Runner Dude Loses Arm!

The prize I won, courtesy of Doug and Bev, from the triathlon is now in two pieces! I left "runner dude" on the ground and Curt accidently stepped on him causing him to lose his appendage! He's still able to run though! Check it out! He might need some super glue surgery!

List: Yummy Fruits

1. Mango
2. Peach
3. Strawberry
4. Grapes
5. Raspberry
6. Kiwi
7. Grapefruit

A List: All of Christine's Jobs

I'm pretty confident I have most people beat when it comes to the number of jobs I have had. I've worked since 10th grade at a plethora of places. I love generating lists. In the next month you can expect some posts that simply will be lists! Today's list? All of my jobs!!! Presented in semi-chronological order.

1. Brunswick Family Fun World/Bowling Center, my very 1st job, food barista
2. Byerly's Bakery, loved eating the baked goods and speciality desserts
3. Oak Ridge Conference Center, server
4. West Bank Book Store (University of MN)
5. Wilson Library (University of MN)
6. Vision World, optician
7. Target, pharmacy technician, I thought I wanted to go to pharmacy school
8. Fairview Southdale Hospital, pharmacy technician
9. University of MN Community Assistant, otherwise known as a RA
10. ChemRex, research and development for adhesives
11. Campus Crusade for Christ, campus ministry
12. The Gap, gotta love retail!
13. Korean United Methodist Church, youth director
14. Beckman Coulter, research and development for immunoassays
15. Piano Teacher
16. High School Physical Science and Chemistry Teacher the past 4 years!

oh the journey! I've met some kind people along the way! Very thankful for all of the experiences.

three words

HOT, HOT, HOT

I fear going outside because I know I will melt and my brain will turn to mush!!! We have this digital thermometer and it currently reads 91. Yikes! Stay cool everyone!

A Chill Few Days

Summer has been treating us pretty good. Every other tuesday we have a tradition of visiting the Wayzata Chipotle for some burritos after Curt's bike racing. This past weekend we hung out with Anton and Nicole at their cabin. Perfect weather. Curt, Anton, and Nicole took advantage of the comfortable conditions by squeezing in some pretty good workouts. We even went on a walk and picked some blueberries! To wrap things up we hung out with the Mai family on the water. Josh and Calvin did some amazing wakeboarding. Everyone else jumped in the water (Curt went in his underwear!) to cool down. Thanks for checking in!

Noelle and Tyler: A day of summer perfection

I really love weddings. I especially loved Noelle and Tyler's wedding. They got married at the CPC church in Edina and the Golden Valley Country Club. They are totally perfect for each other and so cute. Tyler is quite the character with his abundant energy. And Noelle is ever so sweet. It's very obvious that they are in love and compliment each other well.

Their wedding day was perfect and beautiful in every way. I had so much fun taking pictures of their wedding party. The groomsmen were so great. They did so well in the tropical heat! What a blast! And Noelle's parents were super sweet too. What great people! I had another great time shooting with Amy J! Best wishes Noelle and Tyler!

Heart of the Lakes: A family affair

If I am writing this post it means that I am alive and did not drown and sink to the bottom of the lake! I did the short course at Heart of the Lakes along with Nathan, brother in law Brent, and team moonfish (Jillian, Josh,Calvin). Curt did the long course. Despite having a delayed reaction on the swim, getting lost on the bike, and having a car hit him on the run...Curt had a great race! All of us short course racers also had spectacular races too. Check out Josh's race recap on joshandcarolyn.blogspot.com. It is seriously the best authored race recap I have ever read.

My own recap: I loved the rental wetsuit! The wetsuit (along with spandex shorts) is not my favorite look, but it did give me the extra boost of confidence I needed. The extra buoyancy allowed me to run in baywatch style and swim without lifeguard assistance. I swam off course twice, but who cares!!!! I definitely felt God's help on this one. The bike started a bit shaky because my chain fell off and I didn't know what to do. But once I got on it was so much fun cruising through farm land. The run was terribly hard. But at the turn around my legs started kicking in and things were great!

A highlight of the day was the relay team of Jillian, Josh, and Calvin. They got 2nd place!!!! Who knew they even had a chance of placing? And Jillian is a real trooper...the night before she probably only got 3 hours of sleep because of work! Another highlight was chilling out with everyone after the race. Picnics are fun! Checkout the slideshow courtesy of my dad!



Finally, here is a picture of me the day before at a wedding for Noelle and Tyler. I shot for 12 hours and was extremely tired at the end. So I am genuinely excited that I finished the race and everyone in my family did well too. Love, cw

A sample of Noelle and Tyler's Wedding

Noelle and Tyler had the most gorgeous wedding I have ever seen. I loved all of their details and colors. The groomsmen were especially fun to photograph! This is just a sampling of the photos. Check back next week for the slideshow! Off to bed. In five hours I have to wake up for my triathlon! I'm hoping to not drown or crash. I simply want to finish! Love you all!

I heart AC!

We have been surviving the heat. I haven't melted yet. Anyway, we've got a busy weekend coming up. We are totally interested in seeing the new Batman movie sometime too. If not that one, then Wall E. Keep sippin those iced teas! Starbucks makes a really good iced green tea lemonade with a bit of sweetener. or i'll go with an Orangina. all great choices to thirst your quench while bringing a smile to your face on those oppressive summer days! happy friday! (special note...i've upgraded my photography arsenal...proud new owner of the 5D...pretty exciting stuff.)

A lovely home in Chanhassen

Well, I just returned from a very fun, but insanely challenging photoshoot for my friend Angie. She is selling her townhome in Chanhassen, MN and needed some photos. Everything ran much more smoothly after my lenses cleared up from the humidity outside! And what the human eye sees is not always possible to capture with a camera so we were working pretty hard to get our shots! There were moments where I wish I had spider man feet so that I could climb and cling to the walls! She has a lovely home. Enjoy the pictures.

Midweek Update: Heart of the Lakes and Upcoming Wedding

Hi friends in the blogging world! Things are going pretty good here at the Wood household. We are starting to anticipate this Sunday's Heart of the Lakes Triathlon in Annandale more and more. Last year a bunch of us did it and for some, it was our very first triathlon! After having so much fun Carolyn, Shanna, and I all wanted to give it another try this year. Well, I'll be the only girl racing from the group due to Shanna just giving birth to Audrey and Carolyn being pregnant with Baby Barnibus.

Who is competing this year?
Doug Wood
Brent Wood
Christine Wood
Jillian Brenton, Josh Wieland, and Calvin Mai as a relay
Nate Kachelmyer

Come back Sunday for a full race recap. Also, this Saturday I will be shooting a wedding in Edina! Should be a fun wknd!

meet our new little niece

here she is...Audrey Jeanne. it was love at first sight. sorry for the super short slideshow. we will have a more formal photoshoot in the near future i'm sure...


in other news...great wknd. We had lunch in downtown, saw the movie Wanted (great, great, great), Curt had a triathlon, hung out with the Mai family (lots of You Tube entertainment), went biking, and met our niece.

If you need one on one skilled soccer training check out: http://www.accelerationmn.com/nwsoccer.html
my brother Calvin can take you to new levels of play

Lifetime!

Wow. I had such a nice time watching today with Josh and Carolyn at the Lifetime Triathlon. Truthfully, we did not have the race Curt had imagined...so he was a bit sad. But all is well again. It's another race! The Gear West team won the Corporate Charity Challenge. It was super sweet when Kevin talked about the charity that was dear to his heart. Also...Jeremy Sartain was so amazing!!!!!! He raced while doing the run in his crutches...last time I saw him was in May and he was in a wheelchair!!!!!! my my....

Funny Faces

beware...there are some pictures where we both look possessed. ha! we are waiting for Baby Wood to come. combine that anticipation with our tendency to be goofy...hence funny faces!!!!!

Project: Find anything red, white, or blue!!!!

In the spirit of the 4th of July holiday I gave myself a photography assignment. Find something red, white, or blue to shoot! Super Target had a great sale last week on strawberries and blueberries. Yum yum. I went over to my friend Angie's house last week to assist with some projects, but found that she had the cutest dining area. And lastly, my toenails are now painfree but are incredibly deep blue in color.

Wedding: Page and Chris

My sweet friend Sarah and I drove to North Dakota for Page's wedding. I met Page from our days at the U of MN. And that is where she met her husband Chris! Page has always wanted a hometown summer wedding in Mandan, ND! I'm glad her and her family were finally able to experience it on a great day. A super amazing moment was when Page and her dad walked down the aisle. It was also neat that her grandma baked all of the goodies at the reception. Anyway, Page and Chris were able to attend our wedding last fall. They liked some of our details and decided to use it on their day! Imitation is the best form of flattery! Ha! Anyway, I would have taken more pictures, but I didn't want to get in the way of the other photogs! Enjoy the pictures I did take though!!!!

8 months already!!!

Okay...finally...a slideshow of our wedding. It's been 8 months and we still can say that married life is great :). Once again our photographer extraordinaire, Becca Dilley, deserves credit for all of the photos. Enjoy!!!! Love, cw

an independence day wedding

And we're back! It's been another whirlwind week. Blessings to all. Hope everyone is doing well. Curt raced in the Lake Waconia and Minneman triathlons the past two weekends. And I just returned from ND for a friend's wedding. I'll work on posting a slideshow of pictures soon! In the mean time enjoy the lovely one of the bride with her dad.

Other randomness part 1: I appreciate you all!!!!! Hope you all know that!!!!

Other randomness part 2: I continue to love watching So You Think You Can Dance. I feel completely energized right after I watch it!!! Awesome! The energy causes me to do some weird things (some pics to come soon!!!)

Other randomness part 3: We are so looking forward to 8.8.08. Beijing Olympics!!!! Of course we wish we could be there, but that's not going to happen. But we for sure will be glued to the TV. We've been watching the track and field and swimming olympic trials...it's so fun!!!!

bye for now!!!

Baby Barnibus and Baby Wood

It's now public, Josh and Carolyn (my brotherinlaw and sister), are expecting a little one! We've known since Mother's Day and have been looking forward to blog about it. They have named it Baby Barnibus for now. I think it's after Doogie Howser's character on a T.V. show or something. I like it! Carolyn is getting pretty big actually. It's quite amazing. In person she doesn't look prego, but the pictures are pretty telling. You can check out her progression on joshandcarolyn.blogspot.com


And any day now for Baby Wood. The anticipation is killer. We're ready to meet the baby. We're not really sure what it's like to be an aunt and uncle, but we will be ready. I'm guessing Curt can do a good job of making the baby laugh and when he's older he can tell the kid stories that will make him laugh too. If the kid is interested in swimming or triathlons Curt can help him get into the sport. For me I am looking forward to attending recitals, musicals, plays, or kindergarten graduations that Baby Wood will star in. if it's a girl i will take her shopping and out for ice cream. if it's a boy, hmmm....not sure. hee hee. fun.

wimpy, wimpy, wimpy

update on bruised toenails: the pressure underneath the nail is slowly going away, but the color has turned from light lavender to almost black!!!! oh me.

common words i used around the house last week: ouch, owie, mommy, owwwww, mmmmmm, and other whimpering noises. today, i finally tried on shoes other than sandals. when i go swimming i only kick with the foot that doesn't hurt. even water going over the toes hurts!!! and it's pretty silly when I try to give Curt a hug...it looks like I'm assuming a position in karate or fencing. i'm afraid he may step on my toes!!!

and...last night Curt badly injured his baby toe on his left foot when he went downstairs in the middle of the night to turn on the AC. he plowed it into the dining room table. we tried to go out this morning for a run, but he couldn't do it!!!! ahhh!!!!