lxforever

“If you need me to be sweet
then I can give you what you need
’cause I know you never came first baby
I’m so tired of my guns and my vanity
I’d like to trade them in for some sanity
and I know it didn’t come too easy
It didn’t come easy to me either
from the freezer to believer in love

Well I got ladyfingers baby
I got kidgloves
baby I got heart
I got heart”

—Luscious Jackson

“Sometimes I feel / sometimes I feel / like I’ve been tied to the whipping post…”

—Allman Bros. … always a good song no matter the January

“Sometimes all I need is a cold beer and a great wife.”

—Jeff Akervik, 1/9/11

Blitzy!

Well hello 2011. The theme of this year is loosely based around lowering one’s expectations. Specifically mine. I don’t mean this in a bad way, though; more in that you can’t plan for everything, and you can’t always get what you want, so its better to feel okay about it and figure out a way to deal. That is:

“Raindrops keep falling on my head / but that doesn’t mean my eyes will soon be turning red / crying’s not for me / ’cause / I’m never gonna stop the rain by complaining / because I’m free / nothing’s worrying me…”

This old gem may sound sappy but so far it’s working. You know, a week or so in, haha.

Anyway. Time short, post short etc etc etc. We now have a fish! His name is Blitzy and he is very pretty. He also has an upgraded home as of today, already, haha! I’m not sure if the pic will show up but I’ll work on it. (Channeling my HS-website-building self, here, with this ‘I’m not sure if the pic will show up…’ crap, LOL.)

So far January is about as crummy as I expected but I made up for it so far with some fun times….HS gymnastics meet on Wednesday (where they were trying to stream the meet AND I was mistaken for a highschooler—starting to be kind of cool, though, heh), Black Swan again on Thursday with A-K (still love!), Friday an intense interval-running workout that reminded me of another crazy January workout many years ago (2004, which felt somewhat like this January in small ways) and felt like my body forced upon me instead of my mind choosing it, followed by Starbucks/sushi dinner while watching YouTube on the new work iPad (woooo!) and Wedding Planner on TV, Saturday of stretching, hanging out, watching a movie, making pizza, today of swimming, cooking, baking bread, and hanging out with Jeff again. Phew. Well so I shouldn’t complain that much; January isn’t so bad, I guess, so far.

I am not sure if I posted this here, but there has been grand news for my JJs—Jeff was promoted to Creative Director at his job, YAY!!!; Jenny and Hakan were engaged on New Year’s Eve, YAY again!!! I am already way into Jenny’s wedding ahahahaha, kind of scary. I guess I just like weddings!

OK time to finish up dinner. White chicken chili, spinach/pomegranate salad, homemade rolls IF they work out, ha. Tomorrow is a binary day, so is Tuesday! And hopefully next weekend it will be warm enough to skate. Adios amigos.

Let’s dance in style, lets dance for a while / heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies / hoping for the best but expecting the worst / are you going to drop the bomb or not? // Let us die young or let us live forever / we don’t have the power but we never say never … // Forever young, I want to be / forever young / Do you really want to live forever / Forever young?”

—Alphaville, Forever Young (Barcelona magic fountain theme song!!)

“Home, Let me come Home / Home is Whenever I’m with you…”

—Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes

“That last part of your email: Are you saying that you’re the best? Because I too agree with that sentiment.”

—Jeff…THE BEST!

“YOU MAKE HAPPINESS POSSIBLE.”

—Michael J. Mason, in one of the best emails I received in 2010, 7/30/10

2010 > 2009.

Not just in the mathematical sense, either. While I didn’t get everything I wanted in 2010, it was a pretty successful year filled with good things, not just for me, but for many friends and family members as well, which only added to the improvement. Simply put, 2009 pretty much sucked! So I guess it wasn’t hard to do better…and since 2007/2008 were so amazing, it will be hard to reach that level for awhile. Perhaps in 2012? Take it one year at a time? Hah!

Dang. Long entry to make up for the lack of ’em. Apologies in advance.

First off, 2010 was all about WEATHER! And the forces of NATURE! Both broadly as well as locally. There were earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and winter weather events galore…still thinking of the folks involved in those events. Locally, there was insane rain, the “MN-i-cane”/crazy low pressure day in Oct. (which took out our tree! whoops!), the November ice storm of DEATH, the weird but awesome short and easy winter in Jan/Feb/March, and then the Big Blizzard of December 11/12 (Jeff’s birthday gift from Mother Nature, no doubt—he loves that snow!). I’m sure there is much more but DANG. This post from Paul Douglas’s weather blog on Strib explains the crazy MN 2010 weather in more detail.

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Anyway. I always do highlights/non-highlights, but I’m always paranoid that I’m going to forget something. So I’m trying something different this time.

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While I didn’t get everything I wanted in 2010, and definitely have trepidation about the same thing come 2011, someone pointed out that I accomplished a fair bit athletically, and thus have a lot to be proud of – and you know what? I’ll take it!! So let’s start with that.

2010 athletic accomplishments

– Complete a triathlon—a long-ago goal finally realized.
– Run 6 miles (on the gorgeous path to and from Lake Harriet!)
– Breathe on my left side—silly but still cool
– Learn a back shoulder roll on beam/keep old skills such as giants successfully—yay for gymnastics
– Get into yoga and practice regularly, realizing that it has its important parts, too…even if I’m not sweating it out

I have Jenny, Diana, Lauren, Cassie, Anna P, Alyssa, and the EHN HS team to thank for my inspiration/finally doing some of this stuff. Thank you!!!

(Sorry to brag, but this is the kind of stuff that makes me feel better. Besides…it’s a blog alllll about ME, what do you expect?!?! Heh heh heh…)

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Other good things in 2010

BARCELONA!!! ROME!!! POSITANO!!! Um, Naples? Ha. Our Europe trip in March was truly incredible and I am so proud of us for doing it.

I also returned to coaching, this time in the parks system, which was terrific. Diana helped me out which made it a hundred times more fun and reminded me so much of our gymnastics club days of yore! Ahhhh! Love!

I also sharpened up my cooking skills which I enjoy and which Jeff appreciates! And I would say that I kicked ass at my job, but without being a snob, that’s just par for the course; I mean, do your job and do it well, right? DUH. BUT! I did learn a few new programming tricks and am definitely excited about that. AND! I managed to find some self-acceptance and okay-ness with what I do and where I’m at. That matters, more than a lot of these other things.

I also survived the ice storm of November 2010. AAAAAAAAH!

I ALSO fell more in love with Jeff/home, in case you couldn’t tell ;).

We also finally finished out our ‘graveyard’ corner and did a little more landscaping too, of which we are very proud, ha.

I made a cool website for my cousin Michael that made me very happy, because it made HIM so happy. I also learned even more about WordPress. Yay.

I also saw four cool movies, all on opening night!

I also read OPEN which was incredible. Loved that.

I’m sure there is more, but this will suffice for now.

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Great things for great people in my life, the 2010 edition

In 2010, Jeff worked for and got a terrific promotion at work and is now Creative Director. This job/company was meant to be for him in so many ways and I am so proud of him and so thrilled that his butt-kicking work was rewarded. He is going to be superb in his new position and is already making positive changes. YAY!

Many of my friends and acquaintances had beautiful, healthy babies, their first for most of them, including Alyssa, Cassie and Cole.

Sarah and Trent got engaged which was so awesome! Her call to tell me made me love LOVE even more, ha! They asked me to be a bridesmaid and I am super excited to celebrate in the Black Hills in June.

Many of my other friends found a better path in their career/work/what have you and have done great things there as well.

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2010 travels

I got to spend time in SF with my sisters/Mason & Anna which was splendid as always…too much fun in SF, always! Lots of Anna-videos, hahaha. And we were there for Valentine’s Day as well, fun! Jenny and I had an opportunity to go out for a fancy dinner and lots of laughs with Stephie and Mike and that was memorable and wonderful as well.

I visited Jenny in Chi and we went to Great America again, where we freaked ourselves out on an inner-tube WATER ride and spent a lot of time in the pirate’s ship waterpark. HA! WHo knew we would like GA’s waterpark so much. We also biked to the beach and did other summer-Chicago things. Such a lovely visit….I <3 JENNY HENNY! I went to Boston to visit Katy which was WONDERFUL! So nice to finally spend time with her/Rob again, and I love Boston. They were most excellent hosts and fed me very well too. :) I also went to Iowa for a day to celebrate my cousin Pat's college graduation. This is memorable because it was a last-minute decision and turned out to be one of my favorite days of 2010. What can I say, sometimes I enjoy driving alone for long periods of time, and love seeing my family, of course. I truly traveled for my first-ever work-related trip, to a conference in St. Louis in May. It was both very cool and verrrrry nerdy. As mentioned, Jeff and I went to Rome/Sorrento/Positano/Naples (eugh!)/Barcelona in March on somewhat of a snap decision and it was AMAZING. More about that... And of course, Madison for many a time. Always fun. I'm sure I went more places, too, but they aren't coming to mind...gah.

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2010 OBSESSIONS!!!

I was obsessed with, in no particular order: riding my bike (duh); WordPress; Greek yogurt, especially FAGE; dinosaurs (for a little bit); ANDRE AGASSI!!!; bears; sparkling water!; EatLiveRun.com; hockey skating when I could; SWIMMING and swimming pools; Anna and Mason, who never, ever fail to amaze me and crack me up; cold press; the trails of Minneapolis; Minneapolis in general; gymnastics in general (duh); the crazy weather!; STRETCHING (always).

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In Conclusion…

Probably two of the greatest highlights of 2010 were completing the triathlon and Barcelona/Italy. Barcelona was completely magical and unexpectedly heart-grabbing, and our surprise time in Positano was a dream come true. Rome was the gem that we love and adore, and Naples was at least entertaining in its own way, ha! Europe is always a place that we feel so comfortable, both in the place and with one another, and it shines. We can’t wait to go back.

Swimming, biking, running… Training for the triathlon, committing to it, and finally completing it were some of my happiest moments in 2010. It’s not like I kicked ass or anything, but it was beyond satisfying to complete it, to know I could do that, and with Jenny to support me no less. Amazing! It also proved to me that sometimes, it’s kind of worth it to work for something (for some reason, the landscaping in the graveyard reminded me of this too).

There were a few non-highlights, as they say, which included: incorrectly estimating our taxes, ooooops, a bit of uncool health news and my subsequent freakouts, my freakouts in general, horrible politicians and some horribly disappointing results from the 2010 election, the tax cuts standing, some tension among people I know, missing my Grandpa. And more.

But more than anything I am learning to be grateful for all of the good things I DO have – ‘counting my blessings’ – and holding those close: family, health, Jeff, HOME, friends, Jenny, Diana, Minneapolis, True Ten, job security/enjoyment, living in a peaceful and safe and stable country. A safe and warm house to call home. You know. Things like that.

Thoughts for 2011? Here’s a couple things I hope to live by…
– it doesn’t matter what people think. It just DOESN’T MATTER.
– Be grateful for what you have.
– Be as in the moment as you can.
– You Make Happiness Possible. For yourself.

Happy 2011! It’s our last binary year ’til the next century (and perhaps our last full year, if the Mayans are right); let’s make the most of it!

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'”

“And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

—Linus, Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

“And when we worry and we can’t sleep / We’ll count our blessings instead of sheep / And we’ll fall asleep counting our blessings…”

—Ray Conniff Singers

“It’s that time of year…” – in fact, the 13th(?!) year in a row now of the Xmas eve update. But time is short, and it’s getting late, so I’ll just say this: Never before has the Christmas miracle seemed so uniquely miraculous to me; yet never before has it been so important to me to see that what I have already is indeed its own miracle in its own way. I am grateful.

Counting my blessings, and sending love and peace, especially to those in need.

I love when I have good food. And good days.

Today is a little slouchy as I am absolutely exhausted–guess I really do need those 7-8 hrs of sleep in my old age–but it started off with great food in the form of ruby red grapefruit, a fried egg sandwich on multigrain bread from Patisserie 46 (aka my new love), and a banana and OJ. Then leftover Eat Live Run meatballs for lunch (with my mom’s tomato sauce, instead). Good food tonight with sweet potato/chicken dish and some red wine, too, so that’s nice, although I really need to perk up….perk up!

Yesterday was great too because I was in a grand mood. I attribute that to my ENDORPHIN ADDICTION and running intervals in the morning. Really propped me up for the whole day and makes me consider doing running intervals every day, if only for 15-20 mins. But….no.

Oh yeah I also breathed on my left side for many lengths of my swim on Sunday. THAT is AMAZING. SERIOUSLY. As someone who commands both-side-dexterity in gymnastics coaching, I need to have it in my swimming, too, no? I am inspired by my cousin Lauren.

I am ALSO in a good mood because I took Friday off and thus have a four day week. Friday plans: haircut, some local shopping, fancy coffee, wrapping a few gifts and then BLACK SWAN/drinks with Diana and Melissa. Excitement!

I am ALSO in a good mood because Jeff got a kickass promotion. He is…THE BEST!!!

This is a ridiculous entry except that I like having days/weeks like this and felt that I should record it. MOSTLY to make up for my overwhelming negativity at so many other points in my life. So, there.

“Lenin’s tomb? Wasn’t he in the Beatles?”

—Chloe Theissen, 2010

“It’s been killer, but…”

—Chloe Theissen, 2001

“Get away from me you MATH ALIEN!!!”

—Chloe Theissen, 1999….as I’ve said, Jane’s kids are just FUNNY!

“…And when we worry and we can’t sleep / we’ll count our blessings instead of sheep / and we’ll / fall asleep / counting our blessings.”

—Ray Conniff

Well then! I meant to update immediately after Thanksgiving because it was such a funny one and deserving of a quotes wrap-up much like this one from Christmas 1998 and this one from Christmas 1999 (man, my cousins….good times), but alas, delays, my friends. Unfortunately I can’t recall most of the quotes by this point, so I’ll just make a list:

– Ian and Jeff “Team If”
– Awkward cross-gender lookalike Miis, esp. Stevel
– FOUR pool games in a row (or was it more?) where teams lost because of scratching on the 8-ball….including my team, and my Dad’s, and my Mom’s, and Jeff’s….apparently a family problem!
– Jane “If you can dream it, you can achieve it!” self-cheer while bowling w/ Lisa (Lisa just laughs)
– Erik falling asleep in the middle of basement competition chaos…”Well how can you not learn that skill being in this family?!”
– Chloe’s specially labeled bag of mashed potatoes “You can write ‘Chloe’ on that one ‘k thanks.” -Chloe to Steve
– Ian outplaying Rachel/Chloe in Euchre despite him being 7 years old and they 17 (see earlier links for when I tried to teach them math at age 6…ha)
– “In third place….TEAM RODD!” (Rachel whines and whines about not being in first) “In second place….TEAM CHLOLE!” (Thanks to Cole actually knowing how to play Euchre and taking over for Chloe) “And now….in first place….drumroll please….” (drumroll begins) “…TEAM RODD!” (Rachel and Todd and everyone else are completely confused at this bizarre development)
– “Remember when I had that knife?” -Chloe

And then at Jane’s/Erik’s grad party…
– Jeff/Ian partners-in-crime over sports fan and card stuff…”Jeff, can I just record you talking about sports for hours and play it back to Ian when you’re gone?” -Jane
– Chloe’s Lenin/Lennon mishap…she will never live that down!!! “Haven’t you read Animal Farm?” “Aren’t you a SENIOR in high school?!”
– card “Sexy” response “my sweet 16” (Apples to Apples) Todd to Chloe “that card had better not be yours!!”
– me hating on every single one of Elizabeth’s Apples to Apples cards

I’m sure there were more but this is what comes to mind right now. It was a terrific weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving, despite missing so many people! (Jenny, Eagan folk, Katie/Bill, etc.) And I did get to talk to Jenny once so that was great. It was nice to see people two days in a row, too.

We came back early and I went to church/swimming on Sunday which I repeated today….quickly becoming my favorite Sunday activity, that swimming. Now I have a loaf of Patisserie 46 multigrain bread which is pretty much my new favorite thing in life so that is basically what I’ve been eating all weekend….Diana and I went there in the crazy snow on Friday which was completely worth it – both to hit up Patisserie 46 (YUMMMMM) and to see D, duh! And of course we did not run out of things to talk about ;).

Yesterday I did some crazy MOA shopping which was actually pretty fun in spite of the zaniness of MOA on a Saturday before Christmas whoa. I went to the American Girl store for Anna which was way too fun. Encountered a few gals who were clearly compulsory gymnasts post-competition (still in gymnastics outfits and with shellacked hair)….watched my youth play out before me as they shopped (although they had gold medals which I never did except in the second year of any level HAHAHA). Now I’m going to go wrap a few gifts and start cookin’ soon after that.

Today is Christie’s birthday! HBD CRITIE!

OK I am starving so I have to cut this short. Later.

Well obviously I failed at my November write-a-post-a-day idea. I knew it was a large task to begin with but whatever. That’s OK. Some of those topics were stupid to begin with! Not really interested in talking about prescribed things such as my definition of LOVE, an INSPIRATION, my MUSIC, etc. Ridic. So I shall pick and choose.

DAY 12: What’s in your bag. Generally: my wallet. iPod Touch. Teenager cellphone. iPhone. (Complicated tech life I lead, apparently.) Wallet. Keys….many. Bouncy ball. Part of a wooden comb. All of a plastic yellow comb I found at the bottom of Devil’s Lake with my Aunt Connie when I was 3. A rock. An olive shell. Part of a Gulf Shores ugly shell. A Kirsten Larson button from AG. Key fob from my sisters that says “Happy Sweet 16! Love, your sisters.” A pencil. Lip gloss….many. Nail goo pen. That’s about it.

DAY 20: Your morning routine. Wake up. Stay under the warm covers. Snooze. Wake up again. Get up. Brush teeth. Either get back in the warm snuggly bed or get dressed for the gym. Get dressed for the gym finally. Go wash dishes while Jeff gets ready. Go to the gym with Jeff or a run without him. Work out and then stretch. Come home. Finish dishes. Shower and get dressed/otherwise presentable. Make lunch. Make breakfast and eat it while reading the Sunday leftover paper. Carpool!!! with Jeff to work. A long process but a nice morning.

That’s enough for now. I think this is a pretty bang-up job considering the slow death of lxforever.com, no? Happy Wednesday and happy birthday to Katy and Tiffany!

My parents are pretty great. The story of how they met and married is one of a few Inspirational Stories I love to share with people who are feeling especially down about love or life or both. Ask for a recap next time you see me if you’ve never heard it.

My mom is 63 and is from Illinois. She is an amazing cross-stitcher, an extraordinary writer, and excellent with math. She was the head finance and tax guru at our house for many years (until they hired a pro). She is also a fierce Scrabble player and a great cook/baker, especially of Bundt cakes. Also, of course, she is a most wonderful mom!

My dad is 63 now too and is from Iowa. He is a wildly talented artist and extremely successful architect. He plays golf whenever he can. He can be the life of the party when he turns on the charm and is also known as both cool and a troublemaker in our extended family (the troublemaker part, of course, making him cool). Of course, he is a terrific dad.

I have pretty great parents, really. I am very lucky.

My first love: probably Jenny. Not in that sense of the word, no! ick!, but just that I thought she was pretty great, and I always wanted to hang out with her. And my mom. And dad.

As for LOVERS…I’d say that’s a little bit too personal, even for lxforever! But I did have a little male friend in kindergarten who was pretty cute. He wore red suspenders in his school photo. He turned out to be gay, for what it’s worth.

I also really loved gymnastics and dollhouses, if we’re going to talk about activities. And drawing. And still do…for all three. But I’m not a creepy dollhouse lady (yet).

Hi. I’m (A)lexi(s).

For more about me, see about me. And elsewhere on the internet. And IRL. Etc.