new feature ideas & buttons!

i've been trying to think of ways to make minnesota girl more exciting for my readers. you know, like on the days when my life isn't 100% exciting, which is rare of course. *insert extreme sarcasm*

anywho, i've been thinking about doing some sort of feature post, so that my readers can get to know one another, and so that i can get to know each and every one of you. even though 100+ readers isn't a ton in the grand scheme of blogging, to me, i'm like...whoa. i don't know half of you!

so here's what i propose, leave a comment on this post with what kind of stuff you wanna see. got an idea for a blogger feature? let me know! i've been thinking about bringing back fitness monday. good idea? bad idea?

also, i'm going to start putting buttons on my blog again. if you're interested, leave a comment! :)

i wanna hear from everyone! tell your friends!

xox, eden

p.s. i apologize in advance for my absence over the next couple days. i promise i'll read all of your comments and consider them. luke and i are moving into our apartment, so the next few days are bound to be busy for us. thanks, everyone!

colorado day two! (and a little bit of three)

i spy...a rock climber. can you find her? i'm always in awe of people who climb. i'm so afraid of heights. i think i would die if i were up that high.

yesterday, the family and i did some good ole' colorado sightseeing. we went into eldorado canyon again, and then into the city of golden, home of the coors brewery. golden has a quaint little downtown area filled with little shops and restaurants. when i was little and my family used to road trip to colorado, we toured the brewery. this was of course when i was only 12 or so...so prior to my legal drinking status...so i of course was denied the luxury of sampling loads of free beer. so, now that i'm 21 i'll have to go back. i do love me some good beer.

today was another big day because my baby sister graduated from high school. i held it together for the most part until "never grow up" by taylor swift came on...then i started to ball like a baby. this is sort of a big deal because i'm not much of a crier...ok, so maybe i am sometimes, but that's not the point. but seriously, i can't believe she graduated. this means that it has been four years since i graduated from high school. wowza. i feel old. haley's graduation sort of fell on the perfect weekend because luke and i celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday. we started dating our senior year. :)

tomorrow, megan and i fly back home. i have to finish up packing, and then on wednesday luke and i move into our new apartment. i'm so excited!

hope you all are having a fabulous long, memorial weekend. :)

xox, eden

day one in colorado!

[from left to right, top to bottom. 1. looking into stuff about luke and my possible-temporary-future homeland. 2. walking down pearl street in downtown boulder, and doing a little shopping. 3. colorful vintage clothing. 4. the best little vintage shop around.]

despite our early flight, and the fact that we landed in colorado at 8am, we actually did quite a bit. after my parents picked megan and i up at the airport, we headed to one of the denver hospitals to visit my grandpa who is in the rehabilitation center. it was so good to see him. we seem to be really good at playing phone tag, so it was nice to actually talk to him face-to-face. after our visit, we went to the store to pick up some grilling stuff, like burgers, and in my case boca burgers. (so yummy!) fyi the "cheeseburger" ones are delish, too.

after lunch, me, megan, my sister, and her friend foley, went into boulder...aka my favorite city in the united states. it is a world all its own, and i was born to live there. i love the quaint streets and shops. did i mention that boulder has THE best vintage shops around? well, they do. we stopped in at one today, and i found the cutest vintage skirt for $14. i passed on it, but am pretty sure that i'll be stopping in tomorrow to get it if it's still there.

and to think...i did all of this while dealing with a possible case of strep throat. no fun!

have any of you ever been to boulder? what did you think?

tomorrow we're going hiking in eldorado canyon. hopefully the weather stays nice!

xox, eden

9 hours.

...til i board a plane to go home! i get so excited everytime i go out to colorado, and i'm so happy that it has finally started to feel more like home. most of you already know this, but my parents moved to colorado after i graduated from high school, so i've never lived there. for the first couple years, it felt foreign to me. it's still a little weird that it's my family's full-time home, but it really is the best of both worlds...vacation & going home!

i'm going to bed early since i have to wake up at 3:00 CST to finish packing and get ready.

follow me on twitter, and i'm sure you'll get updates! :)

xox, eden

packing up my life.

i'm so close to having all of my stuff packed up. i don't get why property managers do this. why do we have to be out by the 27th, when they know that we can't get into our new place until the 1st? rude...just rude. luke and i will be semi-homeless for 4ish days unless we get news from our new apartment that we can move in early. i guess i'll be crashing on the couch for a few days since i have to have my room cleared out.

megan and i leave on thursday to go to colorado for my baby sister's graduation. i cannot believe she's already done with high school. this means i'm getting old. anywho, i am so excited to go out there for the weekend. we'll hopefully get in some hiking and sightseeing in our few days. i'm sure we'll get some awesome pictures too.

hope everyone is having a great week! :]

xox, eden

pizza date.

luke and i made homemade pizza last night as a sort of early anniversary date, since i'll be in colorado for our real anniversary on friday. i cannot believe we've been together for four years already, and in about a year we'll be married! i'm so lucky to have such an incredible boy in my life. i love you, luke.

we started taking trips of boxes over to a garage at our new place today, and i've been packing during all of my spare time. it's a bittersweet move for me because i've lived with my roommates for three years, yet i couldn't be more excited about moving in with luke. i will certainly miss my girlies though! after unloading our stuff, we made a stop at barnes and noble. i could literally spend hours there. i wanted to buy so many books! after completely loving the film, i really want to read the king's speech. i just love that kind of stuff.

sorry to keep it short, but there's an it's always sunny in philadelphia marathon on, and i'm sort of addicted.

;)

xox, eden

wedding venue love.

as i said in yesterday's post, luke and i have finally begun our search for a wedding venue. we both absolutely fell in love with the venue we toured yesterday. it was seriously the most romantic and rustic place that i have ever been. we both really hope that it works out for us. :) here are a few pictures from a wedding that took place there last year. seriously, watch the video it made me tear up a bit...
ok...so maybe i teared up a lot.

Gene + Jill // Two Pease in a Pod from capture studios on Vimeo.

all photos belong to colin hughes, their amazingly talented photographer.

the fiance's 22nd birthday.

sunday was luke's 22nd birthday. i felt super bad because i accidentally forgot to request the day off of work and was scheduled from 11-6. when i showed up to work, my manager told us that they would be sending someone home because there were too many of us on. we picked numbers, and my coworker who won let me leave because she knew it was luke's birthday. i was so excited. i got luke's present in order, and when i got home i quick whipped up a cake. funfetti to be exact. yeah, i am that good at baking.

i drove over to luke's to surprise him, and then we headed to st. augusta for some frolfing with our friends. the pictures above are from that. it is finally getting warm here in minnesota, and we've been spending as much time outside as possible.

in other news, luke and i went and looked at a wedding venue today. we fell in love with it. will post pictures soon!

xox, eden

love you, momma.

dear mom,

thank you for always being there for me. i couldn't have asked for a better mother.

happy mother's day!

i love you so much.

love,

eden

HELP WANTED: a great book list for summer!

(source)

After an entire semester of reading textbooks about pedagogical theories, i am so ready for some fun reading! So please please please pleaseeee...I need ideas! :)

it is a beautiful day.

(source)

After a stressful semester, I am almost done! I have my last meeting today, and just a short paper to write afterwards. It feels so weird that I just finished my FOURTH year of college, and that I am officially done with classes. Next semester I am full-time student teaching, and I couldn't be more excited. Plus, it is finally BEAUTIFUL outside. I'm going to spend the afternoon reading (for fun!) on my balcony. :)

Everything's going to be alright.

P.S. Luke and I have been discussing future plans. They are out-of-this-world crazy. I'm PUMPED.

may day!

i can't believe it's already may 1st! this semester has gone so fast, and i am so pumped for summer. i have so many fun things planned. it has been so cold here lately, and today it's freezing rain! wth. i don't know if summer is ever going to come.

this past friday was my last day of practicum teaching, and it was a lot harder then i thought it would be. i got to know those kids so well, and i was so sad to leave. it feels so good to know that i'm going into a profession that i am going to love so much. it's so rewarding, and all of the "miss you" notes and homemade cookies i received let me know that i must have been doing something right. even some of the "trouble" kids came up and gave me hugs and said thanks. one of the girls in my classes even brought me flowers. i literally almost cried when she handed them to me. i will never forget this experience. i learned so much about myself from the kids and my awesome cooperating teacher.



this upcoming week is finals. i don't have a ton to do, just a few papers and an online quiz. i'm actually pretty sad about this semester ending. i'm really going to miss all of the friends that i've made in my classes, and now that we're all done with classes and will be student teaching next semester we won't see each other very often. this semester was a lot of fun.

here are a few pictures from easter:




have a great sunday, everyone!