A loyal running companion

No, I don't have a dog that will go out for a run with me. And no, my husband won't get up at the early hour I do to go for a run; however, my cat will always get up with me. For those of you thinking that Fred goes on a run with me...well, no...he doesn't do quite that either.

We have long side windows by our front door, and as I am making my way back from my run, and come up my driveway I see I little figure watching out the side windows. There is Fred...he's always there...morning after morning when I get back waiting for me. Okay, so the motivation is that I feed him a treat when I get back, but it's fun to think that he's waiting there to greet me.

A new CD

James got a new CD this past weekend. As I was looking at it I realized it was a Christmas CD. Of course he was really excited about it and so we played it. Yes, it is Lent...and we are three past Christmas. Oh well...might as well get some use out of it. It was rather relaxing listening to it.

It's starting to warm up...so I wonder how my caterpillar is doing? I will have to watch for him to come out soon!

While we moved a few times growing up, our family has lived in Rosemout for over 20 years, so I have always considered it my "hometown".

My parents are moving next weekend to a new home. While a new set of memories will be made there, it will be different. No more Christmases in the old house and while my bedroom was turned into something else many years ago, it was always my bedroom. There will no longer be my bedroom, or Abby's bedroom. It's my parents home now..no longer my old home. It's sad, but I am very excited for my parents!

Within 5 feet

A few weeks ago, James and I went up to Lutsen to go skiing (and yes, for all of those asking, it was warm, the snow was soft, and we had a fabulous time). I wanted to stop at Gooseberry Falls to see if they were frozen and to enjoy the peace and quiet. As we were approaching the falls, I saw three deer (a doe and her two fawns) eating from a bird feeder. We thought that we could see how close we could get. Amazingly, they let us come within about 5 feet (we didn't try to get any closer though). It was so neat to see them up close, in the peace and quiet of a beautiful state park.

My undergraduate degree is in environmental studies. I've always wanted to save the world and environment. For a long time I thought about a career as an environmental engineer, but somehow fell in love with my current career of city planning. People told me it wasn't surprising that I got married on Earth Day (April 22) even though I don't "technically" work in the environmental field. (Although for the record, city planners have a lot of influence when it comes to the environment...more than you probably think!).

I am involved with a leadership class through the local chamber of commerce and today our topic of discuss was energy and environment. I had been looking forward to this topic as I really enjoy learning about this sort of stuff. We had two tours today. The first was to Great River Energy in Maple Grove, Minnesota. This new building is the first LEED platinum commercial building in Minnesota. They have a wind turbine, partial solar roof, partial green roof, geothermal heating/cooling, and many other really cool things. The second tour was of a factory that makes peanuts (no...not the ones you eat...packing peanuts). These peanuts are made of starch and thus completely dissolve when put into water. How cool is that?! Now, every time someone sends me a package with non-biodegradable packing peanuts I am going to refer them to this company.

I had such a fun day today and now want to go out and save the environment!

It's my last day as a twenty-something. Going from age 10 to age 20 seemed to take so long, and going from age 20 to age 30 seemed so incredibly short. I guess that's what they say....the older you get, the faster time goes.

I am watching the clock tick by until tomorrow, and trying to figure out what I have accomplished over the last 10 years. I guess I can say I accomplished a lot. I received both a bachelors and a masters degree. I have held a steady job for the past 6.5 years, even receiving a promotion, in which I now supervise five positions. I found a wonderful husband, to whom I've already been married to for almost three years. I've managed to travel to five continents (North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia). I have a fabulous house and great cat, Fred, and many other things that would take too long to put in here.

As I move into the world of being a thirty-something, I ask the question, what will I accomplish in the next ten years. I have a friend at work who said when she turned thirty she made a list of all of the things she wants to do before she turns forty. Perhaps...I will follow her lead.