Fish Friday

Last Friday, my parents and grandpa all gathered at my sister's house in celebration of my mom's birthday, which was actually on Monday.  My sister and mom stood in line for over a hour at the VFW to pick up food for all of us for their weekly fish fry during Lent.  We all received a huge container of fish, potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans and bread. Not bad for $10!  We didn't do a dessert since we'd all be stuffed but I did buy my mom an individual carrot cake from Byerly's. Have you ever seen their beautiful desserts?  When I picked up the cake, a guy was trying to take a photo all their gorgeous desserts and the workers there told him he couldn't.  Big secrets going on over there at Bylerly's!

My mom opened some presents from us and we all just hung out, watched basketball, admired Colton and talked until it was time to go home. My sister talked a lot since she just got back from Memphis for work and went to Graceland that morning.  I did not take a single picture which I'm bummed about so this free image below will have to do.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Beauty Army- My First Box

Remember when I talked about all the different beauty subscriptions?  I received my first month's box for Beauty Army.  If you don't recall, Beauty Army allows you to pick your own deluxe samples, which means you are getting what you want but despite picking my samples, I had forgotten what I had chosen so it was still a fun surprise when the package arrived last week.

Here's what I got:

The body wash smells yummy and is formulated without sulfates and parabens and the whipped shea butter is organic and smells like bananas.  It feels awesome on your skin.  I've used it on my hands and they are the softest!  I wasn't exactly sure how the next time would work but I've found out tonight that I'll have a window of 7 days at the end of March to log on to Beauty Army and pick my next set of samples.  I think I'm going to like this.  If you love anything beauty related and love sampling products, it's seems to be a great deal. 

Whole Living Thoughts

Here's this month's thoughts on whole living as published in the March issue of Whole Living:

1. When you need to find your way, check your roots.
2. Your body knows how to heal itself; just give it the right tools.
3. Beauty is a mosaic, not a mind-set.
4. Wouldn't it be boring if the journey threw no curve balls?
5. Make eating more sensory: Think about experiencing texture and aroma as well as taste.
6. Flaws build character, not shortcomings.
7. Collect and curate simplicities that lift your spirits.
8. Challenge your brain the way you do your body.
9. If you can't stay, smile as you walk by.
10. Amuse and enrich your palate with varied, colorful foods. 

Surly Tour

This past Saturday, M and I picked up two of our favorite people, Tanya and Chris, and we all went to tour Surly Brewing Company in Brooklyn Center.  The brewery has been around for six years and it has definitely outgrown its current space and they will be moving sometime in the near future to a bigger location.

If you've been keeping tabs on me, I was still pretty sick on Saturday and really would have cancelled if it wasn't so damn difficult to get in for a tour of this place. I didn't want  to change anyone's plans so I sucked it up and made the best of it. We stood outside in line for almost 10 minutes in the freezing cold waiting for them to open the doors for our 5-7 pm tour.

Once they checked our ID's, we were each given 5 wooden tokens to cash in for beer samples in their tap room. Unfortunately, no beer samples for me since I wasn't feeling up to it. We hung out for about 30 minutes in the tap room and shopped a bit in the small store before they called all of us to meet in the brewery area for the tour. 

We met in an area of the brewery where an employee spoke of the history of the location as well as how it became a brewery.  After that part, we again went back to the tap room for beer until it was time for the second part of the tour.

The second part of the tour included discussing the process of making the beer and the equipment they use.  After having already been on two different brewery tours, I understand the process is generally the same.  Michael quizzes me about some of the processes of making beer and I'm sure he thinks it's sexy when I know the answer.  I definitely know a good bit about the beer making process! 

After the tour we went back to T&C's house and then went for a quick dinner at Oak City, just about two minutes from their house before calling it a night. 

**Thank you to Tanya for a handful of the pictures above.**

  

I Love Today!

Even though I sat in an office all day, I still appreciate the fact it was beautiful outside today.  The only not beautiful thing about warmer weather is the ultra-melt going on in our driveway which creates a flood.  Our neighbors driveway is the same way.  I'll put up with it though for higher temps.  Spring is around the corner!

Walk for Animals-Please Donate!

It's that time of year again.  The Walk for Animals is scheduled for Saturday, May 5th and it's time for me to start asking for donations.  I'm trying to raise $300 this year. This will be my 9th year participating in this cause and the animals need your help! Please click on the link below to see my personal page and to donate to this worthy cause.  All donations are tax deductible.  If you're interested in mailing a check instead, please contact me. Please feel free to share this with anyone that would be interested.

Dana's Donation Page

Thank you from me, Fuzzer and Powder!

I'm Sick

I caught M's cold.  I'm on day 3 and I'm miserable. I'm so sick that my hair hurts.  Have you ever had that?  I started to get it on Thursday while at work and I decided it was best to take Friday off so yesterday I unfortunately woke up in the 6 am hour, got up and headed to the couch where I watched some news, took some pills and drank a smoothie, finished a book, slept for less than an hour, ate some garlic rice noodle soup, pita chips and hummus and watched Breakfast at Tiffany's before M got home from work.  I had never seen the movie before and it was not what I had expected.  I had never seen an Audrey Hepburn movie before.  She was beautiful in the movie and her costar George Peppard was very handsome and I was surprised to learn that he is the same guy who was "Hannibal" in the A-Team series from the '80's.  Weird.  She died in 1993 and he died in 1994, both in their early 60's, from cancer and pneumonia, respectively.  Tell me, have you seen this movie?  

Back to being sick. I went to sleep for a couple of hours, had another smoothie (thank you Blendtec) and then stayed up with M until 1 am, talking, listening to music and finally, reading a magazine.  Hoping to turn the proverbial corner tomorrow!

Breakfast of Champions Sickies

Leap Day

What did you do on the extra day that you've built up over the last four years?  M has a Leap Day party every four years on Leap Day.  As you can imagine, the definition of "party" has evolved since 1992 when he had his first Leap Day party.  This time around, the party is defined as on a Wednesday, at a local bar at 5 pm, for one beer and only for 1 hour because the Leap Day host has a cold.  Oh, and it only initially involves two people...M and me but as we rock into the 6 pm hour (since it's 2 for 1's and I'm still finishing my 2nd), M's friends call and a couple are on their way up which means we stay a little longer than planned.  And I eat more popcorn.  But that's ok because I did have fun with just my honey and me as we almost never frequent a bar together and later I had fun being the only girl amongst a lot of guy talk.  Leap Day 2016 shows up on a Monday so I'm sure that day will be crazy but it's not until 2020 until Leap Day is on a Saturday again and M will be 46 and I'll be 43 (gurp) and we'll probably be bowling Scotch Doubles at Flaherty's on the last Saturday of the month.

The locals

My favorite part of this pic: the neon "Toilets" sign 

{via}

  Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth's revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days (a tropical year) to circle once around the Sun. If we didn't add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!

Scotch Doubles Bowling

The last Saturday of every month (at least in the no-so-good weather months) is Scotch Doubles at Flaherty's.  We met Kim, Greg, Ray, Dolly, Anna, Greg and Chris and Tanya there for about 3 hours of bowling.  I hadn't seen Greg and Anna since the fall and I hadn't seen Chris since October and Tanya since the summer!  It was an awesome and fun way to see everyone again.  It was Chris and Tanya's first time playing Scotch Doubles and they bowled a 252 on one of their games and Greg and Anna got a 256!  Our best game was 196.  They take the best of 5 games and the 1st-4th place gets money as well as 3 other random places.  We came in 20th out of 28th but Tanya and Chris and Greg and Anna both won $5 on the random place prize.  Another game we play while bowling is poker.  Each couple puts in $2 and for every spare or strike you get, you can take a card.  If you have more than 5 cards at the end of each game, you can only use 5 cards to make a hand and the best poker hand wins the pot.  M and I won twice on the pot.  If you don't really take bowling that seriously and want to have lots of fun with a group of people, it's a perfect activity.

The group with our new friends and bowling neighbors Randy and Amber

Harriet Brewing Tour

M and I went to Harriet Brewing in Minneapolis for a brewery tour last Wednesday, which are free.  The brewery has only been open a year but is doing very well.  They have tours every Wednesday and you start out with some beer and admiring the original artwork of Jesse Brodd, who creates all the labels for the beer.  If I remember correctly from the tour, he is one of the investors of Harriet Brewing.  One of their brewers, Paul, gave us a tour which took 45 minutes or so as he explained the beer brewing process and the equipment.  The area they brew in is relatively small and also under construction but they have big dreams  there and it sounds like some of them will be coming to fruition very soon including a brewpub with a patio-type area that will serve their beer and food from the local restaurants that serve their beer.  Not quite sure about the details but that's supposed to happen sometime this spring.  If you just want to stop by and buy a growler on Saturdays, or check out the art, you can do so and then hang out in their lounge area and relax and listen to some music. If you are in the area of Lake and Minnehaha, check them out.    

All for Me!

Remember when I took the day off from work a couple of Fridays ago?  Well, I was able to meet my honey for lunch and then head to Rosedale for a little bit of shopping too.  I didn't have to spend any of my own money since I received some gift cards for my birthday and for Valentine's Day.  It was nice to pamper myself with some items that were free!

First to Sephora:

Then to Bath and Body Works:

And finally to Bare Escentuals:

Thank you M for all of this stuff!

Before I went to the mall, I stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond and took the plunge!  I had been doing research off and on since October.  I really wanted a certain kitchen appliance and it was expensive but I used a $100 BB&B gift card I've been saving since August, a $75 gift card from my parents for my birthday, a $25 Visa gift card from winning Wellness Bingo at work, a 20% off BB&B coupon and roughly $167 out of my own pocket covered the cost of what I wanted.  The bummer was they don't carry what I wanted in-store and so I had to order it to be shipped which cost $25.  So I ordered it Friday and it arrived at my house last Thursday.  So what did I splurge on?

A blender!  Ok, I know, it's SUPER EXPENSIVE for a blender but I am totally excited about it.  My food life will improve because of it.  The possibilities with it seem endless and I can't wait to show off some of my creations I'll be making.  So far I've made strawberry "ice cream", a glowing green smoothie, blended some salsa and made another green smoothie with spinach, peaches, banana and almond milk this morning.  It's small and sleek compared to the Vitamix, which I had been making comparisons with but decided on the Blendtec and I'm completely happy.  Now I can't wait to make my own hummus, black bean dip, soups (the blender makes it hot for you!), flours, nut butters and everything else! 

If you have time and are interested, watch the Blendtec demos, part 1 and part 2.  I'm the type of person who likes infomercials so I dig this kind of stuff.  And if you've been to Costco, maybe you've seen this demo in person.