i have a bunch of things that i want
to get off my desk top. are ya ready?

first, i went to whcc and delivered
cookies yesterday. that new building is
gorgeous! however, i felt like i was
going to see the great and powerful oz~
there’s this big door in the entry and
they have to come and get you once you
call on the phone on the foyer.
i walked around and gave each employee
a personal greeting and thanked them
for all their hard work! i love white house
custom colour!

here’s my mom’s new bedroom. gary is
perhaps going to fashion a new closet door
for my mom in her bedroom.

here’s my friend dave dutoit. we were
classmates in high school. he is in real
estate and when i was shooting his head
shots for his new business cards we talked
about my mom’s building that she is trying
to sell. they are going to get together and
perhaps do an auction….

my PUG holiday party was held earlier this
week and here are some fun highlites from
the evening. i LOVE the game “apples to apples”!

and jason tried to take everyone’s money
at poker…hmmmmm..baby needs new shoes! )

i’m going to go get ready to drive down to
northfield for the wedding with jason & stacey.

enjoy your saturday!

nicki, are you ready for your early Christmas
present tomorrow??

i have to say that i catch myself often making
the correction to “happy holidays” and i have to
say that i hate that!

recently, with a friend i went on a little rant
about what’s going on with this country and so
i think i’ll share it.

first, i am a loving, giving, God fearing, tolerant
person…that said, i don’t let most things get to me.
however, i related this country to marriage recently
and it goes a little something like this…
when did things go south?
when did americans become the 2nd class citizens
in their own country?
when did persons get to request their nation’s
food items be added to an american thankgiving
meal at a homeless shelter?
i could go on…
well, what concerns me is that those that have
“dreamed” of coming to america to live the “dream”
are now creating a nightmare.
here’s what i see happening;
you want to come here because it beats the heck
out of what you had where you came from…that’s fine.
but now you want things to change to suit your needs.
(this is what i see as a conflict)
soon we will be the nation that no one wants due
to the fact that so many changes have been
implemented that we don’t even recognize ourselves
as the “free” nation that we once were!

like the marriage where the woman spends years
making all the needed changes to her husband only
to realize one day, that he is not the man she
married….hmmmm. are ya with me??
wheeeeew. see what i mean?

i’m sorry if i’ve offended anyone, it’s just that
i love my country. i loved it more the way it
was. if you celebrate Hanuka, i’ll wish you a
happy Hanuka…I have a calendar. if you celebrate
Kwanza (which by the way does not show up in spell
check), i’ll wish you a happy Kwanza.
But please let me have my Christmas back!

After all, it’s Jesus Christ’s birthday.

moving on…’cuz people always say that all
we talk about in minnesota is the weather!

so, check this out…
my sister found this and i think it’s pretty
cool so i made my own map. pretty dull really.
i guess i just find places i like and keep
going back…you should try this.
what’s in your passport?

tonight i am meeting jenifer siegle with
urban ventures. she’s going to give me a
tour of the new building before the big
ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow night.
it’s the Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center.
I’m so honored to be selected to photograph
this event! (not to mention, excited!)

have a great day!

wow! again…gary and i got the royal
treatment and were looked after like
celebrities. my man shawn anderson made
certain that we were transferred to a
penthouse room on the 12th floor where
there is a comped bar, complete with
champagne, a a breakfast filled with
everything you can imagine..so much for
those 6 pounds i just lost!

once we checked in we returned to the
lobby and awaited our minnesota miracle
family that was due in at 5. they didn’t
get there until 5:30 so eric baker
took the family on the kitchen tour right
away so they could finish that up before
their dinner rush. i decided to go along.

below…becky chepokas, mitch’s mom far left.

here’s eric explaining the process of collecting
minnesota’s famous wild rice…he just went up
north recently on a wild rice excursion…pretty
cool, really.

here’s a fun factoid!
below, in eric’s left hand is wild rice you
would typically find at a super market and
in his right is some authentic, minnesota
wild rice that he actually harvested.
they ride in canoes and pass through the
rice reeds and knock it into the canoe with
those sticks he’s holding…neat huh?

eric ended his magnificent tour by
giving the family one of his wildlife
photos…signed of course. and we let him
get to work.

we parted ways with the family and cranked
up the fun level by heading straight up to
the executive lounge on our floor for some
cocktails and hourdouvers.
here’s shawn, me, gary & becky…

the beautiful minneapolis skyline.
my dad is buried in the fort snelling
cemetery pictured here with all the
white markers.

here’s gary…sick of my camera…again!

this young man…is a california transplant
wishing to break into the acting biz. hmmm,
perhaps he is hoping to hook up with the
cohen brothers or something???
he already models and he was fabulous at
waiting on us..thanks so much gabriel

quite needless to say, i mean i could go
on and on about this hotel and it’s
fabulous staff, we had the greatest time
and we plan to make it back there often.
it’s fun to just go stay at a hotel!
the yummy sheets and over the top comfortable
bed~the blue water grill! oh my God i forgot
to mention my most favorite meal in my
lifetime…a farm raised, off the coast of
hawaii, kona fish…here it is…
this was aMAZing fish!!!
eric? kudos my man! thank you so much!

this is gary’s walleye with what else???
minnesota wild rice.

thank you again, shawn. you went way out
for us and i sincerely appreciate your
generousity and friendship. i’ll see you soon

due to the fact that i was asked to go
to an earlier service yesterday (picked
my mom up on the way), my mom and i got
the opportunity to visit with some very
good old friends of ours, the Butter’s.
Ann, Charles and one of their sons, Dan.
They always go to the 8:30 service and my
entire family usually attends the 11:05
so our paths don’t cross very often.

well, to the title of my blog~”hugging”…
my family is made up of 50% huggers (mom, anne
scott & i) and the other 50% is mostly the
combo of the ‘ol hand-shake/back tappers and
arm touchers. the Butter family is ALL HUG!
and i mean like bear hugs! so when we meet
it’s a contest to see who lets go first!
meet the Butter’s…

yes, Charles does look like santa claus
and as a matter of fact he goes out east
every holiday season and plays santa for about
5-6 weeks. when he and Ann are together they
dress as mr. & mrs. claus…it’s great!
and it was superb to see them! Ann LOVES the
lord and she beams 24/7!! i love them!

are you a hugger? maybe you should start.
you never know when a bridge might collapse.

(p.s. thanks for lunch yesterday, mom!)