.:working for the weekend:.

well, i have survived yet another week helping the senior citizens of MN and in 22 counties of WI. this whole working 8:30-5, M-F thing is new for me....which means, the weekends are alllll mine to hang out and relax (after getting caught up on laundry, sleep, cleaning, grocery shopping and working out). besides our 'minor' system crash monday and tuesday, this work week was rather smooth. i dealt with many sweet, yet ridiculously cynical senior citizens. i am grateful to have made it through the week without being told i'm trying to kill a member's wife (no sir, i promise that by me reading off your pharmacy benefits does not mean i am trying to kill your wife) or by having to discuss the craziest grocery trip for 34 minutes ( i cannot believe you had to pay $2.49 for an apple either, prices these days....). either way, monday will come too soon and i will have to return to my job (not career) of assisting these "cute" old people.


highlights of my weekend include:. my mom is here! she is running in the monster dash tomorrow morning, so i have the pleasure of playing hostess while she stays with me to prepare for this feat. while she is running tomorrow, i will be busy tending to the local Corepower yoga as a 'grime fighter'! being a participant of the work for trade program at Corepower is a fantastic opportunity, while waking up early on a saturday morning, not so much. sunday afternoon will bring corralling of 5th grade girls around a basketball court and possibly a second round of pumpkin carving with the boyfriend and his fam. 


not only was today a great day because it was friday (payday, as well), but i had the opportunity to reconnect with my oldest and bestest friends! the story of the three musketeers (or donkeys, thanks to the roles in a church play we participated in before we had minds of our own) started on our first day of kindergarten. i was 5, innocent and reserved, quite polar opposite of my personality today, with my mom on one side and my soon to be 'bestie' on the other. the conversation was sparked when we found out both of names were andrea, but she went by annie and i went by dee and it seemed that as soon as we knew our identities (or names) would never conflict, we would get along just fine. my mom and annie's mom hit it off as well, discussing how they couldn't believe their babies were going to kindergarten already. if i remember correctly, annie and i were trying to play it cool like we had been waiting YEARS to start this semi-important thing called school. annie would quickly introduce me to lizzy, now called liz, (apparently), sorry LIZZY, but old habits die hard and the love triangle would now be complete. as we spent more and more time together, our hips began to become more and more attached. we did EVERYTHING together. we played on the same soccer and basketball teams, went to the same schools (although it was devastating if we got split up into different classes), played the same roles in church plays (this is where the donkeys came in) and our houses were even in the same neighborhood, within walking distance from each, and in the shape of an isosceles triangle. we shared clothes, hair accessories, makeup, food, memories, secrets (with the help of a little black notebook and stickers as IDs), tears and happiness. even our moms got comfortable scolding all of us. we were meant to be. they were the sisters i never had.

can you guess which one is me?

although fate brought my family and i to move to alexandria in the 8th grade, these three muskateers would live on! excited, anxious and absolutely devastated to leave my girls behind, i forged a new path in a small town (where you see tractors almost daily and smell manure even more often). throughout the years, we've snail mailed, facebooked, tweeted, and drove back and forth to keep this love alive. we've grown up, made bad decisions, made good decisions, said and done things we said would never happened (sounding like our mothers is a big one), yet we will always have and accept one another with unconditional love. 

here we are today, 3 beautiful, smart and grounded women, drinking alcoholic beverages and carrying on as though we get to see each other everyday. i can say that i wish life would allow us to spend more time together, but i can also say that i know we will continue to grow up, possibly move and/or get married, simply continuing to experience life, yet we will always be able to come together and pick up where we left off. unconditional love. 

maybe tomorrow i will post some more goals, but for tonight, i'm practicing living in the moment and cherishing yet another memory i've made with these 'besties' of mine.

always striving for more,

dee b. 

what is the point???

hello friends:.


here i am starting my first blog! i have followed various blogs, some religiously, some in passing, always wondering if i would ever be interesting enough to start my own blog. well, here's a leap into the unknown world of blogging with fingers crossed!


what is the point to this blog??? well, i guess i'm not sure, a little bit of this and a little bit of that! i am a recent college grad trying to find my way in this crazy game of the "real world" unsure of where i will end up. here is what i am sure of, i am a yogi, runner addict, cooking and baking extraordinaire (perhaps more of a wanna-be), germ-a-phobe, member service rep (what up ucare), basketball coach, 'that's what she said' joke expert, momma (to the naughtiest cat), coffee-phene, animal lover and recently added, blogger! along with many more and not necessarily in that order. :) 


i do hope to accomplish a few things with this 'virtual journal':. 

1. help keep in touch with friends, family and whoever has an interest in following events in my life
2. organize my thoughts, aspirations and maybe, a recipe or two. my brain is always working and as a result, i am always having a random thought or writing a 'to-do' list (which my boyfriend and friends can attest to). this seems to have become worse after finishing college as my brain doesn't quite know what to do with the extra energy!
3. to inspire and be inspired. my life has consisted of obstacles, triumphs and more obstacles. i hope my experiences may bring hope those who are facing adversity and in a selfish way, feed off my 'followers' in my moments of weakness. 
4. to decompress. although this time in my life is very fresh and exciting, it is also stressful. i am young and educated, poor yet happy, anxious yet laid back. 
5. last, but not least, to cherish the simple things that happen day to day. i have never been one to live in the present moment and here is my modest attempt to begin that today.

i am a big fan of goal setting. my motto=if you don't chase your dreams, who will? shout out to my mom for always reminding me of this in times of uncertainty and despair! by her stashing this quote on post-its around my room, bathroom and car, it has helped make me who i am today and even inspired me to get it inked along my side so i will never forget where i've been (i may post of pic of this tattoo, if you're lucky....). i'd like to share with you a few of my goals, some short term while others are long term (again, not necessarily in this order) and let you get a better feel of who i am:.

• **run the boston marathon-which means i must qualify, which means i must run another marathon, which means my knees have to cooperate for training (at the rightful age of 22, i have expensive knees that still suck, more on that later....i suppose)
• get up tomorrow morning at 6:15 and go for a run. 
• start practicing yoga at least 3 times/week 
• figure out what the heck i want to do with my life (career-wise), more on that later as well....i suppose. 
• clean my room
• be a good momma and tame my kitten somehow.....
• become a certified yoga instructor 
• volunteer 

i'd love to hear anyone and everyone's goals!

with the much needed prelude out of the way, i'd like to share my first recipe with you! after sitting in my cubicle all day long, i decided to take my night of no plans and cook with the acorn squash that my grandma gave to me fresh from her garden (thanks grandma!). after work, but before i got to cooking, i rushed to a yoga sculpt class at the local Corepower and got my butt kicked! not only was it HOT, but the speaker system was broken which made it harder to play music at the appropriate level. for any of you who have not taken a yoga sculpt class, that means LOUD! inevitably, i left the studio sweaty and full of gratitude for all my body still allows me to do even with bad knees (still not ready to talk about those). 

and the cooking began.....here is what i started with....

....and this is what i ended up with, acorn squash bisque! although the process to achieve these results may seem daunting, it was extremely easy and included ingredients that almost every kitchen has! another bonus, it's healthy for you! thank you everydayhealth.com for this recipe ---->http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-recipe/acorn-squash-bisque.aspx 

this bisque is very savory and sweet, but does include onions. i enjoy onions, but in moderation, so maybe next time i'll try it without onions and more brown sugar and/or cinnamon!

well friends, to avoid turning this first blog into a novel and setting the bar too high for future blogs, all this must come to end for the evening. i am off to attempt 2 of my goals, cleaning my room and getting up before work to run (which means bedtime must be soon), thank you for starting this journey with me, i will be back for more!

always striving for more, 

the 'dee' list