i went to the state fair...

and did this.




i also ate french fries and mini donuts. and an icee. (david kept trying to get me to eat more....i really didn't want anything else. i do have a workout in the morning...and lots of fried food just doesn't appeal to me...a few courses is plenty).

that was my menu of choice today. a beer would have made me go right to sleep...after walking around for 5 hours, and a long day yesterday, by the time a beer sounded good i was pretty beat.

so instead i got henna'd. david's idea really, but i'm diggin it'. diggin' the design too~

back home now, having that beer, waiting for the grill to be ready for the burger course...

god i hope gustav doesn't hit new orleans but man, it's looking likely. mother nature is not something to ever mess with or take for granted. i feel for the southern states right now.....and could really care less about the RNC. is that wrong?

tis the season...

changes are in the air....

literally. it was 52 when i woke up today. brrrrr. feels great to snuggle under the covers, but it's harder to rise early when it's darker and colder :( also means longer clothes needed to run :( well that's part of living where there actually *are* four seasons, and for the most part i do like that...

on the upswing it's time for this:



fat free yummy goodness :)

big run in the morning....longest ever is planned. 14 miles. we'll see....Gateway Trail, here I come....

to update a previous post last week, the palm trees & sandy vacation for winter will happen, just in a different location. no Cruise to Run this coming year, but Maui instead with Gram. :) just nailing down which half marathon to work that around :) there are 2...one Jan 25th and one Feb 7th. why not tie a warm sandy trip to another medal for my collection? do the run, and then *relax* for DAYS afterwards....bring me my umbrella drink :)

have a great labor day weekend! ~jd

short & sweet on words...many pics...

went away for the weekend with friend Lisa.

had an amazingly laid back time....

here's what we did.


started in ely. there appears to be a real fascination in the northern part of our state with pie.


first evening...45 min aftr arriving from ely on a rainy trip up 61...rain abated so firegirl could get to it. how perfect is it that sven & ole's delivers to the lakeside?? pretty awesome.


this includes fresh blueberry pie. freshly picked...right off the trails...


met this very personable painter & husband from duluth. enjoyed a wonderful shared campfire as well...


wandered the beach...(that tree in the foreground near the fire? i felt it needed dragging there to sustain our wood for a few days ;) some of the only working out I did all weekend...moving some trees...


thinking spot....


lisa enjoying a gorgeous sunday morning in the boat house and agreeing with me that we don't want to go home.


we're missing an angel i think...the harley guy who shot this said we had to pose like this :P


cedar enjoying her lake. she's one of 2 resident dogs at the cabins...


our private lunch spot on Iron Lake, about 30 miles up the Gunflint....yes, in the burned area. no moose this trip :(


this is where friend David and i got stuck in February in the snow. Next time we'll take my car.


we took this part of the SHT up the Kadunce River. It was so shallow I spent most of my time *in* the river taking pictures...


like this one...


this is the kadunce river trying to empty into the mother lake superior...late afternoon clouds reflecting on a gorgeous august afternoon...


these two....i tell you...


this cowgirl is done posting for today....later ya'll....

it's not definite yet...

but it looks like i will have a warm & sandy vacation from february 1-9th, 2009.

and who wouldn't want to go here in the dead of winter??



this would involve a few amazing friends, a princess cruise ship and ports of call like barbados, antigua, st. thomas and the like. sadly mark will be touring texas and mississippi so he can't join us. :(

more details to follow if this all goes through....still in the planning stages. odds are looking really good...

but this would be one of the most memorable trips of my life.

i think my third job will have to happen soon to support this travel hobby :)

i'm off to the northland for one more trip this year with a girlfriend for the weekend. get to show her ely and then hang out in grand marais for 3 nights. girl talk, wine, laughter, tears, lake, fire, etc...just the usual girl stuff :) or i should say *this* girl's stuff...

pictures to follow soon...~jd

my 2nd hometown team...

well, as has been said before, i'm a cubs fan. they are still doing phenomenally well.
don't wanna jinx it...

my 2nd hometown team is the Twins...(no, i'm not just saying that...)

and i haven't been to the dome in years (almost 10).


a girl and her dad going to the game...

i was offered free tickets that a friend couldn't use for today's game.

and after today's fun time, i'd love to go back :)

really good seats along the 3rd base line.

my amazing friends and neighbors, stacy, travis & 2 year old maddie, were gracious enough to drive me and we all had a 'root root root for the hometeam!' time....


by the time we sat down at the top of the 3rd inning, it was 5-0 Twins, which Travis celebrated as we walked in...

enjoy the photos...


my first 'baby neighba'..who's now 2 and will be a big sister this winter...


madalyn in her element...and her dad's element :)


this guy was the epitome of a beer vendor i thought....


once stacy brought in the popcorn, maddie could not stop eating it...


the last inning....no nap, but the trusty thumb helped keep Maddie awake all the way home...she was super well behaved and had a great time too~

after running 13 miles this morning on my own, having a lot of solo time to think and get through a 2.5 hour workout, the joy of being with friends all afternoon was wonderful. (mark would have joined us, but as is the habit with his music schedule, it conflicted exactly with game time :(

have a good week everyone...~jd

here it is.....

pre-dawn...about 30 minutes after they arrived...roughly 5:40am

overall a fun experience.

today's live stuff i'm not nearly as keen on as the taped piece.....i think i love editing :)

job swappin'


rena & brandon....we just hung out at this table for about 2 hours, minus a few live shots back to the station. the monitor is on the table. along wth rena's purse & handbag. and coffee!! the least i could do was caffeinate the woman :)

i hope i did my system proud. that was the big huge piece that stressed me most. representing 7 libraries kids services in 2 minutes of local tv exposure.....

gotta say tho, a 4am-1pm work day? not all that bad ;) i'm kind of a morning girl..had no problem waking up. in fact woke up a good 20 minutes before the alarm. (as usual...i have a quirky internal clock...just knows when it's time to wake)

random trivia....i was barefoot the whole time. rena's shorter than me (as are 90% of most women i know or meet) and she kiddingly mentioned if i wanted to take off my heels i could.

so i did. why not? :) no one could see my feet....


~jd, tv girl for a few hours today

all in a day's work....

who thinks libraries are always quiet? serene? a place to learn?

many, which is all good.

but funny how one popular free thing can turn people into maniacs...

we have this program where many twin cities museums offer admission passes if you check them out at your local library.

they get 2-4 folks in for free.

some aren't museum passes...they are things like admission to the mn zoo.

or the landscape arboretum.

cool places that are usually $10 or so to get into.

plus sometimes parking.

well the zoo passes this summer have gotten so crazy popular that folks line up in the lobby to get them. all TWO of them remember.

one lady a few days ago, i heard through a coworker, blocked the front door before opening sitting in a chair so she would be the first one to get the zoo pass since she had just missed it the day before.

friday we had a physical clawing-at-each-other-girl-fight about them.

no police were called but two grown women were literally trying to wrench out of each others hands these hallowed passes. (THREE women wanted them and, i'm not a math girl, but with only two available, it quickly became a brawl with the numbers not in their favor...)

all in the public eye. other patrons standing there with wide eyed wonder. kids coming in the door still.....

all over really nothing that big a deal. sheesh. PAY the $10 people....i realize a free thing is good, but physical battery is not the way to solve the problem.

and our library isn't the only one these get fought over or run full speed at when the doors open for the day. in our little suburb, it could almost be an olympic event watching the pass dash come toward you, the librarian on guard for what could happen next....

now the zoo passes at our library have moved from being out with the rest to behind the referencee desk so that folks can run to be the first ones *there* to get them.

oh, and did i mention one of the first comments i heard a page (someone who shelves books in our library) say to a supervisor yesterday?

"um yeah, there's a bottle of vodka over in the stacks on the shelf"

the joys of working in a library :)
~jd

what happened 20 years ago....

today?

this. or what one person thought it would look like.



8/8/88.

first night game at wrigley field, baby!

yes, i remember this.

it rained too i believe, for part of the game.

was i there? no. i believe my dad was.

historic. they won. beat the mets. 6-4.

GO CUBS GO!!

(another trivia bit, it's princess beatrice's birthday as well) my memory is so random sometimes... ~jd

a few updates...

1) taped the first part of the kare11 job swap this week. rena was very nice...very genuine. the kids who came to storytime were all 'regulars' save one mom who had come for the first time and had no idea what we were up to but she and her 10 month old were perfectly at ease. next week thursday i will arrive to work at 4:45am. 3 live teasers in the first hour between 5:30 and 6:30am, then my 'schtick' + edited footage for the series around 6:40. i have a few co-workers kidding me that they're going to show up early and watch me. i know they are joking. i sincerely want to know they are joking. in between the teasers i plan to actually work, even if it will be the one and only time i'll be in a library at those hours.

also helped teach a class about blogging on monday night to 10 of our fine citizens. i think it went well as everyone who left had set up an account. now for them to practice using blogger and navigating around their blog. an interesting new task at work...variety is good.

2) ever smashed a beer can on your head? come on. i'm sure a few of you have. or have tried.
today i decided that i'm not an iron girl yet. i'm a smashed aluminum can girl....it's been a stressful week, and i came home to burn off some energy and really start the training for my duathlon. so i hopped on the bike. biked 8 miles out and back to home. then locked up the bike and ran 2 miles. oh. my. word. that was probably the hardest physical thing i've done yet.

the first 5 minutes of running felt so drunk tired. like my legs were lead. but i pushed through it. was convinced i was running a 13 minute mile.

jorge the garmino told me when i got back that my first mile of 2.3 was a 9:32. sheesh. way faster than i thought i was running. so that was a well worth it muscle numbing workout. coach rudi and i are running 7 miles at 6:30 in the am before i head to work and then waitress tomorrow night.

2 more weeks and i have my last (for now) trip planned to the northland. not with mark. but with a girlfriend. which will be divine. and relaxing. and i'll take part in my first trail run that weekend too. the state fair starts soon. all foods unhealthy, fresh milk, lots of farm animals and millions of people. good times for 12 days every year. 2 miles from home. david and will hit it towards the end of the run....

so there's a few updates. dad & leesa, i'll call this weekend, likely sometime sunday....take care and be well...and GO TEAM USA during the Olympics starting tomorrow!

yep, i think i'm gonna perish early....

this duathlon thing is going to do me in.

i biked to work today....all of 2.7 miles. nothin' really.

then after work i biked to the gym. another 1.8 or so. whoopee.

then i ran 6 miles in an hour. cuz it's just not running weather when it's hot.

then i biked home all of 5 miles.

i am freakin' t-i-r-e-d.

so i really think after sept 21 (which happens to be a good friend's birthday) that might just be the end of me. for reals.

not sure they award dead people medals. guess we'll see....

right now i'm a soft pliable silly putty girl. NOTHING iron about me.

ally, this post is esp for you...

what i SHOULD have done tonight instead of work myself into a putty girl is shop for a new outfit for part one of my tv taping tomorrow. well gee, look at the money i saved i guess :)

~jd who has to shower, drink lots of water, then a beer and collapse on the couch, in that order.

my dam hill report...

there's this workout that our club does twice a year. once in april, once in august.

it's called the dam hill as we start out running a 5.5 mile warm up from the ford parkway bridge in st paul down to lake street, cross and come back, and finish up on the mpls side by the dam near the ford plant.

it's traditionally an 'all club' run, which means most local lifetime fitness run clubs are invited to take part.

turnout this time around wasn't quite as strong as april, but still about 75 folks turned out (or so i think)...

i got to the gym. looked around. saw one of my club members. coach was part of the whole lead-the-workout shebang so she didn't run the whole thing. where is the rest of my team?!?!? my confidence when it comes to running solo ain't the greatest. so i hooked up with cindy, and then in walks allison huzzah! 2 other roseville runners!

allison then tells me pretty immediately that carmen the garmin had died on the way over :( this is a big deal to those of us attached strongly to our running technology. it's like a limb is missing.... and like a security blanket, something you learn to love and depend on....

so here i was with mine and i was able to give allison most of her times throughout our run together. this nifty piece of technology breaks down each mile and averages the pace and then gives a lovely total at the end. so our times looked like this:
mile 1: 10:51
mile 2: 10:32
mile 3: 8:53 (sorry to be so personal, but i had to biffy stop so i hauled to catch up!)
mile 4: 9:50
mile 5: 9:52
dam hill starts about mile 5.5
mile 6: 10:53
mile 7: 11:22
mile 8: 12:48 (serious things like running backwards uphill, hands above your head uphill, hands behind your back uphill....it's *hard* but totally effective!!)
mile 9: 11:34
mile 10: 11:51 (back to the gym)
total: 1:50:23, 10.13 miles

allison went 5.5 miles back after the workout...me? just 1 mile. allison has finished a marathon. i have not. (yet????) allison is one of my superhero teammates and friends (as is cindy who i will become an iron girl with in september!) that make life so much better.

speaking of iron girl, i biked it in today to work. then i will bike it to the gym. run 5-7 miles. then bike it back home. and my garmin's at 50% battery. hope Jorge lasts through the day (yes most of us have named our toys.. ~jd

ps can i just tell you the high i get from either a new people weekly or runners world magazine in my mailbox???? my drugs of choice i tell you :) got the new RW yesterday and had to pry myself away from it to get to work! we get to cuddle up together at lunch today. sweetness~

see????

i KNEW duluth was the most crowded e-v-e-r after being part of it on friday.

here's the proof.

pretty damn cool.

go duluth!

time to make some brownies for a gathering....yum! who doesn't love warm brownies??

surprise!

a few months back a coworker asked if anyone would trade weekends with her for aug 2nd/9th.

since i've asked for similar favors in the past, i offered up the trade to help pay it forward.
i didn't have anything going on this weekend....

so when i noticed about a month ago that the 'tall ships' were coming into duluth, and that mark is a big fan of boats, especially this author's series of books involving many tall ships, i thought up a secret plan.

so even though we just got back from the northland on monday, i got mark to take today off and didn't tell him what was up.

just drove north early this morning.

pulled up to the traffic halt on I-35 even before the DECC exit, (where the ships were moored) and saw an incredibly long long line of people (hundreds maybe even 1000). whoa. i'm sure this was a surprise to everyone, including the event folks.

it was.

but we forged ahead around 11am, waiting in lines of cars to just park.

then we proceeded to buy tickets (no line for that) and got in the anaconda length x 100 sized line to see the ships.


everyone was in good spirits despite the wait. had our sunblock & water, there was a nice breeze and you just got to know your neigbhors as time went on....

1 hour.

2 hours.

by hour 3, someone with a bullhorn came out to say that at the point in the line we had just reached, we'd have another 3 hours before being able to board the ship Niagra. just one ship. it was the largest so it had the longest line, but the other 2 ships on display had lines as well.

um. okay. my original thought was 'visit ships for a few hours, do the canal park thing, get a picnic lunch and find a great shady spot and laze the rest of the day away by the mother lake'.

we both felt (and after hearing from someone in front of us, who left her husband in line while she and their small kids waited in a shorter line for another boat, that all you get to do is walk a circle around the deck of the boats and then de-board) that we'd kinda had enough and seeing as we were only there for the day, it was time to just move on.



so we walked to the ships, took some pictures, and proceeded to find our picnic lunch at 2pm. we almost started with some of my favorite fair food, but i needed something 'real' first before rich n creamy dots....but i agree wholeheartedly with the sign's message :)


while we pic-a-nicked, my coach called. nice surprise there ~ my coach and i have become extremely close in the past 6 months talking about all aspects of life (esp outside of running.) she informed me that apparently 2 other Lifetime run clubs locally have blogs for their teams. she kindly asked if i would be our new blogger girl for our team and of course i said 'why sure.' so it looks like i'll be authoring, like, a *real* blog representing some of my closest friends and teammates. uh-oh. wonder if she asked any of them ;)

so all in all a good day, but a surprise all around , not just on mark's part. and honestly, i have never seen SO many people in duluth. ever. to me there were more people than Grandma's Marathon weekend, but the paper scoffs at that it looks like. Oh, and speaking of Grandma's, i am officially in next year's half marathon based on that smokin' 1 mile race i took part in a week ago. s-t-o-k-e-d am i about this. i loved every part of that race this year! well this is a way long enough blog post. time to hush up now....
~ runnin blogger girl, ~jd