Hi, my name is Amy.

I was born on Friday the 13th of November, 1981, in Rock Rapids, Iowa. I am the youngest of three children.

I lived briefly on a farm (i.e. I don’t remember it) in very rural Iowa until my family moved to Vermillion, South Dakota. I lived there until I ran off to college at Augustana College in neighboring Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It wasn’t quite the right fit for me (and maybe it wasn’t quite far enough away from home), so for my sophomore year in college I moved in with my sister in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began going to school at the University of Minnesota.

I worked as a student receptionist at the Bell Museum of Natural History through my college years, and when I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in German Studies, I joined the staff as an accountant. I continued going to classes in photography and graphic design while working full-time at the Bell Museum as an accountant and also “volunteering” for a role in designing publications and exhibits.

I was starting to think about getting a Masters of Fine Arts degree, but I was hired as a designer in the marketing department at a company that provides computer-based testing instead — and this is where I currently work.

I have two silly kitties, Ellipses and Ampersand. I live in “Nordeast,” in the upper half of a duplex, which I rent from my friend, Kristi, and her husband, Jared. Ampersand is currently trying to sit on my hands, so I better put the computer away and give her snuggles.

Continued from my previous post…

I made Jason see some Vermillion sights since we were there and he’d never been to South Dakota. (There is still a whole lot of state left for him to see.) We actually started in Nebraska, but it was still “Vermillion” since we had only crossed the river outside of town.

I also brought him to the Shrine to Music Museum.

After we had our fill of music, we headed back home to Minneapolis. When I got home, a new beer was waiting for me. (It’s named for my neighborhood!)

Later in the week I went to see some stand up comedy with Crystal and Jess. It was open mic night, so it wasn’t great, but it was still fun.

I also started a flower garden in a little corner of my backyard. It’s cute! I can imagine I’ll be forgetting to water it a lot this summer, though.

I went roller skating with Vani. When do I get to go again? I need to make more time for this.

I also should make more time for house-hopping dinner parties, like a big group of friends of mine organized recently. It was a fun day and by only spending an hour and a half at each apartment, things didn’t have time to get dull.

I also recently won a couple of books via Twitter – go, go, Web Design learnin’!

So, I am pretty popular. Which keeps me pretty busy. Too busy, in fact, to write timely updates about what’s going on in my world.

Last weekend was my mom’s 51^st birthday and, to celebrate, she and my dad traveled up to the Cities for the weekend. On Friday night we went to Axel’s Restaurant in Chanhassen.

I am pretty resistant to Chanhassen (and most other third-tier suburbs of the Twin Cities, too) so I’m not sure I would go to this location again, but the food was pretty tasty. I had some giant scallops wrapped in bacon. Everyone else had some sort of seafood, too. My dad and Karyn got the “land and lake” which was walleye and steak — that looked pretty delicious! Our waitress brought a giant piece of cake for Mom’s birthday that we all shared, and we were thoroughly stuffed. Bryan even felt ill because he was so full!

Towards the end of the dinner, Hannie was getting a little punchy. She thought the ceiling fan was hil-a-rious and she was splashing herself with water from her sippy cup. She’s such a silly kid!

Afterward I decided to go see a rock show at First Avenue — it was a benefit show for the Electric Fetus, which had recently been damaged by a tornado. I finally got to see a little bit of Cloud Cult, which was super. They put on a very energetic show!

I had to leave pretty early, unfortunately. I had a 5-hour drive to Vermillion to begin around 7 a.m. on Saturday morning.

It was a pretty easy drive. There was no snow or flurries or rain… so I was able to make it to Vermillion in time to have lunch at the Silk Road with Bridget and Lindy, run around town to find a surprise birthday gift to leave at home for my mom, then join the festivities of Kelsey’s baby shower in the early afternoon.

Kelsey is due on March 27^th! I’m hoping Baby Girl Collier-Wise is available for an interview and photo shoot just after Easter, which is the next time I’ll be in Vermillion.

When Royce walked into the party, all of the women applauded (which was sort of a strange reaction). He had come to see his family and helped Kelsey open some of the gifts.

It was a pretty crowded party, so we stuck to our corner table through most of the shower.

I wish I had eaten about five more pieces of this super yummy cake — made by Monica, I think.

Kelsey’s knitting group got together and made this lovely blanket. I knew someone would have the knitted gift covered! I’ll have to find another occasion to make something special for Baby Girl.

After the shower, I joined Kelsey, her family, and a few other friends for dinner at Mexico Viejo. I tried something that Royce recommended (very tasty), ordered a sangria because Cait got one and it sounded super (it was), and tried some queso because Christina told me to (must get more next time). It was so nice to hang out with the clan; I don’t get to see these folks nearly as often as I would like.

An impromptu game night at Kelsey and Royce’s followed. We played Apples to Apples, Bananagrams, and Catch Phrase.

It was a pretty wonderful day to be in Vermillion and I’m so glad I got to spend time with some of the town’s most awesome residents! The following morning I puttered around my parent’s house a little bit, then got on the road back to Minneapolis around 11 a.m. — a short trip, but a sweet one!

A parade to celebrate Vermillion’s 150th birthday was scheduled the morning after the informal class reunion. I probably should’ve slept through the parade, but I had been so excited about going all week that I forced myself to suffer through. It was so hot, though. I spent the rest of the day laying around and feeling ill.

Appropriate for September 11^th, don’t ya think?

Also, I think my late-late-late night/lack of sleep caused the slow shutter speed. These photos are oddly blurry, but it’s sort of a neat effect… But only sort of.

That one green building in the background is my dad’s latest renovation project, the recently opened Silk Road.

There were a few floats depicting historical scenes. They were more awkward than awesome, but the intent was nice.

I love how everyone in this parade was all about throwing insane amounts of candy out to the crowds. In Minneapolis, no one throws candy. They hand it out very politely. But only one piece per person. TOO SAFE.

My favorite parade candy is Frooties. They’re like tootsie rolls but not chocolate… they’re fruit-flavored!

It says “Flowering Vermillion for 50 Years” not de-flowering… Just making sure.

This parade didn’t have enough antique cars.

Not enough miniature cars, either.

This is one of Vermillion’s longest married couples (70 years). Vermillion’s longest lifetime resident was also forced to ride in a convertible car in the heat. I believe her plaque said she was 92.

It’s seemed like the Corn Palace Hillbillies might not be able to finish the parade because their car was smoking so much. *cough, cough*

Does Vermillion have a drive-in movie theatre? And since when?

Oh, maybe it’s just a joke. That darn ’70s float.

I’ve run out of words.

When I finally got myself on the road towards South Dakota, it was rainy and boring. It didn’t bode well for the weekend.

It actually turned out to be super hot and humid in South Dakota (though it stayed rainy in Minnesota). I was able to take advantage of Jen’s parents’ pool for a while. Jen and I spent a Friday afternoon floating around and catching up. I wish I had taken some photos—their backyard was bursting with beautiful, blooming flowers (blumen in German).

But, I didn’t. I saved all of my obnoxious photo-taking skills for that Friday night downtown—I may not have attended the official school reunion, but I still got to see the most important people.

Mom even got to show off another very important person (Hannie).

The only proper way to photography Suzanne is portrait-style because she is a million miles tall.

Gee, this is turning out to be a long—but great!—night.

I’m sorry about the next photo. I was walking while I turned the camera around over my shoulder and took random photos of those behind me. (Obnoxious, right?) I wasn’t looking and I didn’t know. When I saw this photo I almost fell over.

Finally we settled at Libby’s house. Though I don’t know who Libby is, it was a great place to hang out.

I think my inner 15-year old will always have a crush on Guthrie.

And then I went home at 4 a.m. The end. (Did you expect a more exciting end to the evening?)