Saturday, we got together with Brian Quarfoth (who was dressed like a scary mime...lulz) and played this crazy fun game called Red November. The first time, we all died horribly. The second time, we made it to safety. I'm sad we didn't get to play Betrayal at House on the Hill, but it was still nice to get to know the first game better so that next time we play, it's solid.

After he left, we lounged about the house for a bit. Got ready to go to Amanda's rockin' house party, as well as the famed Mansion Party with the Kennedys. At Amanda's place, my team totally rocked all over everyone's faces, which wasn't surprising--I had Amanda AND Chris on my team! What a draw! We won shot glasses and Halloween pencils. :D Amanda was dressed like Flo and she looked GREAT. Chris was the founder of some religious order, and had a massive sword. He looked pretty cool. Their new place is AWESOME. I love their sun room with two arm chairs in it. They are totally settled in to a life of together, which is great. :) I want a room like that someday!

We headed to the Mansion Party and met Chase and Andrea there. It was an ok party. Most of the people were already suuuuuper wasted by the time we got there, so it wasn't all that much fun to me. Nate stopped in, and I kind of wish I had gone party hopping with him. He kept sending me pictures from all of the parties he was at--totes jealous. Erin was supposed to come out with us, but she wasn't feeling well. :( Later in the evening, around the time of DST, we headed to Hard Times Cafe for late night sustenance. I think it was a good idea all around, as some were drunker than others. The water and food was a winner. :) Nate, Ali, Evan and Evan's sister all joined us there.

Sunday, Tiff was kind enough to let me go in at 11 instead of 10. I needed that extra hour. I woke up feeling GREAT and well rested. Awesome! Jerry dropped me off at Dave's to pick up my Jeep, all put back together and working fine. :)

Tiff had worn this crazy Sheera costume, complete with head dress, uncomfortable necklace, and extensions. Her poor neck was irritated as hell from the necklace, and her head was in pain from the extensions in her hair. We spent about an hour in the shower trying to wash them out of her hair. Wacky! Her friend, Brooke, put them in her hair, using glue AND THEN a hair dryer to pretty much cement them in place. I will never use extensions like that. :(

I had to work at Abilene at 2, which I understood, since there was a Vikings game at 3, but I knew we wouldn't get busy. I had ONE table. Dominic was getting his ass kicked and he made good $$, but not me. I left with $6 at the end of my shift. I could have left with less, but the table was generous. I really appreciated that. What I didn't appreciate, however, was that I didn't even make a shot of Jameson in tips. I *really* wanted one on Sunday. :( I figured I'd save my $6.75+tip and buy a bottle on Thursday. Bah.

I started my NaNoWriMo, and got about 350 words in. I'm sure that pace won't keep up, and I'll be writing frantically at the end. We'll see how that train wreck goes. Called home, talked to Mom and Darin for a while. I met up with Jerry at Thad's for Sunday Night Awesomeness. Carmen made cucumber soup, which was tasty and amazing. She is such a great cook!

Monday, I don't remember if we stayed at my place or his Sunday night. Oh well. I had to work at 4, which was teh lame. I made $25 from four tables. $31 in two days. I can't keep living like this! :( I headed over to Erin's to try on and potentially borrow a suit for my Thursday interview. Her suit was super cute and fit great! We had good chats, until she and Nate had to head out to go see Where the Wild Things Are. I would have gone if I hadn't already seen it.

I called Jerry to see what was shakin' before I left NE. I had originally planned on going to Chicago Lake, buying a bottle of Jameson, and settling in with some Katamari for the evening. He was sick, so I headed to the grocery to pick up some juice and dinner, and went over to take care of his poor, sick face. :P We played video games, watched LOST. Ya know.

Tuesday, he got to work from home. I worked on my stuff, sending out lots and lots of resumes, applying for many things at the U, per Amanda's suggestion. Bah, I hate this waiting game! I headed home in the afternoon. I should have headed out earlier, because as soon as I got home, I took a nap. I was full from lunch and probably coming down with a touch of Jerry's cold. Bummer! I still headed to Suzi's, even though I was contemplating not going. I had a good time, and Erin even came! I went apeshit on her crossword puzzle to the point where she had to take it away. :P

Wednesday, all I had on my plate was SPW. I slept in, lazed about. Made cookies for the group. Turned the heat off early so we didn't die. Shit got a little loose, what with three bottles of Jameson, two bottles of rum, and one bottle of Bailey's in play. Eek! We broke an attendance record, too. I believe we had a total of 19 people there, all in all. I will have to check records, but that sounds about right. Amy and her friend, two of Aaron's friends, Aaron, me, Wifey, Crystal, Bertine, Anne and Doug Miller, Ann, Dave, Laura and Joe, Asian Dan and Pete, Jason D...anyone else? That's only 18! That ties last year's Night Before Thanksgiving count. TELL ME if I forgot anyone. :D

Thursday, I had my interview. The company was really cool, and the staff seemed really nice. He is going to call people for 2nd round interviews sometime next week. I hope I get this job!

Post interview, I met up with Nate to have some lunch. We went to a cute little place in NE called Sen Yai Sen Lek. He bought my lunch, which I thought was sweet. :) He let me hang out in his condo building's office room to print and fax some stuff. Awesome! I even printed out a new social security card application. I have to get in and do that soon. Bah. Paperwork.

Thursday night, I went in to work. I made $55 when the night was over. MAJOR BUMMER. I seriously can't live on $100/week at Abilene. :( I ended up at Jerry's after work, which was nice. We watched more LOST. We are addicts!

Friday, I had grandiose plans of sleeping in. Fortunately, I had set a calendar appointment for myself that Anna and I were going to go hit Uptown, and that I was going to pick her up! I tore through the shower, got dressed, and grabbed her from Thad's. We stopped by my place so I could grab a card to write a thank you for the interview. I only grabbed one, and ended up screwing up what I wanted to say, of course. We ate at the Namaste Cafe, which was surprisingly awesome! Service was slow, but they were busy. Oh well.

We walked to the Spyhouse on Hennepin for a coffee after lunch. I can't wait to hang out with Anna more often! She is so great and so much fun to hang out with. :) We stopped by my place on the way to teh Wedge to grab more cards. This time, I grabbed several, so I could NOT mess it up. :P I didn't get to take Anna to the Wedge, but there is always next time. I got her home just in time to go to the gym with Carmen. She looked a little weird, and I realised it was because she wasn't wearing her glasses! I've never seen her wearing contacts. :P I stayed and wrote the card at their place so I didn't put it off and potentially forget. Thad helped me word it. :) Popped it into the mail and went about my merry way.

I grabbed a bottle of Jameson on the way back to Jerry's. I also stopped at a gas station and checked my oil. I need to get an oil change and check the tire pressure, srsly. Talked with Nate on the phone for a bit, which was nice. We made a quick stop in at Thad's, but I wasn't feeling 100%, so we hung out in, watched a few episodes of LOST, and chilled with some chicken fried rice. The oyster sauce made a world of difference! So super good. :) I feel bad that we didn't make it to Kari's birfday. :(

Saturday, being today, I got up and headed to Tiff's. Just got home a bit ago. Jerry and I are making breakfast, and we are going on a walk after we eat. I'm going to go take care of Jeep stuff, like a fresh oil change, and he's going to work. At some point, we're going to go grocery shopping, and there are a few options for tonight. Ah, to be so busy!

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.

I hate owning a car. I really do. Less than an hour ago, I went to start my Jeep to head in to work. It wouldn't start. :( I called Jess to ask for a ride to work, and then called work to tell them I would be late. The manager said that someone else had asked to stay and I could take the night off if I wanted.

I *really* wanted to work, but in the next five minutes, got stressed out to the point where it didn't seem worth it to go in and clean the floors with my toothbrush...we were *that* slow. :(

Now, here I sit, at Jerry's place. He's having a shower before we head out for dinner. I'm excited to get to go eat dinner at The Anchor, since I've heard nothing but good about the place. I'm sad I didn't get to work. I'm happy that I put my resume out to about fifteen different places today. :)

I'm feeling ok that Dave and his mechanically inclined friend were able to suss out the situation--El Jeep needs new spark plugs, some wires, and a couple of other minor parts. Dave is going to steal my Jeep tomorrow and do the work. If you ever find yourself in need of a really awesome friend, look Dave Muggli up in the phone book. You won't be disappointed. :D

This guy is selling a boatload of RB/GH gear on the cheap. I'm only interested in the GH 2, GHWT, GHSH and GH 5 games, in addition to the microphone. He quoted me $80 for all four games plus the mic.

I did a little research, and it's a fair price. The earlier games are going for pretty cheap, and if I really wanted to hold out, I could buy a copy of GHWT on eBay, shipped to my home, for about ten bucks. I think that's the game I want the most. GH 5 wouldn't be bad, either, but I have GH 3 and I NEVER PLAY IT.

I'm going to see if the guy will piece it out even further. Maybe just sell me the mic and one or two of the games. What say you?

I'm so ahead of the times this year--I've already picked out my holiday card and am getting ready to start working on them. If you want one, leave me your address here or send me an email. Comments are screened, so LEAVE ME ALL OF YOUR PERSONAL INFO, KTHXBAI.

I started a new community to keep track of my budget spending. If any of you want to join, it's here:

10dollarsaday

Make sure you read the community info. I laid out some basic ground rules and ideas. Be sure to post your lists of necessary versus luxury spending, as well as emergency spending versus non-emergency spending. I am excited to see what everyone comes up with!

I'm starting my budget next Thursday, October 22nd. That's my next payday. Who's with me?! :D

Happy birthday kalmn, fleur and manoman. That's a lot of birthdays for one day! :)

A year ago today, I went to an awesome house party thrown by the lovely Amanda and her equally lovely roommate, Katie. It was called Party (with Jerry!)

According to Amanda's FB invite:

The date of this party has been specifically and meticulously picked for the attendance of Jerry. For those of you who were at the May BBQ, you may remember Jerry. Some of you (Paul?) flat-out fell in love with him. Some of you were amazed by his scooter (not a euphemism, he drives a scooter, also a euphemism), his crazy stories, or his quippy nature. Some of you may have missed him altogether. IT'S NOT TOO LATE. Jerry has given his word as a scholar and a gentleman that he will be at this party... SO YOU SHOULD BE THERE TOO!

There will be non-Jerry related entertainment in the form of drinks and other people. Bring a beverage or snack to share! Jerry will be providing prizes for those he deems worthy and/or likes the best.

Details:
WHAT: Party (With Jerry)
WHO: Katie, Amanda, everyone they know, and Jerry!
WHEN: Saturday, Oct 11, 8:00 until whenever.
WHERE: Chez Awesome, XXXX Colfax Ave S. Mpls.
WHY: Holy crap, why not?

Amanda writes the best invites. :)

I don't know that I ever wrote out the story of how Jerry and I "started". I've told this story a hundred times over, I'm sure. It's one of the best stories I know, and the best part is, it's true!

.....

I made a few comments on the invite page, as well as in my own journal about not being able to resist Jerry, that I would win all of the prizes, etc...I didn't even really know Jerry at that point. We met back in 2006 when Amanda was back for a week from Japan. She had a little get together at Psycho Suzi's in NE. I mentioned Jerry in the entry I wrote about the night. Our paths crossed again shortly after CVG08 at yet another Amanda function. Jerry, Brandy and JD all scooted to the party, and I did, too! The real turning point was the party in October. :)

I went to the party with the intention of drinking one of Jerry's gin drinks, holding a beer for the rest of the night, and excusing myself home at an early hour. At the time, I lived less than a block away from Amanda. Amanda knew that I loved gin, and told me that Jerry and I would be awesome friends because of it. She was so right!

Jerry showed up at the party and he looked good. I mean really good. ;) He made me one of his gin fizz drinks, and I hated it. :P It grossed me out that it was made with egg whites...srsly. I dumped it out when he wasn't looking, and was like "Mmm, tasty business!" when he was. After that drink, I grabbed a beer, but the party didn't end there.

We ended up crashing the neighbor's party with anney and drinking their crappy keg beer. We drank some of the beer that I brought over from my place. We drank the sake that Jerry brought in celebration of his new job. Before drinking the sake, we of course had to venture to my place to get sake cups. :) We returned to the party and talked with a "Japanese" accent (think O HARRO!) for about an hour and a half on Amanda's bed while totes tipsy. We drank Amanda's AMAZING apple sangria and ate the boozy fruit. At some point, I'm sure we drank more beer. We drank the first bottle of the Lambic that Jerry brought and then decided to sit outside so we could better hear each other.

It was super cold, so he gave me his sweatshirt. After a few minutes of sitting outside being cold and drunk, we decided to go to my place (less than a block away) and play Mario 3 on my Wii. We got SO MAD at Mario for "not being able to jump" properly. We agreed that it was Mario who was drunk, not us. :P

I woke up the next morning in my bed, laying next to Jerry. The only piece of clothing missing from our original costumes from the previous night was Jerry's shirt. It was like something out of a movie, where the heroine wakes up, her eyes flutter open and she gets her bearings. She's thinking to herself that she had a great time last night, but she's happy to be home. She remembers who she was with the night before, and when she rolls over in bed, there he is!

I shyly said good morning. He folded his arms up behind his head and said it back. We made tentative plans for hanging out again soon. :) He gave me a ride to work. So much for that "one drink and then hold a beer all night so I can get to work on time" plan. Whoops!

.....

Today marks one year since that party. A lot of things have happened in both of our lives. Friends have come and gone. SPW/SPS had its first successful season. The Happy Merry Christmakwanzaaka took place. I bought my 2009 scooter. CVG09 came and went. He put his house up on the market. I turned 27, he turned 28. My 2009 scooter officially died for the last time.

So many other wonderful things in there, too. Every day is a wonderful thing, my friends. Be good to each other. <3

Monday, I got up and finished my laundry. I was super happy that I sent the frozen items home with Jerry the night before. I got bundled up and headed out to Jerry's place to cook him dinner. :)

I bought a tasty steak for him to eat, and had some portabella mushrooms with a white onion to fry up. The butcher told me to cook the steak five minutes on each side. I had Jerry stop in after I did that to check in on it so I didn't mess it up. He added some salt and pepper, as well as some steak sauce. The response was positive, which I thought was good for never having cooked a steak before. :P I also bought an angel food cake, made homemade whipped cream, and had frozen blueberries on hand for dessert.

The suspense was about killing me before the guests began to show up for Jerry's party. Evan called, a few people texted me, and I was SO READY for everyone to arrive. Jerry was setting us up to watch LOST when the doorbell rang. Thad, Dan and Kari were the first ones to come and yell surprise. :) I think he was pretty surprised. The gin-a-thon was a rousing success. Many different gins showed up, and many awesome people came, too. Nate brought ice (awesome!) and Eric brought cucumbers and limes. Amanda even made an appearance, which was so cool. We <3 us some Amanda! A little over a week later, I can *finally* think about gin again.

Tuesday was Jerry's actual birthday. I woke up SO entirely hung over it wasn't even funny. I spent most of the day in bed, except for the hour or so where I was up and made him breakfast. I baked a popover pancake and cooked up some bacon. Best. Girlfriend. Ever. :) I assisted with cleaning up as much as I could...being awake hurt too much. :P

We had dinner with Jerry's family. Ham, broccoli and cheesy potatoes, per his birthday request. His Mom baked apple pie and brownies, too. We headed to Psycho Suzi's for weekly beers. The waitress brought me olives and pickles. That helped a lot with my hangover. :P

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!

Poll #1465226 halloween
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

Tell me, in 100 words or less, what would draw you to a bar for Halloween.

Tuesday, we went our separate ways. Jerry, off to physical therapy, and me, staying home and keeping busy. I worked again. An early shift, which was nice. I spent a lot of time cleaning and NOT waiting tables. There were none to be had! I stayed for an hour after work to do the schedule, and left it unfinished. There were too many time off requests, and I wasn't 100% sure what to do with the shifts that needed filling. Based on how god awful SLOW we've been as of late, I'm not even 100% sure we need all of those shifts filled! :( I had a fancy drink that Dominic made me, some dinner, and hit the road.

Met up with everyone at Suzi's. We had a really good turnout. Nate and I ordered tots. So tasty! Everyone paid for my beer since it was my birthday on Wednesday. We have such sweet friends! :) Jerry and I headed back to his place. We headed to bed early so that I could get up early.

Wednesday, I got up sooooo painfully early. Something like 8am. Gross! I chatted with Amanda on the gmails, and generally tried to wake myself up. I double checked the map and headed out to Mom and Doug's place. What a beautiful ride from Arden Hills to Elk River! The sky had been cloudy, but on my way out there, it cleared up and the sun came out. Less than an hour TO the house, including a stop for gas. :)

Mom and I did lunch with Darin, and brought treats for his class since it was my birthday. The kids were all SUPER cute, and said thank you about a hundred times over. :) It was really cool to see how much they all like my little brother. He's cute, funny, and sociable. I'm really happy to see that he's well liked. :)

After school lunch, Mom and I found *real* lunch. We didn't eat with Darin, just hung out with him and his friends. We had hand made Mexican food at this tiny place in Monticello. So great! We went home and baked a cake. My prescription strength Sudafed kicked in and knocked me out. I slept until Darin and Doug got home from school and work, respectively.

We went to dinner at a tasty Chinese buffet place in Big Lake. Mom and Doug gave me a super nice set of knives. I'm so spoiled! We bought birthday treats for Darin at the grocery, and then I had to head home. My scooter left a giant hole in Mom and Doug's newly paved driveway. Whoops! :( I felt bad about that.

The ride back to Jerry's took longer, due to a nasty accident AND increased traffic in general. I stopped for gas again just to be sure, since we were leaving for Stillwater the next morning. Then I wouldn't have to stop right away, as is my usual. :P

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I'll update on the b-day party later. Now, being Monday, I have to take a shower and get on the road. :)

This summer, I've noticed many things around the city that I've always wanted to do, but never done...or at least haven't done them in a long ass time.

Never done:

* Take a ride on the trolley that is by Lake Calhoun
* Eat at Galactic Pizza
* Rent a canoe and paddle around Calhoun and Isles
* Go to the Mill City Museum
* See a play at the new Guthrie location
* Go to the Bakken Museum
* Walk around Lakewood

It's been a long ass time:

* Walk/bike the Stone Arch Bridge
* Visit the Sculpture Garden
* See something/someone at First Ave
* Go to Acme for open mic night
* Do Improv A Go-Go or Late Night Improv at BNW
* Go see Comedy Sportz
* See a play at Heart of the Beast
* See an Opera or Ballet
* See a show at the Chanhassen
* Go mini golfing

I know there are more, but these are the ones that come to mind. There are countless restaurants I'd like to visit, too. Gah, I need to just start going to these places! :D

I'm putting together ideas for my birthday next Wednesday. I'd like to do something with all of you lovelies...I'm thinking card/board games like last year, with the addition of a fancy dress party. What say you? I'd need access to a domicile with lots of table space, since mine has only four chairs and one table. :P

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!

I haven't donated in at least a year at this point. I scheduled an appointment for next Tuesday at noon at the VA Medical Center. I know the VA is far, but the volunteers in the snack den are THE BEST. They are all cute little old people who sit and chat with you and feed you tasty snacks after you donate blood. If anyone is free on Tuesday and wants to come, let me know! We can do lunch after and maybe hit IKEA. :D

Monday, I worked the patio at 4pm. luno came and got me and my scooter. Headed to Scooterville to drop it off. I got home and packed for a bit before heading to bed.

Tuesday, I got up and caught a bus to Scooterville. Went to lunch at Ping's. Got home on the same transfer ticket. Sorted, packed, cleaned. I meant to catch a bus to go to dinner with Mom and Watson. The bus I needed, of course, I missed my mere minutes. The next available trip wouldn't get me there until FAR later than I needed to be there to be worth it. I stayed home and cleaned some more.

I tried to catch a bus to Thad's, but missed it by seconds. GAH. Spent half an hour at the stop next to the Urban Bean. HARRO, INTERNETS! :P Took a 35 minute bus ride to the Quarry, and a 10 minute walk on top of that. I can tell you that I won't be taking that ride often. :(

It was a nice change of pace to have Tuesday night at Thad's place. A good crowd showed up and we had a nice time. Wes, Lydia, Ave, Thad, Carmen, Nate, me, Jerry...good times. It was nice to have extra ladies around. Not that I mind hanging with Carmen, but it's nice to change it up a bit. Plus, Ave (Thad's sister) is super nice. :)

Wednesday, Jerry and I lazed about the house. We headed to his writing meeting together. I really like Brian, and it's nice spending time with him. I hope to do more of that in a non-writing situation in the future. I'm sad Amanda couldn't make it, but her apartment experienced water damage due to the storm that rampaged through our hood. :( I'm glad it was only the sheets and blankets!

Jerry and I bought lottery tickets. I felt like we picked some good numbers, but we did not win. :( Sad day. We both could have really used that $245 million. :P

Thursday, I packed and cleaned some more. Amanda made me some kick-ass fliers for my moving sale. I picked them up from her entryway and headed in to work, sans scooter. I canceled the patio people but kept one of them to be my cocktail side person. That turned out to be a good thing, since my 3pm person called in sick at 2:45.

We got hit pretty hard at work. I got to work behind the bar again, but that was the only really fun part of the night. We had to kick some guys out because one of them was peeing on his friend's foot. Another guy had to be physically removed from the premises by the cops. Scott, my bartender, asked him to leave. He had taken a bottle of Grand Marnier off the bar and had it on the dance floor. We got the bottle back and kicked the guy out. A few minutes later, he came back in! Scott pointed him out, and I asked him to leave. He was VERY drunk and started advancing on me, so my staff stepped in, and I called the cops. Exciting.

Friday, after being at work till 3:30 and staying up till 4:30, I got back up at the ass crack of dawn to go put up fliers and get things ready for my moving sale. A whopping two people showed up. One guy bought a mini statue of the Eiffel Tower, and the girl bought a pair of sunglasses. I am $1.50 richer! I still have a lot of REALLY nice stuff to get rid of. If anyone wants ANY of it, PLEASE COME TAKE IT. I'm not moving it, and I'd hate to see it go to the dumpster. Please come take the things you think you will use. :)

I headed to Scooterville to pick up my baby. I talked to the shop guy, and he said that they cleaned the carburetor...again. I told him that was crap, since they JUST cleaned the carburetor last week. What was so different, and why was THIS clean covered under warranty and the last one wasn't? He said this time, they did it as a "gesture of good will". I am not impressed.

Especially since, as I took the scooter around the block to test drive it myself, it died on me.

They took it back into the shop at 6pm, had three guys work on it for a solid hour. They claim they looked at the carburetor again, and changed the fuel filter. If this happens again, I am going to demand a new vehicle. This should NOT be happening to a 2009 vehicle. >:(

After 7, when I got the scooter in its supposed fixed state, I took it around that neighborhood for a while, just to see if it would die on me again. That way, if it did, I would have a shorter distance to push it. It seemed to be fine, so I headed home. It has been running fine ever since, but at this point, I'm honestly waiting for it to die on me again. :(

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Currently, I'm running late for work. I'll have to fill in the rest of Friday and catch up to today soon. <3

Thad and Carmen got their German yesterday! They are hosting a student from Germany for the semester. Her name is Anna (rhymes with banana) and she'll be here until sometime in February. She's super nice, drives a Vespa back at home, and wants to learn some ASL with me. :)

I want to get her a little welcome gift. I'm definitely going to get her some Old Dutch pretzels and some Pearson's candies. I was thinking about a nice map with Minneapolis on one side and MN on the other.

What would you get for someone that is unique to Minnesota or the United States? She's been here before, but she lived in Nebraska before. I think she'll have much more fun here. :)

I really need some basic fliers made up for my garage sale. They just need to state the address, start time and end time. Give me a call if you can design/print these for me. Black and white, the simpler and easier to read the better. :)