The Mixtape Tour: also known as Mom's Night Out

I want to start this post and tell you I am not the adult who went to this concert to do something she didn't get to do in her childhood.

My very first concert was the August 11, 1991 stop in St. Petersburg, FL of The Magic Summer Tour. My uncle Ron won tickets off the radio station and gave them to my mom to take me. I was 9 years old and I remember it vividly.

I got this t-shirt and I wore it for pajamas for years. I had two New Kids on the Block tapes, I had a Joe doll (even though I wanted a Jordan doll, but apparently all the stores had left were stupid Joe dolls that Christmas) and I used him in lieu of a Ken doll for Barbie because my mom couldn't afford to get me a Ken doll. I had every NKOTB poster my mom could get out of old magazines at her work. After the concert my mom bought me a VHS tape of the show and I watched it countless times. Honestly, I wonder if she still has it somewhere in her basement.

So all that to say, I've been there and I've done that. I was 100% going because my friend Tammy wanted to go and she bought my ticket.

Tammy is one of my best friends and I'm willing to do a lot for my friends, but I'm also not going to say no to a night out, so there's that.

The concert was going to feature New Kids on the Block but also have appearances by Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Salt N Pepa, and Naughty by Nature. So overall, a pretty fun lineup. 

It turns out I knew a LOT of people going to this concert but I didn't run into anyone. I will say I was taken aback at how completely buck wild some people were in my section. Totally loved all of the 90s inspired outfits and hair because those all required creativity and resourcefulness. Totally could not believe the women around us who were trying to throw their panties. Granted, we were in the damn balcony on the far end of the arena, I have no idea how they thought their panties were going to magically fly across the place but I feel really bad for the people they landed on. 

Anyways. So NKOTB came out and they were OK. It's weird to realize these guys are all pushing 50 so when they come out with injury tape on their shoulder (looking at you, Donnie) or looking like they did not age well AT ALL (cough, DANNY, cough), or pretending they are 21 again with all of the crotch grabs and stage grinding (Jordan? Really?) it's almost embarrassing. I was embarrassed for them. It would be like seeing your dad on stage doing this. No. Just, no. I liked the songs, it was a fun bit of nostalgia but man. No. I'm old and I know it. 

I actually felt bad for Jonathon because you could tell he wasn't into this like they were. I mean he's gay so the 30something women in the crowd isn't in his wheelhouse so that maybe is part of it, but he looks like he's more equipped to live the quiet life. Oh god! And the fake crying on stage! Ugh. Jordan and Joe were both guilty of this and I don't know if it was supposed to be a fake cry or just a display of overly emotional moment? I don't know, but it was cheesy as hell. 

Tiffany came out, did her one hit. It was good, she looked good, she sounded good. She would come out later and sing another two, but honestly I have no idea what they were because I don't remember her ever having more than one hit. 

Debbie Gibson was next, and I'll be honest, I was never into her. I always thought she was lame, but my friend Tammy liked her so she thought that was fine. I will say that when she came out again she sounded really squeaky? Then she did a ballad with Joe from NKOTB and oy. Just oy. 

Salt N Pepa was next and I'm telling you what- they were the highlight for me. I've always enjoyed them and some of my favorite memories involve their tape, Very Necessary. We used to listen to it in our friend's garage and they had one pair of rollerblades that fit nobody and we would take turns and go back and forth in their garage on them. So that was fun. They were great, they rap just as well, and both of their sets was fun. 

The best part? Super impressed with at least the folks around us who knew all of the words and could rap them just as well. I may or may not have had my moments. 

Naughty by Nature were also there and I don't think many people knew who they were? They knew the chorus to "OPP" but who DOESN'T?! Losers without a radio on the 90s, that's who. But anything else? Nope. 

As a whole? It was pretty alright. Would I go again? God no. I've now seen NKOTB twice and I feel like that's enough in my life. I'm not usually a big fan of nostalgia concerts, but it was a fun night out and Tammy had a really great time.

Next concert? I'm taking Olivia and Jackson to see Shawn Mendes on Friday and they have no idea. So that will be fun.

Pink..... my second favorite color

I'm trying to go through my phone photos to share what life is like lately because it is more than doctor appointments, speech therapy, depression, and trying to hold it together. I am VERY fortunate to have really great friends who still hang out with me despite being a little slower and sometimes a little harder to hang out with. I try really hard to medicate and take all of the steps to be fully functional so they don't feel like adult babysitters but every once in awhile I need help so I need to trust the people I'm with, basically. My friends Tammy and Amy are the best ones and they try to get me out regularly and are always touching base with me and I appreciate it a LOT because I'm guilty of forgetting to reach out to people and I kind of fall off the radar and they are always pulling me back.

Bottom line- get yourself some good friends who you know will always actually be there. I have pretty great friends.

So this last weekend Tammy and I went to see the Pink concert. I always have to drive to Minneapolis/St. Paul to see a concert and it's a long drive there and back. I don't mind so much but some nights it's long on the way home, so if I can have someone come with me that's a little easier. Tammy and I went down early so we could have dinner and that worked out well.

The show itself was long, ending a little after 11 p.m. which meant I got home close to 2 a.m. because we had a bathroom break and got snacks to stay awake the rest of the way home. But it was WORTH IT.

Julia Michaels opened and honestly? She wasn't that great and I would have listened to DJ Kid CutUp the entire time because he was actually really entertaining and everyone around us was really getting into it. 

The good  news is we usually end up sitting next to questionable people or people who smell, or people who are so outrageously drunk that it ruins it for us but this time we had some pretty cool people. Well, except for the lady a row down and to the left, we thought for sure she was going to go over the balcony because she was so drunk and really relying on the plexiglass wall and nobody with her was trying to pull her down.

Anyways.

Let me just tell you that this show was easily in my top 5 shows of all time. No question. Tammy and I have been trying to see Pink for like ten years but the tickets always sell out, but Matt bought these a year ago (because I was at an appointment) and we got nosebleeds but it was worth it. Pink puts on an incredible show which is non stop from start to finish.

The other thing were all of the acrobatics which we come to expect from Pink and those skills were on full display in her first number as she swung around on a chandelier. 

I'm not even a fan of some of her earlier stuff so much (I don't hate it but it's not something I'd pick up to listen to, either), but this show renewed the interest in it. 

The only bummer of the show for me was I kind of wish she had done some kind of a medley of song and done a snippet of her first album. I know that one is so far removed from what she does now and even she didn't love it BUT, we remember it and it would have been a fun nod to do even a short medley. 

During "Revenge" we had an Eminem blow up doll which was kind of fun. A video of Nate Reuss played during "Just Give Me A Reason" which was alright. 

Easily me favorite of the show was "Secrets" because I love the song but watching her do the trapeze/acrobatics with a male partner was so beautiful and just went with the song so well, I was kind of bummed when that ended. 

She ended the concert with a final short set with "F*ckin Perfect", a short video to her daughter, "Raise Your Glass", and then "Blow Me (one last kiss)", which was really good. Normally I've been ducking out of a finale so I can get onto the highway before everyone else but I stayed because I saw online that it would be "So What" and "Glitter in the Air".

"So What" was pretty dang amazing and none of my pictures turned out but she literally swung around the arena, like around the entire thing, and it was so fun to watch. I didn't stay for all of "Glitter in the Air" because I kind of wanted to see a repeat of that Grammy's performance and it wasn't that so I took off.

Overall? Amazing concert. I had such a good time and I am so glad I was able to go. Even though I almost peed my pants on the way home. And dropped a bunch of ice cream down my shirt while trying to eat an ice cream cone while driving on the highway. Always an adventure.

Florence & the Machine. Epic.

I'm going to apologize for lack of pictures, and the crappiest quality of the two I took. I only had my phone, which was almost dead, so I couldn't go hog wild on capturing memories and all that. 

But a couple of weeks ago my friend Tammy and I had tickets to see Florence & the Machine. I hadn't seen them before but I've always heard really good things about their live shows so when cheap tickets became available, I went for it. 

LUCKILY FOR US, we happened to be in the right nosebleed section because they moved all of us to much better seats fairly close to the stage. 

 I mean, these seats were a lot more money and our original seats were like... top row of the highest set of bleachers. Ha! So that was a pretty cool surprise! It was at the Target Center in Minneapolis, which was completely re-done, and I hadn't been in the new and improved version. I have a go-to restaurant at every venue I see concerts at so I just plan to eat there. Except my go-to for Target Center? Closed. Gone. Adios. 

You know what I ate for dinner? 

A half order of nachos. Like the worst nachos I had ever had. And a bottle of water. Cost? $21. 

 Oh well. So we got our super awesome seats and took a quick picture. Clearly the people behind us weren't the happiest ever. The people in front of us were really nice, two older couples, all of them doctors. Real friendly. 

I hadn't looked beforehand to see who was opening and really it's no big deal because I enjoy watching the opening band anyways- I've found a lot of new and great artists that way.

This concert?

Perfume Genius was the artist.

It was HORRIBLE. Tammy reminded me we once saw and opening band that literally only played bells and that wasn't as bad as Perfume Genius. IT was like.... really bad performance art? I honestly don't know how to even describe it and it went on FOREVER, then suddenly he walked off the stage and was done. It was the most bizarre opening set I think I've ever seen. 

But then Florence came on and you guys- the rest of Florence & the Machine all come out like a beautiful parade, flowing down these wooden stairs... and then Florence comes floating down and starts the show with June, and honest to god- it felt like a religious moment. I am not even ashamed to tell you I completely cried during that song because it's one of my favorites off their new album.

The set wasn't terribly long but decent, she played all of the fan favorites of course. I didn't stay for the encore because I wanted to try to get out ahead of the crowd because I'm always so worried about getting lost or disoriented in an unfamiliar place and people, so yeah. I missed that.

I'm not very hippie like so when it got to the point where she wanted you to hold hands with everyone, give strangers hugs, etc that is a little beyond my comfort zone. I did really appreciate when she told everyone to put down their phones at least for a few songs, that was just really nice. Maybe my favorite part of seeing her live is she has this meek, almost child like speaking voice and then she sings and it's this power house, can take the wind from your chest and it's just so unexpected, maybe that's the charm of this group.

Overall this was a pretty amazing concert and I would 100% see her again. 

That time when I was offered a mustache ride.

So this past weekend was a super fun weekend out with friends for their birthdays. I kind of get excited when my friends have birthdays because it's an excuse to go out AND I get to buy presents.

Three couples were all going to meet on Saturday at the Shout House in Minneapolis for dinner, drinks, and shenanigans. Obviously all three were had. It was supposed to be Matt and I, with Tammy and Chad (who we shared a hotel room with) and then we were all going to meet Emily and Cory. Good stuff. So on Thursday I was at work and our work study Amber pointed out that St. Louis Park (suburb of Minneapolis and subsequently where our hotel was) was pretty much ghetto. She then texted me a crime map that had a disturbing amount of dots. Fortunately for us, it ended up being in a really nice neighborhood near some pretty cool stuff and the hotel was nice.

Oh except for the fact the hallways smelled like the inside of a dumpster. But other than that, it was totally fine.

So here's a tip- if you are going to go to the Shout House I recommend that you get a reservation and then get there before 5. Because we were there around 4:15 and yeah- line already.

 I also recommend that you not even bother with food. It's typical bar food but your waitress isn't going to be very good and it'll take you almost 30 minutes to get your Coke. Not to mention the hour to get your chips and salsa. And then bring you your burger with no ketchup. And then not come back. And then, on top of it all, get everyone's bill wrong. BUT, the plus side is you'll walk out not paying for your husband's beers.

 But the best part, besides hanging out with some of my favorite people and singing along with the pianists and being some of the youngest people there, is that you will see pregnant people drinking beer!

Now some of you might be like, "Oh Sara- she clearly had a sandwich, that's why her belly is like that." And then I will say no, because when she turned a little more, clearly a 3-4 month old belly. I told Tammy I should start carrying around pamphlets on fetal alcohol syndrome or something.

Oh and then there was that awkward moment when a super huge guy with a porn mustache came over, in front of Matt, to tell me that he thinks I'm really hot and him and his friend Ben want to meet me. Of course, the rest of the people at the table crack up because hello- this not only happens all of the time, but this time Matt was RIGHT THERE. So I say that I didn't think my husband would appreciate if I did that, and he proceeds to tell me I'm really pretty, then says he's going to shake my husband's hand. So he does, and I'm standing there like, what the fuck, and he apparently tells Matt he's a really lucky guy and he should keep an eye out. Matt of course says nothing because he's deadpan on everything all of the time, and my friends crack up and keep teasing me about maybe taking a ride on the mustache. Because his friend also had a porno face thing going on and it wasn't working for either of them. But at least I can say I'm consistent when it comes to attracting the best the crowd has to offer.

Beans, Spit, and the Road.

Ah.. the third day of Chicago. Equally as gorgeous in weather which was too bad because it was of course, freezing as fucking hell at home. The good thing about it being so obscenely wonderful in Chicago was that it really felt like a vacation because it was such a change from home. But you want to see pictures!

On Sunday we walked from our hotel down to Millennium Park where daffodils and tulips were in bloom, and that was amazing. This is the outdoor amphitheatre and it's a piece of art itself. The arches are like sound barriers so surrounding buildings aren't bombarded with noise.

 And of course, we saw Cloud Gate otherwise known as The Bean.

 I had to take the obligatory dork in the bean picture.

 The bean from the other side is just pretty because you get the gorgeous skyline reflected into it.

 The group of us being equally dorky and waving at ourselves in the Bean.

 The park also has these two huge glass tiled columns. According to our trolley tour guide, over 100 Chicago residents agreed to have their faces used on the columns. Their faces fade in/out and they are expressive- the smile, blink, and pucker their lips into a kiss. When they pucker their lips, the fountain turns on and water shoots out of their mouth as if they are spitting on you. It's kind of disgusting but fun at the same time.

After we got our caffeine fix we were able to check out of the hotel and get on the road. What a long fucking drive. It was long on the way there but the anticipation of a fun weekend makes it go by faster. We left Chicago right around 11am and I found myself having to stop several times along the way to wake myself up. I did get to stop at a Cracker Barrel and buy 8 more sugar suckers and you know I've eaten every one of them already. We stopped in Wisconsin Dells to do a little outlet shopping and I got my kids some outfits for summer at cheap prices so that was kind of great. By the time we got to Amy's apartment it was about 10:30 pm and we still had about two hours to drive to get us home.

I sat on my own bed in my own house at 12:34 am and I fell asleep with my clothes, shoes, jacket and keys in hand only to be promptly woken up at 5am by two overly eager kids. I was exhausted. I had work that day and I won't complain too much because Emily had to be there at 8 and I had to be in by 10. But still, I bet she wasn't up at 5am!

Green with envy.

OK, so I fell off the planet for a few more days. Spank me. In reality, I have a lot going on in my own little world and so I am having to carve out time for other things just to keep it all moving. With that, blogging may be sporadic but no less sassy. With that said, let's talk about Chicago, day two.

Right away when we came out of our hotel we saw a religious crazy. You know I love me some religious crazies because they are a good time and it makes me feel more secure in my own mental issues. The last St. Patrick's Day I was at in Chicago we had Scientologists with scary masks on, and so I was glad that Chicago didn't let me down this time.

 And the river was GREEN. Like bright ass green. Fun fact- the chemical they use to dye the river green is actually orange and it was only by accident that the river turned green. It was originally used so they could see if the water was leaking into surrounding infrastructure but since it's green- why not party? Also cool is that the tradition of dying the river is passed down through a Chicago family through multiple generations. I thought that was kind of awesome.

 So one of the first things we did was purchase our tickets for the 5:30 pm water taxi because Emily wanted to do it and I had never done it. The bonus is that it was fairly cheap at $29 a person because it was great. More on that in a bit. Then after buying those tickets we walked down to the Water Tower Place and bought our tickets for the trolley. Keep in mind at this point it's almost lunch time and nobody has eaten. This tour is typically two hours long if you don't hop on/off anywhere and it's a pretty substantial loop that you go on. The plan was to get to Navy Pier, get off and have lunch, look around and then get back onto the trolley.

 This didn't happen because guess what? There are a lot of fucking people in Chicago walking around half drunk on St. Patrick's Day.

 Three hours later, we get to Navy Pier. But not before I had to hold in vomit from having ridiculously low blood sugar, a migraine coming on and basically breaking out in cold sweat because I felt like I was either going to puke all over the trolley or pass out.

 (side note: tell me this isn't post card worthy??? I took that myself!)

Anyways. We get to Navy Pier and almost immediately, the smell of warm garbage (it was in the mid 80's and gorgeous outside) and fast food made my mouth feel tingly. We all had to pee by this point so we get into the bathroom and I puke. Obviously. Afterwards, I felt confident I could eat something. So I get into line with the girls to get food and just as I'm getting to the register, my mouth feels tingly again. You know that feeling- your mouth gets warm and tingly and saliva pools in there, yeah. So I ask Amy to get me a Pepsi and I run like a ninja to the bathroom. The line was ENORMOUS and no way was I going to make it. So I do what anyone would do.

I go to the men's room and puke in a urinal.

Thankfully, there were no guys in there and even if there were I don't know that I'd care because we had an emergency situation and I didn't want to puke in the family pavilion with the little girls who were doing Irish dances or whatever performing right there.

Afterwards, I was not eating lunch. I got my Garrett's popcorn (which was as delicious as the trolley person said it would be) and drank my Pepsi. After about an hour I started to feel OK, so we got on the trolley and headed back to the water taxi place.

 We snapped a picture before we got on the taxi.

 And I took some more of the river as the sun was almost ready to go down.

 And then we got on our little water taxi. Which was amazing and maybe the most relaxing thing we did. It was so nice to be on a boat, with cool people, learning about this awesome city, waving to the locals and having them wave back, and watch the sun set over Lake Michigan. Like, can you really end a great day any better?

Emily and I were boat buddies and if it were not for her suggestion, we would not have been on that awesome water taxi!

After the water taxi we went to the Cheesecake Factory to get some food. Um, WORST SERVICE EVER. I've eaten at that location before and it was delicious, but this time it was bad. The food was bad, we had three different employees wait on us (kind of), we were there for what seemed like forever but was just under two hours because that's apparently how incompetent they were, and then Amy and Tammy got yelled at for having to pee because they were trying to close the bathroom down 45 minutes before the place closes. Um, rude. And THEN, the waitress (the last one we had) got kind attitude when we asked for her to split the bill up. Bitch, we're each paying with cards, don't give me an attitude. I was also pissy about my drink having no ice. Like, who gets fountain soda with no ice? The ice makes the drink. Everybody knows that. Assholes.

Anyways. It was a long walk back to the hotel, I was exhausted and knew I would have to be up early on Sunday so we can make the horrifically long drive back. I ended up getting no sleep at all either night, but overall it was worth it. Tomorrow I'll show you my Sunday pictures and wrap up my Chicago posts. :)

Mice, Moose, Yogi and Pizza. All related, I swear.

Yes! The moment you've been waiting for--- posts about my trip to Chicago. I have to break this up into a couple of posts because I have a lot of pictures to share and stories to tell. So let's start with Friday- day one.

We left Superior at like 6am (me, Tammy and Emily) and drove to Bloomington to pick up Amy. Then we headed towards Chicago and the weather was perfect. I'm talking mid 70's in MARCH. The drive was fairly uneventful until our lunch stop in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. There, you will find probably the most hick version of a Perkins restaurant ever. Outside you see the cheese store and creepy sign:

 A random orange moose. Not to mention the other moose who is missing half of his horn thingies.

 A large deer statue humping a faux log.

We had what I thought was the worst restaurant service (which was later trumped by the Cheesecake Factory, but more on that tomorrow) because our waitress was, I'm pretty sure at least, mentally handicapped. Which, good for Perkins. Really, good for them. But this girl was clearly not meant to be a waitress. Not only did our food take forever to get there, but lots of stuff was screwed up. Not to mention she never did help the table of four old people next to us the entire time we were there. The hostess and then the manager kind of half assed it for them. But the best part of this Perkins was their used book shelf you could buy books from. Now, if it wouldn't have been so blatantly rude of me to take pictures of these books I would have. The books all ranged from either super crazy religious, instructional manuals on how to be a good homemaker and other random shit, to the obscenely racist title called, Who'll Vote For Lincoln? with an African American boy on the cover. Um, yeah. Welcome to back country America, folks. Considering we're well above the Mason Dixon line, I was a bit surprised to see this.

Then a little further down the road we stopped at a Road Ranger gas station. Mostly because anything called Road Ranger instantly sounds like a fun time compared to BP. Not so fun? The $4.19/gallon of gas. Seriously, rape me with the pump shall we? Anyways. While pumping gas, we all laughed when Yogi rolled in.

 Because you just don't see that every day. FYI though? Even though Road Ranger has 64 ounce fountain soda for $.49- DON'T DO IT. It tastes like shit. Total shit. With bubbles. Kind of. Just pass it up.

Once we got to Chicago and settled into our hotel, we decided that we would take a quick walk around the area since it was still 79 degrees out at 6:30 at night, and we were on the search for Chicago pizza. We went to Giordano's because it was close and I had never eaten there before so I figured I'd try something new. (I know, I shock even myself sometimes.)

 The pizza was really good but the appetizers were kind of a joke. I should have taken pictures. So, skip the appetizers and hold out for the pizza. We got the classic stuffed crust pizza which was so damn good.

 Tammy and me kind of matchy matchy.

 Amy and Emily!

After pizza we decided to call it an early night because the next day was the big St. Patrick's Day celebration and the river was going to be green and we wanted to be super well rested and energized! I was exhausted from being up so early to get us to Chicago and so I really had hoped that I'd get all of this sleep. That did not happen.

Part two tomorrow.

Rochester Girls Weekend

So this weekend I spent with some of my favorite friends on a girls weekend in Rochester, Minnesota. I've been there once to basically connect with Amy before our Milwaukee trip but basically didn't know anything about the area other than that's where Mayo Clinic is.

Our main adjective was to celebrate Amy's birthday but we figured we would throw in a touristy trolley ride and a comedy show in the mix. Basically- it was a jam packed but very fun weekend.

Me, Tammy and Emily left way early on Saturday morning so that we would have a really full day in Rochester considering that is about a four hour drive from us. We obviously stopped in Hinckley for drinks and snacks, but on our way out we saw this beast:

I am very sad I did not get a picture of the rapist van with a tricycle strapped to the top for you though because that really was a special sight.

Then obviously we had to stop to pee. Mostly Tammy because the one thing about her that I love and it cracks me up, is that she must have the world's smallest bladder. She did really great though, so I think our mini road trips together are conditioning her bladder. Anyways. We stopped in Cannon Falls but the first thing we saw was this grocery store. So we pull over and start walking through the store. Obviously, we couldn't find the restroom so we asked and was told to go through double doors that looked like the back room. And it actually was. But the bathroom smelled SO bad. Pretty much the equivalent to a dirty adult diaper. Times ten. It was also pretty filthy, but they have these dispensers:

 Conveniently, they were all empty and looked like they have been for quite some time. So here's where the bathroom was- this is just one side view because employees came and I felt like a spy.

 Once we got to Rochester we headed over to a hotel to get onto the trolley that does a tour of the city and talks about the history of Mayo Clinic. For $15 it was a damn good deal because I learned a lot of stuff. Most of which I'm not going to tell you about for the sake of time, but if you are in Rochester you should do that tour. Plus our trolley had a bell. It was kind of bad ass.

For dinner we met up with a couple of Amy's local friends at McGoon's, which is next door to the Goonies comedy club. The food was hella expensive for what it was and wasn't that great BUT... our server? Her name is J-Wow. She was absolutely terrible and I know we all left a shitty tip. Try to come back at least once to refill drinks. Especially when you only have 3 tables. Get your shit together honey.

 So here is a picture of me and the girls. I look kind of tall here but I wasn't wearing heels. So that was weird.

 Since we had time to kill we decided to head for drinks at O'Dooley's which is basically up the street. Very cool restaurant/bar that feels very "city" to me. The only down side was the hostesses. There were three of them, all very wonky looking. By that I mean they are size 0, fake baked tan, giant boobs and the most unfortunate hair extensions. See the blondie below.

 She was the better of the three. I think they are waiting for employment at Hooters or something. But O'Dooley's was fun and we got to meet more of Amy's friends that live there, both of which were named Amy. Which kind of was nice because then you don't have that awkward moment where you forget someones name. But they were really great and I enjoyed talking with them over drinks. The down side to O'Dooley's was that my one Pepsi? Was $6.50. Um, what the fuck? The nice thing about Duluth/Superior is that if you say you are the designated driver, your soda is free. Apparently not the case in Rochester, so bring cash, DD's.

After O'Dooley's we headed to another bar I can't remember the name of for a quick drink before heading back to Goonie's for the late night comedy show.

The comedy show? God I hope Amy got the opening woman on film because she was really horrible. She was an older woman- easily 60's, possibly even in her 70's who at one point lamented about Spanx. Then, just when you think that was done, she start pulling a pair of Spanx out of her pants and you are promptly grossed out. Honestly, I didn't think either of the two comedians after her were funny either. There were people laughing but I think this is one of those things that is awesome when you're drunk? I don't know. The downside of being that person that doesn't drink is that I don't always think things are as funny as my friends who have a beer or two do. But I really enjoyed hanging out with everyone and having the side convo's, because those alone were hysterical.

After the comedy we parted ways with everyone and got Amy home and headed to our hotel. The next day Emily, Tammy and I ended up going to IKEA and the Mall of America, but Amy had to pack for her big move to the Cities. But the highlight of that? Is that I found my sweater for the Ugly Sweater Christmas Party we're having in December. Oh, yes. We're doing it and we've got some kind of awesome plans in place. I just need to get more people on board because I think the more people we have dressed in hideous attire, the more fun it will be.

But it was a long weekend in a good way. You know it was successful when you can say, "God- is tomorrow Monday" because it feels like Friday was forever ago. We got home kind of late on Sunday but it was totally worth it. I am completely thankful that I have such great friends I love spending time with, and thankful for such an awesome husband who tells me to go do something fun. I don't think I could have gotten a better combination.