The Eatery

And thus continues the quest to find the best Bloody Mary in the twin cities! Tonight's was found at Urban Eatery as I went to happy hour with a friend after work. I'm always happy to see menus that have Bloodys at a discounted rate. This one was good! Spicier than I am used to restaurants serving, though I like them with a bit of a kick so I wasn't upset. It came with less fun stuff as others but, I'll take it. I also got the buffalo wings from the Happy Hour menu. Big fan.

Burn baby burn

Well, since its been so fricken cold this winter my room has been colder than normal. Since it has two outside walls it likes to stay cold. In order to counter that I tend to light candles to warm up the room. Does the heat from one or two candles actually heat up my room? Probably not. But at least it tricks me into thinking its warmer. So, onward candle lighting!

The Union's State

I'm ashamed to say it took me until the show The Newsroom came to be a thing that I "got into politics" (Not really... just enough to know whats going on). So now that I'm "into politics" of course I sat down to watch the State of the Union address tonight, and managed to follow what was going on. So many wins. Things I loved: The shout out to Punch Pizza (which I frequent about once every other week). And this reaction to the event brought to you by Min Lee, producer and radio host of Cities 97.

Word.

The Pack

As excited as I am for the Olympics (which start in 11 days...) I am almost more excited to get back up to DULUTH to visit the crew I have up there. Especially with my awesome new Duluth Pack metrodome purse! Which seems even more fitting now that the Dome is being torn down... The white part of my purse is made out of the old collapsed roof of the Metrodome. Its kinda awesome (and it's super easy to clean). Its also my first Duluth Pack item, which is exciting in and of itself.

Anticipation

Anticipation for the Olympic games is BUILDING. And its building fast. It must have been at least 4 years ago that LT and I came up with an inside joke about Ted Ligety. Now anytime he shows up I think of her and laugh to myself. And since he's now the face of almost every Olympic ad that happens quite a lot. Today the only picture I took was of this to send to her. Sorry for being lame...

12 more days!!

Game Night

The chill evening I was expecting was about the last thing that happened. Probably for the best. I was expecting a movie night with JO and the second he got here he was all "or we could go play games with my parents and friends at my place." So thats what happened. We played Tripoli which I had heard of but never played. I didn't do so well. But needless to say it was a riot. Its always bound to be an adventure when JO and family is involved.

Bringing it back

To St. Paul that is. A group of us Cities 97 interns got together tonight in St. Paul. A place we frequented all too often as interns. Typically out in the cold, handing out flyers for something odd during a large event like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, or Maroon 5. We ended up meeting at The Downtowner (which was delicious). It was the first time I saw a few of them since they were abroad in the fall. It was fun to catch up. Our goal is to make it a monthly event.

Here is my less exciting picture of the cathedral that I snapped at a red light... 

Mac Throwback

Seems appropriate enough now that we are coming up on the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh. We used to have a collection of old Macs in our basement. Slowly but surely we are starting to get rid of them. Including these two. 

More songs!

Build Your Own

I never knew places this awesome existed. Went to Tavern on France today with a friend. Neither of us had been there. Turns out you can build your own burger, salad, pizza, and/or bloody mary. Now thats my kind of place. I decided to go with a burger tonight. Though I'm keeping my eye on that bloody mary... mmm.

Wings

Eh. Not much to say. But I found this awesome new song thats in probably 4 movie trailers right now.

Life Lessons

Every now and then in my house we will be minding our own business. Then Dad will walk by and say "come here I gotta show you this" or "I have something to teach you." Well, today was an in depth look into how to fix a toilet. Nothing you want to know but something you need to know. 

I also saw Her today. Real good. Here is my rundown on Oscar Best Picture runners so far:

12 Years a Slave: Amazing. Tough. Great story, kept me engaged the whole time. Great acting. So far its my bet for taking the Oscar (its also the one I want to take the Oscar so far).

Her: Very creative. Not the social commentary I thought it would be, but after seeing it I realized thats not what it was about. Great writing and great acting.

Gravity: The effects were stunning. I'm still mad I didn't see it in 3D. The story was only so-so. Bonus points for you if you catch the "rebirth" metaphor that runs through the movie.

Dallas Buyers Club: Haven't seen it. (It's next on my list).

American Hustle: The acting was outstanding. Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence were phenomenal. The story was slow, especially in the middle. Loved the costumes. 

Nebraska: Haven't seen it.

Philomena: Haven't seen it.

Captain Phillips: Super stoked for Barkhad Abdi for all the nominations he is getting. The movie was well done. Didn't really like it. The end makes you feel all icky. (At least it did for me).

Wolf of Wall Street: So. Long. Good writing. Interesting story. Something I didn't really know happened/is happening. It was a good look into Wall Street (especially back then). The swearing, drugs, sex got excessive. But overall I enjoyed it.

Game Night

AA and KB came over today. I think the intention was to watch movies and cook something but all that changed when The Bro decided he would be cooking dinner. So instead of cooking and movies we played games and ate food cooked for us. It was a ton of fun and just super goofy. Plus I get tomorrow off so I didn't have to worry about getting to bed at any certain time! (Though I still think I was in bed by 10:30...). 

We all had a good time.

Timber-puppies

Went and saw 12 Years a Slave this morning. I was amazed. It was so great. Tough. Not as brutal as I was expecting. But you kinda forget that all of that happened and was such a large part of our history. I recommend it. 

On a lighter note: I got to hang out with SF and RW today as we went to dinner at Gluek's and then to a Timberwolves game! I haven't been to a Wolves game in YEARS. So it was fun to get back to the Target Center and see a game. Plus our seats were great so that always helps. It was a fun night out on the town. "Out" on the town... I got home by 10. 

I blame exhaustion from seeing 12 Years earlier in the day. Woof.

Glass Optional

Its always nice when my plans fall through on a Friday and the bro is cooking. Then its almost like a win-win. I reschedule plans and get a delicious meal out of it. This time he made lobster risotto (which I'm not a huge fan of, lobster that is, but the risotto part was delicious). Anyway, my mom found this new kind of wine. On the bottle is a "who, what, where, when, why, how" description. Its awesome. This is my favorite part. =]

Rewind

Throwback Thursday! I don't have much to throwback however. Tonight my family tried someplace new for dinner. We went to Bar Louie. I thought it was pretty good! I'm on a buffalo sauce kick so I, naturally, got a buffalo chicken sandwich (which was originally a burger but I switched it out for a chicken breast. Which they do for free at BL. Kinda cool!)

But how delicious does this look. Honestly.

Also, here is your new music for the week!

A year ago today...

Remember when I said I was reminiscing about my j-term trip last year? Well I still am. So here is a boring picture of a souvenir I got in Venice followed by some pictures from my trip from last year! (Technically a year ago today I was in Nafplion, Greece... can I go back now?)

My roommates (on the trip) and I at the original Olympic stadium at Olympia. (Technically this was the finish line... complete with original marble).

The girls in Venice (with the Bridge of Sighs in the background)

More Venice! On the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal.

And my favorite picture from the trip. Put a group of kids together who have never met before they travel overseas and soon enough they become a family. Complete with family goon who tries to ruin pictures by taking out other family members. This picture sums up the trip perfectly. (Taken outside of some shop in Innsbruck, Austria.)

Puppy!

Here is another day when I have nothing to take pictures of. So I stalked my dog around the house for a while. This is what my life has come to...

New videos for you to make up for it!

How awesome would this be?

Or this...?

Olympic Quest

I got pretty reminiscent today as I started reading the blog of the current Olympic Quest trip. Olympics have always been my thing. I love them. I got this from my dad a few years ago after he visited the Vancouver site before the 2010 Olympics. 

Also, if you haven't seen this performance yet, see it. See it right now. If this doesn't get you excited for Sochi, I don't know what will.

Globes

Awards season is upon us! It's one of the most wonderful times of the year. My boss and I piled all of our guesses of who we want to win and who we think will win. I didn't do very well. I got 7 and my boss got 13. Time to get my act together for the Oscars.

However, Tina and Amy were amazing. As always. Their one liners were great. I wish they were hosting the Oscars too. But Ellen should be just as funny. 

Country-living

Phew. Got my fix today. 

Packed up and headed to Keith Urban (and Dustin Lynch and Little Big Town) and had a blast. Both Dustin and LBT were great openers. Keith was just down to earth and looked like he was genuinely enjoying himself. Definitely an entertainer, not a performer. Plus he was just so appreciative. I was so pleased with the whole evening. Here are several pictures of the evening:

Dustin was super cute. Said this was the biggest crowd he had played for on tour (apparently people in other cities only start showing up during LBT or before Keith).

Little Big Town

My date for the night, SK. 

Not too bad of seats if you ask me.

And then Keith brought up LBT and Dustin to sing with him several times throughout the night.

What happens when the main artist asks everyone to turn the light on on their phone. Lit up the whole arena.

Symptoms

The downfall of going to so many concerts (yes, this is about to be a first world problem thing) is that you start to miss going to them when you haven't gone in a while... even though the last concert I went to was about a month ago. (Wow - this is just pathetic... I blame Cities97 and my bi-weekly Studio C adventures for getting me hooked). ANYWAY. Good thing I have one to go to tomorrow!

It's like a drug. Or an anti-drug?

Raw Fish

Just kidding. Ew. Thats gross. I'm trying to work my way into the sushi lifestyle but I started off with a nice vegetarian roll. I got too lazy to pack a lunch today so I bought myself some sushi instead. For some reason it looked really good. And it was. Maybe I'll have to keep expanding my sushi taste buds... if I can ever get over that raw fish thing.... 

I also saw American Hustle tonight. Cross another one of the "have to see before the Oscars" list. Acting - amazing. Plot - eh.

Disney Day

Ever since I saw Frozen I've been on a Frozen soundtrack kick. Today I expanded that kick into the entire Disney Pandora station. Needless to say, there were a few times I almost started belting Be Our Guest or Just Around the Riverbend in the office. And then I got this picture sent to me. I laughed out loud. Just one more piece of evidence the people who sit around me at work can collect for their "Why we think Laura is crazy" investigation.

Brrrr

You know its cold out when all the lights in the car start to come on. Well, that, and the fact that it had been sitting out in the driveway during some of the coldest days in MN ever. I was afraid for a while that I wouldn't make it to work. But don't worry. I did. And the lights never came back on. Phew.

Crisis averted.

Life in the Tundra

Apparently today is so cold that I get to work from home! Yay! So, naturally, we did some experiments in the cold this morning. After testing to see if throwing hot water in the cold really works, we decided to add some food coloring to the mix to try and make an Italian flag. Our intention was good, the outcome, not so much. Boo. It was worth a shot! At least the water is there so you can see proof of our efforts. You can also see that not all the water evaporates immediately. Science for the win.

Now it looks like someone was murdered in our front yard...

Jack Frost

With this arctic chill headed our way I figured this picture was fitting. Today wasn't so bad with a high of 5 (I think thats what my car read at one point). I went out and did some shopping in the morning (new boots!). Then did a heavy clean once I got home. Basically, I'm ready to fight this cold tomorrow.

La Fantome de l'Opera

I was woken up this morning with a knock on my door and my dad asking "Do you want to go to Phantom today, your aunts have an extra ticket?" What an awesome way to wake up. So I pulled myself out of bed, got ready, and left. Not the day I thought I would be having in the least.

The show was really good! They definitely revamped it since the last time I saw it a few years ago, and it definitely improved the show. Though I am still just so attached to the movie version (especially Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum) that I am never fully satisfied by the stage version. But I do love live theatre. Especially when there are shifts or changes that I can't figure out how they are done. Thats when you know its a good show. 

Also, check out this awesome song my cousin introduced me to.

Let's Play Hockey!

PH and I have been trying to make it to a Wild game for months. Since about the season opener. We just haven't found the time, until today! Our seats were the actual last row in the upper bowl but we had a good time anyway. Went to McGovern's for dinner before the game and enjoyed ourselves the whole night. And the Wild even won! Can't beat that.

Typical.

 Less typical.

1972

So, my envelopes at work are back. Actually they never leave and they never will. The person who assigned me this project said once I enter the info I just have to shred the envelopes and information inside but if I have a stamp collection I can save the stamps. I laughed at this. What 22 year old collects stamps. 

Well, might as well eat my words. I found this AWESOME stamp on one of the envelopes from the 1972 Summer Munich Games. Since I spent a good chunk of time studying the games, naturally I needed to save this stamp. So now its hanging in my cube. 

I'm still pretty excited about it.

Hello 2014!

And thus begins the battle of remembering to write 2014 instead of 2013. 

Today was your typical first day of the new year complete with lots of coffee and lounging around the house watching Netflix. 

And thats about what I did all day. And finish up the design of this (which I kind of ripped off something I found elsewhere online. But I wanted to be able to print it and I couldn't print the one that was from online, so I just remade it!).

Here is one final 2013 loopback. Music style: