Thoughts for Thursday-Being Thifty

I like to call myself thifty.  M would rather call me a cheap ass, but he means it in the nicest possible way. :) There are many things in my life that I cannot justify buying at full price.  Clothes are one of these items.  I almost always buy things on sale.  Rarely will I buy clothes not on sale.  I can think of 1 time in the last year that I bought a hoodie for full price.  There is no need for me to buy at full price in most cases as I know it will go on sale eventually.  I thrive on getting a shirt for $1.97 or a necklace that is normally $26.95 for $2.99.  

I also use coupons for food at the grocery store if I can or for fast food.  I also like to  go out to eat so when the option is available, I use www.restaurant.com to find deals on restaurants that I like to go to.  At the beginning of every month, the site offers gift certificates to different restaurants for cheap.  $10 gift cert for $3 and a $25 gift cert for $10.  If you feel like waiting until the end of the month when they are up to 70%, 80% or 90% off, you can score $25 gift certs for $3, $2 and even $1.  There are always restrictions on these gift certs so make sure you read them before you purchase.  If you're interested, go to the site until February 28th, enter code "Dine" and your 80% discount will apply.

Another way I save money is to sign up for points-based programs for normal everyday activities I do.  I use www.mypoints.com.  I get emails every day and if I click on the email, I get 5 points.  If I choose to redeem that offer, I get more points.  To some, it would be annoying to get these emails as some would consider it spam, but I don't mind it.  I have been doing it since 2002 and I have redeemed enough points to get hundreds of dollars in gift cards.  

I also am signed up for Wells Rewards, through Wells Fargo.  Anytime I use my debit card, which is basically my only form of payment as I do not carry cash or write checks, I get points for my purchases.  That turns into gift cards or cash I can redeem.

I have also purchased multiple Happenings Books throughout the years and I always save more than I spent to buy the book.  

What things do you do to save money or to get something for your normal activities?  Please feel free to share your savings with me! 

 

Random Schmandom

I feel like I haven't blogged forever, even though it's only been a couple of days.  I thought I would catch you up with everything I am doing, feeling and thinking.

-Went out to dinner to M&S Grill with M on Monday night.  We had a $25 gift certificate so we thought we could get away cheap.  Not the case.  We still ended up paying $80 including tip.  

-Woke up with a sore throat on Tuesday.  As my Dad tells me, count back 72 hours from the time you get sick and that will put you at the place you contracted it.  That brings me to Bockfest.  No surprise there.  Despite my better judgment, I shared a spoon and a drink with someone.  I'm kind of a freak when it comes to germs and do not share anything.  I prayed I wouldn't get sick but here I am, unable to breathe and the congestion is getting worse.

-Did you know that more people voted for Kelly Clarkson on American Idol than for George Bush during his 2nd election?  

-I'm behind on so many emails and Facebook messages.  If you're one that emailed me, I'm not ignoring you.  I'll get to you eventually.

-I haven't visited Ang's blog since last week.  M called me right away on Monday morning to warn me that she has a picture of a tarantula on her site.  My phobia is so bad I can't look at pictures of any spider.  Ang, I'll have to find a way to go there without seeing this scary creature. 

-I am dreading the snowstorm tomorrow.  Just when I feel like winter is over, we're going to get dumped on again.  I know, I know, March is the snowiest month in MN, but I still like to feel we're on the tail end of winter.

-I went out with my friend Mags tonight for dinner at Salsa a La Salsa in Mpls, despite not feeling good.  It was good to catch up with her.  We took a picture but because I would rather not show you my massive double chin, I am opting not to post it.    

-I finally filed my taxes on Sunday.  Can't wait to get that money and spend, I mean, pay bills with it.  

-I was told today by my friend that he saw on the news a cat was driving a car and sent me a picture of it with the whole story.  Because I am so gullible, I believed it for a little bit.  

-I always want to spell gullible with an "a" in it.

-I tried the new roast burger from Arby's today for free.

-I bought tickets to go see Seal at the end of March.  I ended up getting 1st row in the ochestra section.  Yay!

-Did I mention that I am dreading the snow tomorrow?

  

That's enough for now.  Now on to write my TFT for tomorrow.  

Weekend Recap February 20-22

Friday: 

M and I left our house shortly before 4 pm to journey 90 miles away to the German town of New Ulm for Bockfest.  It had just started snowing and the roads were getting worse.  We stopped in Shakopee to eat and we didn't get to New Ulm until almost 8 pm.  We saw a terrible accident on one of the country roads on our way down.  A car and semi hit head on and the car was down in a 20 foot ditch with the hood smashed like an accordion.  The semi on the other side of the road in that ditch and somehow managed not to roll over.  I wish I knew how badly hurt the people in the accident were or if they died.  

Once we checked into our hotel room, we went downtown to see what was going on.  We went to a bar called the Lamplighter.  M had a beer but I drank root beer.  They brew 1919 root beer at Schell Brewery in New Ulm.  It was so good!  We got back to the hotel and Chris and Tanya were almost there.  They were coming to meet us but couldn't leave the cities any earlier.  It took them just as long to get down there too with the roads and weather.

Downtown New Ulm  

The bar we went to

Saturday:

We woke up and we were on our way to the 22nd annual Bockfest.  Bockfest is a beer festival held on the grounds of Schell Brewery each year.  It's always held on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday.  Last year 6,000 people attended and this year was the same.  Since the party is outside, we bundled up as best we could to keep warm.  Good thing all that cold weather tailgating gave us some experience.  We were warned about how long the lines can be to get in.  We got in line around 10:35 am and gates opened at 11 am.  I am guessing on this number but I would say there were 2,000 people ahead of us in line.  I asked M what he thought and he says 3,000.  Either way, you get the idea.  After spending 40 minutes in line, we finally gained entry to the brewery.  M got to get in a little early (we were 10 minutes away from getting in) since there was an employee of Schell's who gave M a worker's pass to get in for free and to bypass the line.  We were now ready to start enjoying the beer.   Because of the long lines, they suggested that people get multiple beers instead of standing in line again.  M bought us all mini cooler type containers that we could drink from.  They worked great.  They each filled about 3 beers.  There were 2 beers to choose from...the light and bock.  The bock is the dark beer.  There is an area where they have a fire pit where there are multiple hot metal pokers that are heating in the fire.  Once ready, the employees will take the poker and put it in your bock beer for 10 seconds or so.  This caramelizes the beer and creates a nice sweet aftertaste.  Once of the best things to observe was the choice of containers that people brought to drink their beer in.  Many had huge plastic mug/container types but there were also coffee pots, tea kettles, 5 gallon water cooler bottles, watering cans, blenders and the best one was a gas can.  People also wear funny costumes or hats as part of the celebration of the day.  A band called The Bock Boys also played for most of the day.  There was also food in one of the buildings.  We ate pork and beef sausages (with sauerkraut if you wanted), popcorn and chicken dumpling soup.  They had a Bock treasure hunt on the grounds and if you found a "Bock", you would win a prize.  The festival closed at 4:30 pm but we left about 3 pm.  It was just getting too cold and once you got the chill, it was hard to get warm again.  We walked back to our hotel, which was about 3/4 of a mile and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  I wish I took more pictures but it was just too cold to keep getting the camera out.  Tanya took a lot more pictures than me but I don't have access to her pictures yet.  

Waiting in line

Our scenery while waiting in line

We're in!  Now the trek to the actual brewery

One of the buildings

Some blue hairs

Chris and I---I don't have any pictures of the whole group yet

Sunday: 

Got back from New Ulm and caught up on some laundry and plopped myself in front of the TV to watch the Oscars.  I actually watched the whole thing, which I don't know if I have done.  I just felt like I had so much vested interest in this year since I had seen many of the movies that were nominated.  As predicted and expected, Slumdog Millionaire won for Best Picture.  Kate Winslet, my choice, won Best Actress and Sean Penn won for Best Actor.  Hugh Jackman hosted the awards and I thought he did a really good job!  

A Nerd or Just Keeping My Word?

As you may recall, a couple of weeks ago I said that I have had a goal every year to see each of the movies that are nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.  Well this year, I succeeded and completed this goal.  When I made the goal only weeks ago, I thought I had until at least the 3rd week of March to complete this as I thought the Academy Awards were at that time.  I found out last week that they are on Sunday.  That didn't leave much time to cram in 4 movies since I had only seen one.  So what did I do this week?  I spent every single night (in addition to my other plans and activities) in a movie theatre trying to make good on my word and goal.  Here is how the week went:

Monday: Milk

Tuesday: Slumdog Millionaire

Wednesday: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Thursday: Frost/Nixon

I had seen The Reader already.  4 movies in as many days!  Actually, I saw a movie with my sister on Sunday so I guess that makes it 5.  I wouldn't recommend this to anyone as it is actually exhausting!  All of these movies were not playing at the same theatre so I ended up going to a total of 4 theatres in Oakdale, White Bear Township, Roseville and Edina to see these movies.  I went to 2 AMC theatres and found out that Monday-Thursday that all movies are $5. That's a great deal as it is normally in the $9-$10 range if you usually go at night.  Yay for AMC! And thanks to M for coming along with me for 2 of the movies.  

So what's my pick for Best Picture?  I could never decide!  They are all so different and enjoyed all of them for different reasons.  I found that the movies I looked most forward to were the ones I liked the least (even though they were all good) and the ones that I didn't want to see as much, I enjoyed much more that I thought.  I would say that I would WANT Frost/Nixon to win.  I would say that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button DESERVES to win.  I would like Kate Winslet to win best actress for The Reader and being that I saw 4 of the 5 movies that the actors are in that are nominated for best actor, I just cannot choose.  And lastly, I FEEL that because of all the hype and buzz, Slumdog Millionaire will win best picture.  I guess we'll see on Sunday.  

Happy Birthday, Cherrie and Grandma

Yesterday would have been Cherrie's 50th birthday.  If you don't know, Michael's sister, Cherrie passed away in August 2008.  We all went to the cemetery in White Bear Lake to celebrate her birthday with her. Michael read aloud a poem that he wrote and we released 50 balloons, mostly purple, which was Cherrie's favorite color.  Yesterday was so cold and extremely windy so when we let the balloons go, some of the flew right off into the tree.  We then went to eat at Donatelli's. It wasn't a sad moment for me but a happy one to celebrate Cherrie's life.  My grandma passed away less than a month before Cherrie and her birthday would have been today and she would be turning 96! Happy Birthday Cherrie and Grandma.  We love and miss you.

Michael reading the poem he wrote

Chad up in the tree trying to get the balloons out

Flame

I went out with my friend Heather on Tuesday night to a restaurant called Flame in Rosedale mall. Neither of us had been there before.  We had plans to go here together back in January the week we had all that black ice and we just finally was able to reschedule.  We each got a martini called the Orange Blossom.  It was anything but orange.  It was green...and bubbling...and smoking when it came to the table.  They put dry ice in it and Heather asked if it was safe to drink and the server said just not to drink it fast.  Thanks for the warning!  I had the 8 hour pot roast for dinner and it was just ok.  I had a good time and it was fun to see Heather again.

 

Check out the bathroom sink.  It's all loose rocks.

Weekend Recap Valentine's Weekend

Friday:

 

M and I went to a restaurant for our romantic Valentine’s dinner that neither of us had ever been to before.  We went to North Coast in Wayzata.  It’s located on the northern part of Lake Minnetonka in Wayzata Bay right on the water.  Our reservations were at 7:30 pm and since it is on the other side of the cities from where we live, we headed out a little early to venture on our 27 mile journey during Friday rush hour traffic.  I do not know that side of the cities at all and I don’t even think I had ever even been in Wayzata before.  It’s a good thing we left early because we got lost.  I forgot my GPS at home but I did print out a map with directions from Google Maps.  The directions were not very clear once you got into Wayzata.  That said, we didn’t make a turn we were supposed to and ended up on a windy, twisty-turny, curvy road that went through the lake.  And the houses on this road!  Granted it was dark, but these were the biggest houses I’d seen in MN.  There’s plenty of mansions on the Minneapolis chain of lakes but these seemed even bigger.  We finally arrived at the restaurant about 10 minutes early.  I had made these reservations weeks ago and requested a booth.  Well, they didn’t have a booth for us when we got there and asked if a table by the windows would do.  We said yes but thought it was a little poor that despite making reservations and a having a specific request of a booth, they couldn’t accommodate that without us having to wait for a booth to open up.  We were sat at a nice table at the big window, which would have been perfect to see the water and landscape, had it been light out or if it was summer.  No one came to our table for about 5 minutes and then our server and her trainee came to greet us.  The trainee was a very nice guy but c’mon, training on Valentine’s weekend?   We weren’t quite ready for our drink order yet so they left us to look at the menu.  In the meantime, we realized we were sitting next to the table from hell.  There were 2 couples, of which 3 of the 4 were quiet.  The one lady was LOUD and apparently everything was funny because she kept laughing and laughing louder each time.  My back was turned towards the group, however M said that it looked like her husband was embarrassed at the fact of how loud she was.  They didn’t leave until shortly before we were done with our dinner.   The servers came back and took our drink order.  I ordered a Cherry Berrytini and M ordered a Butterscotch Truffletini, which was M’s first martini order ever, I think.  The drinks came and mine tasted like cherry cough syrup.  I gave it to M to drink and didn’t even taste his because I knew I would like it better than mine.   We ordered our food and it came pretty quickly.   I had the petite filet (6 oz) and it was a blood bath on a plate.  I normally order it medium well but because it was such a small piece of meat, I ordered it medium.  It was actually medium rare.  I still ate it even though I don’t prefer it that way and I don’t usually complain at restaurants.  (I wait until after the fact and bitch about it to all of you guys)  M’s steak was not quite the way he likes it either, but whatever.  The side dishes were a la carte and because M and I can never decide on a side dish together, which are often times bigger and feeds more than 1 person, we got two.  I got mashed potatoes and he got rosemary roasted red potatoes.  We finished our meal and while we did share both potatoes, there were more red potatoes left and I wanted to take them home.  (Hey, they were $8 and I like leftovers)  When the sniffling, snorting, snotty nosed, high school kid was cleaning off our table, he started to take away the potatoes and I told him that I would like a box for them.  He gave me a horrendous look, like, are you serious?  and actually snickered at me.  That pissed me off and made me feel embarrassed.  Maybe he didn’t have a cold, maybe he is just a stuck up little high school kid with a coke problem.  We finished off with mini crème brulee and something else that was supposed to be chocolate cake and as you can see below, it’s not cake.  The bill came and it was $120.  Would you have paid that much for this type of experience?  M and I go out to a fancy restaurant 1-2 times a year and pay this much but I cannot say I have experienced this before.  We have spent that much money at Kincaid’s numerous times but have never had a problem there and have always walked out satisfied and don’t mind doing so if everything is great.  I have a fairy tale mind so I am sure my expectations were high because it’s V-Day weekend and I wanted everything to be perfect but it was far from it.  We went home and because we were both so tired, just went to bed.

Saturday:

Valentine’s Day! We woke up really early, considering that we went to bed earlier than we normally do than on a work night. M left to visit his friend and that’s when I started working. My goal: Make my own chocolate for M. I bought the materials at Joann’s a week earlier and I was nervous about doing this because I always have good intentions when it comes to some craft but I they don’t always turn out like I would like them to. The chocolate was a success! I made both dark and white chocolate, which is the red chocolate below. Not only did I think it looked good, it tasted good too. I wrapped a couple of gifts I got M and finished the book I started last week while I was waiting for him to come home. Here are my pictures below.

M came home and loved the chocolate. He ended up giving me a huge heart filled with chocolates and heart peanut butter cups so we have lots of chocolate around the house. We took a nap to prepare us for the rest of our night.

For the last 3 years, M and I have gone to the same place for Valentine’s Day. White Castle! If you don’t know, White Castle is M’s favorite food on earth. 3 years ago, I thought I would be the good girlfriend and make reservations at White Castle (yes, you have to make reservations and they fill up quickly!) and surprise him. He was surprised and LOVED it so we’ve been doing it every year now and will continue to do so in the future. We went to the Lexington/University White Castle because our first choice of location was already booked. Michael goes to this location on his lunch break from work sometimes and he has a favorite employee there. We were seated at 7:45 in a candlelit White Castle with people in dresses, suits and even a tuxedo. You have a server and they give you a menu and they bring out the food to you and they take your picture at the end of the night. I just looked and we’re not on their website yet but we’re on there from last year. Just look under Minneapolis and the Lake and 36^thStreet location and you’ll find us on the first page. (I think the casino bus in the background is a perfect touch, don’t you?) We gave our young high school server a $10 tip (on a $13 bill) and she was extremely excited and went right to her manager to show her. M’s favorite worker was behind the counter. He’s is a short African American guy who’s missing teeth, has a high voice and appears to be mentally challenged of some sort. He recognized M before he could even say hi and then he gave me his tiara he was wearing. I asked him if he was sure he didn’t want it but he said, “I’m over it already”. For $13, I enjoyed myself more than I did the night before. Valentine’s Day, or any day for that matter, has nothing to do with money.

Our heart shaped chicken ring!

After White Castle, we ventured to Famous Dave’s in Calhoun Square to meet Tanya and Chris and to see Big John Dickerson. While the band has been around for 40 years, Chris’s friend, Jamela has been in the band for 3 years. I’ve heard about her since early 2000’s from Chris, talked to her on the phone and even had her at my apartment in Uptown (but I wasn’t there) but we had never met. Finally I got to meet her and wow, does she have a great voice. If she were on American Idol, she would be going through to Hollywood in a heartbeat. The place was packed and the band was awesome. My honeybear even asked me to dance to Louis Armstrong’s, “Wonderful World”, which was perfect. It was a lot of fun to hang with Tanya and Chris as always. Did you know that Chris is my ex boyfriend? We met in January 1995 and were together for almost 5 years. He’s one of my best friends and it’s great to know that Tanya and Michael are ok with us being ex’s and it’s not awkward in the slightest. M and I are even in their wedding in October! Here’s lots of pictures from the night.

I love him!

Our $1.50 heart shaped brownie

Big John Dickerson

M and I with Jamela

Sunday:

I went out to eat with my sister for lunch, bummed around Fleet Farm waiting for a movie to start (bought a new book for me and some pecans for M) and then went to see He’s Just Not that Into You. Is Fleet Farm the weirdest store you have ever been to? I think they have everything there. If I wanted shampoo, a leather motorcycle vest, some bird seed, Spanish peanuts, a crock pot, a Christmas tree, farm equipment and a shotgun, I could purchase them under the roof of Fleet Farm. Back to the movie…my sister wasn’t too excited to see it at first but she really enjoyed it and so did I. There were many stars in this movie and one that I could have done without was Ben Affleck. Does anyone like that guy?

I know this was very long but I hope you enjoyed it and hope you had a great weekend!

Dana after Dentist

I went to the dentist Wednesday after work. Because of insurance reasons and not wanting to spend any money out of my own pocket and go to the dentist that I want to go to instead of insurance telling me of the dentists THEY want me to go to, I hadn’t been to the dentist since October 2007 just before I got laid off from my job. (What a run-on sentence!) They took x-rays and while I already knew that I have 1 impacted wisdom tooth (no, I’ve never had them removed), I also found out that I only have 3 wisdom teeth. The dentist said that some people do not get all of them and some get none at all. Besides the impacted one, which does not bother me in the slightest, the other 2 are only barely there.
Remember one of my New Year’s resolutions? It was to start flossing my teeth and get to the point where my gums don’t bleed after every time I do it as it was very infrequent. I floss almost every day now and it has become a habit. This is how the conversation went while I was there:

Dental Hygienist, Angela: Your gums look good. You must floss.

Dana: As of January 1st, yes, I do. That was one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Angela: That’s a weird resolution.

Ok, so the conversation didn’t go over as well as my flossing and the results of the flossing.

BTW, my gums do not bleed anymore when flossed. And I had no cavities! Woot! Woot! Time for some sugar!

And here’s my perfect segway to talk about David after Dentist. Did you watch the video? Isn’t it hilarious? It’s been talked about everywhere. The video went from 19,000 views to 1 million views in 1 day. Now it’s approaching 9 million views. And of course all the spoofs of the actual video are just as hilarious, including the audio from Christian Bale’s freak out on the set of a movie intertwined with David after Dentist. Go to YouTube and take a peek.

Have a good Valentine's Weekend!

Thoughts for Thursday-Valentine's Day

With Valentine's Day this coming Saturday, I thought it would make a good TFT topic.  I have always liked Valentine's Day.   When I was a kid,  I loved decorating my shoe box with tissue paper, stickers, glitter and cutting out hearts out of paper doilies and bringing it to school as a sort of mailbox for all the other kids to drop Valentine's cards and candy into it.  

Fast forward as an adult and I still like the "holiday".  I like to go out to dinner or have a nice dinner at home with M and celebrate each other but I never expect gifts, even though I usually get something, and M has been more than generous throughout the years.  We will be going out to dinner this weekend at a place we have made our tradition.  I know M goes along with the whole Valentine's thing for me because I do like it but with our latest tradition, I think he enjoys Valentine's Day more now than ever because we do something he really loves.  I'll blog more on that after the weekend. 

Despite the fact that I like V-Day, I believe it is all hype and I feel it's gotten worse in the recent years.  I feel like society makes the guys feel like losers if they don't buy their significant other jewelry or flowers or candy.  People say that V-Day is silly and that you should appreciate your significant other every day, not just that day.  I agree, but not everyone does  and it's nice to have a reminder.  It is nice to have a day dedicated to relationships, of any kind, whether it's a dating relationship, marriage or just friends.  

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?  Have you always felt that way?  Has anything significant ever happened to you on V-Day?  How do you normally celebrate?  Do you have plans for this Valentine's weekend?

I'll post other TFT blogs as they get posted.  

3 Girls, a Guy and Lots of Sushi

Last night I went out to dinner with Kristi, Erick and Ang for sushi at Akita in Woodbury.  Ang is a friend of Kristi and we have followed each other's blogs for quite some time and I finally got to meet her.  All 3 of us had been trying to plan a dinner date for a while now and we finally made it work last night in celebration of Kristi's birthday, which is today.  Happy Birthday, Kristi! Meeting Ang was so easy as I felt like I already knew her from reading her blog.  It was nice to meet you, Ang!

We each had all-you-can-eat sushi at Akita.  I like sushi but I haven't branched off and tried much more than I normally get but I did just that last night.   I had edamame, sashimi, sushi, maki rolls, as well as a fried scallop and beef teriyaki.  For the sashimi, I had salmon and tuna.  For the sushi, I had Unagi, AKA eel.  I was nervous about this one but wanted to try something different. As for the maki, I had spicy tuna, dragon rolls, salmon and I also had one of Ang's philly rolls.  All of it was very good.  Oh, and I even tried Sake too!

  

Kristi will also be doing a review of the restaurant at some point on her other blog, Twin Cities Restaurant Blog. Visit her blog to see what restaurants she has reviewed.  And if you'd like to subscribe, you can do so by entering your email address on the site or subscribing in a reader. Show her site some love. She does this on her own and for free so check it out! 

Beautiful!

Notice the chopsticks bunny ears Erick is giving Kristi

My Unagi (eel)

Before the Unagi

And during...hey, it was a really big piece! (And yes, it was good!)

Ang's Sushi--pretty, huh?

Me, Kristi, Ang

Weekend Recap February 6-8

Friday:

Because I have been having problems with my camera and the battery not holding a charge, I spontaneously (one does not usually put spontaneous and Dana in the same sentence) purchased a new digital camera on my lunch break from work. Nothing fancy, just a decent point and shoot that I hope to get as much time out of it as I can. I bought it at Circuit City. As you know, they are going out of business and their employees lack of care shows. I went to the Edina store and none of the employees were wearing any sort of uniform so you couldn't identify them. They did not have any information listed for any of the products and they only had hand written price tags and they had heavy metal/hard rock blasting from the speakers. I finally was able to track down an employee and the girl next to me asked him why they don't have name tags or Circuit City shirts on and he simply said, "Because we don't care. We are losing our jobs and none of this matters to us." Nice! (I actually went into the Maplewood Circuit City store on Saturday and I found it to be completely professional still) Anyways, that's where I bought my new camera that was supposed to be 30% off. It's obvious that Circuit City raised their prices and then put a % off on each product. I still got a decent deal as the range of the camera I bought is $82-$200 online and I got it on the lower end of the spectrum.

Michael (from now on, I am calling Michael "M" on here. I don't know why but I hate typing his name out every single time) and I went to see the MN Wild on Friday night. This was only the 2nd Wild game I have ever been to since their inception. Hockey isn't my favorite sport but if you're going to watch it, it needs to be in person. Despite the Wild losing, I still had a lot of fun.

One of the first pictures I took with my camera.  Isn't Powder cute?

The teams during practice

Saturday:

M and I went out to breakfast to Pannekoeken (wow, I spelled that correctly the first time). I then went to Joann's and bummed around the store and then I went to a movie. I went and saw The Reader. I just finished reading this book and I really couldn't get into it and for me, it was one of those books that you can't wait to finish. I liked the first half of the book but I didn't care for the second half. I really liked the movie and the second half of the book that I didn't like was much more interesting on screen. This movie is one of the nominees for Best Picture in the upcoming Academy Awards. It is my goal to see all of the movies nominated for best picture. It's actually a goal of mine every year and I usually end up seeing 2-3 of them but I am going to see all 5 before the Oscars this time. Kate Winslet is also nominated for Best Actress for this movie. I have never disliked or particularly liked Kate Winslet as an actress but she deserves to be nominated for this movie.

In the evening, M and I went to Pepito's for dinner, one of our favorites. On our way home, I wanted to test out my new camera, so we went over to the Cathedral and Capitol and took some pictures. Not the best but it was dark and it's hard to take pictures in the dark with a point and shoot or without a tripod.

The Cathedral

The Capitol and the Cathedral in the background

The Capitol with its reflection on the top of the car

Downtown St. Paul--I LOVE this city!

Sunday:

M and I met my sister, BIL and their family at the VFW in South St. Paul. They just came from church and we were all there to celebrate my sister's new job by having the Commander's breakfast. My sister has been in the hotel industry since she was 16 and she has finally accepted her first General Manager position at a hotel in Stillwater. She has already worked at this hotel brand before and also has used the same computer system so she will hit the ground running at her new job. Congratulations, Jamie. You finally got what you wanted. This was the first time I had seen my sister since my birthday and she gave me an awesome purse, jewelry, shirt and candle holder. Love it all, Jame! For the rest of the day, I hung around the house, watched part of the Pro Bowl and then cleaned part of the house.

Keith and Hunter

Tom and Jamie

Hey, didn't M just have a beard?