Minneapolis Festivities

I always love an excuse to visit Minneapolis. We have lots of friends and family in the area, plus they have a fantastic variety of restaurants and bars. I love visiting Minneapolis even more when it's for a wedding, which means a chance to get to see even more friends.

This weekend was exactly one of those weekends, and it was great. We enjoyed some delicious burgers and beers (albeit not at the place we were originally planning to visit--boo for an hour plus wait), celebrated what will be an amazing marriage, and feasted on my Aunt Roses's famed brunch Sunday morning. And I learned that I'm not one to pull my camera out and take pictures unless other people are doing the same, so I really only pictures from the wedding. But that's good enough in my book :)

Awesome live fishies as centerpieces!

The group of high school girlfriends (and significant others)

Yay weddings!

With the beautiful bride. L.O.V.E.D her dress!

That's about all I've got for today; happy Monday!

*Face Palm*

I know I've seen some really dumb advertisements out there so I don't know that I can accurately call this "The World's Dumbest Advertisement", but if there was a competition this one would certainly be in the running.

"No deprivation"?!?! Isn't deprivation inherent in the use of the phrase "gave up wheat"? According to my fancy computer dictionary, deprivation means "the lack or denial of something considered to be a necessity". Now, I can scientifically agree that wheat is not a necessity; however, most people I know consider wheat to be a staple in their diets. And cutting it out would, in fact, be denying themselves something that they consider to be a necessity.

Let's call a spade a spade on this one guys. While I know that gluten-free diets work (and are necessary) for some people, this ad should more accurately read "No Excuses. No counting calories. No more cheap and easy trips to restaurants or the grocery store because wheat is in pretty much everything except specialty items".

(Yes, I know, fruits and vegetables and meats are gluten-free. And having a diet mostly limited to those is pretty much acceptable. But having to give up bread and pizza and pasta and tortillas and chips? No thank you.)

An "A" for Effort

Remember how upset I was about not winning the bid on the super gorgeous watch at the wine tasting a few months ago? Well, I've been dropping hint after hint trying to get Darrell to buy one for me (don't ask why I didn't just buy one for myself). And he finally did!

But.... Let's rewind for a second at take a look at the watch I wanted from the wine tasting:

He really did a pretty good job--he knew I wanted something with a little "bling", and he knew I wanted a metal band (I know the ceramic bands are really "in" right now, but I'm just not a fan). He also knew that I wanted one with the date, which was something the one from the wine tasting didn't have. However, he thought it was more important for me to have a date than to have a solid silver band (which, for the record, the opposite was true). So he picked out a nice one that had a dual-tone band (gold and silver if you can't tell) and a date feature. Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that growing up my mom always wore a dual-tone gold and silver watch. And I just couldn't look at the watch he picked out without thinking of my mom (which, not that that's entirely a bad thing... But it made me feel "old"). So while I told him "thank you thank you thank you" and really appreciated his effort, I just couldn't keep the watch because I knew I'd rarely (if ever) wear it. And that would just be a waste of money.

So we exchanged it for one that I totally love!

And I can safely say we're now both quite happy (although Darrell is a little discouraged that he didn't "get it right" the first time--hopefully this doesn't deter him from making other purchases for me!) 

Fees? No Thank You

Fact: Darrell and I rarely pay attention to emails that come out about changes to our checking/credit/savings account. For the most part, the "changes" are totally worthless and unimportant--I really don't care if they change the interest rate on my credit card because we never have carry-over balances anyway. However, something made me actually look at our most recent email closely--closely enough to realize they were going to start charging us a monthly service fee on our checking account.

Umm, what?? I don't think so. No way were we about to start dropping $15 a month just to keep a checking account with our current bank. And the only ways to waive the fee were to have a mortgage through the bank (which we don't--and aren't about to deal with the hassle of changing our mortgage) or keep a balance of $7500 in the account. Also not happening--no way do we need that kind of money sitting around a low-interest checking account when we only use it to pay a few bills. We'll keep that money in a savings account with a much higher APY, thank you very much.

So now we're faced with a serious dilemma. We really don't want to switch banks (or checking accounts) because we'd have to change all of our direct deposit forms and automatic bill pays (which would be a pain in the a$$), not to mention the fact that we just purchased quite a few new check books. Plus our current bank has a plethora of nationwide ATMs, which is great when we are traveling on the East Coast and need to pull out a little extra cash. But we refuse to pay a fee--and have access to a fee-free checking account through multiple other banks (which would still give us pretty good nationwide coverage--and a $2.50 ATM fee once every few months is way more reasonable than a $15 a month service fee). So Darrell is going to meet with a broker later this week and see what kind of magic he can work--all I can say is better him than me. I really don't handle confrontation situations like that well. At all.

Life Lesson: Probably a good idea to actually start paying attention to emails about account changes on a regular basis. Just sayin'.

(Not) A Case of the Mondays

I understand, that as an adult, it's my responsibility to be a functioning, contributing member of society (and my household) every day of the week. Mondays included. However, it would have been soooo easy to just curl up on the couch yesterday after work and pass the evening watching reruns of How I Met Your Mother and eating cereal for dinner (in case you are wondering, we watched through all the episodes of Bones which is why everything is now HIMYM). Why was I so tempted to be a bum yesterday? Well, for starters, it was a Monday, plus I was home by myself for the whole evening, plus I was still crazy sore from my seven-mile run on Sunday. You can see the temptation.

But I rose above and conquered Monday like a pro! It started with a little 45-minute Pilates workout to loosen up some of my muscles,

followed by a solid regime of upper body lifting (gotta make sure my arms are ready for tank top and swimsuit season!)

I then proceeded to actually cook dinner instead of going to cop-out route of having cereal or eggs like I normally do when I'm the only one home for dinner.

Italian Spaghetti and Roasted Cauliflower

I even got to enjoy it on our deck since it was such a nice day! The only thing that would have made it better (well, besides having my husband home) would have been enjoying a glass of wine or beer with my dinner... But alas, I had to go in to work for an hour and didn't think it would be very professional to tutor an eighth-grader post drinking.

After my short shift at work I still wasn't done with my productivity! I got a few more things planted in our garden, and then cleaned up my dinner mess.

This is why I hate cooking. So messy!

Then I finally got a chance to relax with a beer. Another Monday successfully in the books!

Weekend Fails

Alternately Titled: Why a Weekend Full of Bad Life Decisions was Still Awesome


Bad Life Decision #1: Going for a run on a highway with scores of roadkill along the shoulder.


You can bet I'll never be running that route again. And it totally took me out of the mood to handle raw meat or cook in any way shape or form. Which led to...

Bad Life Decision #2: Going to a new restaurant on a Friday night at 6:30 (legit new--this was the third night this place was open).

Standing room only folks. For like forty minutes. Totally made me regret wearing my awesome new heels. But I completely forgot about all of that when we finally got seated and ate our food. O.M.G to die for. One of the best burgers I have ever eaten (and the bun! Amazing). Oh, and as should be clear from the name, a fantastic beer selection. Fantastic. I would do the whole thing all over again (but maybe wear more reasonable shoes). Can't. Wait. To go there again.

Bad Life Decision #3: Deciding that we hadn't consumed enough beer at JL Beers and promptly drop $15 on a 12-pack of Dos Equis Amber then proceed to play MarioKart on the Wii.


Don't drink and drive applies to the Wii as well. 'Nuff said.

Bad Life Decision #4: Turning on an episode of How I Met Your Mother during lunch on Saturday.

One episode very quickly turned in to at least six episodes. Productivity level? Non-existant. The only thing we managed to accomplish that day was putting together our second garden plot--ninety percent of which Darrell had already done while I was at work that morning.

Bad Life Decision #5: Attempting to run seven miles on Sunday when the only other running I'd done the whole previous week was four miles on Friday.


I'm paying for it today. Hardcore. But, it led to the consumption of some delicious Juice Stop smoothie and cuddling on the couch (watching more How I Met Your Mother, of course), so it really wasn't the end of the world (plus I got Darrell to wait on me--at least a little bit). And after a few hours we even managed to get ourselves presentable enough to go grocery shopping, where I proceeded to impulse-buy unnecessary amounts of fruit. There are worse things I could have been craving, right?

Bad Life Decision #6: Inviting my parents to get frozen yogurt then going back to their house to play cards (and drink wine).


Early bedtime? Out the window. Wine in a sore, dehydrated body? Not the smartest thing ever. But self-serve frozen yogurt places? Da bomb. Especially when they have a Chocolate Coconut Truffle flavor. Yuuuum. And I always enjoy playing cards with the 'rents--even when we realize five hands into our game that we've been playing by the wrong rules. That's what Darrell gets for suggesting we play a game that we haven't played in years. Fail.

It's Official

I'm running a 10K. No backing out now--not unless I want to lose my money. Don't worry if you're confused. I know I said a month ago that I was going to be running a 10K, but I left out one little detail: I hadn't exactly registered for the event yet. You see, I was always kind of waiting for an minor pain injury to happen, or some other, insignificant more important event to come up on that day... But so far, no dice. There was a flicker of hope that I was going to get out of running it because there is a Mother/Daughter brunch at our church that day, but unfortunately luckily I'll have enough time to run the race and shower before the brunch starts. So, I bit the bullet and registered. Mostly because I haven't done a lick of running since attempting to play soccer last weekend, so I'm hoping this will be the impetus to get me out the door and back on track with my "training". I'm supposed to be doing a seven-mile run this weekend... We'll see how that goes after nearly a week off.

Life Cycles

For the past two summers (and then some), Darrell and I have been pretty swamped with weddings. In fact, the year we got married, we had four other weddings over the course of the next three months.

Now, the tides are starting to turn. Sure, we've already had one wedding this spring, and we have another coming up in a week, but the frequency of weddings is dropping significantly--and being replaced with lots and lots of babies. A good friend from high school had one in December, Darrell's sister just had one last week, a college teammate is having one in July, and I already know of three that will be making their appearances this fall.

I haven't quite decided how I feel about this shift.... I mean, babies are cute and all, and I'm certainly happy for my new parents/expecting friends and family.... But weddings are just plain fun. The dress, the decor, the food, the drinks, the dancing.... Pair all that with friends and family that you don't always get to see very often and it's a win-win in my book. Plus it's a good time to see all the said babies that are being born. Now if I could just find a way to travel to all the weddings (and yes--even baby showers) that I want to for free I'd be set. Stupid living in South Dakota and having family all over the East Coast and college teammates all over Iowa and Illinois and high school friends spread from Minnesota to Missouri.

And because I can't resist a few good pictures of weddings and babies....

Soccer Teammate Sarah circa summer 2008

High School Friend Whitney circa November 2009

Soccer teammate Abby circa June 2010

Baby Kinley born to High School friend Ashley September 2010

High School Friend Amy circa February 2012

High School Friend Kristen and baby boy Josiah (sadly I have yet to meet this cutie, and yes--she did run a half marathon less that six months after having a child. NBD)

And because I can't resist--another shot of my new nephew Evan!

Unusual Radar...

Well, I think this is closest thing to a hurricane that South Dakota has ever seen...

Check out how perfectly that eye is formed!

Of course, it's also possible that the radar was malfunctioning... But a hurricane is a way more entertaining possibility.

Wartburg Weekend

Life Lesson: Training for a 10K does, in no way, shape, or form, condition one to be prepared to play soccer.

Wartburg Soccer hosts an annual 7v7 soccer tournament, and of the two or three years I've gone back to play on the team the alumni put together, this was the year I felt like I was in the best shape to play. After all, I've been running and lifting for the past two months, so playing a few games of soccer (on small fields with 18 minute halves no less) didn't seem like that big of a deal (from a fitness standpoint at least--I was well aware that my soccer skills were going to be sub-par at best). I was wrong. Turns out running sprints uses entirely different muscles than distance running, not to mention the fact that I was getting shoved around by college girls who are probably at their prime fitness level. Thankfully we had nineteen alumni show up, which meant that we had oodles of subs. I only played about 45 minutes on the field and 18 minutes in goal, but I still feel like I got hit by a freight train. Thankfully I've been getting progressively better since Sunday and might even brave the gym tonight to get a light jog in. In spite of the soreness, though, I would totally do it all over again, because it was such a blast to catch up with my former teammates, some whom I haven't seen in a few years. And I even got a chance to get to know some of the younger crop of players who I didn't actually play with. My body might feel differently, but I'm already looking forward to next year's tournament!

The whole squad of women alumni--the team included graduates from 2005 all the way through players that are graduating this year!

The group of female 2008 graduates that were present--we were missing a few of our ladies!

The keepers that were present--love these fools!

Introducing...

My new nephew!

Meet Evan Darrell, born Friday, April 13th, via C-section at 10:00 pm (after a whole day of laboring!). You can't really tell in this photo, but he is quite the chunky monkey, weighing in at 9 lbs 15 oz and 22 inches long. We're super excited for our sister and brother-in-law and can't wait to meet him in June (which--for the record--can't come soon enough!)

Overwhelmed

Fact: There are about a million things to do in London. And pretty much all of them are considered "must see" attractions. And considering this will probably be the only time Darrell and I are in London... How does one even start planning out a list of "things to do"?

Because who would want to miss the chance to ride on the London Eye?

And of course we'll have to journey past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

The Tower of London, with the Crown Jewels on display, is certainly an attractive stop,

As is the ever-famous Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace (not to mention the other palaces worth visiting like Kensington and Hampton Court).

The city is rife with museums; how is it possible to choose just one to visit?

The National History Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum 

Tate Modern

And what's a visit to London without spending some time walking through Trafalgar Square?

And that's not even the half of it!!! There's still Westminster Abbey to visit, plus St. Paul's cathedral, and the WWII buff in me won't be satisfied unless we visit the Churchill War Rooms. Not to mention that I'd love to go see a theater production (maybe at Shakespeare's Globe Theater!), in addition to the fact that I could probably do a whole additional post about all the pubs to visit (fish and chips anyone?!?)

I'm beginning to feel like we should have planned a longer trip. A much, much longer trip.

(All images taken from this website)

Jack Daniel's Grill Glaze

Oh grilling. How much I love thee. How much I wish South Dakota had a climate better suited to grilling more than five months of the year. But I suppose we're stuck with what we got, and Darrell and I certainly haven't wasted any time getting the grill fired up as the weather is starting to climb into (and stay!) spring temperatures.

Now, I know there are some grilling purists who may scoff at this recipe and the very thought of marinating a steak, and believe me, we're usually right there with them. I don't think there is anything better than a lightly seasoned (if at all) good cut of steak that is grilled to perfection (you better believe we don't even own steak sauce at our house). But sometimes, just sometimes, we like drowning our steaks in a marinade, basting them while they grill, and topping them with a delicious glaze. And whenever that urge strikes, this is the recipe we go to. I discovered this recipe way back in college in a cookbook that had a bunch of knock-off restaurant recipes; this glaze is originally from TGI Fridays, although we don't have one of those in Sioux Falls anymore so I don't know if they still feature it on their menu or not. And I believe they used to serve the glaze with a variety of meats, but we've only ever tried it with steaks (although I bet it would make a mean topping on a burger). It's certainly a little more time consuming and takes a little more prep work than just throwing a steak on the grill, but it's definitely worth it. And Darrell's two cents? Always serve this with a side of baked potato; the potato is the perfect vehicle for soaking up any of the glaze that might run off your steak (or any that you might have leftover).

This is what I get for trying to take a picture of something as it simmers on the stove. Fail. 

Jack Daniel's Grill Glaze
(one batch makes about enough marinade and glaze for four 6 to 8 ounce steaks)


2/3 cup water
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, pressed
3 tbsp minced white onion
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Jack Daniels
1 tbsp crushed pineapple
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine water, pineapple juice, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until mixture boils then reduce to a simmer. Add the garlic and whisk to combine. Gently stir in the onion, lemon juice, Jack Daniels, pineapple, and cayenne pepper. Let mixture simmer for 40-50 minutes or until sauce has reduced by about half and is thick and syrupy. Store glaze in the refrigerator and pull out up to an hour before serving to warm (although if you pour it on a hot steak you probably won't notice anyway!).

If using part or all of the glaze as a marinade, add up to a quarter cup more of Jack into the glaze to thin it out (or remove some from the stove before reducing completely). And I'm not sure how long this would keep in the fridge; we've only ever made it a day in advance and then we always polish it off in one meal!

Trust me, this was the neatest my plate looked all night. Once Darrell had his turn at the glaze, I put my green beans back on the serving platter so I could drown my whole plate in the extra glaze. It was a delicious mess.

Love!

When I first started dating Darrell in 2005, I didn't own a single pair of heels. In fact, he was with me the day I bought my first heels and even encouraged me by helping me pick out styles to try on. And it's all been downhill since then. I'm convinced Darrell would have approached that first heel-buying experience quite differently if he knew what would eventually stem from it.

But seriously, can he really complain when I have a pair of these beauties in my closet?

I didn't think so. Seriously Can't. Wait. To rock these bad boys. Within reason, of course--those heels don't exactly scream "practical".

Story of Our Weekend

Despite actually remembering to take my camera to my sister's for Easter (yay!), I didn't take a single picture (boo!). Thankfully, my sister's boyfriend Nick took a picture that pretty well sums up our weekend in good ole Webster, SD:

Crazy ridiculous amounts of wind which required the men to don layers and hats as they "manned up" to golf (while the women comfortably sat inside playing some games--another recurring theme of the weekend), and the ever-present booze (the four men may or may not have polished off that 18-pack during nine holes of golf, although Darrell swears most of the cans were blown over at one point or another and subsequently spilled).

In addition to having Easter brunch, we also settled our second annual March Madness bet on Saturday night. As the winners, my sister and Nick got to sit back and relax while everyone else invaded their home and kitchen. Darrell and I, in second, had the next easiest (but certainly not cheapest) job--providing the wine. My brother and his girlfriend impressed with a meal of grilled pork chops, crock-pot corn (unbelievably delicious), garlic bread, and a brownie fruit pizza for dessert. And my poor parents had to slip on their rubber gloves and spend thirty minutes at the sink doing dishes--an even more tedious process than usual since my sister's house doesn't have a dishwasher to help with the little things.

It was a pretty great weekend and certainly nice to be able to just kick back and relax and enjoy a few days off work. Hopefully it'll all be downhill from here into our London trip and the end of the school year!

Opening Day!

I know that yesterday was technically the "opening day" for Major League Baseball, but since my Twins didn't play yesterday, today is my opening day! Granted, I should use the term "my Twins" very loosely; I don't follow the team near as closely as many fans do (160+ games is just too many to pay attention to!), but when push comes to shove, they are where my loyalty lies. And it doesn't help that they have an awesome stadium a mere four hours away that I loooove to go to.

Super excited to get up there for some games this season! And of course--Go Twins!

Holy Week is Upon Us!

Whelp, Easter weekend is finally here! Time for a few (much needed) days off work (for me at least), and lots of time with family! And if your family is anything like mine, an Easter gathering isn't complete with loads of food and drinks. And if you are anything like me, you've waited until now to start thinking about what you are going to fix for your family gathering. So, I thought I'd compile a few of my "Easter-y" favorites to give you some suggestions!

Perfect for Easter Brunch

Aunt Rose's Sticky Rolls

Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Muffins

Easter Dinner Sides

Rosemary Bread

French Bread

Broccoli Salad

And who can forget the Sweets?!?

Super Easy (but impressive!) Cake Box Cookies

Toasted Coconut, Pecan and Caramel Pie

Heath Bits Cheesecake

 Of course, those are just a few of my favorites; there's plenty of other great Easter recipes out there. And maybe one of these years I'll brave an Easter ham so I can post about that... Maybe.

Have a blessed Easter weekend!