Target Field: Twins vs. Detroit Tigers (2 games)

M and I went to the game on Monday, June 28th and saw the Tigers beat the Twins 7-5, which put the Tigers in 1st place in the AL Central division.

I went to the game the next evening, Tuesday, June 29th to see the Twins get back in the lead in the AL Central with an 11-4 win over Detroit. I went with some people from work for a fundraiser benefiting Cornerhouse. As part of the fundraiser night, we gathered at Epic to eat before the game. They had live and silent auctions, face painting, door prizes and an appearance by Roy Smalley. We then walked one block to the stadium. It was a promotion night so we each received a Twins tote bag. My work buddy gave me his too since he's a Cubs fan. I was excited as I was able to sit in seats that were in a different location than I normally sit. The seats were in the terrace level, home plate view. While I liked the different perspective, I prefer my seats. I missed having a full view of the skyline.

At Epic

Shonna, Me, Jill

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Over the past couple of weeks, M and I have been bumming around the cities as usual so I thought I would write about it all in one post to catch myself up on this blog! Always, always something to write about, usually my adventures and a big long list of blog topics that I never even get to.

A couple of weekends ago, M and I ventured to Lowertown in St. Paul and ate at the Bulldog. We ate burgers and tots while watching The World Cup. After our meal, we played a game of shuffleboard. As best as I can recall, I don't think I had ever played shuffleboard before. It was fun to play and I squeaked out my first win.

M has just proven that you can look sexy even while playing shuffleboard

So I won my first game of shuffleboard. See below to see how close it was.

Take a better look here. Blue wins!

After The Bulldog, we went across the street into Mears Park where they were having a Jazz Festival for the weekend and took a quick peek at what was going on over there.

Yes, not only a Smart Car, a CONVERTIBLE Smart Car. That car is so tiny yet when you're inside of it, it feels like a normal sized car.

The last Saturday in June we met Ray for lunch at Mad Jack's in Vadnais Heights. M tries to get all his siblings together once a month for a lunch or dinner but it hasn't been going very well thus far but we appreciate anyone that does show up!

After lunch, M and I drive around on the motorcycle and stopped to take a look at downtown St. Paul, the State Capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul.

We then drove down to Stillwater to PD Pappy's to drop off a flyer. The water in the St. Croix River is very high and some of the walkways near the river are closed as they're flooded. Here are some pictures of the boats waiting for the bridge to be lifted to pass under. We ate at Brine's before heading up 95.

We drove up 95 to the city Marine on St. Croix, or just Marine, and stopped at Brookside Bar and Grill to drop off a flyer. It was a very hot and humid day and while we were in the bar enjoying a root beer, it started pouring and we came out to the wet bike but I'm glad we didn't get caught in the rain on the bike. There was a chocolate shop right next store that M felt compelled to buy some chocolate, which he said was very delicious.

We did find an incredible neighborhood in Marine by accident that I am going to do a separate post on soon. Stay tuned.

We ended our ride going back through Lake Elmo and ended up visiting my Gramma and Grandpa for awhile and playing with their dog Russell and cat Bailey.

Finally, last Sunday we saw the movie Grown Ups. Skip it! We both thought it was cheesy and not funny. M's words after the movie: "Get me out of here."

Little by little, I'm getting caught up on writing about all my adventures!

Sting

M and I went to see Sting perform at the Xcel Energy Center on Monday, June 21st. Not only did he come on tour with your usual suspects of a band, he also brought the England's Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra as his backing band, who he claimed he "borrowed from the Queen". Sting played 26 songs that were broken up into 2 sets with a 20 minute intermission in between. I did get to hear some of my favorite Sting songs, including "Fields of Gold", however I didn't like the arrangement on that one. Sting played many songs from his catalog including a few renditions of his songs with The Police as well as some more rare songs that I've never heard before. This was my first time seeing Sting in concert as a solo performer. While I did see him in concert for The Police Reunion Tour on July 3rd, 2007, I've always wanted to see him solo and had missed the few times he's been to the Twin Cities since 1993, when I can recall starting to enjoy his music. Sting was very personable and gracious on stage and looked very handsome for a 58 year old Englishman. He even had a great sense of humor when an idiot from the crowd yelled, "Free Bird!" He responded that wasn't one of his songs and then when the idiot again called out "Free Bird!" after awhile, Sting responded by simulating smoking a joint and said, "I remember my first joint too" as the crowd laughed. For his encore, he came out with his ipod with the ear bud in one ear while he listened to "Free Bird" and sang the lyrics after he had just listened to the verse. I guess the idiot in the crowd did get his request after all.

The show ended with an encore that lasted for one song, four times. Sting and his immediate band went off the stage, while the 45-piece orchestra stayed in their chairs, which was an obvious sign Sting was coming back out. Every time Sting would leave the stage and the orchestra didn't, you knew he was coming back out. This happened four times, which seemed like overkill to me, however I was glad to hear another song.

As always, click on each picture for a better view.

Macrolicious Friday

I cheated and didn't post this Macro until Monday, but backdated it for Friday as I forgot.

Here is a picture of a flower I took overlooking St. Paul.