Saturday, I got up and headed to Tiff's. I headed back to Jerry's after Tiff's and we bummed about the house most of the day. We meant to get up and get to Target to pick up his allergy meds, as well as out to Rosedale to get Brandy's birthday present, but didn't make it that far very early. As per usual, at the last possible minute, we picked the most important of events that needed to take place, and rushed about to get them done.

We hit up Kinko's to print out some documents. Then we went to an office store to get presentation supplies. The douche at Kinko's wouldn't even step out from behind the counter to help us look at theirs. Pssht. After that, we went to the cuuuuute Japanese store at Rosedale to get Brandy a birthday present. We got her little ghosts and smoking watermelons. :P On our way to Minneapolis for dinner, we realised we forgot our tickets to the Haunted Basement at the Soap Factory.

After an emergency stop in at Thad and Carmen's to print the tickets, we raced into Minneapolis. We found a good parking spot close to Ginger Hop and had just enough quarters to tide us over until Haunted Basement time. Dinner was...less than impressive. Food was served cold and lacking in flavor in my case, small portioned and tasting of peanut butter in Jerry's case, lacking in flavor in Spike's case, and generally "Meh" on most other people's parts. I think the drinks and appetizers won out. Service was good, but food was lacking. Total bummer!

Brandy and JD joined Jerry and I on our trek to the Soap Factory. Spike told us that they don't let you in if you are late, so we literally RAN to our cars, and raced like crazy people to the door. We found out that they most certainly DO allow lateness, otherwise nobody would get in! :P We had an exciting wait with Kari as our tour guide. She spoiled LOST for us a little. Bummer! We had a good time joking that we wouldn't make it out alive and that Kari would watch us on the TVs. Brandy, JD and I all bemoaned the fact that we agreed to go with Jerry, since all three of us hate scary things. :P

The basement was fun, on the whole. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't gone yet. I'm impressed with myself that I didn't "Say Uncle", which is their safe word. They would escort you out if you did. I made it to the end, clutching Jerry, Brandy and JD the whole way. :D After the basement, we stayed and hung out, watching the cameras in the basement for a while with Kari.

We left NE, heading downtown to meet up with everyone for Rock Band at Grumpy's. The guy running the night forgot the freakin' game! I couldn't believe it! He brought all of his RB gear, his XBox, and all of his sound equipment, but not the freakin' game. FTW. Once it got going, the night was pretty fun. Like karaoke, only with your RB guitar in tow. :) Tara was AMAZING--she kicked some serious ass on guitar and vocals in "You Oughta Know". She also owned all over the drums during some hard Chili Peppers songs.

At the end of the night, we headed back to Jerry's place. Watched some more LOST, drank a Dr. Pepper. The usual. :)

Sunday, Tiff allowed me the luxury of an extra hour of sleep. So great! After Tiff's, I headed to the grocery. I bought some baking supplies and fried rice supplies. Nate met me at my place, and we baked banana bread together. So great! I met Jerry over at Thad and Carmen's place for Sunday night fun. Carmen made this AMAZING Greek-inspired dish in the crockpot. Eggplant and other veggies, tofu, and sheep's cheese on top. Served over cous cous...delish! We headed back to my place for the night. :)

Monday, Jerry got up early and headed on in to work. I slept fairly late after he left...I really need to knock that business off. Get up when he gets up, seriously! I headed in to work at 3pm and made a decent chunk of change. Probably for the best, since I haven't really worked all week since. :(

Tuesday, I felt very domestic all day. I washed lots of laundry, dealt with some paperwork things that needed dealing with. Washed some dishes. Walked to the grocery and back. Baked some tasty bits. :D Jerry was coming over after work, and I had dinner ready for him. Chicken legs, sweet corn, corn bread, and banana bread for dessert. I rock! He worked on some worky bits and I watched Everything is Illuminated. Good stuff!

We headed to Suzi's and he kept right on working on his stuff there, too! Had a couple of beers with good friends. Good times! We stayed at my place, watched a bit of LOST. We are like two old people, I swear!

Wednesday, he headed out to work, and I slept in again. :P Cleaned house a bit more, baked pie crust bits for SPW. We had a great crowd! Nate and Erin, Chris and Abi, Peter, Dave, Crystal, Wifey, Aaron, Ryan...we had a lot of fun with the pie theme, too!

Thursday, I mostly bummed around the house. I stayed up far too late Wednesday night, playing Beatles Rock Band all by my lonesome. :P I got up and ready to head to work, even lugged all of my Halloween gear out to the Jeep, only to find out the bugger wouldn't start. :(

I called work to let them know I'd be late, and they said I could just not come in if I wanted. I really wanted to work, but not if I wasn't going to make any money. :( :( :( I opted to stay home and deal with the car situation. I'm sure the new GM is less than thrilled about my attitude toward the few shifts I have that I don't show up to. To be fair, she offered the night off AND the information that we were slow as all getout. Bah.

I called Jerry and he suggested calling Dave. Dave happened to have his car savvy friend in the car with him, so they came over to take a look at it for me. The mechanic suggested new spark plugs and a few minor parts that would cost less than $60. Dave offered to put them in for me today. I owe him a big one! He's so generous. :)

We went to Jerry's to have a shower and relax for a few before dinner. We headed to Thad and Carmen's to meet up before dinner. I need to learn that Jerry needs to eat--often! He was grumpy and nearly faint with hunger by the time we got to The Anchor. We had a 20 minute wait for a table. We used our time wisely and knew what we wanted to order right away. The food came out quickly, which was good. Everything was so tasty! It was also really nice to hang out with Thad and Carmen outside of the house. We were like normal couples last night! :P

The four of us headed back to Thad and Carmen's for drinks and chilling. I fell asleep on the couch, Carmen headed to bed, while Jerry and Thad played Borderlands. I'm glad they got game time in. I promised I'd get Carmen out of the house for a girly night so they can have a boy night soon. :)

Jerry and I went to his place, watched two episodes of LOST, and fell asleep. We are pretty far in Season 3. If any of you people DARE to spoil anything else, we'll write you out of the new season. SRSLY. Nate spoiled stuff for us, Kari spoiled stuff for us...bah.

Whatever happened to the Bud Ice Penguin? Seriously, that was genius!

Wednesday, I got up and left the Arden B at a fairly early hour. I had errands to run in Minneapolis proper. I hit up the bank to buy a cashier's check for rent and get it off in the mail. Hit the grocery. Ya know. Stuff closer to home. :)

I had to work at 3, on the cocktail side. I had some fun customers, and was done by 11:30ish. I can't remember if I went to Indy or not. I think not. Stayed up far too late, fell asleep on the couch, as per usual.

Thursday was mostly uneventful. When you stay up too late and start work at 3pm, most of your morning/early afternoon is eaten up quickly. Work was fine but slow. Scott gave me a ride home...I don't remember why I didn't ride on Thursday, but it was what it was. Likely due to rain/cold weather.

Friday was crazy busy. I got up, did stuff around the house. Got to work at 3pm again. I had a couple of tables that stayed FOREVER. They tipped well enough, so I didn't really mind. It just sucked when Erin showed up to get me and I was scrambling to get out the door. I hate making people wait!

We went to Nancy's going away party. We are all so happy for her about her new job, but super sad that she had to relocate. Val, the girl who hosted the party, had such a gorgeous house! Her kitty was super cute, too! His name is The Dude, and he's a big bear of a Mainecoon. What a sweetheart, srsly.

Saturday, I had planned on taking the bus to Tiff's, but got up early in hopes of the weather holding out so I could scoot. The forecast looked promising, so I bundled up and headed outside to start my baby up. It died about a minute into warming it up. I was not pleased as I RAN my foolish ass the four blocks to the bus, all while wearing my boots, jacket and full faced helmet.

The lovely Erin came and got me at Tiff's to go eat some breakfast. We went to Luce downtown. Good food! She had a great coupon for brunch food, so that was the deciding factor. Moose and Suzi's sounded fun, but cheap = winnar. :) Many awesome girl chats were had. She is such an awesome friend!

We got back to Tiff's just in time for Asian Dan's stylish ass to show up with my little brother's cake from the Edelweiss Bakery in Prior Lake. Asian Dan, I owe you a big one! :) I hung out and played DS until my Mom showed up to get the cake. We went to my place to give the key to my scooter to Jonathon from Scooterville so he could tow it away. :( That made me so super sad.

I kept Mom company while she ate flautas at El Paraiso. I drank a beer. :P We ran some errands together--my Saturday afternoon/early evening plans were pretty much shot, due to my lack of scooter. We had registered for a Yelp event at the Soap Factory that ended up panning out nicely. Spike, Erin, Nate, Jerry and I all met up at varying points in our journey. The event was super fun! I was totally bummed to have missed out on my earlier plans, as well as the opening night of Marisol. I really need to get over there and see that show before it closes. I can't wait to see the lovely duchess_of_pie on stage!

Jerry and I went to Thad and Carmen's after the event was done. A great night of chilling with the Dahlberg's was had by all. Erin and Nate kept bugging us to come out, but we weren't feeling like being out and about. I looked super cute--Spike, Nate, Jerry AND Thad all said so. I think Thad's was motivated by the fact that I told him the other three guys all said so. :P WTG, Thad!

Sunday morning came all too quickly. Jerry took pictures of me in my dress before we left. I hope they turned out ok. :) I was super sleepy all day. I was late to Tiff's, I ran my bum off to catch buses and trains to Midtown Global Market. I got there just in time to meet Kelly with all of our booth gear. Nobody at the event knew their heads from holes in the ground, so it was a frustrating hour of setup.

Our booth neighbors, from Barbette, were super awesome. They gave us some crazy meat log things. I ate samples of lots of tasty foods at the event, drank entirely too many little cups of wine and beer, and went home fairly toasted. :P The guys from Barbette gave me a ride home so Kelly didn't have to go all the way back to Uptown. Ali lost his car, so the other guy (Matthew?) and I waited with the stuff until he found it.

After the event, I got home and took a freakin' nap. I was so tired! I met up with Jerry, Melissa, Kelvin and the other guy. They all had pizza. Jerry and Melissa had Bloody Marys, which looked more like a sandwich than a drink. :P The other two guys had beer. I had a very tasty Merlot and a Bavarian pretzel. So great! Jerry and I crashed at my place, which was nice. Jess had the heat on per my request. So toasty and warm! It was adorable to see Jerry crashing after one episode of LOST instead of ME crashing. :P That poor kid handles early mornings worse than I do.

Monday, we got up and messed around on the computers. Jerry watched a live online conference thing. We spent some time distracting each other from the conference, which was nice. ;) I made some eggs for breakfast.

Eventually, we got going. We headed to Diamonds Coffee House in NE. It's a super cute little place! I can wholeheartedly recommend that you go there and eat a veggie sammich on marble rye. Tomatoes, spinach, guacamole, pickles, cucumbers, guac...there was so much awesome stuff on that sammich!

We headed out from the coffee shop in the pouring rain toward Thad and Carmen's place. I had agreed to babysit Maewyn and Flannery so they could all go out for Ave's birthday. Maewyn pitched a bit of a fit when she realised that Mommy really was leaving, and again when she realised that Mommy really was gone. I left her to pitch her fits alone, and they ended rather rapidly.

Carmen bought sushi for dinner, and had macaroni dinners for the girls, too. Jerry and I shared the sushi plates, and the girls even ate some, too! They made cards for Ave, which was super sweet. I have my card from Flannery on my fridge. :)

Everyone came back from dinner, and we had pie. The key lime was supposed to have been kept frozen, we discovered, since it turned to pudding on our plates. :P It was still good, though! We all hung out together after Thad and Ave's parents left. Had a cocktail together, and took awesome pictures of Thad with his shirt tucked down in an awkward place. :P We have far too much fun together, I swear!

I told Carmen to keep her $20 that she wanted to pay me. Dinner and dessert were by FAR enough payment. If she had insisted on paying me, I would have just taken the $$ and bought them another bottle of gin. :P We ended up back at Jerry's place since I didn't have to be anywhere in particular until Wednesday at 4.

Tuesday, we got up at an ok hour. Dragging yourself out of bed when it's cold SUCKS. I know it will only get worse, but that doesn't mean I have to like it right now. I worked on my resume and looked around for jobs. I tried to get further on updating, but as you can plainly see, I'm still a few days behind schedule. Whoops!

We did our regular Tuesday thing. Dinner with his family. Homemade chicken noodle soup, omg! It was so tasty! His Mom even made applesauce and potato bread. I could have died and gone to heaven, I swear. Went to Suzi's for the beers. I felt like I was interrupting boy talk time between Jerry and Thad, mainly because they were talking iPhone and computer stuff that I don't understand.

Nate came to my rescue and we talked about life in general. I'm sad Erin couldn't make it, but I hope she can soon. I think everyone would really like her. :) I hope *I* can keep going over the winter. Blerg, MN winters!

Wednesday, we got up and I made some eggs again. Tasty business! And I'm getting really good at it! Tiff, you are a genius in the kitchen. Jerry loves the basted eggs. :) Jerry remembered that he had allergy shots at 1, so we had to jet. We also went to the Aveda Institute for haircuts! Jerry needed one for his interview, and I needed one because my hair was out of control. :P The girl did a great job on mine, but she was so slow! Mostly, I appreciate how slow she was, because I feel like she did a good job. Plus, it's nice to have someone take extreme care when you are doing a fairly major hair cut. :)

After that, we had to fairly fly over to my place. I grabbed my shirt, apron and shoes and bolted out the door. I met with a friend of Nate's from Keller Williams. They are doing a party this month, and want us to cater. Super! Work was fairly uneventful, and I left with $14 after tip-out. LAME. I stayed for an hour or so to do the schedule. I'll do the next week's schedule soon, I'm sure.

I met Crystal at Independent for a beer. We chatted about this and that. Her hair looks super cute! Still fairly red, but it's a darker red. I like it. :) We went to Rainbow to use the coinstar thing. Next time, I told her I'd do it for her at Wells Fargo for FREE. We parted ways, and I tried to find tasty things in the grocery, to no avail. Jerry walked me home over the phone. I watched a bit of 30 Rock, fell asleep on the couch. Blah.

Thursday, I got up at a decent hour. I met a guy in Uptown to take a test drive of his car. It's a nice enough car, and would likely last through the winter just fine. He wanted $1400 for it...I'd maybe give him a grand based on what needs to be done. The lovely Nate came with me for the test drive. After the ride, I headed to work.

We had a CRAZY dinner rush. I made $82 in tips! So great. We literally had zero customers in the place at 11pm, so we got the OK from John to close. I wish we wouldn't have. As I was leaving, a couple of groups of people tried to go in, but it was closed. They were not pleased, and neither was I. People won't know that we're open if we don't consistently stay open til a set hour.

The loaner died when I tried to leave. I walked most of the way home, and then my co-worker brought me home after buying me a shot. Crazy. I called Bob at Scooteville and left a message, so they knew when and how I got home, and that it was NOT on the loaner they gave me.

Of course, shortly after I got home, my phone wouldn't work. Turns out, Wifey's phone didn't work either, so it was some glitch in the T-Mobile systems at 1am. greh.

Friday, being today, has been pretty calm. I got up around 11. Took a call from Anna saying she was sick and didn't feel up to Uptown. I totally understand, and really wanted her to stay home if she was sick.

I met Bob from Scooterville behind Abilene to do the scooter exchange. I had no idea he was going to bring me a Buddy, but I'm glad he did. It's such a nice ride! I'm sad that we are slated to get snow tonight...I'm going to attempt to sneak my baby into the garage for the imminent doom. Holy crap, I just called it *my* baby. EEEEE!

Right now, I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. I think I'm getting sick. I have to pee every couple of hours and I'm tired as hell. No, I'm NOT pregnant, thankyouverymuch. :P

That leaves us where we are NOW. Caught up on updating eljay. Sleepy as all get out. Not wanting to go to work tonight. Not wanting to go to Tiff's super early tomorrow. Not wanting to go to Tiff's at 8 on Sunday. Not wanting to work Sunday afternoon. Why am I so negative right now? What do I WANT to do, I wonder?

Friday, we got up and had our Deluxe Breakfast at the hotel (that didn't include coffee or juice...wtf) and checked out. We convinced the front desk people to hang on to our stuff while we walked around. Super nice! We found a lot of neat art, walked around town, and packed it up pretty early. Both of us were feeling crappy, and we wanted to beat the rain.

Of course, as soon as we got on the road, it started raining. We figured we could handle a little rain...until it started POURING on our heads. :P We pulled off the road at the first paved driveway we found, and hung out on someone's front step with an overhang area for about half an hour. :P We tried to get garbage bags out of the deal to use as raincoats, but no dice. Both of the houses we tried, there was nobody home. Oh well.

By the time we got home, we were soaked to the bone, had water pooled at our elbows, and frozen through and through. We stripped all of our gear off, threw things in the washer and dryer, and huddled under the covers with soup and hot beverages. Watched a bit stuff on the tee vee, took a bit of a nap...got up in time to head to NE for Wes and Lydia Burdine's housewarming party.

We invited Erin to join us, and I'm so glad she did! I really love Jerry's friends, but I don't have the same kind of history with them, so I don't 100% fit in with them just yet. It was nice to have Erin and Spike join the fun. Lydia made PHENOMENAL Minestrone. Wes is such a lucky guy! If he ever gets sick of her, he can send her MY way. SRSLY. ;)

Nate joined the party at some point. Things at the party lasted a little later than anticipated. Wes had gone to bed earlier, and Lydia announced around 2:30 that she was in need of hitting the hay. Since Erin lives directly across the street from them, I suggested we move the party over there so the Burdines could get some sleep. We ended up staying at Erin's place until around five in the morning! I'm pretty sure I was still drunk in the morning when I got up to head to Tiff's. :P

Saturday, I had a very rocky ride to Tiff's. I had to still be drunk, and that turned into a nasty hangover. :P It was a beautiful day out, so we decided to go to the Ren Fest. I'm so glad we did! The crowd wasn't too thick, the weather was perfect, and we had a great time. Ran into Ann and Dani at their booths. We popped in to a couple of shows, one comedy/Robin Hood thing, followed by the belly dancers. Caught a few minutes of Puke and Snot, who added an animatronic bird to their routine...weird. I looked at rings, but didn't see anything that I couldn't live without. One shop had a beautiful ring in a light green, but I wanted the dark green. If they'd had the dark green, I would have bought myself a new ring. :P

I got all dressed up, which was fun. I wore one of my new wrap dresses, my flip flops, and did my hair. I totally looked like a girl! :P We ate pickles, corn, turkey legs, and florentine ice. Jerry had the REDDEST teeth and lips when we ran into Twig the Fairy. We got wishing stones and gave her tips. So cute!

We stopped at my place for a bit and ate some dinner. We ended up falling asleep on the couch instead of parting ways before the parties we had to attend. Whoops! When we came to, we headed to Spike's b-day party at Grumpy's, and then to Crystal's b-day party at Tiff's condo. Both were super fun! People said that we both looked about dead, but they were still happy to see us. :) I was happy to see everyone, too! :) After the parties, we headed back to Jerry's place for the night and passed the eff out!

Sunday, I dragged myself out of bed over to Tiff's again. Good times! I met up with Erin, Jonathon Ford and his lady friend, and Eric at Sally's on the U campus for FOOTBALL. I had no idea what was going on, but apparently, it was super exciting. I enjoyed the free popcorn, the tall glasses of water, and the enthusiastic high five action. You can't go wrong with high fives!

*****

At this point, Sunday is only half completed, but I am out of time. This story and more, to be continued...

Wednesday night was so super fun! People convened at Jerry's house for a night of game playing and drinks. Off the top of my head, it was Brian, Amanda and Chris, Brandy and JD, Wifey, Crystal, Carmen and Anna, Asian Dan, Erin, Spike, Nate...and that's about all I can come up with this second. I'm sure there were more of you, and I sincerely apologise to anyone I may have forgotten. :( Good times were had by all! The stragglers left around 1 or so. Quite a successful hangout at the Arden B Casa de Jerry. :)

Thursday, we got up and ambled about the house for a bit. Got on the road to Stillwater around 1 and arrived before 2. It's only a 20 mile drive from Arden Hills to StilH20! We walked up and down the main drag in an effort to kill a little time, and to find a suitable place for lunch. We ended up at a cute little restaurant with a retro arcade theme. Jerry played about five free games of pinball. He is (very rightly) convinced that his super power is to get free pinball wherever he goes. As soon as I touched the machine, it stopped giving him free games. He even got a quarter out of the return slot! Wacky. The place had great sandwiches, too. :)

It was finally close enough to 4pm so we could check in to our hotel. Cute little place! Of course, we got in the elevator with an older couple who had just checked in and was staying down the hall from us. Awkward conversation ensued. :P I've never gotten why it's considered weird or impolite to not make pointless conversation in situations like that...

We found our room--it was beautiful! It was really spacious, with super high ceilings. The bed was nice, but Jerry kept hitting himself on it. First, his head on the decorative carved headboard, and then his knee on the bed frame. Poor guy! We hung out in the room for a bit. Got some ice to keep our beer cold, then hit the road to see the sights.

For those of you who have never been to Stillwater, it's a touristy town. Nothing is open on a Thursday after 5pm. Probably rightly so, but it makes for a slow night for anyone who is there on a weeknight. :P We walked down by the river. Got some good shots of the water, birds and spiders. We tried in earnest to work off our late lunch so that we would be hungry for dinner later. The last place we checked out before heading back to the hotel for dinner was kind of on a lark. They advertised buy one get one free t-shirts. As we walked by, a really pretty dress caught my eye, so we stopped in. I ended up buying a couple of Kariza Wraps. They are super pretty and now I have two gorgeous dresses that fit well and I like the style. :D I wore one to dinner. :)

As we got ready for dinner, Jerry popped the cork on the champagne. It shot pretty far and ricocheted several times. I am always too scared to open champagne. :P We ended up taking the rest of the bottle with us to dinner, which was nice. Dinner was so fancy! We had the choice of an appetizer to share, soup or salad each, an entree each and dessert each. WAAAAAY too much food, if you ask me! We shared the artichoke dip and each had chicken noodle soup. He had fancy kebabs with steak, sausage and shrimp. I had a cream sauce pasta with smoked chicken. I could only eat about five bites of my meal by the time I was through with the first two courses. Dessert (Bailey's cheesecake for me, caramel apple pie for him) had to be boxed up. We couldn't eat another bite!

It was really nice to be there on a weekday. There was one other couple in the dining area when we arrived, and they left fairly early on in our meal. There were two dining rooms, as well as a patio outside. It was starting to cool off, so we opted for the inner dining room. It was nice to have a big table with lots of room to spread out. We had some lovely chats over dinner, and then sauntered back up to our room. On the way back up, Jerry wanted to stop by the scotch tasting event that was going on. The guy who was running it had chatted with Jerry earlier about scotches and liquors and whatnot. Jerry was totally right that we would be able to get a taste of a very fine scotch when the event was over. I didn't know thing one about it, other than it tasted better than I anticipated scotch would, and that it cleared my sinuses rather well. :)

We had a great night in Stillwater. We hung out in the room's hot tub for goodness only knows how many hours. I'm really wishing I had a hot tub in my room right about now. I don't think I would ever leave it in this kind of weather! :P Drank some Two Hearted...I spilled some Two Hearted on the bed and on Jerry. Whoops! I fell asleep while Jerry was watching crazy public access TV. All in all, a very successful trip...that was only half over!

Tuesday, we woke up and parted ways at a fairly early hour. Jerry had physical therapy for his shoulder at noon or noon thirty, I can't remember. I did more unpacking and sorting. Met up with ande2713, spikenheimer and Shaya for dinner at the Red Stag. It was cheap date night, but the menu didn't really appeal to any of us. Mussels and cod with fennel, anise and YUCK. I was super bummed that it wasn't a better option. :(

I had julienne cut zucchini that was cooked in olive oil with slivers of almonds. I also had a plate of gnocchi with a creamy butter sauce and sweet corn. I about DIED of happy. I tried to save a bite for Jerry, but he got there too late.

After dinner, Erin, Jerry and I headed to her place to help her pack. She made us the tastiest gin and tonics! They didn't even need limes! :D It was sad seeing her pack. I'm glad we could be there to help. :)

After packing, we headed to Suzi's. Had a good night with everyone there. Headed back to Jerry's for the night. It just blows my mind that his place is so much closer to NE than mine! :P

Wednesday, got up and headed home to Minneapolis to finish unpacking. I probably made it to about 80% unpacked. damncutekitty called asking what kind of liquor I'd like to have for the pre-season SPW! I stopped and got sammiches for us, as well as limes for the Corona and tonic for my gin. :D tallelfdave brought cookies and milk, as well as a tube of crescent rolls for lisianthia. :D

Jason D showed up, but alas, Asian Dan did not. We fired him briefly, but when we discovered that he was doing inventory at a Radio Shack, we hired him back on. Jess tried the drums, which was awesome! We think she found her calling in the Rock Band world!

SPW didn't go terribly late. I stayed up for a bit after everyone had left and played some Katamari. :D

All in all, I'd say I had a pretty satisfying three days off. I got plenty of sleep, did most of my unpacking, and got to hang out with lots of awesome friends. I can't wait for October!

Last night, a_jaclyn, damncutekitty, and tallelfnorth came for a visit.

Tonight, anney and her special man friend came for dinner.

Later in the evening, I had DOLLAR [BACON] TACOS with the Pantswife. I hope I get to hang out with kewl friends again tomorrow night! :D

O, HARRO, INTERNETS! I haven't seen you since last Friday. I was so sad! :P

Actually, I've been SO BUSY. I ended up staying up super late Friday night, go figure.

Saturday, got up and headed DT. Tiff was on the fence as to whether or not she wanted to go to the OMGWFTBBQ or not, so I headed out to meet bertine and lisianthia on their walk around the lakes.

The OMGWTFBBQ was a lot of fun! Many new eljay peeps were met and many tasty treats were consumed. It was windy as hell at the falls, but still fun. I will post pictures soon. :)

Jess and I headed back to my place post-OMGWFTBBQ-ing for chats. That was really nice! We hung out until 8, when I had to get ready for the epic cabin weekend and for going to get Whirled. Hastily, I packed a bag, whipped through the shower, and hopped on my scooter to head to NE.

When I arrived in NE at 8:50, there was a really loud band playing, and a few people standing about. Not really the expected size crowd for something slated to start at 9pm. Jerry showed up but none of his friends did. Turns out, the thing ended at 9pm because it had started at 9pm the previous day. Whoops.

We ended up scooting to the House of Dahlberg for drinks and food. Carmen and I had many lovely chats, while Thad and Jerry got to watch movies and have boy chats. :P Too fun! We had the tastiest pizza and grilled zucchini and squash. Thad made sake-martinis and Carmen made us girls cosmos. So great! I <3 them so hard. :)

Tuesday, worked at 3pm. Nothing terribly exciting there. Post work, I headed out to the Arden B for Jerrytime. :)

Wednesday, slept in! It was so great! I woke up to Jerry working on some computer stuff, and I played Katamari. I love that game so hard! We bummed about the house, ran some scooter errands...nothing terribly exciting, but still nice. I love my flexible job situation! We totally went to Columbia Heights to Chet's Shoes to buy motorcycle boots. I got the Best Boots Ever. You will all die of joy. Jerry's boots are pretty bangin', too. We also scooted past my old 'hood in CH. He offered to take a picture of me in front of my old house, but I declined. :P

His friends came over around 6 for writing. I made dinner for the two of us, listened in for a bit, then hit up the living room for some DS time. I had a nap on the couch--pasta makes me sleepy! We watched The Accomplice as a group. Tons of fun! Sad that Amanda wasn't there, but happy she had a good time at the game.

Thursday, woke up at a more reasonable hour. I had a stretch in the living room and painted my toenails. Jerry worked on some freelance stuff, and we got out to run scooter errands again. We returned his laptop chill mat to Staples, hit up Target, and went back to his place. Had a lovely round of Jynnan Tonnyx before heading back to Minneapolis for CRAZY HOUR at the Ab.

Met up with Jess, Crystal, Tiff and Peter for some tasty dinner. Many tasty beers and margaritas were consumed, as well as Ahi Tuna! I've been waiting for that tuna steak for SO LONG. :P

Jerry and I went to Floyd's in Uptown for haircuts. I got three inches taken off my hair! I just about died! :P Jerry's hair looks quite nice. It was edging rapidly past the point of "cute messy" look into "crazy curly" territory. :P

We had a scoot to my spot and had a lovely sit. When it got too cold, we moved back to my place for laundry and DS time. We totally fell asleep before I changed the laundry over into the dryer. I wish I hadn't, because I ended up waking up around 4 to do so. :P

Friday, I woke up slightly later than I would have liked to. I had a great morning laying about in bed and watching Jerry play Scrabble. I scooted to Maple Grove to meet Mom and Grandma for lunch. Of course, I was about 20 minutes late. I swear, if I'm on time to my own funeral, I'll be disappointed in myself.

We had a lovely lunch of Chinese buffet. SO TASTY! I hopped back on my scooter and headed home. I had about five minutes at home before walking out the door to head to work. The story of my life--five minutes at home and then back on the road. :P The rain cooled the patio off considerably, and I left work with $20 at the end of my shift. I really hope the weather looks up next week. I work W-Su, all really good shifts, so I'm not too worried. Bleh to you, money.

That leaves us where we are now--I'm chilling solo on the couch. I could have tried to join up with Jerry in NE or gone for movies with my ladies in DT, but I decided to camp in. I had a lovely dinner of a chicken sammich and a Jynnan Tonnyx. I'm considering some Rock Band, but should really dig through my clothes and try to de-clutter. I might just call it all a loss and go to bed even though it's only 9. :P

Woke up this morning to an ungodly loud television set. Even if I didn't have to be up to go to work, I would have been up for that. Arg.

Got to Tiff's at a reasonable hour--10:05. Much better than 10:45 like last week.

Crystal joined Tiff at 10:45 to get ready to leave for Mayday. I'm so sad I can't go to the parade this year! It was so beautiful and amazing last year.

I stayed and worked out for about an hour. I'm proud of myself for going without Jess for once! I normally don't if she's not coming. I'm getting better!

Drove home behind the slowest, most indecisive people EVER. Why does the term Sunday Driver have to be so friggin' true?! >:(

Came home. Ate a chocolate pie. Took a much needed shower. Checking in on the internets before work...bleh.

After work, if there is time, I might go to Carmen and Thad's for a bit. The most likely situation is that I will come home and do laundry. Exciting!

Take care, kids. See you all soon!

Since Sunday...hrm...

Went to brunch with four of my favorite people. :) It was super tasty and wonderful to see Crystal and Claire all dressed up! I wish I still had my scrubs!

Post brunch, I crashed SO HARD for a much needed nap. I meant to take a shorter one so I could join Crystal and Jess for some pedicure time, but I slept an hour and a half past my original alarm time. :( I booked it over to the U to meet Jerry so we could head to dinner together. I met some of his church friends (they are all so nice!) and we headed to Thad's for some tasty noms.

Thad's wife and daughters didn't come with to church due to the rain. They might melt? :P I brought flowers for everyone, because anyone with half a brain knows that you don't go to dinner at a friend's house for the first time without gifts for the ladies of the house.

The Dahlbergs have a super awesome house! It's very nicely decorated and furnished. I can't wait to have a nicely decorated and furnished house...wait, yes, yes I can. HA! Their older daughter was really shy with me. You could tell she wanted a flower, but didn't have the guts to ask for one. Their younger daughter came right up, took a flower, and invited me downstairs to check out the movie they were watching.

The younger one (Maywyn?) was SOOOOO cute. She had an orange fleece blanket, and as soon as we sat down on the couch, she cuddled up next to me, threw the blanket over my legs, and said, "This blanket is for cuddling up."

I don't normally think little kids are all that cute, but this was FREAKIN' ADORABLE. She sat curled up under my arm, leaning her head on my chest while we watched Bolt. Adorable. As soon as Jerry and Thad joined us, she sat up and started being more animated...of course. ;)

The girls went upstairs to get ready for bed, and Jerry read them their stories. First was a strange Star Wars book introducing us to the wild world of bad guys in the series. Second was a book that was handwritten by one of the girls. Super cute.

After the girls were put to bed, we headed back to the kitchen for some adult beverages. Jerry, Carmen and Thad all had whiskey, while I opted for an Izze-gin drink. Tasty business! Their friend, Forrest, showed up, and we took time out to watch Jizzed in my Pants and I'm on a Boat. We all nearly died of laughter. We also watched the Auto Tuned News.

Jerry suddenly wants a vocoder. Go figure. :P

We ate an awesome dinner of whole wheat pasta and home made sauce. I skipped the sauce so I didn't piss off my tummy, but it still smelled really great! Post dinner, we all headed downstairs to watch [and make fun of] cable TV. Tons of fun!

Around midnight, we headed back to the Arden B. I think we headed to bed at a decent hour--2am or so. The kitteh was SO NAUGHTY. She wouldn't calm down till after 6am!

We got up Monday morning around 11am. He beat Portal with my help and gazing support. It was really cool to see and hear Still Alive in its original context. :)

Spent a few hours bumming about the house. Jerry got some stuff done in terms of phone calls that needed making...I got some student loan stuff done. I still need to deal with Enterprise. Fuckers. >:(

We headed back to Minneapolis around 6pm. Made a quick stop off at UPS to pick up my sexy new phone. Chris, Amanda, Jess and Crystal all came over for some Rock Banding. Amanda bought some new songs! SO great.

Friends dispersed around 10pm. Jerry and I stayed up till midnight-ish watching An Evening with Kevin Smith. I can't wait to get to disc two! It gets intense. :)

We got up and headed to the workings out with the Wifey. One of these days, I am going to rock her face and be there SO EARLY. I'm really sad it wasn't today. :P BUT SOON. Hopefully, tomorrow. She's not holding her breath, though. I'm so bad at getting up early!

That leaves us where we are now. Post working out, I'm full, happy, and still have awesome friends. I rock so hard!

Time for a shower and a scoot. Jess brought me some chicken from Cub yesterday. She said it was on sale. I need to take an inventory of available foods in my house and hit up the grocery. No repeats this time!

Tonight, it's dinner date with Jerry night. We are going to some place in Northeast. Can't remember what it's called, but I will update later. We are hitting up Suzi's afterward, too!

<3

Sunday last, we had epic BIG MAGICAL BURRITO night at el Manfort for the Final SPS. It was bittersweet. I think Adam (Ryan's brother) enjoyed the burritos the most. Things ended pretty early.

Monday, I got a phone call from my client at 8am, saying that she wouldn't be needing me, since her mother was going in for heart surgery. Jess and I went for the workings out, so that was nice. Monday was also my first day at my new job! I took it easy after the workings out so I could get ready and rock the house. :)

Tuesday, got up and worked out with the Wifey. After the workings out, I called Lila to let her know I wouldn't be able to keep working for her. The workings out plus the new job are just too much! :/ The Wifey and I went thrift store shopping. I got three pairs of pants and four fancy dresses (from various locations) for $60. EPIC. Had another successful night at the pantswerk. :D Post werk, I headed out to the Arden B for a nice night in. :)

Wednesday, left the Arden B around 4pm so I could be home in time for guests to arrive. We held the first portion of the final SPW over here. I think things went over well. It was just like the original days, when people all brought tasty noms to share. EVERYONE dressed up! I couldn't believe how GOOD everyone looked! :) The party ended over at Ryan's around midnight or so. I know it didn't go late. Six straight months of partying with only two weeks (Christmas Eve and NYE both fell on Wednesdays in 2008) off really does a person in. I'm still super stoked for SPW at the Casa de Pantalones come fall 2009. :)

Thursday, Jerry and I slept in. We were supposed to go work out, but we totally didn't make it. We did, however, make it to Obento-ya for lunch with the Pantswife and Amanda. Epic times were had on the bus ride back home--I got off to buy flowers, then managed to make it back on the same bus for the ride back to Jessica's place! I had a lovely walk home with just enough time to get ready for another exciting night at the Ab. :) Post werk, I scooted to the Arden B and picked up Taco Bell on the way. They discontinued the spicy chicken. We need to make phone calls, people. I am NOT a happy camper. >:( Stayed up way too late, as per usual. :P:

Friday, Jerry and I got up around 11 or so to start some work on his place. I am such a nice girlfriend! ;) We prepped the kitchen for painting by emptying out the hutch and taping the borders that needed taping. I headed back to Minneapolis around 3pm so I would have time before the pantswerk. I saw a BEAUTIFUL bride and her groom taking pictures with a couple of attendants in tow at Powderhorn Park on my way home. I love weddings SO much! :) I could seriously smell her flowers for blocks. They were so fragrant! Had a wonderfully successful night at the Ab, and my friends even came to see me! Big thanks go out to luno, damncutekitty and lisianthia and her two friends. I love nothing more than to have friends come and request my section of tables. :) Jess, Crystal and I hit up the Red Dragon for a round of shots after werk. We also got a pizza that I ended up eating most of, since I hadn't really eaten the entire day. Whoops!

Saturday, I overslept. I think I set an alarm, but I totally slept through it or turned it off if I did. I called Tiff in a panic at 10:20 and got there by 10:40. I told her that IF for some reason she decided to NOT fire me today, would she please promise to do it if I'm late again?! I felt sooooo bad! :( Jess and I worked out, then ran a few errands. I got tasty granola bars at Lund's, and we bought tasty things at Rainbow. I only had a little bit of time before my big, bad, food running shift at 6pm. I was only at werk till 9pm (which was super nice!) and then walked home. Jess considered coming over, but I got to take a much needed nap instead. :) Jerry came over slightly after midnight, and we ended up staying up till after 4am. Greh, no wonder I feel like I could--and potentially will--fall over at any moment. Whoops!

Sunday, I set three alarms with the hope that I would get up on time. I totally did! Jerry lent me the use of his car for the slick ride Downtown. That was really nice, because then I didn't have to get all geared up and psyched up to go DT in the rain. :) I filled up his gas tank as a thank you. :) I convinced him that he needed to go to brunch with us at the Ab. It was strange not working while I was there! Claire, Jess and Crystal joined us, and we spent much time talking about CVG09. That makes me happy. I just hope I can get the days off!

That leaves us where we are now. I'm falling asleep, full as a tick and sleep deprived, and needing a nap. I'm headed to the Arden B tonight. See you all on the flip side. :)

Since Tuesday, so much has happened! I have no idea how I fit it all in...or how I'll be able to keep it up once the new job starts! ;)

Wednesday morning, got up and worked out with the Pantswife. Had another day with the new client...I doubt this will last much longer. I'm feeling too spread thin with time. :( I talked to some good peeps on the phone, which was nice. Met up with the Pantswife to take things to donate at Savers. She ended up locking her keys in her car (doh!) but luckily, she has AAA. I really need to get that!

I was talking on the phone with T-Mobile, trying to negotiate a new cell phone and/or plan, but the rep didn't know her head from a hole in the ground. I told her I'd call back at a later date. I should almost do that now. Back to Wednesday, the guy with the magic device was "totally fucking me with his eyes" according to Jess. I kinda noticed, but it was more like "You are creepy and staring at me--stop it."

After the lock out incident, I ran some errands. Got many tasty noms at the grocery, so that makes me happy. SPW was ok. I hate to say it, but I'm happy to see it coming to a close for the season. Things just aren't right in their new location. :( Fear not, for they will start back up in the fall! :)

Jerry totally brought me another mug! I <3 my mug collection! This one is a coconut. It's a different finish than they used to have, though. It's matte instead of shiny. I like it, though. :)

Thursday, I totally got to sleep in, which was a nice change of pace. I wish we had gotten up just a slight bit earlier, though, because Jerry's call totally got towed. Fucking street sweepers. >:( We had originally intended to have a Calhoun picnic, walk, and scoot, but the fates decided otherwise. We had our picnic on the front lawn of my apartment building, then I loaded him up on the back of the scooter and hit the Minneapolis Impound Lot.

Two hundred dollars later, we headed back to my place. Jerry didn't get as much done on his resume stuff as he should have, but I can't say I blame him. What a total bummer! We sat about the house for a bit, then he headed home to Arden B, and I followed shortly thereafter on the scooter. I found a really nice way to get where I need to go without having to deal with Lake Street. Yay!

We had a very relaxing evening of playing video games and watching shows until it was time to head to Mady's. I am so sad to say that I lived in CH for over 12 years and had NEVER been there! I always used to go bowling at the place in the Central Plaza. Can't remember the name...oh well. I can honestly say I'll be going back to Mady's again soon. Great fries, good atmosphere, and nice people working there. :) We had a very lovely scoot back to Arden B to turn in for the night.

Friday, I got up at the ass crack of dawn (9:30) and headed back to Minneapolis for some workings out. I didn't leave as early as I wanted to, so no time for breakfast. :( I won't be making that mistake again! We had a very tasty lunch of quesadillas left over from Monday. I still have the makings, and I really need to feed them to someone before the cheese goes bad. Any takers? :)

I mostly bummed about the house and caught up on internet stuff. Uploaded more pictures, but there are more new ones every day. It feels like such an overwhelming project sometimes! I'm uploading even MORE right now! :P Check out sbj_photos for a selection that I like!

I was going to meet up with Brandy and JD at Altered Esthetics, but I got there too early. Totally should have called before I left! I had to be at pixiecup's place at 9, so I headed home for some dinner and Wii. :)

It was a beautiful night out, so I walked to her place. I didn't think I'd be staying over night, so I didn't scoot. Next time, I totally will. :) I stayed up till at least 2, playing DS (thanks for the magic card, Jerry!), reading books, and writing letters. Many of you will be the lucky recipients of these letters. Watch your post boxes! :D

Saturday, got up around 9 or so. Loaded up my stuff, walked home, and got on the scooter. I looked for a post box the ENTIRE walk back to my place, as well as the drive to Tiff's. No dice. Why are post boxes so friggin' scarce these days?! >:( It wasn't a total disaster, however, because I ran into a postal worker downtown! She totally took my stack of letters and put them in her van. SO great!

Got my ASS handed to me by Jessica's FINE ASS personal trainer friend. He made the whole deal manageable. :P I'm looking forward to more cardio exercises. I think I've worked my way up to that. I could do most of it, so that felt good. I'm paying for it today though!

Post working out, we went to Noodles for some Japanese Pan Noodles. So tasty! We hit up Trader Joe's for some cheap wine and tasty noms. I got a new wine key, too! It's much nicer than my old one. :) Met up with Crystal, Bertine, Zach and Warr at the best spot in Minneapolis. I <3 my friends. :)

Got a little tipsy sitting at the lake, which was probably a bad idea. We dropped Crystal off, then stopped at our respective homes to get ready to go out for the girl's night! The Legion was DEAD, which was good and bad. I was pretty freakin' drunk (of which I am NOT proud--I'm actually rather embarrassed and disappointed in myself), so I'm glad there were few opportunities to do dumb shit. :/ It was good, though, because that means we got to sing. A LOT! I want to go again to sing! I'm sure my singing sucked SO HARD, but it was still fun. :)

Poor Jerry came to collect my drunk ass on his scooter. I'm so lucky to have had him taking care of me in my sorry state. I really felt like an ass this morning, but I'm glad he hasn't run away just yet. ;) I sincerely hope to eat more next time, so as not to be so godawful gone by the time I see him. *facepalm*

Sunday, got up and headed Downtown. I had glorious plans to work out, go to a Twins game, and get out to enjoy my day! Unfortunately, it was raining outside, I was sore as a mo-fo after the boxing class yesterday, and slightly hung over. I'm happy to report that much of the soreness and all of the hangover are gone. :)

Jerry and I bummed about the house. Made breakfast/lunch, and he watched me play video games while he wrestled with his website stuff. I got to try out Mario Galaxies and Elebits on the Wii. I'm not writing them off just yet, but they will definitely take some getting used to. He really likes watching me play, or having me watch him. I agree, that for the most part, video games are great group activities, even if only one person is playing. :)

That leaves us where we are now. Jerry left a bit ago on his scooter, to head to church and do his Sunday stuff. I'm doing a load of laundry, and walking my ass out the door in a few to meet Crystal at the grocery. It's BIG MAGICAL BURRITO night at SPS! Can't wait!

I last left off, dear friends, on Tuesday in the late afternoon/early evening hours.

Post Abilene's tequila class, I met up with the Wifey and DCK for some laundry action. I <3 Rainbow Laundry in Uptown SO HARD. The people who run it are so sweet and the place is really comfy to hang out. We had tasty Chipotle for dinner, and a great time getting rid of unnecessary items. I totally got rid of so many shirts that reminded me of D and some assorted household items that reminded me of someone else. It's mega spring cleaning time in my world--stay tuned for a totally emo post about everything that's happened in the span of the last 365 days. Those posts aren't limited to New Year's. ;)

Wednesday, the Wifey and I got up and did our usual morning work out, coupled with a tasty lunch. I think this is the day that all I really had to eat was peanut butter sammiches. I really need some sammich meat. :P It was another successful SPW. We had Raw Food as the theme, and Ryan made us sushi! We are so spoiled. :)

Thursday, had another lovely work out with the Wifey. I love being active! I can definitely feel it when I haven't been keeping it up. Plus, it's been great that we get there when nobody else is there, so I can watch TCM. I <3 old movies! My last shift at the Vesc was nice, I made some good tips, and got the eff out of dodge. This was the day that Jerry found out about his job letting him go. I had hoped to meet up with him, but he had something going on in Saint Paul, so I decided to go home. As per my usual, I didn't stay home long--I was too antsy to stay in. The Wifey and DCK met up with me at Plan B for some late night beverages and gabbing. So great are my friends!

Friday, got up super early and worked out with Ryan! That was a surprising turn of events. I think he overdid it a bit on the machines and the lifting. I hope he keeps it up so it gets easier and less hard on his muscles. I know I had to get over that initial week or so before my body stopped complaining. I hopped on the scooter and headed up to el Arden B. Had a very lovely lazy Friday, learning how to play Beautiful Katamari (that I now can't wait to play again!) and watching movies. Jerry and I had a wonderful dinner of chicken, veggies, bread and Lambic. Many episodes of my favorite British comedy were watched while imbibing said Lambic.

Saturday, slept in until noon, maybe noon-thirty. Had a lovely breakfast at 2:30 on a sunny porch. Bummed about the Arden B, then headed to see the Roller Girls. It was a very exciting bout, and I'm anticipating seeing many more next season! I'm still sad about Savage Animal breaking her leg. I hope she recovers soon. :) Brandy, JD, Carrie, Jerry and I went to the 331, only to decide it was too crowded. We substituted the Knight's Cap for a round of beverages post-bout. We ended up back at Brandy and JD's place for some late night Venture Brothers. I can't wait to see the first two seasons so that season 3 will make more sense. :P

Sunday, got up at the crack of dawn to head back to Minneapolis. I got to Tiff's place FAR too early, so I chilled with Pixie and Daphne for a bit before disturbing Tiff's beauty sleep. ;) Worked out with the Wifey, had some lunch, then bummed about the house doing laundry and the likes until it was time for SPS. SPS was fairly short-lived this time around. I'm sadly anticipating this coming to a close for the season. I think a lot of us (myself included) aren't enjoying the venue change, as well as the SEASON change--it's totally time for outside activities! :) Jess, Bertine and Zach came over for an Easter nightcap. Good times were had by all.

Monday, got up for a workout with the Pantswife, then off to my first day with my new client. It's...interesting. We'll leave it at that. I went on a very cathartic scoot around town. Procured tasty dinner items (read: ROCK YOUR FACE OFF MEXICAN FOOD!) from may locations around town. I rocked everyone's faces off at Amanda's for some bitchin' board game goodness. I'm still aching to play more Amanda-fam House Rules UNO. It was so much fun! Jerry came over and fixed my computer. I think we got rid of 15 gigs of stupid crap that was crapping up my computer. It's still not running terribly fast, but it's a start.

Today, being Tuesday, got up and went for a workout downtown. I love that we've been keeping this up on a regular basis! :D Met up with Jerry and the Wifey and had a low-key workout. I drank too much water and got a little sick twice. :( Had another day with the new client...yeah. Went on yet another cathartic scoot about the town. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures! Post-scoot, met up with DCK over here so I could take a shower and change clothes. Went to the Wifey's place for an epic girl's night. DCK, Wifey and Bertine were all in attendance. We had many good foods, chats and laughs. I <3 my girls.

That leaves us where we are right now. Tired, sore, in need of a back rub, maybe a beer. Unfortunately, I have none cold, so it will have to be a Jynnan Tonnyx if I do decide on a beverage other than water. I have many pictures to get through from the last two days. I think you'll like what you see.

<3

As per my usual, I've been keeping busy. I seriously feel like I've lived through about a week in the last two days!

Saturday: Got up with the intention of going to the post office to mail off some stuffs. Got to the post office and realised that I left what I wanted to mail on the kitchen table. Whoops! Got Tiff up, went and worked out with the Wifey. We had some nice chats and some nice workings outings. As I was finishing up, I got a hold of the Pantsmom. They were at the airport picking up Doug! I told them that if they felt like picking me up for some lunchie munchies that I would love to see everyone. They said they would get me and we'd go to Red Lobster. Awesome!

As Jess and I were parting ways, some people in the club room (right next to Tiff's workout room) invited us in for some cocktails. Jess declined, but I said I'd stop by after my shower and before leaving for lunch. They all had strange nicknames, and were impressed by my moniker of Pants. They thought I made it up on the spot! :P

I had to bail fairly quickly, as Mom, Doug and Darin were waiting for me outside. Doug brought me a super cute tea set from Japan! Last time he went, I asked for tea cups--I got sake cups. :P We had TASTY TASTY FOODS at Red Lobster. I tried the coconut shrimp and scallops with bacon (yes I have pictures) and they were great! My meal consisted of wood grilled jumbo garlic butter shrimp, and shrimp scampi. I was in HEAVEN, my friends! I need a good piece of bakeware so I can make my own scampi! :P

After lunch, Mom dropped me off at Lyndale, just off of 94. I had a bus pass, and the weather was nice enough, so I didn't mind. :) Things went a little sour, but I rebounded nicely. I took a shower, got all geared up, and went to Meeeeeguel's place to get my scooter. :) I am so happy when I can scoot!

I was supposed to go to jbru's place for an interview with Ericka, but time did NOT permit. Dinner and wine with the Wifey commenced at 7pm, and I had to be ready. Doug coming home threw a wrench in my schedule, but it was worth it. :) Thanks for being flexible, Peter!

Dinner was fun. The hosts had the CUUUUUTEST baby and a really nice little house. They also had the BEST hummus in the whole wide world. I can see a tub of that in my immediate future! :) We tried many tasty wines, many of which we sell at the Vesc. That was nice to try what I should be more familiar with.

Post dinner, we went to Jessica's studio for the SLEEPOVER! Jess, Tiff, Crystal, Jerry B, Joe, Claire and myself were all in attendance. Cosmo was read, White Castle was procured,m toenails were painted, games were played, food was eaten, and an all around good time was had by all. I can't wait to do this again! Hopefully, next time we will have much more padding on the floor. I can't vouch for the rest of you, but I won't be sleeping on a hard floor again any time soon. :P Claire put sponge rollers in my hair for Sunday morning's brunch. WOO!

Sunday: We had stayed up till 5am, and got back up at 10. Not a whole lot of sleeping happened, but it was alright. What's one night's sleep compared to the months of missed sleep at this point? :P We took our sweet time waking up and packing. Some of Jessica's neighbors in the studio building were amused to see a bunch of sleepy eyed slumber party attendees piling out at such an hour. I'm just glad they weren't mad!

We got to Abilene right on time for our reservation. The original ten that we planned for exploded into eighteen! We had such a blast! Jerry B and I got $5 gift cards for our curlers in the hair. Hello, brunch next time! :) mmesgirl and her hubby showed up. I'm so glad they could make it, and I'm really bummed that we all had to leave so soon after they arrived. I hope to see them both again soon.

I had just enough time to get home, load the sleepover gear back into my place, take a speed nap, and get to werk. Rushing as I did, I was still 15 minutes late to werk. :( Oh well. I made good money and got off earlier than expected. I'm glad I got to scoot there and back. I also made it to the post office before going home. I will get paid on time from MILS this time around! YAY!

When I got home, I was freezing and didn't really want to scoot to and from SPS. Asian Dan was kind enough to come pick me up. That was so sweet! :) A good time was had by all, and the party broke up just a little bit ago. I think most of us are still a little worn out from all of the goings-on of the past two days. :P

I can't wait to find out what Monday has in store for me! :D Hope you all had a great weekend, too!

Saturday night, I got stuck in traffic on my way to werk. Lake Street turns into a giant mess sometimes going around Calhoun. Saturday was one of those days. Instead of sitting in traffic being all stressed out and STUCK, I took the opportunity to scoot around the lakes. I "had" to scoot around LOTI and part of Cedar Lake to get to where France Avenue comes through by the Vesc. I made it there in record time! Other people were stuck in the Lake Street traffic for over an hour. What a great way to start my night!

Work was really slow at first. I had some really great tables, and everyone was super impressed with my service. When I go out to eat, I usually tell the management when I get great service. I had customers telling ME how great my service was. :) I really love serving.

One of my tables was this ADORABLE older couple. His name was Dr. Larson, but I don't remember what her name was. His wife of 50 years had passed away recently, and he's getting married to the lady he was out to dinner with. They were so in love! They each had a beer with their meal, shared a big plate of seafood pasta, then a piece of ice cream pie, and two cups of coffee to finish it out. They were really sweet. I'm so happy that they are happy.

I had another table that was coming to Vescio's for the first time. They shared a bottle of wine, all had items off the menu that I recommended, and wouldn't let up about how great everything was. I SO RARELY get complaints. I just love my line of work!

Headed over to Crystal's with mah Wifey. Seamus had broken up with his girlfriend and needed consolation. We brought beer and tasty snacks. Jerry B. met up with us after the Rollergirls Bout in Saint Paul. I do believe a great time was had by all. :)

Sunday, I got up and headed to Tiff's, as per usual. I got hella stuck in downtown traffic, which is odd for a Sunday. I had to wait for the LRT, and very nearly every stop light. Grr. I had a very nice interview with a lady in Tiff's building for some PCA work. It pays well, and she wants me five days a week! I really hope this pulls through.

I had an extremely full day with mah ladies. Crystal, Tiff, Jess and I went to Abilene for brunch. It was awesome 70's Disco brunch. I <3 that place so much! John, the manager, recognised my phone number--even though he was on the other line when I called, he called me back a minute later to take my reservation. I really hope someday I get a job there. He seems like he'd be such a great guy to work for. :D

After brunch, Crystal, Tiff and I headed out to the fabric warehouse. We got goodies for Tiff's Logan's Run costume, Crystal's Marmot and Poison Ivy, and some nice purple fabric for making gloves. We also hit up WalMart, and I just got home about an hour ago.

I really need a nap, but at this point, it's seriously not going to happen. I need to gather all of my things together and hit the road. The Wifey said I could hitch a ride with her to SPS, so I gotta get a move on!

It's been another week since I've really updated with anything of substance. ARG, WHY MUST I BE SO BUSY?

Monday: Mom came to get Darin. We tried to go to see Coraline, but we were late. Went shopping and out to lunch instead. Had a tasty burrito bol at Chipotle. MMM, SO GREAT. Made it to werk at 3pm. We had a whopping 8 tables between two servers from 3pm till we closed at 8pm. I'm glad we got to close early, because that meant I got to go to Bingo at the VFW with mah Wifey, Amanda, and Jerry B. We didn't win, but we still had fun. :) Hung out at my place with Jess and Jerry for a while playing Rock Band. Good times.

Tuesday: Went to the gym with the Wifey. Visited with Tiff for a while before that. Post work-out, we got Subway for lunch. TASTY! I worked at 4:30pm. I had ONE TABLE. So not worth the trip, but at least it's a shift. :( After werk, hung out with Meeeeeguel for a bit. Tried to do laundry. Didn't get very far on that one.

Wednesday: I got up at some ungodly hour of the morning to brave the Mall of America with the Pantsfam. Mom and I shopped while Darin and his friend rode rides. We ate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Corporation. SO GREAT! I <3 shrimp. :) I found the CUTEST dress at Macy's, but I just can't justify that kind of $$ on ONE piece of clothing. :( Had a rough night at SPW. We'll see how the move to Ryan's goes over with the crowd.

Thursday: Worked a double at the Vesc. I had TWO TABLES. The last of the two ignored their bill for about an hour, keeping me there till 7:30. Goo. I had a much needed girl's night at Bertine's with Crystal and Jess in tow. Tasty dinner, tasty wine, tasty desserts...just what the doctor ordered. My back had started hurting on Wednesday, so I took some ibuprofen at Bertine's to calm it down.

Friday: Went to the gym with Jess again. I had planned on sleeping in, doing copious amounts of paperwork (taxes, etc) but didn't have a chance. Corey asked me to take his serving shift, and I did. I made about $60, which is awesome. Totally better than sitting at home contemplating doing laundry. :P Friday night, Jerry B. and I watched a couple of movies. I was in so much unbearable pain that I had to take ibuprofen at 5:30 when I got to work, again at 8:30ish when I got off work, again at home around 10:15, and again at midnight. I spent much of the evening icing my back and complaining of the pain. I'm so much fun to hang out with. :P

Saturday: Got up and went to Tiff's. Jess met me there, and we worked out pre-lunch and pedicures. Had tasty Asian buffet at the Midtown Global Market, then hit up Lupita's for $25 pedicures. SO GREAT. Thanks again to Bertine. That was very generous of you to treat us all, girlie. :) Went home for a bit to shower and shave. Put on my bikini and a white bathrobe to go jam out at Memory Lanes for the Lebowski tribute night. I won 2nd place in the costume contest, only because Asian Dan is a dirty cheater. :P Meeeeeguel had messed up his arm, presumably while sleeping the night before. He had (and continues to have) no sensation or control over much of his left (dominant) arm. I'm glad he came out with us. It wouldn't have been much fun to sit at home alone after a day in the hospital like that. :( He did well bowling right handed, and seemed to have fun. Again, I'm really glad he came out with us. :) We ended the night with Asian Dan scraping someone's mirror off their car--he left his name and number. I'm glad I have such great friends. :) We made a late night Taco Bell run and got tasty foods to help sober up the party people. I got to drive Joe's new car! SEXY. I think I finally made it to bed after 4. Arg, some day this extreme lack of sleep will catch up with me. :P

Sunday: Got up and went to Tiff's. I headed out to brunch at Abilene, Tank Girl costume makings in tow. Met Jess, Crystal, Sarah and James for a tasty Super Hero brunch. We got $5 off our meals. Can't shake a stick at that! :) As I was about to hit the proverbial hay at home, I gave Meeeeeguel a call to check in on him and his arm. He wasn't having the best day, so I headed over to his place to visit. We went to the Bad Waitress. I drank half a pot of coffee, he ate an omelet. Crystal picked me up from his place and we headed to SPS. There was a varied crowd, and the vibe was a little off. Crystal left very early due to a friend in need. Amanda had to jet to get a good night's sleep before work today. Jess and I were tired, so we headed out around 10. We tried to get DOLLAR TACOS at Chino as a late night snack, but we got stuck with the bitchy waitress who wouldn't tell us what time it was, so we left, opting to pick up goodies at Lund's. We saw Dane (my favorite grocer) and got our snacks. Headed home, but there was a weird vibe here, too! I headed over to Jess' place and we gabbed till all hours. I slept on her couch and we got up today to go to the chiropractor, thy gym, and Target. I <3 my Wifey. :D

Monday: Just like I said, got up, went to the chiro, the gym, the Target. Got lots of tasty foods. Crystal and Jess will be here around 6 or so to help me CLEAN. Why I have not done this before now is beyond me. I'll have to start thinking about packing it all up again someday soon, anyhow. :P As soon as a person gets settled in, that's when living situations change. Bleh.

Monday last--turns out I didn't have to work. Mom wanted to do lunch, so we hit up Ping's. That made me super happy! I had my little run-in with humor on my way there, and Mom dropped me at Target on her way out of town. I can't for the life of me remember what I wanted at Target...food, maybe? I honestly can't remember at this point. :P The lovely and talented Stylie came over for some one on one ROCK BAND action. She awoke me from a much needed nap that was filled with crazy dreams. We created R. T., who now lives on my wall, as well as INSIDE MY XBOX. So great. :) PROMPT WATER. 'Nuff said.

Tuesday--I worked lunch as a server, which was a nice change of pace. Didn't make much money, but still had a good time. I'm pretty sure that the Wifey and I went to work out, but I don't seem to have much supporting evidence of this claim. Yes, yes I did. I took the bus (it took forever) and met Jess for some much needed physical activity. Got back home to a very lovely surprise from the UK. I am so spoiled! :D The Wifey and Jerry B. came over for moar ROCK BAND. We also watched old commercials on youtube. Good times were had by all. We also watched some Rockapella! Carmen Sandiego, FTW!

Wednesday--another day, another night of South Park. The Wifey and I went ellipticalling and back. Had a good crowd on Wednesday for LEFTOVER NIGHT. Nobody was allowed to bring food. We did pretty hefty damage to the stash of food. I just hope it stays this way. Kicked the last of the rockers out at 2am. I honestly have no idea how I keep functioning!

Thursday--Javier picked me up before work. It's nice to get a ride once in a while. The bus isn't bad...I'd almost rather deal with the bus than Javier most days. :P Worked till 4. Nothing special. Wifey and I hit the gym again. Good times. Meeeeeguel came over for yet moar ROCK BAND. I passed out fairly early, feeling cold-like. I'm amazed I haven't gotten it since nearly ALL of my friends and family HAVE. I am so lucky!

Friday--woke up rather later than anticipated. I wanted to go to the gym with mah Wifey, but didn't want to push the cold-feeling. Lazed about the house till shortly before worktime. I made some really amazing Special K bars. I made decent money at work, stayed far later than originally expected, then went to Crystal's to visit with her kittehs. Jess and I spent over SIX HOURS hanging out at Crystal's place--without Crystal! I couldn't believe it! We had a really awesome chat about life. I <3 mah Wifey so hard!

Saturday--got up at some unreasonable hour to get Tiff up. Headed out to Arden Hills with Amanda to paint Jerry B.'s kitchen. I met his ADORABLE kitteh, Mojito. He's got a PIMPIN' HOUSE! Too bad it's in the middle of nowhere. :P It's got a bar in the basement, the Best Couch Ever, four bedrooms, and a fully functioning studio with a green screen and light grid. Amazing. After painting, I came home and had a lovely conversation with fleur. Glad to hear she's doing better, and hopefully our crazy schedules will mesh up soon so I can get kitteh play time in! :) Headed over to el Manfort with Jerry B. for a Saturday night drink-a-thon. Ended up bailing out early due to being a hell of a lot drunker than I thought, and DST and werk the next day. Sometimes, I have to be semi-responsible.

Sunday--got up shortly before I needed to be at werk. Hauled ass Downtown. Mom and Darin met me at Tiff's place, and we headed to the Kinh Do for tasty lunch. It helped slightly with my nasty hangover, but the Advil several hours later really sealed the deal. Mom and Darin and I went SHOPPING. At Rainbow, they had the beans I like but NO TORTILLAS. They also had fire fighters. Look for a picture soon! I call shenanigans on the tortillas. They also did not have the rice paper Mom wanted for making spring rolls. We went to the Midtown Global Market. The Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus was the live entertainment. I has a video! I will post it later. We bought Crazy Mexican Candies, rice paper, tortillas, tomatoes, cilantro...we basically walked out with the entire market in tow. Got home around 3 and did not stop playing Rock Band until about half an hour ago. Much hilarity at SPS ensued...too many things to even recall. Asian Dan logged in on my Xbox and downloaded all of his songs for us to use. SO GREAT! Darin was a trouper, just pooping out at 2am when the last of the guys left. Mom is going to skin me alive for letting the ten year old stay up all night. :P

That leaves me where I am now. Tired. A little hungry. Thirsty. Bored. Lonely. How I'm lonely after having an entire house of people over for nine hours is beyond me. I'm so needy. :P I'll try to update more regularly...I hope.

We left off on Monday of last week! How does the time get by me so quickly?!

Tuesday--my wrist was still sore when I got up. Major bummer when you work in the serving industry, I can tell you that! :( Werk was fine--I just made Corey do the brunt of the heavy lifting. :P I was actually supposed to work dinner, but got my schedule all jacked up in my brain. I got up, packed, took the bus across town, and got to werk before anyone else showed up. By the time I realised that I wasn't supposed to be there, the girl who WAS had arrived. She agreed to come in for dinner for me. That was so great! I took the bus up to Elk River after werk. Mom, Darin and I went to the Chinese buffet in Elk River, even though I wanted to go to Monticello. It was still tasty. I spent the night at home and did some last minute packing and hammering of details before Mom's birfday party. I think I managed to go to bed at a reasonable hour (before 3am, anyhow) since I knew I was getting up early the next morning.

Wednesday--got up around 9, I think. Took a shower, ran some errands with Mom. We had an AWESOME ADVENTURE at the furniture store in ER. :D We ate Taco Bell for lunch, yet still stopped in for milk with Darin at school. So great! Mom brought me home in the early afternoon. The Wifey and I were supposed to go to Costco, but my timing was poor. I checked in on Crystal and Jessica B. to make sure they didn't need anything. I still have beans and oil for Jessica! Our schedules will work out one of these days, I promise! We had a successful SPW, complete with Church Basement potluck foods. So great, I tell ya!

Thursday--I had to get up FAR too early to go to werk. That's the only downer to SPW, is working the next morning at the ungodly hour of 10:30am. :P I worked my tail off all day, despite a severe lack of sleep. Stopped in to see my good friend, Jeneane (sp?) at Ragstock with dinner in tow. She spoiled me with tidings of a cute wallet and two reusable bags. I have the bestest friends! I also hit the bank and the grocery. I replaced Crystal's three year old condiments. :P I hit up Powderhorn Park with Meeeeeguel, Dave, Bertine, Ryan, mah Wifey, and E-Man. SO GREAT, was the sledding! We went to Crystal's afterward for cocoa and treats. Tofu lo-mein, butterscotch schnapps, and an unflattering nap later, I had a great night. :)

Friday--After sleeping in extremely late, I eventually dragged my bum ass out of bed and hit up Costco with mah Wifey and Meeeeeguel. We procured many goods for Mom's b-day party. We went to Bertine's for Raving Rabbids and pizza before she and Crystal went to a concert. The Wifey and I weren't feeling up to a concert on a Friday night. I'm just not much of a 'let's go out on Friday night' kind of person. Meh. I'm too cheap and get easily overstimulated. I loaded up many party goods into Grimace (Wifey's car) and called it a night...or, at least, I tried to. Seeing as I slept in half the day, I wasn't able to fall asleep till well after 4am. BUMMER. Oh, I was also having a hard time falling asleep due to the fact that there were ANTS crawling all over my ceiling. Plunkett's was called in to inspect the damages--the lady "laid some traps" in hopes that they would eat the bait and take it back to the nest. I bought a shiny can of RAID and killed every last one of the bastards. I haven't seen an ant since. :D

Saturday--got up just in the nick of time to finish packing, get dressed and RUN to the bus with my little old lady cart in tow. :P I spent the day at Tiff's--worked out with the Wifey, baked two cakes for the party, set the party room up, took a shower...bleh. The party was a rousing success, save for the fact that Mom was the FIRST PERSON TO SHOW UP. :P Usually, when she says she'll be somewhere at 5pm, that means 5:30 or 6. She got there at 4:30. Whoops. :P A bunch of family members came, as well as a lot of my friends. I think Mom had a really good time. I know Darin did! We had lots of Nerf and Nerf-esque guns to play with, and lots of camo was worn. SO GREAT! Mom and Darin ducked out around midnight, but the rest of us partied till nearly 4am! I got so tanked...

Sunday--I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and got over to Tiff's around noon thirty. She headed off to breakfast, and I stayed to clean her place up. Thankfully, Meeeeeguel lent me a hand and packed up the party remnants into his van to bring back to my place. I thanked him in the form of lunch at Los Ocampo. OMG, I <3 Mexican food after a night of heavy drinking. I came home with the intention of taking a nap. I got here after 3pm, spent a solid half hour unpacking leftovers from the party and finding new homes for them. I laid down to take a nap, and then Amanda and Chris showed up! This is why I am off to bed as soon as I finish typing this goofy thing. I'm wiped! Ann bought lots of awesome new animal hats to go with the Frog Hat that Bertine gave me. We lost a guitar due to a broken spring. We had many technical difficulties with the webcam, so we called it quits on that front for the evening. Everyone hit the road fairly early--Amanda and Chris first, around 9 or so (so awesome to see them again!), and people slowly filtered out after that. I think Asian Dan was the last to go, and that was around midnight.

That leaves me where I am now. Calm, cool, collected. Tired as all get out. I don't have a copy of the schedule for this week...I hope I don't work tomorrow. :P

POWDERHORN PARK, HERE WE COME!

We left off, dear SBj fans, at 4am last Thursday. How do I manage to pack so much stuff into my days?! :P

Thursday, I didn't actually end up falling asleep till 6:30am. I don't know why. I just couldn't sleep. I was NOT a happy camper when 9:30am rolled around, and I had to get up and catch a bus. >:( Work was fine. We actually got busy, and I made some decent $$! That's always a nice bonus. My replacement didn't show up till nearly 5:30, as per usual. I hope they figure out that her tardiness affects everyone else in a major way. Javier was nice enough to stick around and give me a ride home. I really appreciate that, even if Javier is a little creepy. We sat in his car and had a nice chat until I was falling asleep in his car. I then hopped upstairs, took a fast shower, and mah Wifey picked me up to go see Crystal. I went armed with three bottles of wine and the intention to drink at least one of them all by myself, due to the shibby news. Meeeeeguel met up with me and my lovely girlfriends for Chinese food and girly movies. I sincerely apologise to anyone (Bertine) whose movie experience(s) I disrupted. I was sleepy as hell and looped up on a bottle of wine. SCORE ONE FOR THE PANTS!

Friday, I got up at a reasonable hour (11am...lulz) and headed DT to meet up with Michelle. She's the one who helped me file my divorce papers oh-so-many years ago. She helped me file my harassment restraining order against Damian. I will write an entry on this adventure, as it was detailed, difficult, and necessary. I will never forget this day. I want to write the judge a thank you card. At the end of the day, I had a mini-SP event. Amanda and Bridgette were able to come, so we invited some people over for fun and RB. Amanda and Bridgette both had to leave early, due to illness and TV programming, in that order. :P Everyone was glad to meet A and B, and I'm so thrilled they were both able to come! Things got a little out of hand later in the evening. I still maintain this was all Asian Dan's fault, even though he wasn't there. Pantsless snow angels, camera flashes, and general craziness ensued after Asian Dan told us he wanted his bottle of whiskey to be GONE by the next time he came over. That guy... *shakes head*

Saturday, I got up at headed to Tiff's. I really like my weekend routine. It gets me out of bed at a decent hour, yet allows me to go out and party the night before. :) Tiff and I hung out till almost noon! I headed out to run some errands, hit Target pretty hard, picked up some sammich meat from Crystal, then came home to bake in my bathrobe for the skiers. The lovely Bertine was kind enough to bring me a can of baking powder. I am so grateful for that, I don't think she even knows. <3 When the skiers got back in town, we used up the ground beef that Chris brought on Wednesday and had BACON CHEESEBURGERS. I had Velveeta Shells and Cheese. :P I made neon spritz cookies, and we drank hot cocoa with Bailey's in it. YUMMO. We played Rock Band, as Jess and Ryan couldn't fathom my TV with anything other than RB playing on the screen. ;) We called it an early night, as everyone was fatigued from some hard slope hitting.

Sunday, I went to Tiff's and headed home pretty quickly. I spent much of the day lazing around in bed, not really doing much of anything. AMANDA AND CHRIS were the first RB attendees!!! I am so happy they came. :D Chris and Peter were the two newcomers. I hope we see more of them soon. :) Bertine even brought Crystal! We had a fairly large crowd, topping out at 15 people! I still am so amazed every week that all of my lovely friends come and cram themselves into my tiny apartment for hours on end. I <3 you guys, srsly. We celebrated Pete's 1/2 b-day with a tasty cake with HOMEMADE frosting that mah roommie made, as well as healthy snacks, and Bacardi-diets. A great time was had by all!

Monday, my Mom called around 9 or 10...I'm not really sure which. She had went to coffee with my Grandma (Doug's Mom) and had to tell me the news. Something about Darin being off from school, Grandma fighting with her sister (sad!), me going to Elk River tomorrow, and lord only knows what else. I hate it when she calls me so early! :P I tried to fall back asleep, but of course, the neighbor's dog started barking, as well as someone kindly running their chainsaw in the alley. Lovely. I did manage to fall back asleep, staying in bed till nearly 2pm! I am so lazy. :P I got up and did some business, ate some tasty popcorn, and headed to work. I got home around 9:45. Nothing eventful really happened at work, for which I am thankful.