The weekend of 9/28 - 9/30 there was a traveling exhibit in town at Loring Park that Josh informed me of. It was the basic set up of a Refugee Camp run by Doctors Without Borders and Josh asked if Chris & I wanted to meet him there Saturday morning.

We were there at 9am when the first group was taken into the camp. One of the logistics workers from Doctors Without Borders was our guide as we walked through the camp and told us about the different services that are provided to refugees and internally displaced people (IDP). First we were shown some examples of housing. They had a tent set up that I would think of as an 8 person tent that would comfortably sleep 4…the average group that stay in a tent like that could be up to 16 people!

We were also taken to the food tent. Sometimes it can be days after a camp is set up before the food arrives, so they have these soap bar size food packets that have all the calories and nutrients in them and each person needs one a day (they’re called BP-5). Then, after the food arrives each tent gets a bucket that needs to last the whole week. That means for a whole week everyone gets corn for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The next week they might get corn again, or possibly rice.

Another surprising thing we learned was that the latrine (outhouse) walls are often times made of plastic. They had one built of wood as well, but the guide explained that when it came time to cook up some rice people would often eye the latrine and overnight suddenly the whole thing would be gone.

The medical area was one of the most amazing and also the saddest areas to be. First of all, they get a vaccination area set up and can vaccinate 600 children an hour! That’s amazing! Then there was the cholera side of the tent where the beds have holes in them for people who are too weak/dehydrated/sick to get up. Ick. The workers wear rubber boots and gloves so that they don’t get sick. Ick, ick, ick! Anyway, the other part of that area was the malnutrition area. For children under the age of 5 they use the Bracelet of Life to measure their upper arm circumference. Depending on the color that the indicator ends up in, they determine the level of malnourishment (if any). The size of severely malnourished is smaller than most newborn babies I’ve seen…it is so sad to think of a 5 yr old who’s arm is that small.

Overall, I’m glad we went to the exhibit. It was interesting to see and I think I’ve found another organization that I will support next year.

What a gorgeous day on Saturday! I slept in and after lunch I headed up to Chris’s house to start our fun day. We drove out to Stillwater, which I always thought was so far away but recently realized is really not! Unfortunately, there was an accident on 35E that turned our 30 minute drive to 60 minutes but we made it. We just walked up the main drag, down by the water, and then back down the main drag. There’s a staircase that leads up to a neighborhood that we walked up. There is a gorgeous view of the river and the whole city from up there. All in all we were probably in Stillwater only an hour or so, but it was so nice to be outside.

Since we had time, on the way home we stopped at Aamodt’s Apple Farm. There wasn’t a lot for us to see/do since we didn’t have kids with us, but we walked around the outside a bit before stopping into the apple store. This place had a lot more than just apples…butters, syrups, honey, pies, etc. We ended up leaving with some Honey Crisp apples that were SO GOOD. I always seem to forget what a good apple tastes like, but man oh man are they delicious!

We ended up watching Pursuit of Happyness after we got home. My opinion: I like the story behind the movie…but the movie itself was really boring to me.

UPDATE – The votes have been tallied & the winner is…
2) Brand it - mark it with an * and THEN send it to Cooperstown.

Read the article on MSNBC here or go to Marc Ecko’s page here.
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As you know, Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s home run record this year. The fan who caught the ball put it up for auction this weekend and it sold for $752,467 to fashion designer Marc Ecko. This guy is nuts…but in a good way. He’s putting the fate of the ball into the hands of the public.

Check out the Today Show story here. Or, skip that & vote for what you think should be done with the ball!

Your options…
1) Bestow it - send it to Cooperstown.
2) Brand it - mark it with an * and THEN send it to Cooperstown.
3) Banish it - send it to outer space.

If you don’t vote, you can’t complain about the results. Happy voting!

I am embarking on a very exciting 30 day adventure beginning on Saturday evening and I wanted to share it with everyone. As of 6:00pm on Saturday I will be participating in a program run by the Raw Divas…the Body Enlightenment System…with many ladies from all over the world!

First, a little background. Jeff, a coworker of mine, lives a non-traditional lifestyle that I have found very interesting. Jeff and his wife Heather are raw foodists and Jeff has had great results shedding excess weight by changing his diet (not only on raw foods, but that is the most recent change). Many of the tech team eat lunch together at work and so I was observing the foods he was eating. They always looked a little ‘different’ but always looked good. I’ve been a fan of fruits & veggies for a while, so it made sense to look into this way of living. While Jeff & Heather are both very open and willing to share whatever information they have available to them, I also did some research on the internet and based on my findings I decided to give it a try. I figured that Chris going to Ireland was the perfect opportunity to focus on myself for 5 weeks and go for it.

One of the first books I read was Green for Life. It’s a very informational book about incorporating greens into your diet via delicious smoothies. Another book that was more influential in my decision (and ability) to give up meat was May All Be Fed. Since mid-July I have rarely had meat or pop…that seemed like it would be a huge sacrifice but it really wasn’t.

So, for 5 weeks while Chris was gone I learned about raw food life and tried to eat mostly raw foods. What are raw foods? Vegetables, Fruit, and Nuts. Food that can be found in the wild and consumed as it is. There is a really good FAQ here if anyone is interested in more information. The main time I had a problem was at Twins games. I’m not sure if it’s because of the fact that it’s a habit to eat food while I’m there or what, but even if I ate before going to a game, I felt hungry. Otherwise, I enjoyed having a green smoothie for breakfast a big salad w/nuts for lunch and usually fruit or some other raw meal for dinner. It was amazing…I lost 4 pounds in the first week and my mood was so great! Even during normal PMS time I didn’t have chocolate cravings or anything. I enjoyed the experience and was happy eating foods in their natural state. Then Chris came home. It was like a huge welcome home party for the next week or 2. We ate out a lot and while I tried to stay away from meat, it was impossible to stick with raw foods.

I would like to be eating mostly raw foods so when I came across this 30 day program I decided it was a great idea. I think having a structured program of detoxing my body and then getting into healthy habits with food and exercise will be fantastic. My thoughts are that doing this program while Chris is HOME will make it more of a reality and a possibility. I am so lucky because even though this may seem like an extreme idea, Chris is so supportive of me. He is the greatest!
I do not plan on journaling regularly on this blog about my experiences because I have another place to do that, but I may from time to time. Way back in July I started Raw in MN and I plan to talk about my Body Enlightenment System experiences there. Come and check it out if you’d like!

For one last dinner before Chris’s parents headed back to Wyoming we decided to try a new place in South Minneapolis, Busters on 28th, and it was a good choice!

Busters had delicious food and an amazing beer selection. There are booths for groups of 4 lining one wall and then high top tables filling in the middle between the booths and the bar. We had no problem putting 2 tables together to fit 5 people but if you’re going to have a group larger than 6-8 it might be tough. It was a Monday night when we ate at Busters and by 7pm the whole place was full.

The variety of options on the menu was great for those who love meat, limited (but available) for vegetarians. In our group we had calamari appetizer, a Rachael sandwich, hamburger, pulled pork sandwich, walleye sandwich, and portobello mushroom sandwich. The fries were delicious - very salty. The only food complaint we had was that there were bones in the walleye sandwich. It’s great that it is real fish…but you don’t really expect bones in a sandwich usually I don’t think. The meals out shined the price as most sandwiches were around $7, so we figure they’re counting on you having a couple drinks and although we did, we didn’t feel pressured to. Next time we go I’m going to try the pizza because it looked really good too. And, yes, we’ll definitely go back. They had 15+ beers on tap plus a wide selection of bottles and this place is within walking distance of my boyfriends house!

We had a nice dinner and then wrapped up the night by looking at Chris’s photos from Ireland.

Today I attended my first Renaissance Festival! Chris’s parents arrived in MN early this morning (after some car troubles, I think they were in bed around 4:30 am?) and this was an idea we had offered as something fun to do. They were interested so I got discount tickets through my Credit Union last week. First Chris, his parents (Tim & Peg), Tia, and Nate met me in Burnsville and we went to Jensen’s Cafe for some lunch. Once we were finished we headed further south to the Ren Fest.

It was overcast but a nice temperature for being out & about walking around. We got a few sprinkles which eventually hurt my car more than me. It’s a little (okay, a lot) dusty on the Ren Fest grounds and the sprinkles made my car just wet enough to attract dust. Anyway, that’s not a problem. We started out by walking around looking in a few of the shops and checking out the food vendors. The costumes were interesting - some were gorgeous, some not so great, and some were just plain gross…but I guess you get that anywhere. We watched the beginning of the Joust display and then made our way over to see Puke & Snot. Puke & Snot were funny but the joust was difficult to follow/hear so we didn’t stay around for too much of that.

I guess overall I enjoyed being outside and spending time with Chris & his family, but I don’t think Renaissance Festival is an event I would want to go see every year. Although, after the State Fair this year I think I have the same feelings about that as well. It’s a lot of people, a lot of food, and a lot of “stuff” being sold…not exactly relaxing.

Saturday night Chris was talking with the group about possibly going to the Field Museum on Sunday. After spending the last 2 days walking around, that didn’t sound like something I was interested in so instead I decided I would grab my book and go sit in the shade somewhere. We all walked to the area where Erica’s dorm was when she was a student and had breakfast/lunch together before splitting up. They didn’t end up going to the museum, but to China Town instead, but I did go to Grant Park and find myself a little piece of shade to relax in. It was warm out again (in the 90’s) and where I ended up sitting I was getting a mist of water occasionally from Buckingham Fountain. After a while I walked back to the hotel and on my way I got a text from Chris saying they were at the hotel & thinking about going to the Museum. I made it back before they left and ended up taking a nap with Chris instead of going back outside.

Both Erica and Alicia had friends coming to meet us for Pizza (finally, the Pizza Club event we went to Chicago for) so we walked over to the Jackson location of Giordano’s around 6pm. We had a group of 9 and therefore expected to wait a while, but somehow with 3 of us sitting in the bar and 3 of us standing by the check in area and 3 of us standing outside, we missed our table. They said that they buzzed the little slice of pizza multiple times, but why didn’t they ask for the party of 9 or say the person’s name who it was under. Did they think that we just left without turning in the buzzer and/or letting them know we were not waiting? Happily, I was one of the people waiting at the bar. It was at least an hour before we were given 3 booths to sit at and order our pizza. Another unfortunate event was that the hostess was overheard talking about our group to other customers, as if it was our fault that they missed calling our names. I can see that there was a misunderstanding or miscommunication, but come on - be more professional than that.

As usual, the food was excellent. We ordered a veggie pizza (my fav) and one with meat and both turned out great. Then the bill came…we were 3 separate tables but they decided to group us together & add a 15% tip in to the total. Fine. However, in the confusion of getting 5 different groups of people to pay, Erica ended up putting some of the bill on her card and added an additional 20% tip because she didn’t realize it had already been added. Once the mistake was realized (we hadn’t left the restaurant yet), she talked to a manager he was a total jerk and pretended to not understand what she was saying. After a struggle he finally agreed that he actually could change the transaction to remove the extra tip (yes, he tried to say he couldn’t change it) and did just that. It was an unfortunate ending to a not-that-great experience.

After dinner Erica & Alicia’s friends took off and the rest of us started walking towards downtown. I thought the fireworks at the Navy Pier that night were at 10:30 but it turns out they were actually at 9:30. We did see some of them while we were walking, but decided not to make the trek all the way to the Pier since everything was probably closing down. Instead we went to Millennium Park to walk around a bit. I had never been there after dark and the Crown Fountain looks really cool at night. You can see the faces very clearly. Chris and I were a little goofy (well, maybe I was goofy & pulled him into it) and played around in the water. The city reflection in Cloud Gate was neat too. We ended up walking back towards the hotel and I was thinking we might end up at the South Loop Club again, but instead we went to bed. It was a fun last night in Chicago.

           

Check out Chicago Day 1 and Chicago Day 2 here!

Saturday morning we slept in before splitting up again. This time Chris & I headed to lunch with our friends Shelly & Nicki while the others met up with TJ’s friend Aernie. We had lunch at Plymouth Restaurant and enjoyed the variety found on the menu. I had a yummy portabello mushroom sandwich with waffle fries. Yumm. After lunch we all walked over to Grant Park to observe the Jazz Festival a bit before walking down to Millennium Park. Neither Shelly or Nicki had been to Millennium Park so Chris & I left them there to wander around while we headed back to our hotel.

Tj, Erica, and Alicia met us at the hotel and we headed for the eL around 4pm. We had tickets to see The Format at The Vic on Saturday night and the tickets said the show was at 6:30 so we decided to get into the area before having dinner. We walked into some shops before finding Leona’s and going in to eat dinner. Here the 2nd variety of Pizza was had, this time by Chris, TJ, and Alicia. (First time was at the airport in Minneapolis.) Dinner was good - Erica had a huge (seriously, huge) salad and I enjoyed some Lasagna. The night got interesting after that…we got to the Vic around 7pm and there were already a ton of people down on the floor in front of the stage. We found our way up to a balcony and scored some seats with a ton of leg room which was nice since it turns out there were 4 bands that played before the Format. (Yes - FOUR!) A couple of the openers were not good at all. Then came Steel Train with at least 2 of the members sporting a ‘fro, tight black jeans, and white socks (with no shoes!). Chris and TJ thought they were good, I had a hard time getting past the crazy outfit & stage presence. One cool thing about the whole night was that it seemed like all the bands got along very well. During various songs throughout the night members of other bands would come on stage and play guitar or one of multiple percussion instruments. The last group before The Format was Piebald. I thought they were pretty good…but i just found out on Wiki that they’re breaking up. The tour we saw them on is their last one. Oh well, I probably wouldn’t have come across another show of theirs anyway. Finally (it wasn’t as long of a wait as I anticipated actually) The Format came on stage. I had been listening to them while at work since we bought our tickets and I’m glad I did. The show was fun & the music was good! We headed back towards our hotel after the show. We stopped for a drink and then made our way back before crashing for the night.

Check out Chicago Day 1 and Chicago Day 3 here!

Friday August 31st Chris & I headed to Chicago along with our friends, TJ, Erica, and Alicia. It was “Pizza Club Chicago” and we were all very excited to enjoy the holiday weekend in Chi-town.

Our flight arrived around 2pm and we took the orange line to our hotel, the Travelodge on Harrison & Wabash. The hotel is in a nice location for walking around Grant park and we actually walked all the way down Michigan Ave although it was quite a hike. Dinner was at the Thai Spoon which is a restaurant that Erica worked at while she was going to school in Chicago. The food was really yummy - I started out with Spring Rolls and completed my meal with Pad Thai. I think it was fun for Erica to talk with one of her former co-workers as well. After dinner we took a walk, first over to Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park to check out the Jazz Festival. We weren’t up for figuring out the ticket deal at Jazz Fest…$7 for 11 tickets, each beer is 9 tickets, how many tickets should we get to end up with an even number…so we decided to try to locate a pub somewhere to have a beverage. Unfortunately, a pub in downtown Chicago isn’t something you just come by. We finally came across a Bennigan’s and went in for a drink. The service at this restaurant was horrible. We were stuck in the back of the restaurant, which would have been fine had we seen a waiter in the first 10 minutes of sitting down. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen & we took the bill as soon as the guy brought the first round. Chris managed to down 2 drinks while the rest of us had 1 (that’s my guy!) and then we continued on our trek down to the John Hancock building. We made it and only had to stand in line 15-20 minutes before we were able to take the super-dooper fast elevator up to the 95th floor bar. We didn’t have food reservations so we were a little worried about getting a table for 5 but surprisingly we were able to sit prior to a couple in line in front of us! The drinks were strong and the view was cool. We were there right around sunset & it was awesome.

After the drinks we decided to take a bus back to our hotel. We picked up a 3 day transit pass so it was a no-brainer to hop on the bus since it was “free.” Upon arrival at the hotel the group split up. Erica & Alicia decided to call it a night & crashed at the hotel while Chris, TJ & I went to Buddy Guy’s Legends. That place was a lot of fun! We were there early enough to snag 3 high top chairs at the bar and enjoyed the opening group from there while we had a couple (maybe a few) drinks and some food. All of the music was great…the opener had this guy playing stand up bass that was so cool to watch and the main group was just GOOD. Anyway, this was somewhere that I had not been too & now I can see why Chris talked so highly about it. Another bonus - we could walk there from our hotel! After the music ended we walked to the South Loop Club which apparently is Chris’s usual path after Buddy Guy’s. Let’s just say all 3 of us had probably already had enough to drink, but we managed to put down one more drink while being goofballs. I ended up talking with some University of Iowa fans trying to figure out why they had all taken over the city (it was like a sea of yellow, I am not kidding) while Chris & TJ played games with the menu.


Buddy Guy’s Legends:

     

Read about Chicago Day 2 and Chicago Day 3 here!