Happy 33rd Birthday Missy!

Cotton sluts (google it)

So ready for a night out!

Kinda of a nice weekend! How was yours? Do you feel refreshed and ready for another week? Why don't you start a blog and discuss your every thought, too?

Weekend Highlights

• awesome massage at Santosha
• My mom had a job interview AND may be getting an offer on her house!
• Aunt Jill brought Nori stickers, which provided a full day of entertainment
• Grey's Anatomy and brownies with Jake
• sunny weather
• yoga at Midway YMCA, my new fitness home
  
• Grandpa Steve visited
• Missy's birthday dinner at Il Vesco Vino...patio, music, good food, and interesting conversation. Wouldn't you like to know.
  
• Meeting friends (who are also neighbors) at Bloom
• homemade chili and bread, Project Runway on DVR, and couch time later tonight
  

A busy week lies ahead as I am coordinating a huge student event on Tuesday, on top of doing of research and working at my new job. We head to Decorah next weekend for Jake's 10 year Luther class reunion. I feel bad for him, he's getting old.

The kids hang with Jake while the moms go out!

I am the man!

3 bathrooms and 1 kitchen scrubbed, floors swept & vacuumed (where applicable), nap, and laundry ready to go, all before Oprah is on. This Friday SAHM gig is so up my alley.

I KNOW what you are thinking...

You are worried about me and my stress level brought on by a little thing called life. But don't. Sure, I started my new job 1.5 days a week which requires driving in traffic and maneuvering between iPod wearing students, making a dozen laps around a parking ramp and then speed walking with hot coffee 2 miles to my new office. But guess what? This new office has big windows so it is totally worth it! Plus, I am in charge of all the fun stuff, like marketing & communications and coordinating an open house (code for party). So, I'm good. Plus, last night Jake was gone at a draft for a college fantasy football league (yes, you read that right) so after Nori went to bed, I took a bath, FLOSSED, cleaned our room and was asleep by 8:30. Gracias Tylenol PM. First sign of abuse?

Laughing

I would just to explain this wonderful room with the red duvet. It is our play/office/guest/junk room and is not in any way indicative of my refined, elegant yet functional meets chic taste when it comes to decorating.

Back to the grind

I set up a "reading station" for Nori which allows me
at least 3 entire minutes to myself

I'll be honest, life has been kicking our butts lately! So many places we have to go, people to see, things to do. It seems like taking time for ourselves is last on the priority list. Some couples fight about money or chores, but about the only thing Jake & I continue to struggle with is time! We don't really fight but we are constantly working on how to balance all the child care and "should do's" with putting our family's needs first. Often times, we really just need to be home with unscheduled time and no demands (other than a kid and dog) on our minds. We had some good talks about this this weekend and have some new ideas to make things run more smoothly around the Seltz house. Jake has declared himself a zombie and will also work on getting more sleep so wish him luck. Poor guy works long, boring hours.

"Breakfast time" is a cry heard throughout the house, even at night. As is, "time flies!"

Our midlife crises did stop us from attending a Sri Lankan tennis party on Friday night while Auntie Elle babysat. Here I thought Jake played tennis with a bunch of harmless, old Indian guys, but I soon find out they are tennis FANATICS who love to push drinks on people. I mean really nice, old, fanatical drink-pushers, but still. Saturday we attended a picnic at my friend Jodi's house where the guests were all families made by adoption! It was fun hear the different stories and cool for Nori to grow up knowing other kids who were not necessarily homegrown in their mom's utes. Today we went back to the new church, Bloom, but Nori is still not so keen on the nursery, insisting "Go home NOW" and "mommy, I want donut" before we actually could leave. In fact, she has been full of funny sayings this weekend, such as when I was testing her knowledge of the alphabet:

Me: "L-M-N-O...? L-M-N-O...?
Nori: "Oh, baby!!

Or this one, when we went to watch Jake play tennis:

Nori: DADDY! Daddy! Look it! I'm Norelle!!!!!

They are studying the rainforest at Tammy's this month, check out the ferosh Leopard she made!

TuTu Tootie

Tootie McBootie & Georgie

Is this illegal?

My daughter is in love with a 49-year-old man. According to her, his name is "Frankie Do It", but you may know him as Frank Viola. Her bedtime entourage now includes Georgie, Lamby, two blankets and Frankie Do It.

Final Installment: Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu

Senor in slippers

After a week in the city, it was marvelous to relax on the resort side of Peru. Our hotel, the Rio Sagrado, had amazing views, a glass shower overlooking the river and mountains with a rainfall showerhead, and delightfully comfy beds! Out in the middle of nowhere, we felt peace and relaxation. And fever, chills, nausea, etc.

There was a freaky fashion show on board

The train to MaPi was just as fun as the ruins, running alongside the Urumbamba River. We staggered through our guided tour of the lots Incan City and learn about how smartly it was built, avoiding geological fault lines, sun dials as calendars, and irrigation systems made out of stone cut by hand. Really cool!

Genius!

Urumbamba River, no rafting allowed

The never ending trip reports are over (minus the details about swimming in our underwear at South Beach on the layover). Here are all the Sacred Valley photos...

THE END!

Installment 7: Cusco

Plaza de Armas

Cusco marked the turning point in our health so food became less of a treat here. It is also where we met up with our friends, had the Gringo Dinner, got $10 massages, yoga'd in the mountains, hiked to our first ruins, and felt the European influence in Peru.

Ruins at Sexy Woman (a.k.a Sexy Mama, a.k.a Sexy Lady)

La Catedral

This is how Jake felt about the museums

See all Cusco photos here

Installment 6: Arequipa

Earthquake proof archway made of volcanic sillar

Loved the food and views in Arequipa! The insane taxi drivers...not so much. Our B&B was totally adorable complete with WI-FI and cocoa tea, so what more could we want?

El Misti, active volcano

We toured the Monestario de Santa Catalina where the second daughter of every family had to go live as a nun to pray for the family and save them from damnation. Once they entered the gates, they never left again. It wasn't all bad though because they had servants and luxurious living quarters (for the time).

Nun city

We met Juanita the Ampato maiden, a young Incan girl who was scarified to the gods on Mt. Ampato. She was only found recently in '95 when a nearby erupting volcano melted her icy cave and she slid down the hill, preserved like Demi Moore for all time.

Our cute B&B, Casa Arequipa

We also shopped, see the Arepequeno ladies trying to get Jake to buy more baby alpaca goods by forcing him to pose in sweaters and hats.

No alpaca were hurt during this photo shoot

See all Arequipa photos here

September is the new July

It's official, I have little creatures habitating in my tummy causing me pain so now I am on Cipro and an anti-nausea med until the South American hitchhikers leave my body. If you want more details, read between the lines.

Several big changes are in store for me (and isn't it all about me) in the next few weeks. Such as:

1. A new gym! Should I join LA Fitness or the YMCA? Both are closer than the JCC and offer more classes...
2. My new .30 job working with students in transition -lots of research and planning before the center opens.
3. A new church? We tried out a new contemporary church in our neighborhood called Bloom and really liked it!
   

And now, from the U.S Open, it's Rafael Nadals' biggest fan...

Congrats Susie & Sam!

That's me in the foreground, I guess I need a color job

Susie and Sam joined the Married Club yesterday! They had a wonderful wedding at Solera, awesome tapas, and the best wedding cake I have ever had (BTB, I think I have a parasite so the fact that I ate the cake on my stomach shows how delightful it was)! Erin & Andrew returned from Seattle and are expecting a baby friend (tell me you read DListed). Other fun Winonans and honorary Winonans were there like Ann& Chris, Jill & Shawn, Laura, Jennie, Alisha & Juan, Chelsey & Nick, Stacey & Eric, John, Brandon & Katie, Ryan & Megan, Jess, Penny and on and on. I won't name names but most of these people were slightly intoxicated (Jake Seltz).


My camera was acting up so I didn't get any good pics... if you are reading this, send me pics!

Installment 5: Peruvian Culture & stuff

Traveling to Peru was my first time in South America but I figured it would basically be like southern America, maybe somewhere in Texas? Never having been to Texas this assumption did not help me so luckily I was completely wrong.
People
The people were incredibly nice and extremely patient! B&B owners, cab drivers, waiters, and even old men on street were all very kind. One kid, who was trying very diligently to get us to buy something, politely warned of a known pick-pocket, even after we refused to buy his wares. How is that for hospitality?

Language

Because Peruvians are so nice, they went out of their way to let me mutilate their language and engaged me in conversations. Luckily, many Peruvians speak slowly so it was an excellent place to butcher Spanish. Jake (Spanish minor and former Mexico & Guatemala study-abroader) was a much better speaker than I was as he could conjugate verbs, however I just nouned people to death. On the last day, after "adios-ing" all week long, I learned from Ross that they don't say "Adios", they say "Ciao! Ciao!".

Poverty
As you can imagine, there is a great disparity between the rich and the poor. Our five star resort in the Sacred Valley was next door to campesinos living in poverty. Near the big cities there are more educated and wealthy people whose children attend private school, but also many poor selling handmade knitwear, earrings, paintings, and food on the streets, often with a baby slung on their backs. Seeing the poor children out late at night broke our hearts! As we drove though the city, we saw homes on the hillside, many made of concrete blocks with red tile roofs. In the countyside, homes were made of dried mud bricks, many on bean & potato farms.

Climate
It's hot. They may not know it what with all the mittens and sweaters, but coming from MN, I can assure you that 80 and sunny during the day and 40's at night is perfection.

Shopping
No Super Targets but check out the Cusco market





Religion
I think they all like this guy...


City reports on Arequipa, Cusco and Sacred Valley coming next week...hopefully.

Happy Birthday Ang!

I enjoyed our PJ breakfast party! Hope the rest of your day is wonderful, just like you!

Installment 4: Amigos!

One wonderful thing about all this celebrating is that we reconnected with old friends and made some sassy new ones! Now, as you know, I am not one who likes to talk to other people or God forbid, be friendly. But, I figured it would be rude not to so I unwound my curls and had little fun for once.

Our Peru Pals

Justin & Sandi, ahem!

Jim & Amy (don't be fooled, they make us look normal)

This bird

Simon and his boy toy, Bill

Don & Dotti bust a move

Not Pictured: Matt Peschau and Elroy the taxi driver

Installment 3: Wedding Festivities!!

Yesika & Ross

The Knutsons brought a new tradition to Peru in the form of the Groom's Dinner (a.k.a the Gringo Dinner) at a cool place called Bistrot 370 in Cusco.

Boys at one end...

Girls at the other?

The wedding itself was only running about 50 minutes late which is practically early in this culture so we were not worried when we caught a taxi to the church 40 minutes after the wedding was supposed to start. We still made it there in plenty of time to see stray dogs wandering around peeing on the wall, and village children sneaking down the aisle to see this grand affair. Both Bride and Groom looked beautiful and it was very special to be in Peru to see Ross marry his new wife!

Mr. & Mrs. Corrales-Knutson?

Happy day!

The religious ceremony was followed by a brief civil ceremony at the reception site. As different as the whole experience was, it still felt familiar. The dinner was top notch with literally dozens of different local dishes, appetizers, main courses, and desserts. It is tradition to set out bottles of scotch whiskey on the tables to get the party started. Yes, we danced, maybe not as well as the locals and maybe my dress kept threatening to fall off, but we just didn't care.

I wore heels!

Don't.even.ask.

Oh, Senor!

See all the wedding photos here

Installment 2: Injuries & Illnesses

The canckle and gnat bits

At all times during this trip, one or the both of us were experiencing at least five of the following maladies (however, I am pleased to report that my feet felt awesome and the low humidity kept my hair frizz-free!):

• headache
• nausea
• explosive diarrhea
• fever
• chills
• night sweats
• a canckle
• concussion and possible brain hemorrhage from falling in the shower
• loss of breath
• faintness
• fatigue
• leg cramps
• menstrual cramps
• cellulitis (in said canckle just dx by Urgent Care)
• bad breath
• gnat bites with itching, swelling, and redness
• parasites?
• extreme flatulence
• heatstroke
• sunburn
• insomnia
• motion-sickness
• irritability
• common cold
• dehydration
• ganglion cyst
  

As a result, we were forced to visit the Peruvian farmicia several times and then carried our own farmicia with us in the backpack which was stocked the following medications:

• Advil
• blue pills (Peruvian Advil?)
• Tylenol PM
• Imodium AD
• red pills (Peruvian Dramamine?)
• Benadryl
• tampons
• Lidocaine patches
• baby wipes
• sunscreen
• Kleenex
• Carmex
• gum
• water sin gas