Growing Up

            

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  Hi friends.  Guess what....Today is my Dad's 60th birthday.  How exciting, huh?  He is actually throwing a big party this weekend, so A and I will be driving down to MKE (with the pugs) to celebrate my dear old Dad.  I really think the party will be a great time.  I'm excited to see all of my Dad's close friends and family in one place to celebrate him. 

I was talking to my longtime bestie about this last night over a lovely dinner of chicken (with awesome Ritz cracker/cheese breading) asparagus and couscous. 



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We started talking about getting older and our thoughts of getting older when we were young.  I still sometimes think that my parents are in their 40's, because that "seems right."  And then I think of who I was in grade school....and middle school, and high school.  Thinking of all the stuff my parents did for me. I played sports, and music, and went to all the dances, and ski trips, and camping trips.  My parents really supported all the choices I made.  They encouraged me, but never really pushed me too hard.  But is that a good or bad thing? 

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I like the life I have, I like where I ended up, but I'm not totally sure how I ended up here.  My parents never required certain grades out of my brother and I. They just expected that we would do as well in school as we could, and usually that ended up being in the B range.  I look at college, and I certainly kept that mentality.  I worked *kinda* hard.  hard enough to get B's (and A's by the time I was a JR and Sr.) But maybe if they would have pushed me to work harder than I thought I could, I would have gotten all A's.  

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Is that who I could have been?  Would I enjoy my life now as much as I do if I was that person?  I have no real answer.  And don't get me wrong, my parents are amazing.  They taught me how to be a really good person, and how to respect other people, and be a good friend, partner, listener, among other things.  But is all that enough?  (keep in mind that my life motto is to the effect of "I need to take life more seriously....who am I kidding, my life's a joke."  and by that I mean, life is short, why waste it by not doing what you want....or something like that.  Any thoughts? 

 

Easter Brunch

 This past Sunday was Easter and what a better way to celebrate ANYTHING than with a BRUNCH!  You all know how much I love Brunch. A and I got some goodies, dressed in our cutest Easter apparel and headed over to our friends Kat and Lowrah's place (right off Powderhorn Park).  We came in to some Paul Simon, which was a great way to start a little brunch fun.

 Lowrah made some rad sweet pastries (filled with hot chocolate goodness)

 And a Frittata.  This egg bake was tip toppity (I already finished my leftovers that I went home with)

 Mandy put together a big old fruit salad, that turned out to compliment the pancakes *really well* (fruittata)

 We had fake sausage patties and turkey bacon (I love meat....what can I say)

 And I made a cheese hash brown casserole (hotdish) that could have been better.  It just didn't get crispy enough.  too much cheese/sour cream.  But the dill in there tasted amazing.

 Not to mention mimosa's

 All the food was pretty amazing.  again, brunch is rad.

 We decided that we needed some spring time photos in the park, so we wandered down and took some cliche senior photo-type pics.  Good times.

 And after all that fun, I gave Kat a little haircut. 

All in all, I had a great Easter.  I was feeling pretty sick when I woke up, and I won't lie, after brunch I took a much needed nap (and some cold medicine).  I finished my weekend with a late afternoon Hopkins's loop ride with my buddy Jon, and called it a day.  Thanks for the good times, friends.

Friday night fish fry

 Friday Night we had plans to attend a fish fry.  We talked about going to a classic church fish fry, because whats better than fish in a fellowship hall, But decided we both wanted a beer to drink while we ate, so instead we used our coupon for Groveland Tap and had some awesome fish (well, pretty good.  I mean, it was no "the anchor")

 We split some fish and a burger and onion rings.  It was  pretty good time, and a nice way to start connecting with Spring.

Oh yeah, it's all you can eat, too!  And it is pretty close to Izzy's Ice Cream (I got chocolate almond with an Oreo Izzy and A got Graham cracker with a chocolate Izzy).  Saint Paul, while I really over look you (for good reason) most of the time, thanks for a good night.  I promise you won't hear me say that often. I don't like crossing the river more than I have to.

Happy Earth Day!

Love Mother Nature, y'all!

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Yesterdays adventures

 Have you ever seen Howard the Duck?  I watched it as a kid and remember thinking it was for a more grown up audience than my 6 year old self. After watching it last night for the first time in 20 years, I'm not sure what to say.  Pretty ridiculous. Let me give you a back story as to why I was watching Howard the Duck
Last night was Movie night.  For the particular date, we were going to watch something a bit more festive (ie: half baked, Friday, cheech and chong, you know)  but when no one could decide on their favorite stoner movie, we went for this oddball 80's goodness.  And man, was it worth it.  I'll promise you this, it takes an even weirder twist about halfway through the movie, so stick with it. I suggest you all give it a watch (for a good....no no, great laugh).  It is beyond 80's silliness.  It is George Lucas pretty much bombing with an "alien" flick. But nonetheless, it made me laugh harder than I have in a long time.

Howard the Duck!
I hope you all enjoyed your April 20th adventures.  I did.  clearly.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday.  Enough Said.

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vinyl heaven

Hey all.  sorry for the lack of photo and excitement, but while pausing from my studying, I thought I'd quick remind everyone of the radness that is tomorrow (an affair I'm sad to miss due to this crazy test....)

Tomorrow is RECORD STORE DAY!!!!  below is the link of record stores in Minnesota.  Go check one out and think of me.  Happy Friday! and TGIF, of course!

http://www.recordstoreday.com/Venues

90's revisted

Happy Thursday!  A and I are back from FLA and we had a blast.  Lots of beaches, pool time, boating (and seeing dolphins up close and personal) and of course many cocktails. 

One thing A and I realized about Florida is that their music selection is pretty ridiculous.  If it isn't bad pop/rap, it is country or 80's and 90's stuff.  Thank goodness for the 90's stuff (or most of it...)

While listening to one of the many 90's rock stations, I heard a Cranberries song and before I knew it, I was singing along.  I didn't even realize I still knew the song that well.  But then again, I really loved the cranberries back in middle and high school.

Which leads me to this new piece to my blog-90's revisted.  every so often I'll give props to either a band, or album from the 90's. Today, let's look at the cranberries. 

I guess I don't have tons to say on the topic other than I really enjoyed their first two albums, and they became a big part of my life when I was a teen. 

And just because I want to, I'm going to add a few videos for you all to enjoy.  I hope you enjoy the flasback....I sure have!

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Today in Rock (or jazz, or pop vocals)

 Hello Friends!  One more quick post before I hit the air for Florida. Let's talk about the importance today in rock/jazz/pop vocals history.  It was this day back in 1915 that the great Billie Holiday was born.  Holiday (known as Lady Day to her friends) changed the sound of vocal (IMO) forever.  Holiday co wrote some real classics, such as  God Bless the Child, Strange Fruit (which is one of the most raw/emotional protest songs ever) Lady Sings the Blues, etc.  

Holiday, like many incredibly talented musicians/singers/songwriters suffered from long term drug abuse.  She was arrested more than once, and struggled with heroine, among other things.  This eventually led to her death in 1959.  Her sad life story led to some very real/heart felt music, using the blues as her catalyst.  Not to mention her very distinctive voice.

 When I was a kid, my mom really loved Billie Holidays music.  I remember when CD's were still new, chipping in with my brother to buy her the box set.  I didn't know most of the songs, but enjoyed listening with her.  I didn't completely understand everything being said, but I knew that it affected my mom deeply.  (sorry....just a little memory for you). 

(all photos/clips from either youtube or wikipedia)

On that note, HAPPY FRIDAY JUNIOR! and have a fun weekend :)

Ft Myers or BUST!

 HELLO!  Guess what....A and I are heading to sunny, beautiful, LOVELY florida tomorrow.  And man, I can't wait for this vacation. 

A's mom lives down in Ft Myers.  We have visited her (well I have visited her) once and it was a pretty good time. 

What is really lovely about this vacation is that A. A's fam not only lives in a "gated community," which entails a pool, hot tub, workout area, and in general is nice in a golden girls sort of way B. they have a boat! and the boat is held in a canal near the pool, and this canal leads straight to the ocean, and C. they have a lanai.  You all know what a Lanai is, right?  If not, (sorry for the secondary reference....) go watch some golden girls. 

Another great thing?  FtMyers is very close to Siesta key, which according to A, is BEYOND beautiful.  below is a beach pic from this key.

 If we are lucky, we can rent a bike at siesta key....maybe a tandum!?  Believe me, I'll take a ton of photos to share.  So until next Tuesday, Take care friends.  enjoy the high 60's here in minni and I'll think of you as I'm getting sunburned on the beach.

map  siesta key

Water Street Inn

Hello! Three posts in one day! craziness.  I guess my weekend was just that fun.  Anyhow, I want to just show/tell a little about this amazing Inn that we stayed in (by Inn, I mean rad old hotel right on the river, which supposedly housed more than one ghost.)

We arrived at The Water Street Inn for our 4pm check in and already I was feeling pretty good.  The guy that booked the room for us (AJ) was super nice and it turned out he was working when we checked in.  He ended up being the nicest guy and willing to humor us (a little) about the ghosts.

 We were put in a room on the second floor-each room had a name on it, so I kept talking to our room, referring to it as "Edward" or Eddie....kinda hoping to make the ghosty in the mood to fuck with me. 

 The room was AMAZING!  when you entered, there was a hallway that hooked left, to another hallway that had the HUGE bathroom off of it, and then there was the actual bedroom.  Which had 2 big windows, an old porch from 1895, and a gorgeous bed. 

 The complimentary wine wasn't comp at all, rather it was $28.  We walked to the booze store instead. 

 The electric fireplace was a great touch, especially for A, who is often cold.

 And while we though there would be no TV (thus we brough our macbook and some dvd's) we actually had full cable, and started the night by watching Sex in the City 2 (yes, it is as bad as you predicted.)

 The bathroom was very spacious and had a giant whirlpool/shower with 2 shower heads.

 And green-arched ceilings! so pretty.

 Oh yeah, the whirlpool was shaped like aheart :)

 Doesnt this bed look amazing.  The pillows were super fancy.  and the giant down comforter was also great.  I wish this was my bed.  It was amazing. 

All in all, A and I had a great time.  Even after I tried to "reach the spirits" several times, I had no such luck and was not visited by any ghosts,.  But, there was live Irish music being played in the bar all night, which was a lot of fun to listened to....even if I was by myself because A fell asleep :)