blog reader kristen

2010 MN State Fair, trip 1

September 3, 2010

This year Nick, Curtis, Blog Reader Kristen, and I started state fair season off with a bang on Friday 8/27. Yes, you read that correctly—Curtis was in attendance. I can ~~blame it on~~ thank Rush for playing at the Grand Stand. Unfortunately I forgot to get photographic evidence that he was there, but I highly doubt he’ll deny it since then he wouldn’t be able to say he saw Rush. Although, he can deny wearing the Rush concert t-shirt…

Instead of taking the bus, we drove to the fair and parked on the grounds which was a first for us all. It worked out well because, while the cklahrs were at the Rush concert, Nick and I got to take a little nappy nap in the explorer, while listening to said concert.

I ate many deliciously unhealthy food items throughout the day which probably let to me feeling nauseated later. Nothing that water and some more food couldn’t cure though. Items consumed by me were:

2 corn dogs w/ mustard (not at the same time)
been and beef taco w/sour cream (Taco King)
black currant iced tea (French Meadow Bakery and Café)
Cherry Coke (in souvenir refillable mug)
Coke Zero (from Butcher Boys, $1 refill, mug savings of $2)
Tiny Tim mini donuts
cheese pizza (Vescio’s)
garlic bread w/marinara sauce (Italian Junction)
corn on the cob
Fresh French Fries

Kristen heard about some sort of Vanilla Lavender Cupcake at French Meadow Bakery and Café, that’s why we stopped there. I can’t say I liked the Lavender flavored frosting. It tasted like I was eating something that should be put on my body. However the black current iced tea was delicious. It wasn’t sweetened and didn’t need to be. All I know is that I want to drink more of it.

Overall, it was a great way to start the fair season! Hopefully Curtis will make it back to the fair before 2013.

Summer has officially begun…

May 29, 2010

…because it’s my first weekend at Blog Cabin. I overslept on Friday and quickly packed in the morning, so I forgot lots of important stuff like a swimmer and my roll-up hat, but it doesn’t really matter cuz, well, it’s Blog Cabin.

It’s been quiet here for a holiday weekend. The cklahrs are here, of course, as well as Cindy and Ellie, and Susan and Kitty.

Today I picked up my first paper book for the first time in months. I left off on Sookie book #5 at the end of last summer. It didn’t take me long to get back into it, even though the first few pages were confusing as I tried to remember what all happened.

BRK was kind enough to supply me with food (and delicious beverages) for the weekend. I am enjoying said delicious beverage right now as I compute by the campfire.

Let’s Play Catch-up

March 11, 2010

First and foremost, Happy Belated Birthday to jillapalooza.com!! It turned 3 on Feb. 28.

Second, for those of you wondering, yes I have seen New Moon. I know I didn’t go all crazy blogging about it this time around. Let me give you a summary:

Twilight⁸ & New Moon¹: TwiSarah had a fantastic New Moon party on Nov. 19. There were 8 of us in attendance (including Katie, Marissa and Team Dog (btw, I listed them in alphabetical order because I’m anal, not because I like Katie the best or because I’m hating on Emily (a.k.a. Team Dog))). We watched the 9:00 pm showing of Twilight, followed by the 12:01 am showing of New Moon. It was totes awesome.

New Moon²: Emily and I spent the night at Sarah’s because we were up fangirling all night. What better way to spend a Friday off of work than watching New Moon again at 12:45 in the afternoon? I can’t think of anything. If you can, you’re wrong.

New Moon³: On Saturday Nov. 21 I made the traditional trip to Cloud to see New Moon at 9:00 pm with Blog Reader Kristen and Curtis. Oh, and Susan. We had to fill her in on the Twilight though because she hadn’t seen it. We ate at Red Lobster for dinner beforehand. It was yummy. Did you know if you go to redlobster.com you hear delicious sizzling noises?

New Moon⁴: On Tuesday Nov. 24 TwiSarah and I needed another fix, so we went to the 8:30 pm showing.

New Moon⁵: After filling up our bellies with Turkey on Thanksgiving, I saw NM again with my cousin Trish and her daughter Ashley.

New Moon⁶: On Saturday Dec. 5 I brought Sarah Taylor to the movie for her birthday. Carlos, who was in town for work, came with us as well.

New Moon⁷: Sometime in February TwiSarah, Team Dog and I watched NM again. It had been 2 months. Too long. Way too long.

New Moon⁸: After months of planning to go to the movie with my sister Lani, we finally got around to it on Feb. 18.

New Moon⁹: On Feb. 28 (and I blame me missing my site’s 3 year anniversary on this) I saw NM for the final time in theaters with my good buddy Laura. I guess I shouldn’t say the final time. Even though the DVD comes out in 9 days, it’s still playing at the discount theater, so…

I saw New Moon more than Twilight, which I said I would. Mission accomplished.

TwiSarah and I considered being Eclipse virgins, but I think we decided on just the tip (see post at Twitarded). We haven’t watched the 10 second teaser or the 90 second trailer that came out this week. We are holding out until tomorrow to see the trailer on the big screen before Remember Me. For the record, I’ve only seen the first trailer for RM a couple of times and viewed a couple of stills. I have absolutely no idea what the movie is about and I’ve been very careful to avoid the spoiler for the “twist” ending, which is quite difficult because it’s all over teh interwebs. I even fast forwarded through the RM clips on all the talk shows RPattz appeared on. *Pats self on back*

Although I admit I did consider looking at the spoilers because some of the scenes might kill me dead (see below) and then I’ll never know how it ends.

Summer Concert Series

September 29, 2009

This summer was full of fun concerts. Here’s a summary of the ones I went to.

No Doubt
Blog Reader Kristen and I started the summer concert season out with a little No Doubt and Paramore action. Nothing like a couple groups of rocker chick lead singers to feel all empowered.

Bedouin Soundclash kicked off the show. I remember enjoying them, so I’ll have to go check out some of their albums.

Paramore was great to watch. Hayley Williams has such a powerhouse voice and she’s so cute and punk rockerish. One of the guitarists was doing flips while playing the guitar on stage.

No Doubt was amazing on stage. They were so quirky and didn’t lose the essense of who they were 10 years ago. They had a wacky wardrobe and were crazy on stage. Gwen Stefani looks awesome too.

One of the best parts of the concert was during the encore. Paramore and Bedouin Soundclash came on stage and sang the song with No Doubt, and there was a drum that everyone banged on. It was fun to hear them all singing at once.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures. We were too far away from the stage to get anything good during Paramore, and during No Doubt the girl next to me (who was actually in front of me from the angle we were at) was quite tall and large and dancing the entire time, so I couldn’t really see the stage ever. And my camera at the time really sucked. There were lots of creatively dressed people in the audience, very interesting hair too, but none of those pics turned out in the dim lighting.

The Fray
On July 21st Renee and I went to The Fray concert. Jack’s Mannequin opened for them. The only song I had heard of theirs was before the concert “The Mix Tape” and it’s one of my favorite songs. They were good, but mosty the lead singer kept me entertained. When he played the piano he would sit facing the side toward the audience and he would just rock out. I was surprised he could play at all while doing that, it was crazy. Toward the end of their set he also jumped up on top of the piano. I don’t know about you, but the last thing I would think about doing if I had a grand piano in front of me is leap on top of it.

The Fray were fantastic. The lead singer Isaac Slade sings with so much emotion and all their songs are all so great. Piano standing must be a theme with these guys because he jumped up on the piano just like Jack’s Mannequin did.

View photos

Kings of Leon
Blog Reader Kristen and I attended the Kings of Leon concert last night. White Lies, a band from London, opened the show. Neither BRK or I had heard of them but we both enjoyed their set.

Kings of Leon put on a great show. They have great music and they sound just as good live as they do on recordings. The lead singer, Caleb Followill, has a great voice. It’s gravely, but smooth, and he can sing or scream equally as well. I also think they have good personalities. They were really personable, talking about how they attended the Vikings game the night before and celebrated the big win even though they aren’t from here, and they didn’t need to emphasize with the f-bomb every time they talked to the crowd. And apparently yesterday was special because they had their first #1 hit, I assume it was “Use Somebody” because Caleb held up his index finger for a little while before the song started. The only thing I was disappointed about was they didn’t play “Closer” which is one of my favs.

The audience was a completely different facet of entertainment. Lots of interesting people, in looks, clothing and personality. Stand outs of the evening include a guy who towered over everyone on the floor but was considerate enough to stand off to the side. And let us not forget the security guards that were rocking out.

There was also a group of guys that were dancing and getting progressively more drunk throughout the evening. I probably would have been content watching them all night if the view didn’t get blocked half way through KOL’s set. I took this video of them, but at the time I didn’t realize it was a bad idea to hold the camera portrait style. Just tip your head sideways, because it’s totally worth the irritation.

There was also a guy dancing on the stairs across the Target Center from us. He was really getting into it and the security guard kept sending him up to his seat. During the encore BRK saw him take a swing at one of the guards and he got taken out, struggling the whole way. Good times, good times. I will definitely see KOL next time they come to the Twin Cities.

View photos

That wraps up this summer’s concert series blog post!!

Dive Fest PADI #79 Fest 2009, part 4

September 27, 2009

We left Blog Cabin a little after 7am and ate breakfast at North Country Cafe again. We lost Adam because he left Saturday night, but we gained Susan during the meal. Kristen and I weren’t too game on diving again so we went to HQ for the final clue while the boys went directly to the site to gear up (PADI #79 for those who are just tuning in). I think at this point [most] everyone wanted us to find it. The clue was “107′ from the platform, 47′ from the first post 22′ from the second post, in 28′ of water… might be slighty covered.” So much for all the effort we put in not disturbing the bottom.

I called Curtis with the clue as Kristen drove us back to the site. They were in the water but hadn’t started their dive yet when we arrived. Shortly after we got there three cars came flying into the site. Paula and three other divers whose names I don’t remember. It took them so long before they all got suited up and in the water that I was surprised they were even trying to search for it. I don’t think anyone can quite fathom how meticulously we combed that site over the entire weekend.

After the four of them were in the water Kristen and I headed up the hill to try to find the boys. The wind made them hard to find, but we eventually saw their bubbles across the way. We could only assume they had found the medallian right away and were continuing on a leisurely dive.

It felt like an eternity, but we finally saw them swimming back to shore. It took an equally long time for them to get completely out of the water, but Curtis emerged wearing the medallion around his neck.

Instead of going back to HQ and gloating we opted for going back to the cabin to pack up our belongings and take short naps. We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch on the way back to the campgrounds. They had a new blizzard: Cookie Jar. Oreos, cookie dough and fudge. Mmmm. I got a medium because it was my birthday weekend.

Since we didn’t collect any poker chips over the weekend, we had to sit and watch everyone else win prizes. None of us won a raffle either, but I suppose it was all worth it to have Curtis get the medallion for free fun dives all next year.

What a great way to end the season. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze another dive or two in. Maybe at PADI #79 for old time’s sake…

More pics