Just in from New York!!!

Hey! Sorry for my long break from blogging, but I've been on the road through the Great Lakes and New York City!!! I'll be posting more later when I have my pics loaded and everything. Keep watching!

Evolution of Maternity Clothes...

Pretty accurate...at least on my account ;)

Ode to my Siblings...

I have to tell the world that I have an amazing brother and a bodacious sister. I have to do a little bragging about these fab characters. Michelle is a coupla years younger than me, but we've been best friends all our lives. We shared a bedroom for 18 years and even a bed for maybe 6 years. She just returned from Discipleship Training School (put on through YWAM - Youth With A Mission) where she and maybe 35 other young people went down to Peru and did missions for a few months. She came back totally sold out to God's will in her life, even if it meant giving up her life-long dream of being a park ranger. She's currently working at a National Monument down in southern Minnesota for the second summer in a row.

Then there's my brother Brian. He just finished his junior year in high school and let me tell you, this boy has quite the resume already. He has been taking more and more leadership roles in the TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) program and leading bible studies Sunday nights for the church's high school youth group. Musically, though, Brian is head and shoulders about just about anyone I know. He plays Euphonium (baritone) in the high school concert/marching band and valve trombone in the jazz band (he's working on learning slide). He just found out that he'll be playing euph this summer in the All-State band (maybe 5 or 6 in the whole state are selected). He'll also be first chair euphonium in a Midwest honor band traveling to Europe this summer. AND he'll be drum major in the marching band this fall (a HUGE responsibility). He also plays in the church brass choir and sings in the high school choir and youth worship team at church. Oh yeah, and if that weren't enough, he'll become an Eagle Scout in October.

Two words for you...Holy Crap.

I'm so proud to be their sister, I just had to tell someone all the sweet sweet stuff these two were doing!! Way to go, Westerburs!!!

NEW Adventures in the Life of Brenda #3: Crosstown Construction in my Backyard

I happen to live in a very lovely neighborhood with lots of gardens and old, classy houses. We have an amazing hardware store (that can even give lost sisters precise directions to the airport), a remodeled auto-garage that sells frozen custard, a greenhouse, a mom-and-pop coffee shop, a corner barber, a Russian art museum inside an old Spanish mission, Minnehaha Creek with its hundred or so miles of trails and trees and parks that border it, and some of the cheapest gas in the city all within 2 blocks of our apartment building. I am continually thankful for this quaint and quiet neighborhood with all its quizzical quirks!

However, yesterday started a long-overdue project in the city of Minneapolis. It is the untangling of the 35W-Crosstown interchange, starting with the demolition of the Diamond Lake bridge. It began last night around 10pm with what felt like a small earthquake. The little handles on the dresser in the bedroom were rattling, the closet's sliding doors were shaking, even my glass of juice had little lapping waves. And it continued all through the night. Now Jon and I have become accustomed to the airliners and jets en route to the airport that fly rather low over our apartment every 15 minutes or so, but this was new. The rattling didn't stop. The shaking didn't stop. In fact, as I am typing this I can watch the window blinds shiver and feel tremors through the couch cusions with the accompaniment of what sounds like train cars banging together. This will be the norm for the next 48 hours straight at which point I am hoping the noise will be limited to the daytime hours only. For any of you that might be thinking I am exaggerating the noise, let me show you an official diagram of where our apartment building is located in relation to the construction:

Notice me hanging out of the window on the 3rd Floor shaking my angry fists.

Now, don't get me wrong!! I am very thankful something is finally being done about this intersection. But since the new bridge won't be finished until next year (about the time our lease is up...) it comes at a bad time and as a terrible inconvenience.

But alas, since MNDot didn't bother to give me a survey about what I think about all this, all I can do is complain here. So thank you for letting me rant and rave! I think I'll go outside with a bag of popcorn and watch the demo. At least it provides some quality entertainment :)