Congrats Rachel & Grant!

My sister is now married! The wedding was yesterday, and it was so much fun! I have tons of pictures from my camera, but I will only post a few. I really hope the ones from the photographer turned out!

This was right after we got Rachel's dress all buttoned up. There were quite a few!

Rachel wore her purple mary jane crocs that day. It was a great idea! One thing less to worry about--feet hurting after a long day. :)

My friends Betsy and Jen did the music. :) This is "Prayer for Home" by Fernando Ortega

Me and my tall slurpee, Sarah

Betsy, Kate, & Jen

Sisters! :)

Cake smash!

Me, Jordan and Kate

The Happy Couple! :)

I'll be posting more pictures on Facebook soon.

Hannah

Let Freedom Ring!!

Today I turned the radio on randomly, and it was tuned to WRVM, the Christian Station that my dad listens to most of the time. It plays a lot of southern gospel music, which I am usually not a big fan of, but today I got to hear one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard, given the recent holiday festivities.

Here is the YouTube video of the recording I heard, sung live by the Gaither Vocal Band at Carnegie Hall a few years ago: Let Freedom Ring

Happy Independence Day!

What a beautiful day! The weather in Northern Wisconsin is perfect! My family got to see the local parade, with prime seating, thanks to Ogren Electronics. I got a little sun, and I am okay with it! yay for color! We grilled brats at MorMor's house, and played Outburst with the family on the deck, and then Dad and I went for a drive around the area in the 1950 Chevy. It was a "Chamber of Commerce Kind of Day" as my dad would say.

I am currently listening to my new birthday gift from my older sister Rachel. We were in Wal-Mart and I saw John Mayer's CD Continuum on display. "Buy this for my birthday present from you!" So, she did without complaint, probably happy she got away with not even getting me anything for as long as she did. I love the music, so I'm not even bitter. :) 

Dad's taking a nap downstairs and I am up in my room searching for apartments in Minneapolis for when I move back. It has been a pretty eye opening search as I scour every renting website and investigate neighborhoods. I can count on one hand the number of times that I have been in the city of Minneapolis, and now I am trying to find apartments within it? well, actually, I may have been in the city six or seven times. wikipedia.net is pretty helpful in my research. So far, I've learned that Phillips is not the most promising neighborhood for a female recent college graduate. I am trying to get as close to the Metro Rail as possible so I can just take it to Ft Snelling every day. So far, I have come up with several possibilities... but are fairly expensive. my fav? Robitshek Lofts in the warehouse dist. It may just be a dream, but I picture those movies like You've Got Mail, Hitch and others listed in this LoftLife Magazine article. Kind of funny, actually.

Well, I am getting sleepy, and I plan on making Blueberry Buckle today with MorMor.

Happy 4th of July, and remember to thank God for freedom and to pray for those fighting overseas! 

Hannah

Another day.

I finished planting all of the selected areas of my yard today. I have many bug bites to prove it, too. See the attached picture... If you can't tell, there are 5 bug bites there, and more on the hand where you can't see. They were worse the other day, but I got 3 more today and they itch like mad. The other arm is the same way. Afterbite works wonders, and the main ingredient is Ammonia! Cool huh?

I hope to post pictures of the flowers we've planted soon, because I am very proud of the work Jordan, my sisters and I have done this past week!

Unfortunately, now that I am done with that project, I have to find something new to occupy my time. I'm thinking of reading a whole bunch. I got wonderful books from a very thoughtful boyfriend and I have a whole shelf of books that I really want to read but never seem to get around to.

In a few days I get some of my cavities filled. Eep!

My mouse is fixed, and my new camera is taking awesome photos. :) It's nothing too fancy, it's just more fun than my old one, and takes great snapshots (the kind of photos I love taking the most!). And it works, which is another nice feature that my old camera didn't have. It's a Sony DSC-H10. Thanks Mom!

life and wireless mice

One birthday gift I received this year from my family was the wireless mouse for my macbook... super exciting!! unfortunately, it doesn't scroll down anymore. today it just decided to quit. It scrolls up and to the sides.... but not down. I'll definitely have to look into that.

Other than that, life is fine besides the fact that it is dealing itself to me in frustrating ways. I feel like I don't even understand myself anymore. College is the time when I feel this, have a few years of confusion, and then the self-understanding is supposed to follow!! right? Since being at home this summer, away from my friends at school, I have just found myself lacking people to imitate and think like. All of my friends carry some sort of quality that I just wish I had, and I try to ascertain it by mimicking them, and thus making it my own quality. I don't think this is wrong, as long as the characteristic is an honorable one, but now I am just wondering about who I really am, friends aside. I don't have opinions readily offered when I am in a situation and I find myself baffled at how hard it is to look at all sides of a situation by myself!!!

...I feel like I'm in high school again now that I'm home, and I don't like it. I'm not ready to grow up either. Or maybe I am, but the concept scares me. I just wish that the troubles of life could be solved like the problem my mouse is having with its scroll button. An bit of an inconvenience, but nothing more complicated than a phone call to tech support for a solution.

Happy Monday Morning...

Okay, so it's been 2 years since I have been to the Dentist. And it shows.
I picked a new dentist because I have issues with pain in my mouth. This doctor has "painless" in front of his name and he gives laughing gas in addition to novocaine. He already has a gold star in my book.

Unfortunately, I had an appointment this gloomy Monday morning, and I learned that I have a few cavities... and, by saying "a few", I really mean twelve. Yeah. you read it right. 6+6, 5+7, 8+4, 9+3, 10+2, 11+1 = 12.

I only cried in the car on my way out. It really is sad, but it's my own fault. Not even Jordan's, who, consequently, keeps sour candy in my life pretty consistantly (he's addicted and has fewer cavities than I do). oh fiddlesticks.

I am thankful for this: no crowns, the cavities not being very big, and wonderful parents that are paying for it. Because, from what I hear, paying for cavities getting filled hurts more than the actual filling. Hopefully having this new government job will help pay for things like this.
...until then, I am flossing more, brushing with more care, and minimizing the sweets.

"Oh! --And no more happiness..."

Hello, New Blog!

It has begun! I have started a blog after several years of blog-hibernation. Now that I have graduated from college and I'm supposed to be living in that real world, I figure now was a good a time as any to start one up.

I'm at home with my family in Wisconsin this summer until my new job wants me to start. I am currently being cleared for security and from what I hear, that could take months. I'll be employed by the federal government! Yow! I am filling out all kinds of forms, which keeps me busy enough in between running errands for my parents.
Yeah, it's a good life at home. :)

Rachel and I are also working on planning her wedding bit by bit (6 more weeks!). Today we started landscaping! Two of the flowerboxes in front of the house are what we worked on, but we can't plant anything there until the house is painted. Apparently, the house will be painted before the wedding, but we're hoping that doesn't mean the day before. We want flowers!! The wedding won't be at the house, but the rehearsal dinner will be, and we want everyone impressed with how well we keep our house... *snicker snicker*...

The backyard is the biggest deal, and we haven't planted back there since... who knows when. I was probably running around in diapers at that time. I have fifty feet of planting space along the rock wall in the back, and I really want full beautiful hostas!! Unfortunately, they're expensive, they start off itty bitty (even though they grow really well after that), and deer LOVE them. Considering the lifetime war we've been fighting against deer, this could pose a problem. From what I hear, Pulmonarias (cowslip) aren't as savory for deer, and they look somewhat similar. AND Aconitum Carmichaelii (monkshood) are fully poisonous to all who eat them... sounds pretty tempting.

I love this stuff. It's fun to research plants, go to the garden centers to buy what you want, and spend the day on a planting project. I even took out the weedeater today for the first time ever!!

There is a hornet stuck between my screen and the window. what do I do??

Adieu!
Hannah