Passion

 I am going crazy! I can't run! I am a really active person and today I hurt my neck and can hardly move! Of course I hurt it figure skating and running! It was worth it, trust me! 

My Passion

Passion!

Finding what you are passionate about in life can be hard. One of my first and greatest passions is figure skating. I fortunately found my passion when I was twelve! (That's late for most skaters.) If only I could still do it every day. All that grown up crap get's in the way now! I only make it to the rink about once a month! There is nothing like being on the ice though, it's home to me! Hence it was totally worth the neck pain!

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." ~ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Be passionate about everything you do in life! "Life." is too short!

Farmers Market

Going home to my parents this time of year is like going to the farmers market for free! The grape tomatoes taste like candy! The spaghetti sauce is still simmering on the stove! The aroma is absolutely amazing!

Fine.

Day #2!

Started off with none other than a stop at MUGS before the boat riding! We just couldn't get enough! You know what I really wish? I really wish I had a sweet coffee house like this in my town!

One last honey latte!

 I finally got to meat her boyfriend! Such a fun nice guy!

Love this girl!

Let's just say Maggie's Mom is AWESOME! Rocking out to Flo Rida Who Dat Girl on the boat!

Oh my word so funny!

Water sports! Tubing! Maggie's little sister so cute and brave! We also had a great game of keep away in the water and water gun fights! So so much fun!

Maggie was still dry! So I took care of that! hehe

Such amazing days to end the summer on! Thank you Maggie's family again for letting me crash your vacation! Maggie's the best! I am going to miss her already miss her! Thank goodness we are so good at planning! Until October:)

Fine!
Italian 

Pronunciation: Fee'-nay

Definition: "Marks the end of a movement or composition, usually following a repeat command."

Repeat? Yes please!

Well let's just say I'm crazy! I had so much fun last weekend that I just had to do it over again! Maggie is so brilliant! After a few sips of wine on the boat the first weekend, she goes: "You should come back next weekend!" Me heck yes I am so on board with that! haha She is so smart! She must have been home schooled:) So here I am posting about another fun weekend in Green Lake!

Day #1: Birthday Bash!

"22" Happy Birthday Sam!! "22"

If he is looking a bit groggy that's because
he hasn't had his coffee yet!

Oh yes we took care of that!!:)

We love this place! I have dubbed Maggie the Espresso freak:)

What can I say we're just a bit goofy at times! It sort of just happens when we're together:)

There that's better! "Awake"

Mug shot!

Celebrating with the family!

Yes! they are all like family to me! I feel so welcomed and at home when I am with Maggie's family! Heck I crashed there vacation TWICE!! 

Oh yes more birthday celebrations!:) Our new favorite drink! Gin and tonics! The gin was his birthday present!

  "I caught a turtle and he is mine and his name is Ted!"  

We stopped off for some birthday cake ice cream! Some of the biggest ice cream cones I have ever seen! Along the way we also heard a hick twangy band....in other words a terrible band, with lots of interesting people in the audience! Definitely stopped to people watch!

Me: "It's so big!" (Innocent statement!) Sam: "That's what she said!" Oh my gosh SAM!!! Needless to say we couldn't stop laughing! 

No I'm not a dork! "Rachel your ice cream is in your other hand!! duh!"

Creepy painted guy on the side of the building!

"It's DRUNK! Baahahaha!" (Bee)

Thank you for letting me celebrate your birthday with you Sam! It was way too much fun as usual!
Day #2. Still to come ever so soon!

That WOULD Happen!

Oh man this WOULD happen on the busiest day of my week! So it was a great Tuesday night, got to bed early in preparation for my busy work day the next day and....................At 11:45PM my smoke alarm goes off! Really? Scared the crap out of me! Flew out of bed still registering what the heck that noise was. It only went of for a couple seconds, so I just went back to bed. Didn't really think much of it....I don't know I wasn't fully awake! This happened a few times in a row where it only went off for a few seconds at a time. So I am fully awake after that and am thinking it doesn't smell like smoke, no other alarms are going off. What is going on? So I grab a chair to see if I can reach it....no of course not it's at the top of the vaulted ceiling! So I pulled my table over....still can't reach it! Yes that would be the case! So at this point I had called my parents and they didn't know what to do either. They suggested turning off the breaker and calling the fire department! The fire department REALLY??? I am not calling the fire department! I shut the breaker off. It still went off....... it's hard wired duh! Then my Dad was worried it was a carbon monoxide poisoning alarm so I opened windows just in case. So then I tried calling the office in my apartment building....got a recording (Obviously it's 12:30AM) hit 3 for maintenance emergency. Me: "Is this a maintenance emergency?? HECK YES!!!!" So I left a message and waited for a call. Couple minutes later I get a call and my phone says incoming call from: Atlanta Georga. REALLY? ATLANTA GEORGIA! What are they going to do? This wasn't going well! Meanwhile my alarm was still going on and off! It was some prerecorded lady that said wait on the line for a representative or something like that. And no one was there......and it beeped out. Great.... this night just keeps getting better! Then luckily my phone rang again this time with a Minnesota number! It was my landlords! Thank God! So they came out and unplugged it and in the end it was a defective smoke alarm. That just happened to act up at midnight the night before a very busy work day! Perfect timing right?

Needless to say I was exhausted at work! My day was not without technical difficulties and scheduling errors either! Oh and did I say there were more Alarms going off? Yes there were, my Echo (Ultra Sound) machine beeped at me really loudly! Pretty much as loud as a fire alarm! Luckily my patient was really hard of hearing.....I am not sure she heard it at all!

I am so glad that day is behind me! Alleluia!    

Mugs of Love

The fun continued! Sunday after Church we went to the best coffee house! Mugs!

Where the Honey Latte's began!

 I love this coffee house! It is in an old building so the architecture is awesome! Big crown molding and fancy ceilings! They have it decorated so cute too:) 

We had so much fun goofing off! Being "Normal" and Catching up on Blogs and Facebook!

 Another cute coffee house! Not quite as amazing as Mugs but still cute!

Stripes stripes stripes! We got ready at opposite ends of the house! Great minds think alike:)

Until next year:) Mugs of lovely Honey latte's from home! 

Lake House!

This past weekend was absolutely AMAZING! I finally got through my pictures! Man we are like paparazzi!   

Our first morning with honey lattes in hand!

So much relaxing and yummy food! Guacamole! (I made extra just for this trip!)

We didn't have any fun at all! 

 FRIENDSHIP!

Is when you can go for years and not see talk or write to one another and when you meet up again it is like you were never apart! 

Thank you Maggie!

Our evenings were spent cruising around the lake and making fun drinks!

I LOVE BOATING!

After this trip I have decided that one day I have to have a lake house and a boat!

Thank you Maggie and Maggie's family for the wonderful weekend! Thank you Maggie's Grandma for owning a lake house and a boat, and letting us invade it:) We made so many wonderful memories that I will never forget! Oh and did I mention laughs! I don't know that I have ever laughed so hard so many times in one weekend! Okay in one day and we had four of them! Crunches were not necessary this weekend! hehe

More to come really soon!

You didn't actually think this was it did you?

I did say we were like paparazzi:)

Fun and Funny!

More of those great moments that you cannot stop laughing about!

I have been in Green Lake Wisconsin for the weekend with my best friend! Having way too much fun as usual! So so many funny moments I will never forget! Here are some of the funny sayings that came out of our mouths over the past few days!

• Oh good you bought the beer that was already chilled! You're so smart you must have been home schooled! ~ Maggie to me.
• Eww that tonic water has sugar in it.....it's like pop on my skin!
• My smile is crooked this morning! ~ Me
• Eww your face is falling off on me! ~ Me to Maggie
• Pee party: it's like a tea party but a pee party! Maggie's brother! 
• Me: I got a comment from a stranger I'm so excited! Maggie's Mom: Didn't your Mom teach you not to talk to strangers?!! hahaha (Thanks stranger for the comment!)
• I think we stopped laughing long enough to realize we were outside and I was like oh yeah there are crickets! Bahahaha
• Fiber one bars they're my to go thing! ~ Maggie

More to come about my amazing weekend in WI! I have to go through pictures galore!

No caption necessary!

Avocado and Lemon Love!

Recently I have become obsessed with avocados and lemons! I put avocados in anything I can! One of my favorite avocado recipes is none other than guacamole! My coworkers also LOVE it! We celebrate each others birthdays by bringing in a pot luck lunch everyone but the birthday girl of course! So tomorrow is a coworkers birthday and I am bringing guacamole as a condiment for our taco bar! I CAN'T WAIT! love tacos! I love it when a day at work becomes a party day! Makes the day go by so quickly! Oh and my coworkers are AWESOME! I am the luckiest girl ever to have such great coworkers!

YUMMY!!!!!

Chunky Guacamole

• 3 to 5 medium avocados cubed (Depending how spicy you want it)
• 2 T minced onion
• 1 medium clove garlic
• 1 small jalapeno chile minced (1 to 1 1/2 t)
• 1/4 C minced fresh cilantro leaves 
• 1/4 t table salt
• 1/2 t ground cumin optional (I have never used it)
• 2 T lime juice

Mix all ingredients together with a fork smashing the chunks of avocado to desired consistency! If you want it smooth you can put it in a food processor. 

My most recent obsession is lemon water! It is so refreshing! Oh and BONUS it has many health benefits! 

Lemon water: is an excellent source of anti-oxidants and vitamin C, which prevents formation of free radicals. These free radicals can cause cell death and rob electrons! It's an excellent remedy for a hangover! Learn something new every day! Not that I have ever been hungover! Seriously I have NEVER been hungover. But now if it ever happens I'll know what to do! 

This was an accidental shot when I was out walking over my lunch at work! It's my time to get refreshed and ready for the rest of the work day! It's always a good day when I get to work out over lunch!

Anyone have any fun work activities? Or new food obsessions? 

Vacation Backblog!

I'm about a month late but always better late than never! I started my vacation off with that amazing fourth of July party! That was just the beginning! With none other than my best friend from Chicago! It's a tradition that we have started I go there for new years and she comes to Minnesota for the fourth of July!

We made it to two plays! The 39 steps by Alfred Hitchkock.

Maggie's street!

The yummiest martini's we've ever had! In Lanesboro
overlooking the river!

And The complete works of William Shakespeare hilarious!

The morning she got me back into blogging! Thank you:)

The find of the summer our first wine tasting! So fun!

Sangria's while overlooking the vineyards!

Best friends for life!

We even made it out for a couple runs!

Her first time seeing me skate! Sorry I didn't skate very
well!

Keeping us going!

Beautiful!

So many lazy afternoons relaxing by the pool!

So sunny!

Dominioning it up! 

Couldn't have asked for a more perfect week with a more perfect friend!

Baahahahaha too fun! Our last swim before she had to go.
Water gun fight in the pool! Never laughed so hard!

It was so hard to choose what pictures to put up! Sorry there are so many it was such a fun week with a great friend!