Wind down of summer

I have really limited my posting (nothing since March that I forgot to publish) but I plan on getting back at it.  If I have time to repin things on Pinterest I have time to blog. http://pinterest.com

May was busy early. I attended the AAM (American Associations of Museums) conference in Minneapolis staying at the fabulous Depot hotel.

Even had a Laura connection in my hotel room!

Met some new wonderful friends & museum contacts. Would love to attend the AAM conference in Baltimore in 2013,

Had a great lunch at the delicious food trucks downtown Minneapolis (thanks to my brother and wonderful sister-in-law)  before I hopped on a plane and headed to Atlanta, GA.

Have you ever flown into Atlanta?  You probably know about the tram that takes you from your plane to your luggage.....I didn't but if you have time walk it!  Beautiful art and history!

I met up with my mother and aunts (& uncle) to head to Greenville, SC to spend family time with my other brother.  Toured the BMW plant (I now want one), took pictures downtown with some of their interesting statues and fell across a wine tasting event in Athens, GA!  Checked out the interesting town of Athens and headed back to Atlanta to catch a plane home. Disappointed I didn't get to see more of Atlanta than the hotel.

So far summer 2012 has been interesting.  If you are my friend on Facebook you know I've been to a few places this summer.  Austin, MN for the Spam Museum, Hormel House, Mower County Historical Society (which I will be volunteering at their County Fair on Friday August 10 & Saturday August 11), Steve's Pizza and a great consignment shop.

Steve's Pizza Meal

Headed to Prairie de Chien, WI for a workshop touring the Villa Louis (awesome) and just missing the Laura Days in Burr Oak, IA!

Headed north to St Paul to hang with my brother and fantastic sister-in-law!  Brunch at W.A. Frost & Company was FANTASTIC AMAZING EMOTIONAL. Felt like I was in Paris.  Thank you, Shelly, for the awesome recommendation!

Headed more north to Duluth to visit my daughter.  Hit the Glensheen mansion and other awesome Duluth sites. Duluth Hill 1 Nicole 0! Beware Crown shots & Duluth hills!

Me & my beautiful daughter, Christina!

Back to St Paul and Science Museum for their Pirates exhibit!

The Pirate Captain 

Made supper for Kelly & Shelly and of course focused on the Garth Williams illustration auction (we won 4 more illustrations for the Museum). Couples Golf Tournament and we won our flight!
That takes care of June!

July....not much happened (NOT)! Wilder Pageant was early this year because of July 4th falling on a Weds. Plum Creek & Pioneerland Library system bought out the reserved tickets for July 7th and let their patrons attend the play for FREE! LauraPalooza 2012 the next weekend so I was in Mankato Weds.-Saturday.

One of my favorite parts was the Brown Bread food demonstration done by Amy Lauters and her wonderful mother, Linnea!  Glad we made butter too!  The Long Winter is one of my favorite Laura books!

Sunday headed to Brookings for a great hour in the Arts in the Park and delicious supper at Bravo's. Miss Beadle (Charlotte Stewart) was in Walnut Grove July 14 & 15 autographing and toured the dugout site & museum.

Me & Miss Beadle at the Ingalls Dugout site

Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) snuck over to Walnut Grove to surprise her (via Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway 14 and my Expedition) and came back the next weekend to autograph too!

Me & Nellie Oleson!

It has been a very eventful exciting July!

What experiences adventures August will bring?  Expect updates on my other travels (Austin, MN again and Bismarck, ND)!  Hope to get back to St Paul to hang with my brother & sister-in-law too!

Let's start this week off right!

Yesterday before Church I had the fun of learning about this Candy store in Indiana http://www.schimpffs.com/index.html. I hope to someday visit their museum and store.  It was cool to see how they make their historical hard cinnamon candies.
Caught up on the 2nd season of "Justified".  Great ending but now anxious to see season 3.  Hope I can stream it on my laptop since Westbrook Cable doesn't provide FX!
Saw about 20 minutes of the movie Fast & the Furious (I think it was part 2). Not sure if the actors need lessons or the writers...it was kind of ridiculous to watch, thank goodness the guys all had hard bodies (as did the ladies in the movie).
Fell asleep watching golf (yes, some people do) but Congrats to Phil on winning the tournament.
Tuned into Fear Factor and I think they were filming again at the "Big Sky Ranch" in Simi Valley, CA where the "Little House on the Prairie" TV series was filmed.  Flipped back and forth between that and the GRAMMY's.  First time I watched the Grammy's and really enjoyed it.  I love music.  Whitney Houston's hits  have many connections to my life.  "Greatest Love of All" 7th grade Marching band trip where the whole bus sang her song as loud as we could or "I Will Always Love You" my husband and mine first movie together sitting in the 2nd row because the theater was packed.  Rest in Peace, dear Whitney!
Time to get ready and head to my wonderful job at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum! It is going to be a successful week!

Promises...I will not post again until next week...

I am not a mathematician but I can discern that maybe 89.9 percent of the people we know think about what their life would be if they had turned a different corner.

Corners are all around us.  They sometimes appear where you least expect them (love handles, grey hair and wrinkles).

I was raised on inspirational and motivational books.  My father inspired me to read and read.  I started writing at a very young age (unpublished but inspired) my first best friend was my first typewriter (same old story right)….I have notebooks filled with inspiring stories (some good and some well…).

My most inspiring moment happened just a few years ago when my mother said she wished she had encouraged my writing and hadn’t discouraged it.  Weird thoughts and that last sentence was weird.  She did discourage my writing because she thought it was a waste of time.  I am my worst critic and the only published work I have is a postcard of a first with 1-5 written on it stating there are 5 good reasons to write that was published in the Writer’s Digest magazine (postcard was meant for my cousin Jen).

So what do you do when you have a sweet job preserving history (LIW & Walnut Grove, MN) and still feel the need to write?  I am not Hemingway or heck even Mr. King but….I do feel (as probably 87% of the population on Minnesota think) I have a GREAT story in me.

So, by 2012 (late 2012) I will be submitting a novel to an agent or publisher (no sorry not LIW related because I will save that one for gravy).  What will that novel be about….I will keep you posted.  I have missed writing.

Horoscopes?

My Yahoo Horoscope today "Your imagination, dreams and fantasies are offering you some amazing insight into the questions you've been asking yourself, and they could confirm a few suspicions. The visions in your life give you a glimpse of the truth, of the accurate reality you see from outside your biased lens. You've been in a fog about someone for a while, and it's time to be up front and crystal clear about what you need and what you want. Go right to the source and don't leave things open to interpretation"


Quite an inspiring horoscope.  I have been having some "strange" dreams and musings of late.  That said, how much does a person really read into their daily horoscope?  Visions of my life....glimpses of the truth....accurate reality.


I think I will work on my visions today and maybe jot down a few ideas of a 5 and 10 year plan for myself and the Museum.  I know one of our goals at the Museum is to build a REAL schoolhouse that can be used for programming year round.  I would also like to add more interactive kiosks into the exhibits.  How many people in the world have heard Laura Ingalls Wilder's voice?  A vision of the glittering cloud?  Sound of "Pa's Bell" ringings?  Those are audios and visuals I want to add to exhibits (to start).


Time to get ready for church and then a trip to watch the next Twilight movie and maybe eats at Applebee's.  Tonight Legion & Legion Aux supper!  It is and will be a great day!  I will strive to look outside my biased lens.

Blogging and thoughts

Well, once again I have put my fingers to typing and started yet another attempt at a blog.  Sadly, I only have a few moments before I have to head off to work at the Walnut Grove Bar & Grill but I wanted to start and start simple.
Three things I love in my life: my family, my cooking (even though I don't usually end up eating it) and my jobs.
I am excited about the Fall/Winter 2011 Newsletter I am working on, I love heading to work at the Walnut Grove Bar & Grill and seeing all the locals and I get excited doing newsletters for Fond Memories at the Creamery.  I include those as my jobs....
I do not include sweeping, mopping, dusting, dishes, laundry, putting away laundry, making my bed or anything to do with CLEANING (especially the bathroom)....that JOB consumes a lot of my time but so does watching Cheers on Netflix, catching up with Bones or streaming video from my computer to my TV.....great things to distract from the JOB!
Wish me luck on my avoiding the JOB and finding more time for simple Walnut Grove research, LIW musings and of course my family!