Tag: birthday celebrations

My own MINI March Madness

keep-calm-its-my-half-birthday-2

Here we are again – the beginning of a new month!  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I have an affinity for the 1st of any month.  April 1 happens to be my half birthday, so now it is also my SIX MONTH ANNIVERSARY!  Wahoo!  Seems like that just happened AND that he’s been in my life forever… life is so good.

Here’s a recap of all the goodness of March –

We started the month off with a double date with Beth and Doug to see “Almost, Maine” in Lanesboro.  It was such a great play and a fun night out in Lanesboro!  Highlight (outside of the theatre) was asking at the Legion if they served any food and the (harried, busy) waitress said, “No.  We just have pizza.”  We chuckled, ordered it, and it was sooooo good! Hegge’s pizza is the bomb!

We ended the month with celebrations for Beth’s birthday at Osaka for a Tepanyaki style dinner, followed by a Blues Fest at Wicked Moose.  I got Chris on the dance floor, which was a first (and won’t be the last time!) So fun!.

Singing the birthday blues!

In early March, Chris and I attended the Minnesota Monthly Food & Wine Show at Target Field in Minneapolis!  Jenny and I had planned to go for months, but she was ill so Chris went instead.  We didn’t get even close to falling down drunk, like some that we saw, but we did enjoy the little corner of spirits and made sure to stop sampling with plenty of time for metabolizing before driving home.  It was a lot of fun – and a lot of people!

Outside Target Field on a beautiful day!

March brought me my MINI!  Chris and I drove to the Cities to look at a few cars one beautiful Saturday.  I was certain I was going to get another Honda, but manual transmissions are becoming fewer and fewer… so we went in search of some different car dealers in the Cities.  We never got past the first, as I knew I didn’t need to look any further after I drove the MINI Cooper S.  So we went back the next week with my car and did the trade and then back the next week for my “Second Delivery Date” with an expert and to get the bonnet stripes installed.  Ah.  It’s a fun ride!

My MINI! Woohoo!

March also brought sunshiney warm days and a big snowstorm.  We looked for patio dining and couldn’t find any yet, so we encouraged friends to open their patio and enjoyed a roaring fire with s’mores.  Good stuff.  And then the snow came and schools were closed.  Crazy Minnesota March.

A campfire at the Chalet

March brought $2 burgers with the family a few times.

During Lenten season, I went to confirmation with Gracie and got to talk with her about what we think it means to be a Lutheran.

A 3 movie month is pretty solid!  I saw Cinderella with Gracie, the March birthday girl.  We loved it – it was beautiful and romantic.  The story you know and love told wonderfully.  I saw The Second Most Exotic Marigold Hotel with Jenny – and it was very fun!  Many laugh-out-loud moments, some tears, and a big old dance scene!  Yay!  And last night I saw McFarland, USA with the crew in Rochester.  What a movie!  It was so good.  A story about coaching, field-working-high-schoolers, and the community.  It was very incredible – and the end with the real guys was the best. Just so good.

I binge watched The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix, and that is a hoot.  Very clever and fun!  (Dang, now I have the theme song in my head!)

I read The Kitchen House for book club and am listening to The Weird Sisters.  It’s hard to know what to read next, as my TBR piles continue to grow and grow!  Someone, help me out here!

And lastly, we celebrated Tony’s last night in Madison with Supper at Bandung Indonesian followed by champagne cocktails and martinis at Opus Martini Lounge.  Tony and Chris left early yesterday morning for their trek across country to move him to Rhode Island. They arrived safely this morning, a mere 24 hours after leaving Madison.  Tomorrow Chris will get to New Hampshire for some family time in before flying home to me on Sunday.  Ah.  Next time I’m going with.

Looking forward to April, although it will be a different sort of month with Chris starting to work overnights.  I work overnights the rest of this week and again the end of the month, so that will keep things interesting around here!

Happy April, all!

6/21/14: Summer Solstice! And summer begins…

It is a pleasure to walk outside at night and feel the warm summer air!  Aside from all of the rain we had this week and last, we have had good June weather so far!  It’s also a pleasure to have some weekends off to enjoy the summertime!  But, as I’ve said before, I don’t usually let a little thing like work slow me down…

Here’s what has been bringing me smiles from the past few weeks:

Movies

  • Saw “A Million Ways to Die in the West” with Chris – I’m not a Family Guy watcher or a Seth McFarland groupie, but this was fun.  It’s a Western with modern language, with shocking humor and interesting characters.
  • I saw “The Fault In Our Stars” by myself on opening night.  Well, not by myself, but with a theatre filled with Tweens and Teens, swooning and sobbing.  I wish I hadn’t gone that night, because I felt more like an observer of the theatre than a movie-watcher.  I thought the book was so much better (no surprise) because I liked the parents so much better in the book, I liked their relationships so much better in the book, and the movie felt watered down and immature.  \
  • Tonight I saw “Chef,” which I think is my favorite movie of the year!  I’ll have to think back for sure (“Grand Budapest Hotel” was this year, too… hmm) but it was so fun!  A fun story about having passion for your work and doing what you love, about fathers and sons, and about Cuban sandwiches!  I almost danced throughout the movie, because the soundtrack was incredible (and is now purchased!), and I had tears spring to my eyes twice, just because of happy emotions!  Loved it!

Books!

  • There have been a few rainy days, so I’ve been reading on my Kindle and catching up on Oprah Magazine.  I finished a smutty book while on the dock, “Bettie Page presents: The Librarian,” and then returned to the world of Pride & Prejudice with “Georgiana Darcy’s Diary.”  Ah, there is something about that book and those characters.  Good stuff.  Now I”m working on “Wild” and almost finished with listening to “Whistling Past the Graveyard.”

Road Trips and Adventures!

  • For Jenny’s birthday, we had lunch at Trempeleau Hotel and went for a tasting at Elmaro Winery.  It was a beautiful Sunday and the winery was in a beautiful setting, so we sat outside and enjoyed live music, a fruit and nut plate, and some delicious wine.
  • Chris and I went to the cabin for his June vacation.  We had two great weather days, one washout day, and one very windy day.  There was reading, DVDs (Breakfast Club, War Games, The Upside of Anger, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and good cabin food.  There were a creche (I think) of White Pelicans who must have stopped there for the summer, and they were amazing to watch and learn about!  Who needs TV when you can watch pelicans?  And as always, the sunsets were spectacular.
  • One of the days we drove to Northfield to have dinner with Deadra for her birthday!  It was fun to explore Northfield and we had a delicious dinner in a Tavern there along the river.  The day started out breezy, cloudy and cool, but it ended up clear and calmer.
  • When I got home from the lake, I joined some peeps at the rooftop of the Tap House for Sunday Night Trivia!  We rocked (mainly one guy rocked) and got one free round of drinks and 3rd place overall.  I love trivia.  And the weather was perfect for a night on the rooftop!

Looking forward to celebrating the first day of summer at an International festival in Rochester and then I’ll travel to Rushford to see Mom and Dad and hopefully some Rushford friends!  I’m counting on a campfire to celebrate the shortest night of the year!

Chris has a Summer Solstice birthday, but he gets t work.  I’ll bake him a cake for when he’s done with this 7 day stretch!

Yay summer!