O'Brien Christmas Greeting!

So I wanted to make a nice Christmas Card this year and post it to our blog, but unfortunately the photo card makers actually want you to buy prints of their pretty designs, so instead you get a funny card! Click the link below to check out our video Christmas greeting! It really took Mosby a while to get the moves down....

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/m1OdEyIjHdnM9wTmk5N6

Couldn't help myself,
Kirsten

Words of Wisdom

A friend of mine, Ryan Alaniz, from the department is doing research in Honduras this year and is documenting his time on his blog (http://buildabetterworld.blogspot.com/). He has such a heart for people. The other week he put up a quote that was really encouraging and thought I would share it with you all.

Ryan says, "The Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero's story is a beautiful one of conversion and sacrifice for the poor. Indeed, activists throughout Latin America continue to call on his spirit for inspiration. I do the same below, citing one of his most famous homilies:

“It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us…We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I finally was able to decorate for Christmas. I am usually all about Christmas immediately following Thanksgiving, but this year it took me a couple of weeks to really get into it. I think it was probably because we had the second warmest November on record here, so it still felt like fall. Well fall is definitely gone now and we are supposed to get 7-10 inches of snow tonight, so it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Here are some fun things we are looking forward to during this season:

*Holidazzle Parade

*Mates of State concert

*Cohort Christmas party

* Waiting in line to get Swedish Sausage at Ingebretsons

* General Swedishness

*Attempting to take a "family picture" in which Mosby will sit still, preferably wearing a Santa hat

*And of course, Christmas movies!!!

Until next time,

Kirsten

Thanksgiving in Willmar

We had a great time in Willmar celebrating Thanksgiving! Most of our time was spent laughing until our sides hurt and catching up with one another. For some reason I was not in picture-taking mode, so here are just a few pics to give you a "taste" of our Thanksgiving.


Pic 1: Grandma must be telling one of her hilarious stories. She is cute AND funny- at age 94!

Pic 2: Telling some more stories (and me sitting exactly like my mom).

Pic 3: My cousin Jean and Uncle Doug (AKA Connan O'Brien).

Pic 4: The best table at the Willmar Bowling alley:)



It is always so fun to get together, so we are already looking forward to Christmas at the Guthries!

Procrastination for Fashion (it almost rhymes...)

Now I do not think of myself as a fashionista by any means, but I like to shop just as much as the next girl. I'm not sure if there is a name or an overall consistency to my fashion choices, but I do gravitate toward 50's-ish structured pieces and anything that involves creative draping or gathering. If I had to shop at 3 stores for the rest of my life, they would probably be places like Fossil, Anthropologie, and Levi's....classic, but with a creative twist. The reason you probably would have no idea that this would summarize my style is because 1) out of sheer laziness and comfort, I usually wear jeans and a sweatshirt and 2) because we have a tight budget so if I do purchase anything, it has to be extremely practical and can be worn in nearly any scenario. Sigh....

Well, the whole reason for this little story is because I have found a website that I love called ModCloth. They sell designs from independent and up and coming designers, and it is actually somewhat reasonable (it's no Target or T.J. Maxx, but it's also not as pricey as the previous stores I mentioned). They also sell 1 vintage piece everyday-it's pretty fun to see what they find. Here is their link: http://www.modcloth.com/.

And here's a sample of just a few of my favorites right now.

Sunday nights

I kind of feel like blogging, but I have nothing really interesting to say or any fun pictures so I will just tell you a fact. Every Sunday night, no matter how cheesy it is or crazy Ty is, I almost ALWAYS get teary eyed (okay, sometimes a little more than that) watching Extreme Home Makeover. All I need to watch is the beginning and maybe even the end when they see their new house, but I tell ya, it never fails.

Have a wonderful week friends (or friend....or self..... depending on how many people read this)!

Until next time,
Kirsten

The return of fall

Apart from the 4th of July, fall is certainly the most Americana-esque time of the year. Something about it takes us back to the late 19th century farms of America, where all everyone ate was apple pie, and the women were happy to be plump:) I find that to be especially true in our neighborhood since we are surrounded by such historic homes. Here are pictures from our fall walk today in the neighborhood.

As a family scholar, I surely recognize the that this is an idealized image of the past, but I am amazed at its power in this season. I myself have had some serious nesting instincts the last couple of weeks. All I've wanted to do is bake, cook, make warm soups, drink apple cider, and decorate the house. I wish I had the time to actually do these things, but Pumpkin spice lattes will have to take the place of the various pumpkin baked goods I have dreamed of making in the past week (although a pie is in the near future). I try to ignore all of the Christmas stuff out already, because I like celebrating the Thanksgiving season first. Plus, it is strange to think about Christmas when I am still in flip flops (especially here in Minnesota- you know Christmas is nowhere near when you are able to wear flip flops and not get frostbite). So for the next few weeks I will be soaking up the last of the fall colors, 50 plus degree days, and the images of Americana that are so present in our minds.

The great thing about our Thanksgiving plans this year is that our dinner will be far from a farmhouse in New England. In fact, rather than smells of apple spice, we may more likely get wafts (sp?) of smoke and old shoes. Yes, we will be eating at the Willmar Bowling Alley along with hundreds of other families at the Thanksgiving buffet. We couldn't be more excited though. Why? Because it is time spent with our family, enjoying one another. Not only that, but it is also being a part of the community and sharing in one another's holiday and thanks giving. There is just something really fun and festive about it. And hey, maybe we'll burn off our turkey by bowling a few rounds!

Until next time,

Kirsten

Grown Ups

It's official: Will and I are both in our LATE twenties. 27. 28. It doesn't quite roll off the tongue yet. Now I am not one that dreads aging by any means, but it is still surprising how fast time flies sometimes! Though I don't know how old I really feel, it does seem like we've done a lot of growing up in the last few years. In fact, we just made our first major purchase together, a new (used) car! It's pretty exciting for us as we haven't had the best of luck with cars in the last year (see previous postings). We are, however, incredibly lucky to be facing our first car payment ever at our age- we have our very generous families to thank for that. I'm sure we'll have some pictures up soon of the new car, complete with Mosby's head out the window.

This week is a little hectic for us as we get ready for a trip to Atlanta. I am presenting some research at a conference and am looking forward to meeting lots of people that are focusing on the same topics as myself. Will is coming for moral support:), while Mosby gets to have a week of doggy partying with Uncle Scooby in Caledonia. Unfortunately, it sounds like the rain is going to follow us down there, but it will still be warmer at least! What a rough October (weather wise). Am I right fellow Minnesotans? At least I've heard that a cold October means a mild winter....let's hope.

This is the first time either of us have been to Atlanta, so if you have any recommendaitons of sights to see, you should hook us up.

Well, wish me luck and see you when we return from the South!
Kirsten

Rainy day blog

Well, there is no real reason for this blog, I just felt like writing something other than papers:) It seems like we've gone straight from summer to winter here- we had snow over the weekend, yesterday, and snow/rain mix today. I won't let myself believe that this is the beginning of the end, though. I am SURE it will go back to regular fall weather soon, right? At least it is good weather for getting work done. Warm coffee shops with their fireplaces blazing are calling my name these days. They may lose their luster after a few months, but for now, it feels pretty cozy.

Mosby has been super spoiled by us lately. I swear he just gets cuter and funnier by the day. He can still be a troublemaker though. A couple of days ago he escaped thanks to the help from an unsuspecting neighbor who was leaving our building. Mosby is not one to pass up an opportunity to chase squirrels and rabbits to his heart's content, so he made a run for it. I hopped in the car to go find him (Will followed him on foot), and as I started driving down the alley I looked in the rear view mirror to see Mosby running full speed after the car. "Don't leave me!" Mosby promptly jumped into the car through the open window. Forget car doors, the window is much faster. Needless to say, it's hard to stay mad at the little guy when he goes to such great lengths just to enjoy a car ride with you! He also is really funny on his walks now that the leaves are falling. He goes to great lengths to avoid stepping on the dried leaves. The other day we were running and it looked like he was limping or maybe got his foot caught in his leash, but no. He was just avoiding putting his foot down on the parts of the sidewalk that were covered in leaves! Hilarious.

We are looking at cars this weekend. Hopefully by next weekend we will have a new (used) one!

That's all for now.
Kirsten

The return of the blog

I've been thinking a lot about returning to the blog lately, so I decided it would be fitting to do so from the place where it all began- Clearwater Lodge. For the first time since we worked here, I am back for a visit. Will and I tried to get up here all summer, but the weather and our busy summer schedules did not cooperate. So I came up this weekend to get a bunch of reading done for my prelim (the big comprehensive paper I have to write on my specialty areas). You may be wondering why I am writing on the blog if I am supposed to be working, but I promise I have been productive:)

I have really been struck by the beauty and calming nature of, well....nature. This is not new news to many of you or even to me, but Will and I really spent our summer enjoying the city, so we haven't been camping AT ALL this summer (gasp!), and I didn't realize how badly I have missed it. The fall colors are just starting to emerge, the air is fresh, and the smell of pine is now mixed with that of dried leaves. Reading is a lot more fun when this is your surroundings rather than an office!

I suppose I should get everyone up to speed on our family lives a bit here since a lot has happened since the last post:) Will got his Master's in counseling psychology from Bethel in May and is starting his new job tomorrow! He will be traveling around the Cities, providing counseling for kids and families. Sadly, it will go in to the evenings, so me and Mosby will have to somehow keep ourselves entertained until he gets home (i.e. go for lots of runs and play fetch). We have gophers football season tickets again, and this year they are playing in their brand-new outdoor stadium. We've been looking forward to this season for a long time, and it has been worth the wait. So, most Saturdays we will be occupied with that this fall. What else? I was able to teach my very first class this summer and I loved it- I cannot wait to be doing it full time! Until then, it's back to the old grind of reading, writing, and TAing, but we are going to Atlanta for a conference at the end of next month that I am presenting at, so that'll be fun.

Well, I will try to post again before another 5 months go by (maybe even with pictures..oooo),

Kirsten

Mrs. O'Brien goes to Wash...St. Paul

I went to the state capitol today to sit in on some committee hearings for the Family Policy Class I am in. I walked there, heels and all, because it was a gorgeous day and because well, we just live so close. I must say it felt a little symbolic walking right out the front door of my apartment building and directly into a meeting where bills that will affect millions of people were being processed. In the span of thirty minutes I went from my one-bedroom apartment with all hand-me-down furniture to the center of our local government. Never had to say who I was or why I was there- just walked right in (anyone who has taken an 8th grade civics class is like, “duh”, but the blending of the physical and ideological struck me). Now granted, the process of actually writing a bill or being able to testify on behalf of a bill is obviously more selective, and there is a lot more that goes on between legislators that is not seen in committee meetings or on the floor, but when you think about it within the span of all of world history, even that level of transparency and accessibility is pretty amazing.


I was thinking a lot about this on my walk home. It is too bad that our political environment is so reactive. As a liberal (in case you did not know this about me), when I hear a depiction of the United States as the most highly evolved or ideal society, I feel compelled to point out the great injustices that still exist here and the ways in which we can (and need to!) improve. Any human endeavor is going to be flawed and have unintended consequences. The danger with expressing a hyper-positive view of our country, is that if we truly believe that at any one point this is “good enough”, so many voices and problems will go unheard. What would have happened had we been satisfied with the “democracy” in the Jim Crowe South, for example? However, this critical eye can lose sight of all things that are positive (guilty as charged). Perhaps to conservatives, this is like hearing a spoiled teenager claim that their parents are the worst people in the world, while thinking about all of the sacrifices and care that this kid is taking for granted. I see that- I saw that today as the capitol and state building were filled with very committed and caring people all working on our behalf. It is pretty exciting to think that the process of decision making is open to a great many people and is quite transparent. On the other hand, it is pretty sad to think that this process is still quite dominated, true not by those with “birthrights”, but by what remains to be a quite racially, economically, and educationally homogenous group. Our debates so easily turn into America as either the greatest nation on Earth or the most corrupt and devoid nation, but could it be both admirable in many respects and in need of continued reform? I will do my part and try not to be so reactive and acknowledge the great many things this country (thanks to those very people who did not settle and held our government accountable) does provide to its citizens.

Thanks for listening,
Kirsten

The Great Curse of 2009

This has become a legend in the O’Brien household. 2009 began with my car getting hit not once, not twice, but three times IN ADDITION to being broken into AND the window getting stuck in an open position (in Minnesota in January…) from a break-in 4 years ago (apparently we are lucky it has been working this long). None of the collisions were our fault and two were hit and runs (i.e. the girl who hit Will paid for one bumper, but we now have a hole in the other)….Needless to say we have become good friends with the workers at the auto body shop and they are actually really wonderful and helpful-they have even met Mosby and recommended dishes at local restaurants to us. Note that all of these things took place before the month of February!!! After the first two incidents, we thought, “this is weird” but after the fifth problem we were looking for hidden cameras thinking Ashton Kutcher might be around the corner waiting to tell us we were punked and that we actually won a brand new car and maybe a trip to Hawaii or something. Maybe we should be the first couple featured on Extreme Car Makeover- Ty could come and demolish civic and replace it with a shiny new one with seats made out of baseball bats or canoe paddles or whatever hobby we tell him we have.

We were hoping this bizarre case of bad luck would stay behind in January. After all, I was headed to southern California for my friend Ashley’s wedding over Valentine’s day weekend. I was going to escape the frigid temps, spend time with some of my favorite people in the world, and enjoy all of the wedding festivities. We had been planning for weeks. Before leaving for the airport, though, we thought we’d give Mosby some extra fun and bring him to a dog park so he could run to his heart’s content. Long story short, Friday the 13th + ice covered dog park (there was literally no grass or snow showing in the entire place) + really fast dog + dansko’s (which have zero traction) + spindly wrists = TROUBLE. Mos was loving the park and was running towards me as fast as he could, but he couldn’t stop on the ice or go around me. I was actually expecting him to run into me, but I figured he would jump up so I was bracing myself for going backwards and figured at worst I would just land on my butt like most of us Minnesotans do at least once a winter season. However, he didn’t jump so I went right over top of him with no time to brace myself. I knew pretty much right away that my wrist was broken, but having broken my wrist/hand 3 different times as a kid (the spindly wrists), I think I was more upset that I was going to miss my flight. I figured, throw a cast on that thing, and let’s get to the airport!

It didn’t take long for me to realize that this was a little different than my other breaks. Taking off my coat at the ER was the only time that I actually looked at my wrist and let’s just say I couldn’t look at it after that…yuck. They had to reset my bone, and with all the expenses of our modern health care, the “high-tech” contraption they used to do this was made of a clothes hanger and four Chinese finger traps hanging from it (the things that you got as kids where you put your pointer fingers in either end and when you pulled, they would be stuck inside). The doc hung my hand upright from the traps and then hung weights over my bicep to pull the bone down and then about 3 people pushed it back into place. Crazy, huh?!

The next week we met with the orthopedic surgeon- I had broken the bone in about 3 places, breaking a section off and knocking the joint out of its place. So, they pieced me back together with a plate and some screws. Losing the use of your dominant hand is pretty challenging and Will needed to continue on with work and school, so my mom came up to help out for a few days after the surgery and my dad took the dog down to Caledonia for a couple of weeks. Those first three weeks were pretty painful and challenging, but by the end I could move my fingers pretty well and my life was slowly returning to a routine. I was excited to get my removable splint and get on with recovery. Unfortunately, things were not healing quite right. At my two week appointment I was unable to move my wrist past 90 degrees (think handshake) to a palm up position. You know there’s something wrong when a whole team of doctors come in to check out your x-rays! Apparently some bone was sliding out of joint or something when I would turn my hand. This was very discouraging to hear. They were going to try to gradually turn my wrist and hope that my muscles would grow strong enough to hold the bone in place, but if that didn’t work I’d have to have another surgery.

So for the next two weeks I gradually twisted my wrist around about 1 degree at a time and velcroed it in place with this crazy butterfly splint thing. Eventually I did get it palm-up and the x-rays looked good at my last doctor’s appointment. So it looks like I might not need another surgery! So now I am doing a lot of physical therapy, working on getting my wrist to turn back to palm down (which I’ve pretty much gotten, but now it won’t go palm up anymore) and to bend my wrist, which is pretty pathetic right now. I have decided that my priorities for things to be able to do again are: 1. Type 2. Write 3. Eat with a utensil (I can always use my left) 4. CANOE 5. Play tennis 6. Throw a baseball. Typing and writing are getting there, my hand just starts to hurt after a few minutes. The rest seem like a long ways off, but I am really hoping. Given the break, it’s not realistic to expect 100% functioning, so these are my goals:)

So, we are thinking that we have some AMAZING luck coming our way for the rest of 2009 to balance out the beginning:) Despite the challenges, we have been blessed with wonderful family support, great friends, understanding coworkers, and a great marriage. Poor Will had to do the work of three hands (sometimes four because my left hand isn’t good for much) all while finishing up his master’s thesis! But we are slowly on our way back to normal and now are looking forward to his graduation. Wow, if you made it to the end of this post, good job! We have just been so focused on getting through each day and catching up on work, we have been seriously M.I.A.- so we thought we’d catch you up. We are hoping as appointments, muscle pain, and academic stress gradually diminish over the next couple of months, our social lives will be able to pick up again and we’ll be able to catch up in person!

Kirsten

Our Boy

Our dog, Mosby (AKA Mos, Momo, Da Mos, Momocita, Mosbaliscious, etc.) keeps us laughing everyday. We love having him in the fam and can't imagine it without him now! Here are some recent pictures of him:)

He can tell spring is coming and is already loving the squirrels that are out (who are probably confused by the unusually warm weather this week). We took him for a walk at Como Park today and it was warm enough for only a fleece! Heat wave!!! Ever since we've had snow on the ground (Nov.), Mosby likes to burrow into the snow, so we call him Torpedo Doggie. It's pretty hilarious, so we finally filmed it. It's even funnier when the snow is more powdery, but he still does his best in this icy snow:

So Long 2008, Hello 2009 (i.e. the year of the gopher's stadium)!

Hi All,

It's been a busy finals, holiday, and break season so we apologize for our blogging hiatus. We finished up 2008 with a bang on our 10-day trip to Seattle to visit friends and family. It was great to see everyone and we are so glad we had the opportunity to go.

This past year has been a busy one for us again with lots of new experiences and growth. Here are a few highlights of 2008 for the Bengtson-O'Brien clan:

* I did my first conference presentation at the Midwest Sociological Association's Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO. We road-tripped with our friends Nick and Shannon and a great time seeing a new city.

* We spent the summer working at Clearwater Lodge on the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. It was an amazing time of camping, meeting new people, canoeing, and hanging out in our new favorite town, Grand Marais.

* We moved to St. Paul and have an apartment in a fun historic neighborhood, perfect for walking our new dog, Mosby!

* Will began his counseling internship at North Central University. He is counseling students and is working with a great staff.

* We again had season tickets to Gophers football. We figured we had nowhere to go but up after a 1-11 season last year, so we were shocked they started off the season 7-1. Unfortunately, they ended up losing the last 5 games of the season, but we still had more to cheer about this year and are hoping for even more next year.

* Stephen (my brother) and his girlfriend, Kirstin, got engaged! We are so excited to have a new sister in the family!

* Our friends, Jill and Tory, got married this fall in southern California and we were lucky enough to be able to go out to celebrate with them. It was a wonderful reunion with friends and it was great to escape the Minnesota weather, even if only for a weekend.

I know you must be thinking, "Wow, 2008 sounds like it was really eventful, how are they going to top it?!" Well, we are working on that. Here are some things that are in the works for 2009:

* I am returning to southern California for my friend Ashley's wedding in February. I will be happy to trade the -30 degree temps for anything above 50!

*Will is graduating from Bethel with a Master's in Counseling Psychology in May. It will be the end of a long and busy road and he is really looking forward to being done with school (and I'm a bit jealous myself!).

* Will's brother, Taylor, is graduating from the University of Washington this year, so Will is planning a road trip out there for the early summer.

*I have a conference in San Francisco this summer and another in Atlanta in the fall, so we are looking forward to doing some more traveling.

* And I almost forgot, the Gophers' new outdoor stadium opens!!! We are STOKED!

Well, that's the scoop. We will do our best to keep up with this as school begins...

Till next time,
Kirsten

Trip Pix

New Years


&

Christmas