Moving on - a new blog!

If there is anyone out there still reading this blog, I wanted to let you know that I've created a new blog to better fit the new addition to our lives. We will sure miss being DINKs!

http://www.schneiderbabystory.blogspot.com/

Stranger in a Strange Land

Hold the phone...have we really been here almost THREE WEEKS already?

What a whirlwind!

I haven't had time to post lately because things have been absolutely nuts. On top of learning a new job and moving/selling our condo, I've been on a plane traveling every week for the past six weeks. I don't know how, but we've survived, and I'm happy to report that we're finally getting settled!

We landed in Charlotte on Tuesday, June 7th, and after two hours of putting up with a traumatized cat on an airplane, we were happy to be "home". We survived the next few days in our new empty apartment, working from the coffee shop and sleeping on an air matress that Jared blew up with the air in his lungs, until our furniture arrived on Friday. That weekend we pulled 14 hour days unpacking and arranging our new place, and I'm proud to announce that by Tuesday morning Jared had hung every last picture! We aboslutely love it here: the 13 ft ceilings, extra closet space and IN UNIT washer/dryer feel like heavan after living in 650 square feet for the ppast 2.5 years.

After our apartment was set up, I dove into my new job. As I tried to catch up, I traveled for meetings to Greenville, SC, Birmingham, AL, and back to Minneapolis. Jared, on the other hand, has been working hard to tie up our miscellaneous lose ends and detemine what his destiny will look like in his new job. We also just bought a new Mac Book Pro, to get him started in his music writing ambitions.

Tonight is the first day that things have felt a bit calmer, and we are really looking forward to spending more time with each other, exploring our new neighborhood on our new bikes, and traveling to the many amazing destinations just a short drive away. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Myrtle Beach for a little R&R, and next weekend is Charlston, SC for the Fourth of July!

I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead, and excited to share them with whoever wants to listen :)

We're on the Market!

3540 Hennepin Ave s #104

Our condo went on the market on Tueday afternoon, and Jared has already had two awkward run-ins with strangers entering our home :) We had our first showing last night, and I could get a call any minute with another one. Here's to keeping the house clean & making the bed every morning for the next few weeks! :-/

I can't believe how bad the market really is right now...hence our listing price. Let's just say it's a pretty dang good time to buy!!

Three Generations of Parks, at the Ballgame

Even though the Twins fulfilled their duty of losing, once again, we stayed entertained by the rain delay, hail, and threat of tornados. It was also pretty hilarious to watch the field crew rake up golf-ball sized hail off the field (in no particular hurry, mind you).

 

DINK in the SOUTH?!

Last week marked another major milestone in our lives: I was offered (and accepted) a promotion (yay!) as a Customer Account Manager in Greenville, South Carolina (eeerrrkkkkk)! Holy crap!

To bore you with the logistical details (but for those who are interested): Greenville is a beautiful town in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, with green rolling hills and awesome landscapes. It is about an hour and a half drive between Charlotte and Atlanta, and while it looks like it has a lot to offer, Jared and I have gotten approval to live in Charlotte, NC. Charlotte is an amazing city (from what I've heard), has a better job market for Jared and has direct (and cheap) flights to/from MSP. I will be working from my home office and traveling to visit the customer (Bi-Lo) once per week, so the 1.5 hour drive to Greenville should allow me just enough time to prep for and unwind from meetings.

So...umm...yeah...this news has been a lot to swallow, as we will have to sell our condo and re-locate to a state we have even never visited within the next MONTH! Things are already moving fast...our realtor is putting our condo on the market this week, and we'll be flying into Charlotte this weekend to look at apartments (hopefully we can find one within two days!)  Then the plan is to have the movers pack up our condo the week after Memorial Day weekend and meet us in Charlotte on June 6th. Lord I hope we can get it all done.

Underneath the excitement (and panic), the feeling is very bittersweet: we are thrilled about the opportunity and new adventures that await us, but we can't help but think about how much we will miss our family, friends and beloved Minneapolis. So much has changed and we have grown so much over the past two and a half years as we've lived in these 660 square feet: we got engaged, married, became Godparents, developed a love for running and Lake Calhoun, and spent countless nights sipping wine and indulging in the amazing restaurants all within a stone's throw. It was a great run, and sadly, this is probably the last few weeks we will ever live in Uptown Minneapolis.

But not to fret, as my new position is only an 18-month rotation, and rest assured we will return to the Great Land of 10,000 lakes. But until then.....

Chase

We spend our lives chasing things: the better job, the new car,
the man or woman of our dreams. As human beings we are
natural chasers. Our DNA and conditioning drives us to chase
what we believe will make us happy.

In the end you can have all of the stuff you chased and still feel
unfulfilled. How can that be possible when I worked so hard to
acquire all of these things?

Your happiness is based on feelings, not stuff. If you feel happy
you are happy. You can sit in your new car and still feel unworthy.
Start feeling more love for yourself and all that you have in life.
Then the external gifts will be the icing on your cake of self-love.



Joe Nunziata

Uptown Pirates

Living in Uptown Minneapolis near the chain of Lakes, we go for a lot of walks. We may simply be lazy or uncreative in finding ways to spend time together ("Honey, what do you want to do tonight?" "Uhhh...I dunno...go for a walk?"), however, we love it and continue to stumble across new hidden treasures every time we venture out. Here are some of our few recent discoveries:

• Outdoor music @ the Lake Harriet Bandshell EVERY DAY in the summer. Monday - Saturday @ 7:30pm, Sundays @ 2:30 & 5:00pm. We followed our ears one Tuesday night and were baffled when we came across hundreds of people sitting on blanets, having picnics, playing cards, all while listening to some sweet classic rock cover band. We felt so left out that we were sompletely clueless to such a fun scene. Here is a link to the music schedule: www.minneapolisparks.org/documents/activities/concerts/Lake_Harriet.pdf
• ALL DAY Happy Hour on Sundays @ Il Gato, the new Italian restaurant that took the place of my long lost love Figlio's. However, I will say that I've been pretty impressed with their service & food, and their Happy Hour menu is amazing. Nothing beats a tall caraffe of wine & chicken pesto flatbread @ $3 each!
• A really nice patio at Sushi Tango. I had no idea it was back there!!
• Rental Bikes near Minnehaha Falls! And I'm not talking your standard one-seater; I'm talking bicycles built for two and SIX people! My girlfriends & I make a day trip out of it and had a blast, while getting a pretty good work out. We will definitely be heading back there soon! Link: http://www.wheelfunrentals.com/listlocations/50
• The Cafeteria. OK...so their food & service are just decent, but it's nice to have another rooftop patio option in Uptown. The atmosphere is cool (think modern/beachy) and it has a totally different vibe than both The Drink & Stella's. It is worth the visit for a cold drink on a hot summer day.
• An abundence of drunk, sloppy, creepers lurking on East Lake Street at night. I love the Town Talk Diner's patio...but not when some bum who smells like pee and is drunk off Listerine is trying to sit next to me!
• Horrible Service at both Cowboy Slim's & The Drink.I swear, I think Slim's has two prerequisites while hiring new employees: 1) cute girl who looks good in daisy dukes, 2) brain of fluff. I couldn't believe how many times I asked a waitress or bartender a question ("Can I have that water that I asked for 10 minutes ago?) and was met by a blank, clueless stare. Even worse is The Drink, where we weren't greeted by our imaginary server the entire time we were there. We were "helped" (only when we stopped someone) by random employees and managers, all who told us "We aren't your server, but I guess I can get that for you". That is the first time I haven't given anything for a tip, but I was pretty proud of my clever comment on the receipt, whev I circled the name of our waitress and wrote... "Who?" 

Until next time, matey.

The DINK is back...and better than ever.

Has is really been SIX MONTHS since I've posted a blog?! Holy Hannah, time flies. It just goes to show HOW MUCH has gone on in the past 180 days...

* Started a new job and and loving it!! I'm working on a brand I am very proud of, so being crazy busy and trying to keep my meetings and e-mails straight doesn't bother me.

* Um...GOT MARRIED!! :) My fellow DINK made me the happiest wifey on the planet on April 24, 2010. I'm going to go ahead and answer the two questions that everyone has been asking me, so you don't have to :):

• Q: So Ashley, did anything go wrong? There's always one good horror story...
• A: Honestly, NOTHING! I am almost disappointed that I don't have a juicy story to tell. The day was absolutely perfect in every way, and I have my family, friends and wedding coordinator to thank for pulling all the strings to make the day fun & relaxing for me. Stay tuned for "The Wedding, in Review", in the near future.
• Q: That's great! So, how's married life?
• Married life is good :) But in all honesty, it's not that different than it was before. The best part (besides wearing a bigger, more sparkly ring on my finger...:) is that now we are finally and "officially" a family. We have felt that way for years, but now we are in the eyes of God & everyone else. It feels so nice to know that my BFF is going to be next to me for laughs, support and love for the rest of my life. Halelujiah!

OK, even though you didn't ask, I will tell you the worst part about being married. Changing your name! Don't get me wrong, I am proud to be a Schneider, but not only is it hard to get used to, but the logistal details are HORRIBLE! I am still waiting for my new drivers license, and have gotten 2 credit cards back with the last name spelled wrong. And I still have my student loans & probably a few more permament records to change. Oh yeah, and did I tell you my "legal" middle name is now registered different with the U.S. vs. the State? It's a long story, but in short, I will either have to go to the state court & pay $300 to make it the middle name I want (Park) , or sit in line for 5 hours at Social Security to make it the middle name I'm just ok with (Marie). Fun, fun, fun... :)

Ahem...so, where was I? Oh yeah...

* Went on our HONEYMOON to Puerto Rico & The Virgin Islands! We had an amazing, relaxing time and it was great to finally sit back do NOTHING after a stressful few months prior to the wedding. Stay tuned for the Honeymoon, in review.

* Took a road trip to Nashville for Ryann Schneider's (Jared's wonderful cousin's) wedding! Nashville is a freeking BLAST, and the wedding was beautiful! Not to mention, we had a great time on the road. Interstate Bingo, anyone?

So, I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but the moral of the story is that the DINK is back and better than ever! Stay tuned for random stories, restaurant & movie reviews, and sporadic thoughts, comments & crap.

MISSED YOU!! :)

Floozies in training

As much as I want to put my party shoes on and dance to this song, and even if it slightly reminds me of our girls trip in Vegas, I am horrified that young girls are listening to this crap on the radio.

Does that mean I'm an old maid already?

2009 in Review

Hello 2010! It's GREAT to see you. There are many things I am looking forward to in the new year: a new position at work, a new husband, grad school (not sure if "looking forward to" is the correct term for that one...), and even more exciting: the unknown.

Yet, before I fully embrace 2010, I must look back on 2009 and bid it a "fair" fairwell. So, please join me as I remember the highlights of what 2009 brought to my life:

* January = Suck. As usual.
* Valentine's Day @ Tony & Tina's Wedding
* My 24th birthday @ Pancho Villa
* Our first spring/summer living in Uptown: jogs around the lake, BBQs & hosting parties
* The birth of my first niece (God Daughter) & nephew!
* Becoming great friends with my NRO loves :)
* My mom's wedding!
* Hairball at Dibbo's in Hudson, WI
* Many trips to the cabin
* Mom's 50th birthday
* Basilica Block Party
* Extended girl's Labor Day Weekend festivities
*Oktoberfest/Lind's Bday at Gastof's
*Friends of St. Jude Vineyard Tour
* Jared bought new car
* Haunted Hay Ride with Dad
* VEGAS!
* Many nights out at amazing restaurants with Jer-Ber
* An awesome Thanksgiving & Christmas
* New job offer!

Oofda. What a year.

In 2010, I hope to take more pictures & start scrapbooking. Life is good and I want to remember everything.

Bring it ON!

Don't Fear the Inevitable

As I do some pre-planning for our trip to Macy's tomorrow to start our first wedding registry, I can't help but wonder what married life will be like and what things will change. Even though we have been together for what seems like forever, and already feel like a married couple in most ways, everyone promises that being married changes things.

While I am absolutely estatic and excited for our life as a family to begin, I can't help peering into the crystal ball and staring the inevitable straight in the face...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

...makes for the most DEPRESSING post-holiday blues. As Christmas is my favorite time of year, I hate when it is over. Even so, we had an amazing holiday with our friends & families; we are so blessed! Here is a sneak peek at what this year brought:

Wednesday: Christmas at my Dad's in Prior Lake. Lots of cookies, home made chili, and brand new luggage for our honeymoon in May! We ended the day seeing Avatar on the Monster Screen and I surprisingly LOVED it. A good love story is always appreciated, even if it is among aliens.

Unfortunately, I left my camera at home, so no pics to share :(

Thursday: Christmas Eve was hosted at my Mom's house. 29 of our family members on the "O'Rourke" side gathered (despite the snow storm) for an amazing dinner, Tom & Jerry's and a fun gift exchange. My favorite gifts both came from my generous mother: a heart rate monitor that will measure my heart rate & calories burned during my workouts, and one of her old pearl & diamond rings restored beautifully. I'm so excited to pass it down to my daughter some day!

Highlights:

Friday: Christmas morning at the Schneiders, where we (as always) had an amazing brunch and took turns opening gifts in front of the tree. And as usual, everyone was much too generous! Jared was excited to get an old record player, a "dragon" shirt (dork), and a GPS for his car.

Highlights:

The festivities ended with the annual party at Jared's Aunt & Uncle's house, and a fun game of "Mueder in my Town".

'Twas a great week, but as all good things, it came to an end. Now we are anxiously looking forward to all the great things (known and unknown) that 2010 has to bring!

Revenge of the Turkey

Ahhhhhhh...Thanksgiving. One of the best holidays of the year. A holiday centered around food, family, and most importantly: tradition. It is easy to take tradition for granted, and unexpectedly hilarious things can happen when someone throws a wrentch in your routine.

Here is a sneak peek at our typical Thanksgiving traditions:

1. Thanksgiving Eve: We join our friends at the local "townie" bar, to see old faces and celebrate the long weekend.
2. Spend the night in my mother's guest room, to stay close to all the happenings of the next day.
3. Thanksgiving Morning: We join Jared's family for the annual morning bowling. I always lose.
4. Thanksgiving early afternoon: Return to my mom's house to grab all of the delicious foo...

...knock knock knock...

"Mom!"

...pound pound pound...

"Mooooooooooom!!"

Silence.

She locked me out of the house. Even worse, she also locked all of my food, that I had spent the entire night before preparing, inside the house. Ugh.

I make my way to all 5,000 windows in the house to see if any are left open just enough for me to slide through. No luck. The place is locked up like Fort Knox.

Just as I am ready to give up, I realize that I skipped the sliding glass door to the basement. I make my way down to the hill, and as I approach the door a large dark figure that previously resembled a rock comes barrelling at me, coming so close to knocking me over that I feel the air from his feathers blow across my face.

Yes...feathers.

As a scream escapes my throat I finally make out what the object is...

GOOD LORD, IT'S A TURKEY!!

I stand in shock and watch the obese bird run faster than any animal or human I have ever seen run in my life, hauling ass down our hill, across the street, and into the woods.

I fall over laughing. I am, in fact, just about to eat his cousin; the least he can do is give me a heart attack. Oh the irony...

In spite of the locked up food and turkey attack, we had a great Thanksgiving :)

Waking up from Vegas...

I apologize for my lack of postings lately. I escaped to Vegas for a week, and whoever survives a week in Vegas deserves a full 2-week nap. Plus, I needed some time to do some major catch-up on work, wedding planning, and just life in general. I was in Sin City Oct. 28 - Nov. 5 for both work and pleasure. The work part wasn't as much fun, as it was a 3-day meeting for which I was the main planner/coordinator. So basically, I was responsible for the organization of schedules, meals & entertainment for 130 people, all while averaging approx. 3 hours of sleep per night. Not fun! So let's get onto the good stuff...

My girlfriends and I have a tradition of going on a mini-vacation every Halloween, and this year they (being the amazing people they are) decided to throw me an early bachelorette party in the process! And what better place than Vegas?! We had an unforgetable trip, and with all of the "perks" we received by traveling as a pack of 14 young women, I vow to never travel to Vegas any other way. Here are some highlights...

At the airport...on our way!

Night #1 we found ourselves at the ever-popular "Men of X" show at the Hooters Casino. What a hoot!

Day #2 - Lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville where I got brought up on stage to belly dance! As you will see, I continued to flash the t-shirt that my girlfriends bought for me, which read, "By me a shot, I'm tying the knot!"

Night #2 - My bachelorette. My friend Jenny Carle surprised me with this amazing bachelorette dress, which she MADE! Thanks again Jenny!!

Opening fun gifts... :)

And all of the girls outside of Olives in the Bellagio. Aren't they beautiful?!

Day #2 - Halloween. Well, Ashley needed to sleep in a little... But don't worry. We got all gussied up in our Superhero costumes, and hopped in our limo...

...to make our way to PURE Nightclub, where we sat in VIP all night, and I found my superhero twin! (only with blonder hair, more makeup, and more, eh, plastic)...

OH YEAH! And I got to sing with a Las Vegas Pussycat Doll!!!!!!

Day #3 - Lazy pool day...

...Followed by the Cirque du Solei Beatles LOVE Show (where we got upgrated to front row!)

...Followed by an evening trip to the Palms hotel to take the Playboy staff up on their offer of free VIP and bottle service! (the only condition: NO MEN at the table. That was more than fine by us :)

Our waitress

It was a perfect get-away.

Reality bites...

Haa Hee Hachoo!

Just as I was getting ready to schedule my flu shot, I caught the bug. I'm assuming the little bugger got me at some point on the plane to/from SLC, in spite of me choking down glasses of the disgusting "Airborne". The doctors won't even let me come in for an appointment due to my "flu like symptoms" and the risk of infecting others, so they instructed me to stay at home and rest, drink fluids, and don't come back into work until my temp. is under 100 for 24 hours without meds. It spiked to 100.4 for the first time this morning and afternoon, but it was down to 99.8 tonight so I'm monitoring it and hoping I can be back in business by Thursday. I hate being a prisoner to my home, I even had to miss our wedding menu tasting tonight! :( So, I have been home from work for the past two days and will be again tomorrow looking a little something like this:

*Photo was e-mailed to me today compliments of a co-worker and his excellent skills with photoshop. I think they miss me in the office :)

On a better note, I had a great weekend. Got to see Zombieland (which was hilarious), visit the Trail of Terror (which was predictable, but fun none the less), and play with wedding flowers with my friend and florist Micki.

Now have a good week and I'll see YOU when I'm better.

Salt Lake City

I am in Salt Lake City on a business trip. I am in my hotel room with sandals on, because you never know what is in the carpet. I can describe most of what makes up this town with three "M"s: Mountains. Mexican restaurants. Motels. One motel even advertised their "Honeymoon Suite". Oh yeah, and I walked past a bridal boutique called "Later Day Brides". Don't see that every day. There seems to be a large Mexican population here. At first I wondered why Mexicans would migrate "so far north", but then I looked on a map and realized Utah is just east of Nevada. Duh. The temple is beautiful, but other than that Salt Lake looks like an "Old West" town in the middle of a beautiful mountain basin. There are a handful of modern buildings and nice restaurants, but other than that everything is pretty old & run down. But like I said, the scenery is to die for. Just gorgeous. Meh, check it off the list. At least it's warm here. Back to the tundra tomorrow...

Napa Valley, MN...!?

Interesting fact of the day: The Midwest is one of the fastest-growing areas for vineyards and grape crops in the nation in both land mass and production, and major wine-producing states such as California are already starting to feel the economic "pressure" from the rolling plains in the Midwest. Jared and I learned that tidbit of knowledge this past weekend on the 2nd Annual "Barefoot Bus to the Vineyards" sponsored by Twin Cities Friends of St. Judes. This AWESOME event loaded about 40 "young professionals" onto a bus from Minneapolis to three amazing vineyards on the MN Wine Trail (numbers 1 - 3 on the below map). When the event "hostess" cracked a bottle of champagne as the bus departed at 10am, I knew it was going to be a great day.

The day started at stop #1: Valley Vineyards in Prescott, Wisconsin. We were amazed as the bus pulled into a quaint, country neighborhood and led us to a beautiful home and vineyard on a hill. It turns out the owner got "the itch" three years prior and started making his own wines in his basement, and soon after his hobby turned into a full-blown vineyard. It was inspiring to talk to him as he has my dream job! We tasted his wines, toured his cellars, ate cheese and had great conversation with his neighbors who poured the wine for us. He recruited them in the very beginning stages to help him bottle, label, and eventually build his cellar. I hope I have neighbors like that someday.

Stop #2 brought us to Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery in Maiden Rock, WI. This is a GORGEOUS little town that is literally on a rock overlooking the river. I would highly reccommend passing through if you ever have a chance. This winery was adorned with hay bales, pumpkins, scarecrows, and anything else you would hope to see in the fall. It was very impressive to see a larger more festive location after visiting a small, newer vineyard. They lead us on a tour, showed us how they make their fruit wines & hard ciders, and finally lead us to the tasting room!

Stop #3: Vino in the Valley in Ellsworth, WI was last but definitely not least. Out of all three vineyards this was by far the most beautiful. The building was fantastic and the scenery was breathtaking. I couldn't believe I had lived only an hour from such a beautiful place for my entire life but I had never been there nor even heard of the place. The "outdoor" building was toasty in spite of the 40-degree weather (thanks to the wine and many heat lamps) and they lead us straight into a tasting which was followed by a yummy outdoor italian dinner. We then sat by the bonfire, played bean bags, and relaxed on a hayride.

The day wasn't cheap, but every penny we spent went toward helping the kids at St. Jude's Hospital. It was an amazing day, and we can't wait to go back next year!!

Engagement Pictures

About a month ago Jared & I had an outdoor engagement session with our wedding photographer - Alex del Toro from Imagen International. LOVE him. We already had engagement photos taken by Jared's aunt Peggy about a month after he proposed, but our new photographer insisted he do one with us as well so he could get to know how we photograph (plus - he did it for free. SCORE!)

So, on a lovely and HOT September Sunday afternoon we headed toward the lakes to meet Alex and take some lovey-dovey photos in front of the hordes of walkers/joggers/boaters/eaters. Jared was pretty embarassed at first..."You mean, I have to kiss HER, in front of ALL THESE PEOPLE!?"...but after Alex made fun of him and talked some football, he settled down. Here are a few of our favorites:

I can't wait to marry this man!!

Welcoming Fall

What a smack in the face. I love fall, but this year it hit HARD. The 2nd to last weekend in September the weather was still beautiful - low 80's, sunny, pleasant. And then our wonderful state remembered who she was and pulled the rug from under us. In less than a week it changed to mid-40s, windy and RAINY! I don't think it has stopped "drizzling" in an entire week. What's up with that? But, instead of complaining, I am going to embrace this lovely season with my entire being. While it is depressing to say "good bye" to summer, I do love fall, especially: Pumpkin spice coffee, changing leaves, leaving the window open at night and cuddling under the covers, sweatshirts, decorating the yard with pumpkins and scarecrows, apple orchards, scary movies, HALLOWEEN. But not so much: how it only last about a month in MN, and then Old Man Frost settles in for the next 5-6 months. To get into the spirit, Jared and I have already knocked out two horror movies (watch: The Blood Book - creepy movie!!), bought a bottle of Pumpkin Spice syrup for our morning coffee, and headed out with a group of our friends this weekend for Oktoberfest at Gasthofz in NE Minneapolis. We went to celebrate a few special birthdays, and had a BLAST! You can't lose with good friends, Steins of German beer, and a real live polka band. Here are some highlights: "Snuff Lady!!" The birthday girl on stage with the polka master! And speaking of Fall and pumpkins, tonight we got to visit our favorite little pumpkins who just turned 6 months old! Photo courtesy of their blog :) :