My Week of Friends

I was feeling a little needy in the friend department after not seeing any of my friends since the middle of January and with going on vacation until almost half way into February, I was ready to spend some time with mis amigos. During the last week of February, I went out three times with friends, which was much needed.

Tuesday, the 23rd:

I met Heather for dinner at the Tavern on France for build your own salads. We hadn't seen each other since the end of August. We sat there for hours just talking and catching up before heading out for the night. Thank you Heather for the fun belated birthday gift!

Thursday the 25th:

It was time for our monthly Alphabet Gang Happy Hour and this time it was at Matt's Bar in South Minneapolis. Matt's is known for their Juicy Lucy Cheeseburger. I had never been to Matt's prior to this day. It's definitely a "cozy" little place. The place was jam packed for burgers and drinks. I ate the burger but not in the traditional way they would anticipate you to since they give you a burger wrapped in paper, no plate. I ended up not eating the bun and just eating it with the plastic fork they gave me, which wasn't so easy. I thought the burger was good but nothing compares to The Nook in St. Paul for a Juicy Lucy. Ok, Blue Door comes close. It was good to see the gang, especially since all of us could make it. We haven't been a complete group since the summer. We had some good and interesting conversation and of course we have our date set for March's get together: the 22nd.

(The one thing I hate about my camera is that the flash is too bright! It was completely dark when this picture was taken and with the flash our faces are washed out.)

February 27th:

To complete the week, M and I went snow tubing with Tanya and Chris. This was part of M's birthday present and part of Tanya's birthday present from me. We picked a great day...sunny and just over 30 degrees. We got there just before 2 pm so we could get our tickets and pick out our tubes before our 2-4 pm session started. There were tons of kids there so after taking a "We're all in our thirties and have never or have not done this since I was younger so let's take it easy on our first run and go down the 'kids' hill to see what we're working with here" venture down the hill, we put some of our inhibitions behind us after one more run and walked over to the Big Hill to test that out. We spent the rest of our day over there. It was very fun and a little scary going down the very first time and also going down the hill the first time on your stomach. It was hard to take pictures with everyone going fast and not knowing who's who sliding down but I think we captured some good ones that showed our fun day. After tubing we went to Angus Meat Market and picked up some filet mignon and went back to our house for dinner. We had filets, steak potato fries (not me) and Tanya and I had salad. We just sat around for hours talking but realized around 9:30 pm that we were all super tired from our day out on the hill so we called it a night.

Chris coming down the little hill

Chris on his way up the scary tow rope

M showing off his 2 right-handed gloves he grabbed by accident. We are way on top of the hill but it's hard to get perspective of it. Look at the houses in the back and the little people down on the ground at the bottom of the hill.

Me taking pics from close to the bottom of the hill

Michael coming down

Chris coming down

And finally, Tanya