Memorial Weekend

M, Chris and myself all went up to M's parents house in Isle, MN for Memorial Weekend. We spent the night on Friday and Saturday, leaving late on Sunday morning however this year was different than the rest.

The first reason it was different was because there were some key people missing...Kim and Greg, Tiana, Craig, Kayla, Bryan, Chad, Lorrie, Greg and Mona and kids and Tanya. But there were lots of good reasons why these people couldn't make it but we still had fun with the others that were there.

The second reason why it was different is because M's parents have sold their house. They are moving this weekend to Hinckely, 30 miles closer to the Twin Cities, which means no more Lake Mille Lacs and no more midnight bike rides to the bar.

We took full advantage of our last days up there. We hung around the fire on Friday night having some drinks and enjoying the company. I have an application on my phone that is called Google Sky and it is a GPS-type application where it knows where you are and you point your phone up to the sky and it shows all the constellations/stars/planets/moon in their actual location. Besides finding some constellations, I found Saturn and Mars. Fascinating! (Did you know I wanted to be an astronomer when I was 9 years old?)

On Saturday, we rode our bicycles around the neighborhood and went to garage sales. Chris found a left-handed glove and two tennis rackets. M and I convinced him to get the rackets for him and Tanya as we have put them up to the challenge of playing tennis with us this summer. M always tells everyone that we're no good at tennis, to what I say, speak for yourself! I was on the tennis team in 7th grade! We rode our bikes to Buzzies, the bar in the afternoon heat for a drink. We figured it was best to test out the route for the evening bicycle festivities, or just because it was hot and we wanted a drink. In the evening, we partied around the fire for a while and then took all the bikes and got on the road headed to Buzzies. It was Tacky Night as well as karaoke night at the bar. We all had fun there knowing for many of us, this would be the last time we'd be here and we all made it home with no accidents on the road.

Here's to new memories at M's parents house in Hinckley. Thank you for all the good times spent in Isle.

M and Chris

Me and Ray

M's shorts were falling off and so he borrowed a belt from one of his cousins. Hooters...CLASSY!

Some of the guys from Friday night

M and his dad- He had knee replacement surgery recently so he was on crutches. He could still ride the bike to the bar though!

M, Big Ray and Little Ray

Chris on the mini motorcycle--Chris, don't drink and drive!

At Buzzies

Lisa and Justin singing karaoke

"Hey sweet sister, how'd you like it if I bought you a drink?" Chris brought these glasses and we loved the 70's driving/Big Lebowski glasses.

Chris, you have a twin

One last picture of the group with bar owner Buzzie

Look at all the ash in the air from the fire

M's cousin Mike wanted to take a picture of us. I noticed he was holding the camera crooked when he was taking it.

Take Two: No better. Ah, forget it. I think we all looked pretty straight on to him anyways.

Last Chance for MS150 Donations

Good morning everyone,

Below is a blurb from Michael, my boyfriend:

This is the last week to help me out. I will hop on my bicycle on Saturday morning and ride it all of the way to my house in Little Canada. If everyone donates just $5, I will reach $1000 and have special treatment for my ride. Clean port-o-potties with no lines and Oreo cookies. These two items mean a lot to me and will drastically help my ride. Please support me on this journey.



Thanking you all in advance,

Michael



Michael's personal donation page

Macrolicious Friday

Do you know what this is? It's the seeds from a pepper. Kinda gross looking, huh?


Have a good weekend and Happy Birthday to my little sister Jamie who turns 31 today! You're catching up to me!

Target Field: Twins vs. New York Yankees

The Twins/Yankees game last Tuesday was the first game to be suspended at Target Field due to weather. Because of this, they played the last few innings of that make-up game before their scheduled game on Wednesday. And because the tickets for Tuesday's game-goers were only valid for Tuesday, I was the lucky recipient to see both the make-up game and scheduled game since I went to the game on Wednesday. But I wasn't that lucky...the Twins lost both games to the stupid Yankees.

My friend Aaron asked me to go to the game and while I already had tickets to the game, I gave my seats away to Michael and his brother Ray, while I sat with Aaron in his seats, one level lower but still waving distance to M and Ray. We all walked around together during the time in between the first and second game and stopped off at each of the bars for a drink as well as some food.

Despite the losses, I still had fun with good company all around. We all walked back to our cars together, actually motorcycles for us. It was nice not having to pay to park by squeezing into a small space for the bikes!

The different stages of the sun setting on the skyline was just spectacular to watch. Enjoy!

Conan O'Brien

When tickets went on sale for Conan O'Brien's, "The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour", I jumped at the chance to go, however there was only a 9 hour window of time from when people were notified to the time the actual tickets went on sale. I was busy purchasing presale tickets to see Craig Ferguson at the time Conan tickets went on sale on March 11th and by the time I knew about Conan, about 3 hours later, tickets were LONG gone, which meant that we'd be searching the secondary market...Stub Hub, Ebay, Craig's List, etc. And that is what we did every other day until we finally scored tickets. It's not that tickets weren't available, they were, just at a huge premium, which M and I could not justify paying. Only 6 days before the show did we find more tickets show up on Stub Hub for a "reasonable" price that we ended up swooping up for purchase. And wow, am I so glad we did. We had tickets in the box seating, which is not in the balcony but on sides of the walls of the main floor area. And so it became, Conan O'Brien was our featured act for May for our monthly Quest for Comedy.

The show opened with Reggie Watts who was a combination type comedian/beat boxer/rapper/musician that was....interesting. I'm not really sure what to think of him but he was funny at times and I had such a high from just being there getting ready to see Conan that that night that he was probably funnier to me than if I was about to see someone else. The show also included stand-up from Deon Cole, one of Conan's writers from The Tonight Show.

Conan's show opened with part of his band playing horns and running through the aisles of the main floor audience until Conan finally walked out and the crowd erupted with a standing ovation. Conan's show consisted of the use of a multiple uses for the huge video screen including what Conan's been up to the past few months, an appearance by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, whom I met before, Conan's 8 stages of grief and Walker, Texas Ranger clips. He also played music with his band and his girls, The Cokettes. I did not do any research before the show to see what entailed but I was pleasantly surprised when Andy Richter was introduced to be part of the show. In addition, when Conan was playing with the band, he introduced Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats and Brian Setzer Orchestra and they played, "Rock this Town". Brian Setzer lives in Minneapolis and Conan is a huge rockabilly fan so after they finished their song together, Conan said something similar to, "That was a highlight of my life. I can die now" referring to playing live with Brian Setzer. The last part of the show was again a performance with both Conan and band and Brian and Conan takes off from the stage and runs up the aisle and takes off and disappears for about two minutes when he suddenly appears in the balcony running around and just about 15 feet away from us.

The show was incredibly awesome with so much laughter, talents, guests and just a mix of everything that encompasses and spells Conan O'Brien. Conan had so much energy and gave the audience 110% throughout the whole show. Enjoy all the pictures!

Random Schmandom Part 2

Because I have so many little things to talk about, this is part 2 of the Random Schmandom I did last week. If I wasn't out doing so many things, I would have time to blog but not much to write about. It's a Catch-22, people!

• The weather this past week has been pretty nice. In the Twin Cities, we set a record of 95 degrees last Monday, around 20+ degrees above average.
• Because it's nice weather, that means I need pretty toes to show off so I got the spring/summer season's first pedicure about 2.5 weeks ago. The toes are holding pretty up well still.
• In the last version of Random Schmandom, I told you of all the bad dreams I was having. I remembered the one that I couldn't remember at the time....I had a dream I was cheating on Michael (emotionally) with Craig Ferguson. My dreams have since been better or I haven't been remembering them at all.
• My sister had a garage sale last weekend and while the weather was ok on Friday, she shut it down for more than half the day on Saturday due to rain. She is going to have her garage sale 2 more weekends in June. I spent every night for a week over there bringing my stuff over, setting it up and pricing it. I wanted to make $200 total for all the weekends and I ended up making $199 on Friday and $36.50 on Saturday, which made me happy. Lots more yet to sell!
• I had my doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago and I was really curious to see how my numbers were looking after cutting out refined sugar (as much as I can stand it) for the past 4+ months and here's a synopsis of where I'm at: Blood Pressure: 110/80 (So not normal for me! WAY better) Cholesterol: 185 mg/dl (good for me if I work at it) Triglycerides: 165 mg/dl (VERY good for ME!) A "normal" triglycerides level is less than 150 mg/dl. In April 2009, mine was 256 mg/dl. After 3 months of no alcohol and cutting out as much sugar as I can and a repeat test in July 2009, it was 197 mg/dl, still high but improving so to see that I've come down to 165 mg/dl, just above what's considered normal makes me happy. Ah, all the stuff I never worried about before I was in my 30's!
• I went to see Sex and the City 2 with my sister today, despite feeling slightly guilty about being in a movie theatre for almost 3 hours while the sun is out and shining. The movie didn't have the greatest plot but we had to see it. As long as Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha, Mr. Big and AIDAN is in it, it can't be that bad of a movie in my eyes.
• M and I went on a motorcycle with a bunch of family and friends two weekends ago through Minnesota and Wisconsin, which will be part of the same path that the Cherry Ride will take place in July. Here's a picture of a race car we saw while waiting for the whole group to meet and a picture of our bikes at a pit stop we made. We had 3 other bikes with us but they joined us for only part of the day.
  
  
  
• Finally, have you seen this video? Everyone seems to have seen it by now but it's still amazing. This kid is 12 years old and was just taking part in a school talent show of some sort. He's been playing the piano for 3 years and has never taken voice lessons but now has a record deal. At the time of this posting, this video has almost 24 million hits. The song he is performing is Lady Gaga's, "Paparazzi".

Macrolicious Friday

Happy Friday peeps! I've been busy all week again so I haven't had much time to dedicate to A) finding macros photos that I have already taken and B) taking new photos, so this one will have to do for the long Memorial weekend. Have a great long weekend, whatever you decide to do and be safe!

Photo taken at Mounds Park in St. Paul

MS150- Accept the Challenge

For those that don't know, the MS150 ride is a bike ride from Duluth, MN down to the Twin Cities that is 150 miles spread out over the course of two days that raises money for Multiple Sclerosis. Michael will be doing this ride for the 9th time on June 11-13 and he needs your help. He has a long way to get to his goal and every little bit helps. Please consider donating! Thank you everyone!

Hello Blog Readers! It's that time again, time for me to ride my butt off. ☺ Multiple sclerosis stops people from moving. I want to make sure it doesn't. That's why I'm riding in the Bike MS: MS 150 Ride 2010. I hope you will also make your mark against MS by supporting my fundraising efforts. Please click on my PERSONAL PAGE for my story. Your tax-deductible gift keeps the National MS Society moving toward a world free of multiple sclerosis by funding cutting-edge research and supporting programs for people living with MS. Movement is something many of us take for granted, but for people living with MS movement isn't a guarantee. Support me and together we'll move forward on behalf of those who may not be able to do so themselves. Click here to visit my personal page. If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/MNMBikeEvents?px=1867336&pg=personal&fr_id=12417&et=JCI4wSCxbPWEJ6II3fhdjA..&s_tafId=170974

Random Schmandom

There are many times in my life when I just have busy streaks and that makes it hard sometimes to sit down and write about my life and that's when the Random Schmandom comes in handy. In addition to being busy, I have tried to unplug a little bit more from the world in the evenings, usually allowing myself one hour on the computer after I've come home from work. It makes me feel better and I'm doing other things besides just being on the computer.

Anyways, here's a quick recap of some things that have happened over the past few weeks. I have some other things I'll write about in detail shortly.

I went out to dinner with my sister and my nephew to Baja Sol a few weeks ago and got this cute picture of the two of them. My nephew has recently changed his mind that he no longer likes tacos, much to the chagrin of both his mom and auntie. I guess that's ok...Jamie and I eat enough tacos to make up for it.

I saw this license plate while in a parking lot. Those that are Minnesota Vikings fans will appreciate it.

M and I went out to the pond in our backyard to see any wildlife that we could and we saw some turtles, fish, frogs and birds, including these mallard ducks. Their heads were such a beautiful green in the sunshine.

A frog in the water

A turtle with it's head popping out of the water

Guess who's car turned 100,000 miles this past week?! This is the first time I've had a car with that many miles that I've owned from the beginning. I bought the car in December 2002 and put on 25,000 in the first year so you can see that I've mellowed out on driving since then. I pretty much only drive my car Monday-Friday, 50 miles a day. I've driven enough miles in my car to go around the world four times.

M and I were on the motorcycle and saw this memorial by Lake Phalen on the Bruce Vento Trail where Sgt. Joe Bergeron was shot and killed a few weeks ago.

I've had bad dreams lately. I've had six bad dreams in about a week and I can remember five of them, which all mean terrible things if you believe in dream interpretation. 1) My teeth were chipping and falling out of my mouth (I hate this dream. I've had variations of it in the past and it seems so real.) 2) Babysitting my sister's baby (she is pregnant now but in the dream the baby was a boy) and forgetting about him sitting in his high chair for TWO DAYS. I did not feed him or change him and when I did realize I had forgotten about him and looked at him, he was starving to death and looked like he was about to die. 3) A NASTY spider that was orange and slimy crawling across the grass in my yard 4) My friend being chased by a bear and watching her get mauled--What's wrong with me?!?!? I have had some drama in my life lately but that's settled down a bit so maybe the dreams will too.

Speaking of my sister and being pregnant, she did find out what she's having about 10 days ago and it will be another BOY! I told her all along that I thought it would be a boy and she didn't like that as she wanted a girl but of course is now fine with having another boy. Now if both her and her husband could agree on a name...

To all you fellow bloggers....I've still been reading your blogs but have left little to no comments for lack of time. I'll be commenting again!

Macrolicious Friday

I haven't even blogged since last week's Macrolicious Friday. I've been sooooo busy with things that I'll catch you up on later but after I posted my macro last week, I asked M if he liked it. With hesitation, he said, "yes, but it's not really what I consider a macro photo."

Ok, just so we're all clear here, I do know what macro photography is but after reading a definition of it, the definition has expanded somewhat from the original meaning.

Here is the definition I found the most:

Macro photography is close-up photography. The classical definition is that the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. On 35 mm film (for example), the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed. Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image on the film is the same size as the object being photographed. Another important distinction is that lenses designed for macro are usually at their sharpest at macro focus distances and are not quite as sharp at other focus distances.

In recent years, the term macro has been used in marketing material to mean being able to focus on a subject close enough so that when a regular 6×4 inch (15×10 cm) print is made, the image is life-size or larger. With 35mm film this requires a magnification ratio of only approximately 1:4, which demands a lower lens quality than 1:1. With digital cameras the actual image size is rarely stated, so that the magnification ratio is largely irrelevant; cameras instead advertise their closest focusing distance.

For purposes of Macrolicious Friday, the photos featured are photos that were taken with my camera's macro/super macro setting. I only have an Olympus point and shoot so if you need to, take that into consideration.

This photo was taken by M on March 20th, 2010. We were at Target Field sitting out in the sun and I wanted M to take a picture of my lips as my lip gloss was very sparkly in the sun. The picture reminds me of summer and with this weekend's weather forecast of mid to upper 80's, I thought it was appropriate. Click the photo to enlarge and see all the flecks of glitter including blue/purple on my lips.

Have a great weekend!

Macrolicious Friday

I've been thinking about this idea for months and I've finally decided to move forward with it. From July 2009 to February 2010, I posted Friday's Fun Facts EVERY Friday for people to enjoy. Nobody complained or was sad when I stopped doing it and maybe you didn't even notice but somehow your life was lacking slightly but you just couldn't put your finger on what exactly was missing. Well I'm here to fill that void again. My new gimmick will be...wait for it....Macrolicious Friday. I love macro photography and I thought it would be fun to post a macro photo that I've taken at some point in my life as a nice way to start the weekend on the blog. I might even have M take a photo every now and then just to mix things up a little. Can you stand the excitement?! So now that I've agonized over but perfected the title of the blog....Macrolicious Friday, I'm ready to start posting pictures! Without further ado, here's the first Macrolicious photo!

Who says dandelions are just a weed and are ugly? Photo was taken on Mother's Day.

As always, click on the picture to enlarge for further detail.

Have a great weekend everyone!