a little bit of me.

{back!}

OK, i've been a little MIA the past week.  We spent the holiday with our families in South Florida.  So good to get a little warm weather and bright sunshine (especially coming back to the snow that has yet to stop falling today).  Took a ton of photos...  My fave by far is this one (snapped on the beach in Ft Lauderdale):

Had a fabulous turkey day dinner - hosted by Eric's parents - although I ate a portobello mushroom instead of turkey - YAY for mushrooms!  :)

The Christmakkuh holidays seem to be creeping up with lightening speed.  Almost everyone on our block has lights up outside their home.  Have to get on that asap...  Ordered a ton of gifts today online...  Just have to start gift-wrapping as soon as they start arriving.

Working on a few scrap projects - which is always fun.  Confiscated a ton of baby photos of both myself and Eric from our mothers while we were home.  I have to scan them in and touch them up and have them reprinted -- it's so great to be able to resurrect these forgotten photos and use them on modern pages.

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend -- i have to catch up on reading blogs.  Here are a few more photos from our afternoon at the beach:

{weekend wrap-up}

I am officially a part of the new millenium now that I own one of these:

Eric surprised me with a new ipod for my birthday.  Totally unexpected, but i LOVE it!  Now i just have to figure out how to work it...  Eric has had a shuffle-ipod-thing for a few months, he uses it when he does yardwork, etc...  and I have seen other people's ipods... but never had one myself.  I have a feeling that my technology-knowledge will greatly expand over the next few weeks...  First thing I need to do is find an alternative set of earphones.  Those little foam covered plugs that come with the pod are a total no-go.  I feel like I'm jamming them in my ear and creating permanent ear damage...  so if anyone has any recommendations, I'm all ears (haha - pun intended!).

The rest of my birthday day and weekend went by WAY too quickly...  Eric surprised me by scheduling a massage for me at an aveda salon in st. paul on Friday afternoon.  TOTAL goodness....  loved every minute of it.  We had dinner out Friday night, and then went to the Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis on Saturday.  They have an Andy Warhol exhibit running right now...  and i fell in love with this piece: (image shamelessly ripped off of the internet :)

I've always been a Marilyn fan...  and seeing this in person just made it jump out all that much more.  Been looking through some online galleries of Warhol's work, and have realized how much I love almost everything he did.

While we were at the Museum, we had lunch at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant that's located on one of the upper levels.  Total yumminess, and delicious views of the city as well.

Spent most of today installing these shelfs from Pottery Barn in the family room.  I love them...  we did 4 shelves going up the wall in the family room, to add a little interest to the largely undecorated space...  I'll have to take a photo when i add some photos/"clutter" to them -- right now they're still empty...  but that doesnt stop me from admiring them every time i walk by.  :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend...  only 2 days before we get to migrate south to florida for Thanksgiving weekend - yay!

{happy birthday to me!}

I woke up this morning to this....

My amazing hubby actually BAKED cupcakes for me this morning, before he left for work.  Beter yet, they have PINK frosting - yummmmmmmmmm!  Meeting him for lunch in an hour and he said that there are more surprises in store - yay!

Oh, and a HUGE, big, Gigantic "Thank You" to everyone who created a special little Flower for me....  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM ALL!!!!!!!  I feel beyond blessed to have such amazingly talented friends.  And a special thank you to Kelly for organzing (who I believe is in Chicago right now?!?! -- can't wait to hear how you're trip goes girl!).

P.S.  --  Photo taken with my amazing new Canon 28-135mm lens...  i am in looooooooove with this lens!

{SNOW}

The first snow of the season...

For someone who grew up in Minnesota, or in the North, or even someplace that it occasionally snowed, this wouldn't be all that exciting.  But for me - the Florida Girl who saw snow for the first time at age 21 - this is always a big deal.  When we lived in Philly, we really didn't see snow before January...  so while November is a little early - I'll take it.  Everything just seems so fresh and peaceful.  And here are a few more pics - mainly for the benefit of my family in Florida...  who experience the seasons vicariously though me.  :)

{tagged!}

TAGGED!  By the uber-talented Ms. Jessica Sprague...  Thanks Chickie!!  Ok, here are my answers:

2 - names you go by: Susan, Suz

2 - parts of your heritage: German, Scottish

2 - things that scare you: Late and/or frantic phone calls (there is never a GOOD reason for them), Aging

2 - of your everyday essentials: Kiehls moisturizer, Diet Pepsi (altho I'm trying to cut back!) :)

2 - of your favorite bands or musical artists: Blue Merle, John Mayer

2 - favorite songs: Daughters, Change (tracy chapman)

2 - things you want in a relationship (other than real love): honesty & that “realness” factor – nothing fake needed at any time, ya know?

2 - of your favorite hobbies: I’m not counting Sbing, since its currently my only “job”.  Soooo… shopping, and photography

2 - things you want really badly: the new QK punctuation set (!) and a new lens for my camera… (thinking about this one now)

2 - places you want to go on vacation: San Francisco/No. Calif vineyards & a return to St. John, USVI

2 - things you want to do before you die: Travel throughout Europe, and be at peace with what I’ve accomplished in my lifetime…

2 - ways that you are stereotypically a chick: decisions decisions decisions.  I am horrible with even the smallest decision.

2 - things you are thinking about now: Going to Pottery Barn this afternoon (!), and how its going to SNOW here this week.

2 - stores you shop at: (most frequently?!?!) -- Banana Republic & Target

3 - people I would like to see take this quiz: Kelly, and Ali (but then i found out she was already tagged!), and Becky,  and Deb, and Kim K. :) (ok so that was more than 3!)

Happy weekend everyone!!!  (JUST a little computer update -- everything was reformatted and it honestly seems better than ever -- superfast!!!)  oh, and thankfully I didnt break anything while cleaning the house...  :)

:(

I am banned from touching any household electronics for the remainder of this week.  So far I have broken both my desktop computer (monday) and seriously damaged my digi-rebel (today).  :(

The computer is infected with some sort of start page virus (i'm on eric's laptop right now)...  Worst part of it was that I havent backed up photos since LAST NOVEMBER -- bad bad BAD!!!  I spent 2 days straight burning a gazillion photos to cd - thank god i got through everything prior to the computer deciding that it wouldnt open up "My Pictures" any longer...  we have to reformat everthing this weekend.

The rebel was dropped - on carpet - today...  the camera itself is fine - thank god.  The lens that was on it (18-55mm that comes with the camera) is toast.  All bent/jammed in one direction...  Looking at either the 17-85mm or 75-300mm (both with IS) as replacements...  Any comments/info/suggestions would be greatly appreciated at this point...

Going to clean the house right now and just pray that i dont break anything....

{SBEtc}

YAY.  So excited to open up my mailbox and find my copy of the new ScrapBooks Etc/BHG Photography book.  Look like it's full of delicious photos, photo ideas, and good information.  Also excited to see my hanukkah "candid" of Eric included:

Hope everyone had a fun weekend...  Eric and I saw "The Weatherman" yesterday...  somehow, Nicholas Cage's appearance on the Letterman Show, and the clip that they played (the "tartar sauce scene" for those of you who have seen the movie), led me to believe that this was a comedy?!?!  it's not.  But it was really good...  I think that we might try to see "Prime" on Fri night...  if anyone's seen it, and thinks that it sucks, please let me know so we don't waste our time - haha...  cause I will definitely get the blame for picking a crappy movie if in fact it does suck.  :)

{$48, a dental visit, and a belt}

Alrighty.  Went to the dentist this morning.  Had to have 2 fillings repaired...  I am a BIG BABY and HATE the dentist...  My friend, Lisa, told me that if I tried out the little nitrous oxide mask that I would find a new-found LOVE for the dentist -- apparently the stuff is that good...  SO, I figured what the heck...  I'll give it a whirl.  And as they are about to give it to me they let me know that it's going to be a $48 surcharge...  hmmmm....  that is approximately when my little reasoning skills start to kick into gear...  $48 is randomly enough the same amount as a very cute little belt that I saw in Banana yesterday (color = cognac, to match a pair of my boots)...  So I make a deal with myself, and decide to tough it out (with the maximum amt of novacaine humanly possible, of course!)...  and then treat myself to the belt.  Fair deal, all in all, i think... :)

PS -- all you Luxe banana card holders raise your hands (me! me!)...  its triple points days through the 5th (yay! yay!)...  just thought I'd share in case you forgot...