Hail

Oh, Iowa weather, how weird you are...

Wine, metal & silver

The month of May happens to be one of my favorite times of the year. The gloomy surroundings turn green, and the weather is relatively mild. People start to come outside after spending a long winter caved in their homes. Unfortunately, it is already middle of the month, and I feel I haven't really stopped to smell the proverbial roses. Work has kept me extremely busy lately, and then weekends tend to be action-filled. This one has been no different, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

My cosmic sister Jenny

On Thursday I got to enjoy some girl time with my friend Jenny. She is my cosmic sister - every time we interact, we discover some similarities. We used to work together, but now she is in another part of the company so I don't get to see her so often. But we make time for each other. On Thursday, we enjoyed a nice dinner, wine and martinis downtown.

Budo, Yasko & I

On Friday, Jeff, our friends Spomi and Alex and my cousin Budo went to see my kid cousin play with his band. Yasko is a talented guitarist, and he always blows me away with his skills.

Heavy metal blasted my face off

Although it has been a good month so far, everything is not in its place yet. My sisters' absence is still very much felt. I can't wait for their return. In the meanwhile, I obsessively post all their post cards onto my cube wall to remind me that while I miss them, they are having a wonderful time. They also surprised me with a gift (brought by my cousin yesterday). A very luxurious and interesting silver yarn. It is absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to use it. Thank you my sweet sisters!

A gift from my sisters bought in Luxembourg

I'm hoping that tomorrow (Sunday), I get to shift into neutral gear and just relax and work on my garden. Maybe I'll even catch my sisters for a video chat (thank god for Skype!)

Horsin' around

Sunday morning, Spomi and I headed south to the Big Sky Stables to visit Lee and her beautiful horse May.

May getting a bath.

Feeding her carrots.

As soon as she was out, she rolled in the mud.

Lee taught us so much about riding and keeping a horse.

It was a beautiful day, albeit a little windy. I ended up signing up for a riding class. Can't wait!

Bicycles! Bicycles!

After work on Saturday, I received a text from Spomi asking me if I wanted to join her for dinner. We met downtown at Dos Rios. The food was pretty awful. But we didn't let it ruin our night. Instead, we headed to the sculpture park where we spontaneously decided to rent some bikes and ride to a nearby lake/park. The next few hours were one of the best ones this year.
I took quite a few pictures (much to Spomi's dismay).

Rent-a-Bike

We had these delirious smiles plastered to our faces during the entire ride.

After a satisfying ride around the lake, we headed back to the sculpture park where I made Spomi pose. A lot.

This last photo is a teaser and a clue for our tomorrow's adventure. Stay tuned!

Fun with family

What a wonderfully busy week! Aside from work and school, I spent lots of time with my relatives who visited us from Bosnia and Canada. Among the visitors were my aunt Emina, aunt Jasminka, and my cousin Rudy and his wife Oici.

On Friday night, we went to Waterloo to watch my cousins Budo and Yasko peform at Spicoli's bar. When the drummer had to take a break, my cousin Rudy joined his brothers. They played covers of many classic rock songs. I lost my voice screaming and singing along, and I was all sore the next day from jumping around with everyone. It was quite a show.

The next day, my mom threw a big party to her sisters, and invited all their mutual friends and other family members. There was a ton of very delicious food.

We spent the day sitting out in the sun, singing and joking around.

While the "youth" was outside, the older folks were sitting in the garage.

It was so nice to have everyone there together. As you can see on the pic below, my bff showed up wearing a similar outfit. Great minds think alike.

In total, 49 people showed up. We stayed out all night. Saying goodbye to my aunts and cousins was quite difficult. But I am hoping I get to see them very soon again.

Sunday was a little low-key. I stayed at home and decided to finish a super-soft hat to commemorate this awesome week. Here is this fall's hat, knitted in luscious Misti Alpaca.

Memorial Day weekend 2010: Part 2

More feet soaking. Only this one took place in the northeastern Iowa.
Hubby and I spent the night sleeping underneath a thunder-stormy sky in a tent that held up well.
Our camp was in a perfect isolated location. It was heavenly.
After setting camp, my hubby and I walked a long time to find a perfect fishing spot. I just loved crossing the stream.
It was pretty hot so I got to cool myself down with the cold creek water.
We walked a lot on this trip. But the scenery was so worth it.
My hubby, the fisherman, in his gear.
We saw some "wildlife" along the way. There was a beaver dragging a stick in his mouth to build his dam, presumably.
There was also a snake that I took a picture of, but didn't want to include because it freaks me out every time I look at it. But the duck (down below) was a charmer.
Hubby didn't manage to catch much (yay for the fishies), but we had a good time, anyway.
And of course, at the end of the day, there was fire and smore-making.
It was a nice little getaway.

Picnic at the lake

On Saturday my bff and I had a picnic at Big Creek. We ate veggies, crackers and cheese and soaked up the sun.
Then we joined my hubby and his friend. They were fishing not far away.
I had to include this pic because I just love Spomi's dress.
We watched the clouds and the ducks on the lake. It was a much needed mini vacation.
We stayed with Jeff and Joe until sunset, then we went home, tired but rejuvenated.

The storm is a-brewin'

I love temperamental May weather. One moment, it's a bright sunshiny day, the next, the skies get ominous. The pictures below don't do it justice.
Such a contrast! I love sun-lit tree branches against a darkening sky, while the wind is promising mayhem. And then it rains. Really hard.
And when it's dark and rainy outside, I like to sit by an open window, knit and listen to podcasts.
This is some serious bliss I've been waiting for in this past week. Been too busy. Can't let that happen again.
I'll be back with more.