Baby Time

Sunday, March 10th was the day of my friend Kristi's baby shower.  She's due on April 20th, is having a boy (Bretton) and doesn't want that baby to come out any sooner than that!  

Her shower was held in one of the rooms in the upper level of Manitou Station in White Bear Lake.  I knew a good amount of people there as a lot of us went to high school together and some I hadn't seen since then.  

The food was appetizer-type foods and it was really good.  They had cake and chocolate covered strawberries for favors.  The room was decorated so cute and I'm sure a lot of the inspiration came from Pinterest.

Kristi received a lot of nice gifts and she was really grateful for her special day.  

Mom's Birthday

We celebrated my mom's birthday on Friday, March 9th.  We went to Jamie's house and Tom picked us all up fish dinners from the VFW.  We did this for my mom's birthday last year and we all love to take advantage of the fish fry during Lent.  We were obviously missing my dad that night and even though it was the second birthday in the family since he passed away, it was the first time we had a birthday get together.  She just turned 58 and in terms of age, she will outlive my dad in about a week. (My dad died 16 days after his 58th birthday.)

My mom opened her presents and liked her gifts.  She doesn't like her picture taken most of the time so these were the only photos I was able to get.

This little angel was sleeping when we arrived

Colton, Hunter and Keith

On my mom's actual birthday, the 12th, she didn't get home until 6:30 pm and so her and I went out for a quick dinner to Perkins by our house.  Given the chance, my mom picks Perkins quite a bit to eat.  Our food was pretty good but the service was terrible.  Somehow the free dessert that my mom got for her birthday made up for it.

Rojo

Rojo.  It doesn't just mean red in Spanish.  It also is a bar/restaurant in St. Louis Park's West End.

I went to happy hour there on Wednesday, March 6th.  I was the cougar of the group while I hung out with my younger friends Eric, Michael and Justin. I had never been to Rojo before but they all live in St. Louis Park so it was a convenient place for them.

I had a couple of sangria's while I was there, one white and one red.  We also ordered a couple appetizers, a vegetarian quesadilla and grilled corn.  The grilled corn was fabulous but I was a little reluctant to eat it.  No girl likes eating corn on the cob in public and especially with guys at the table.  It can be just too messy.

I would definitely go back to this place for dinner.  There's a Rojo that will be opening soon in Southdale right by my work so I'm sure I'll check it out again.

Welcome Greg Jennings!!!

If you understand this post, that means you love football and you've seen this Old Spice commercial.  If you don't, well, that's your problem.  Welcome to Minnesota, Greg Jennings!

Click to enlarge!

I Had to Play Hookey

I colored my hair on Sunday evening, March 3rd.  I hadn't colored my hair for over a year.  I bought a kit from the store, a different kit than I've always used.  I bought an intense red.  I really like my hair in any shade of red and I think it compliments my skin tone.  After putting in the color, it got really orange, really fast and it started to scare me.  I ended up washing it out 6-7 minutes early because of this.  The color was very vibrant which I could deal with as red fades every time you wash it but what I couldn't deal with is that my scalp was stained orangey-red.  It looked ridiculous enough for me to decide I couldn't go to work the next day.  So I told my supervisor Sunday night I wouldn't be coming in.  I'm not sure how your work is with time off but we can take time off as long as we have the PTO to do so.  It doesn't matter the reason and you don't have to say why.  

I woke up Monday at the same time I normally would have for work and started my day.  Since I had a free day, I took care of some admin stuff for myself and then decided to ask my mom if she wanted to bum around with me.  She did and I picked her up and we went to different stores for errands I had to run.  

We ended up stopping at Big Bowl in Rosedale Mall for lunch.  It's yet another place she had never been and was reluctant about it.  We started with vegetable potstickers and we both did the stir fry bar.  I had the veggie panang red curry with noodles and she had the veggie teriyaki with fried rice.  We both didn't eat very much and had leftovers for dinner that night.  She really liked it and I loved mine.  I wish I would have done rice but I added brown rice to it when I ate it for dinner. I could Asian food every day! 

Gophers Basketball

M bought tickets back in the fall for us to go to a Gophers basketball game.  They were red hot back then and now, not so much.

We went to the game on Saturday, March 2nd.  The sun was shining and it definitely felt warmer than close to 30 degrees when walking to Williams Arena AKA The Barn.

Bigfoot and me

Neither of us had ever been to a game before and at first, The Barn is a weird design, twisting and curving and all different levels but you get used to it quickly. Our seats were in the corner under an awning.  We could see the court just fine but there was also a TV near us as well.

It was Senior Day that day, which means the seniors on the team were being recognized by the crowd and rest of the team and their families as it was their last home game ever.  They each received their jersey in a frame.


The game got off to a good start with the Gophers up at one point 16-0 against Penn State's Nittany Lions. The Gophers were just coming off their huge win against the Indiana Hoosier's the Thursday before Penn State had just beaten the Michigan Wolverines that Wednesday.  This game, however, was never competitive.  The Gophers had the lead the entire time.  It was fun to see a win, especially for the last home game for the seniors but it would have been a little bit more fun had the game been close at times.  Gophers win, 73-44.

When I first sat in my seat, I got upset.  The first person I thought about was my dad.  He loved Gophers basketball and had for a long time.  Before he got sick, M and I told him we were going to bring him to a game for this season but it obviously never happened.  Despite this, I really FELT him there with me.  I felt and almost imagined him sitting next to me. I do believe he was there with me.

 The view from the second level during the dog halftime show.

After the game, we drove further down into Dinkytown and stopped into a store and M wanted a slice of pizza at Mesa.  I wasn't even that hungry but ended up getting one too and we sat at the benches at the window looking outside.  I wasn't paying much attention to the people on the street but two of them walked in after seeing me.  It was my friends Kristi and Erick.  While they were walking by, Erick saw me and said to Kristi, "Hey, that's Dana." so they came to chat with us for a few minutes before venturing to their dinner destination.  

We stopped at Jamba Juice in St. Paul for a wheatgrass shot and a smoothie.  I love wheatgrass shots. I wish I could drink them every day. Even M drinks them with me! Supposedly if you drink wheatgrass every day, you can turn gray hair back into your natural color.  Hmmmm!

Fogo We Go

I feel like I'll I've been writing about is food lately.  Well, I guess that's a big part of my social outings.  On the last day of February, M and I went to Fogo de Chao during restaurant week.  We hadn't been there since restaurant week in 2010.  It's not the type of place you can go to very often, due to price and due to excess eating.

I treated Michael this time as he helped me with a financial agreement last July to help accelerate me being debt free (besides student loan) and he joked that after the agreement ended, I would owe him Fogo.  I was very happy to take him here. (especially during restaurant week when it's cheaper. he he)  

It's really hard to get reservations this week so we had ours at 5 pm on a Thursday.  I rocked out on the  salad bar and way too much polenta while M ate piles of meat.  I had a few slivers of meat but not too much.  After our two hour experience we were too full.  Gluttons!

Tan Tan and Dane Dane

I met Tanya at French Meadow in Uptown for dinner on Wednesday, February 27th. Since we hadn't seen each other since before my birthday, Tanya had a birthday card and gift for me which was unexpected.  She gave me a glass box with a mirrored bottom that is adorable.

I ate at French Meadow for my birthday last year and loved the tempeh cutlets.  I ordered a variation of what I had for my birthday.  It included the tempeh, steamed greens, brown rice and coconut red beans.  The tempeh had a blood orange vinaigrette that was good but there was a little too much of it.

We engaged in serious conversation including relationships and people, gun control and life in general.  In our little corner, there was a guy that looked familiar to me.  I looked at him right away and thought in my mind, wow, this guy is really attractive for an older guy.  After he took a seat behind us and facing Tanya, she said that the guy looked familiar.  I told her he looked familiar to me too and when we went to the bathroom, I figured I'd scope out on him again when he comes back.  When he was close to our table again, I knew who he was right away.  It was Tim Sherno from KSTP News.  He's attractive on TV but he looks even better in person. :)

I Can't Get Enough

Just a post of some recent photos of my cats.  They are so pretty and I adore them so much that I feel the need to share some photos of my fuzzy kids every once in a while.

The Tacos are Rusty

A couple of Saturdays ago and after our Trader Joe's grocery trip, my mom and I went to Rusty Taco for lunch.  Have you been there?  M and I went there when it first opened.  I think my opinion of the place has stayed the same.  It's just ok if you're in the neighborhood but not really a place you need to venture out to.

We had chips and salsa and guacamole, along with a fish tacos and the rajas taco.  My mom thought it to be just ok.  The more important part for me is just getting her out of the house and experiencing new things.

Celebration of Life

There was a week in February that seemed to be focused on death.  I'm going to try and look at it positively as a celebration of life instead.

February 16th- My mom and dad's longtime friend Kathy passed away weeks shy of her 56th birthday, losing her battle against MDS/AML

February 17th- Two year anniversary that my Gramma passed away

February 18th- Cherrie's birthday at the cemetery

February 19th- Would have been my Grandma's 100th birthday

February 20th- My mom, my aunt, sister and myself went to Kathy's visitation.  

I've remembered Kathy since I was a little kid. I remember being at her house and playing around up and down her stairs.  She was the bartender during a benefit my family and I went to for another one of their friends who also passed away.  I also went to her benefit a couple of years ago.  I saw Kathy most recently at my dad's visitation/memorial service.  I couldn't believe she was there because she was so weak and sick but yet she still made it out to pay her respects.  After giving my dad an update about Kathy from her Caring Bridge site when she wasn't doing very well, I remember my dad telling me when he was sick that he really wanted to go to Kathy's funeral.  At the time, he thought he would outlive her.  I hope they're hanging out with each other now.  Rest in peace, Kathy.  

There were many familiar faces at Kathy's visitation as I had just seen them at my dad's visitation four months earlier.  This is the second visitation I've been to since my dad passed away and the sad feelings of his death come alive within me in those situations.

It just so happens that the night of Kathy's visitation was also the night that my mom, sister and I had planned our monthly dinner.  Instead of going to the place that was planned for dinner, we stayed around the neighborhood and decided to go to Romolo's for convenience.

Cherrie's 54th

Monday, February 18th would have been M's sister Cherrie's 54th birthday.  We went to visit her at the cemetery with balloons.  Both Tiana (Cherrie's niece) and M's mom and dad were on the phone in Wisconsin and Florida, respectively, releasing balloons at the same time as our group did.  Afterwards we went to Donatelli's for dinner.  Happy Birthday Cherrie!



More Shopping

On Saturday, February 16th, my mom and I went out to breakfast in downtown St. Paul to Downtowner Woodfire Grill.  M and I used to go to breakfast here all the time but we haven't been for quite some time.  My mom, of course, hadn't been there so it was a new experience for her.  I'm trying to get her to experience as much as she can, even if it is just a restaurant.  

We both ordered the same breakfast and enjoyed the ambiance before heading to Macy's.

We went a handful of blocks over to the Macy's store that is closing.  They will be closing their doors March 16th and at the time we went, they were offering sales at 40-60% off for most items.  Since I had a bunch of gift cards to use, we didn't spend a dime out of our own pockets and even had gift card money left over.  I bought a top and pair of pants and my mom bought a few tops.  I was eyeing an orange scarf there but it was still a little too much than I wanted to pay so I didn't get it.  The same goes for a Michael Kors jacket.

Fast forward a week and my sister and nephew went to the same Macy's and the sale was 50-70% off most items.  The orange scarf was still there at 60% off.  The Michael Kors jacket was also still there, but in black instead of teal and an additional 10% off, making it now 60% off.  I picked up both and called it a day.  It didn't hurt my wallet too bad since I used my leftover Macy's gift card. 

Imagine this scarf in bright, bright orange

Afterwards, my sister, Keith and I went to Joseph's Grill for lunch. My nephew is growing up so fast.  He's going to be 10 in June and I wish he would just stop growing for a little bit so I can still enjoy his company as a little boy!