Thankful Thursday Thoughts

Some random things that I'm grateful for this Thursday afternoon:

• Beautiful weather! It feels so good to walk outside and not need a sweater or jacket.  A ton of people are out and about, walking around and enjoying the sunshine and warm weather that we've been having the past few days.
• The courtyard at the Library- I've spent the past 2 afternoons basking in the sun and reading a book about Norway.  I love that there's a nice, quiet space outside that I can walk to in the city. 
• The slight sunburn I have on my arms and face (see above) It feels nice to have some color returning to my pasty pale body
• A surprise package in the mail last night from my friend Erica.  She sent me the first Twilight book as a Thank You for being her hair model a couple weeks ago.  She paid attention when I mentioned I have yet to read any of the books! What a great friend.
• The 12 pounds that I have lost as a result of giving up bread, pasta, and potatoes for Lent.  Woohoo! That's 4 pounds per food item!  It feels great to know that my "sacrifice" for the Big Guy resulted in a better scale number!
• As happy as I am about the lost pounds, I am even more excited that Lent is over in 3 days! YESSS! Oh goodness, it is going to be great to have pizza again. And some mashed potatoes.
• Hearing exciting news from an old friend that she and her fiance are expecting! At first I thought it was an April Fools joke and refused to believe her when she told me.  I made her send me a picture of the stick and some part of her body in it as "proof," which she did- her hand with her engagement ring on it and the positive sign.  Either she is pulling one very elaborate April Fools on me, or she really is going to be a mama! 
• Will just walking in the door which means I can start dinner because I'm STARVING!!

How To Draw A Dinosaur.

I had a great time watching Gracie, Luke, and Drew last week while Leslie unpacked.  We took some walks and explored their new neighborhood, colored a lot, played games, and read a LOT of books.  All 3 kids are so sweet and cuddly.  And creative!  I casually mentioned while we were coloring one afternoon that I only know how to draw bubble letters.  Luke was so surprised that I couldn't draw dinosaurs!  As I was leaving on Wednesday evening, he handed me "step by step" directions on how to draw a Stegosaurus. How cute is that?!  As he gave it to me, he reminded me that "Stegosauruses (or is it Stegosauri??...) have 17 plates on them- don't forget that when you're drawing them." Check. Thanks, Luke. :) And now I have a picture diagram to follow. Exhibit A: How to draw a Dinosaur-

Gracie also showed off her talents.  We're superstars, obviously. :)  Exhibit B: Gracie's Thank You note-

Notes like these melt my heart, and make me excited to someday have a funny little kid of my own that I can play with all the time. (Don't get too excited, Mom. I'm excited to have kids, but not extremely anxious at this point. And no, this is not a creative way to tell people I'm pregnant!) 

Kids are tiring, no doubt.  I crashed into bed each night after trying to keep up with 3 kids who have seemingly endless energy.  I have such respect for Leslie- she's up and atem bright and early every morning, keeps the kids entertained throughout the day while working on side projects like laundry and preparing a few delicious and healthy meals.  And after the kids are tucked into bed, she is STILL going- doing all the "grown up" stuff that she wasn't able to get to while the kiddos were awake.  E-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-n-g.  

I'm sure (for the most part, aside from that pesky unpacking of a new house) that it was just another day in the life for the Hedenberg clan, but I was happy to be there with them and enjoyed my time playing with the kids and observing a stay at home mom in action.  I will consider myself a lucky lady if my future kids are as sweet as Leslie's. 

Exhibit C- 3 sweet, adorable kids and their happy, tired babysitter:

March Madness

Welcome to my world! I plan to use this blog to keep family and friends up to date on what's happening in our lives...
...wait, what's that?  I have had this blog for a couple years now? Huh.  Perhaps I should resume writing on it.

The truth of the matter, folks, is that lately life hasn't been too exciting. March seems to have changed that, though.  Here's a run down of what is happening at Loft de Weaghan.

• The whole family spent a long weekend in Houston a few weeks ago.  We celebrated three separate birthdays, most notably my Great Grandma's 90th.  It was a fun weekend, full of lots of eating, drinking, hanging out, kick boxing, and watching embarrasing home videos, circa 1986-88.  Let me tell you- we. looked. good. back then. Ugly hair, ugly shoes, and ridiculously short shorts for everyone!
• Lent is upon us, and it feels like it's lasting far longer than the 40 days that it is.  Will and I decided to really challenge ourselves this year by giving up 3 of our favorite things- Bread, Pasta, and Potatoes.  GAH!!! Torture.  We further torture ourselves by talking, all the time, about what we can't wait to ear after April 4th.  Let's see, what have we drooled over in the past few weeks? Red Robin french fries, a Jimmy Johns sammie, PIZZA, sandwiches in general, PIZZA, Sister Schuberts rolls, just to name a few.  Good news? We're dropping pounds.  Bad news? No fish-n-chips to celebrate St. Patty's this year.
• Will celebrated his dirty thirty on March 2nd.  He was really not looking forward to hitting the big 3-0, so we didn't do much to celebrate.  But he did get a big present- the 55" TV he's been eyeing for a long time.  I guess he needed a big TV to compensate for his failing vision now that he's old. :)
• We are very excited for one Mr. Jimmy Buffett to come to Nashville in May.  He's putting on a concert right down the street from our place!  Cari and I are in full out planning mode.  We went shopping last week for accessories for our homemade Parrothead hats. One word- HIGH-larious.  We are going to look smashing.  Our goal is to make Buffett cam again.  I think we have a good shot.
• I'm proud to report that my boytoy now holds dual degrees- one in Business from The University of Colorado, and the other? A degree in Hamburgerology from Hamburger University.  Yes, Will was up in Chicago last week learning all about McDonalds.  One step closer to the goal of his dad retiring and Will taking over.
• I am going to be traveling our great state of Tennessee in the next week!  I'm heading to Memphis on Wednesday to see an old Chicago friend and her husband.  They literally JUST moved down here and she needs a hair model for a job interview.  Hey, at least someone is getting interviews in this state!  I'm happy to help her out, although she'll have her work cut out for her taming my mop.  Next week I'm venturing over to Knoxville to help out Leslie and Ben with their move.  I will be on "kid watching" duty while Leslie works her magic and gets their house in working order.  I admit I'm pretty excited to see Leslie in action.  Her house is always so organized- I hope to pick up some pointers while I'm there.  Overall, though, I'm excited to have friends and family join me in Tennessee, and even happier that I can help out where I can!

See? I actually do have a lot going on right now! Woo!

Oh yeah, still no job. Boo.

Say some prayers...

I'm sure you've read about the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile this morning.  The earthquake's epicenter hit near Concepcion, the town where my Chilean sister Ale's family lives.

Ale, Francisco, and baby Isa live further south of Concepcion, and fortunately it doesn't look like the quake hit them as hard, if at all.  But still, it's pretty scary not knowing what's going on, and I'm praying hard that Ale and Francisco's families are all accounted for and safe.  We're hoping to hear from Ale soon- but apparently all the phone lines in Concepcion are down at the moment, so she probably doesn't know much either.

It was surreal reading the news article this morning: the places it mentioned- Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, Chilan, Santiago, Concepcion, the Rio BioBio area- were all places that my family visited on our vacation there a few years ago for Ale's wedding.  I hope Chile is able to bounce back quickly from this quake...and that the death toll remains where it is.

Say a prayer for Ale and Francisco's family!

Edit: I got an email from Ale shortly after I wrote this.  She is OK- they felt the earthquake in Puerto Montt (which is WAY in the South of Chile) this morning. She said it felt like it would never end.  She hasn't been able to speak with her mom because the phone lines are down, but she has heard that Carmen is OK and at her aunt's house.  Whew!  Her aunt and uncle's house in Chillen was damaged, and her cousin's building is divided in half.  They are all scared and worried, but everyone is safe and OK.

Norway!!

Thanks to a very generous donation of free flier miles from Will's dad, we booked out tickets to Norway last week! A lot of people wonder why we chose Norway- hopefully these pictures will help explain why. When Will first brought up the idea of traveling overseas for vacation this summer, he had Greece in mind.  He took me to the travel section of a book store, and pulled out a Greece guide book, while I pulled out a Norway travel guide at the same time. In the end we chose Norway as our destination for several reasons:

#1- While Greece is no doubt a beautiful country, Norway just looks strikingly gorgeous.  We plan on hiking a ton to different fjords and mountain peaks.  Look how awesome/freaky the Pulpit Rock looks!  I don't know if I will have the guts to step onto the Mortised Boulder, but I'm sure we'll get pictures

#2- Norway seems to be a country far less travelled.  Not many people consider visiting Norway when planning a trip to Europe.  We have both visited many countries in Central Europe, so Norway is a nice compromise, plus we both get to add a new country to our roster.

#3- Will's love of all things cold.  The upper half of Norway is in the Arctic Circle.  We will be there in August so we'll miss the Northern lights, but we still plan on going on a whale watching excursion.   Depending on where we go, we have an opportunity to see Orcas or Sperm Whales.

#4- Norway has a road that's been dubbed "The World's Best Road Trip".  It's a 5.5 mile long road that connects a few smaller islands to mainland Norway.  Apparently when storms come through, the road can be pummelled by waves!

We are slightly concerned about trying typical Norwegian cuisine.  Lutefisk (a cod that that is soaked in lye until it congeals) and Reindeer steak seem to be pretty common.   We may get adventurous and try these one night, but I think I'll stick to simpler food!

We're very much looking forward to our trip.  The good news is that we have plenty of time to plan out all the details of our trip.  The bad news- we have 6 more months til we get to go!

Well, Hello Winter!

...welcome to Nashville! We've been expecting you for awhile. And after one false alarm (and might I add, a lot of hype, hoopla, school cancellations, and general hysteria) a couple months ago, you finally graced us with your presence yesterday and today. A Nashville based blog I follow nicknames the "snow storms" that come through the area. "Snowpocalypse '09" was a huge disappointment (except to the thousands of school kids who had no class, as Nashville tends to cancel school before any weather actually hits the area) and we got barely a dusting of snow. "The Situation 2010" (Jersey Shore fans?? Get it? Get it??) was a great success, though! We actually had a pretty nasty storm come through yesterday, leaving the city virtually shut down.


Will and I love it. It's nice to put on our puffy coats (which are usually scoffed at down here because it's just too warm to wear them) and boots and hike around. This is the first place I've ever lived where snow isn't a normal part of winter. It's amazing to see how freaked out Nashvillians get when snow hits the ground. In their defense, 'round these parts snow usually shows up with a friend- ice. And ice is not a welcome guest- more like a dangerous party crasher. The biggest problem is that the south just doesn't have the same resources to take care of ice and snow. Since snow rarely hits the area, there aren't a lot of plows, and that means that roads aren't plowed nearly often enough, if at all. Will drove into work at 5:30 this morning, and said he had a heck of a time. A drive (on a fairly busy road) that normally takes him 15 minutes, took 40 minutes (because it hadn't been touched by a plow yet)...and he has 4 wheel drive. He's not complaining though. Will's such a winter baby. I love watching his face literally light up with delight when he sees snow on the ground. It's his happy place.


I went walking around downtown this morning to capture some of "The Situation" on camera. It was so quiet out! No one driving on the streets, and very few people walking around. I ran into a few other picture takers, and we shared a few words about how great it is to see winter arrive. Ironically, I talked to 3 different people who were out walking around, and none of them were locals. We all lived up north before. I guess southerners just really don't like the snow! My favorite part of the walk? All the untouched snow. The best thing about snow is being the first one to step in it and mess it up. Love. it. Also, the snow here is unique because it formed a layer of ice on top of it, so you get an extra satisfying crunch every time you step down. Ahh, heaven.


It's been a cozy winter afternoon. I've showered for the day, but put my PJs back on, there's chili simmering in the crock pot for dinner tonight, my blog is (finally!) being updated, and Will is due home in about a 1/2 hour. Here are some pictures from my morning walk!


The Batman and the Ryman, all decked out in a dusting of white powder: The Honky Tonks, looking very quiet (for once):The little park right around the corner from our place: Our local Vietnam Veterans Memorial (surrounded by pristine, untouched snow) (that scene quickly disappeared as soon as I took the photo): Snow and ice- with their powers combined, they are able to cause a LOT of bruised tailbones the world over (luckily mine wasn't one of them...today):Frozen over fountain:
The state capital: Sledding on capital hill:
News helicopters capturing the sledders (because, Gasp! People were out and about enjoying the white stuff) (Also, what is my obsession with helicopters lately??):Nashville: Country and Blues and monuments paying tribute to them:
And finally, what would a tour of scenic snow-covered Nashville be without a picture of a man and his guitar, walking down a winter street?:

Washington DC

I finally uploaded pictures off the camera, so I guess I can't put off writing any longer. Time to post some DC pics!
Will's grandma passed away last week, so we were up in Michigan for a few days to say our goodbyes. We then took a roundabout way of driving home....via Washington DC. It was a very last minute planned trip, so we weren't able to arrange for a tour of the White House or Congress, but we had a great time checking out the rest of the sights. Neither of us had ever really spent any time in DC, but we were pleasantly surprised! The city is really pretty and vibrant. And there is so much to do (for free!)...you could literally spend a solid week there and not see all the museums and monuments. We spent Friday running around the National Mall- we were able to go to the top of the Washington Monument and visit 3 different Smithsonian museums. Saturday we took the metro out to Arlington Cemetery and caught the Changing of the Guards, and then had lunch in Old Town Alexandria. Some friends of ours who live in Baltimore met up with us on Saturday night for dinner and drinks in Dupont Circle. Here are some of the many pictures we took from the weekend:

Illinois! Representin' at the World War II Memorial:

The White House (from the top of the Washington Monument)
Mr Lincoln:
This picture's like Where's Waldo, only with Presidential Helicopters. We saw several of them land at the White House one evening while we were walking back to the hotel. Also seen: snipers on top of the buildings surrounding the White House, should anyone try to take down the President as he de-helicoptered:Oh yeah! The Friday we were there happened to be the Annual March for Life. There were literally thousands of people marching to the capital, protesting abortion.At JFK's memorial gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery:Iwo Jima Memorial:Old Town Alexandria (and the site where we bought some delish salt water taffy):The Willard! Very swanky looking hotel that bear's my boyfriend's name. I'm so proudDinner with Mike and Amy! And finally, one final story that has nothing to do with the sights or majestic-ness that is DC. It's just a very funny story (to me and Will, anyway.) The hotel we were staying in had room service, and one of our favorite things to do when we stay in a hotel with room service is to order late night snacks. It's like a little treat, and something we look forward to doing when we are lucky enough to stay at a nice place. So on Thursday evening, after a long night of walking around the National Mall (in the freezing rain (as in, sleet, not as in it was cold outside and raining)) and stopping off in a...couple...bars to get out of the rain, we were pumped to order room service. It was close to 1:30 in the morning, and we were a tad on the tipsy side after our evening rounds at the bar, so to keep us awake, we were watching Mama Mia! Fast forward about 10 minutes. There is a knock on the door, and I get up to answer. The delivery guy asks if it's OK to come in and set up the table, and I say sure, why not. So delivery guy comes into the room, with his back turned to the TV, and I follow behind him. As he is setting things up, I ever so casually glance at the television, and to my HORROR, Mama Mia! is no longer on. It has been replaced by a full fledged pornographic movie. Oh. Dear. Lord. What is going on?!?! I looked quickly at Will, and asked, "what in God's name are you watching?" To which, he looks at me in utter confusion, and says "huh?" Upon which, the delivery guy looks at the TV and starting grinning like the Cheshire cat, but trying to hide it. My face turned brighter than a cherry tomato, and Will sat there, still laying on the bed, in shock, not sure what to do. The porn on TV was like a big elephant in the room. The 3 of us tried to continue on with our respective routines as though everything were normal, but we all knew. We all knew what was happening on TV whilst Will signed the bill, and I reached for a couple extra dollars for tip (because, hello! He just "caught" us watching porn!) It. was. mortifying. Turns out, Will was a bit embarrased to be seen watching Mama Mia! so as the delivery guy came into the room, he clicked the channel up button. Then the delivery guy was in front of the TV so he didn't realize the compromising channel it had fallen on. So needless to say, we were probably the butt of several jokes amongst the staff that night. And that will forever be a memory we think of when we recall our trip to DC. And now, you all will remember it, too. You're welcome for sharing.