A Splendid Saturday

Last Saturday was a day of coupons and deals.  We started out our day by driving almost an hour up to St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, where we would be touring a winery and vineyard called Chateau St. Croix .  I had purchased a gift certificate on one of the daily coupon sites back in the summer and wanted to go to take the tour in the fall when the leaves changed.  We got busy and didn't make the trip a priority.  Almost a month ago, I tried calling for same day reservations and they were booked all day and also for the following Saturday so we decided to do it on our anniversary weekend, hoping the weather would still be nice, which it was.  The gift certificate included a winery tour, a cheese and cracker tray and a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon to take home.  Our tour started at 11:30 am and we were supposed to be there 15 minutes early, and we would have if it wasn't for stupid Google Maps taking us to a random area where no winery existed.  We had to call for directions.  Once we were there, we were still able to go on the 11:30 am tour.  I believe that people getting lost happens frequently as there were multiple people who were late that also claimed to have gotten lost.

The tour wasn't too much of a tour.  I guess I wasn't sure what to have expected but it was done in what seemed like 20 minutes, which actually turned out to be a good thing.  One of the things I learned was that it takes a certain number of years for the vines to become mature enough to use the grapes to make wine. I believe they started with the grapes in 2003 and this past September was the first year they were going to harvest them and use them, however because of a late frost, it wiped out their whole crop so they will hope for next year. The cheese and cracker tray was nothing special, although they did have a ginger and mango cheese that was kind of interesting.  We were also given 5 wooden coins that allowed us to taste 5 different wines. If you live in Wisconsin or Minnesota, you may know two of their wines.  The Wisconsin one is Cheesehead White, which has a small cheesehead as a topper in honor of the Packers and then there's Helga's Red, which has a helmet with horns on the top in honor of the Vikings. We had a fun time at the vineyard but probably would have enjoyed it more if it had been a month or two earlier.

I'm thinking about purchasing this wine vest for M for Christmas.  Looking good! 

We stopped at the overlook on Main Street right in town, which you can see the power plant and dam on the St. Croix River.  Nothing too exciting.

We stopped in Marine on St. Croix to have a quick chocolate fix at the St. Croix Chocolate Company.  We found out that on our fourth visit there, they've only been open since June and they say that business is better than expected.  We each got two chocolates which again is probably the best chocolate I've ever had.  But it's not cheap...$2 a piece.

We headed further back south to Stillwater where M had to go to Brine's for their famous Bloody Mary.  He prefers non-alcoholic bloody's so that's what he chugged down in about five minutes and then we were back on the road to use another coupon.  

Being that we'd already had some wine, a couple pieces of chocolate and a bloody, it was time to eat some food.  We stopped at Dari-ette is St. Paul to eat.  Again, this was a coupon that I had purchased on a coupon site in the summer which on that day if you used your Visa card to make the purchase, you got another gift certificate for free.  We had already gone one time and we had to go again as they close November 12th for the season.  

We came back home and took a nap.  When we woke up, we went to Marcus Theatre in Oakdale to see a movie.  I thought it would be perfect because even though it was Saturday night, it was the night before Halloween so many kids and adults would be at Halloween parties or doing some sort of Halloween activity which means that it would not be uber busy, which turned out to be true. Because it is the 75th anniversary of well, something, the price was $7.50 and each person got a popcorn and pop for free. We saw Hereafter.  It's a movie directed by Clint Eastwood that has Matt Damon in it.  I would say he stars in the film, however there was plenty of time he wasn't even in the movie.  The movie started out very intense and had you on edge but after five minutes, it leveled off and somewhat dragged on to the point where we wondered how everything was going to come together in such a short period of time towards the end.  If you haven't seen it and wondered about it, you're better off waiting for it to come out on DVD. 

Another great day with M!

Michael Sack, You've Outdone Yourself Again

My anniversary with M was on Monday, November 1st, however we decided to celebrate our six years together on Friday, October 29th.

My workday was enhanced when I got a call from the receptionist saying I had a package up front.  I was surprised by a beautiful poem and beautiful flowers from M. I received six red roses, one for each year we've been together and orange (my favorite color) gerbera daisies (my favorite flower) and tiger lilies.  The poem he wrote is as follows:

You tattooed my soul so that I'll never forget

A beautiful butterfly that I was lucky to have met

You are the most special person, the sweetest treat

You are the one that has shown me

One + One = Complete

After work, he took me out to dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, where we had a fantastic dinner, including an anniversary dessert.  Because he made the reservation under my name on Open Table, he was greeted as Mr. Sterner.  I thought that was pretty funny. Before the food arrived, M pulled out an anniversary card from his jacket and gave it to me.  And then he magically pulled out a gift bag from Sephora out of nowhere.  He told me not to get excited by the bag but when I did open the package it actually was something from Sephora, a $50 gift card! It's no secret to M that I love Sephora!  

We got home and the plan was to crack a bottle of wine and listen to music.  I went upstairs to change into some comfy clothes and yelled down to M that I had washed all the wine glasses earlier this week.  When I got downstairs, we sat on the couch for a little bit before we had wine and when I looked at the wine glasses sitting on the table, I just stared at them because initially, I didn't recognize them and then after staring for a few more seconds, I realized these were new wine glasses and I laughed asking where these came from.  Engraved on each glass was "Happy 6th Anniversary" along with a Spanish saying underneath it.  One glass said "Muchos Te Amo" which means I love you very much and the other one said "Siempre Te Amare" which means I will always love you.  Not only was I surprised that he did this, I loved that he put such loving phrases in Spanish.  M knows I love Spanish.  I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and 1 year in college and while I am not close to being fluent, I love whenever I can use my skills.  After seeing these wine glasses and correctly being able to read the phrases on them, I started to cry, good tears of course. 

After we had been sipping for a while, M said he had something else for me.  He came back from the kitchen with a bag from Godiva. I've always wanted chocolate covered strawberries and he got me a milk and dark chocolate covered strawberry along with one that had blueberries, raspberries and a blackberry with chocolate.

Again, after sitting and talking for awhile, M said he had something else, something he had actually forgotten about and had purchased before he got the strawberries.  I loved it because this girl loves dark chocolate!

Our anniversary celebration was a complete perfect night.  I felt like I was in a movie because it was so romantic, so extremely thoughtful and so loving.

Michael, thank you for the wonderful memories of Friday night along with every other moment I've shared with you over the years.  I love you incredibly. 

Rhyme in Peace, Eyedea

Whether you know this or not, the Twin Cities has a big hip hop/rap/freestyling scene. You may or may not recognize some of these groups, emcees and DJ's: Atmosphere, Slug, Brother Ali, Doomtree, P.O.S, Dessa, Sims, Paper Tiger, Cecil Otter, Eyedea & Abilities and many more.

Micheal "Eyedea" Larsen was found dead at the age of 28 on October 16, 2010.  He died in his sleep and while the cause of death is still unknown, and frankly, doesn't matter, this earth lost a talented soul.  Eyedea impacted and influenced a lot of the artists I named above as well as many more artists.

I'm not going to pretend as though I was a huge Eyedea fan.  I had only heard of his name and a limited amount of his work before he died.  I've learned to appreciate his abilities more so after his death as I have wanted to expose myself to his multiple talents and now I wish I had the chance to see him perform in person and wish I discovered him more in depth before now.  He was the king of freestyling and won many championships. He had many artistic styles and experimented with a range of different musical tastes.

Last Thursday, M and I went to the Crown Plaza Hotel in downtown St. Paul to Eyedea's public memorial.  The room was huge, with hundreds of chairs set up in the middle.  The room had items all along the perimeter of the room including photo collages, paintings and art of and from Eyedea as well trophies and other freestyle battle memorabilia.  The casket was in the front of the room with huge video screens on each side with a photo slideshow showing and music playing throughout the whole room.

The mood of the room was obviously sad.  There were many artists there, many of whom I could not recognize by face alone (except Sims) but saw some of them in the paper and remembered them at the memorial.  There were many fans and by the end of the night, there was about 2,000 people that came out to pay tribute to Eyedea.  He even got a star on the First Avenue wall the day of his memorial.  Despite me not being a big fan prior to his death, his death has affected me and to see how much of an impact he's had on so many people is incredible. M has known and liked some of Eyedea's (& Abilities) music for almost a decade so he's been impacted quite a bit by his death.

There is a concert in celebration of Micheal "Eyedea" Larsen's life at First Avenue on Tuesday, November 9th, which would have been his 29th birthday.  The tickets are $20 and can be purchased at Fifth Element.

"But I pay homage to my melody 'cause she's the sweetest
The core of our spirit is naked
The form of its lyrics are sacred
Blanketed by the original sound of the inner vibrations
I'm floating on the soft clouds of positive creation
See, I can look at a painting and admire the colors
Or appreciate any type of art that I discover
But what I dig's invisible
It's my teacher and I'm its student
I tell ya
Ain't nothing quite as beautiful as Music."

Micheal Eyedea Larsen

Rhyme in Peace, Eyedea.

Please listen to the audio of this video of Eyedea & Abilities.  If you can't listen to the whole thing, listen from 40 seconds to 1 minute.  He was so crazy fast and smart with his freestyling, lyrics and rhymes.  If you don't like his art, that's ok but try and appreciate his ability and talents.  I know for a fact you can't do it.

I Ran Out of Space

Last Wednesday, I was uploading pictures to the blog post I had just written and Blogger would not allow me to upload any more pictures.  Why?  Because I ran out of space!  I used up all the free space, 1 GB, and in order for me to post anything else, I had to purchase space.  So that's what I did, however it wasn't expensive.  I purchased 20 GB of space for $5 a year. I was able to blog for almost 2 years and 5 months for free so a little expense to keep this blog going isn't that bad, especially if it keeps my loyal readers happy.

Lunch at the MOA

On Wednesday, I met my friend Kristen for lunch at the Mall of America.  Even though it was a quick lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, it was fun to catch up with her again.

Twenty One Candles

M's niece Kayla had her golden birthday on October 21st and on Saturday, a group of family and friends went out to help her celebrate.  M and I were only out briefly as M had to be at the airport the next morning.

They started at Psycho Suzi's in NE Minneapolis around 5 pm and we joined up with them around in the 8 pm hour.  We stayed at Suzi's just briefly before going across the street to Tony Jaros'.  They left Tony's and headed to Stella's in Forest Lake to be a little closer to home and we went home. Kayla seemed to have lots of fun and had her share of shots and drinks for the evening and from what I heard, paid for it the next day.

Kayla, even though it seems like you've been 21 forever, I hope you had a very fun 21st birthday weekend celebration!  

Thanks to Kim for the first two pictures!

Baby Time

On Saturday afternoon, I picked up my mom and my sister and we headed to a baby shower for my cousin's wife, Tammy.  They are having a girl and the due date is January 2nd.  It was in St. Paul Park at her friend's house.  We played a couple of games, Tammy opened presents and we ate lots of yummy Mexican appetizers. As good as I am about taking pictures, my purse was hidden behind a chair when she was opening presents so I didn't get to take any pictures.

I did take some pictures when I was at my sister's house earlier in the day.  She's a Halloween freak so her house is completely decorated including huge spiders which did not thrill me, especially when my nephew says, "Dana!" and I turn around and he has a giant tarantula in my face. He always pushes it to the limit with me when it comes to spiders.  At that age, he thinks it's funny, which I can't blame him for but it's not!  He's going to be Jason for Halloween and the kid is in character when he has his costume on.  He won't talk to you, only stare at you.  I also got to see my nephew Colton not sleeping this time!

Jamie with heels, me with flats and my mom with heels. 

 

If you live in South St. Paul, vote for my BIL for city council!  

Red (and some) Wine

I had won passes for an advanced screening to the movie Red a couple weeks back, however I had forgotten we had plans already for that night so we weren't able to go but I still wanted to see it so M and I went on Friday night to Marcus Theatres in Oakdale.  First, M and I were the youngest people in theatre, if you don't count the five year old that I'm sure enjoyed the movie.  We were surrounded by older couples, which was fine but I questioned it because maybe that means we're morphing into an older couple right before my eyes and I don't even know it.  That's how it happens, you know.

The movie itself was exactly what I expected it to be and worth the time and money.  I think the movie trailers portray the movie accurately.  The acronym for RED is 'Retired-Extremely Dangerous'.  I really like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren but John Malkovich is a brilliant actor and cannot do wrong in my eyes on screen, no matter how odd, strange or creepy he may seem. The weakest link in the movie is Mary Louise-Parker, which partially is by design but I am not a fan of anyways, however I know many people love her in the series, Weeds. Richard Dreyfuss is also in the movie.

If you don't go out and see this movie, I would definitely recommend it as a rental.

Check out the trailer.

After the movie, we cracked a bottle of wine (now the blog title makes sense), lit some candles and debuted our monthly playlist of this month's 100 songs.  Yes, it's not November yet but we couldn't wait.  I was tired and didn't make it very long, as usual. 

TMI---Too Much Information

I don't like talking on the phone.  I talked so much on the phone as a teenager that I have no desire to do so as an adult and because of that, I don't always answer my phone so if it's ringing and in a different area of the house than me, I'm not rushing from where I'm at to answer it. I also never answered my phone if I did not recognize the number, until I received an urgent call last month from an unknown number that I actually did answer.  Since then, I've tried to answer my phone when I'm around whether or not I recognize the number.

I was driving home from work on Friday when I received a call from the 651 area code, which I live in but didn't not recognize the number but answered it anyway.  My conversation went similar to this:

Me: Hello?

Caller:  Dana?!  

Me:  Yeeeessss....

Caller:  Hi, it's Tina!

(Pause)

Caller:  Tina, your hairdresser!

(Pause)

Caller: From (Insert salon name here)

Me:  Oh, hi.

***Ok, first of all, I hate the word "hairdresser" but for a lack of better term, I'll use that word. Second, my "hairdresser" does work at that salon, however her name is Angela and I've been going to her for years. I'm thinking this while I'm on the phone with her and then it dawns on me.  Back around 3 years ago, I tried to make an appointment with Angela, however she was booked and I really wanted to get my haircut on that day.  I decided to "cheat" on Angela and go to the same salon, different location and get my haircut that day.  That's what I did and the woman that cut my hair was named Tina.  Tina was in her late 40's but trendy. She cut my hair that day and all Michael heard later was me crying because it was the worst haircut of my life.  I just hated it.  She didn't listen to what I wanted and because I have a hard time being assertive when getting my haircut and just admitting that I don't like it, I didn't say anything at the salon.  I just paid and walked out knowing I would never be back.*** 

Tina: How've ya been?  

Me:  Pretty good, and you?

Tina:  Well, I just wanted to tell you that I no longer work at (Insert salon name) and that if you want your haircut, I will come right to your house and do it for cheaper than the salon would charge.

Me: Oh, ok.  I'll keep that in mind and program your number into my phone.

Tina:  Great, I won't call you again...I just wanted to let you know that.  

Me: Ok, sounds good, thanks.

Tina:  Yeeeeahhhh.....I was doing a perm for a client and I over processed it and the woman complained....I mean, it was an accident...it's not like I would do that on purpose....people make mistakes.  Anyways, they told me that I could have until the end of November to find another job and then on Tuesday, they come and tell me that they accepted my resignation.  I told them that I didn't put my resignation in and they just kept saying that they accept it.  

Me: Huh.....

Tina:  I mean, I've been there for 17 years!  Those f*ckers just said that I resigned because they don't want to pay me unemployment.  This is the second time this has happened to an employee in three months. 

Me:  Huh....I'm sorry to hear that.

Tina:  Those f*ckers are going to pay.  Oh, sorry about my language.

Me:  That's ok.

Tina:  Don't worry, I'm doing something about this and those f*ckers will be sorry.  Sorry, anyway, I just called to say that so I won't call you again but call me if you need your haircut, ok?

Me:  Ok thanks, take care.

Tina: Bye.

***I wake up Saturday morning and my phone is on vibrate.  Michael tells me that it's "ringing" down in the kitchen.  I missed the call but look to see who it was and my missed call was from Tina....after she told me she wouldn't call me anymore.  I don't even know what to think about the whole situation other than it's strange and she is crazy.***

Vikings vs. Dallas

Last Sunday was a very important game for both the Vikings and the Cowboys.  Both teams were 1-3 going into the game.  Fortunately, the Vikings were on the winning side of that game, with two interceptions by E.J. Henderson and right out the gate starting the second half, Percy Harvin had a 95 yard kickoff return for a touchdown.  It was also Randy Moss's homecoming for a second time around in his Vikings career.  He was very well received by the crowd and had 5 receptions for 55 yards.  Vikings won 24-21. And you know what else we won?  Pizza.  Every game, they have the DiGiorno Pizza Row of the Game.  Each week for the last few years, they pick one row out of the dome to be the Row of the Game.  It just so happens that it was our row so each person in our row won a free pizza coupon for a DiGiorno pizza at the grocery store valued up to $6.  Not a huge prize but the odds of winning aren't very great, (about 25 people win out of 62,000 each week) which makes it kind of exciting.  We also ran into a guy and his son and the space alien blow up doll that they bring to the games.  The dad is from Maryland and the son is from North Carolina.  They have family in northern Minnesota so they come here at least once a year.  The first time we met them was in November 2008 in Jacksonville, Florida to see the Vikes play the Jaguars.  If you look here, you'll might be able to see the dad with his back turned but you'll see the alien from that game in Florida.  Fast forward to September 2009, and we ran into them again here at the dome.  We also saw them earlier this year in August for preseason and then finally this time again.  We found them after the game but it was funny because they were looking for us before the game while we were tailgating but couldn't find us.  We normally park in the same spot but because it was a 3:15 pm game, there were people who got out there earlier than us and got our spot, the spot they looked for us at.  It's awesome to develop a friendship with people all around the country because of the Vikings!

And now on to Green Bay tomorrow!  The Vikes haven't won on the road since November 1, 2009, which was the last time we played the Packers at Lambeau.  I'm not holding my breath but my fingers are crossed.

1st Annual Weenie Roast

M and I went to our friend's Sean and Beth's house on Saturday night to help them celebrate their 1st Annual Weenie Roast.  We met Sean and Beth through M's cousin, Johnny, on the 2009 Cherry Ride.  Since then, they've participated in 2 Cherry Rides and 2 Cherrie Jones Tailgate Parties so of course we wanted to participate in their party.  They live in St. Paul so it wasn't too far of a drive to their house.  Each person brought their own drink and a dish to pass.  All the food was set up in the garage and there was a lot of good food..... hot spinach and artichoke dip and garlic toast, sloppy joe's, baked beans, fruit and dip, pasta salad, deviled eggs, taco salad, s'mores, lots of candy and of course, hot dogs.  I didn't get any good photos of the evening so these will have to do.  Thanks Sean and Beth for a fun time!

Last Wednesday M and I went to Acme Comedy Club to meet up with our friends Loren and Michelle to see a free comedy show.  Wednesday was Acme Insider's Night, which means if you are signed up as an Acme Insider, you get offered two free tickets once a month to see a featured show.  Since M and I are trying to do things that do not cost a lot of money, we thought it would be a perfect mid-week activity with friends. The headlining comic was Jamie Kilstein.  I would describe him as a politic comic, whose views are way to the left. He was very versed and passionate about his material but I can't say it was laugh out loud hilarious.  He was very good at what he does though.  I forgot to take any pictures of the evening so I'll use a photo of Acme that I took last year.  If you are interested in becoming an Acme Insider and get invites to free shows, sign up here.

Sunday Morning

Before football started at noon for the day last Sunday, we got on the bike and took a early morning ride. Once started, we realized quickly how cold it actually was but we were bundled up pretty good.  As with the day before, we had no destination in mind.  We ate a quick breakfast rode around the city we live in, Little Canada and around Lake Gervais. It was a hazy morning.

The house above is my favorite house on the lake

We rode around Lake Phalen and then visited my Grandma and Grandpa at Union Cemetery.  My grandpa died on October 6, 1985, marking the 25th anniversary of his death so I wanted to go to the cemetery that same week. I had remembered on this past Wednesday the 6th that it was the anniversary of his death but that same morning my friend Chris told me that his grandpa had passed away that morning so both of our grandpa's died the same day, 25 years apart.  While at the cemetery, I of course paid visit to my grandma and Aunt Irene too.

Eventually we made our way over by my living Gramma and Grandpa's house in Oakdale.  They moved there the last day of July and I hadn't even seen their new place until that day.  I had told them we were just visiting the cemetery and my grandpa joked saying that he had purchased some property there.  I don't want the day to come any time soon when they'll go but it is nice that all my G-parents will be in the same cemetery. 

We headed back just a little late for the start of football but plopped ourselves down on the couch for the day and relaxed watching a beautiful weekend come to a close.