Last night Vince & Grace came to South Minneapolis to hang out. They had never been to Buster’s so of course we had to take them there! By the time we arrived there was a half hour wait but we decided to stick it out because everyone was looking forward to the beer menu. We had some yummy food and a couple tasty drinks before heading back to the house where we ended up playing some Wii and then Farkel. It was fun, and somehow I’m not completely worthless today!!

Anyway, the main reason for this post was to include these photos because I thought we were all pretty darn cute!


I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

UPDATE: I had my numbers messed up in Excel. The graph below is updated and correct.

All I can say is…HOLY CRAP WHERE DID THE TIME GO?!?!?!

I started this weight loss program 70 days ago and a lot has happened since then. Hurting my foot set me back three weeks ago…but I’m happy to report that I’m back on track and I lost 2 pounds in the past 10 days!! Yay!

One thing that I think has helped is that I’m actually weighing myself twice a week. I started up a mini-challenge with my mom and we weigh in on Tuesdays so that doesn’t really allow me to have a splurge day (or two) because there is a weigh in right around the corner all the time it seems! I may weigh myself every Tue & Fri just to keep myself on track and always be aware of where I stand. We’ll see.

Unfortunately, my February Activity Calendar is looking pretty darn sad. I haven’t had the chance to get back into workouts yet and I’m not sure when I will. I do have a plan though…I think one of my dvds has different sections for upper body, lower body and abs and I’m going to try doing the upper body & adbs workouts to see how they are. In addition, I’m hoping to give Pilates a try again.

So, here we go…I guess this is the home stretch!

Current Graph:

This art work was hilarious! It is two men who are peeing into a “lake” in the shape of the Czech Republic. Supposedly they are writing famous quotes into the water & if you text something to a specific phone number they will stop & write your note. The artist, David Cerny, is known for creating controversial pieces of art.

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Puzzle (click to play):

A recent trend in my family is giving activities rather than things for gifts. I happen to really like this idea…it means we’re spending time together and we’re also not gathering more junk in our homes!

My dad’s birthday is in early January and using the concierge service at my office building I was able to secure 5 tickets to see the Wild take on the LA Kings Tuesday night. My brother & Robyn joined us but my mom had another commitment she couldn’t get out of.

So - there we were, second row from the top at one end of the ice at the Xcel Energy Center. The seats are actually not too bad. It’s a bummer when the people in front of you decide to lean forward in their seats because then you can’t see the goal without leaning forward yourself, but that’s a minor complaint. It was a fairly exciting game we saw. At the end of regular play the score was 1-1 and the Wild’s only goal was scored while they were short handed which was awesome! We stayed for the 5 minute overtime period. Did you know they play 4 on 4 for that overtime? (Little did I know that I had a LOT to learn about hockey overtime.) So, 4 on 4 for five minutes…the Kings got a penalty called with 6.8 seconds left - hardly enough to make a difference - and the score was still tied 1-1. Next up? Shoot out! For some reason I had it in my head that each team got 5 shots but, no, each team actually gets 3. Both goalies saved the first round of shots. In the second round the Kings scored their goal and the Wild player missed so the pressure was definitely on. The third round started out with a save by Backstrom for the Wild and a score by Miettinen!

Next up was sudden death shoot out. The Kings player shot first and scored. With that, I figured the game was over because that’s how it works in Football. Well, again, I was wrong. It turns out that sudden death shootout in hockey means that each team sets up their players one on one and the results of that matchup determine if the game continues. If neither or both score, the game is still a tie and we move on to the next matchup. If only one person scores, that team wins. The Wild player missed his shot so sudden death was over quickly and we all left the arena pretty deflated.

I have to publicly admit this to get it off my chest …I…ate…at…………Uno’s last weekend instead of Giordano’s! There. I said it.


The original (I think) Uno’s was within walking distance of our hotel and we had passed by it a couple times over the course of the weekend so when Chris asked if I wanted to try that pizza out, I figured it was worth a try. I mean, we tried a new blue’s club Friday night and realized we liked Buddy Guy’s better…so I figured I would either find another pizza I loved or just love Giordano’s even more.

Plus, I always insist we eat at Giordano’s but really…I don’t have any reason to say no to other places besides “I really love Giordano’s.”

So, we went to Uno’s. And, it actually wasn’t too bad. I am pretty sure I still prefer Giordano’s any day…but, my Chicago Style Pizza fix was met and I have to admit, the inside of Uno’s was pretty cute.

Saturday February 21st was what I’m now calling a “Date Day” for Chris & I in Chicago (as opposed to date night)! In an attempt to rest my foot (we did quite a bit of walking Friday night finding a place to have dinner & then getting lost on the way to a Blue’s Club with his coworkers) I decided we should go see a movie. So, we walked to the three story movie theater on Michigan Avenue and looked to see what show times they offered. I wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire and it happened to be playing about 40 minutes from when we got there. So…we had a lunch date in the same building at Heaven on Seven (which was already totally decked out for Mardi Gras) before watching the movie. As previously noted, I. Loved. It.

After the movie we headed back to the hotel to a) take a nap, b) watch some tv, c) rest my foot and d) get ready for our night out! Actually, it may have been ME taking the nap and Chris watching TV…but that’s just details. So, when I booked my plane ticket to Chicago I immediately started to try to find something fun for us to do Saturday night. I had received a couple emails about Chicago’s Restaurant Week which came in very handy. I made us reservations for Berghoff’s and it turned out to be a great choice. We didn’t end up using the restaurant week menu but instead shared a smoked salmon appetizer that came with potato pancakes and then I enjoyed some Herb Spiced Tilapia while Chris devoured a meat sampler (the Mixed Grill) and some spaetzles. We finished off the meal by sharing some Apple Crisp a la mode. Yummy! We finished our dinner too quickly so we took up a couple seats at the (deserted) bar and played a game of cribbage (which I won!).

After paying our tab we headed out again, this time towards Second City! I have seen a handful of shows in the past 8 years with working there and other visits but Chris hadn’t been lucky enough. We saw America: All Better and I really enjoyed it. We had great seats and there were plenty of laugh out loud moments! The one complaint I have is that it was FREEZING in the theater. Seriously - most everyone had their jackets on before the end of the show and we saw at least one guy with his stocking cap on.

We stayed around for the improv session after the show was over and then took a cab back to our hotel. It was a great day with my fiance in one of our favorite cities! We should definitely do Date Day more often I think.

I have been to see more movies in the past few weeks than I have in the past year or so I think!

In late January I met Robyn at Southdale for girls night. We enjoyed a quick dinner at Cheesecake Factory before sobbing our way through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I think we both left emotionally drained, but happy that we had taken the time (2 hours and 45 minutes!) to see it.

Then, Chris & I shared a Valentine’s Day movie with my dad & brother. Yep - so romantic! Actually, we all went to see The Wrestler and although I didn’t go in with any expectations, I liked the movie. I found out that Josh and I are different types of movie goers…he really liked the ending & I would have preferred it wrap up the lose ends a bit. Oh well. After the movie Chris & I had dinner with my parents and played a couple board games before calling it a night.

Finally, this past weekend in Chicago Chris & I needed to kill some time (while not walking around) so we caught an afternoon showing of Slumdog Millionaire. LOVED IT. Seriously. Very good movie.

For someone who doesn’t usually see movies as they come out…I’m pretty happy with the fact that I saw 2 of the 5 Best Picture nominations prior to the Oscars! And, just for the record, I also saw the Best Animated Feature Film, WALL-E.

P.S. Did everyone know that AMC has $5 movies ALL DAY Monday thru Thursday? Jackpot.

I think Prague might have been one of my favorite stops on the trip! This is another fun photo. On our last day we took a walk over to the Charles Bridge again but this time we were able to go up to the top of one of the towers.

Original Photo:

Puzzle (click to play):

Each day for the past week or so we’ve gotten a hand full of postcards back from our wedding guests. Let me tell you - using Chris’s postcard collection as our RSVP cards was a great idea! For example, this is what we got today:

How fun is that?!? So people - keep ‘em coming.

In March, some girlfriends and I are going to “Bingo a go go” which is a charity event held in downtown Minneapolis. They say you can dress up but I figured I would probably just wear some jeans and normal clothes.

Well…last night a few of us met at Jenny’s house because her mom had found some of her clothes from her younger days and I think I’ve been convinced to wear a polyester green number. For your viewing pleasure…here are some of the outfits:


Liz was definitely our super model for the night!