artist & athlete | a glimpse into real life, Heidi style | Artistic musings, business advice, and athletic endeavors, written through the lens of a highly educated mama who loves spreading joy.

March 28, 2012 · 7:22 pm

A fever, a mullet, and a postcard from Florida.

What’s up, guys? I had a great day yesterday.
I started my morning with another photo shoot over at Adventure 212. A combination of fitness shots, the daycare area, and of course, more food!

I love my photo shoots over there. I end up with breakfast (the yogurt parfait), lunch (the chicken wrap), and coffee! 🙂

I ran home to backup my photos and do some quick editing before heading over to Mattias’ house for a photo shoot with the cutest 16-month old ever.

Don’t you agree? He was so cute and such a little character. Mattias’ uncle is my friend, Danny Mitchell, so he was there and we got to catch up a little bit. 😀

After that photo shoot, I stopped over at Point Embroidery. I love those guys! Craig and Rick are a lot of fun, and I love supporting them with my business. I was double checking on our t-shirts for “Running for Rachael”… As word has spread about our cause, the Fox station in Madison heard about us. They are going to run a story about it, and want to interview us! I wanted to see if we could get our shirts in time for the interview. Luckily, they’ll be ready 🙂

Speaking of Running for Rachael… Here is my site. I hate asking for money, even for a good cause- but if you would donate a few dollars to help our cause, I would greatly appreciate it. Seriously. <;3 you all.

A great run (and awesome stretch session!) later, and I came home to make dinner for my mullet-sporting husband.

I really need to give that guy a haircut. Anywho, after dinner, I just wanted to lay around. That cold that I’ve been fighting reared its ugly head! I grabbed the thermometer to check my temp… 97.7. WTF? Of course, I was convinced that my thermometer must be broken, because I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. So I had Brian take his temperature… 95.9! Clearly, if my math skills are correct, that gave me a temp of 100+. No wonder.

Despite my shirt, I was no laughologist last night. In fact, when a big gust of wind blew open the back door, I screamed and burst into spontaneous tears. I know, a big, sick, crying, whiny Heidi is the best. Wish you were here! 😦

When I woke up this morning, the mailman had a wonderful surprise for me from a Starbucks regular- Frank! He heads south for the winter, and sent me a postcard.

I miss the coffee, but it’s my customers that I miss the most. <;;3

Miles this year: 150

PS: RIP Suunto Lumi strap. Again. I don't know if i can replace you for a fourth time. It’s time to look for a new watch, no pun intended. Grr.

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Tagged as food, photos, sick, watch

March 27, 2012 · 4:05 am

Moving the shed!

Oh, the excitement! As I mentioned earlier this week, we prepped the back yard for moving the shed. On Saturday evening, some friends came over to help!

We did it! Thanks, Ben, Mary, and Joe, for helping us lift, and thanks to Katie for taking pictures. I do love documenting our home remodeling project. Luckily for us, they stayed for a cookout and bonfire.

Katie and Ben ❤

Mary and Joe ❤

Christy and Devon ❤

Logan and Heidi <3……. Oh wait. I wanted to give Logan a kiss, but he was having none of that nonsense. Thanks to Nic for bringing our cutest dinner guest. 🙂
I have to mention the wild goose chase that happened when Abbie took a leap of faith through the backdoor when Logan had it open. We were all scrambling around the neighborhood, trying to catch her. What a little stinker!

…but I can’t stay mad at that cute little face.
On Sunday afternoon, I planted all the lilies that I’d pulled out of the back corner of our property, and I planted some more herbs in my herb planters.

We also got to eat lunch outside! I made a pretty darn delicious chicken salad, and Brian had a brat and a hamburger. Goodbye, comfort foods of winter, and hello, summer favorites!

I took advantage of the beautiful weather and rode my cruiser to teach dance lessons this week.

Have I mentioned that I seriously love teaching those lessons?! I’m still learning to be a teacher, so I’m more of a demonstrator, problem solver, and solid partner- but I help Dale however I can.
I started off today by resigning myself to the idea of having a cold. I’ve been pretending to be well for a few days, but my cold has officially made itself known. 😦 ::sniffle:: After a rushed morning of photo business and banking, I had a couple hours of solid rehearsal with Dale tonight. I love that feeling of progress. 🙂
I’ll leave you with a quote that I found when reading O magazine (Thanks, mom! I love hand-me-down magazines!!!). I don’t personally care for some of Kanye’s more public moments of unprofessionalism, but the man does seem to know how to be successful in his business!

I better get to bed- two photo shoots tomorrow will keep me busy!

Miles this year: 144

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Tagged as cooking, home improvement, running

March 23, 2012 · 8:17 pm

C’est Français, Monsieur!

Brian is hilarious. Yesterday, we were in a discussion about tulle. Well- I was in a discussion, haha. I was blabbering on about ball dresses, and Brian was half listening. 😀 I asked Brian to spell tulle, and he said, “T-H-U-L-E.” I giggled, and told him Thule was was rack system. He asked for the language of origin, and I said, “C’est Français, Monsieur.” Brian’s response? “Français, Monsieur.” hahaha. Get it? C’est sounds like “say.” 😀
In other news, I had more food photo shoots this week. Steak, anyone? Yummmmm.

Brian and I started Operation: Clean Up Backyard. We’re moving our shed to the back corner of our property, and putting in a little patio area where the shed is now. I’m so excited! We started by cleaning out the back corner- it was full of years of leaves, old Christmas trees, and brush. There was also some garbage from the previous owners, a few stray shingles from last year’s windstorm, and a bunch of random lava rocks. I did a lot of the raking as Brian dug out about 10 trees that had planted themselves a few years ago. I transplanted a bunch of day lilies to our big flower bed, too. After four trips to the yard waste drop off site, we had a clean slate to work with. We started raking the ground to be level, and put in four pavers to support the corners of the shed. We’re hoping to move the shed tomorrow, with the help of some of our guy friends.
Before:

After:

I had a great long run today. I woke up to Brian brewing me a pot of coffee, and he stopped at the store on the way home to pick up two kinds of Jolly Ranchers!

It was raining when I woke up, so I delayed my run a little bit so I could start out with dry feet. I fueled with chomps, Swedish Fish, and Jolly Ranchers today. My friends over at Starbucks filled up my water for me at mile 9. There’s nothing as crazy as walking into a coffeeshop all sweaty just to get water. 🙂 Special thanks to those guys! I was feeling a little on the slow side, but that’s the point of a LSD. I turned around out in Crossroads Commons- halfway through, I was in good spirits!

There are just two sizable hills on my route today- the hill on 10 by Iverson and the hill on Brilowski over the train tracks.

It was indeed, a LSD, but I feel good, still energetic, and not completely wasted. I’ll take it! 🙂

Miles this year: 138

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Tagged as candy, landscaping, LSD, photos, running

March 22, 2012 · 1:34 am

I’m my own boss!

I’ve had a fun week with some fun photo shoots. I had a great time over at Adventure 212, taking photos in the Bistro. I also got some delicious snacks while I was there!

I came home and took a beautiful run. Here, in bizarro Wisconsin, it was almost 80 degrees, and the daffodils were blooming. Exhibit A:

Brian and I ended up getting the Sam’s Club membership. I’m not particularly fond of Walmart, and I know they’re the same, but they have seriously good deals on things we buy.
I woke up to the birds singing loudly. Come on, nature… just a few more minutes? It’s like having an alarm clock without a snooze button.
Luckily, I stocked our fridge with some of my favorite fruits- blackberries, mango, and grapes- so I had something to look forward to when I peeled myself out of bed. Well, the fruit… And a hot cup of coffee 🙂

Our puppies wanted some, too 🙂 Now that I’m spending more time working from home, I get to spend more time with my favorite girls. <;;3

I’m so happy that the weather is so wonderful. It makes commuting by bike so much more pleasant! I rode to the inspector’s office to talk to him about building permits (backyard patio to come, yay!), and to the bank, and the co-op. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that the co-op was out of quinoa!!!! I was lucky to have two of my favorite co-op employees there- Noah and Matt. Noah suggested that I try amaranth instead of quinoa, and Matt reassured me that the quinoa comes in tomorrow. 🙂 I rode home and made a salad with steamed sweet potato, chickpeas, amaranth, onions, cilantro, red wine vinegar, and olive oil, plus a bunch of my favorite dried spices. Yum!

Brian and I worked in the yard for a while this afternoon, and then I finished planting my seeds. I used a Sharpie to poke the holes, just like my grammy taught me! 😀

My herbs are coming in nicely from seed, but my real shining stars are my mint and my chives. They are growing quickly in the garden! I think I’ll be drinking mojitos by the weekend!

Miles this year: 122

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Tagged as healthy eating, running, shooting

March 20, 2012 · 1:17 am

St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago and my last day in the world of coffee

Brian and I had an awesome weekend together 🙂
We headed down to Chicago on Friday afternoon. Two weekends in a row with a long drive…

We made a quick pit stop in Johnson Creek at the Coach store to get a fix for my broken zipper pull on my fave handbag. Once we finally made it to Chicago (after crazy traffic in both in Milwaukee and coming into IL), we dropped off our luggage at my aunt Maureen’s house and headed over to Tank. Sushi= one more reason to love Fridays in Lent!

Once we were nice and full, we walked over to the closest L stop. We went on a little excursion downtown. I love taking the train- the more I take it, the better I get at navigating the city. We stopped at Ghirardelli and picked up enough chocolate to last us a year. On the way back to the L, I saw a frozen yogurt shop. You know the kind- the flavors are in soft serve machines and come with tons of toppings 🙂 I picked plain and berry yogurt with lots of fruit on top!

When we got back to Maureen’s house, we got to catch up with the whole family. 🙂 Late to bed, early to rise? I got up extra early on Saturday to go for a quick run. I love running in Chicago. 🙂
After a quick shower and getting dressed, I headed to Maureen’s salon to watch her get her hair done. Her stylist, Erik, at Salon Buzz is such a riot. A very funny guy and incredibly nice. I sipped on some of their cucumber lime water while waiting, and enjoyed people watching! 😀
Next stop? Picking up the rest of the family and heading over to the Hibernian float in the St. Patrick’s day parade. We had a great time…

Look at our view from the parade route! How cool. It was SO unusually hot out there- the daffodils were all blooming, and it was a beach party on the lake… complete with bikinis and beach volleyball. How bizarre! (thank you, OMC.)
After the parade, we walked back to the car and headed over to the Hibernian party. It was nice to see my family, including my dad, Tom, Tommy, Mickey, Eileen, Killeen, Steph, and of course, my uncles and cousin who “star” in the McGowans.

They were so great! The played a bunch of traditional Irish tunes, some great danceable classics, and even a cover of Mumford and Sons’ “Little Lion Man.” Love it!

Isn’t my cousin Tommy adorable? We made a date to go to Six Flags this summer.
We left the Hibernian party and hopped on a trolley with our family and friends.

Ashley, Max, Brian, Rex and I all squeezed in the back row of the trolley. 🙂 We went to a bunch of places, including Burke’s, an awesome bar owned by my cousins Brendan and Kevin. If you are over in Edgewater, check them out! Of course, we enjoyed a few Irish car bombs…

After our trolley ride was over, the 20-somethings headed over to Wrigleyville. It was like one giant street party- the roads were closed and people were everywhere! It was over an hour wait to get into any place, so my cousins took me to get my favorite Chicago food…

A Chicago dog has never tasted so good. I finished it just in time to watch the guy at the table next to us blow chunks all over. Awesome. I got to hail a cab, which was quite exciting. All that practicing in Central Wisconsin paid off, haha. Brian helped me out with his ridiculously loud whistle. That whistle is handy if I ever get lost in a crowd, that’s for sure. 🙂
We slept nice and late on Sunday, but were on the road at 11. After a quick stop at Whole Foods (oh my gosh, I forgot my bag. Get a manager!), we were on the road. The traffic was fine until we got to Milwaukee. There were two crazy accidents… One was an 8 car pileup with a semi, and the second one involved a driver getting shot while driving and crashing on the highway. All three lanes were closed. We were stuck there for a while while ten emergency vehicles flew past me on the shoulder. Eventually, the police ended up having us all back up and turn around. Have you ever driven the wrong way on the highway? We have!

I made it home just in time to rush to teach dance lessons. I love the huge group we have for West Coast swing. Our beginner foxtrot students are doing well, too!
This morning was my last shift at Starbucks. So many of my regulars were there to say goodbye. Ken, a dog-loving West-coast regular gave me a sweet card! I didn’t even cry when I left. So proud of myself! Of course, I headed right to the nail salon after my shift to have my nails done. I missed that- when working at Starbucks, the employees aren’t allowed to have their nails painted. Then again, we also aren’t allowed to have artificial hair colors or visible tattoos. ~~Bring on the hot pink streaks and arm sleeves! I’m thinking tribal, haha.~~
I came home, worked on my updated business plan for a while, and took a glorious nap. Brian woke me up with a kiss, a bouquet of flowers, and a delicious, healthy dinner. He’s so amazing… I’m in love.
I’m looking forward to a great run in beautiful weather tomorrow, a photo shoot over at Adventure 212, and checking out Sam’s Club with Brian. We’re looking into getting a membership. Any thoughts?

Miles this year: 113.5

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Tagged as beer, Chicago, running, sushi, traveling, wine

March 13, 2012 · 7:33 pm

Spring has arrived!

The weather has been unseasonal. Awesome, but incredibly unusual. I went running outside today and heard lots of birds, crunched on lots of sand, and didn’t see any snow. I wore a skirt and a tank top. It’s 55 degrees outside! I’m a happy camper.

I’m working on a daily schedule for myself, now that I’ll be able to devote more time to Photographic Memories, LLC by The Oberstadts. It’s going to be a great learning process as I work to balance photos, the business side of photos, and training. I’ll post more about leaving Starbucks later. Anyway, I finished up two sets of engagement photos this morning, and found this little gem.

I crawled up in that doorway to scope out the space for Bobbi and Kenny’s engagement photos. It ended up being a really neat spot!
I dug out my rake and started lightly raking my yard and picking up sticks. With this weather, we’ll need to have an Oberstadt bonfire soon! Spring fever is hitting hard… Cleaning, decorating, landscaping. Woo hoo!

Miles this year: 110.5

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March 13, 2012 · 2:00 am

Nuts, Lake Superior, driving, and sleeping.

We’ve had a very fun rest of our weekend. The UP Builders Show was VERY busy on Saturday. I’m pretty sure that we were the busiest booth there!

After the show, we stopped in at a local hot spot, Blackrocks Brewery. They had several (creatively-named!) beers on tap, and all the locals were drinking out of these awesome clay mugs. After an hour there, we headed over to BWW for dinner. It was right across from our hotel, so we could walk back. I had almost forgotten that we were in Michigan until I realized that they had Bell’s beer on tap. Well, hello, Two-Hearted! 😀

Even with losing an hour to the daylight savings time change, we got up early and headed to the lake so I could run a few miles on the shore. Lake Superior is beautiful! As I looked out on the water, I half-expected to see the white dotted line that separates US waters from Canadian waters. 🙂

The show was held at the Superior Dome, which looks awesome, and the UP residents are very proud of it. They informed me that it is the largest wooden dome in the world!

We had a great time up in the UP. It was our first trip up there, and everyone was so friendly! It turns out that there are a TON of Packer and Brewer fans up there. The Packers even had an event at the dome on their Championship tour.
Before we left on Friday morning, I noticed that my beloved Suunto had a blank screen. We picked up a new battery on Friday night, and I was praying that the battery was the problem, and nothing else! The Suunto Lumi is an awesome watch, and I love it, but the band breaks all the time. I’ve had to replace it twice, and I didn’t want to have to replace the whole watch. During the drive to MI, I began to wonder if my watch just gave up under the pressure of both the change of time zones and the change of daylight savings. Luckily, it was just the battery!

We got home late last night night, and I was so happy to be in my own bed. I slept 15 hours and woke up this afternoon! I’ve been sleeping a lot, so I’m going to mention that at my next thyroid appointment. I worked our home into shape and Brian and I grilled out for the first time this year! Chicken for him, Boca burger on a salad for me. 🙂

Miles this year: 104

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Tagged as beer, running, The Almond Tree, Travel

March 9, 2012 · 9:43 pm

Hello, UP!

What a whirlwind week over here.
One of my favorite “guilty pleasure” running bloggers, Skinny Runner, posted my story about Rachael. I wrote up a little thing about how running can help overcome hard times and depression, and SR thought it was a worthy thing to share with her readers. As a result, I ended up with 1,400 extra readers on my blog this week. Hello, visitors! 😀
I had a super fun long run with Kim on Thursday.

She joined me for the first nine, and I finished up with five more. The run ended up being pretty quick for me on such a windy day! I had windburnt cheeks after that run. 😦

Brian and I got up early this morning and headed up to Marquette, MI for the UP Builders Show. We’re running the booth for our good friends, Kristi and Jon at The Almond Tree.
It was a loooooooong drive in the car.

Hey! Welcome to Michigan!!!

The UP is really beautiful this time of year! I loved all the snow on the trees, looking at all the drifts, and the HUGE rocks.

Off I go… The “builders” will be arriving soon, and I hope they’re hungry! 😀

Miles this year: 100.5

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March 4, 2012 · 6:41 pm

Winter running, FINALLY!

We’ve had a snowy week here in Stevens Point. Lots of heavy, wet snow!
I ran outside on one of those snowy days. I have been battling a cold all week, and I really wanted to make some soup, but I was out of my favorite gobbetti noodles. Since the roads were dangerous, I thought I’d just run over to the co-op to pick them up. Some of the sidewalks were clear, and some of the roads were plowed, but there was almost never a clear path. It was a run-turned-core workout to stay upright. 🙂

I carried the noodles home like Donald Driver carries the football, and I even got some words of encouragement from Robert Terrell as he drove by! 🙂 I guess I have a recognizable ponytail.

My cold pretty much knocked me out of commission for a couple days, so I was resting at home, trying to get well in time for the Point Bock Run. I woke up yesterday morning feeling pretty bad, but wanted to race anyway. Luckily, there are were so many of my friends running that my mood was lifted as we waited at the start line. I saw George right as we were about to begin- and he was sporting an O’so hat.

The weather was pretty chilly- it was around 30 degrees but with winds at 15 mph. The roads were clear but wet, so I didn’t have any traction problems… In fact, the sound of other runners with their snow cleats hitting the road was so distracting! I was aiming for a pace just under 9 min/mile, and I was right on the money for the first three miles. That was no small feat, since the beginning of the race seemed really clogged with walkers and slow runners. I may have started too far back in the pack for my pace, but I spent the first two miles weaving in and out of people, dodging snot rockets, and trying to be polite. I cheered for Breeda, Rick, Thomas, Mary, and many other friends as we crossed paths at the turnaround. I also saw Casey, the incredible man that was the focus of the charity entries this year… He was rocking the course in his wheelchair and we were all cheering for him. (It reminded me of my mantra from last year: I run because I CAN.)
::GROSS WARNING:: As my body started warming up, my sinuses started draining down the back of my throat and I started to get really sick to my stomach. My self talk changed from, “Just keep it up and you’ll meet your goal and set a PR” to “Screw the PR, don’t embarrass yourself and puke. Whatever you do, don’t puke. You’re a marathoner, for crying out loud. DO NOT PUKE.” I made a decision to slow down and go easy on my poor tummy. One of my favorite parts of any race is the very end, where lots of spectators are cheering and the end is in sight. My “coach” and friend, Nancy, was standing with Brian, yelling my name, and the Terrell family was there, shouting for me, too. 😀 I came in with a time of 46:24, which is, indeed, a PR, but my biggest achievement was not yakking on the course. I loved my breakfast quinoa, but I didn’t want to see it again. 🙂
As I walked over to grab a banana and a beer, I ran into Alicia, my neighbor from my childhood home. (Volkman St, represent!) Wow, we’ve grown up! I bet our mothers are proud. 🙂

One of my favorite parts of this race is that I am literally surrounded by friends. George, Robert and Pam, Amber, Avery, Joe, Sondra and Jon, Kim and Joel and Thomas, Nancy and Rick, Breeda, Tawnya, Brad and Katie, Scott, Michelle and Wally, Nick, Julie and Dan, Adam, Alicia, Jay, Josh, Mary… So many, I can’t even remember everyone. I love it!

All in all, it was a good race, but I was happy to come home to a hot shower and some hot tea. 🙂 Brian headed over to the Nowinski home to bottle up some homebrew, and a bunch of our friends showed up for dinner. Fresh bread bowls and homemade soup! Joe wins the chef-of-the-day award for his sweet potato chili. Yum!!
We went over to O’so to celebrate a good race and visit Marc, Katina, and Katie. Kenny, Tom, and Dan came out to visit. Awesome reunion of friends!

Congratulations, Bock runners. 🙂

Miles this year: 83.5

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February 28, 2012 · 3:45 am

Shall we dance?

It’s pretty common knowledge that I love running and I love photography. That’s because I talk about those things incessantly. 😀

What you might not know is that dancing is another love of mine. A passion. While I started tap and ballet when I was 4, I started ballroom, Latin, and swing dance lessons about 5 years ago. I’m lucky enough to dance twice a week these days. My dance partner, Dale, and I, practice once a week, and I help him teach lessons on Sunday nights to the Central Wisconsin Network folks. I absolutely love teaching those lessons.

We just finished up a five-week session of intermediate tango and beginner swing. I bought my mom swing lessons for Christmas, so she comes, too! I’m so proud of her progress. I love you, Mom!

I love going to dances, whether they’re casual practice dances or swing dances with live music. Formal dances are the best. I’ve loved dressing up since I was a curly-mullet-sporting bouncy little girl. When I’m dancing, I feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. It helps that my sweet students say the most adorable and kind things.
“You are so graceful, I love watching you dance. You remind me of ‘Dancing With The Stars!'”
“Oh, look at your dress. You are a REAL dancer!”
They inspire me to keep practicing and get better so I can REALLY have something to show them someday. Special thanks to Chris Pruitt, whom I ran into at a weeknight dance in Waupaca, and who snapped this photo of Dale and I. 🙂

Miles this year: 75.5

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artist & athlete | a glimpse into real life, Heidi style

A fever, a mullet, and a postcard from Florida.

Moving the shed!

C’est Français, Monsieur!

I’m my own boss!

St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago and my last day in the world of coffee

Spring has arrived!

Nuts, Lake Superior, driving, and sleeping.

Hello, UP!

Winter running, FINALLY!

Shall we dance?

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