Watch out - Weather Rant

Today is my breaking point.  After 3 winters in Arkansas, I figured that I just had unrealistic expectations of how fast Spring should come.  But, alas, IT IS MAY 1 and the temperature is 38 degrees!

Now, I have activated the coping methods I usually do when I get mad/angry about something:

1. Try to think about how things 'could be worse.'  Like, we COULD live in Alaska or we could be dealing with a tornado or earthquake.  Yes, things definitely could be worse, but none-the-less, this coping method is not working.

2. Distract myself.  Cleaning my house and doing laundry are NOT going to effectively distract me today. No way. Not even shopping can do this.

3. Look forward to something.  I have nothing to look forward to now that my Vegas trip has passed. 

As you can see, none of these are working.  So, I'm cranky today - just ask my husband.

If you're wondering - a rant online didn't help either :(

Thanks for bearing with me.

E

Vegas Rock Star

Not going to lie, but I was p-r-e-t-t-y nervous to go to Las Vegas last Thurs-Sun.  I was seriously afraid I was too old/lame to 'hang' in Vegas.  However, on the contrary, I think I did pretty well.  What a fun time!

We did a little bit of everything while out there with my four compadres.  We stayed at the Signature at MGM Grand, and it was a nice hotel option!  We got plenty of pool time - and the sun was glorious, especially considering what was going on back in Minneapolis at the time (ahem...snow).  We spent a full day just wandering the 'strip' and checking out all the different hotels/casinos. 

I am sad (very sad) to say we were 0-2 on partying with a Kardashian sister.  Kourtney's bday bash was at Gallery night club (we were too impatient to stand in line) and Kim was at Wet Republic on Saturday (we legit could NOT hang at a pool/club).  Let's talk a bit more about Wet Republic.  Picture a night club - hip hop/DJ, dancing, grinding, drunkenness.  Now, move all the people to broad daylight, dress them in swimsuits, and place them out by a pool.  Overall, my policy in life is "try to make the least amount of movement possible while in swimsuit."  Wet Republic offers the exact opposite.  I repeat, we truly could NOT hang.  However, that didn't stop us from creepin' and peeking around the corner at the back of the pool to try to get a sight of Kim (fail btw).  Here's a pic.  If you look REALLY close in the upper right hand corner of this pic, you can see us creepin'.

So, instead, to get our celebrity fix, we went to see Holly Madison at PeepShow.  I'm just glad we were almost to the back of the room.  With my vision, I could see what was going on, without seeing it ifyouknowwhatimean.  When in Vegas, right?

We also saw Cirque show 'Ka.'  It was AWESOME, I thought.  Highly recommended.

Other than that, I'm proud to say that I did a little gambling at a roulette table.  Came away with a WHOPPING $1 up.  Winning.  Other than that, played slots and video poker.  Video poker is better than regular because it's not as intimidating - especially at O'Shea's, where we could take a break from the >$10 drinks and just have a good 'ol $1 Miller Lite (featured below).

My fave "look at it in awe" location: Bellagio, of course.  My fave "let's stay here next time" location: Planet Hollywood. 

We had a good time in the Clubs on Thursday and Friday night.  It's good to be a girl when in Vegas ;)

Blogging is fun when there's things to talk about!

Before I leave you, just a little fun from SkyMall.  After I buy this, Kevin will have two "big foots" in his life ;)

Serious, Grown Up Things

There comes a time in life, when you're doing your tax return and you come to the line "Interest Income"...and you put in like $25.  And then you start to wonder...should we be investing our money more?  Does anyone know where to start with this (besides 401k, obv.).

There also comes a time in life where you start to envy other people's homes. That's when you know you are seriously an a-dult.  Today I checked out the Parade of Homes Remodeler's Showcase and my imagination started running wild.  Here's the latest: knock out a bunch of walls, move the kitchen into the bedroom space - creating a seamless flow between the livingroom and kichen AND creating a (small) dining room.  Next, we'll build on about 8 ft to the back of the house, expand the small bedroom into the addition creating a master suite.  Knock out the side entrance and move it back to create an ACTUAL entryway.  One more room would complete the addition and then you'd pop out the roof upstairs to that there'd be a full, comfortable room up there and a den (and a bathroom). 

I've probably lost your interest by now.  To say the least, this won't happen - unless we want to double our mortgage, which we don't. 

In other news, my bracket is shot and it's Sunday, which makes me depressed.  At least we all got to enjoy some nice weather this weekend.  Alas, I shouldn't complain.  It was a pretty fulfilling weekend:)

Maybe I'll have something more interesting to talk about next time...

So good, I gotta blog about it

Alright, so I've had the pleasure of experiencing some more unique/neighborhood restaurants since moving back to MPLS - the likes of Al Vento, BLG, Bar Lurcat, Pizza Lola, etc.  However, I don't have a lot of confidence in my inner "foodie" to talk intelligently about my dining experiences. 

But I MUST tell you about the place I dined at tonight with three friends.  It's Travail Restaurant in Robbinsdale - so a little off the beaten path, but WELL worth the trip.  I don't know a ton about the place, but I first heard of it when MSP Mag featured it as one of the best new restaurants of the year.  Either way, finally made plans to go there tonight.  It was definitely busy.  We got there at 5:45ish and didn't sit down until near 7ish.  A few (generous) glasses of wine, shuffleboard & bean bag games kept us occupied.  So yes, this place is busy (and pretty small). 

Either way, we sat down and immediately ordered some small plates to share. So insanely good - Blue Cheese Tots, Fresh Cut French Fries, and Prosciutto and Blue Cheese wrapped Figs.  They came out pretty much immediately.  Thank goodness.  Then, we each got our own dish.  Not a lot of food on these plates, but a TON of flavor.  I got a pork loin - wrapped in prosciutto, butternut squash drizzled, carrot powder/carrots/carrot chips, portabellos, sweet potato.  It was a beautiful combination in my mouth.

Half the fun of the night was all the servers that visited our table.  The restaurant is owned by 5 guys - all from different places in the U.S.  We got to chatting with them, and they all had awesome stories about how they ended up opening this restaurant in MN.  Truly inspiring. They seemed to LOVE life.

Then, came dessert. The four of us split the grand tour - 4 desserts.  Two of my friends gave up chocolate for lent.  Bad for them, awesome for me!  One of our desserts was prepared right at the table.

Net net, go to this place.  But, go (really) early or go late so you can avoid an hour long wait!

I've even "liked" them on FB:  http://www.facebook.com/Travailkitchen

Happy Dining People!!

Erin

Here we go!

Alright, so I've been reading some friends' blogs here and there and thought I better get on the band-wagon.  They're all pretty witty, so I had doubts about my blogging skillz.  But then I told myself - even if no one reads our blog, at least we'll have a little bit of history when we finally have kids and people will WANT to read our blog.  Until then, you'll just have to do with my ramblings while I figure out what my 'niche' is :)

Let's see.  Most people start this once they get married, so here's what's happened since then - in a nutshell:

• We now own a house and successfully navigated the winter without a leaking ice dam - thanks to Kevin's roof raking expertise.  We also had a hard battle with box-elder bugs on one side of our house.  Kevin sprayed, which resulted in a large massacre of these bugs.  Only time will tell on if these chamicals cause our own demise. 
• Kevin started his part-time MBA at the U of MN, sucessfully beginning our "5-year plan." Onward...
• The Packers won the Superbowl and it got CrAzY around here!
• Lots of family news, including visits from everyone - and multiple visits from some.
• Mark and Kevin successfully re-piped the bathroom, so we no longer ingest large amounts of some-type-of-metal/mold when we brush our teeth.
• We experienced our first MSP Restaurant week.  I don't think I'll ever be the same after 3.5 hours at Fogo de Chao.
• The Bachelor picked Emily.
• We finally ordered our wedding prints.
• We just had a new nephew enter the world! Jaxon Joseph joins the ranks of Cazdyn, Aneka, Owen, and Audrie as the fun neices and nephews we can't wait to see!

Restaurant Review (why not?):  Pizzaria Lola on 57th & Xerxes.  Very fun & unique atmosphere.  I just LOVE places like this.  Unique pizza DID live up to reviews of 'better than Punch Pizza.'  Just wish they had more on-tap beer!  http://www.pizzerialola.com/

Until next time.

Erin