Benefit for Charlotte

Last Saturday M and I went to a benefit for a little girl named Charlotte.  She's had a rough first 5 months of her life and what sounds like still a long road ahead.  Charlotte is the daughter of one of my good friends of the past and they had a benefit for her in Maplewood which included silent auctions as well as a lineup of bands as entertainment.  The headlining band was Skywind, a band made up of all people I am friends with and most I went to high school with and some I've known for as long as 28 years.  They are no longer a band but got back together for this night as the singer of the band is also Charlotte's father.  I knew the benefit would be successful and it really turned into a high school reunion.  It was a complete blast from the past seeing a lot of people I hadn't seen since high school which already is over 16 years ago.  I had tons of fun talking with a lot of these people again and reconnecting with a few people in the band.  I also was able to see fellow blogger friend Ang and her boyfriend, which was fun.  I wish I took more pictures but I felt stupid wanting to take pictures of everyone.  Fortunately, Ang got a picture of us with Kristi.

If you're interested in following Charlotte's journey, check out her Caring Bridge page.

Kristi, Ang, Me

Target Field: Twins vs. Mariners

Tuesday, September 20th was my last Twins game of the year.  My friend Chris had great seats behind home plate so I tagged along and was pretend wife and pretend mommy to Asher while his real wifey Tanya was at work.  I've been to Target Field more than 20 times and I've never had as good of seats as I had on Tuesday but despite the good seats, the fun of being at Target Field diminishes when the Twins are so bad.  Of course they lost 5-4 and when this post is published, the Twins will have 99 or 100 loses for the year!

A lady next to me asked how old my son was and I quickly said, "Oh, he's not mine" and just smiled.  I think it caught her a little off guard and she told me that Asher was staring intently into my eyes. He was a very good baby at the game.  He didn't really cry and he started to get a little crabby when we left because it was almost feeding time.  Thanks Chris for the great seats and decent company!  Ha ha. :)

It was Star Wars night or nerd night or....something

What a cute little family we are!

Yay Twins!

I'm pretending I'm maternal

    

Vikings vs. Buccaneers

We've already had two home games but I'm only as far as writing about the first one.  Sunday, September 18th was the home opener for the Minnesota Vikings.  For tailgating in MN, you hope you get at least five warm and sunny games and five or less cold games.  It was neither sunny nor warm but cloudy and rainy.  What did make my day shine was that for some reason we didn't have to pay the $50 parking lot fee and when I say for some reason, I mean that they didn't come over to our car and collect our money and I didn't make any effort to correct the mistake and bring the $50 over to them.  1- Dana 0- Parking Lot Attendant

We did have a few people tailgate with us.  M's friend Tracy and his sons Noah and Hunter came with us.  M describes them as "Woods People" and introduces others them as that and they are totally ok with it.  They live in Markville, MN which is roughly six miles from Danbury, WI.  They don't make it to the cities very often and definitely not to Minneapolis so they were having a lot of fun and it didn't matter if it was raining or not.  I also had one of my former coworker's come and meet up with us for a bit also.

The game itself started great, as we have all learned that every Vikings game this does but it soon turns very bad.  To sum up the game, we lead all the way up until the 4th quarter and then blew it.  Adrian Peterson's 120 yards and two touchdowns were not enough to win.  Vikings lose 24-20.

Happy Birthday Colton

Thursday, September 15th was my nephew Colton's very first birthday.  My sister had a party for him the following Saturday.  The party was to be outside starting at 3 pm but the weather was cloudy, cool and windy but shortly before the party started, the sun started to come out and it warmed up a bit.  It was still chilly as I don't think it got much warmer than 60 degrees.

It was a puppy/dog-themed party so there was a hot dog bar, cabbage salad and nachos as well as cupcakes that looked like puppy paws.  Colton got his own cake to dig into that was shaped like a puppy.  On each of the tables there were even dog bowls full of Chex Mix. (puppy chow)

There were about 20 people there and Colton received a lot of very cute items.  I bought him a  turtle Vtech toy, an Eric Carle book as well as several articles of clothing but my favorite was an adorable puffer vest.  Of course it's small and it was just so cute on him!

The card I made Colton

The little puffer vest

Happy Birthday dear Colton! Your auntie loves you so much! 

3 months

6 months

Mother's Day

9 months 

1 year

Lindsey Buckingham

M and I went to see Lindsey Buckingham at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis on Friday, September 16th.  For those that don't know him by name, he is also the lead male singer of Fleetwood Mac and guitarist.  I surprised M with tickets only a few days before the show as I know he really wanted to go to this show as did I.  When we were in San Francisco in 2006, we almost went to see him but just didn't have the time.

Lindsey as a solo artist is eclectic.  I don't know how to describe him and his music than maybe as Experimental.  He is a guitar virtuoso and still has a great voice despite being almost 62 years old.  He played both his solo music as well as a handful of Fleetwood Mac songs. We had fifth row, center (7th row if you count the pit) so the experience and show seemed to be catered to our seats.  The show was great and I can't wait until Fleetwood Mac tours again, which is rumored to be next year.

September Birchbox

My September Birchbox came later than normal this month but here are my goodies which are supposed to be catered to me based on my beauty profile.  I think they did a pretty good job!

Foodz at Pinz

Wednesday, September 14th was the day that M and I went out to dinner with my grandpa.  We went to Pinz, a bowling alley/arcade and ate Harvey's inside there.  The food was just ok which all of us agreed.  My grandpa had me laughing so hard that night.  He is so funny and for being 76 years old, he is so witty and can have the perfect comeback just like that.  I love Wednesdays with my grandpa...and M too!

Ladybug Picnic

I've never been on a picnic with Michael.  I've always wanted to.  I've bugged him to take me on a picnic for YEARS.  I finally took control and planned my own picnic.

Do you remember this song from Sesame Street?  I still sing this song to this day.

On Monday, September 12th, M and I went on a picnic. I told M that I was taking care of dinner that night and that we'd have to leave the house by 5:15 pm.  The reason for leaving at that time was that I wanted to get to his favorite deli/meat market before they closed at 6 pm.  We arrived at Big Steer Meats and ordered a couple of sandwiches, chips, potato salad and drinks and headed to Mounds Park  (read about it) on the bluffs of the Mississippi River.  This is one of M's favorite places to go and I thought it would be perfect to hang out, eat, enjoy the very windy 90 degree day and look at the St. Paul and Minneapolis skyline at the same time.  Everything about our picnic was so perfect, except maybe the few ants that made their way to our blanket.  Picnics are not overrated!  M, it's your turn next time to plan one. 

I love you M.W.S!

A barge making it's way down the Mississippi

Do you see the Mpls skyline too?

It was so windy that our blanket was like a kite