Duluth Getaway

I started this post a while ago...and now I'm REALLY catching up. I can't believe how quickly time has been moving. I am doing my best to catch up/stay up to date, because Sweet Pea's arrival is quickly approaching! Here's a delayed post about me and Jeromy's getaway to Duluth...

I'm doing a little bit of catch-up on the blog. Things have been crazy the last few weeks as the weeks tick down to Sweet Pea's arrival. The to-do list doesn't seem to be getting any shorter, and much to my dismay, days have not gained hours. One can still hope...

Anyways...Jeromy and I enjoyed a little getaway to Duluth recently. We had a great time. The trip came about a few months previously. We had talked about taking a nice vacation before we started having kids (Puerto Rico was the hope), but then along came Sweet Pea, and the timing and money just didn't happen. Arg.

While I was busy lamenting on the fact that Puerto Rico wasn't in the cards (and further, that we likely will not have a "nice" vacation for quite some time), Jeromy suggested that we plan some sort of other trip. We threw a couple of possibilities around...Door County, Decorah, Galena, IL, etc. and ultimately settled on Duluth.

We go Up North often, usually ending up somewhere in the Grand Marais area, but haven't spend much significant time in Duluth (the last time was for Grandma's Marathon in 2005), but the weekend was mostly focused on running. Imagine that. :-)

So we booked a moderately-priced hotel room (we decided not to shell out the extra money for a lake side place) for Memorial Day weekend (which was also my birthday weekend). The plan worked out well..I only took Friday afternoon off (which I had planned anyways because of a doctor's appointment), and Jeromy didn't need to take any time off. Given that we both had Memorial Day off, we got a nice 3-night getaway. A far cry from a week in Puerto Rico, but we'll take what we can get. :-)

We left Friday afternoon, after dropping Luther off at "Grandma and Grandpa's" (thanks, Mom and Dad), and got there around dinner time. We settled into our room, before seeking out dinner at a local Irish pub.

On Saturday morning, we had a boat tour scheduled. We were disappointed, because the weather was not the greatest - cloudy and chilly. However, soon after the tour got started, the weather took a turn for the better! The clouds rolled out of the air, and the sun came out. It was still a bit chilly - but perfect for the North Shore! We were excited to bask out in the sun at the front of the boat, and enjoy the tour (despite the awful narration by the tour guide).

When the tour was over, we enjoyed lunch - I had a delicious sandwich from Amazing Grace cafe, and Jeromy had a smoked fish sandwich from another place...yum! After that, we poked around Canal Park, hit up the Maritime museum, and the shops, and spent some time relaxing by the lake...perfection! We enjoyed dinner at Pizza Luce, and then relaxed for the evening back at the hotel.

Sunday was my birthday! We started with brunch - at Pizza Luce (yup, that's right...two meals at Pizza Luce within 12 hours!). The weather was so-so...overcast, but nice enough to take a drive up the shore. I had to laugh, because I used to dread "Sunday drives" growing up...but a lazy drive up the shore with my best friend/husband was perfect! We made a few stops - Split Rock lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, and a few shops in Two Harbors. I had a great birthday with Jeromy - it was just so nice to spend some time together in one of our favorite places! It was fun to have some time just the two of us - but we definitely spent a lot of time talking about how much fun we will have bringing Sweet Pea Up North! It was crazy to think that the next time we are back up there will be as a family of three!

Once we got back into Duluth, we went to Fitger's - one of our favorites - for my birthday dinner. The funny story of the night came when Jeromy mentioned to the waitress that it was my birthday. He asked if they do anything special. She said they'd be happy to give me a free pint of beer. Arg! The torture. Although I'm not much of a drinker, I have been finding myself missing beer as the weather has been getting warmer. Jeromy explained to the waitress that I was pregnant, and she graciously offered a free root beer instead. Delicious!

On Monday, we enjoyed a lazy morning in the hotel (actually, all of our mornings up there were lazy...it was great!). The weather was crummy, which helped make it easier to head home. We made a quick stop at the Great Lakes aquarium before heading back to the Cities. Unfortunately, we were REALLY not impressed with it. The cost was high for what we got out of it... it was kind of cool seeing all the fish from the Great Lakes, but the otters were not out (which we were most excited about), and there just wasn't enough to make it worth what we paid.

All in all, we had a great time away. It was fun to spend more time in Duluth, great to have time just the two of us, and reflect on all that is to come, and fun to be able to celebrate my birthday with a little trip! Can't wait to bring Sweet Pea up there before too long... :-)

Life Lessons

I was reflecting yesterday on how much (relatively speaking) Jeromy and I have gone through and learned in our life together. Further, I feel like I've learned a lot about myself during the last few years - what's important to me (and what's not), what I value, who I want to be. On good days, I remember these lessons, and stay true to who I am. On bad days, I can lose sight of these lessons, and struggle to remember who I am and what's really important in life (at least to me). Here are some of those thoughts (in no particular order):

1. Plans are great, flexibility is better: I am notorious for planning. I have struggled in the past to "go with the flow." I want to know what comes next, what to expect, where I'm going, etc. I remember before I met Jeromy trying to plan out what my dating to married life would look like. No joke, it went something like this:
"Ideally my husband would be the third man I date seriously. Each "serious" relationship would need to last at least 6 or 7 months... with the man I marry being a relationship of at least a year (preferably a year and a half). We would be engaged at least a year before getting married."

HA! That was the plan...and then I met Jeromy. Nothing went according to plan. Jeromy was my first boyfriend. It was not love at first sight, so it took a while for our relationship to develop. We dated for 4 years before we got engaged. We were engaged less than a year before we got married.

At some point along the way, I was flexible. I'm sure I resisted it (I broke up with Jeromy once due to a "freak out" regarding where the relationship was going), but in the end, I wouldn't have it any other way.

There are countless other examples in my life... trying to plan the "right" time to have a baby, trying to plan how exactly my career was going to progress (and then getting laid off...). With each example I am reminded that planning is good to a certain degree, but flexibility certainly gets you a lot farther.

2. Work to live, don't live to work: From an early age we are asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Further, when you are a bit older people ask, "What's your dream job?" Quite honestly, this has always been a bit of a tough question for me. While I feel that some of my friends, family, etc. can quickly and confidently answer the question, "College Professor" "Pastor" "Physical Therapist," I find that my answer often is just a string of things I'm interested in, passionate about, etc...not really a job/career.

Through my unemployment and then reemployment, I realized that I definitely fall into the "work to live" category. I don't really define myself by what I do...I don't really strive to have a particular job/career, etc. I know that I can do good work and make a difference, regardless of what I do. I also know that there are lots of things that make a job enjoyable for me, many of which aren't tied to that career.

I struggle because I felt (and still do feel to a certain extend) that this is not what society wants or expects from you. We're suppose to want to climb the corporate ladder, keep up with the Johnsons, become the boss. Although I struggle with the desire to "keep up with the Johnsons" and "have my cake and eat it to," the others frankly don't appeal to me. I realize my ideal job would like to be a stay at home mom/volunteer at multiple places to align with my skills and passions. In fact, I dream about Jeromy and I having the ability to stay home together. I don't doubt that both of us could still very effectively make the world a better place, and fulfill our own aspirations...just in a different way than is traditional.

I work to live. I'm lucky enough to have a job that I enjoy most days, and find fulfillment in. But I work so that I can live a fairly comfortable happy life with my husband and soon to be baby. Work is a means to that end. It doesn't make me less of a hard worker or less driven. I just know what's important to me, and work is not at the top of that list.

3. Don't waste time judging others: I suppose like many things, it's easier said than done. But I've realized in recent years that I have very strong empathy. Although that can get me in trouble sometimes, it also helps me to remember to not judge others. This is an important lesson to remember in so many areas of one's life - in personal relationships, in your professional life, in those every day moments of life.

My mom gave a sermon not too long ago about this. She told the story of waiting in a theatre lobby, watching people come in. She found herself making little comments in her head about the people - thinking that their skirt was too short, or their shoes looked funny, judging a bit how they looked, talked etc. Truth be told, I think we would all be lying to say we didn't do such a thing. I know that I do from time to time (probably more often than I realize).

In my mom's situation, she caught herself. In an effort to turn things around, she started thinking, "Blessed child of God" when each person walked in. She said that a simple change her thinking helped her to turn off the judging voice, and assume the best in people.

This message has stuck with me. It doesn't go well every day, but I find that changing my thoughts in this way helps me to stop judging, and just give people the benefit of the doubt.

This lesson is helpful to remember in my professional life as well. On a daily basis I talk with people from all different walks of life pursuing their Bachelors degree. Sometimes it's far too easy to judge people based on where they live, what they sound like, how they talk about their education, etc. Opening my mind, and preventing myself from quietly judging people makes me a better advisor.

Although it's not always easy, I try to shut that judging voice up as much as I can.

I thought I had more "life lessons" that were bouncing around in my brain, but now I'm struggling to remember them. It's been fun to write this, and reflect on how much I have grown, how much I have learned, and I much more I know about myself and who I am than I give myself credit for. Life is good.