Halloween Party

My sister hosted a Halloween party for our immediate family on Saturday.  My sister and her family love Halloween so she encouraged everyone to dress up.  I am not a big fan of Halloween but to make my sister happy, I bought a long black wig with silver streaks in it on Friday on clearance for $4.17 and spent .97 cents on some white cream for my face and figured I'd wear a black dress I already own and put some makeup on my face.  It turns out my costume, especially my makeup, turned out great.  Here's the run down on the rest of the costumes:

Jamie: Elvira
Tom: Skeleton hoodie
Keith: Jason
Colton: Owl
Michael: Hockey mask
Mom: Gypsy Witch
Dad: Mental Patient

My dad looked awesome as a mental patient, which I suppose I could argue that it wasn't that big of a stretch for him.  Of course I'm kidding, Dad!  He had a hospital gown on with dark circles under his eyes and a messy wig and he kind of just wondered around with a blank face and his mouth open carrying his rubber chicken.

We had a potluck of party food, desserts and candies and played Catchphrase and Mad Gab throughout the night and had lots of fun.

I made Rice Krispie Mummies and white fudge that looked like Candy Corn.

Twenty years ago today, Minnesota experienced the infamous Halloween Blizzard of 1991, where 28.4 inches fell in the Twin Cities.  For those that don't get snow, 10 inches of snow equals 1 inch of rain.  Do you remember that day?  I was trick-or-treating as a 14 year old in my neighborhood with my sister and we were walking through snow that was easily past our knees as we went through the yards. 

Halloween Eve Giveaway

I've partnered up with Eversave again to offer you $25 in site rewards credit which would act just like cash to be used towards any of the Saves on Eversave whether it be in the Minneapolis market or any Save offer around the country in a different market.  Eversave also offers an Online Save where it's another daily deal in addition to one that may be offered in your market so what I'm saying is that you can use the $25 for any deal on their site, regardless of where you live!

It's easy to sign up for this giveaway and you'll get up to 3 chances to enter.  Leave separate comments for each choice you do below.

1. Be a follower of this blog through Google Friend Connect and tell me what your favorite Halloween memory is and your email address
2. Like Eversave on Facebook.  (If you already like them, go ahead and leave a comment!)
3. Follow Eversave on Twitter (If you already follow, leave a comment!)

You'll have until 10 pm on Sunday, November 6th to enter and I'll announce the winner on the following Monday.  Good luck and Happy Halloween! 

Halloween Weekend

Last night, M and I went to Punch Pizza for a little date and wound up back at home to watch the rest of game 7 of the World Series.  Not nearly as an exciting game as the night before, which I didn't watch but heard all about the next morning.  Last night was the first time I've watched baseball probably since I went to see the Twins live at Target Field which was early September.

I woke up super early this morning so I could start some food projects that I need for tonight and when I came downstairs, this is what I saw:

Bad Fuzzer!  I bought these different colors of grass-thingies yesterday and I haven't really done much with them yet and there he is up on a shelf chewing on them.  

We went out to breakfast with Greg and Anna this morning in Uptown to French Meadow Bakery and Cafe. I lived just 4 blocks from here for 3.5 years and despite wanting to go there, I never did because it was always so busy.  Today was no different.  We parked down the street and there was a line out the door when we got there.  Luckily, we got a place to sit in just a few minutes of waiting.  Mostly everything they serve is organic or vegetarian/vegan or fresh like the delicious freshly squeezed orange juice I had.  It was pretty good and I think we'll be back for breakfast or maybe a lunch or dinner.  M wanted coffee afterwards so we headed across the street so he could get his fix.  

I don't drink coffee but Greg's coffee looked so good

Lionel Ritchie says, "Hello?  Is it me you're looking for?"

We picked up M's motorcycle after having its brakes done and then I started working on making my famous (as proclaimed by myself) guacamole for tonight.  I have other little food projects yet to complete today but I'll discuss at a later date.  If you're going out tonight for Halloween to a party or a bar, have fun and stay safe and girls, don't dress too slutty.  Wait, it's Halloween, OF COURSE you're planning on dressing too slutty!  Never mind. 

La Mia Famiglia Italiana

Tonight my mom's side of the family met for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Yarusso's.  We met there last August and decided we would try and do this quarterly.  Since every three months would bring us to about Thanksgiving, we met early this time. I hadn't seen anyone besides my aunt Donna and my grandpa since Colton's birthday party on September 17th, including my sister and parents so it was definitely good to see everyone again.

LinkedIn Request

I had a spam invite request from an insurance agent/agency on LinkedIn and I had to share the picture of the staff with you that was on their profile page.  My favorite is the unhappy girl in the middle and the owner of the agency at the bottom.  Do you guys get spam invitations on LinkedIn from people you don't know?  Even though it doesn't happen very often, I'm annoyed by it.  If you have a LinkedIn profile, do you use it?

Vikings vs. Packers

I knew Sunday was the day that the Vikings played the Packers because why?  It always rains on that day, literally and figuratively for the past couple of times.  It was a late game, 3:15 pm, so that always throws off our tailgating schedule.  I prepared and marinated some veggie goodness for kabobs the night before and M got his meatball marinara sandwich with provolone and bacon all ready for grilling but before we left, there was one big problem.  We could not find the heat regulator/thingamajig for the grill, therefore we were SOL.  Then we remembered we had a small gas grill that we dusted off and brought that instead.  So not ideal but it definitely worked in a pinch and our food turned out pretty good, except for M's charred bacon.

There were of course lots of Packers fans tailgating which always makes me a little queasy when I see that much green but everyone was nice to each other in the lot. It was just M and I tailgating and we spent more time in the car than we wanted to as it was raining pretty good for about 30 minutes and we didn't want to get wet.

It was Christian Ponder's first start in the NFL and more importantly his first start for the Vikings.  McNabb doesn't bother me as a person but it was refreshing to have a new start in this already awful season and we're all ready to see what Ponder can do.  First, the Vikings lost and that should be no surprise for so many reasons but we hung in there....way more than I thought we would or could.  The final score was 33-27 so despite the loss, there was no complaining or blaming Ponder for anything but I do wish we would have gone for it on 4th down in the last 4-6 minutes of the game as that was our last chance to win.

Target was having a promotion during the game and they picked a section and row in the entire metrodome to give gift cards to.  The section they chose was our section but the row was 4 down from us.  Each person in the row received a $250 gift card to Target!  That would have been nice!

During halftime, Chris Doleman was inducted into the Vikings Ring of Honor.

Look at that technology!

Casual Friday and Saturday

Friday: 

Lately we've been watching movies on Friday nights.  I'm loving that the hectic schedule of the summer and the overflow of that into September is done and we can relax and take it easy.  We watched the King's Speech. We're about 6 months overdue from the time it was released so I'm glad we finally had a chance to watch it.  I liked it and Colin Firth deserved his Oscar for Best Actor.  I also thought Geoffrey Rush was fantastic.  Have you guys seen it?  Did you like it?

Saturday:

I love the fall days where the sun is shining and it's warm for fall standards and there is nothing planned which means you can do whatever you want to enjoy the day. 

We ate breakfast at Pizza Luce:

We went to Cherokee Park in St. Paul where we found the bench and plaques that were dedicated to Eyedea.  There was a celebration of his life, music and the unveiling of two plaques and a bench last Sunday which marked the one year anniversary of his death.

We went home and watched some of the Gophers football game and decided we had had enough so we walked to the park to shoot some hoops.

And we relaxed and ended the evening with a movie called Cedar Rapids which I thought was pretty funny and Saturday Night Live, a rerun, but we had never seen it so it didn't matter to us.  In the words/lyrics of Ice Cube,  ♪ I got to say today was a good day. ♫

Eversave Deal- Target and Restaurant.com

Eversave is offering a great deal right now.  For $25, you get a $25 gift card to Target and a $50 e-gift card to Restaurant.com!   This is a great save because you can take advantage of this deal no matter where you live in the country. This save ends on Monday evening and you can buy up to three of them.  Christmas is just around the corner. Happy shopping!

Click on the picture below or link to be directed to the site.


http://www.sharethesave.com/myeverydaylife/online/target-and-restaurant-com

Target and Restaurant.com Today's Save:$25 for both a Target gift card and a Restaurant.com e-gift card Expires 11:59 PM - Oct 24, 2011

Hot Dogs and Hangovers

Last Saturday M and I went to Sean and Beth's house for the 2nd annual Hot Dogs and Hangovers party.  Each person was to bring something for the potluck and they provided hot dogs in addition to a bar that you could buy shots from.  They also had a raffle where you could buy tickets for some of their prizes which included a 50/50 raffle.  Both M and I bought tickets and when it came time for drawing, I won two times in a row.  I won a stuffed Harley Davidson pig (hog) and a home security system that has two cameras and a surveillance monitor!  The person who won the 50/50 raffle ended up winning $108.  They also had a jar full of candy that you could guess how many pieces were in there.  M ended up winning that contest (he guessed 182 and there were 207 pieces) so we were big winners by the end of the night. There were lots of people there including a good chunk of people from the Cherry Ride and Tailgate Party and some of M's cousins.  We mostly hung out in the garage but there was also a nice fire in their yard.  We ended up staying later than most people, leaving at almost 2 am.  I can't remember the last time I stayed out that late, or up for that matter.  Thank you Sean and Beth for a good time!

Check out the hot dog cake!  It was pretty big as you can tell by the box of crackers next to it.

Caramel Goodness

M went to Marine on the St. Croix to visit our favorite chocolate place, St. Croix Chocolate Co. for their annual Caramelpalooza.  While M sampled different caramels and looked at llamas, another guest was there to give me a message.  Check out the video below.  :)

My own caramelvis--M did bring me home the scarf from Elvis. :)

October Birchbox

I received my October Birchbox in the mail last week.  While I really like one of the products, the tinted primer, I'm thinking I might be done with this whole monthly thing because it no longer feels worth it for $10 each month, especially when you get shampoo and conditioner sample packets. I'll evaluate after the December box but what girl doesn't love getting beauty product surprises in the mail?

Dinner and Hospital

Last Wednesday both M and I met my Grandpa and my aunt Donna at the Lake Elmo Inn for dinner.  It was a rainy, chilly October evening.  We had never been there before but I've always heard good things about their brunch.  I didn't expect it to be as small and quaint as it was.  One the inside, there are thousands of salt and pepper shakers everywhere in cases.  We all ordered something different; Walleye, Prawns and Pasta, Filet Mignon and Vegetable Pasta.  Before you eat, they give you a lemon sorbet to cleanse your palate and after dinner, they bring hot wash cloths and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.  Even the leftovers are wrapped intricately in aluminum foil.  My grandpa's looked like an Easter basket and Donna's was in the shape of a swan.  We all enjoyed our food however the service was extremely slow for Wednesday night.  It took over 2 hours from start to finish and our server was not very attentive to our needs.  

After dinner, we went Woodwinds hospital in Woodbury where M's dad was staying overnight as he had surgery on his foot.  I think I mentioned a different post that he had shattered his heel recently.  We only had about 15 minutes to visit him since visiting hours were until 9 pm but he was very happy to see us as we were his last visitors of the night and two of his other kids had been there earlier in the evening.  He looked so cute lying in his bed and his hair all messy and the surgery earlier in the day went better than expected. 

Nothing to Share but Veggies

I'll admit, this is a probably one of the dumbest posts I've ever done but because I loved the picture, I get to share it with you.  I went to lunch with my friends Kristen and Carrie last Tuesday at the Mall of America and I had to take a picture of the salad I created from the salad bar.  It's just too pretty and colorful and heaping not to have shared.  If you can appreciate and love veggies, maybe it looks as enticing and yummy to you as it was to me.  That's it!

Vikings vs. Cardinals

Instead of tailgating in our usual spot this past Sunday, M and I decided to park at a meter and walk through the rest of the tailgate parking lots and see what's going on.  We do this usually once a year and while we both love our tailgating parking lot and spot mostly due to how close it is the dome, we are missing some really hardcore fans in the other lots.  This post is basically just pictures of some of the fun Vikings stuff we saw while walking through the lots.  We did meet up with some of our friends and spent some time with them. We discovered years ago that a guy that I graduated with in White Bear Lake and a guy that M graduated with in Roseville were friends with each other and have season tickets together.  Oh, and I suppose I should talk about the game.  It was week 5 and the Vikings not only got their first win at home, it was their first win of the season.  Granted it was against the Cardinals but the final score was 34-10.  Adrian Peterson had a great day with 122 yards and 3 TD's which made him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.  

Check out this blender!

I had to take a picture of the cops checking out the motor of a scooter

Some random who wanted to pose with the meat

M with his HS friend Todd

Me with my HS friend Chris

On the plaza

The frisbee dogs at halftime.  It's our favorite halftime show.