Elsie's

October's Alpha Gang Happy Hour was held Wednesday, October 23rd at Elsie's in NE Minneapolis.  I had never been to Elsie's before.  I love the area its in and I quickly fell in love with the place.  It's a cute, little neighborhood bowling alley, bar and restaurant.

Everyone was with us this time except for Beth.  We drank strong drinks and tried a bunch of appetizers and sat and talked for longer than we normally do.  Catha is due mid-November so this was our last outing before she has the baby.

Our "pretend-pregnant" look and Catha's "I'm-pregnant-for-real" look.  Thanks to Aaron for taking the picture.

St. Paul Outing

I forgot to write about my night out with the Alpha Gang.  Before I brought Keith to the fair and the day before we went to the Vikings game, I met the majority of the gang at Chatterbox in St. Paul on Wednesday, August 28th.

The original plan was to meet at Tiffany and Aaron's house for a backyard get together but because it was well into the 90's, we decided to meet at an air-conditioned bar instead.

We went to Chatterbox once before with the gang but it was a different location and I had never been to the St. Paul location before.

Catha wasn't able to make it, as she had some sort of vertigo thing going on, something I'm experiencing as I write this.

Remember Lite Brite?

Alpha Gang

The Alphabet Gang meets all over the Twin Cities but rarely do we meet in the area of where I work.  Since Carrie and I work together (we've both worked together at the same 3 jobs in the last 11 years) and Aaron started working about a mile from where we work in Bloomington, we decided to have our happy hour at Cowboy Jack's just blocks from our work.

The whole gang was there except for the other D, Deanna.  Since finding a place to sit on the patio is a hot commodity, we put our names in for the patio and sat inside until then.  It was about an hour later before the patio was ready but at that point, Aaron and Tiffany were leaving so the remaining girls went to the patio. We didn't stay for too much longer, enough for another drink or two and called it a night.  The weather was so beautiful that night and it makes you appreciate the warm MN evenings you can be on the patio because there aren't too many of them we get during the year.

If you've never been to a Cowboy Jack's, they're extremely busy but have super great happy hour drink and food specials and their patios are incredible.

Friend Week

The week of May 27th was what I consider friend week.  Instead of writing about each encounter individually, I thought I'd combine them all in one.

May 27th was Memorial Day but the next day I was back at it at work.  For my lunch break, I met my friend Brenna for lunch at People's Organic in The Galleria.  I ran into her at the grocery store a couple of months ago but other than that, it's been a really long time since we saw each other.  It was so nice to catch up with her and see how's she's doing.  We both have fuzzy cat babies so we always talk about them. No pics this time.

The next day, I met Tanya for dinner at Dancing Ganesha. It's an Indian restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.  She had been there multiple times before but this was my first time.  I'd heard good things about it before.  We both had the Tikka Masala with chicken.  I never crave chicken and actually don't care for it much but I was in a chicken mood that night.  We also ordered the garlic naan.  The dinner was fabulous.  I loved what I ordered I can't wait to go back.  Fortunately, I already have a dinner date scheduled for there again at the end of the month.

The next day, Thursday the 30th, I met my friend Heather for lunch at The Good Earth in The Galleria. We both work in the area and we decided to get together for a quick lunch since I hadn't seen her since her in  a long time and to mix a little business with pleasure.  No lunchtime photos with Heather.  

That same evening, I had a happy hour scheduled for the Alphabet Gang.  The weather wasn't supposed to be good with an evening of rain.  We had planned on walking around one of the Minneapolis lakes but since the weather wasn't going to cooperate, we decided to go to Psycho Suzi's instead.  It was just four of us girls this time (Beth, Catha, Deanna and me) and we sat out on the patio.  When we were there, it got cloudy and it rained for just a quick moment and then the sunshine came out and it was hot and sunny.  I hadn't been to this location since they moved from across the street.  The patio was big and nice but the bugs were crazy!  The patio is right on the Mississippi River so I'm sure that's where they're coming from.  I didn't get any pictures of the girls.  I forgot.  Somehow I don't think they minded.  Some in the group aren't fond of getting their picture taken.  

Lastly, to round out the work week, M and I met my friend Justin for a quick beer at New Bohemia in NE Minneapolis.  Again, my first time being here but M's been here a handful of times.  It's a cute little place and not how I pictured it at all.  The community tables might take some getting used to, especially if it's busy.  

It was a really busy week catching up with friends but fun of course!  My busy schedule would continue through the weekend.  (Catching my breath)...until then.

Way too Long

The last Alphabet Gang get together was November 27th.  It was the first time I went out with any of my friends after my dad died.  After going out, I think I realized I still wasn't ready for social interaction.  Unfortunately, we haven't gotten together since then until Wednesday, May 1st.  We actually had plans the last week of April but due to crazy snow, we cancelled...just like we did back in February.  The forecast for May 1st was a lot of snow, like 3-6 inches in the Twin Cities but it never came.  Some flurries and a little rain but it stayed to the south.  Owatonna ended up getting 16 inches of snow!

We went to Ginger Hop in NE Mpls which was the original place we decided in February.  Two of our gang members were unable to meet so it was just five of us. We had great conversations catching up for the last months and months since we met and my friend Catha announced that she is pregnant.  She's had a horrible time with pregnancies, with this time being her 4th time being pregnant, however they only have one child.  This is their last time trying and all early indications look great.

Some of the girls had been to Ginger Hop before this was my first time there.  I'm the one that suggested the place as it's been on my radar for years.  They appeared to have good happy hour food specials but I ordered the pineapple fried rice with ahi tuna.  I loved the rice but I think it would have been just great without the tuna, even though I liked it.

It felt so good getting together with my pals after such a long intermission.  We have a May date set with a little bit different activity so let's hope there's no need for cancellations.

Our one and only pic

Alpha Gang HH

I hadn't met with the Alphabet Gang since before June.  The day we were scheduled to meet in June, my dad told me of his diagnosis.  I couldn't meet in September either due to benefit planning.  Aaron, Carrie, Catha and Tiffany all came to the benefit and each and every one of the gang came to my dad's memorial service.  I'm so thankful to have these guys as friends.

Tuesday, November 27th, we met at the original Green Mill location on Hamline and Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  This was my first time (besides Madonna with Tanya) that I hung out with any of my friends since my dad passed away.  While it might seem like I'm out and about, I'm not really and spend quite a bit of time at home.

Meeting with the group felt good but I felt a little withdrawn.  It didn't help that I showed up late because I couldn't get out of work so I felt a little out of sync with conversations and what had already been talked about.  I'm glad I got out though.

I've had some invitations from some of you friends and I've declined when I may have taken you up in the past.  Please don't take it personally.  I haven't read your blogs and commented and I probably haven't responded to your email or Facebook message.  I'm just slowly making my way back into my social schedule. I'm getting there and will be ready for all of that soon.  I know I've talked a lot about my dad and so many unfortunate events in life for the past couple of months and I'm sorry if my tone is negative or if I'm a Debbie Downer/Negative Nelly.  I don't mean for it to be but my dad's death is a life consuming thing for me right now.  

I didn't get any pictures of the group because I didn't make any effort to.  I did take a picture of the sign when I left though.

Alpha Together Again

It had been since January since the Alphabet Gang got together and even then, it wasn't the full group, just like this time.  We were missing our A, Aaron, because he wasn't feeling good, but sometimes you need to be with just the girls too and it was definitely fun catching up.

We met at Pepito's in South Minneapolis last Thursday.  This place has been a favorite of mine for years and due to diet changes, I do not frequent there often so it was nice to get my favorite menu item, Lupitas. 

I'm hoping we get a date scheduled for May and I hope it's warm enough for patio weather.

Deanna, Catha, Me, Carrie---Beth took the picture and she told me right away it wasn't a picture night for her!

We're Baaaaacccckkkk!

It's been awhile but the Alphabet Gang got together this past Tuesday after a hiatus since October.  Instead of meeting for dinner and drinks at restaurant or bar as usual, we got together at Tiffany and Aaron's house.  We lost our "B" for the night as Beth bailed on us but we gained another "C" and Carrie joined us.  We also gained an "E" as in Tiffany's last name starts with an E.  That brings out Alphabet Gang to single A, single B, double C's, double D's (!) and a single E.  Our goal is to find F-Z for 2012, in alphabetical order.

We hung out T&E's awesome basement bar which also had the computer command center.  We had some appetizers and drinks and we partied like it wasn't Tuesday at all.  I even decided to come over twice that night. I left the first time, got home and realized I left my phone there.  Good thing we only live 4 miles away from each other.  We had lots of fun as always and I can't wait for the next one.

Nerd Station

Testing the self timer and camera

All real laughs!

Aaron taking a picture with my phone as I come over for the 2nd time

Alphabet Happy Hour

I can't even remember how long it's been since the entire Alphabet Gang got together but that happened last Thursday evening.  We met at Crave in the Mall of America for dinner and drinks.  I had a stir fry over rice that wasn't very good. If you've been to Crave, you know how much it costs. Despite the cost, it was so great to see everyone together again under one roof.  Even though we ate indoors, it was nice enough to have had another HH on a patio somewhere as we had something like 7 days in a row of 80 degrees or more. We won't have many more of these days here in MN.

 I paid $19 for this:

I don't know if the plate looks large but it was not

A big boatload of sushi

Abbreviated Alphabet

It's been near impossible to try and get everyone in the Alphabet Gang together over the summer so instead we keep rescheduling to a later date only to have another cancel so finally we decided that majority rules and three of us were able to meet Wednesday, September 6th.  We met at La Grolla in St. Paul and it was nice enough to be able to enjoy ourselves on the patio.  It had been months since we last got together so the conversation was flowing (maybe some martinis and wine too) and it was fun just being with the girls.  I had a tomato based pasta with olive oil and Catha had lobster ravioli.  Our server told us about the specials which one was halibut and Deanna decided to go with that.  Maybe he could have told her about the price because when we got the bill it was over $110!  My dinner was $10 and the wine cost almost as much but we realized that Deanna's was $34 for the entree, $6 for a side salad and a cosmo later, it's $50!  I would not have been very happy if that was me as I debated on getting the halibut.  What part of $34 is the special?! 

Catha, Deanna, Me

Alphabet Gang HH

It had been so long since the Alphabet Gang gotten together before last Monday, since January actually.  Most of us met at the new Cowboy Jack's location in Bloomington but we were without Aaron this time. It was actually nice enough to sit out on the patio and enjoy the sun.  It was happy hour so check out this deal we got....there were four of us and we each had 2 drinks (you call it) and we each ordered an appetizer to share.  So 8 drinks and four appetizers and it was $34!  The apps were really good too. With happy hour prices and a huge patio, we'll definitely be going back there.  I can't believe I forgot to get a pic of us girls.  I did manage to take a couple of pics of the place though.

   

Barrio

I went out with most of the Alpha Gang last Thursday to Barrio in Lowertown in St. Paul. If you haven't been to Barrio, it's a tequila bar and they have 117 different kinds of tequila. This was our first happy hour of the new year with the gang.  I had three sangria's as well a spicy shrimp taco and a chicken and black bean tostada.  The shrimp taco wasn't spicy, nor was it very good.  At $4 a pop for a small corn tortilla, I could do without.  The tostada was very good though.

Aaron, Catha, Dana, Deanna, Tiffany--All in alphabetical order-didn't plan it that way