September is now almost over, time never fails to surprise me of how fast it goes by.
A quick recap of August 2011, this is the one month this year that I would like to say was a "close call" thus far. Stress met its peak when I bought a car that I hated and was indeed going to bring me under financially with repairs if I was unable to return it. Though that weekend experience tormented me, luck was indeed on my side as I was able to get myself out of the situation I got myself into in the first place! PHEW!! apparently I needed another reminder that I can indeed be an idiot at times! even in the state of idiocy and making a bad mistake, I was able to move forward without harm done. Damage may have been done a bit to my pride, but I'm so glad I learn fast! I am also glad I was able to keep this story short by cutting out all the details...easy to do when you would rather erase the whole experience to begin with :o) Live, Learn, MTHO (Move The Hell On)!
And...on the bright side, I still have my little Honda Civic and I am more relieved to have it than ever now! I could just give it a BIG hug!
Mid August I had the opportunity to take pictures at a wedding for a beautiful couple. I wanted to start getting photos for my portfolio and I was able to follow the professional photographers and take photos of my own. The only downfall was not being able to do my own poses, but I got some great insight and I was still able to put my own spin on all the pics. I feel it was a great success and I am satisfied with the overall turnout!
Check out a collage of some of the photos!
See more of the gallery by clicking below!
At the end of August I had the privilege of taking pictures of a darling 1-month old baby for a girl I work with. I was extremely excited, I went out and bought props, thought up ideas in my head. It was great. I had no idea what to expect as this was my first time taking pictures of a little one so I knew I was probably in for a challenge. I enjoy taking pictures so much I stayed for a few hours! I am glad I did, I wanted as many shots as possible because I knew thats what it would take for me to be satisfied with a good handful of them. Overall I am happy with the turn-out and I hope the mother of the baby is as well and that the baby recovered from the torture of flashes I imposed on her! lol
And below is a collage of some pics of the photo shoot:
To see the full album please visit the gallery at:
I hope that my photography photo shoots will continue, I feel "alive" when I am taking pictures and creating memories that will live on for years to come. It is truly what I need to keep my creative brain in gear and I look forward to the day my photography really takes off :o)
This brings me to September!!
Finally, after three months I was able to see my Cliffy Cakes over Labor Day weekend :o) we met up in Minneapolis, MN and stayed in a great hotel downtown "The Grand Hotel Minneapolis". We were not far from John's Friend who works and lives downtown so it was nice to have someone close by to show us around! We did not arrive until pretty late in the night, I believe it was about 11:00pm. We took the light rail from the airport to downtown as we figured we should get a little adventure in. Adventure it was indeed! never again will I ride a light rail half tired that late at night, there were some pretty sketchy people. Being in a new city too made this 20 min ride not only feel like hours but also encompassed us with the feeling that we were invading a space we shouldn't be at this time at night. What I can I say...we live on the edge sometimes!
When we finally made it to our stop and got off the train the next task at hand was finding the hotel. lugging our baggage behind us, thud thud thud over every crack on the sidewalk as there were a ton of cracks lol, we found it a few blocks away! whoo hoo!
The hotel was in a historical building, but the inside had been completely redone. We got upgraded to the Premium King Suite, which sounded pretty good. It was a pretty hip little hotel and our room was very nice. The view was of a center courtyard with white brick exterior walls all around and the same windows/curtains as ours. Not too pretty but no biggie, we were hardly going to be in the hotel for anything more than sleeping anyway. Sleep is definitely what we needed, we were exhausted!!
Starbucks, Mall of America, dinner and a night out on the town with Johns friend Damon was in order for the next day. I didn't sleep well that first night (I hardly ever do the first night in a hotel room) so starbucks was a must that morning. You think it would be easy to find it in the city and there would be one on every corner, and though that may have been true... all the shops and food places are all inside buildings with no advertisements out on the streets letting you know where things are at. You have to be walking the sky-ways to really know where you need to be. We walked everywhere in this building and that building trying to find it before we met up with Damon on his lunch hour and he told us where to go lol. After all that walking around we got hungry and even though I had my chai, it wasn't doing it for me or giving me the energy I needed. We ate at this great local deli, it was so good!!! I can't even remember what it is called. If you know me well enough you know I have the most terrible time remembering names of places or people for that matter, my brain picks and chooses who and what it remembers-go figure!
Mall of America was HUGE!! We may have gotten around a 1/4 of it and here is what is odd on my part...I did not buy a dang thing!! John sure did, he found himself some shoes at the Puma store! I wanted to find cow-girl boots, but I was not going to spend that much money on them so I gave up. We did however spend a bit of time in the Bean Bag Bed Store...so comfortable. These things area AMAZING!! I would totally get one and they are not that badly priced.
Check it out if you want! : http://www.bagthebed.com/?gclid=CN6Ss9Oio6sCFUEEQAodDHLu3A
John also managed to get a new phone case for FREE at the AT&T store, go figure. How he manages this luck, I have no idea! but I am glad he did because he desperately needed a new case for that thing, half of it was already gone...haha Thx Nerman!
Here are some pics of us at the mall:
We are enjoying some snuggle time in the Bean Bag Bed Store
You know what they say..."Save a horse ride a Cowboy!"
- You are missing the hat babe!
I wish I wasn't so tired this day!! I may have actually shopped lol
Meeting Damon and his girlfriend Friday evening was great. They were so fun and welcoming! we ate at this restaurant called "Craze" or was it "Crave" eh what-ev...it was good regardless! I of course had Pasta, John had steak, Damon had the same pasta as I and his girlfriend Clio had a steak salad! I unfortunately was trying to get rid of a headache still, eating helped a bit but for some reason I was still in a funk. I was not about to let it ruin my time out though! We went to a couple bars downtown and I must say the bar we went to that ended the night (which again, I cannot recall the name) was so unique. I loved the overall ambiance of the place. It almost felt as if you were in a bar from the early 1900's or something that had so much character! this place is apparently known for their special drink combination of whiskey and ginger-ale. I personally did not care for it, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it!
Saturday, we did not have any definite plans. We ended up at breakfast at "Hells Kitchen", they were playing live music of a "blues" genre, different for a morning outing but we welcomed it :o)
Saturday, we did not have any definite plans. We ended up at breakfast at "Hells Kitchen", they were playing live music of a "blues" genre, different for a morning outing but we welcomed it :o)
John's breakfast smiley face!
He was very satisfied with this place!
We met up with Damon again where he took us to Lake Minnetonka. Driving to our destination, there were houses along the way that were to die for! I was jealous for sure. There was a bar off the lake where boats were able to pull up and dock, eat outside, socialize. They had a spot for live bands as well. We sat and got some grub outside taking in the lifestyle. It was a bit chilly outside, at least for me. I should have brought a sweater! We did not end up staying too long for that reason, but we couldn't leave entirely without getting some pics in.
That evening was a night out on the town, we even dressed up a bit. John and I ate dinner at this fantastic Italian restaurant called "Zelo's" that we just happen to walk into. We had no idea at the time it would so scrumptious! We both had wine, in which we toasted to our one year! :o) and as much as we wanted dessert, we couldn't manage it after all the great pasta we just had. We met up with Damon at his place downtown, along with a couple of his friends. We played a drinking card game for awhile and then went out to a couple bars, danced a little, had a few drinks....
Oh that jacket! nice Job Damon....Funny how it really worked as a chic magnet!
We did stay out until the bars closed, there was mention of going to a strip club afterward-Umm...how in the world can these guys still be able to keep partying? I can't do it anymore! I was ready to head back to the hotel, relax, and go to bed LOL. Plus spending more money at a strip club was not appealing on my end. It a took a bit of convincing, but we headed back...walking in heels. Ouchie!! it was indeed a long walk and it was hard finding a taxi unfortunately, but I survived. I have to say that my Cliffy Cakes helped me out by giving me a foot rub before bed :o) he is amazing!
Sunday-Funday!
We walked to Damon's where he took us to uptown to have breakfast at "The Egg and I", I had French toast which was amazing! Our plan was to have breakfast, then John and I would go on this Ferry Boat Ride on the Mississippi River. We had been told we did not need reservations, but that turned out to be a lie, we got there and couldn't get on because it was full. We got signed up for the next day though so all was good. Poor Damon had to come pick us back up again.
As we pondered other ideas of what to do that day we decided on The Walker Art museum. We were not sure what to expect, there were a couple exhibits that were a bit odd, a little disturbing as well. We both enjoyed the photography art exhibit. The main focus was showing pictures of scenes and/or people who didn't know were getting their pictures taken. It was quite interesting. We went up on the roof where you could see the view of the city and we went out in the gardens where they had big art sculptures, one I am sure everyone recognizes!
Today was also the day we visited John's Uncle Bill! He told me stories of Uncle Bill and I was not sure I would pass the Uncle Bill test, but I crossed my fingers! His house still had the same wallpaper, carpet, cabinets, and dark wood from when he bought the house- Oh my. At least he upgraded to a flat screen TV and satellite! I learned quite a bit from Uncle Bill, he was a pretty neat old man! He even made us cookies and told us the story of how he won the cookie contest at the YMCA against a bunch of women haha. I have to admit, the cookies were delicious. He is great at wood working as well, the jewelry boxes he showed us that he made from scrap wood were pretty impressive. And who can forget a man and his toy...of course there was a toy! The mustang in the garage. Very rare mustang, very sexy mustang! why I did not get a picture of that?...I have no idea!
Overall, Uncle Bill was AWESOME! I had a great time! and though we promised him that John and I were going to eat out at a very nice restaurant that evening, we ended up having take out Chinese at Damon's place. Whoopsies! and it would have been another night out on the town, but John and I wanted to relax together so we declined and went back to the hotel to watch a movie and chill. For the second time, the hotel TV was giving us attitude and wouldn't turn on so we again needed to call for assistance. On the bright side,we got a free movie out of it- whoo hoo!! (another one of those John moments-Thanks Babe!). We watched some movie about this average guy who finds this amazing drug which enhances the brain to where you have all access to its entirety. Interesting I must say, but I cannot remember the name of it so apparently it wasn't that great! haha...and there it was, our last night together before having to go back to our lives apart again until October :o(
Monday was a beautiful day in Minneapolis. Unlike the rest of the weekend which was a bit chilly for my taste. It was warmer in Denver and Jasper I think all weekend then it was in Minneapolis! John and I went to breakfast in the hotel this time, which was pretty pretty GOOD! John for the first time tried eggs Benedict to see why his brother likes it so much. I have yet to try it, the sauce on it looks weird...someday I am sure I will get talked into it though!! I know everyone was trying hard to get me to try sushi though and that is one food that will take quite some time for me to give into.
The highlight of the day was finally getting to go on our ferry boat ride over the Mississippi River!!luckily, we had company too-Damon and his girlfriend, Clio came along!! we got to experience the Upper Lock - St. Anthony Falls, which was the main event out of the whole boat trip! It was so nice being able to sit in the sun, socialize, check out the scenery, and soak in the last couple hours before having to head back to the airport.
Thanks again Damon and Clio for making this a great little getaway for John and I !! Not enough time of course to see everything we would have liked, but it gives us another reason to go back!
So, it was back to the airport! the security line was crazy and took forever to get through, I ended up going through the line that had the body security "Whoosh" thing thinking it would be faster....boy was I wrong! lol, I ended up getting a rub down from an old lady security person. My flight got delayed 5 hours due to the original plane having to get replaced by a new one because it was leaking hydraulic fuel. In turn, I was going to miss my connecting flight. No other flights were going out to Louisville until the next morning. Ut-oh not good!! but nothing I could do about it. Long story short, I was able to get one more night with John by flying home to Denver with him and getting a flight from Denver to Louisville the next day. I couldn't complain about that! I was able to surprise my mom too even if it was just a few minutes.
Its always rough having to leave my Cliffy Cakes, but we still pull through and come back right where we left off the next time we are together. Come October, I will see him again for another short weekend, but at least we don't have to wait 3 months again!! Love you Babe <3
September is not over yet, I may be back home in Jasper continuing the work routine, but there are definitely more adventures to come!!
