FRI HH

One thing that the Alphabet Gang has never done is have a happy hour on a Friday night, until February 7th. We met at Mac's Industrial in Northeast Minneapolis after work. One of our members got lost and didn't make it and one of our members completely forgot so she had to venture out from home. We got to meet the newest addition to Catha's family, Dahlia, who was just about 10 weeks at the time, skinny and long. Despite being a Friday night, I think we all enjoy our weekend time and we only met for as long as we normally would on a week night. A few in this group don't like getting their pictures taken so it can be a chore getting one of these guys but somehow we get all of us in there for an "ussie".

 

 

 

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Blurry HH

I met several current and former coworkers (and friends!) for happy hour at Cowboy Jack's in Bloomington on Thursday, January 23rd. You spend so much time with your coworkers as a whole so I always appreciate getting out and hang out with them on a casual and friendly basis as well, which doesn't happen often. We had a couple of drinks, some appetizers and some fun conversations before calling it a night.

 

This is what happens when you hand your phone off to someone else to take a picture. Blurry!

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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.

Rojo

Rojo.  It doesn't just mean red in Spanish.  It also is a bar/restaurant in St. Louis Park's West End.

I went to happy hour there on Wednesday, March 6th.  I was the cougar of the group while I hung out with my younger friends Eric, Michael and Justin. I had never been to Rojo before but they all live in St. Louis Park so it was a convenient place for them.

I had a couple of sangria's while I was there, one white and one red.  We also ordered a couple appetizers, a vegetarian quesadilla and grilled corn.  The grilled corn was fabulous but I was a little reluctant to eat it.  No girl likes eating corn on the cob in public and especially with guys at the table.  It can be just too messy.

I would definitely go back to this place for dinner.  There's a Rojo that will be opening soon in Southdale right by my work so I'm sure I'll check it out again.

Holiday Time Off

Friday, December 21st was my last working day until Wednesday, January 2nd.  I tried the whole staycation thing last July and it didn't go so well due to timing so I thought I'd try it again.  While I liked my time off and am still enjoying it, I'm not sure I'm cut out for it.  I like a day off here and there but I think extended time off will be used to actually go on a vacation.

So what I have I done?

Wednesday the 26th:

I woke up at 6:30 am and laid in bed for 4 1/2 hours before I actually got out of it.  I wish I would have been sleeping during that time but relaxing worked too.  I got up and hit the 11:50 am showing of Silver Linings Playbook.  It had good reviews and I don't regret seeing it but I'm not sure it's as good as I read it was.

Afterwards, I went shopping.  Those gift cards from Christmas were burning a hole in my pocket.  I started at Kohl's where I bought two pairs of earrings.  The top pair of earrings in the picture were a pair I was admiring from one of the ads and I couldn't stop thinking about them.

Next I went to Forever 21 where I bought some more jewelry.  

Finally, I went to Marshall's and bought a banana holder, some measuring spoons, an organizer for spices and some decorative balls to put inside a bowl I already had.

Thursday the 27th:

I met my friend Justin on a snowy night on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis at The News Room for a glass of wine and some appetizers.  We had margarita flatbread, tres hummus and the best smoke cauliflower with curry aioli and tart cherries.  So.Good.  

Friday the 28th:

I went to my uncle's house in Wisconsin.  He was going to replace my brakes in my car, which I bought exactly 10 years ago this day. I bought a bunch of parts and got there about 12:30 pm since I had to wait to pick up some parts as they were ordered and wouldn't be ready until 11:45 pm.  We had a quick lunch and then he started to work on my brakes.  There were more parts that were needed and none of the Wisconsin stores had them so we had to order them from MN and then drive back over at 4:30 pm.  Long story short, my brakes didn't get done that night.  I did get to spend some time with their fuzzy babies; Rosey, Mosely and Bobbi.

My uncle let me take his car overnight. I drove directly from his house to Plymouth, MN to a visitation.  One of my good friend's dad passed away on Christmas.  There are many similarities to our families, dads, cancer, age of death, even some the words written in each of the programs of the visitation/memorial service are the same. RIP, Marty.

Saturday the 29th:

My uncle Ken finished my brakes in the morning and I went over there to pick it up early afternoon.  He's by far the handiest guy I know and he said it was the worst brake job he's ever done.  My dad has said the same thing in the past and didn't even get as deep as Ken did.  My type of car has been known for bad brake systems.  Now that everything is fixed and all good with three new rotors, pads and a couple of new calipers, I feel like I might just hang onto this car for another year or two.

While on my way home, I had to stop for some New Glarus beer for a friend as we can't get it in Minnesota and found these at the store.  Are these in MN too?  I had to get them to try them.  They taste very similar to Cool Ranch.  Has anyone had them?  Just wondering if they are some funky Wisconsin thang.

On my way back and forth and back and forth from MN to WI, I saw many turkeys, including a dead one.  I never get sick of seeing these goofy birds.

I spent the majority of the rest of the day cleaning my computer room and purging all things old and unwanted.  I made very good headway today and will continue tomorrow and/or Monday with hopes of completion on or before New Year's Day.

I finished the night watching Moonrise Kingdom.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  I liked it but keeping in mind it's a Wes Anderson movie and sometimes they can be lost on the general public.  The movie itself went by incredibly fast.  The movie is nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy).   

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

Alpha HH

It had been since September that we had the last Alphabet Gang Happy Hour and since August that all of us could make it so it was very nice to see all my peeps again under one roof, that roof being Pepito's in south Minneapolis last Thursday night. We all caught up on each other's lives and ate good Mexican food. We listened to the music of the gentleman singing Beatles and Elvis songs. We drank wine and margarita's and Catha had decaf coffee because she announced to us that she was 10 weeks pregnant and is due July 1st.  Catha and her husband never wanted kids and planned their lives that way so it came to surprise to us in 2009 when Catha announced she was pregnant and they had been trying and then had a girl named Violet in October 2009.  So again it was surprise, not as big of surprise though that they'd be expecting another baby.  That's it for them though...or so they say.  Either way, I'm super happy for you Catha!

Before she announced she was pregnant, Catha said that she had just gotten back from her Thanksgiving vacation in Cozumel, where she has a timeshare.  Actually, make that two timeshares.  And how much did she pay for these timeshares in this type of economy where people want to sell them?  Let's see...$5 for the one and $1 for the other....well, actually .50 cents as her mom and her split that one.  There is a yearly maintenance fee attached to both but it's not much in the scheme of a vacation each year.  So we talked about going to Cozumel for an Alphabet Gang Happy Hour Week sometime in the spring of 2011.  But since Catha's preggo, we decided that we might entertain this idea again in spring of 2012.  Wouldn't that be mucho fun?

We've got our January HH date set so we'll see you kids again soon.

Happy Hour

I can't even remember the last time I had seen my friend Rebecca until last Wednesday.  We've made plans over and over again but something always comes up and our plans end up getting postponed but we keep in contact over email and Facebook. We finally met at Kincaid's in Bloomington for a glass of wine and a quick catch up session that lasted an hour and a half or so.  Rebecca collects menus from all different restaurants from all over the place so whenever I go somewhere on vacation or out of the area, I pick up menus for her and I had a small stack to give her and of course, I forgot them in my car and didn't remember until I got home.  Next time, Becca.

The Week of August 23rd

I had a pretty busy week with something going on every day of the weekday besides Wednesday, and that was only because my plans were cancelled.  Here's a synopsis of the week:

Monday the 23rd:

My sister and nephew came over so I could reciprocate the invite for tacos that she had for me a few weeks ago. We ate beef and turkey tacos with whole wheat tortillas.  My nephew ate the tacos but whispered to his mom, "Mom, Dana's taco's aren't bad, they're just different than ours".

After dinner we went outside to the trampoline and also took a walk on the path in our backyard which lead us to the playground.  Jamie is due any day now.  She'll be induced on Wednesday if she doesn't go before then. How about going into labor on Labor Day?

Tuesday the 24th: 

I went out to dinner with Heather to a place called Shish that is just a block from Macalester College in St. Paul.  Our friend Kristi was also going to join us but she couldn't make it.  The food was so delicious and I would definitely go back.  We both had the beef kabobs. 

Thursday the 26th: 

Thursday was the Alphabet Gang's monthly happy hour sans Beth.  We decided to take advantage of the Minnesota summer weather probably for the last time and go to Psycho Suzi's on their awesome patio.  It was probably the most fun I've had at one of our HH's.  We ate, drank different tiki drinks and laughed and laughed.  

Friday the 27th: 

M and I went to the Dari-ette for dinner.  You may have seen this place on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  I hadn't been to this place since I was a little kid.  You can go in and eat in the building otherwise you just pull your car up and park next to the menu and speaker, order and they bring out your food to you.  The food was cheap and good.  We each had a burger and fries and some cheese bread and sauce to split.  

HH in LoTo

The Alphabet Gang's July happy hour was at a place called FACES Mears Park in Lowertown St. Paul. The restaurant itself actually, get this, faces Mears Park across the street. Brilliant, huh?! The restaurant is part of Cray Plaza, or possibly better known to you formerly as Galtier Plaza, which is also the building that Aaron resides in.

All of us were able to make it this time, which is always fun. We've all worked together in the past, some of us with multiple employers but now we are all working separately again. Beth and I worked together at my current employer up until about a week before our happy hour.

We sat on the patio, talked, sipped beer or wine and ate happy hour specials like their daily individual pizza for $4, which was sausage, green pepper and mushroom. While all the ingredients in their food are local and organic, the pizza itself was just plain bland.

We went up to Aaron's apartment for a quick moment as he had moved within the building since the last time we'd been there.

A creek running through Mears Park

The view from Aaron's newest apartment

On Aaron's patio- A, D, C, D, and B!

Mexican with Mags

I went out to dinner last Thursday with my friend Maggie (Mags) at Acapulco Restaurant in New Brighton. I used to work with Mags but I haven't seen her for over a year so it was super fun to get together and catch up and eat super good food. I always get tacos when I go to Acapulco but this time I got a chicken chimichanga and it was delicious. Nice to see you again, Mags! Not so long in between for next time.

This is the worst picture ever. I was trying to get both Acapulco and Restaurante in the picture.

I am the absolute worst at self-portraits. I hate this picture because of....let's all say it together....D-O-U-B-L-E C-H-I-N---But Mags looks good so I had to post this one for her.

I prefer myself in this next picture, however I bet Mags doesn't! Sorry Mags, we're both 1 for 2.