One of Those Nights That Makes You Smile

Lastnight I had dinner at Cafe 421 with my friends Mary and Jacquie. We meet approximately every 6-8 weeks, and take turns choosing a new restaurant. This time we also decided to extend the evening by attending a show featuring Carrie Rodriguez and Tim Easton at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. Food was good, wine was great, the company was better, and the show was excellent. Tim Easton is an old favorite, but Carrie Rodriguez was new to me. She's kind of a cross between Allison Krauss and Lucinda Williams... a fiddle player with a sweet voice, but a marked twang. Not as edgy as Lucinda, but probably considered alt-country just the same. She's a good entertainer and while some of her stuff has yet to grow on me, she's got an undeniable, pure voice that was quite amazing at times. I'll be keeping my eye on her! Overall just a grand evening, probably made better by the fact that The Varsity as a venue is outstanding. It was my first time there and I will definitely be going back. Maybe for the U.S. air guitar championships on June 16th!

Holiday Weekend Recap

This weekend we didn't follow the millions of Americans who traveled somewhere, and stayed right here at home. Here are some highlights...

Our niece Hayley stayed with us on Sunday night while her parents are out of town. We went to the park near our house yesterday and today. The highlight was seeing an egret in the marsh, which we actually got to see catch and eat a fish!

















Our friends Jacquie and Alex came over for a BBQ Sunday night as well. Hayley and Alex got along especially well, as she thought he was completely hilarious. I can't imagine why.


Jacquie takes it all in stride! It was a beautiful night to sit out on the deck and enjoy good company.
"I missed Brandon," Hayley told me, "he's my best friend."

All in all a great weekend, with plenty of relaxation time as well. Got some things done around the house, and we also had a "family date" on Saturday, which is always nice. We went to see Shrek the Third (cute, I liked it) and out to eat together. Back to work tomorrow, but only a 4-day week! Hope you all had a good weekend as well.

New Life

We've got a robin's nest under the deck, and she's got four babies that look like they're about ready to fly. The landlord says a robin has been coming back to the same spot for a number of years. Today I got the treat of seeing her feed the little guys. Kind of neat to keep track of them! Soon they'll be gone.

ROBIN UPDATE (Saturday): Today 2 of the babies took flight! Brandon and I saw one venture out this morning, and now 2 of them are flying short, awkward flights all over the place! It's pretty funny to watch them. The third looks like it's thinking about it, and the fourth has stayed pretty much in the nest so far. It's got to be getting pretty crowded in there.

ROBIN UPDATE (Sunday): No more babies. All have flown the coop.

Pass the Coronary, Please

OK...today I got caught up in working through lunch, and by 3PM I was pretty hungry. Forgot my lunch today, of course. I had $1 in cash, so I couldn't go downstairs to the deli...so where's a place I can grab something quick and use a check card? McDonald's, a few blocks down. Did I make a good choice? Not so much.

Since Husband and I are dieting (supposedly) I have been entering my daily foods and calories on a website called FitDay. So this afternoon I looked up the dreaded McDonald's intake. Long story short, I didn't think it would be this bad. So this is a Public Service Announcement.

I consumed one 3-pc chicken selects meal, which included fries. And this is what I put into my body (not counting the diet drink):

3-pc chicken = 380 calories, 20 g fat (3.5 saturated, 2.5 trans), 55 mg cholesterol, 930 mg sodium, and 28 g carbs

medium fries = 380 calories, 20 g fat (4 saturated, 5 trans), 0 mg cholesterol, 220 mg sodium, 47 g carbs

for a grand total of = 760 calories, 40 g fat (7.5 sat, 7.5 trans), 55 mg cholesterol, 1150 sodium, and 75 carbs

Looking at that, it kind of makes me ill. If I had eaten the usual turkey/cheese sandwich and carrots from home, I would have had about 310 calories, 9 g fat and 39 g carbs and probably would have felt more satisfied. If you want to see how bad other McDonald's stuff is, click here.

Comments?

I have no idea why my last post does not allow comments. But you can leave them here if you like.

Big Catch

Husband and Brandon went "up north" this weekend to fish at Uncle Roger's cabin near Ely, MN. Every year the men in the family go up and spend at least the weekend together, fishing and playing cards. They went up Friday morning, and I received a text on my phone Friday afternoon with this photo...

In addition to this 30+-inch Northern, they caught their limit in walleyes (18) in the first day, and Husband caught 14 of them! Lots of fish in the freezer (except for the Northern, which was returned to the water unharmed). They had a great time and came home a little smelly, but happy.

As for me, I had a nice weekend to myself. I went to my company's summer picnic on Friday night and then stayed up too late catching up on TV shows I had saved on DVR. Saturday I ran errands, bought flowers and planted them in pots on the deck, finished a book, and watched "Dreamgirls" and the first half of "The Departed." Today I cleaned the house, did laundry, finished the movie, and made some treats for the boys when they got home. All in all a nice weekend for me too!

What Keeps Me Coming Back Everyday

1. I was in a meeting with a lady talking about National Urban Runoff Program ponds, or "NURP" ponds (rhymes with burp). Throughout the conversation she kept calling it"NERF." What is a Nerf pond like? If you throw something into it, does it bounce back? I bet it's a really good skipping-rocks pond.

2. There is a woman in my office who has a framed photo of the band Def Leppard displayed prominently on a shelf in her cube. Don't get me wrong, I've been known to belt out a little "Pour Some Sugar on Me..." but putting the boys and their 80s hair right next to a photo of your kids? For everyone to see? Really?

What will tomorrow bring? TGIF, everybody!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANA!

The first time I met Malloy - March 2003. Happy Mother's Day too!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Each and every one of you out there is special, and I hope you know it! Special love to my mom, whom we were able to see this weekend.

It is also my friend Gina's birthday today, and she's also the mother of 4. Happy Birthday, Gina!

Grow Your Own

I have to first say that I've been saving this story until I had the visual...and since it's nearly Mother's Day (you'll get this connection in a moment), and we're actually in Iowa, all the more perfect! Happy day to you, Mom!

So one night Husband comes upstairs, laughing, and saying, "You've GOTTA call your mom..."

Brandon called Husband and said, "Dad, I gotta tell you a funny story." Apparently he was at school one day and got called into the counselor's office and was asked,

"Why are you wearing a shirt with drugs on it?"

"What? It's corn." Counselor looked closer, stifled a laugh, and sent him back to class.

Now, tell me, when you see this shirt, do you think corn?












Hmmm...from a distance it may look like something else, eh?

The ultimate kicker is this: my mom bought Brandon this shirt.

Bless her heart, she thought it a fitting tribute to the great state of Iowa. When we first saw it, we busted out laughing. The slogan and the suspicious "corn" seemed all too obvious. She admonished us for being tainted, ill-minded 30-somethings. This was months ago. I've seen Brandon wear it around our house, but didn't know it traveled outside these walls.

Am I thrilled he wore it to school? Nah, but no harm done. It is corn, after all, but I have a feeling that excuse may only work this one time. But overall, telling my dad the story on the phone and hearing my mom shriek in the background, "Oh no, that SHIRT?! He wore it to SCHOOL?!"

Priceless.

Smells So Good

Surprise in the Sunset

Tonight when I got home I took a walk around the wetland behind our place. It's a beautiful evening, and the sun was just beginning to go descend into a subtle orange-pink sunset. I was walking along and heard a familiar hoot...it was the same owl I had heard one night back in March near our house (I actually heard 2 of the same owl hooting back and forth that night, and could see their silhouettes in the trees). I never did figure out what type of owl it was, but today I got to see it first hand! I walked along, looked up, and saw a great horned owl about 30 feet up in the tree! That was close enough, and it was still light enough outside, that I could definitely see the defining ear tufts. It stared at me for a few seconds, but then was greatly disinterested. I was cool to stand there and watch it, and it was pretty vocal. Its whole body would get into the hoot, and I could see it move. Probably calling out to its friend! Click "listen to the call" on this page to hear what I heard.

As I stood there, another larger bird flew into a shorter tree nearby. It had the distinct disc-shaped face of an owl. As I tried to get a better look, it let out a few screeches and then flew away - definitely an owl by the wing shape. I didn't get a great look, but it was smaller than the great horned and the face also looked a little different. It seems that I saw two different owls in one evening! What luck!

San Diego Recap

I'M BACK from San Diego and would like to share a summary of my trip. First of all, the overall purpose - the conference. From an academic standpoint, my two favorites were a session on the "Greenest City in Europe," Freiburg, Germany (read more about that here); and learning about the AltWheels Festival held in Boston, MA. From an entertainment standpoint, the last day luncheon speaker, Joan Embery, was hard to beat. If the name sounds familiar, you probably have seen her on The Tonight Show with both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno. She brought a few animals with her and just was a very engaging speaker overall. She tied into transportation by talking about some of the challenges that are faced when transporting animals - from an elephant getting restless in a trailer during an L.A. traffic jam, to a Macaw parrot screeching bloody murder from the carry-on beneath the seat during take-off. She also showed some of her clips and bloopers from The Tonight Show, and the late great Johnny Carson. It was highly entertaining.

My down time was limited, but I did get some sight-seeing in while I was there. I arrived Tuesday evening and took a walk down to the bay, which was a pretty short walk away. I admired the ships that serve as museums, the cruiseliners, the sculptures, and ate at "Tony's Fishette."

Wednesday morning I walked to the downtown area, where my company has a local office. I met some of the people there, then continued walking through downtown, the famous Gaslamp Quarter (unfortunately didn't take any photos here), and along Harbor Drive until I made it back to the bay. It was there that I fell in love with a huge sculpture of a navy seaman kissing his girl goodbye...and the sun finally came out for awhile so I could see that famous blue San Diego sky. Wednesday evening after a reception at Balboa Park, I ate at a great restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter.

Thursday - conference all day and scholarship fundraising dinner at night!
Friday after the great Joan Embery program, I caught the trolley to Old Town, which is a state park/historical site representing the birthplace of California, or the site of the first Spanish settlement in the state. There were many shops reflecting this influence. I did a little shopping and a lot of walking, then headed back to the hotel to catch my shuttle to the airport.

There are a ton of things to do in San Diego, and it would be a great city to go back and visit. I didn't really get to see a true sandy beach, but I'll save that for next time! Overall I had a wonderful time. You can check out my photos from the trip here.

Sunny San Diego

Actually it's not that sunny (they're in what they're calling a "May Gray"), but still a beautiful city. My first time to California, so I'm getting a kick out of the palm trees! And of course the bay is pretty amazing. I had some time this morning, so took some time to explore by foot. My feet are sore but it was worth it! I will have more time on Friday afternoon before I head home. Photos to come this weekend!

The conference officially kicks off tomorrow, but we had some leadership meetings today (I am the current president of the Minnesota Chapter of Women's Transportation Seminar). I have met a lot of great people already and gotten some great ideas to take back to my chapter.

Just wanted to say I made it!