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Today's edition of the blog is a fashion edition.   How to jazz up a plain t-shirt:  Fun scarf + necklace and Voila!  I'm into scarves lately.   I got this one at Charlotte Russe - you can't really see in the picture but it has a paisley print in a bunch of colors.  Easy to pair with lots of different tshirts.  :-) 

Outake - Vinci snuck in the picture.  :-) 

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Its nearly the end of May and its going out with a boom (or so the weather man says) - we woke up at 430 am to a pretty good thunderstorm.  Now its huuuuuuuuuumid out and sounds like we'll be going to sleep to some thunderstorms later.   

May in review!

Tour of Minneapolis with Flat Stanley (who made it safely back to New Jersey by the way).

Planted some veggies and herbs!

Happy 12th Birthday to Basil!

Happy 4th Birthday to Chuck!

Supper Club - NE Social.

CAKE concert.

A pretty stellar month.  June brings weddings, a Mad Men party, geocaching, more supper club and hopefully warm weather!

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Good morning!  Last night we went to NorthEast Social with Julie.  Food was awesome!!  A little $$$, but that's why you don't go every week.  :-)

Dinner picture courtesy of Julie.

I had a Crispin Hard Apple Cider honey.  YUM.   It was like 30 something ounces too - I didn't finish!

Lucas tried one called 400 Pound Monkey.

For dinner I had poussin (aka sweet baby chicken) with a wild mushroom risotto.  Amazing!  And thank you to that little baby chicken for sacrificing itself for my dinner.   Lucas had a steak sandwich that he said was awesome.  Julie did the porkchop which was also really flavorful.

Hello dessert.  

This morning I whipped up some homemade mango salsa and sangria.   Yes, I had sangria at 11 am.  :)

And one last pictures of Vinci and Basil making out.  

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OMG!  Its sunny.  The weather dudes have been really sucky lately with the forecasts.  I think this weekend's forecast has changed about 5 times in the last 2 days.  Now its beautiful out - last I heard "Saturday was going to be a gloomy washout" - yeah, ok.  I'm resorting to getting my weather forecasts from a new source - the sky.   I'll just look up.....

What's everyone up to for the long weekend?  I cleaned the house this morning.  Opened up all the windows, kicked out the dogs.  I love the smell of a freshly cleaned house with the windows open.  :-)   The white sangria is brewing!  Review later.  ;-)  

Went through my closet - I had to organize it.  Sweaters, jackets, pants, tshirts, shirts, tanks, dresses, scarves.   Much better.  Now to keep it that way.....  

We're going to Northeast Social for dinner tonight.  Tomorrow is undecided - mom and dad might come up.  Depending on the weather we may see a movie in the afternoon (if there aren't tornadoes rolling around) - I was leaning toward Pirates or Hangover 2, but both of those got crappy reviews.... so now maybe Kung Fu Panda 2 or Bridesmaids which both got great reviews lol.    Monday, again, weather permitting Grandma and Grandpa are having a BBQ in the afternoon out at the lake.

I'm online shopping - not sure if that's good, lol - lots of sales online this weekend.  The Limited has 40% off.  American Eagle has 30% off I think and free shipping (ordered a pair of jeans), and LOFT is having a 50% off already sale items sale.  Of course the one thing I want from there that is only $20 is a size XL.   C'est la vie.  

Found 2 more blogs I am loving:   Moms Have Style, Too and Bravoe Runway - I love people who bargain shop and put together multiple cute outfits using one item of clothing.  Love, Love, Love and I need to get better at it. 

Happy weekend!

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Happy Memorial Day weekend, all!   

Five Question Friday!

1. Do you apologize to your kids?

My canine kids, yes.  Ya know, when I accidentally kick one in bed or trip over them.  :)

2. What color are your nails right now?

Au natural right now

3. When you were growing up, how difficult was it for you to stay home from school sick? (As in, did you have to vomit or just say "I don't feel good".)

I could stay home whenever I wanted, but I didn't just stay home because I wanted to stay home.  I (GASP!) actually enjoyed school.  I usually was always SICK when I stayed home.  

4. When is the last time you bought a new comforter for your bed?

Hmm... last summer when I redid the bedroom color.  :)

5. Favorite website(s)?

I have a million that I've blogged about before.  They include:  J's Everyday Fashion, Back to Her Roots, Prior Fat Girl (And she's from MN), www.facebook.com, Ramshackle Glam, www.oldnavy.com, Skinny Taste, and Spark People just to name a few.   :-) 

Have a safe weekend!

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Thirsty Thursday

I'm going to make some White Sangria this weekend.  :-)   Mmmmmm, cannot wait to try it!

White Sangria

• 2 cups Vinho Verde or a crisp white wine (500 ml)
• 1 ounce Triple Sec or fruit brandy, optional (30 ml)
• 1/2 cup apple juice (125 ml)
• 1 cup gingerale (250 ml)
• Juice of 1 lime
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• Handful strawberries or raspberries
• Handful ice cubes

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2 weeks til the Mad Men Party.   Costume! Check.  Accessories!  Check.   Decorations! Almost there.   Hair .....  no clue yet.  

What do you think?

Betty Hair?

Joan hair?

Pin up hair?

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Things I am loving right now......


Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Powerberries.  Heaven.  For reeeeeeeeaaaaallllllzzzzzz.   Go get them.  My movie treat is a few of those sprinkled in Trader Joe's Olive Oil and Sea Salt popcorn.  Match made in heaven I tell you.

Maxi dresses - I have a closet full and no where to wear them because its FREEZING OUT!  It needs to be at least 80 degrees.  COME ON MN.  Work with me.

Mod Cloth - my new favorite website.  I want one of everything please.   :-) 

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I'm watching the news and feeling so lucky to have a house still standing and Lucas and my dogs are safe.   We were missed again - the tornado touched down first a few miles south of here and then finally a few miles east of here.  Some of my friends weren't so lucky.....


Stay strong north Minneapolis!  

Red Cross

Salvation Army

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I found this picture of my Grandpa at my mom and dad's.  I LOVE IT!  Its my favorite picture of him.  I think it was taken at Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary party.  He came off as being very "stern" or "rough" but he was the COMPLETE opposite.  He didn't speak much but when he did it was for a reason and people listened.  :-)  He use to let me paint his fingernails and "fix" his hair when I was little, lol.  And whenever I didn't want to eat what mom was cooking, I walked across the lawn to Grandma and Grandpa's for pork chops - I swear to God that's all Granny ever made.  He loved to bowl and actually had a stroke and died while bowling - a pretty fitting way to "go out" Gramps.  :-)   

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Who made it through the "rapture"??  Someone did his "math wrong" again, lol.

So far so good in Dover, MN where we're visiting my family.  I haven't seen any zombies yet either... although its only 10 pm.....

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Five Question Friday!

1. Do you and your spouse go to bed at the same time?

For the most part we do.  Lucas might lag behind a little when trying to "find a save spot" for his video game.  :)

2. A question for the ladies...What kind of facial hair do you like on your man?

I like Lucas to have a little more than a 5 o'clock shadow.  See above.   Rawwrrr.  

3. What's the worst vacation you've ever taken?

Hmm....   I can't think of a HORRIBLE vacation - we did stay in a "shack" in Hana on Maui - it was only one night and we still talk about it but literally we were in a tiny little shack - you could see through the walls.  The AC consisted of a fan, lol.  Oh it was hilarious.   So not a horrible vacation, but memorable!

4. What's the first-ever blog you followed?

Hmm.......  My friend Kristin keeps a blog so I followed that one for awhile when she would update it.  Now I follow a ton as I've blogged before.  :) 

5. Do you enjoy amusement parks?

Not really.  Rides are not my thing.  I work in spine surgery - I know what happens when you jack up your neck.  I don't recommend it.

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I like that quote..... 

Are you done losing weight yet??   

I'm getting this question alot lately.  How do you know when you're done?  I don't think you're ever really "done" done - everyone always fluctuates.  I've been at the same weight give or take a few pounds since April.  So I'm really good at maintaining.  I must be losing a LITTLE in "inches" because my dress pants are getting a little roomier than they were a couple months ago.  But they still fit fine and its nice to not be spending $$$$ on clothes that fit every 2 months.   I would say I'm in maintenance/tone up mode.  I'm still going to keep eating well and walking/doing Pilates - if I lose weight, I lose weight.   If I maintain, cool.   I'm not going to sweat it - which is usually when you end up losing weight.  C'est la vie.   I'd like to work on toning up more which may not necessarily result in pounds lost but instead inches lost.   There is a girl on my spark website that weighs 160 pounds - she's weighed that the entire time and went from a size 10 to a size 2 because she leaned out and lost inches.  Which is exactly why a number is a number.  Do what feels good and do what YOU think looks good - I like being curvy - I would never want to be super thin.  Ish - not my thing.  No offense to you super thin people.  :-)

In other news - I finally got some new lounge/yoga pants from Old Navy.  See this:

I haven't been a size small since I was like 2.  For reals.  Ok, off to order Chinese for dinner - there's a place by our house that delivers and they have AWESOME steamed chicken/veggies and rice.  Yummmooo!

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Movies I'm looking forward to this summer.....

Thor

Kung Fu Panda 2

The boys are back.....

POTTAH!

What movies are you looking forward to this summer?

TV shows are starting up this summer too!!  True Blood, Dexter and Weeds!  Can't wait!

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*Disclaimer:  If you tell me I'm "rushing summer" you can beat it.   October is my favorite month - its NOT my fault that it happens to be right before the dreaded dark cold months known as "winter"*  

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.....

  After talking about it at work this morning for no reason whatsoever, I got the email today that Zombie Pub Crawl VIII is October 8, 2011!!!!    Soooo excited!!  Its grown exponentially in the last few years so it will be interesting to see how it is this year especially after all the feedback last year - it was super crowded and I think alot of people complained about waits at bars, etc.   

Here we are the first year we went (zombie flapper and zombie jailbird) with Camilo:

And here we are last year (zombie nerd and zombie 80's chick):

Love my zombie friends.....

What to be this year?!?! Mwhahaha!  Ideas floating in my head include Disney zombies, Wizard of Oz zombies, Alice in Wonderland zombies, and Mad Men zombies.  EEeeeeek!

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Happy Monday.  A few more pics of exploring the city yesterday with Flat Stanley (thanks again to Julie for her photographic talents!):

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What a beautiful day in Minneapolis!  The wind was a bit much but in comparison to yesterday I'll take it.  We went to the Modern Cafe in NE for brunch.  Lucas had this:

French toast with blueberries, whip cream and almonds.  He said it was awesome.   Bad Waitress is still my fave brunch place so far.

We took a tour of Minneapolis with Flat Stanley before he heads back to New Jersey.  

Gold Medal Park - Stan is very small in that photo but I promise he's there.

At the Cherry in the Spoon with downtown and the Basilica in the background.

The falls at the Stone Arch Bridge.  So pretty!

Thanks to Julie for helping take pictures of Stanley.   It was a great day for walking around Minneapolis!