Valentine's Day 2013

The day before Valentine's Day Mark comes home and says:

"I've got all three meals planned for tomorrow."

"All three? Why?" I ask.

"For Valentine's Day." He exclaimed.

This took me by surprise because up to this point we hadn't even so much as mentioned the holiday. I was/am ok not celebrating. Was I aware Valentine's Day was the next day? Yes. Was I hoping and praying for flowers, chocolates, or a card? No. His announcement made me giddy nonetheless. Anytime he goes out of his way to do something nice is always appreciated.

So I asked what we were doing for breakfast and he told me we would be eating downtown. I inquired as to where we would be eating and he sent the following text:

Cute, right?

Valentine's Day morning I went into work early to make sure we would have time to meet up. Luckily, I correctly deciphered the text and we headed to the Classic Cookie Company for some sugary goodness. I was excited because we had talked about going since Mark first noticed the place a few months prior. In the morning they have muffins, but in the afternoon they have cookies. What's not to love?!

Weekend Recap

Our turtle, Zooey

Friday Evening (8.17.12): We started our new apartment search by viewing a place in Golden Valley; the place set the bar pretty high. Then we went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to purchase some much needed new Brita filter, went home and ate dinner (dessert too!), made some notecards for Mark, and watched some Dark Shadows!

Friday night dinner: slow cooker vegetable-pasta soup
with ham & cheese sandwiches

If I write out the formulas that makes me smart, right?

Dessert from Cocoa & Fig

FINALLY some Dark Shadows!

Tips For Getting Loved Ones To Eat Vegetables

Photo Source: Raw Food Life

Not everyone was born loving veggies, something I definitely had to learn. I was just born with a taste for vegetables. And for most of my life I was oblivious to why some people proclaimed that they "don't like veggies" or worst that they "hate veggies" and I was too ignorant to try and understand.

That all changed when Mark and I moved in together. Mark was most definitely on the anti-veggies side, which created a huge problem and lots of frustration come meal time. After I got angry with him countless times for not even trying to eat his vegetables I realized I had to take a different approach. One day I asked him "why don't you like vegetables?".

This question and his answer helped us tenfold. This is my first tip: ask them what turned them off to vegetables. For Mark raw vegetables didn't sit too well with stomach, he loathed frozen steam-able vegetables, and he didn't eat salads because he thought lettuce didn't taste like much.

Ok, I could work with that. Then I asked him another important question: "Are there any vegetables that you do like?". There are so many different vegetables out there, why group them all together and proclaim hatred for all?

He responded that he liked broccoli, green beans, potatoes (especially red), carrots, asparagus and loved spinach.

Weekend Recap

Friday Evening (7.13.12): Got some running around out of the way and made some much needed purchases

Mark's new tea pot, $10 at Macy's!

Mark's new work pants, $30 at Macy's!

Can't wait! And of course we are going with Daren and Jeff.

Restaurant Review: California Pizza Kitchen (Maple Grove Location)

Lunch date at California Pizza Kitchen

Every Sunday we take Chloe to the dog park because it's our day off from running and she deserves to be able to sprint at her speed every once in awhile. We usually take her to the Fish Lake dog park over by where we go grocery shopping. It’s a nice fenced in area within a big park, but sometimes we like to spoil her and make the drive over to the massive Elm Creek dog park.

The Elm Creek dog park is 30 acres of fully fenced dog paradise. It also has a swimming pond for the dogs to cool off in so yes, this is quite the treat for Chloe.

One Sunday at the beginning of June (6.3.12) I needed to go to Victoria’s Secret to look for a strapless bra and there just so happened to be one located relatively close to the Elm Creek park meaning on this day Chloe would be a lucky dog.

Getting ready to run into the pond

Cooling off at Elm Creek dog park

Fast-forward past wet, smelly dog and success at Victoria’s Secret and it was lunch time. We usually try to plan when we eat out as it keeps us conscious of the fact that we are doing it. Something that has helped our overall physical and financial health, but when hunger calls we listen.

Trip to Grand Marais (part 3)

A new "river" formed from the flash flood aftermath of the storm

We woke up the next morning around 7:30 and went into Grand Marais one last time to run out to the lighthouse. As we were driving into town we noticed the ponds of water that had formed from the storm on the side of the road, but we were somehow still oblivious to the day we were about to have.

We parked in the pharmacy lot, located on a slight uphill and got out to start our run. Just as we started Mark slipped on the curb and fell onto the street twisting his ankle. He stumbled to his feet and said "I'm done" and that was that. We got back into the car and drove over to the gas station in hopes of finding an ace bandage to wrap his ankle in for the long car ride home. Unfortunately we struck out and since it was before 8 am none of the stores were open.

Mark's swollen ankle

Our Fourth of July Holiday

Fireworks in Bloomington

Besides Mark's birthday, the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I love being outside in the sun, grilling out, and especially watching the fireworks. What makes the fourth even that more special is it happens to also be Mark's niece's birthday AND the day before Chloe's birthday. Unfortunately because the fourth fell smack dab in the middle of the week this year and we were exhausted, we didn't make it out to Mark's parents' house with the rest of the family to celebrate. But fear not, living in a big city has many perks so we still had a great holiday.

Trip To Grand Marais, MN (part 2)

Tara and I woke up early Saturday morning to that we could go for a run before moving on to the rest of our day's festivities. We decided that our best bet was to go running in one direction down the highway, then turn around and head back when we wanted to be half-way done. Running down the highway might not sound like the most exciting place to run, but the views along the lakeshore were amazing. We ended up running about 4 miles and into a state forrest and over some formidable hills before turning back.

We were starting to get hungry by this point, and we had already decided the night before where to get breakfast: World's Best Donuts! We looked at the clock and saw that it was 7 am, meaning the donut shop had just opened and would have piping hot, fresh donuts. Without taking time to shower, we jumped in the car and headed into Grand Marais.

Eagerly waiting for donuts at 7 am

Tara posing in their cut out

Me posing in their cut out

Trip To Grand Marais, MN (part 1)

Mark and I are always talking about going on vacations. The problem is we are indecisive dreamers. Luckily a couple months ago a livingsocial deal for a two night stay at the Cascade Lodge in Lutsen, MN popped up and we made the impulse buy.

The next day Mark called to make our reservations so we wouldn't forget to use the deal. We scheduled a June 18-20 stay and then eagerly waited for date to come by researching things to do and places to eat.

Finally, the time to take our trip had arrived. We loaded the car with our luggage, snacks, and list of restaurants to try and were on our way. We were so excited to get to Lutsen we didn't get hungry on the entire 5 hour drive.

Us taking in the view of Duluth from the rest area

We checked into the hotel around 1:30 and were pleasantly surprised at how secluded the place was. I wanted a getaway free from texts, calls, and emails and boy did I get just that and then some with no choice in the matter, which we will get to later. After hauling our luggage up to our cozy room overlooking Lake Superior, we drove the 10 minutes into Grand Marais to get a bite to eat.

Weekend Recap

Friday Evening (6.29.12):

Close up of the personalized labels

Mini jars filled with dry ingredients for chocolate chip baked oatmeal
& chocolate mug cake

Completed present:

Four mini jars with recipes attached Four 1 cup ramekins Wedding card for the couple

Completed present: 

Four mini jars with recipes attached
Four 1 cup ramekins
Wedding card for the couple

Mark's wonderfully executed wrapping job

Newly manicured nails to go with my blue dress

Hi, We're the Welchmeyers

Tired of wasting paper, and losing track of our photos and notes, we decided to make a place where we can scrapbook our lives... without the scrapbook!

The name Running out of Apples came about while brainstorming names that were fitting to our lives, and we always seem to be out of apples. We buy them twice a week, and eat them everyday!

After learning that Google will not let our 2-1/2 year old puppy create an account, we lied and said that she is 23.

Without further adieu, let us introduce ourselves:

1. Mark- I like playing Yahtzee, watching movies, and chasing our puppy around.
2. Tara- I like being in the kitchen, watching sports games (go Pistons and Tigers!), and "hunting" bunny rabbits with our puppy.
3. Chloe, the puppy- Likes sleeping on laps, pointing "wild" animals, and begging for food.
4. Zooey, the turtle- Like basking in the "sun", sleeping, and eating dried shrimp.

 The Welchmeyers on Chloe's 2nd Birthday