The Weekend of Eating

Friday night Jessica and I went to La Bamba Mexican Restaurant after work to eat and drink.

We had a great time laughing and joking.

We haven't done something like that, just her and me, in a very long time.

I think one of the best things is when I can make her laugh so hard she cries. I find satisfaction in that. :)

We ate so much food... We stared with chips, salsa, cheese and bean dip; and our margaritas of course.

About a 1/2 hour after eating all of this, and ordering a second thing of cheese and bean dip... and another pitcher of margs, we actually ordered meals, too.

Dinner is served!!

Jessica got the chicken chimichunga (not spelled right, but you know what I'm saying) and I got the steak and cheese burritos! Mucho goodo. 

The best part of the meal: Jessica, loosening her belt. That's my girl!

I then met a Nicole, Amber and Kate out on a patio to enjoy the nice weather.

On Saturday night I went to my friend Tami's house and us girls (Melissa, Tracy and myself) grilled out. We had appetizers and then our meal. Tami did the grilling and it was EXCELLENT!

 Tracy made a home made dessert. It was something yummy, with cherries and a cream sauce with chocolate drizzle sauce on top. Seriously so good.

Melissa... really liked the dessert. :)

 It was a great weekend, with great friends and great food.

Fancy Homemade Dinner

I went to my mom's to pick something up and also grabbed a little something to make a gourmet meal.

On my way home from their house, I saw this looking at me from another car.

Doesn't he look sad and lonely in the back seat? Poor Pooh Bear.

Anyway - on to my gourmet meal.

I measured 2 cups water and added to my pot. Once it started to boil, I added the noodles.

This meal was complete with it's own savory spice packet:

Once the noodles had boiled for 3 minutes, I drained most of the water. I like this meal prepared that way, instead of keeping the water and having more of a soup. I like to change recipes up and give them my own flare! (Nice action shot!!)

Here is the finished product with a side of ice cold skim milk.

Fancy!

Just a daily email thread...

Jessica and I made plans for dinner and drinks at La Bamba and then to go hang on the patio at Mickeys Downtown after.

This is all that happened to this idea today:

Instead of mexi and then patio…Want to find Mexican with a patio? Or do a different place with a patio for dinner? - (Me)

Sure, either way - (Jessica)

Blah… I hate deciding. J

Well name some places

Mi mexico, rock bottom, mullets, high life J, bait shop, Tally’s rooftop, saints, el agualia real….

Well do you want to still go to Mickeys at some point? Or not? If not, then it doesn’t matter. If you do, then I don’t want to go too far west and come back down here, know what I mean?

Let’s just stick with our original plan…. J 5:30 la bamba – grand

What about Legends or Johnny’s downtown?! They have patios…it would be nice to be outside.

Or you think they’ll be too busy at 5:30?

Legends patio is huge… just go there by 5ish and I will be there by 5ish..?

It is? Ok! I might just walk there, then you can drive me to my car afterwards! J

Sounds good. J

Ok!

We have a fire drill at 2, I’m on the 2^nd floor….and we have to wait for all 9 floors to clear the building before we are allowed back in. We could be outside for an hour waiting! LOVELY!

Bring a book…. And a snack. Least you aren’t on the 9^th floor….

No joke!

Where’s the sun?

No kidding! our fire drill got cancelled b/c of the rain!

Umm… if there was a fire… and it was raining out, would you have to stay inside. I think not….

Good point! Guess we’ll go down in flames!

That would stink. I might be closer to 515… I have to go home let the rock out and me change shirt. J

No problem! That sun better come out!!!

No doubt. I’m ready for a nap right now….

Wake up wake up, it’s the first of the month!

Get up get up….cash your check and come on! Good times.

Boooooommmm!

Did it thunder?

It’s just me, being cool

Wow.

I say if it doesn’t get sunny out…we do Mexican….cheese dip.

If sunny, we hit up the patio at Legends?!

I like the idea. I like cheese dip. I want cheese dip. Let’s eat cheese dip. Let’s eat so much cheese dip that we just go home and lay on the couch after.

And margaritas!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let’s just do that. Screw any other ideas that we had! LETS GO GET FAT!!

Fine with me!

5 or 5:30? LOL I like how we go all the way back to the beginning idea.

Back to La Bamba? Where is that again? Never been there? I can be there at anytime!

La bama, next to 63^rd and grand – by the mc donalds across from the sands… its on the north side of the road.

It’s the same as the one in urbandale… but in a different place obviously. J

Oh you crack me up!

Ha!

See you at 5!!

Ok! I’ll leave here about 4:45 then!

Or I can meet you at 4:45 and you can leave at 4:30… whatever you prefer.

Well, when can you be there?? DORK!

Wellll I leave here at 4:30. I can head straight there, or go let Rocky out then head there….

So….. either works. Cause Rocky has no more rugs to pee on so he’ll hold it till at least 7:30…. J

I'm All Growed Up...

Sunday after leaving book club at Smokey Row, I got in my car and found this:

I didn't panic. I thought "What do I do? What does one do in this situation!?!?!"
Call my dad... CRAP - I knew he was at a movie...
So what would my dad tell me to do?
Go to the auto parts store. So I did... walked in - told the dude what had happened, in a calm voice and he found the product I needed. I flipped my hair back, winked and said "Thanks" in a flirty voice and left. (last sentence is false).

I drove to my parents house to pick up Rocky and put my rear view mirror back together.

The instructions were easy to follow.. but I needed a crayon to trace where the current holder was. I didn't have a crayon. What could I find that would do the trick... LIP STICK!! I traced the outline with my lipstick. That was ingenious.

After using a credit card, a razor blade from my dad's garage and my finger nails, I got the old adhesive off.

And... TA DA!!!!

My dad was so proud!

Quote from a Friend

"Do you ever feel very bored w/ the day to day routine and feel like you are on repeat?

I feel like saying “screw you” to a schedule, and all the “have to do’s”.

Today is just one of those days when I want to run from here screaming and do something fun or nothing, or crazy, or shop, or sleep.

But..that is not wise.

I am thinking of just...becoming a maroon 5 groupy and stalking them around the world.

That is probably what I should do." - NC

Would you blame her?

(Those are my hands). :-)

Moves Like Jagger

Since seeing Maroon 5 last Friday, I have not been able to get this song out of my head.
Move Like Jagger.
The song is catchy - but the video, with Adam Levine in no shirt.... oh lord.
YUM-TASTIC!
I just want to touch him...

Kiss me till you're drunk.... I got the moves like Jagger.

Chicago's Birthday

My good friend Chicago (some know him as Neil) just celebrated his 27th birthday. He says he feels old. That makes me want to smack him. BUT since it was his birthday celebration I refrained.

I met Chicago about 2 1/2 years ago, and didn't know his real name for the longest time.
I knew he was from Chicago, so that stuck.

We went to High Life, my favorite bar on the planet, and then to the I-Cubs game. It was such a nice night out. We were discussing friends, his girlfriends and my comment was:

"I used to make girls jealous when I hung out with their boyfriends.

Now they just think I'm a lesbian" - Me.

I love the food and beer at High Life. The have a spam sandwich on their menu, I have never tried it... and never will, but isn't that crazy?
Instead of Yager Bombs, they have Tang-er Bombs. Yager - mixed with Tang. HA!

Here's a picture of the tooth picks that came with our bacon wrapped tator tots. (Fantastic). I devoured them so I did not get a picture of the actual food.

High Life - the champagne of beers.

$3.75 Cheeseburger basket - can you beat that!?!?!

"The fries are crispy, but fluffy in the middle" - Chicago

The sky line of downtown Des Moines. Might be simple and small, but it sure is pretty.

Go I-Cubbies, Go!!

Chicago and me at The Royal Mile, the last stop on his birthday adventure!

Iowa State Fair - Round Two

My Friday night plans changed last minute. I had planned a dinner out with 8 of my nearest and dearest friends at Chef's Kitchen in Beaverdale. Thursday night a friend of mine, that I hadn't hung out with in approximately 8 years, had won tickets to the Maroon 5/Train concert at the fair and asked me to join her. I wasn't going to cancel my dinner plans but after talking to some people, they said it would be ok to not go to dinner and go to the fair instead.

Me and Kate

This is where the story gets good.

Our meet and greet ended up being with just the people from Train, not Maroon 5. We were ok with that, not a big deal. Except the members of Train... looked like they had been hit by a train. Ouch.

We were hurried through the line like cattle and didn't really get to meet or greet, more like "hurry our ass up and take the picture." (Which we will have to go online to print off at some point).

When we were done with Train, we were walking down an isle back to the concert area and we were passing Maroon 5. We were told to keep moving and don't bother them.

Well, I had other ideas.

Instead of hurrying by, I faked an ankle injury.

"I can't walk any faster, my ankle hurts so bad"... digging in my purse for my camera... "Oh the pain, the horrible pain". Limping slowly by Maroon 5, I ended up getting a couple pictures! 

Pretty sure... I should have been an actress/photographer

 We then decided we should eat.

Is there a way to eat a corn dog that doesn't look 'dirty'?

 When Kate and I were younger we would ride the Sky Scraper and we decided to do it again for old time sake. We don't know why we decided to be crazy and do it, but it was fun! Then watching ourselves on the video after had us both cracking up. Freaking hilarious looks on our faces. Great times.

 After the fair we went to Miss Kitty's, the local 'country' bar. A bar we hung out at a lot together when we were younger.

Look at this cowboy, yum-tastic.

After I took these pictures, he came over and said his name was Bill and led us to believe that he was someone famous and didn't want these pictures posted. Sorry "Bill", I don't know who you are or what you would be famous for... unless you are the new Marlboro Man?

 He makes smoking look good...

I then talked to his guy that was obviously gay. (He told me he was)

He told me that I was beautiful (good week for that I guess).

He then followed that up with "You could totally be a model if you lost at least 20 pounds."

Umm, thanks... I think???

 It was a great night, lots of laughs and remembering things we did when we were younger.

I was really glad to hang out with Kate and to have so much fun on a beautiful August night in Iowa.

This morning Rocky was exhausted. After stretching, jumping off the bed and walking to his chair... he had to lay down and sleep again.

How lazy can a dog possibly be??



Short Story - The Ghost

I walk out of the store pushing my cart full of groceries when he appears.
He's walking towards me with his big shit eating grin.

“No” I say as he comes closer to me.

He laughs, “What’s up dork?”

“No. No. No.” I say quietly as I open my trunk to put my bags in.

I look around for his white truck.

He stands there, with the smile still on his face and asks “What’s wrong with you?”

“You are not doing this to me. I let you go. I’m moving on…” I start pushing the cart to the cart rack.

 I feel it getting harder to breathe.

I can feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes.

I walk quickly back to my car and pass him. He’s just standing there with that damn smile.

“No, Brendan. I was in a coma for 6 months and you never came back. Now that I have moved on, you are not going to take me back down.”

I actually felt ok – telling him no.

I was back to breathing normal and the tears never came.

He wasn't mad. He just kept smiling.

“No”, I said one more time and drove off in my car.

The Iowa State Fair!

Wednesday my sister and friends, Nicky and Kristine, headed to the state fair. As always, it was amazing. First things first... beer!

We knew it was going to be a good night when the first 'fair' outfit we saw was black see through stretch pants, with pink undies... NICE!

 First food of the fair - the corn dog. Deep fried goodness!

 I always wanted a horse... this one was outside the stable, but he wouldn't budge. I named him "Blackie". :-)

 I wore white. Everyone else wore black (Kristine, Nicky, Jessica and Nicole who joined us for a bit). If you look closely there is another person at the fair in white.. she's on the right and we'll call her Sue.

 Me... as a pig farmer. I totally look like a dude. This pig farmer was pretty cool though, he had a forearm tattoo and a neck tattoo!

Back that ass up... horsey... almost got Nicky..

The weather was PERFECT. I even had a guy walk by and tell me I was beautiful. I don't get compliments much... so it felt nice. (He might have been hammered, not old enough to drink and legally blind... but heck, it counts!) It's funny... that a compliment from a complete stranger can mean so much more than it does from someone you know.

Why is that?

We ended the night with a dude in a mo-hawk, food in my beer, fried cheese curds and a Red Velvet funnel cake. It was DELICIOUS!