Good Times

The past few days have been great. Yesterday, we had our team outing to a Twins game (woo-hoo...not really). The team provided food $10 in vouchers as well, so I pigged out on a hot dog, a bottle of lemonade, and an ice cream sundae in a waffle bowl for dessert (and yes, I ate the entire thing). Apparently, Wednesdays are "$1 hot dog" days to the first 20,000 people or something like that (isn't that just basically everyone?). Otherwise, at the rate of ballpark food, that would've run me about a good $15 or so. Ok, now, for the record, I don't think I've been to a baseball game in at least 10 years (according to my "getting worse by the day" memory, the last game I attended was during a field trip to Yankee Stadium when I was a camp counselor at the 92nd Street Y) . So the entire experience felt new again. To make it worse, the stadium is indoors. What kind of baseball stadium is indoors??? It felt like something was very wrong. To top it off, I had the (not so) fortunate luck of having my planning director come sit right next to me with no one on her other side, which meant...yep, we were going to bond, like it or not. The last thing I wanted was to be at a supposed "relaxing" outing, and to have the pressure of making conversation with a higher up. It just feels so much like....work. On the other hand, my director was the same director I had last summer, so it wasn't a completely new face. She also happens to be a very nice lady (I mean that genuinely) and I got to learn a little about her (for example, she, like me, is not a baseball fan - brownie points right there!). After the game, my mentor managed to dip out and leave me hanging real quick. Apparently her bus left from near the stadium, so she was in a rush to go catch it. We were walking along, and the next thing I heard was "oh, I'm going to go this way, go with them, whatever you do, don't go back to the office, BYE!"...literally, she said all that in about 5 seconds, then she was gone. Oooohhhkay. So I just sort of followed the rest of the team back towards the office, and chitchatted with the new analyst, who seems to be one of the most genuinely nice people on the team (not that the rest of the team isn't nice...it just doesn't come off as genuine...it's that Minnesota nice).
I ended up going home, then decided since it was only around 4pm, I would go to the movies. I've been wanting to see Mamma Mia for the longest (yes, there are people who want to see that movie). It has Meryl Streep...what's not to love? So I caught the $5 early evening matinee. And it was two hours of pure bliss. If you like musicals (and of course I do: Annie, Sparkle, Grease, anyone???), you'll like this movie. I was only moved by some of the music, but the plot was hilarious, and Meryl Streep is amazing (I was rooting for her to get with Bond...um, I mean, Pierce Brosnan, the entire time). I left the theater, probably in the best mood I've been in, at least in the past week or so.
Now, to the really fun stuff. Today was our big stores sales meeting, which was the highlight of my summer last year. Its a meeting mainly for the stores executives and team leaders but some corporate folk get to go as well. It's not uncommon for artists and entertainers that the company partners with during the year to perform. Last year, it included Alicia Keys, and Carrie Underwood, among others (since you can find photos on their fan sites, I'm assuming that I can put that out there). This year was just as exciting. Although I won't reveal the performers, I will say that it included a very popular boy band of the moment (who my sister is a huge fan of), a singer who shares several ties to me (Penn and MLT), and a Grammy winning diva with an amazing voice. I'm always impressed with the caliber of artists they partner with (TI was a partner last year - I would have loved to see him but somehow I don't think too many of his songs are corporate friendly). The whole tone of the meeting was inspiring though. It's one of those meetings that make you feel really proud and excited to be working here. We got a sneak peek into upcoming intiatives, new products, and just a lot of really fun stuff that I'm looking forward to from a consumer perspective. Since the meeting lasted all afternoon, we were free to go home afterward. Of course, I accidentally left my blazer in my seat (it was hot in there) and didn't realize it until I was almost out of the arena, so then I had to climb up about the equivalent of eight flights of steps to go back and search for it (hey, I'm out of shape - that's a big deal).
So, this weekend is the Minnesota State Fair (actually it started today) and apparently it's one of (if not) the biggest state fairs in the country. Now, normally I would be excited b/c a lot of people told me last summer I should go (I didn't b/c my internship ended a week before the fair begins). But here's what I've heard about it: 1) You can get just about anything you can think of on a stick (yeah, like macaroni and cheese on a stick, cajun seasoned alligator sausage on-a-stick, a 1/3 lb slice of bacon in maple syrup on a stick, pizza on a stick...these are all real offerings taken from their website "mnstatefair.org"), 2) If you like fried food - or anything otherwise highly unhealthy for you - this is the place to be, and 3) It's great for people watching (translation: lots of "fashion don'ts" are on display...apparently Minnesota folk aren't very fashionable - Nicole Murphy was here last week with Michael Strahan wearing a low cut, see through top, and a local newspaper wrote that her look was "not very Minnesotan"...oh, find a hobby people! She looked fabulous!). So, I think I may attempt the state fair this weekend, but not on Saturday b/c apparently people come from all over the state and I don't think I'll be in the mood to deal with the crowds. Maybe tomorrow night or Sunday night. I'm considering going after work one day next week too.
Oh, one last piece of really good news. I bought my ticket today to go home for Labor Day weekend, so it's official! I will have lasted a full 26 days here in Minneapolis before going home. I think that supports my planned once a month trips to the east coast (yes, I'm serious - that's down from every other week, and only b/c the flights are so ridiculously expensive). I managed to find a last minute flight for less than $500 which is a miracle considering normally priced flights are $300+. Granted, it requires me flying into Newark and out of JFK, along with one layover on the way back, but hey, I get a full two and a half days at home. I can't even express how excited I am. Hopefully I'll get to see some of y'all while I'm home - if not this time then during future visits (I also have a trip planned end of September but that's b/c of a church event). Alright, I'm signing off now...hopefully this weekend is as fun as the last few days have been. I hope y'all are doing well...drop me a note sometimes.