Saturday in Minneapolis with Mel and "Toph"

Saturday was another great day in Minneapolis. We got up from our late night around 1130, and the girls and I headed to Key's for lunch in downtown (I think that was the area we were!!). We stuffed our faces and by the time we were finished, it was already mid afternoon. The kitties were all at Mel's house and we needed to check on them....so we went over there to do that and get the rest of our stuff. We had great intentions of doing a little shopping and walking around, but we all ended up kind of crashing for a bit and took little naps. :) I think we all needed them too!!


So, after a quick snooze, we headed back over to Toph's to get ready for the night. Oh...I'm trying real hard to call him "Toph" instead of Chris. He cracked me up because from the minute we walked into his place yesterday, he's been calling me "All Things".....because of my blog and website name. I think it's hysterical. Laura has been "LA", and now I'm going to try to continue to call him Toph. :) Anyways....he had played golf that afternoon, and had few friends over, again, enjoying the nice weather on the patio outside. We took our time getting ready, hung out for a bit, went to say hello and meet one of their friends and neighbors, and then left for a dinner.

We had looked online at the menu at Erte before going, and were all really excited about the selections. When we got there though, our waitress told us that they were closing for a week and a half, and weren't very booked for tonight, but got an unexpected rush of guests for dinner....and so over half of the things on the menu were sold out. Ugh. While we were a little disappointed, our yummy martinis were already tasting fantastic, and we were still able to find items to choose that sounded delicious. And....they were. Crab Cakes, Pork Chop, Filet Mignon, and Risotto, with au gratin potatoes - WOW, yummmmmmy!! We had a little too much food that we even made it back to Toph with some leftovers.



A quick stop to pick him up, and we were off to The Front. They had been there a week or so before and it was awesome, so we thought we'd try it out. Well....this DJ was not as awesome as the last one, so while it was a really neat place, after about an hour, and 3 of us talking to the DJ to see if it was going to get any better....it didn't......we decided to head back to Legends. Ha!




A few other of Toph's friends joined us, and we were back on the dance floor at the local dive bar. Funny too, that the door guys recognized us from the night before - oh boy!! We finished off the night with continuing to do our bodies harm by dancing more!!




After closing down Legends......again.......we cooked up the snackies that we'd gotten the night before and while waiting for them to cook, ripped the rest of the hideous contact paper off the walls in the kitchen. Toph pretended that he wasn't very happy about our destruction, BUT, he's planning on tearing down that wall soon anyways, so we think he might be over it.



It was another great night with Mel in her new hometown. If it wasn't so stinking cold there during the winter months, I'm pretty sure that Laura and I would be lobbying to move ourselves there too. More fun to come with Mel in a few short weeks back in Austin!! We'll keep it nice and hot here for you while you are in MN!

Oh what a night.....with a surprise ending!!

After we finished getting all dolled up, we made a quick trip to get some snackies at Lunds, and went over to Chris' house, where we met up with him and Sean. It was so beautiful that we spent some time chilling out on the patio outside.....seriously, it was like 75 degrees. No wonder everywhere has patios....so pretty!!!


Our first stop was Kitty Cat Klub. What an amazing place!! The interior was so cool, so many different rooms and places to sit, with large chairs, and antique furniture, all very eclectic. I would LOVE to get back there during the day time and snap some pictures. Granted, we did manage to take a few in there even though it was dark. :) We hung out for a while and enjoyed the band, before deciding to head somewhere that we could do a little dancing.



Turns out that Legends is walking distance from Chris' house, so we dropped off the cars and walked down the street. What a gem this little bar and grill turned out to be. Upstairs was very sports bar-ish, but downstairs had a few video games, a pool table, AND a small dance floor with a great DJ. He was playing all the tunes that we love to get our groove on to! :) So....we ended up dancing the night away and closed down the place!!




On the way home, after taking some rather interesting pictures with a stop sign, I somehow.....really not sure how I did it.....but I landed funny on my ankle..........and well, I guess I sprained it........and at the same time.....BROKE MY TOE!!!! Yes, I broke my pinky toe. It's all purple and bruised, and I had to be carried home. Oh well....I won't let it slow me down, and will still have fun tomorrow!!!

Friday in Minni with Mel

Today the 3 of us worked from Mel's house....all of us were sitting at the dining room table, typing away on our laptops. Mel had a few calls, as did I, and Laura was super busy answering all of her emails in response to giving her notice at work. She starts working with me at ePlus in two weeks - yippee!!! :)


Mel's house is totally adorable, all of the houses in this neighborhood are great, so much personality and charm, and they are all different. The inside is decorated impeccably, and there are 4 furry friends that live here too. All of them are orange kitties, and they are so stinking cute. Sam and Peanut just got here last weekend from Texas, and Jay's two are Ringo and Bacardi.


For lunch, we headed into Edina, a neat little area in Minneapolis with lots of restaurants and shops. We had to walk through a back alley to get to the main street from where we parked, and of course I had my camera with me. Mel saw two toilets and jokingly asked me if I wanted to take a picture of them. At first I laughed, but then went back and got what I thought was a very interesting photo. I snapped a few others too, in an effort to take some different kinds of pictures, and I kind of like the way that they turned out.

It had been a little gloomy in the morning, but then the sun came out and so we decided to eat on the patio at Edina Grill. Our food was yummy, and we also sampled local Minnesota beer - we just had to. :)


We headed back to Mel's to get ready for our night out.....that will be the next post though. :)

Minni.....here we come!! Oh, we might be a little late!

Laura and I headed to the airport this afternoon to catch our, what should have been, 554pm flight direct to Minneapolis to visit Melissa. Woohoo!!

We got to the airport, in the FastPark, and through security in a zippy....no problems at all. When I looked up to see what gate we were leaving from, it said 3 (we were at 15, so we were in for a small hike), and that our flight was delayed to 755pm. !!!! Ugh. 2 hour delay!!

So, we decided to go to the gate to scope out the situation a little more. By the time we got down to the end of the terminal at Gate 3....it was delayed to 930pm! !!!!! What???

We tried to get them to invoke the good ole 420 Rule, but there were no other flights for her to even put us on. Oh well....what else to do with 3 hours to kill.....let's head to the bar.

Laura and I sat in Earl Campell's and enjoyed some dirty dogs and tap beer to kill some time. The place shut down at 730 (what is up with that Austin??) and so we were kicked out and ended up wandering back and forth down the terminal until we finally boarded our plane around 9.


My, normal, hotdog...complete with the appropriate fixins.....ketchup, mustard, onions and relish. Yummmmm.


What in the world is up with Laura's choice of toppings??



We made it to Minni right around midnight and Mel was there to pick us up!

Her house is so cute, and cozy, and the weather was so nice when we got home, that we sat on the patio and caught up with each other until almost 3am. She's got lots of fun stuff planned this weekend, and I'm so excited about being here to spend time with Melissa in her new hometown.

50 days.....

I might be getting ahead of myself, but at the end of the month, it will mark the first half of 2008 gone. Whoa!! That went fast. 182 days will have passed.....and for fun, I just went through my calendar and figured out how many of those days I have not been home. 50 days. 27.5% of this year, I have been traveling. Too bad I can't work out something with my mortgage company and bills to where I only have to pay for the time I'm here. :)

Here is where I've been so far this year.

Buffalo Grove, IL - Work visit to ASAP Software

Provo, Lindon & Park City, UT - Work Meeting at Altiris /Sundance Film Festival with Lora

Chicago, IL - Renae's Bachelorette Party with Melissa and Renae

Santa Barbara & LA - Visit with Brett/Tina's Bday with Lora (OMG, I can't believe I forgot to put this one in there at first!?!?!?)

Houston, TX - Hotel Cafe Tour/Camera Class (and fun with the girls of course)

Las Vegas, NV - ManageFusion work conference with Melissa and Laura

Orlando, FL - ePlus National Sales Meeting

San Antonio, TX - HP School of Rock conference

Weston, Ft Lauderdale & Miami, FL - Memorial Day Vacation with Lora, Mindi & Nita

Sandy, UT - Work Training

Houston, TX - Weekend with the girls

Las Vegas, NV - HP Tech Forum work conference


And right now I'm packing.....again......because I'm headed tomorrow with Laura to Minneapolis to visit Melissa! Yippee!!! My suitcase has definitely taken a beating this year!!!

It sure seems like I've been gone a whole lot more than about 30% of the time, but I guess there is still 6 months in the year to see if I can beat that average. Right now I only have one other trip on the books for the next few months....but there are a lot of open weekends in there for me to fill up! I also have a meeting next week to plan with Eric at work our trips to all of the regional offices for work....so I'll have to plan my fun trips around work ones, but I'm pretty good at that....so here I come! :)

Dave, Flying Saucers and County Line BBQ

Dave was my AE when I was at Dell working with customers in the DC area. He gets to come to town from time to time, and when he does.....his sister is nice enough to help arrange a little fun.

We started out at Flying Saucers, which is a place that has a ton of beers on tap, but you can also try a flight of beer. I opted for the Texas flight, Danielle for the German one. Most of mine were OK, except for the chocolate one from Blanco...yeah, I passed that one off to someone else.






We then headed over to County Line BBQ and seriously all ate WAY too much food, but it was all delicious!!!


Jenny had some fun taking pictures.....which I LOVE, by the way. She got some great fun shots!!! :)



Mmmmmmm.......meat........goood!!!




It's always such a good time when Dave's in town, and I love hanging out with Danielle, his sister, too. She lives right across the street from me, but we don't ever get to see each other. Oh, that's right, because I'm never in town.

Anyways, we had a blast. Good luck to Dave tomorrow for his 7am (ouch) interview, with the move to LA, and with the new baby boy in a few months!!

Introducing My Humble Condo Abode

I moved in a little over two months ago....and had my place about 80% of the way setup and livable on day one....but it took me a little longer, and the help of a few friends, to get it to where it is now. I wanted to hang the curtains the right way in my permanent living place, and there was no way I could do that myself! :)

So....here's the photo tour....finally!

When you walk in the front door (or the garage door)....you immediately take the stairs up to the 2nd level, where all of the living takes place. If you look down the pic, you can see the front door in the mirror that is on the landing. While a few of my friends (Toni) are a little scared of the painting sitting on the landing there, it's my favorite. It was painted by my Aunt Gini and I've always loved it.


At the top of the stairs, I have doors to a small balcony that I'll never use....that is why I didn't really mind hanging curtains over them. I preferred the punch of color to the outdoor access. Oh, say hi to Molly!


Then you turn and look into the main area of my condo. Dining table right in front of you. This is where I drop my purse/laptop bag on the way in each and every day. To the right is the study....I LOVE that it's open and there aren't any doors to it, it was my main reason for buying this place....it's so open. There is a half bath to the right too.


A look back into the dining area and stairs to the condo. The whole place was painted already when I bought it....yay! I hate painting, but I love the colors of this place. It's so warm.


Kitchen. Also nice and open. !!!! This pic just reminded me that I have to cash that check hanging on the side of my fridge!!! And ugh, I need to get a new trashcan...that thing is just ugly, and it's too small too!!


My favorite piece of furniture in my place....also the heaviest (that thing is like 800 lbs) is the piece that my old fashioned normal TV sits on....I love that thing!!


My living room. I LOVE the windows and the natural light that I can get. If I open all the blinds during the day, I don't need to turn on a single light and the whole room is bright. I also have a balcony that opens up and spans the entire width of my living room. I don't go out there much right now as it's too HOT but I will once I get a hammock or something. :)


Lastly, my study. The reason I bought this place....and where I spend most of my time.....behind this very computer....sitting indian style in my big chair, with shuffle playing on my iTunes, Molly resting on the chair edge behind me. I love the color in here and the curtains. I tore out the shelving in the closet and put in good old fashioned shelves (with help of course) to organize all of my junk!!! It's perfect!!



Thanks for joining me on my tour. Oh, yes, I have a bedroom too...but I didn't feel like making my bed to take any pictures, so maybe another day. :)

Quatro A - The Dusatko Preview!!!

I spent this morning with Amy, Aaron, Ava and Ari....it was so much fun!! I don't think I've met a cuter set of twins!!! We tried a few outside....then came in to avoid the HEAT that is all over Texas right now....ugh!!!

So....here's what Amy is waiting for......just a taste. More to come later, but here are some ones that stood out at first glance. :)

Hope you guys like!!!







EDITED TO ADD: Check on the picture below to visit the slideshow of all the pics.

My SYTYCD Recap

So, I just finished watching the first 2 shows and eliminations....and since now I'm a little bored, I thought that I'd post about how much I freaking LOVE LOVE LOVE this show. I mean....damn, this kids can dance. I don't always enjoy all the dances.....some of them I could really do without, but most of them are seriously sick. How these people can do this stuff is just beyond me....I'm so in awe. I wish that I could do anything half as well as they can do the dances.

Something else about this show is the music. Ever heard of One Republic? They blew up after being on SYTYCD last year for an episode. There is always amazing music that the choreographers find to make the dancers bodies move to. They also showcase a lot of songs that people might already know, but then throw these just freaking amazing dances to for our enjoyment. I love Mia Michaels, and Shane Sparks does some crazy awesome stuff.

So, not sure how long these links will work....but here are my favs from week 1 and 2. If you don't watch this show already.....watch these and see if you change your mind. :)

From Week 1:

Chelsie and Mark danced a contemporary number to Beautiful by Meshell Ndefeocello.


Joshua and Katee did an awesome routine to No Air by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown. I love the hip hop slower dances.


From Week 2:

I loved the routine that Gev and Courtney did to Lost by Anouk, it was absolutely moving to me, I did rewind and watch this one twice....and just now again on YouTube. Seriously....beautiful. The singer is an artist that I'd never heard of before, but this song was amazingly wonderful, and perfect for this piece.


I saved the best for last. Twitch and Kherington were gorgeous together in the Viennese Waltz to A New Day by Celine Dion. You may not all know how I feel about Celine, but I love her music. One of my favorite dances from Season 2 was to one of her songs too.....they just move so well with the dancers. Besides them both looking so stunning together in their white outfits for this number, it was extra special with the back story about the choreographer's daughter....the dancing, the story, the music....it's just all too much sometimes.


So....just a few more comments. The group dance at the beginning of the 2nd elimination was to a great song, and it was so freaking cool. Check this one out too!!!

Oh my goodness....Flo Rida performed on the 2nd elimation show too. He is on FIRE....first Low, then Elevator, and now this song about Putting Your Hands in the Air....or something like that. I am so loving him right now too! You just can't sit still when listening to his jams!!

So, I'll close with that I'm a little bummed to see Marquis go after his solo....it was pretty amazing, although he hadn't done anything for me in the dances. My fav dancers for this season, so far, are: Will, Gev, Courtney, Comfort, Joshua, and Twitch. At this point, the guys are standing out a little more than the girls....but I'm excited for what is left to come!!!

My Friday Night....I mean it's like I'm still in Vegas!!!

Um, yeah, not so much. My Friday night consists of this:



Getting caught up on my DVR....kind of sad that the only TV I have to watch this summer is SYTYCD.....at least there were 4 episodes to watch! :)

HP Tech Forum - Day 3

Blah, blah....conference stuff. I did that during the day...boring to my 3 blog readers.

Tonight we had dinner with one of our customers at Smith & Wollensky's. Wow, what a nice place. We had appetizers galore, salads, main courses, side dishes, drinks.....whoa, we ate GOOD. Of course we had some very nice wines again too, and the company was great. The customers were from North Carolina....and if for nothing else, I really enjoy their accents. :) That sweet southern drawl is so comforting.




After dinner, we headed over to the MGM Grand where we had a roof level suite all setup for a hospitality event. What a view of the strip it was from there....beautiful. There was a patio and a hottub outside, food and a bar inside.....and.....a Wii!





I decided to try my hand at boxing again. The last time I was beat miserably by a girl at our sales meeting, but this time was a different story. The game actually tells you how to play, so this time I paid attention....and well, I won. I was playing against one of our customers, Scott, and he promises that he didn't let me win. I took him in all 3 rounds and was declared the winner. :) It was so much fun. Then, we bowled....and while I thought I was losing, it turns out that I was looking at the wrong line on the scoreboard...and well, Scott, as hard as he was trying to beat me, we ended up tying at 159. Now if I could only bowl that well in REAL life - haha! We also played baseball, that one was fun....and tennis. Well, I can't be good at everything....I SUCK at tennis. I tried it several times, and it just was NOT my game. The golf was tough, but Lynne and I had fun playing it nonetheless.







The surprise of the night was that we had VIP tickets to get into Studio 54. I hadn't ever been there before, and I love to dance when I'm in Vegas, so this was quite a treat. We headed over there around 1am, and danced for a few hours. It was such a neat place.....people were hanging from the ceiling in stars, man I really wanted to try that....of course I didn't get to, but the club was fun, and the music was awesome.





It was one of those classic late nights in Vegas, but totally worth it. I had a blast, and it was a great night with coworkers and customers!! Tomorrow is the wrap up of the conference, and then I head home. I'm actually going to be in Austin all weekend, so I'm looking forward to some downtime. :)