This is May?
It is LITERALLY freezing outside, so I guess I'll delay getting myself out the door and post to the blog. It's been a while, so I'll just update you on the happenings around Chez Renee
NFL Draft
As promised, the return of football content to the blog! Last Saturday was the draft, so Greg and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the first round. They have Wifi access there, so we brought laptops and scouted the players and I read emails and Greg was chatting on a board during the draft. Too absolutely cool! I love WiFi. What I don't love is that the draft is so freaking long. The laptop batteries died long before the first round was done.
I have mixed feelings about the Vikings draft. What with trading away Randy Moss and trying to focus on defense, I really wanted them to take a defensive player with the #7 overall pick. All of the good RBs were already gone, plus I haven't given up on Michael Bennett, so I guess that's ok. I did prefer Mike Williams over Troy Williamson though. It's all a big crapshoot, so we'll see in 3 years which player has had the better career. Since they went offense with the first pick, I'm glad they went defense with the other first rounder. My preference would have been to trade down a few spots and get another second round pick. Then we could have taken Derrick James and Mark Clayton, still getting a defensive player and a WR in the first round. Then, we could have hopefully gotten the kicker, Nugent. I REALLY wanted us to get a kicker. But, this OL sounds pretty darn good and the last kicker I really wanted the Vikings to draft turned out to be a bust, so maybe it's all for the best. Can't wait for August though!
Saturday night Greg and I and Jessica went out for sushi at Kabuki. I hadn't been there in a while and was kind of disappointed. The service was awful and the sushi was just so-so. They have Teppanyaki there too, so I think we'll try that next time. I gave Jessica the bracelet and earrings I made for her prom and she loved them. She put them on immediately and wore them all night.
Going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo
Sunday morning I went to the Como Zoo with a friend and her toddler. I used to be a docent there, so I always enjoy seeing the animals again and seeing the changes to the place. This time there was a big change - they have a new Visitor Center, which is very nice!
After the zoo, I met my friend Alissa at Lucia's for brunch. It was really good. I had a small fruit plate, which included a wide variety of fruits and was quite delicious. Then I had an omlette with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and sausage. Yummy! It's a nice atmosphere, too. I'd like to return for dinner some night. I finally gave Alissa the orange and green beaded jewelry I made for her birthday and she quite enjoyed them. She also immediately took off the cuff she was wearing and put on the wire wrapped cuff I made. She's moving to Boston this summer, so we had a good chat about her plans and I'll definitely be going out to visit this fall - I'm thinking maybe October.
A Night on the Town
Thursday was Dining Out for Life, so Greg and I went to Pizza Luce, which is one of my favorite pizza places. We had a pizza with smoked gouda, which was delightful! try it!! Afterward, we went to see this:
Really good movie. It really laid out pretty clearly what Enron was doing and what the impact was on the investors and the power consumers in California. It's depressing. The way that everyone just turned a blind eye to what was going on because they were benefitting too and how responsiblity was diffused so much that no one took personal responsibility. Taped phone calls of the traders are just chilling. I also loved how the whole thing started falling apart after a young woman who was completely disregarded by the Enron guys wrote an article in Fortune Magazine and later the book this movie is based on. Watch out for smart young women! Plus the major whistleblower was a woman. Enron was definitely a "boys club" mentality with extreme sports excursions and strippers in the board room so a little female payback suits me just fine. The thing missing from the film is any sort of insight by the main players. Obviously they're not going to talk before they go to trial, but I would love to hear the real story from Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Kind of like Robert McNamara in "The Fog of War". Perhaps in time.
Road Trip
Friday I had to do a home visit in Northern Minnesota, so I always treat myself to a little shopping trip on the way home. It's 8 hours in the car in one day, so there's gotta be some sort of reward, right? Sometimes I go to the Outlet Mall and buy shoes and maybe clothes. Last time I found this great craft store in St. Cloud called Crafts Direct. It's a general craft store, but it's got the best selection I've ever seen. Any kind of craft you'd like to do, they have the supplies, I'm sure. And a big selection. They have a full aisle - both sides - of just stickers for scrapbooking and stamping. And this is a big store. They have macrame cord. Who still does macrame? I picked up some RAOK gifts, some stickers, some charms for beading, a stencil for glass etching. Of course, they also have a yarn section. They have the usual craft store stuff - Red Heart, Lion Brand, Patons, etc. But they also have stuff like Classic Elite, Brown Sheep, etc. They have a good selection of pattern leaflets and books too. I picked up a couple of things:
Hard to see because it's cloudy today, but this is a really nice dark green. I just really liked that color.
Probably will make some socks from Lucy Neatby's book with these.
This is the first Vermont Designs leaflet I've purchased, but this looks like a nice, basic v neck pattern. And a couple of fiber trends purse patterns. I'll probably use that Lamb's Pride for one of these.
Show a Little Faith...
Saturday night I went out for dinner at an old favorite, Carmelo's. I haven't been there in a while and quite enjoyed it. I love their parmesan peppercorn salad dressing and the bread. The pasta is quite enjoyable as well. Afterwards, we went to O'Gara's for the "Rock for the Cure". The band was Lucky Town, a Bruce Springsteen tribute band. They were really fun and played some other fun rock music too.
NFL Draft
As promised, the return of football content to the blog! Last Saturday was the draft, so Greg and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the first round. They have Wifi access there, so we brought laptops and scouted the players and I read emails and Greg was chatting on a board during the draft. Too absolutely cool! I love WiFi. What I don't love is that the draft is so freaking long. The laptop batteries died long before the first round was done.
I have mixed feelings about the Vikings draft. What with trading away Randy Moss and trying to focus on defense, I really wanted them to take a defensive player with the #7 overall pick. All of the good RBs were already gone, plus I haven't given up on Michael Bennett, so I guess that's ok. I did prefer Mike Williams over Troy Williamson though. It's all a big crapshoot, so we'll see in 3 years which player has had the better career. Since they went offense with the first pick, I'm glad they went defense with the other first rounder. My preference would have been to trade down a few spots and get another second round pick. Then we could have taken Derrick James and Mark Clayton, still getting a defensive player and a WR in the first round. Then, we could have hopefully gotten the kicker, Nugent. I REALLY wanted us to get a kicker. But, this OL sounds pretty darn good and the last kicker I really wanted the Vikings to draft turned out to be a bust, so maybe it's all for the best. Can't wait for August though!
Saturday night Greg and I and Jessica went out for sushi at Kabuki. I hadn't been there in a while and was kind of disappointed. The service was awful and the sushi was just so-so. They have Teppanyaki there too, so I think we'll try that next time. I gave Jessica the bracelet and earrings I made for her prom and she loved them. She put them on immediately and wore them all night.
Going to the Zoo, zoo, zoo
Sunday morning I went to the Como Zoo with a friend and her toddler. I used to be a docent there, so I always enjoy seeing the animals again and seeing the changes to the place. This time there was a big change - they have a new Visitor Center, which is very nice!
After the zoo, I met my friend Alissa at Lucia's for brunch. It was really good. I had a small fruit plate, which included a wide variety of fruits and was quite delicious. Then I had an omlette with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and sausage. Yummy! It's a nice atmosphere, too. I'd like to return for dinner some night. I finally gave Alissa the orange and green beaded jewelry I made for her birthday and she quite enjoyed them. She also immediately took off the cuff she was wearing and put on the wire wrapped cuff I made. She's moving to Boston this summer, so we had a good chat about her plans and I'll definitely be going out to visit this fall - I'm thinking maybe October.
A Night on the Town
Thursday was Dining Out for Life, so Greg and I went to Pizza Luce, which is one of my favorite pizza places. We had a pizza with smoked gouda, which was delightful! try it!! Afterward, we went to see this:
Really good movie. It really laid out pretty clearly what Enron was doing and what the impact was on the investors and the power consumers in California. It's depressing. The way that everyone just turned a blind eye to what was going on because they were benefitting too and how responsiblity was diffused so much that no one took personal responsibility. Taped phone calls of the traders are just chilling. I also loved how the whole thing started falling apart after a young woman who was completely disregarded by the Enron guys wrote an article in Fortune Magazine and later the book this movie is based on. Watch out for smart young women! Plus the major whistleblower was a woman. Enron was definitely a "boys club" mentality with extreme sports excursions and strippers in the board room so a little female payback suits me just fine. The thing missing from the film is any sort of insight by the main players. Obviously they're not going to talk before they go to trial, but I would love to hear the real story from Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Kind of like Robert McNamara in "The Fog of War". Perhaps in time.
Road Trip
Friday I had to do a home visit in Northern Minnesota, so I always treat myself to a little shopping trip on the way home. It's 8 hours in the car in one day, so there's gotta be some sort of reward, right? Sometimes I go to the Outlet Mall and buy shoes and maybe clothes. Last time I found this great craft store in St. Cloud called Crafts Direct. It's a general craft store, but it's got the best selection I've ever seen. Any kind of craft you'd like to do, they have the supplies, I'm sure. And a big selection. They have a full aisle - both sides - of just stickers for scrapbooking and stamping. And this is a big store. They have macrame cord. Who still does macrame? I picked up some RAOK gifts, some stickers, some charms for beading, a stencil for glass etching. Of course, they also have a yarn section. They have the usual craft store stuff - Red Heart, Lion Brand, Patons, etc. But they also have stuff like Classic Elite, Brown Sheep, etc. They have a good selection of pattern leaflets and books too. I picked up a couple of things:
Hard to see because it's cloudy today, but this is a really nice dark green. I just really liked that color.
Probably will make some socks from Lucy Neatby's book with these.
This is the first Vermont Designs leaflet I've purchased, but this looks like a nice, basic v neck pattern. And a couple of fiber trends purse patterns. I'll probably use that Lamb's Pride for one of these.
Show a Little Faith...
Saturday night I went out for dinner at an old favorite, Carmelo's. I haven't been there in a while and quite enjoyed it. I love their parmesan peppercorn salad dressing and the bread. The pasta is quite enjoyable as well. Afterwards, we went to O'Gara's for the "Rock for the Cure". The band was Lucky Town, a Bruce Springsteen tribute band. They were really fun and played some other fun rock music too.
rdladd@arnan.com
