The Weekend

I had ambitions of doing a lot this weekend, but given the week that I had, that didn't quite happen. There was a big fashion show I wanted to go to on Friday night but I had to pass b/c my team had a "bar hopping" outing in Northeast Minneapolis. We started out the night at the home of one of the buyers who lives in one of the northwest suburbs. A bunch of us rode home from work with her and her husband so that we wouldn't have to worry about driving home at the end of the night. We spent a few hours at her house eating, talking and a group of folks played "flip cup" (a drinking game). Yeah, I don't do flip cup so I just observed. I did try some "Minnesotan" foods like a Psycho Suzie (a pickle, coated with cream cheese and wrapped in some type of ham meat), and "pickle dip" (it's literally softened cream cheese with diced pickles and a little bit of pickle juice). Both were good but had me wondering why the heck Minnesotans are so fascinated with pickles (they also have "pickle on a stick" at the state fair). Around 10, we carpooled into Northeast and our first stop was this bar that looked like it should have been in the middle of the country somewhere. Unfortunately, my car was the first to arrive and I was one of the first to walk in. I almost walked right out b/c all I saw was this barn-looking space filled with old, fat, bearded men and we clearly did not fit in. Everyone there just sort of looked at us like "what are YOU doing here?" To make it worse, I looked to my right and a woman was sitting at a table arm wrestling this guy (in case you're really wondering, she beat him. Twice.) One of my coworkers came up to me and said "welcome to Minnesota!" All I could think was "what type of backwoods town am I living in???" It took me a moment to catch my breath. So apparently, the reason this spot was on the list was b/c they're famous for a drink called a "Greenie." It's vodka (literally about half of a 12 oz cup) and sprite with a splash of coloring and then they put kool-aid flavoring on top (I don't quite understand that especially b/c they don't exactly mix it up into the drink). I tasted it and it was ridiculously sweet although it tasted a lot like juice. We stayed there for an hour or so then went to the next stop which was about four blocks away, although we drove there too. I walked into this spot and felt like I was in the mess hall from sleepaway camp. Literally. There were tables and chairs upstairs with a cafeteria like "pick up counter", then downstairs there were cafeteria style tables and benches, and it was dark with hip hop playing (that was a plus). But the sound system was a hot mess so the music just sounded diluted. Our group ended up in a corner chitchatting and some folk were adventurous enough to dance but I wasn't one of them. Somehow I ended up leaning against the bar and the bartender must have taken it as a hint to flirt. And of course since I was out with coworkers everyone thought it was the most hilarious thing. Umm, not quite. When the couple that I had rode with (our merchandise planning manager and her fiance) decided to leave, I bounced with them. Not that it wasn't fun and all (it was mildly entertaining) but after the week that I had I just really wanted to go pass out in my bed. I was planning to take a cab home but when we got outside there were none around so they were nice enough to give me a ride (apparently it is practically impossible to just hail a cab here).
Saturday I slept in (what a surprise), then ventured out to Costco in the afternoon to get some use out of my membership. I didn't buy a whole lot but I did get some drinks and snacks for work. It was also good b/c it took me to a part of the city I hadn't been to before. After Costco, I hit up the supermarket and did some basic grocery shopping in Uptown. Last night, I cooked up a storm (sweet potatoes, brown rice, hamburger, bleu cheese and almond salad, potato salad, and chocolate chip cookies with walnuts). Don't worry, I didn't eat it all! Although I did sample most of it. After I finished cooking, I planted myself in front of my television and had a movie marathon. On the playlist was "It Could Happen to You" with Bridget Fonda (love her!) and Nicolas Cage, and "I Like It Like That" - a movie I'm ashamed to see I hadn't seen before especially b/c it was filmed in my borough (the Bronx) and some scenes were shot down the street from where I group up! They were both really good movies though. I'm planning another marathon tonight with School Daze and maybe a Tyler Perry movie.
I had a goal of trying a new church today and maybe making it to some other Fashion weekend events but I woke up at 11. And I'm supposed to be dancing at my church next weekend and I hadn't even begun choreographing a dance. So today was all about dance. I decided on a song and I have about 85% of the dance done which is quite an accomplishment. I'm about to head out to Kowalskis to get some ingredients for some more cooking (see, y'all didn't think I cooked!) and I'll probably hit up Walgreens next door too. Ciao!