Author: Andi

Around Valentine's Day, I came across the cutest thing! Heart shaped paper clips! Now these aren't something that you need to buy. They are something you can make with your everyday, run of the mill paperclip.

Here's a website to one of the places I have found with instructions. But what really helped me, was seeing a video of how it's done. This video actually helped me even more!

I have these all over my desk now! I have them clipped to my calendar at work, attached to pictures, in my drawer in case I need one for something. I have also shown a couple coworkers how to make them and they thought it was really cute! The one thing we agreed on was that we would be sure we didn't attach them to anything that went to our boss!

Have fun making these and leave one for your sweetheart on a note!

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Lutsen for some skiing. We went with Chuck's coworker and his wife. We planned it the weekend before when we went skiing with them in town. We had a lot of fun.

We left on Friday after work and headed up there. We stopped in Duluth to get some dinner. Then after dodging about 100 deer on the way up, we made it to the resort. We checked in to our room and quickly hit the hay. No one got a very good sleep because throughout the night the temperature in the room kept fluctuating.

Then at 4:30 or so in the morning, the fire alarm went off. Chuck went to scope things out and no one else in the place was around. Shortly after, the alarm went off and we started falling back asleep….only to be woken up by a maintenance guy trying to get into our room. We aren't sure what he was trying to do to get into our room, but our friend got rid of him and we finally were able to get back to bed.

We woke up and got out on the hills by 9:30. Not too bad considering how tired we were. We skied and skied! It was such a nice day. Lots of sun and warm temperatures. With this weather, though, we ended up having sloppy slopes by the afternoon. Chuck and I stayed out skiing until about 3:30. I think our friends went in about 2:30.

After skiing we hung out in the hot tub for a while and then got ready for dinner. We decided we wanted ice cream first. So we took a drive to a town about 30 minutes away and got some ice cream. After that trip, we returned to the resort and went to one of the restaurants for dinner. When we got back to the hotel, we were all so tired we decided to go to bed early.

We woke up and hit up the breakfast buffet. YUM! Then it was off for some more skiing. We were skiing by 9. We stayed out there until about noon and then packed up to head home.

Chuck took our friend, Scott, and I down “The Plunge”. He went down it on Saturday and I chickened out. I shouldn't have. I guess the conditions on it on Saturday were WAY better than when we went down n on Sunday. It was really icy and dark back there, so I had a hard time seeing where I should go. Scott and I sent Chuck down part way first so we could see how he went. It didn't help. I went sideways down part of it and then made a couple turns. I could have stopped myself had I put my skis slightly more uphill, but instead I bailed and went down. Nothing too bad. Nothing came off and I got right back up. After standing with Chuck for a second, he told me to go the rest of the way down….and really…this wasn't a very long hill…..I had just freaked myself out. So he told me that I have done steeper than this and I just realized “Hey…yes I have” and took off down the rest of it.

I guess Scott fell on it, too. There was a ski patrol that came over at the same time we did and told Scott there was a friend of his that had multiple injuries on that run last week. NOT the thing to tell a person who is already uncomfortable to go down it. I guess Scott fell once (like I did) and then got himself back up.

It was nice to know that I did it, but I wish I would have gone when the conditions were better and not waited until Sunday. I will know for next time!

On the drive home, we stopped in Duluth for dinner at Grandma's. I love that place. Our service was terrible, but the food was tasty. Andrea (Scott's wife) and I decided we wanted ice cream. So we found a McDonald's on the way home and got a couple Shamrock Shakes with oreos in it. It was SO good! I am going to really have to fight the urge to get another one of those in the near future!

We got back to their car to drop them off and headed back home. We were back by about 7. It was a fabulous trip and I am so glad we were able to put it together on such short notice. We also made some new friends in Scott and Andrea and I look forward to hanging out with them again soon.

Sorry there aren't any pictures. Scott said he took a couple and I am waiting on those. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!

Hope you had a great weekend and if you are in Minnesota, I hope you were able to enjoy the gorgeous weather we had this weekend!