Last Week and Weekend Recap

Wednesday:


I went out to dinner with my friend Rebecca to the Olive Garden after work for our Christmas get together. Our friend Rani was supposed to come but ended up cancelling because she was having a bad day at work and wasn't sure she was going to get out on time. Next time, Rani! I totally forgot to take a picture of us.


Thursday:


Michael and I went to Yarusso's to meet my cousin Dan, wife Tammy, son Tyler, cousin Chris and my sister and my nephew, Keith for our cousin Christmas dinner since they are leaving on Christmas Eve to go to San Diego to have Christmas with their dad. We had a lot of fun and I did bring my camera but it was dead when I got there so again, no picture.


Friday:


Michael and I went out with Tanya and Chris to the Cinema Grill in New Hope on Friday night to see Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. There used to be more Cinema Grill's around the Twin Cities but I think most of them closed down. You can order food off a menu and it gets delivered to you about 30 minutes into the movie. It was fun but the theatre was a little run down. The movie wasn't bad either. After the movie, we went to The Field House, a sports bar in Crystal. Here's a few pictures of us from the night.






Saturday:


Nothing much to report for Saturday. We were supposed to go out and see a jazz band at Tryg's in Minneapolis but since it was cold and snowy, we decided to stay in. We did make breakfast in the morning with the new omelet maker that Michael got from one of his coworkers. We had to make each one separate so Michael made his first and then I made mine. I don't eat eggs very much and often opt for egg substitute so I put mine in and it started sizzling. I wasn't sure if it was the actual omelet in the maker or the small amount of liquid I dripped on the burner so I picked up the pan and put it up towards my face to see if that is what was sizzling when all of a sudden, POP!! Part of the egg popped out and exploded on my face, hair and neck and of course it was hot! I freaked out and turned and leaned over the sink because I had egg pieces all over me and my neck got burned. I think I even had a piece of egg in my eye. After Michael came to my attention and realized I wasn't seriously hurt, he tries to make a joke and says, "You have egg on your face, big disgrace". I just gave him that look. It was a funnier joke throughout the day. The omelets turned out really good so I took a picture of my breakfast.




Sunday:


Stupid or loyal? Either word could have been used to describe us today. We got up and went out into the cold to tailgate for the Vikings game. The game was at 3:15 pm so we got out there in the noon hour, which is less time than we usually have for tailgating but it was really too cold to be out there for too long. We were all definitely prepared though. Extra socks, hand and feet warmers, long johns, boots, scarves, gloves, hats and jackets to keep us warm. To tell you the truth, it wasn't that cold since we were so prepared. We'd go back into the car every so often and warm up but we spent the majority of the time outside. The first bad thing to happen was Michael's car battery died. We had to get it jumped and from then on, it was fine. The battery just got drained from listening to music. The second bad thing was the food. As much as I wanted to like it, I just couldn't eat it. Michael brought venison brats to cook. I just didn't like the taste after a bite or two so I stopped eating it. The third bad thing to happen today was obviously the game. There are some games that can be enjoyable and fun even though the Vikings lose but this was not one of them. This game was pathetic. We lost 24-17. While T-Jack had a great game the first half, he started to fall apart in the second half, credited with three fumbles. And our butter finger friend, Adrian Peterson fumbled two times today. With the way the Vikings played today and the seven fumbles total, with Atlanta capitalizing on 2 of them by scoring 10 points, we will be lucky to make it to the playoffs. Now to even try to make that happen, I have to do something even worse tomorrow night...root for the Packers who play the Bears on Monday Night Football.


Michael's dead battery


Michael, me, Tanya, Chris

Awww!

The girls

The boys


Chris cooking
Me in the middle of the street posing

In the seats with our Vikings Santa hats on

Weekend Recap

Friday: 

Michael and I went to my employer's holiday party.  It was held at the new Hilton in Bloomington.  Our company  has been making budget cuts as much as they can this year and the holiday party was one of them.  Last year we had a formal sit-down dinner with a comedy type show and dueling pianos.  This year we had an "All Around the World" Buffet where you could get food from different parts of the world featuring Mexican, Asian, Italian, American and French foods.  There was also a DJ.  I preferred the more relaxed mood this year than last.  Here's a picture of us from this year and last year.  I thought it was interesting to compare the difference in just one year.  I obviously like patterned dresses.

This Year:

Last Year:

Saturday:

Michael had a little surprise for me on Saturday night.  We hopped in the car and went to Lake Phalen in St. Paul.  They have a holiday light display there that you drive through.  You pay $10 per car on weekends and $8 per car on weeknights to see all the lights.  It's pretty cool.   There were animated lights displays that go from one side of the street to the other, such as Santa Claus shooting a basketball into the hoop.  You see the ball travel over and across the street in the display.  I brought my camera but it was really hard to take pictures because you're not supposed to pull over or get out of your car.  Here's what I managed to get, which are not good but you get the idea.  If you can, go over there and take a look.  All the money raised goes to a handful of charities. For more info and a look at more of the displays, click here. 

Sunday:

An awesome Vikings win.  I had to say I was surprised at how good we looked.  I hope we can keep it up.  

Fleetwood Mac

I'm pretty excited to say that I bought Fleetwood Mac tickets yesterday. They are coming to the Xcel Energy Center. I got a greatest hits CD for Christmas that I had asked for from my Aunt Pat and Uncle Dennis over 10 years ago that I still love. They are not a band I listen to every day but would not pass up the chance to see them. I found out they were coming a couple of weeks ago and have tried to keep it secret from Michael since that was going to be his birthday present. That surprise lasted about 3 days. He called me at work telling me that Fleetwood Mac was coming. I told him that I already knew about it and he said he was getting tickets. I told him he couldn't. He didn't understand so I said, "Happy Birthday". (Michael's b-day is January 5th) Good thing I didn't get tickets without discussing it with him because he said Fleetwood Mac is the only band that the family would see in concert together due to different music styles but he got all of his siblings to go. So I ended up buying 8 tickets for everyone. The total for 8 tickets was $1,313! Isn't that ridiculous? Good thing I'm only paying for Michael and my ticket. Now we have to wait until March to see them!

Florida: Chapter 1- Tampa Bay Vs. Minnesota Vikings

If you missed the prologue, read that before continuing.

We woke up on Sunday, November 17th to a bright and sunny day.  It was windy and cold compared to Florida standards with temperature around the high 50's.  We went to Sonic for breakfast because it's quick and cheap.  I do not like Sonic.  I have been there 3 times always willing to give it another chance and I think there is food is just bland.  We were only 5 minutes away from the stadium.  We stopped at a gas station to get a cooler for the beer and then parked in the general tailgating lot.  We started to see purple right away.  Good sign.  We weren't sure how the fans would be as we have had some good luck with the opposing fans in the other stadiums we have visited around the country (except Philadelphia) so we were hoping for the same reaction here.  (I wish I had more pictures of the trip.  We did take a lot but we spent a lot of time with the video camera instead.)  We cracked open a beer and walked around the parking lot.  We visited this parking lot the night before just to see where we would be.  There is a HUMUNGOUS Tampa Bay Buccaneers flag that flies in the lot.  I was actually scared of this flag because it is so big.  We looked at the dimensions online and it is the largest flying flag (other than the American flag) in the country.  I can't find the dimensions now of course, but I think it was 40x80 feet and waves 150 feet in the air.  Let's put it this way, look at the picture and see how big I look by it.  This was even on zoom and I am still quite a ways from the flag pole. 

 

In the parking lot, a huge motorcoach type RV pulls up next to us that looked like this:

 

I thought it must be $100,000 and then as I looked them up now, yeah, just kidding.  They are $200-$300K!  A bunch of people came out including a group of women.  Then a guy comes around the corner of the bus and all the women are like, "Hi Rod!"  We look to see a guy who appears to be Rod Stewart.  As stated in earlier posts, I do not get star struck very much so I was the same with him.  Then he comes up to our car and introduces himself as Rod, in a British accent, of course.  Then another man introduces himself to us as "Barry" and they walk back to their group.  We sit and think this over...A more than expensive bus pulls up to us, a guy that looks like Rod Stewart, who's name is Rod comes over and introduces himself and what appears to be his manager, Barry, does the same.  He has the British accent, hair, nose, clothes and earring but for some reason I am still skeptical.  Where's that mole on his face?  We didn't want to take an obvious picture of him but here he is below.  You'll have to look click on the picture but he is sitting in the chair with white jeans and velvet jacket.  You be the judge.

One of the other Vikings fans come up to him because it's Rod Stewart and he introduces himself.  He says he's Rod...Rod Peeler.  Ok, cat's out of the bag.  It's not the white jeans, velvet jacket wearing, gold earring, spiky hair, British Rod Stewart but Rod Peeler.... from Winnipeg, Canada.  It was so weird.  He might be a Rod Stewart impersonator at night but he's a 61 year old realtor by day.  And he's also a Vikings fan!

We wanted to get into the stadium early so we could look around a little and on our way walking to the stadium, there were 2 Tampa Bay fans who stopped us and asked if we were the ones partying with Rod Stewart.  They had seen him from a distance and were taking pictures of him. We all had a good laugh after telling them it wasn't the Rod they thought it was. 

We get into the stadium and it is just awesome.  It was both of our favorite stadium we have been in.  The Vikings got beat 19-13, but when you are watching a game on the road, the loss doesn't hurt as bad as at home.  The jets did a fly over the stadium before the game and that was fun to watch.  Watch them for yourself:

Here are a lot of pictures we took that day:

Michael posing in front of a group's tailgating area

Walking to the Stadium

A group of Vikings fans

Me getting ready to get searched-Note to self: Don't think you can go on vacation and leave your flat iron/straightener at home.  Lesson was learned and flat iron was bought on trip.  Hair gets better throughout trip.

The famous Pirate Ship inside the stadium

The wench going to punch me because I'm a Vikings fan

Purple!

In our seats

See the smoke from the cannon?  The cannon fires off every time the Bucs get in the red zone.  It also fires 3 times when they score a field goal and 6 times for a touchdown.  It fires out nerf-type mini footballs.  The fans on the ship also throw out tons of red and gold beads to the fans below every time they play a pirate song. 

Another picture of my unruly hair and the character that sat next to me.  He was fun.

The reflection of "Raymond James Stadium" in the foam of Michael's beer.

I'm caught up!

I should be in bed right now but besides my Florida blog(s), I am caught up on my posts!  I wrote several tonight so make sure you read all them below.  Tonight I went out with my sister to Yarusso's for dinner.  We love that place.  It's been a tradition in multiple generations on my mom's side to go there.   Jamie talked and talked and talked and talked and then I got to talk a little bit and then she talked again.  It's a good thing I'm a good listener, right Jamie?  I plan writing at least Chapter 1 in my Florida blog this weekend and hopefully I'll be a little more consistent with it.  It's Friday tomorrow so everyone have a good weekend!  Take a look at Jamie's piece of lasagna she ordered.  We put a fork on the plate to give you reference of how big it is.

Ryan Adams/Oasis

We went to Minneapolis last night and ate at 508 Restaurant.  It used to be Old Chicago on 1st Avenue.  I had BBQ salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans.  It was so good.  We then went over to Target Center and saw Ryan Adams and Oasis.  Ryan Adams opened up for Oasis.  This was the third time I have seen him in concert.  He played at First Ave. back in 2004 and it was the first time that 1st Ave. ever ran out of beer. Ryan Adams is not be confused with Bryan Adams, who's music is much more lame than Ryan Adams.  (I'm a music snob sometimes)  Ryan and Bryan do both share the same birthday, coincidentally. Back to the show...we 10th row floor tickets and I don't know think I have ever been to a concert on the main floor that wasn't general admission.  I've seen hundreds of bands so you would think I have been on the main floor in a seat, but I don't think I had.  Ryan Adams was good but I wish he would have played longer.  You may know one of his songs called "When Stars Go Blue".  No, The Corrs featuring Bono from U2 did not originally do this song, nor did Tim McGraw.  Ryan Adams wrote it and it's his song but I think the other artists have received more credit than he.  I'm not a huge fan of Oasis but they did seemed ok.  I actually have not owned one of their CD's since 1993 or 1994.  The crowd was small for the Target Center, consisting of only 5,000 people.  Some would say it's due to the economy, others would say it's because Oasis sucks. Both could be right.  Here are some pictures from the show.  They actually allowed cameras instead of me having to be all sneaky and take pictures.  P.S. On the way into the concert in the Skyway, we saw a guy that looked like Chris Robinson from the Black Crowes.  We disregarded him.  Then I found out that The Black Crowes played at First Ave. across the street so it was him.  I rarely get star struck and it's funny because this is the 2nd time Michael and I have seen him on the streets.  We walked right past him on the street in Seattle in 2005.  Again, we recognized him and thought he looked a lot like Chris Robinson but it's Seattle, so there are many people that sport that hippie/homeless look.  We found out that they were in town playing that night so it was confirmed.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Oasis

Here's Michael imitating Mike Miller from the Timberwolves.  Don't you think Mike Miller looks like a cat?  If you see him on TV, he looks like a cat.  MEOW!

Great Waters

Michael and I went out on a date last Saturday night.  I love it when we go on dates.  We went to Great Waters Brewing Company in downtown St. Paul.   I ordered Jambalaya and it was good but I was expecting it to be made with rice instead of penne pasta.  I've never had it before so maybe that is the way it's supposed to come.  Michael had a burger but more importantly, he tried their 10 beer sampler.  You get 10 4-oz sized beers with a cheat sheet of what the name of the beer is and it's description.  Michael loves all beer so he really liked this.  I had a taste of a few of them and there was nothing I liked.  I'll stick to the generic American beers.  I sipped a hot drink that had hot chocolate, raspberrry liquer, vokda and creme de cacao in it.   It was good but kinda strong.  We left and wanted to go take pictures of Rice Park, as it was so beautiful with all the trees lit up and the big Christmas tree but it was very cold that we didn't.  I'm still hoping to get out there and take some pictures.

Jon Lajoie

Last Thursday, Michael and I went to Loon Cafe for dinner in Minneapolis and then went to see Jon Lajoie at the 7th St. Entry, um, I mean The Entry.  I'm old school and still call it 7th St. Entry. It's attached to First Avenue and guess what side the entry is on?  7th Street! If you have ever been in the room the size of a large closet, that's how big The Entry is.  It's so small and they really pack 'em in there.  If a fire broke out, the site would not be pretty.   Anyways, if you don't know who Jon Lajoie is, he is a Canadian "comedian" who has become an internet sensation with his videos on YouTube.  His humor is more often than not off-color, raw and crude and could offend many.  I obviously think he is funny and I'm not offended by much.

New Banner

Like my new winter banner? Thank you to Kristi for making it for me.  She had a banner giveaway on her 1000th post!  

Blood, you have plenty of it

Have you ever donated blood before? If you haven’t, it’s pretty easy, especially if you have one of the Memorial Blood Center Buses come to your place of employment. I just gave a pint of my blood 30 minutes ago. You can donate right there and be back to work in less than an hour. I try to give blood whenever I am eligible. You can donate blood every 59 days. There are blood shortages quite frequently, especially for certain types so if you have the time, give blood. You may not know who the recipient is but I guarantee they appreciate their efforts. You are helping someone continue to LIVE. There are multiple places to donate, but here’s Memorial’s website if you are interested. If you need any other incentives, they are donating a pound of food for every pint of blood they take and you can even win a cruise. If you have a Dr. named Dr. Acula, I would be leary to giving him your blood. If you don't get it, then you might need more help than I would be able to give you. :)

Florida: Prologue

Here I am finally ready and able to sit down and write about my Florida vacation.  I am going to try to do the best I can to remember what we all did.  I do write a vacation journal when I am on vacation so I can remember what we did from day to day but this time I didn't.  I kept thinking that I need to start the journal and by Day 4, I couldn't even remember all that we did.  So based on the pictures we took, I am going to reconstruct the vacation.  

We arrived at the HHH Airport in the 6 am hour on Saturday, November 15th.  Thanks Dad for picking us up at home at 5:45 am. The flight was fine but left a little late due to the de-icing of the plane.  This made me a little nervous since we had connecting flight in Atlanta that only had a 31 minute layover.  We'd be cutting it close.  We got off the plane and the AirTran employee told us what gate we needed to go to for the connecting flight, which was a monorail ride away in another area of the airport.  Did you know that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the busiest airport in the world?  I always thought it was Chicago O'Hare but not the case.  Anyway, we get to the gate that the person told us to go to and it's not the right gate.  So we are somewhat panicky because we are running out of time before our flight leaves.  We find an AirTran employee and we find out what gate we are really supposed to be at and we do a power walk to the gate only to be greeted by people who are waiting to fly standby and an employee who says, "Are you Dana and Michael? You have 2 minutes to board."  Whew.  Just made it.  Cutting it close but hopefully nothing else goes wrong.  Ok, something else went wrong.  We land in Tampa, go to baggage claim and watch the baggage carousel go round and round and round and round waiting for my purple (for the Vikings of course) suitcase.  We find our way to the AirTran office and speak to the "friendly" employee who tells me that my suitcase most likely did not make the connecting flight and that there are many more flights from Atlanta today and that it should be here in 2 hours.  She asked if I wanted to come and pick it up when it comes in or if they should deliver it to the hotel.   I opt for delivering it to the hotel since I have already been inconvenienced and they can bring it to me.  She told me someone would be calling me shortly after the 2:30 pm flight comes in.   Now would be a good time to tell you that I am trying my best to not be mad and just hope the bag comes in on the next flight.  For once, I think I handled the situation better than Michael did.  He is usually trying to calm me down when situations such as this arise.  But still, there I was in the middle of an airport with no luggage.  I woke up very early that day and didn't take a shower and I have no make up on.  I have dirty hair with a hat on.  I am a mess and now I have to introduce myself to Tampa like this.  Aauugghh.  {Mini Moral: Take a shower before a flight no matter how early it is.}  In the meantime, we pick up our rental car, a 2009 Dodge Caliber.  At first I am in love with the car and how it drives.  I would get sick of it by the end of the trip and want my own 2003 yellow car.  We hook up the GPS (an awesome gift from Michael last Christmas) and we are on our way to find a place to eat. Here's our car.  This picture is taken later in the trip on a beach that you could drive on.  Isn't it cute how all the birds are in the shade of the car?

After driving around awhile, we find a place called Lee Roy Selmon's.  It was about 2:30 pm but we had only eaten plane snacks all day.  I ordered the Soul-Good Pulled Pork with smashed potatoes and homestyle baked beans.  When I am on vacation, I try to eat and try some different things I wouldn't normally order when in MN.  It was very different.  The pulled pork, potatoes and beans are regular foods but the way they tasted and were cooked were slightly different.  They say they put soul into the food and you could tell...whatever that means.  We checked into our hotel shortly after the check in time of 3 pm.  I still hadn't received a call yet from AirTran as of yet.  We hang out for a little while and then decide to call the airline. Of course no one answers so we leave a message.  They call me back at 4:25 pm to tell me that they found my luggage and it will be delivered in 2 hours.  I don't want to wait any longer but that's ok, at least it's here in Florida and not lost in luggage space.  After waiting and waiting, the bag is finally delivered at 8:45 pm.  Remember, I am dirty and sitting there waiting to take a shower because I have nothing.  Finally, at 8:45:01 pm, I jump in the shower so I can get ready and see Tampa.  It's dark and we aren't sure what to do so of course we eat.  When we go on vacation, eating is a HUGE part of what we do.  We always want to try new places and do our best to avoid any chains or restaurants we have in MN.  We ended up a place called Grillsmith.  They had some of the best food we have ever had.  I had an Amberjack Fish sandwich.  I had never even heard of a fish called amberjack until that day.  So yummy.  I should say before I even thought about food, I thought about a drink.  I relaxed with a pomegranate martini.  Again, so yummy.  Here's is my proof of yumminess and Michael's proof of yumminess with a Mojito.  No, Michael is no less of a man because he likes Mojitos. 

We started and ended our night here as the whole luggage fiasco changed the course of our day. We went to bed only to wake up to see a Vikings game.  Until then...

 

Back to Reality

I thought I would recap the last few days since I haven't started my Florida blogs yet. I will go backwards from today to Friday.

Tuesday: Today I went back to work for the first time since going on vacation. I hadn't been to work since November 14th! I am so thankful I was able to go on a long vacation but it doesn't matter how long they are, they never seem long enough. Work was ok today. I thought I would have been busier today and had more to catch up but I didn't. I am going to be swamped for the next couple of weeks so it's hard to get right back in the swing of things.

Monday: Spent the day wrapping all my Christmas presents. I wrapped everything and only have a couple little things to buy. I got my tabs for my car. The cost of tabs come at the worst time of year. I'm broke as a joke from vacation and an extra $101.25 hurts me right now. It's better than the cost of getting pulled over with expired tabs. I also finished most of the laundry I needed to wash. I like doing laundry but hate hanging things up and putting them away.

Sunday: I did not feel good all day. I had such a bad headache and debated whether or not I was even going to go to the game. I slept a good part of the day and then decided I was going to the game. How could I miss it? I did feel better while I was at the game. It was a nationally televised game on Sunday night against Chicago...and we won. It was a very exciting, fun game to watch. One of the best all year. John Randle was inducted into the Vikings Ring of Honor at halftime. John Randle was very fun to watch as a player and he has a great personality, even more than crazy at times.


Saturday: I put up the Christmas tree and some decorations. This is the earliest I have put up the tree in a long time. I always have good intentions of doing it early but I never make the time. I just have a little white prelit fake tree but it's perfect for me/us. Here's a picture taken obviously after Monday, as the presents weren't wrapped until then. I also went over to my parent's for Thanksgiving leftovers. I love Thanksgiving and was glad that I could enjoy a little with my parents. I stayed over there visiting them for a few hours. I was so nice to visit them and spend time with them because I never have the chance to be with them by myself. We are either all together or I am with Michael so Mom and Dad, I appreciated hanging out with you guys!

Friday: Got back from Florida and took it easy. We watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which is actually a good movie. I really enjoyed it and thought it was funny. We also watched What Happens in Vegas. That one was not so good. But I didn't expect much either.

I'm working my way up blogging about Florida. I have decided I will do 3 phases of the trip. Part 1 will be Tampa area, Part 2 will be Jacksonville area and Part 3 will be Fort Myers. The whole trip is a blur so I have to refer to all my pictures to remember what we did and in what order. Coming soon! Bloggers: I have yet to read any of your blogs. I'm getting to it!