City of Lights

While my camera isn't the best for catching movement, I did manage to get a few photos of the holidazzle parade in Minneapolis. The theme this year was fairy tales and below is Ryan's favorite, Pinocchio! 

A few days after Ryan played the drums with the retired Minneapolis police, he had a holiday concert with his symphonic band in one of the richest counties in MN, Edina. His band, South of the River Community Band, does three holiday concerts during the season. It's great to see Ryan keep up with his drumming. Hopefully I can get him to write one of these blog entries and talk about his drumming plans.

The city of Minneapolis is beautiful, especially at night. The best part about moving around the city is that in the winter you do not have to go outside. There are skyways everywhere to walk around without braving the freezing weather. I love Michigan, and always will, but I love my twin cities too. If only we had teleportation. Then maybe I would never leave. 

Until next time, keep calm, carry on. 

The Juggling Act

Part of being married is juggling families. This is especially hard when your families live in different states, neither of them being states YOU happen to live in. Our compromise was to switch holidays. Each year one family gets Thanksgiving and one gets Christmas so hopefully neither feels slighted. 

This year’s travel plans did not get off to a good start. The closest airport to Ryan’s family is in Charlotte, NC and it’s a US Airways hub. We were on the last flight out on Sunday. The flight was packed with people who had obviously been getting in some beach time before the bitter cold Minnesota winter. We pull out of the gate and then stop. 

Never a good sign. 

They tell us at first that it’s a computer error. After a half hour on the runway, we go back to the gate and find out our engine isn’t getting fuel. Basically if we had taken off eventually we would have dropped out of the sky. Thank Krishna* for computer warning systems. So while we are all glad we are alive, we now realize we are going to be stuck in Charlotte for the night. 

Everyone is making phone calls to work and family with varying degrees of annoyance in their voice. By the time US Airways gets everyone rebooked and in hotels, it’s 2am. Ryan and I only get around 3 hours of sleep before we have to crawl out of our hotel room, which doesn’t have shampoo, and get over to the airport again to make a connection in Detroit and finally make it back to Minneapolis.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of Ryan and I sitting in the Coney Island restaurant in the Detroit airport, my hair a frizzy, slick mess and Ryan with odd spots of facial hair, both with bags under our eyes, chowing down on a greasy burger.  Simultaneously horrifying and hilarious. 

It was great to be in Charlotte where it is warm and Ryan can go golfing with his dad and brother. Where we can hang out with his crazy dog Rudy and watch the Notre Dame game we had to record. Most of all I’m just glad he gets to see his family. Michigan is just a little easier to get to than North Carolina from Minnesota. My parents are even coming up for “spring break,” the perks of my mom being a teacher, and my dad having 6 weeks of vacation a year.  

Who I really miss is my brother and my friends Heather and Ashley. It’s difficult for my brother to fly on his own, and it’s really hard for my friends to find time to get over to MN, or for me to get over to MI for that matter. They are the people that keep me sane and laughing. I wish they were a building away like they used to be rather than a state and a lake away like they are now.

But we can’t have all that we want in this world. In the end we need to be thankful for what we have. And what Ryan and I have is a lot. 

Until next time, keep calm and carry on. 

*A note as to a) who Krishna is and b) why the heck I’m thanking him. Krishna is a very well liked Hindu god who is popular in their mythology. I have started to “thank Krishna” because it’s less offensive than thanking God or gods or Jesus or Allah, because no one knows who Krishna is outside of 1 billion Hindus and some people who have taken the time to study this stuff. ANYWAY,  it’s a way for me to get around my tendency to use God’s name in vain and offend someone. There is probably a Hinduism post coming, be ready.

Burying the Castle

“Everybody knows, it sucks to grow up, but everybody does, so weird to be back here, let me tell you what, the years go on and we’re still fighting it” –Still Fighting It, Ben Folds

My mom visited Ryan and I the last weekend in October. It was great to have her around and to show her not only the tourist sites, but also where I was living and working. I think it’s important for the people who are close to you to visualize in their head of what your life is like. The rest of my immediate family will be up during my mom’s spring break in April, and hopefully Ryan’s parents will be up when its “warm” aka: July.

Her visit, and some crazy work days, caused Ryan and I to both come home on Tuesday, plop down on our new couch and say: “this sucks.” The sucking part was growing up. Having ridiculous days at work, having slow days at work, coming home and feeling like we’re not relaxing because we need to do things around the house, and generally feeling like we got more than we bargained for out of this thing called life.

It was one of those rare moments when I was glad the topic of us having children was a difficult one, because at least I have a long way to wait before I even think about how much I’m going to love/hate life with a kid, and a house, and ugh. I don’t even want to think about it. These are supposed to be things we aspire towards and want in our lives. I’ve always wanted kids; don’t get me wrong. I just know realistically how much money that takes, and how scary it is. Maybe that’s my problem. I am way too realistic.

I watch House Hunters on HGTV and yell at people who take on a house over budget, or are too picky, or have unrealistic expectations. Luckily Ryan and I both have a thing about big houses. We don’t like them. I see huge houses and think that unless I’m housing 10 kids I adopted from a third world nation, I don’t get the point. So Ryan and I will live in our modest house, with our adopted children from India and our little Cairns terrier and be perfectly happy. Okay the India part is negotiable, but I at least want a girl from there. I need an excuse to have my daughter wear saris until it’s not socially acceptable.

“Go get your shovel, and we’ll dig a big hole, to bury the castle” –Brick by Boring Brick, Paramore

Ryan and I have had to slowly “bury our castle”. The kid part of us is already sinking, and while we don’t want it destroyed, we do have to put it away so we can take on whatever challenges we might come our way. But until then, we’ll spend our weekends sleeping and being thankful for all we have in our lives.

Until next time.

Keep Calm, and Carry On.

I think a change, would do you good

Life has certainly thrown some curve balls at Ryan and I this past week. The following is a day by day guide to our week of madness:

Monday: Ryan has a new Ford Focus. It's a beautiful fuel efficient little car that he is very excited about. What he is not excited about is the flat tire he comes out to in the morning. No Ford will not cover the tire, because even though he's had it a little over a day he's managed to get a nail in the tire wall. I don't know how this happened.

Tuesday: Car is back. It rains. We find out the windshield wipers don't work. Cue Ryan driving a rental car for the rest of the week while they order a new part. As for me, today my boss announces she's leaving. With her leaving I will be the only person left in my department. Luckily we have a new CEO coming in. Unluckily I cannot tell anyone else at work until the official announcement on Friday. Now I get to feel like I'm lying to everyone in meetings when they ask me what is going on in my department.

Wednesday: We finally get cable and internet and feel connected to the world. Our goal for the weekend will be to get a new couch, not only because our IKEA futon is insufficient, but because my mom is coming to visit at the end of the month and I told her she could sleep in our guest bedroom, on our IKEA futon. It folds out to a bed and is actually really nice.

Thursday through Friday is a blur as I get increasingly tired and go through drama at work with coworkers who can't believe my boss is leaving. I do feel good after people tell me they really hope I am not leaving too. I reassure them I have no plans of high tailing it out of there.

Saturday: We get a couch! For a really good price! And they deliver it to our apartment on Sunday. We find out we are really close to their distribution center, very convenient.

So despite a Lions and Tigers loss....it's a pretty good week. I am excited for possibilities with a new CEO at work and I am happy my co-workers think I could just run off and get another job. Haha.

And Ryan is good as well. He is connecting with a classmate who lives in Minneapolis this weekend. It's a small world after all.

Until the next blog post, hopefully with pictures. I do apologize for the lack of pictures. Keep calm, and carry on.

Ben Folds and New Adventures

These next two weeks will be filled with change as Ryan and I move not only to a new apartment, but to a new city and heck, county as well. We hadn't planned on moving to Bloomington, but after running around everywhere else and knocking apartment after apartment off the list, there was only one left standing. We will be moving from a sketchy, studio apartment to a two bedroom that backs up to a park. I don't think Ryan or I ever thought we would find a place we liked this much. Below is our floorplan:

And here is a link to the apartment website: Parkview Apartments

We move Oct 1st, or so we hope. We haven't figured out particulars yet. AND, Ryan will be on a work trip to middle of nowhere Wyoming this weekend, so guess who gets to organize a bunch of stuff the weekend before the move. Yeah.... although he gets Thursday and Friday off that week to do the heavy lifting, so it evens out. We also have to scrub our current apartment clean which shouldn't be that hard, considering how little space we have. :)

So it was nice to take a break from thinking about moving to see Ben Folds with the Minnesota orchestra this Saturday! To put it simply, it was amazing. The orchestra was beautiful, and Ben Folds was in true form, even making fun of his gig on the Sing Off by using giant hand gestures and making his voice hit ranges he rarely hits. After the orchestra left he stayed on stage and sang two more songs, even doing a sing along with the audience while running around and playing the instruments left on stage. He did not play "The Luckiest" but it wasn't really missed. He seemed to be trying to hit every song he could cram in, even playing "Brick", one of his more depressing songs. Overall it was a great night, and it got a younger crowd into the orchestra hall, which I hope helps fill more seats over there because they really are a great orchestra. As Ben Folds said, "I've been all around the world but this orchestra is one of the best, you guys are so lucky."

I felt lucky. And I still feel lucky to have the opportunities I have, and I know Ryan feels the same. Feeling lucky over here in the great white north, where fall is attempting to make it's way into our weather, signaling the start of a new season. Until next time, keep calm, carry on.

The Spirit of Notre Dame: Or how I finally fully converted to a new team

Saturday was football day for the Corcoran's. First up was the Minnesota versus New Mexico State game at the beautiful University of Minnesota campus. They really have a nice set up at "the U" as it's called. It was hot (84 degrees) with the sun beating down on us, so we found the alumni center where we could sit, watch the Iowa versus Iowa State game, and get really cheap snacks! Popcorn, pop and water were just $1 each. Why were Minnesotans watching the Iowa v. Iowa State game? Well at "the U" they have a little chant and it goes like this: "Who hates Iowa?!?"
"WE HATE IOWA!"

Man do they hate Iowa. It rivals UofM and OSU in sheer anger and random chanting when there is nothing else to cheer for. And that is a problem with "the U"...cheering I mean....because they aren't doing so hot. They lost to New Mexico state, a team they were supposed to crush, and to top it all off their coach had a seizure in the fourth quarter. Or, as my dad put it, he had a seizure because he realized he was going to lose to New Mexico state. Either way you look at it, they may have spunk, but they don't have the mastery of the game to really put one in the win column. The same could be said for a lot of Minnesota teams.Vikings: losing, Twins: losing, Timberwolves.....yeah.....anyway....

Despite all this losing their attitude is the same: there's always next time. Even when Detroit got crushed by the Twins at the one baseball game Ryan and I chose to attend, the Minnesota fans were happy, but they were also realistic. On the light rail back to the Mall of America most of the conversations were this: "well, our season is done, next year though, always next year." It was the one game they had won against the Detroit, but instead of bragging or harassing Ryan and I in our Detroit gear, they simply accepted what was, and moved on. The same cannot be said for a team I used to cheer for.

Oh my UofM days. I used to always cheer for UofM, for no particular reason. I just decided they were my team and went with it. But the Minnesota spirit has been affecting me much more than I ever imagined. When we watched Notre Dame blow it against UofM....I simply thought....well....next time. Which is a very Minnesota attitude. It also made me realize that I couldn't cheer for UofM anymore. They don't have that attitude. They are cocky, arrogant and angry. And I'm not saying ND hasn't had the same issues or even accusations on their part, but when Brian Kelly, the ND coach and former GVSU coach, watched his team lose it, his expression said it all. His face was set in a thin line with a hint of a small smile that said, "well.....we'll get em' next time." And it was the right attitude to have. Their quarterback, Rees, played the game of his career, a career that only started after Kelly threw out their former quarterback Crist for basically constantly screwing up. There was nothing more Rees could have done.

So while UofM runs around like they won the super bowl, ND will go back to the field, work on their defense (hopefully....) and "get them next time." That's the core of the Notre Dame spirit, and I am now, fully converted to the cause.

Going to the fair, going to the fair, going to the Northwest Mi....I mean....Minnesota State Fair.

You might be from Michigan if you know the classic jingle for the Northwest Michigan fair. Sadly, there is no youtube documentation of this song. I call out to you Northwest Michigan Fair to put this commercial up, because it has been searched enough to come up on both youtube's site and google. I'm just saying. Missed opportunity.


We have never been to the Northwest Michigan fair, but today, on Labor Day, we made it to the Minnesota State Fair with some friends of ours. When we got there, I am so glad we came with them, because this thing is huge. We got there at 12 and left around 5:00 and did not see half of the fair. It's not a one day trip unless you run, and barely see anything. The key is to have a plan and know what you want. For instance:

 Our friend Gen's daughter wanted to go on the rides, and Ryan likes rides too, so we went to the ride section of the fair and hung out for awhile. This is sounding a lot like Dick and Jane isn't it? We could make a storybook! Ryan and Stephanie go to the fair! Anyway, Gen's daughter and Ryan got smooshed (I don't care if you don't think that's a word auto correct!), in a spaceship 3000 ride and Gen and her daughter went on this awesome swing thing:

I 

I went for tamer rides such as the BIG SLIDE, which we don't have pictures of, because I had the camera and you can't take pictures while you are sliding down the BIG SLIDE! I'm so hardcore. 

Ryan also knew that he wanted a fried candy bar. See next photo:

That is a deep fried snickers bar. Which Ryan later said felt like lead in his stomach. But while he was eating it he said it was the greatest thing ever and incredibly delicious. Also notice that his zip up hoodie is around his neck now. It got much hotter as the day went on. Mostly due to the crush of people that came in for afternoon festivities.

I should mention that we did not drive to the fair. It's much easier to take the express bus from any number of locations. In our case, Eagan, and go from there. It's only 5 bucks. It saves you driving through traffic and paying for parking. Best 5 bucks ever spent.

If you have noticed that my writing is not very quality today it's because I know I have to get up at 6 tomorrow morning, and I am incredibly distracted by this fact. But we wanted to update the blog and let people know about the fair and the fun times we had. So I will leave you with the single, solitary picture that exists of me at the fair:

This is a good photo in that it shows the grand stand where Maroon 5 and Train were playing that night. Good line up if you ask me. Until next time. Keep calm. Carry on.

Game Night: the obsession, the glory, the lack of Monopoly

On any given Friday (or sometimes Saturday) night Ryan and I can be found at a little event called: game night. It's when us and some friends get together and play games. What games you ask? Well that's the fun part to answer, because I'm guessing you haven't heard of half of them. I say that because when I started going to game night, I had no idea how to play 3/4's of the games. This is not your average Monopoly, Scrabble or Clue, this is true blue (mostly German, for some reason) gaming with strategy, unique concepts, and great titles.

To help explain I'm going to go over my top 3 favorite games that we play.
Current First: Seven Wonders

At the heart of it, it's a game involving cards you pass around. These cards are split up into three stages. Various strategies can be implemented to get points, and you want points because the person with the most points wins. You start out as an ancient city, say Babylon, and that city has some special "powers" it gives you. During each age you "build" cards, and the cards you build may be affected by which city you are. It's very addicting. It's also one of Ryan's favorites.

Second: Ticket to Ride (America)

I say America because there are so many versions of Ticket to Ride that it's practically a Disney movie. This game is simple. You have destinations on tickets and you build them with trains. You build trains by getting corresponding colored cards to whatever track you want to build. America is the easiest because you actually know where the towns are. When we play Europe I always have to look up the Russian cities, and don't even get me started on Germany.


Third (and finally for now), the all time most awesome classic: Betrayal at the House on the Hill

This is a great picture because it shows the different cards, the player card (see the girl in the right corner on the pentagon shaped thing? yeah that's it), and the house tiles. I'm not even going to explain this game. Just go buy it and be amazed. It's recently been re-released so it's way cheaper than it used to be.

There is an entire group of people out there who are geeky enough to buy $50 German games and play them. I didn't even know any of this existed until I moved here. Now I'm hooked, and I didn't think I would be. I tried to resist. I figured once I found something better to do with my time I would stop going. But I keep going. Because I want to play Ticket to Ride again, or I want to try a different strategy in Seven Wonders. It's oddly addicting.

So while Ryan gloats in his corner because he got me into his addiction, I can honestly say that while I never thought I would join him, I'm glad I did. In a a world of ipads, facebook and google+, I have found a non-technological way to interact with people, and that, is a feat in itself.

If you ever need some recommendations for going outside the Monopoly box, just give me call, send us a message, drop us a line. We'll set you up for a game you have never heard of, but you will be sure to enjoy.

Hey Ya

Borrowing the idea from friends of ours (check out the Minnesota LeGaults if you have time),we, the newly formed Corcoran family, have decided to start our own blog. Not only will it be a way for us to keep family and friends updated, but it also fulfills my ulterior motive of getting myself back to writing. It's been awhile and my skills are rusty, but hopefully through my goal of semi-continuous writing on this thing, I will whip myself back into shape.

So! How do we begin? Ryan moved to Minnesota in October 2010 for a job. Ryan and I got married July 30th. I found out I had a job August 3rd and we are now married, fully employed people living in a very tiny studio apartment. Someday when I am less tired, I will start documenting our new life together in the great state of Minnesota. Until then, keep calm, carry on.

OH! And check out this video, it's the inspiration for the post title: