The weekend before last I went on a little tour of Minnesota. Friday I went down to New Ulm with my mom to hang out with her Auntie Hazie. It was a beautiful day for a drive and we had a great visit with Auntie. She is doing very well. She was telling us about her newest grandson. His name is August. She kind of made a face when she told us his name. August is a family name, so I said that was nice that they are carrying on a family name. She said, "Yeah, well, I don't like that name." I thought it was pretty funny.
From there my mom and I headed to Inver Grove Heights to celebrate my uncle's 60 birthday. Age is a strange thing. When I was young, 60 seemed so old. But when I look at my uncle he doesn't look like he should be 60. The party was starting to wind down a little bit when it decided to rain on us. So we helped my aunt bring everything inside. By the time we were finished, so was the rain.
Saturday morning Ben left for Alaska to go fishing with his dad. I headed to Glenwood. Zoey and I got there just in time to go to the other side of the lake for a surprise birthday party for Ben's Aunt Janice (it was her 60th too). It was fun to visit with the aunts and uncles. Later that afternoon Jerry traded the mustang convertible for the pontoon boat. So my mother-in-law and I went for a spin through town and around the lake. It was fun! Although, it would have been more fun if it was a manual transmission. Oh, well. At one point I got Mickey to put her hands in the air and yell (I did too). It was great!
Sunday after church I headed back to the cities and made my way to St. Louis Park for Father's Day. We had a BBQ and my brother-in-law's parents from India were there too. This was the first time that I have met them. They were very nice and we had a fun time.
It was a great weekend, but I was almost glad that it was Monday the next day so I could slow down a bit. :)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Vegas
June 4 Ben and I headed out to Vegas. This trip it was just the two of us. It was nice to be able to do whatever. We got there late at night and checked into the Monte Carlo. Our first room... a smoking room. Grr. Our reservation was for a non-smoking room. Sometimes smoking rooms aren't too bad, but this on was. Ben called down and they switched our room. So we had to go back down to the lobby to get new keys. Then back up. The new room wasn't a king, so the next day we switched again.
After we got the room figured out, we went down to the casino floor. Ben played craps and was doing pretty well. It was fun to watch. Then we ate some sort of meal... what do you call it when it's 4 am? The next few days were filled with pool, eating, gambling and relaxing.
Friday night we went to Sea Blue restaurant at the MGM. We both got the tasting menus there. It was fabulous! Everything was very tasty. From there, we went to Tao which is a restaurant by day and a club by night. We somehow got onto a list so we were able to get into a short line. We figured that I would get in for free (I'm a girl) but Ben was able to get in free too! Score. :) It was really packed in there. The dance floor was pretty non-existent. And what was there was filled with people coming and going. It was cool to be there, but I was happy to leave.
Saturday night we attended a "Tweet Up" hosted by some guy that Ben follows (and now I do) on Twitter. It was pretty fun. It was on the upper level patio of Diablo's at the Monte Carlo. $5 Margaritas! :) The people that we met were all very nice and fun to talk to. After a few hours of socializing, a bunch of us decided we wanted to go out. A lady at the Tweet Up works for the company that owns a bunch of the clubs on the strip. She arranged for a huge, stretch limo to come and pick us up and bring us to the Bellagio. Once there we got escorted to the lounge there and got 2-for-1 drink coupons. After chilling there a bit, some guy came and walked us right to a super special line and we walked right into the club. No cover. No waiting. It was awesome. I totally felt like a someone important. This club was pretty crowded too. That with the fact that there were 8 or so of us that were trying to stick together made it difficult to get a good dance spot. After a while we all gave up and headed back to the Monte Carlo and the food court there.
Sunday night we went out to Michael Mina's for nice dinner number 2. This meal was also great. Less flavors competing for my attention. And the wine sommeliers were very knowledgeable. After dinner we were walking around and we ended up in line to pick up tickets for O! I was so excited! We have wanted to see this show, but it either didn't work out with our schedules in the past, or it was closed for a break. And the seats were amazing! We were in row 5 - close enough to see everything, but far enough that the water didn't get us. It was so amazing.
Oh, and the Sea Monkeys didn't love me this time. I visited them several times and they just kept taking my money. :(
After we got the room figured out, we went down to the casino floor. Ben played craps and was doing pretty well. It was fun to watch. Then we ate some sort of meal... what do you call it when it's 4 am? The next few days were filled with pool, eating, gambling and relaxing.
Friday night we went to Sea Blue restaurant at the MGM. We both got the tasting menus there. It was fabulous! Everything was very tasty. From there, we went to Tao which is a restaurant by day and a club by night. We somehow got onto a list so we were able to get into a short line. We figured that I would get in for free (I'm a girl) but Ben was able to get in free too! Score. :) It was really packed in there. The dance floor was pretty non-existent. And what was there was filled with people coming and going. It was cool to be there, but I was happy to leave.
Saturday night we attended a "Tweet Up" hosted by some guy that Ben follows (and now I do) on Twitter. It was pretty fun. It was on the upper level patio of Diablo's at the Monte Carlo. $5 Margaritas! :) The people that we met were all very nice and fun to talk to. After a few hours of socializing, a bunch of us decided we wanted to go out. A lady at the Tweet Up works for the company that owns a bunch of the clubs on the strip. She arranged for a huge, stretch limo to come and pick us up and bring us to the Bellagio. Once there we got escorted to the lounge there and got 2-for-1 drink coupons. After chilling there a bit, some guy came and walked us right to a super special line and we walked right into the club. No cover. No waiting. It was awesome. I totally felt like a someone important. This club was pretty crowded too. That with the fact that there were 8 or so of us that were trying to stick together made it difficult to get a good dance spot. After a while we all gave up and headed back to the Monte Carlo and the food court there.
Sunday night we went out to Michael Mina's for nice dinner number 2. This meal was also great. Less flavors competing for my attention. And the wine sommeliers were very knowledgeable. After dinner we were walking around and we ended up in line to pick up tickets for O! I was so excited! We have wanted to see this show, but it either didn't work out with our schedules in the past, or it was closed for a break. And the seats were amazing! We were in row 5 - close enough to see everything, but far enough that the water didn't get us. It was so amazing.
Oh, and the Sea Monkeys didn't love me this time. I visited them several times and they just kept taking my money. :(
Sunday, June 14, 2009
I'm Still Alive!
Yesterday I successfully completed my first sprint triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 5 mile run). I was very scared about this for a number of reasons: 1. My first time. 2. I haven't really trained for the last two weeks with Vegas and family visiting. 3. It was my first time on a bike in a very long time (trained on a stationary bike and picked up a rental the day before my event). 4. Hadn't made it up to running 5 miles in training.... So, yeah. I was nervous. Honestly my goal was to finish. I wasn't worried about the time. I had figured that I wanted to complete it in 2 hours and 32 minutes + transitions since that would be the pace that I have had while training. My end time - 2 hours and 38 minutes (including transitions)! And this does include Andrea and I not finding the bike trail and biking an extra mile on streets (re: stop lights). I am very happy with my time!
The swim was harder than I thought it would be. I think this was partly because I haven't been swimming in weeks. I will definitely be better about swimming in the future especially since next time the swim probably won't be in a pool that I can use the ends to push off from. But, when I finished the swimming portion, my time was 3 minutes faster than the last time I trained for it, so that might explain why it was killing me.
The bike was great! Aside from not being able to figure out the map, the biking went very well. I felt pretty good. Towards the end my wrists were unhappy and my butt was sore, but it went well. Next time I will make sure I know the course. Although, since this was so small of an event (41 people) there weren't any signs. I'm assuming an official Tri would have some sort of markings.
The run went better than expected. I figured that since it was last I would be dying. But Andrea and I had a good pace and were able to keep it up despite hills at mile 3. Midway through the run I started to get blisters on my arches. I had put some body glide on after my swim, but it didn't help much. My theories are that my body absorbed it since my skin was wet, my socks absorbed it since it was so long between application and when I needed it or that it plain just wore off. Next time I think I will go back to Vaseline.
When we were nearing the last bit, we started to here bagpipes. Turns out they were for us! Every finisher had bagpipes (live) to bring them in. It was so cool! There was a lady that asked if Andrea and I were doing the "with a kick" version. When we said yes, she told us to kick it in. So Andrea and I took off sprinting for the last bit. It was awesome. It was a bit tricky stopping and not running into the people and bikes. Also at the finish line were Ben, David, Heather (who finished her shorter course before us) and Wanda (who also did the shorter course). It was so nice to have some fans at the finish line.
For me, this will not have been my first and last tri. I really did enjoy it, and hopefully will be doing it again sometime soon. Andrea and Heather and I are thinking about doing another one in August up in Glenwood. I think it would be fun to do a lake weekend with a Tri thrown in.
(Heather - Sorry that I didn't write much about you! But you did awesome! I am so proud of you!!).
The swim was harder than I thought it would be. I think this was partly because I haven't been swimming in weeks. I will definitely be better about swimming in the future especially since next time the swim probably won't be in a pool that I can use the ends to push off from. But, when I finished the swimming portion, my time was 3 minutes faster than the last time I trained for it, so that might explain why it was killing me.
The bike was great! Aside from not being able to figure out the map, the biking went very well. I felt pretty good. Towards the end my wrists were unhappy and my butt was sore, but it went well. Next time I will make sure I know the course. Although, since this was so small of an event (41 people) there weren't any signs. I'm assuming an official Tri would have some sort of markings.
The run went better than expected. I figured that since it was last I would be dying. But Andrea and I had a good pace and were able to keep it up despite hills at mile 3. Midway through the run I started to get blisters on my arches. I had put some body glide on after my swim, but it didn't help much. My theories are that my body absorbed it since my skin was wet, my socks absorbed it since it was so long between application and when I needed it or that it plain just wore off. Next time I think I will go back to Vaseline.
When we were nearing the last bit, we started to here bagpipes. Turns out they were for us! Every finisher had bagpipes (live) to bring them in. It was so cool! There was a lady that asked if Andrea and I were doing the "with a kick" version. When we said yes, she told us to kick it in. So Andrea and I took off sprinting for the last bit. It was awesome. It was a bit tricky stopping and not running into the people and bikes. Also at the finish line were Ben, David, Heather (who finished her shorter course before us) and Wanda (who also did the shorter course). It was so nice to have some fans at the finish line.
For me, this will not have been my first and last tri. I really did enjoy it, and hopefully will be doing it again sometime soon. Andrea and Heather and I are thinking about doing another one in August up in Glenwood. I think it would be fun to do a lake weekend with a Tri thrown in.
(Heather - Sorry that I didn't write much about you! But you did awesome! I am so proud of you!!).
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