Photo Scavenger Hunt - October 2009

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1.  A Fall Activity - Carving Pumpkins

2.  A Fall Treat - Homemade Pumpkin Seeds

3.  A Harvest - I've eaten Pomegranate's since I was a child (before it was cool)

4. Leaves

5. Fall Colors

6.  Something Orange

7. Something Spooky - I think it's a voodoo doll

8. A Cemetery

9.  A Costume - A Monkey

10. A Black & White Photo - Dome Seats

11. A Critter - Seahorse

12. Symmetry - Stone Arch Bridge (arches are symmetrical as well as the reflection in the water)

13. Contrast - can you tell me what this is? (This is my 'thinking outside the box' version of contrast - Thank you Photoshop.)

14. Texture - Vinyl Record

15. A Logo/ Mascot - TC, the Twins Mascot

16. Something Neon - My Halloween Costume (one of the only photos I actually took of it, sorry Steve)

17. Something Inspiring - Breast Cancer Awareness

18. Something Entertaining - Football (Broncos vs. Patriots)

19. Something Fast - Richie on the Drums

20. Something Slow - Ladybug

Random - Vol. 9.15

Sometimes I just want to live a day and know what to expect... but what fun would that be, right?

So this past Friday, my day off, was supposed to be spent relaxing, because afterall it is a day off, right?!  Well last week Steve had news of a death in his family, the wake was set for Friday evening and the funeral was on Saturday.  He and I were RSVP'd to a wedding on Saturday, so he decided to attend the wake Friday night... turns out the wake and funeral were being held 4 hours away.  As his girlfriend I reserve the right to be able to say that I didn't want him driving all that way alone (there and back in ~10 hours, with 8 of it being on the road) - so I imposed and told him I'd be happy to keep him company for the drive.  He agreed to let me come. :)
Well... my Friday started out fine - nothing special, just another day really.  Upon arriving at Steve's apartment around 1:45 in the afternoon I felt like I looked right at the sun... you know, where you have this annoying spot in your vision?  I traced back to the moment I got out of my car and didn't remember looking at any lights and the sun wasn't out so that couldn't be it!  I told Steve "either I looked at a light and don't remember it or I'm about to get a migraine"...
ugh.

You can guess where the story goes next -
entering a 4 hour drive I try to play it off as no big deal as far as Steve is concerned, he was mourning the death of a loved one, and I knew I'd be fine, eventually.  He knew I wasn't alright and kept asking if I was.  For about the first 30 minutes of the drive I was dealing with blind spots, then the headache set in :(
I felt nauseous and had a pretty dull annoying constant pain in my head and every now and then... just when I wasn't expecting it, there would be a super sharp intense pain shooting through my head.  My own mini-hell.
I'm absolutely 100% convinced that my migraines are menstrual  - the last migraine I got was right at the end of my cycle and this one was almost the same day, this month.  Ironic.  Unfortunately for me, they were back-to-back months.
The fortunate of this story is that the pain of it went away before we arrived at the wake.  So I was able to be a normal person around Steve's family during their time of loss.  I still suffered the 'aftershock' of my migraine the rest of the night and a little bit the next day - just those annoying pains when I'd cough, laugh, bend over, etc.  - in all and in comparison, it was one of the more mild migraines I've had, still doesn't mean it was good though.  Hopefully I won't be posting an update next month...

A few real randoms:
I had a dream about the Subway system in New York (your average dream of robots chasing you down 20 flights of stairs deep underground in the NYC Subway system...) - ever since then I can't stop thinking about New York and how badly I want to go there.  SO much to see... so much I haven't seen in my many trips there.

I'm going to see Saw 6 tomorrow night; I've heard its full of gore... not excited.
I went to Trail of Terror last Thursday; not as bad as last year, but I was pretty freaked out through the maze part of it.  This was my last year going to anything like that.

My car whistles ever since running over a dead deer.

I love my dad and I get to see him tonight!  Steve and I are going up there after work for his special and apparently wonderfully delicious ribs!  I'm so excited I'm bouncing in my seat at work :)

John Mayer's voice is amazing to me.  "Your Body is A Wonderland" could be one of the sexiest songs ever written.  I'm not late discovering it, I'm just now saying it.

Brett Favre and his Vikings found their first loss yesterday - makes me sad, but don't worry - it's not Brett's fault.

I danced my little (or big) butt off at the wedding Saturday, and I'm feeling it today.  I also got extremely drunk at the wedding on Saturday, but I felt that yesterday, so no worries!

buh-bye.

Punch Pizza, St. Paul, MN

Copied from my review on citysearch, and updated to be personalized for my blog:
Punch Pizza Website

After reading an article in Delta's Sky Mag, Steve and I decided we needed to make a trip to Punch Pizza. One lazy Sunday afternoon (yesterday), we decided it was the perfect day for it.

We inform the server that it was our first visit and she was very helpful in explaining the menu and how things at Punch work. She told us that their pizzas are make approx 10 inches and couples will generally order a salad or Antipasti along with the pizza, if the plan is to share the pizza.

We ordered the Artichoke Dip along with the Vesuvio pizza, both to share. The artichoke dip had EXCELLENT flavor and lots of big chunks of artichoke, something commonly missing from most restaurants version of this dish. I think our conversation went something like this: 'If this is any indication of what the pizza will be like... I have high hopes!'

Once the pizza arrived we both dug right in! Slowly chewing and taking in all the flavors of this pie we exchange looks and decide we made a good decision. I make it to the crust, both our favorite part of a pizza, and take one bite and stop dead in my chewing... 'OMG, this is the BEST crust I've ever had!!!' I could have ate an entire pie of just this chewy deliciously burnt crust! I say burnt because their pizzas are baked for 90 seconds at 800 degrees in a wood-burning oven! You get blisters and patches of flavorful burnt spots - not at all a bad thing, if you know what you're getting into. We devoured the entire thing in minutes, and both left wanting to order another, just to keep eating!

At the end, our server handed us the check along with 2 very yummy pieces of candy... again leaving our mouths full of happiness! We were also given a Punch card... where I believe the 7th Pizza is a free one (something tells me we'll be getting to that 7th in no time at all).

Overall, I'm highly impressed with Punch Pizza and can't wait to go back and try another creation! The boyfriend, who I would say eats pizza more than anyone I know, said it was the best pizza he's ever had - so I think that's saying a lot.

Now, how to get a location out in the Northwest Suburbs?

Kudos, Punch Pizza - you know what you're doing for sure!

• Pros: great service, great food!
• Cons: No location in the Northwest Suburbs!

Random - v.9.14

Just a couple things, but a couple long things...

• So the day before I left for Denver (yes, I still need to post about Denver, I know) I was driving to work and cruising along at about 65-70MPH (Speed limit is 65MPH).  I'm in the left lane, there is a truck in the right lane, a little back from me, but still very much along side of me.  On this particular part of my drive it's extremely dark  - pitch black in fact.  The two lanes of road going either direction are lined by thick trees, so you can't even see the traffic coming from the other direction.  Anyhow... it's dark, I'm cruisin', and all of the sudden I see some road kill in the road ahead.  Truck to my right, trees and ditch to my left, no clear view of what type of road kill I'm about to encounter, and traveling at a speed where there is no real time to stop.  I try to center my car over whatever it is and as I get closer I see it's a dead deer.  Crap... now I really have no time to stop and in reality, if I were to try and stop, I might damage my car more than if I'm going at a faster speed, right?  So I'm centered... I hit it.. my car makes a huge thud noise, and I'm still driving.  At this point I'm about 4-5 minutes from work, so I get to my exit and stop at a gas station to see what I've done.  My bumper is dented in the center and the plastic piece (I assume some sort of undercarriage protector) is all jacked up.  Doesn't look all that good, but I suppose it could have been worse.  I cry a bit (after all, my car is 1.5 years old and this is the second time I've managed to damage it).
  
  Since I was leaving the next day for Denver, I asked my mommy if she'd be able to take it in to have it checked out.  The most important thing was to make sure it was mechanically fine to drive; I already knew it was ugly to look at.  My mom takes it to my buddy Morgan who, after cleaning all the deer guts, fur, and various other insides, performs an alignment and says it's good to go... no major damage.  That's fantastic.  Crappy story, I know.  Morgan popped the bumper back out, so now it looks pretty normal to the naked eye.
  
  Point of my story is not so much to tell you how much I suck at life, but to tell you that I'm now this completely different driver.  I'm way paranoid, especially in the dark and even more so on my drive to work.  I carpool on certain days of the week and I'm even tense in other peoples cars... always looking for deer, straining my eyes looking for deer.  It's stressful and it sucks.
  
  To the deer hunters of the world... kill 'em all this year!
  
  
• So I'm going to this stupid Trail of Terror tonight... with my bff and my bf (lol) and I'm not looking forward to it.  People don't seem to understand how scary they are to me.  I know it's just people dressed up and being stupid, obviously.  What I hate is the dark, the suspense (I HATE not knowing when things are going to happen), and the actual jumping out at me part.  Most would say it's fun - I say it's hell.
  
  I go because my bestie wants me to go and I enjoy spending time with her.  I also go because I know it provides my 'friends' with some sort of entertainment - sick friends I have.
  Most importantly I go because my bestie and I both have fears - me of scary things/places, her of roller coasters.  My understanding in all of this was that if I did this, she owed me a ride.  Now she is kind of refusing to go... either way, I'm going to live up to my end, but this will most likely be the last year I do it.  No point in scaring myself for no good reason, right?
  Call me a pussy, that's fine - I'll own up to it.  At least I've done it 2 years in a row and at least I can excel in other areas of my life.
  
  
  I just needed to talk about it.  Thanks for listening.

I'd Die without my coffee!

Plinky Prompt: What helps you wake up in the morning?





Once upon a time I had a strong distaste for coffee. Well actually... that's not true; let's travel back in time, shall we?



I remember (all of the sudden, vividly) being a little girl and having such love and admiration for my father that I'd do anything to spend time with him or be more like him - somethings never change really, but keeping on topic - he drank coffee like it was going out of style. I remember always going in the kitchen to pour him another cup, and if the pot had been turned off I'd stick it in the microwave and he'd give me some random number to nuke it for; most of the time it was 1:11 (apparently it made my giggle or something). Every now and again I'd ask if I could have a cup for myself; with at least half the bag of sugar I ended up drinking more of a coffee paste than an actual cup of liquid coffee.

{random side thought: I wonder if my parents hated me after a cup off coffee mixed with sugar? Must have been the days we spent all day at the park}



So I continued to grow and pretty much grew out of the coffee thing; turned out my dad liked me enough on my own that I didn't need to try and 'fit in' with him!



Fast forward to a few years ago. One random day I decided that it's time to grow up. I actually remember the day quite clearly, but that's another blog entirely. I needed to branch out from my normal means of caffeine, set the Dew aside and get me a cup of joe! I used to sit in my office and drink my water throughout the morning and have my Dew in the afternoon - that was my fix for the day, and it worked for me. I live in Minnesota though and my office is apparently hard to heat, so why not drink something in the morning that will warm me up AND give me a nice start to the day.



I had to tweak it some to get it just how I liked it, but now it's like tying my shoe or buckling my seat belt; I can fancy up my cup of joe with my eyes closed (assuming someone can tell me where the cup is).

I've tried going a day without it and it's not a very fun day for me or those around me.



I'm not a coffee snob, I don't walk into the local chain coffee house and ask for a grande non-fat latte with a double shot of caramel and no whip (or however they talk). Hell, I don't really even know what a latte is (well, kind of I do), I just drink my black coffee with cream and sweetener. I do like good coffee though, and I'm not afraid to search it out and completely devour myself in it. My office drinks crap coffee because it's cheap and Costco sells it in bulk, I need to spoil myself when I can - Thank God I only work 4 days a week :)



About a year or so ago, I realized that I actually enjoy coffee and I'm not just drinking it to warm me or wake me - I crave it! Friday mornings (my day off) are one of the best mornings in my week because I get to wake up and drink MY coffee (which happens to be Dunkin Donuts coffee, YUM) and enjoy a nice relaxing morning. I get so excited to go to bed on Thursday nights because I know it means I get real coffee in the morning. ahhhhhhhh......



Point being, I need (yes, NEED) my coffee in the morning. You need me to have it as well, trust me ;)





ugh... too bad it's only Monday.

Weekend of Sports!

I wish I had more pictures to share with you from this past weekend but my camera didn't make it everywhere with me -

I'll start with a quick recap of what the weekend entailed:
Friday - cleaned for my grandma, met with my daddy for lunch and received a case of peaches and a case of Pomegranates, went to my brothers to drop off half of the cases to him (it is possible for me to share) and got to spend some time with my niece who was going to get a 'big girl' bed the following day.  Low key night, watched Hustle & Flow, and made dinner.

Saturday - wake up with huge excitement for the Twins vs. KC game - didn't have tickets, but had every intention of buying some from a scalper.  Steve and I decided to talk to several scalpers and find a good deal before committing to a location or a price.  We are suckers and ended up buying from the first guy we walked by - Sec. 113, Row 25 (which is actually only about 10 rows up as it's a half section) - great price, great seats.  Going into a game against Cy Young contender, Zack Greinke, I had hopes for a win, but they weren't very high hopes.  Going into this game we are a game behind Detroit in the race for the AL Central - The Twins win 5-4; with the White Sox beating Detroit we walk out of the game tied.  Sunday's game was going to be huge - not only was it supposed to be the last regular season game in the Metrodome, it was a necessary win to keep hopes alive!

Sunday - Twins vs. KC - Detroit vs. White Sox, never have I wanted the Sox to win so badly!  As we are sitting in the dome watching the Twins destroy the Royals, the entire crowd is watching the score of the Detroit game... we need them to lose, otherwise we have to play a tie-breaker on Tuesday.  Detroit wins, lame.  Twins win, awesome.  Tie-breaker on Tuesday at the Dome, tickets are on sale now.  We stick around for the Dome ceremony and then rush outside to get tickets to Tuesday's game.  Lower level is sold out, fine, upper level here we come - At least we have tickets - who cares where they are!

Two huge and exciting games... time to rest up a bit - but not before the Vikings meet with the Packers for Monday Night Football!
As if I even need to say this, you'd have to be living under a rock to not know that Brett Favre single handedly brought us to victory over his former Green Bay team.  Poor saps... and they used to think this man was their God!  Now we do :)  Anyhow - Vikings won and it was a great game!

Tuesday - Tie-breaker game in the Dome and I have tickets!  It's raining all day, so I opt to leave my camera at home (wish I woulda brought it) - again, you must know how this game went unless you live under a rock.  Assuming you live in the real world and know that the Twins were victors (6-5 in the 12th Inning)... I will continue by posting some photos from the last 5 days (I only took my camera to Sunday's game):

Jordan and her Daddy:

Jordan with her Pom's

Hard at Play

Kirby's Home run seat.

A Full house in the dome for the 'last' game

...my image uploader is not working as it should, so that's all you get today!

Twins are off to play the Yankees in NYC - hopefully they will come out on top - I have faith, probably more than I should, but I believe we deserve this!   Congrats boys on making it this far!!!