the cake to end all cakes

Hello.

I have a question for you.

Are you familiar with this cake from the Internet?

I suspect you are. It is everywhere.

Yesterday I went over to Kate’s. We ate an entire pizza, watched Kitchen Nightmares, and this happened:

Yeah, so maybe it could have used another layer. But it happened, and that is what’s important. We each ate a slice and probably have diabetes now. The rest will presumably be eaten by Kate’s coworkers.

Anyway, what else?

The State Fair happened. Per tradition, on opening day I headed out with the Wulfs to spend fourteen hours walking, eating, and looking at stuff. It’s the best day of the year.

I went the next day with Darren, for three hours.

After which we celebrated his birthday and I spent the rest of the weekend recovering.

Two weeks worth of fun in one post. Can’t go wrong.

Sometime this month D and I will roll out to the Renaissance Festival. The question is, do I wear a costume? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Until then, I’ll spend the rest of the time working, interneting, exercising, and pet wrangling.

As always, try not to be too jealous.

your songs remind me of swimming

I’ve been neglectful, and for that I am sorry. It mostly just means I haven’t had any stories.

But! This past weekend was Kate’s birthday, and with that comes our annual trip to the Wulf Den.

Kate, Rebekah, Amanda, Susanna, and I rolled north Friday morning to spend a few days at the lake. We were joined Friday night by Heather and Stephanie, and Marsha (and her baby!) swung by for a few hours on Saturday.

Sadly I did not take many pictures. We spent most of our time in the water, and who wants to ruin their camera like that?

That said, I do have a few Instagram goodies that I managed to snap.

We stopped at Treasure City.

We made a pit stop at Treasure City in Royalton, because why not? If you haven’t been there, stop by. It is insanity.

Shark treasure.

They have so many treasures.

We had to stop for some groceries before we got to the cabin. These groceries consisted of a few fruits and veggies, but mainly s’mores stuff and Oreos. And liquor.

Triple Decker Double Stuf

These are a thing.

After some swimming and drankin’, there were shenanigans. Including, but not limited to, drunk headstands. I have photos of ALL the headstands, but here is mine.

FACE!

Alas, after Friday no pictures were taken. But there was plenty of eating, drinking, and merrymaking. And skinny dipping, natch.

We returned to St. Paul on Sunday afternoon. I am still tired.

This weekend? Toga party.

that glorious, huge, majestic sphere

On Saturday, Kate and I finally set out on an epic adventure. We had been planning on doing it for years, and the time had finally come.

We were going to Darwin, Minnesota to see the World’s Largest Ball of Twine Made by One Man.

Darwin isn’t far from St. Paul, but we made the trip count.

On the way to Darwin. Orpheus was excited too.

We left just after 10 am on Saturday morning and promptly left the cities, venturing through many small towns. We stopped at an unfortunate gas station in Montrose for snacks and a bathroom. The bathroom was located in the laundromat next to the gas station.

There was no toilet paper, only paper towel.

It was worth stopping, though, for the fifty cent mustaches we acquired from one of those gumball machine thingies.

I think the ‘staches were meant to be style-able. Hm.

Anyway, we drove some more, and Darwin is so small we drove right through. The twine ball used to be right off the highway, but it was moved and we had missed our turn. Not by much, only a few hundred feet or so.

Well.

Obviously we made it to the twine ball, and it was beyond glory.

Oh, also, I cut my hair again.

As you can see, I was pretty stoked. That’s the twinehut behind me.

School bell.

There was an old schoolhouse in town once upon a time. This is what remains.

Encased in plexiglass so hooligans don’t try to set it on fire.

And here is the twine itself.

Kate was also very excited.

We checked out the museum and picked up some souvenirs. I acquired a nifty shot glass with, what else, a picture of the twine ball etched on the side.

After Darwin, we rolled over to Litchfield to see what was up. Lunch at Taco John’s, a visit to the GAR, and some antique store wandrin’ was… what was up… before we decided to make our way home.

Our first stop on the way back to St. Paul was Thirsty’s – the only bar in Dassel, MN.

We enjoyed some Nordeast. Suck it, haters.

After beers and waters, we were on the road again. We made one more stop for ice cream before we rolled into Delano, where we met this chicken:

The chicken was conveniently located across the street from Coborn’s, where we stopped for more goodies to take to the drive-in later that night. Fried chicken (sorry, new friend), spinach dip, Hawaiian bread, grapes, and some tasty smoked gouda. Maybe not traditional movie snacks but super delicious.

So, yeah. after our epic adventure, what better way to wine down than an evening at the drive in?

Except there were storms a-brewin’.

Not long into the first movie – Cowboys vs Aliens – the wind picked up and everyone retreated into their cars. Most people stayed until the end of the movie. We left as the credits started rolling. There were two more movies slated to play for the  night, and it looked like some people were going to stick it out, but I think leaving when we did was probably the right choice considering the amount of water on the roads. We made it tour our homes safe and sound, and I for one am still satisfied with the awesomeness of our day.

dirt roads, swamps, lakes, woods

Not having a phone is super annoying.

Oof. So I took last Friday off so I could roll up north with Kate, Becky, Dims, and Asari for Kate’s Birthday Weekend Extravaganza. We left at about 6:45 on Thursday and made it to her grandparent’s home/cabin at… well, I don’t know when. Pretty late, because we made a few stops. Twice because the diver’s side windshield wiper fell off.

Here I am trying to reattach the wiper. Photo shamelessly stolen from Kate.

We thought we got it fixed but were clearly wrong, because as I noted before it fell off a second time. So we drove on and hoped it didn’t rain any harder.

Once we got there, we sat around eating and entire pan of brownies. Friday was spent sleeping late, swimming, enjoying a visit from Heather, skinny dipping twice, drinking, and eating more than necessary. Also rowing, particularly when Kate and I were attempting to bring Heather to the sand bar but the wind was so strong we were basically rowing in place.

Saturday was much of the same, only minus Heather and skinny dipping but plus Kate’s dad and his boat and tubing that left me sore for a few days.

There were s’mores and hot dogs, cucumber salsa and dill pickle dip, sangria margaritas, late nights, and a chicken puzzle.

Here are some phone pics- the last ones taken before it’s untimely death.

Drink-in-a-Mug and Dims’ sunglasses.

Wulfs! And I probably should have cropped out Dims’ bum.

Nearing sunset.

I came home and learned that we suddenly have to pay a $200 pet deposit for our dog, and the landlords are adding $40 a month for pet rent. That kind of killed my weekend. But whatevah! The awesome things in life tend to make up for the lame stuff.

In other news, I came across the book I made of our wedding cards (our anniversary is very soon!). Kyle wrote a joke in the one from him and Jenna:

Q: What’s blue and smells like red paint?

A: Blue paint.

You’re welcome.

The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships

I’m having one of those days/nights where everything is friggin’ perfect. Aside from the fact that we have the loudest neighbors ever. Boo.

But really. The dog has been super well-behaved all day, Darren and I got laundry done (I looove not having to do it on Sundays), we went out for lunch (gyros!), stopped at the liquor store for gin and Strongbow (consumed separately), got shisha and coals for the hookah, and we’ve just been hanging out in our living room doing our things and it is cozy and delightful.

Fact: I have an awesome husband. He fixed our car yesterday, and today I learned that he knows how to lay cement for a driveway. There’s this house up the street that totally has no driveway that we’d probably buy if it weren’t for our unfortunate savings account. It’s one thing to buy a house, but what if we suddenly needed to fix the roof? We wouldn’t have enough fundage, I’m sure. Sad, because dang if that house isn’t a friggin’ steal.

Er, anyway. Learning of Darren’s honest-to-goodness manly skills have been a nice surprise. It’s like the day after our wedding, when we were driving home and he told me all about how to drive a tank. He’s awesome, is what I’m saying. Also, re: the tank, we are prepared should the zombie apocalypse ever come.

PS, we’ve been drinking, which I think has a lot to do with everything I just typed.

Anywaaay. Kate and I rolled over to Mipples after work yesterday to hang out with Tara and Nicole. The four of us haven’t all been in one room together in… I don’t even know how long. Years.

Nicole, me, Tara, Kate. On campus, ’04

Freshman year of college we were four members of the Fab Five. Kate and I lived together, Tara was next door, and Nicole and Erika (member #5) lived in the other wing. I don’t know how we came together, but we did, and it was one of the most awesome years of my life. Now that four of us live within 10 miles of each other, we’re hoping to make a point of getting together more often. It was like no time had passed, and it’s been a long time since I laughed that hard.

Love it.

I give thee my troth

Today is Marsha’s wedding day.

She and I became friends in third grade, I think, when we met in Girl Scouts. In fifth grade, we became inseparable. We’ve been through boyfriends and breakups, fights, distance; and after all these years our friendship is stronger than ever. I feel so lucky to have a friend like that (more than one, actually, but this post is for Marsha ;)).

I remember a moment sometime in middle school, in gym class, talking about how one day we would totally be in each others’ weddings. Today I can say we have succeeded in fulfilling that particular childhood promise. Nine months ago she was there for me, and I am honored to stand next to her today as she marries the man she loves. From what I can see, he treasures her. That is magical, and I hope their magic lasts forever.

So sappy.

Cheers to Marsha and Jeremiah! May a flock of blessings light upon your back.