Can you say "inheritance"?

Dad's new Harley Davidson Heritage Softail ... I cannot wait for a ride!

Mom's ring

A couple weeks ago my parents attended the CASA Fire and Ice Event. Wink's Jewelry was giving away a one-carat diamand ring ... and my mom won it!! I went with her to Wink's the following week to help her pick out a new setting for the ring. It is absolutely gorgeous! And I'm not jealous at all. :)

Most Anticipated Post Ever!

Many of you visitors to my little piece of blog real estate have already heard the good news and you have been waiting patiently for me to post. Well, here it is ...

Dustin and I are having a baby!

I'm about 13 weeks along and my due date is October 18th. So far, things have been going well. I haven't been sick, although I do battle with nausea every once in a while. I don't have it near as bad as my sister did, so I try really hard not to complain! We'll be sure to keep everyone updated as things progress!

Movie Night

Mom recently finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha (I will be reading it again soon for book group), so we decided that she had to watch the movie with me. It was also decided that we needed to have a theme night for the occasion. We made Baked Potstickers with Sweet Asian Dipping Sauce and Thai Chicken-Veggie Pizza (I know that neither are Japanese dishes, but close enough ... and we did have some sushi). Both were quite delicious!



After dinner, Dad and Dustin sat out on the patio and enjoyed a fire while Mom and I watched the movie. If you haven't read the book or taken in the movie, I highly suggest both. Of course, read the book first!

More Improvements

It seems my husband is quite the electrician now! We made a trip to Lowe's today and picked out some new fixtures. After Dustin and my dad installed the new fan/fixture, I realized just how ugly some of our other fixtures were. Once the real electrician comes over to get the lighting installed in the back bedrooms, we should be done. Or not ... Dustin and I have decided we don't care for the lighting above the stairs and may replace that as well. We shall see!

Goofy Girl

Just a couple pics of Allie being goofy. Mom or Dad told me where they got the goggles, but I don't remember. They're Allie's glasses now and she just loves to put them on and run around the house. She's just so darn funny!

Allie's Easter Egg Hunt

Mom set up an Easter egg hunt for Allie and she was SO excited! It was funny watching her discover all the eggs that were "hidden" around the house. Mom even "hid" a couple eggs for me and Nichole. The eggs had a lottery scratch ticket in them. I was really hoping to hit the jackpot, but alas ... no such luck.

Easter Eggs

Here's our Easter eggs ... The trick we learned in Real Simple was to wrap rubber bands around the eggs before you colored them to get those neat stripes. The crayon doesn't seem to work very well, but I think our eggs turned out great. And they're were quite delicious!

Hippity Hoppity

We spent this morning coloring eggs and making sugar cookies. My camera battery was dead, so I didn't get a picture of the eggs. I'll try to get one tomorrow before we eat them because they turned out really cool! Mom and I discovered a rubber band trick in Real Simple and it was awesome! I did manage to snap this picture of the cookies when I got home and charged the battery (I'm still kind of shocked that Dustin hadn't eaten them all within 5 minutes of me getting home!).

Yummy!

Home Improvements

Part of an on-going lighting project, Dustin and my dad installed a new fan/fixture for us in the kitchen. I love it! Now we just need Dustin's electrician friend to come over and install the lighting in two of our bedrooms.

Good Times

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Dustin and I went out for supper at Cubby's Friday night where we ran into my parents and a bunch of people my mom works with. We went to Sioux Falls Saturday afternoon and wandered around the mall for a couple hours. Pretty pointless ... I was looking for something specific, but I can never find what I'm looking for. I need to just go sometime with nothing in mind. After the mall, Dustin wanted to go to the Last Stop CD Shop. And we found Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt!!

When Dustin's parents moved, we did the cleaning out of Dustin's things and brought home his Nintendo and Super Nintendo. We don't have many games for either, but we do have Mario World and Mario Kart for Super Nintendo. Anyway, my sister was equally stoked about our find, so I went over to her house last night and we played Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 all night! It was awesome!

Don't worry, we both realize that we're kind of lame. But I know you are all jealous, you can admit it.

Bathroom Art

As promised, my mom found something for me to hang in the bathroom. I love it!! With the exception of the doors on the vanity (that stupid wallpaper stuff just doesn't want to come off and the doors need a fresh coat of paint), this room is complete!

We have the next room to be updated figured out ... I'll let you know what we're planning soon!

My Mantra

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."
~Maya Angelou~

I shouldn't say that this is my mantra. This WILL be my mantra. Things haven't been real great at work lately. It's been very busy and, at times, very frustrating. It doesn't look like things will change anytime soon and I've noticed that I've been complaining a lot lately. I don't like it. There is nothing that I can do that will change the way things have been going, but I can control how I react to it.

What's Up?

I haven't really posted much lately, other than pictures of my beautiful niece (who can blame me?). So, I figured I would post a little update on what Dustin and I have been up to lately. And the report is, not much. We finally booked our flights for a trip out to D.C. to see Dustin's parents, Jeff and Cindy. We are stoked for this trip!! We are going to head out the end of April. It's just a quick weekend trip (Thursday - Monday) but we can't wait to get out there and see them. They have been very busy finding fun places to take us to ... I'm so excited, you have no idea!

We are hosting a Super Bowl party on Sunday too. We enjoy entertaining and it makes it even better that Jeff and Cindy have let us borrow their bar while they are living it up in the big city! Thanks again!! Here's the menu for the party ...

Chislic (of the deer variety)
Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts
Southwest dip
Fruit salsa with cinnamon chips

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?! We're really looking forward to it. Football is kind of a big deal in our house, so this is another Christmas for us ... or something like that!

I'm traveling for work in February (mostly meetings, but I do get to catch a couple basketball games). I'm heading to Oklahoma the 18-20th and then Minneapolis the 21-22nd. We're going to the OU/Baylor game on the 19th ... which reminds me that I need to get in touch with Dustin's uncle to see if he'll be at that game ... and the U of M/Michigan game on the 21st. It should be fun.

And I think that about covers it!

Allie's First Haircut!

Allie got her first haircut last night. She is too cute for words!!

Bathroom Revamped!

Okay, so they're not the greatest pictures. Taking pictures of your bathroom is kind of difficult! Anyway, mom and I painted my bathroom this weekend and I love it!! I'm not quite done with this room, I hope to get something for the wall. But at least we got that border down now. :-) I've had this curtain for a while and thought about getting something new when we moved in. But I liked the idea of a fun color in the bathroom and this works great! Thanks for all your help mom!!

Scattered Friends

My friends Jon and Emily are home from Shanghai for a quick visit. I can't believe it's already been seven months since they've moved there. Anyway, I had a chance to catch up with both of them, albeit very briefly, and some of their stories are just amazing. They are planning on living there for two years, but they both hinted that they'll probably stay over there. Who could blame them ... it sounds like they are having an incredible experience! I recently started sending Emily some reading material since she has such a hard time finding English books in Shanghai, and when she does find them they are quite expensive. When she stopped by today, she returned a few of the books that I sent her and brought me a gift!

Thank you so much Emily! This scarf is so beautiful and I love it! My first instinct is to do some custom framing and hang it on the wall ... maybe in my library/piano room.

She even had the scarf translated for me. We're pretty sure this is what is says:

长亭外，古道边，芳草碧连天，晚风拂柳笛声残，夕阳山外山。天之涯，海之角，知交半零落。一斛浊酒尽余欢，今霄别梦寒。长亭外，古道边，芳草碧连天，晚风拂柳笛声残，夕阳山外山。 －－民国·李叔同·《送别》

A Valediction--by Li Shutong

Beyond the distant pavilion

Beside the ancient road

Jade green and fragrant, high grass joins the sky

Evening breeze sways dripping willows

Dying flute notes linger still

On the hill behind the hill, the sun sets

To the ends of the earth and corners of the seas

Half our friends are scattered

With a scoop of thick wine

Let's enjoy what joy remains

Tonight's cold dreams shall be held at bay

Beyond the distant pavilion

Beside the ancient road

Jade green and fragrant, high grass joins the sky

Evening breeze sways dripping willows

Dying flute notes linger still

On the hill behind hill, the sun sets

The Shelf

I've been wanting a shelf like this for quite some time, especially after we took the Christmas tree down and rearranged the living room. After searching online and not quite finding what I wanted (or the price I wanted), my sister and I went to Sioux Falls today. We went to three different stores before I found one that I liked. I got quite the bargain on it, spending about $50 less than what I thought I would have to. Since I got such a bargain, Nichole and I decided to go downtown and see if we could find anything to put on my shelf. We ended up at Ten Thousand Villages (I love this store!) and I found the star and elephant you see on the top shelf. The star is actually a puzzle box from India and the elephant is carved out of some type of translucent stone from Pakistan. I intended to buy only one thing but I loved these both so much that I just couldn't choose!

P.S. Thank you to Mom and Dad, Jeff and Cindy, and Grandma and Grandpa Beringer ... I used some of my Christmas money to get the shelf and trinkets!

Happy New Year!

"For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." - T.S. Eliot

"Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man." - Benjamin Franklin

Cheers to 2008!

Random pictures

The Bjerke gals at Christmas


My apple tree still has apples!

"It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you ... Yes, it is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand."

Mother Teresa

Christmas Baking

Busy, busy

Allie attempting to help

Allie was really interested in the divinity-making process (I believe this was round two for the divinity and Shelly jumped in to help)!

Mom, Aunt Jan (left) and Aunt Louise (right) putting the finishing touches on the goodies

Christmas baking has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. I started tagging along to help a few years ago. I think it might have been shortly after Mike and Louise moved to England. I'm not much help, I only made one thing this year and it simply required that I melt some white chocolate chips and add cheerios and fruit. After that, I chased Allie around and entertained with some Christmas music on the piano. But it's still fun. We'll bring all the goodies to our Christmas gathering in Sioux Falls tomorrow and we shipped a box to Grandma and Grandpa in Texas. They should get it Christmas Eve, so they'll have goodies to enjoy on Christmas as well.

A visit from an old friend ...

Heather was back in town, so Steve and I met her downtown for a couple drinks. It was great seeing her again. My old student, Lindsie, was out and about as well.

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas tree

With just over 1,000 lights!

Cutest Christmas Toddler Ever!

The Larson kid's holiday party was last Friday night and I tagged along. Nichole came over to get me so I could do Allie's hair (or at least attempt to do her hair). She doesn't have much, but I managed to get those pigtails in. She was so adorable. She seemed to have a good time, but as you can see in the picture above she doesn't quite know what to make of Santa. But she loves her suckers! Her mother took one away from her and she was not pleased with that. Grandma ended up getting her another one, which ended up in my hair. Of course. All the kids that attended got Christmas presents and they were also able to make some crafts and decorate some cookies. Allie was totally digging her rockin' Elmo guitar!

The Richest Man in Town

I had the opportunity to read this book shortly after it came out. Anyone and everyone who has read this book knows Marty as the "Wal-Mart guy". Well, I knew him long before he was ever the "Wal-Mart guy".

My mom started working for the Volga Tribune shortly after I was born. Marty worked for Reynold's Printing, which shared a building with the newspaper. I think I first met Marty when I was two. He was always grandpa Marty (and continued to be grandpa Marty to so many kids that went through his cashier line). I found out last night that Marty was an influence in my mother's decision to pursue her art. He convinced her that if she entered a contest for a logo design that she would win. He even bet a steak dinner on it! Well, she did enter ... and she won. I believe that foundation is still using her logo to this day. The book talks about how Marty believes in people and my mom is the proof that that wasn't something that just came about in his old age. He always believed in people.

V.J. Smith (author of the book and good friend of Marty's) was speaking last night at the Old Sanctuary. It seems that a publishing company has picked up this little book and is bringing it to the masses. My mom knows V.J. and I remember when he spoke at my college graduation. He is an excellent speaker and, quite honestly, an exceptional person. He takes little credit for bringing Marty's life lessons to everyone. So, mom and I stopped down. She had a copy of the book, but has since lost track of it. I'm sure someone, somewhere is enjoying it right now. Well, we had to get her another copy and V.J. was signing the books too. We missed the majority of his speech but the tail end was pretty good! Mom bought me a copy too. When I got home last night, I sat down intending only to read the forward by the founder of the publishing company. I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to put it down. I read the whole thing .... again. I read it straight through the first time I read it too. And both times I cried my eyes out.

This is truly an exceptional book about the most wonderful man. The world certainly needs a lot more people like Marty in it.

If you have not read this book, you need to. While not everyone has had the opportunity to meet Marty or someone like him, this book gives you the best insight to how great he was.

'Tis the Season!

My company holiday party was held Friday and Saturday night (Nov. 30 and Dec. 1). I've been filling the position of Employee Committee president this year and though I wasn't on the planning committee for the party, I did create all the marketing elements for it.

Friday night was packed, we had approximately 900 people in attendance. (After maxing out the Swiftel Center last year, we had to hold the party over two nights this year.)

I awoke Saturday morning to snow ... lots and lots of snow. There were times throughout the day that we wondered if we would even have the party that evening. But 7" of snow won't keep us crazy South Dakotans from a good party. While we were expecting 800 people Saturday night, we ended up with approximately 425. It was still a great time and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Both nights featured music from the SDSU String Ensemble. They were fantastic! And guests enjoyed games of Texas Hold'Em, Black Jack, Roulette and Craps. Guests were also able to enter into drawings for various prizes and we held a live drawing at the end of each night. Employees still received door prizes and we still had our grand prize drawings. Two lucky employees (one from each night) went home with a Wii. I was really hoping that we wouldn't draw names of people that were in attendance and that I might be able to take it home! No such luck.

Hats off to the committee that planned the event and to the rest of my Employee Committee members for helping to pull it all off.

"Lucky You" was the theme for this year's company holiday party

Amanda, Dawn and myself enjoying the activities

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I think it's because everyone seems to forget about it. Christmas season begins the day after Halloween, which drives me insane. I have a strict rule that I don't listen to Christmas music or do anything related to Christmas until after Thanksgiving. It gets harder and harder each year. I'm pretty sure all the stores have been playing Christmas carols since Halloween.
While I don't recall doing it every year, I have recited this prayer (from Dear Abby) for several Thanksgivings and wanted to share it with everyone ...

Oh, Heavenly Father,
We thank thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service,
That thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! And don't worry, you can start celebrating Christmas tomorrow!

On the mend

After a reaction to my antibiotics last week (which left me itchy from head to toe), I think I'm finally on the mend. I'm back at work and things seem to be going well. Although I miss my afternoon naps, I'm glad to finally be out and about. My leg is not completely healed yet, but I would imagine that it will be 100% sometime this week. More like I'm hoping it will be 100%. I'm ready to be done with this whole ordeal.
My reaction cleared up just in time for me to attend, and play piano for, my friend Kirby's wedding. There were several moments when I wondered if I would be able to make it at all and I really did not want to have Kirby scrambling to find a pianist the week of her wedding. But the universe decided it didn't hate me that much after all and I was able to make it. The music went off without a hitch and her wedding was beautiful. I think I may be able to retire from playing at weddings now!

At least I avoided the hospital ...

As most of you already know, I've been out of commission for the last few days. Since Thursday to be exact. I had a minor, irritating bump on my leg that turned out to be a staph infection. It hurt ... a lot! Anyway, I've been laid up since then doing my best to recover. I've been in to see the doctor a few times (redressing the wound and stuff ... don't worry, I'll spare everyone the details. It's bad enough that I had to go through it). I go to the doctor again tomorrow and hopefully they have good news for me. At least we know it's not MRSA!! As much as I'm enjoying this lovely vacation, I'm getting a little bored and stir crazy. Daytime tv is great (note the sarcasm).

Anyway, my grandparents had a lovely bouquet of flowers delivered, as did my parents (pictured). Rachel and Lisa also stopped by over a lunch hour to visit and bring me some flowers. I have a regular floral shop in my living room! I have also had tons of calls from Dustin's parents and grandparents. His Grandma Trego even stayed with us this weekend, which was a huge blessing.

Rachel also made supper for me and Dustin last night, which was so greatly appreciated ... and really delicious!

We're both pretty tired of this whole thing and ready for it to be over. Dustin has definitely earned himself the husband of the year award. He has been so great through this whole thing, driving me to the doctor, not passing out during the procedures!!

So, a big thank you to everyone that has called or stopped by to check on me. I'm cautiously optomistic that all will be well very soon. I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Cutest Pumpkin Ever!