota on Friday. I will be in town for a little over a week. My dad will be released tomorrow from the care facility. It will be great to have him home for Easter. My parents put a chair lift in the house as stairs are troubling and we don't want another fall.

I cannot wait to see Spike. He is now staying at John and Buffie's house playing with their clumber spaniel, Sampson. Buffie does make a point of telling me everytime we talk that 'Spike is depressed, he is not himself.'

Click here to watch my debut in Blades of Glory! I can see why it was the number 1 film for the weekend. I still need to get to a theatre and see it.


Ysabel and her rain attire - how stylin' is she?


Jennifer, Shane, Ysabel and I went to Chinatown for dimsum. Ysabel played at the park afterwards.