Tag Archives: family

August 29, 2012 · 7:07 pm

Cute babies, a 15-miler, Paul and Nikki, and a trip to Chicago

What a fun week!
I started off last Tuesday with two fun photo shoots.
The lovely and adorable baby Halle…

…and the fun staff over at Fehrman Orthodontics.

I made, quite possibly, my favorite salad so far the year, too! 🙂 …and it was accompanied by juice with fish ice cubes!!!!

Thursday’s 15 miler was a rough run. I started out with a hot quinoa breakfast. Quinoa, almond butter, unsweetened coconut flakes, chia seeds, a banana, and a drizzle of honey.

I had a pretty nasty stomachache during most of the run, and didn’t fuel, so I started to feel pretty wiped out near the end. Alas, I pushed forward and returned home, red and ready for an ice bath.

Thursday night involved a meeting with the DNR, discussing the individual components of their Environmental Impact Study (EIS) in Saratoga.

The research that they do as a part of that EIS helps determine whether it is legal for them to permit the CAFO to move in. I feel bad for some of those DNR employees- many citizens seem to be mistaken and think that the DNR is there to protect the environment against all evil. The reality is that the DNR can only protect the environment according to the laws that we have in place. If the CAFO will not damage any of the resources enough that it will violate the laws we have in place, then the DNR is powerless to stop them.
On Friday morning, we said goodbye to our love seat. Our living room is now much more spacious. We used that space right away for packing our bags, and we headed down to northern Illinois for the beautiful wedding of Paul and Nikki. A big Americano + a safe driver = a happy Heidi.

Paul and Nikki are a couple who are so in love that it shines through in all these photos. I’ll let the images speak for themselves…

That one is of Paul with all the ladies from Adventure 212. That’s the club where I work out, and Paul was a (well-loved!) trainer before his recent move to Rochester.

Congratulations, Paul and Nikki!
On Sunday morning, we packed all of our stuff back in the car and headed south to Chicago, to visit my aunt, Maureen.

We stopped at my favorite store down there, Calumet, and looked through all their beautiful photo equipment.

Maureen was competing in the Chicago Triathlon, and my little cousin, Michael, competed in a kids’ triathlon. They are too cute with their medals!

We went to a late lunch at Burke’s to celebrate. My cousins, Brendan and Kevin, own that great place!

Congratulations, Maureen and Michael! We headed home Sunday evening, in the rain.

Stay tuned for info about this week’s pet portraits, senior portraits, and much more. 🙂

Miles this year: 437.45

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Tagged as baby portraits, CAFO, Chicago, family, long run, marathon training, photography, salads, wedding photography, weddings

July 2, 2012 · 7:43 pm

From Robyn and Rodney to Kari and Davin, and everything in-between.

Hi, friends:
I’m back and boy, am I in business! I’ll start with last weekend’s beautiful wedding of our Chicago couple, Robyn and Rodney.

Robyn wore incredible purple shoes!

They had their flowers done by Inspired by Nature, LLC, and Fawn did a beautiful job.

Rodney was overcome at the sight of his beautiful bride. 🙂

We stopped at her parents’ home for some photos…

…then headed to downtown Wausau!

Their reception was at the Wausau Country Club, and the scenery was beautiful.

I’ve known Robyn since junior high school- we graduated together. A few of the girls from the class of 2003 were there!

Thanks for including us in your day, R & R. You two had a beautiful wedding and a fabulous party!
We wore ourselves out at the wedding, but turned right around on Sunday and headed to the Fremont area for the Oberstadt Family Reunion, complete with plant checkers…

…picnic tables (and good food!)…

…and official business. Think “does everyone approve the minutes” kind of official.

I officially took over as next year’s president. I have to plan the whole shindig! The ceremonious passing of the binder:

No Oberstadt party would be complete without farm cats!

~~I miss my I-subscribe-to-Cat-Fancy-and-volunteer-at-cat-show days.~~
I started off the week with a bunch of flowering chives in the garden. I put them in a jar with white vinegar, and it turned into delicious chive vinegar.
Before:

After:

I went for my first real post-marathon run. A hot little 3.25er around my neighborhood. I noticed they’re doing a lot of work on the old Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia “house” next to the co-op. We had a lot of good times ~~at a particular toga party~~ in that house! There used to be a marimba on the second floor 🙂

No aches + no pains = happy Heidi!

I spent a lot of time painting and cleaning this week. I love that we’re in the stages of home remodeling where I can have fun! I fixed up the old mirror that came with the house.

We also got the kitchen all painted and trim installed. Almost all of it, anyway. Yay!

I picked a bunch of black raspberries and made cookies for small group, too. It was so hot, but I turned on the oven anyway.

I rehearsed with Dale (hello, empty ballroom!)…

…made a lot of salads and iced tea…

…went on a pretty long bike ride (Kimmy, I was thinking about you a bunch!!)…

…baked fresh black raspberry tarts…

…and painted my fingernails for the fourth of July.

My inlaws, Greg and Jayne, came in to town on Friday to celebrate a late Father’s Day. I made a delicious dinner and served those tarts. We went down to Riverfront Rendezvous to hear Here Come the Mummies. I had a ton of fun! 🙂
I finished that week of fun just in time to prep for Kari and Davin’s Waupaca wedding. We met these two in college, and they are an absolutely perfect couple.

They had a little problem with the aisle runner, but that happens all the time! It got a good laugh out of everyone.

The bride and groom are both musicians, and they had lots of musical friends and family there to help with the ceremony!

It was a beautiful church on a beautiful day with a hot getaway car!

Their reception was at Smiley’s in Plover. What a beautiful floral backdrop for these outdoor photos!

Their cake was so good that I ate two pieces. 😀

Congratulations, Kari and Davin! 🙂 We’re truly happy for you and wish you a lifetime of love.

We spent Sunday at the lake for our annual 4th of July celebration, it was just a few days early.

Mission lake is our spot, and I was accompanied by these two bathing beauties.

The key to a good lake trip lies in what’s packed in the car. A cooler, fun noodles, and lawn chairs? Perfect.

After a long day of swimming, reading, swimming, napping, swimming, and laying around, we headed up to my mom’s house for dinner.

I love seeing family and friends, and I really love spending time with my Grammy and Grampie. Grampie loves ribs, and so does his twin, Sam (the Newfie).

They’re like two peas in a pod. I skipped the ribs but had all sorts of delicious stuff! My mom made a green salad and my favorite fruit salad.

I made my seventh annual flag cake…

…but it turned into upside down cake on my plate. Whoops.

Have I mentioned that I adore my Grampie? He wins the award for most precious person ever. <;;3

We raced home from dinner to hop in our yaks- I love watching fireworks from the water. I apologize in advance for how poorly this photo represents the experience, but I love fireworks too much to tinker with the camera at a time like this:

I started my day with cracking open my last bag of coffee. I haven’t had to buy coffee in six years! I guess I do miss Starbucks. This is the good stuff!

It’s so hot in our home today that I have been tempering my photo work with bike rides to clear my head and get some air.

See you later, friends…

Miles this year: 364.25

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Tagged as baking, coffee, cycling, family, fireworks, fourth of July, lake, paddling, photography, wedding photography, weddings

April 4, 2012 · 6:15 pm

Chicago- we meet again.

Hey, guys and gals. I’ve had an adventurous couple days. I left Brian at home with the pups to go to Chicago and hear both my friend, Raffi, and Keith Jarrett play. 🙂
Don’t worry, I baked Brian a batch of super thick brownies before I left. At least I know he won’t starve!

I was already feeling homesick before I left, so I brought company for the trip- Brownie, the first teddy bear that Brian ever got me.

Brownie is a build-a-bear who has seen better days. He’s well-loved, especially when Brian is working nights and I sleep alone. Don’t judge!
We headed south to Madtown then over and through MKE. Love Miller Park! Don’t worry, Mom, I was stopped in traffic when I took these photos. 🙂

I talked to my mom during the counties where I’m still allowed to talk and drive. I brought my “office phone” for the drive. I got some strange looks from passing cars!

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by my AWESOME cousins, Michael and Rex.

After catching up and eating a dinner (I love comfort foods like risotto!), my aunt Maureen and I headed downtown to catch Raffi’s Chicago debut at the Chicago Symphony Center. He played Rhapsody in Blue, and rocked it. I am proud to know him! He earned himself a standing ovation with his outstanding musicianship. 😀

What a beautiful facility! I’m looking forward to heading back over there tonight to hear Keith Jarrett. 🙂
I woke up kind of late and took my thyroid pill, caught up on the news, and ate some breakfast. My cold has sort of progressed to residing in my lungs, which kind of stinks. My cough sounds awful- it almost sounds like I’m suffocating. Other than that… the Chicago Sun-Times and toast with Nutella? Awesome way to start my day. I intended on knocking out 10 miles, but the cold made running a little tricky. I ended up only getting in 7, but considering how miserable I was with my cold, I’m pretty happy with that.
Interesting things that I love about running in Chicago:
1) the flowers are blooming! Tulips and lilacs and a bunch of late spring flowers. It’s a little bizarre, but it makes the air smell lovely!

2) Unfamiliar but awesome street signs. Just when I was kind of wimping out due to my cold, I found a street sign with the last name of a friend of mine who is an incredibly fast runner. Think ‘elite start’ kind of fast.

I saw that sign and thought, oh jeez, stop being a wimp. That sign was a little reminder of Brad- and I’m sure he wouldn’t wimp out on a seven mile run. It gave me a little extra oomph. 🙂
3) Fabulous people. I saw an elderly woman wearing totally blinged out sunglasses walking a tiny dog and smiling, and I saw a bunch of people at a bus stop who all smiled at me as I ran by. One guy even gave me a thumbs up!
4) Alleys. Talk about needing to keep on top of your game- if you blow past one of these, you might get run over. Sure, most people seem to honk as they’re approaching intersections in an alley, but I’d rather be safe than a Heidi-pancake!

5) City architecture. Building up, instead of out. I love tall houses with little gates, and there are a TON of them in the neighborhoods here. 🙂

6) Big churches. Older cities with big populations= older, bigger churches. St. Ben’s is where I go to church when I’m down here, and it’s where my cousins all went/go to school.

7) Public transportation. People are always going somewhere, and it helps me stay motivated to keep moving. You know how proud I am when I take the L anywhere and don’t get lost. 😀

8) Having to wait to cross the street. On days like today, my lungs were SO happy to have those short breaks at stop lights. Plus, in all seriousness, most of the time, you absolutely must wait to cross, or you’ll get hit by a car.

9) Cool murals, and to a lesser extent, graffiti. I like artwork. I don’t like defacing property, but sometimes the graffiti demonstrates serious talent.

I finished my run, made it home safely, and had a good time.

I love that place because the sign looks all sparkly in the sun (and it reminded me of Brian, since he pointed it out to me the last time we were here).

Sure, I never made it to the lake… This is as close as I got:

I couldn’t figure out how to cross Lakeshore Drive! 😦
That’s all for now. Time to go help with dinner, then head to the concert 🙂

Miles this year: 166

Tag Archives: family

Cute babies, a 15-miler, Paul and Nikki, and a trip to Chicago

From Robyn and Rodney to Kari and Davin, and everything in-between.

Chicago- we meet again.

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Tag Archives: family

Cute babies, a 15-miler, Paul and Nikki, and a trip to Chicago

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From Robyn and Rodney to Kari and Davin, and everything in-between.

Want to share?

Chicago- we meet again.

Want to share?

Social

Heidi’s most recent shenanigans

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