Life Bulleted

• Las Vegas is not for a pregnant lady with gestational diabetes
• Life will go smoothly until you return home; then child reverts to poor sleeping habits and crankiness
• Mini eggs are even more tempting after Easter, when they are on sale and a diabetic no-no; so are creme eggs
• Apparently corona (or any other alcohol) is an acceptable form of breakfast in Las Vegas
• Preparing for the vacation always takes longer than adjusting back to regular life
• Even though it feels like your belly can not get any bigger... it always finds a way to surprise you, making you feel even more hippo-tastic
• Three days of 80 degree weather have quenched any desire for a warm summer. Please keep it to the 70's and everyone around me will be better off
• Outlet shopping is never as fun when you are pregnant
• May 23 can't come soon enough, yet at the same time I don't want it to ever come
• Hiring a personal grocery shopper might not be a bad idea
• Chocolate cheerios and fresh raspberries are awesome for breakfast or any time of day
• GD I rue the fact that I must live with you and not enjoy chocolate milk, ice cream, key lime pie and all other forms of sugary goodness (chocolate cheerios and raspberries included)

Boy OH Boy

I realized a few things this weekend.

Maternity clothes suck. There are too many people at the Mall of America. Burger King does not satisfy. And boy clothes suck all the life out of me.

We ventured down to the MOA with the hopes of finding some clothes for me that I can squeeze myself into, a few little things for T, and some great starter pieces for the boy (yes, we are having a boy if you hadn't heard). The MOA has a few stores that are not in any other mall in the MN area, so my hopes were high for what I might find. We spent a good 4-5 hours at the mall (it's impossible to spend less when you are actually shopping and not just roaming around) and came home with 3 things boy, and all it is are onesies, a pair of pj's and a t-shirt. So disappointing. I kept drifting over to the girls clothes and Mark had to keep reeling me back over to the boy side. It's pretty safe to say that this boy will not have anything close to the amount of clothes his sister had, has and will have. Which Mark is probably excited about! Luckily we have a few months to search and scour before winding up with a small baby clad only in diapers due to a lack of clothing. Girl clothes on the other hand....oh my! It's probably best we're not having another girl or soon this house would be flooded with clothes. Why the discrepancy between boy and girl clothes, clothes-makers?? I know boys don't wear dresses, but there must be something other than trucks and animals that make boys clothes boyish, right?

Now, maternity clothes. It's either $20 for a t-shirt or $550 for leather leggings. Is there nothing in between? Of course there is, but I can't find it, and I can't justify $100 on a dress or a shirt I will wear only for a few months. Since I'm not working I don't have to worry about work wear, which is nice, but I would still like to have some somewhat stylish clothes, not just sweats and a tank top! If that was the case, I would just wear my pj pants and Mark's t-shirts outside instead of just around the house!

So if anyone has any tips on places to buy cool boy clothes and nice maternity clothes that don't cost an arm and a leg, would you mind sharing your finds with me? Otherwise this boy will be naked AND nameless!! (The name issue is a post all on it's own).

Mental Vacation

I'm guessing we've all taken the time to enjoy Mark's sentimental ode to Rigby, but I think it is time for something new to grace our blog.

Unfortunately, my brain seems to have taken a vacation (it's the only part of me that gets to go) and I have no energy or wittiness to write something. I don't think it's very often that I am at a loss of words, and there has certainly been a lot of happenings since we left for Idaho. I would love to offer my thoughts on Michael Jackson passing, but I think it's a little too late. I will say that I was shocked, saddened and a little disappointed at the amount of jokes and inappropriate comments made far and wide about the man. Yes his past was not perfect. No we don't know specifics, but the man died, he has 3 children and a family, he was probably the greatest artist to influence popular music today, have some respect. Thriller was 1 of the first 2 albums (yes albums) I ever owned. I still have them. I don't think anyone will ever top him at his highest, he will be missed. Moving on.

Perhaps over the weekend I will mull over my thoughts and get back to my overblown dream of becoming famous in the world of blogospheres.

Until then, belated Happy Canada Day to all of my Canadian fans and early Happy 4th to all of my American fans. Canada, next year I will be back to enjoy all that Canada Day goodness...it's been far too long since I was home to celebrate. So to compensate, T and I are hitting the outlets tomorrow...nothing like discount shopping to perk a gal up!

I'm Your Man

While I have yet to see Slumdog Millionaire (and I would like to see it), the more I see clips of them on the set of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the more I want to go to the theatre now!! Maybe it's just me, but doesn't Anil Kapoor look just like the George Michael of India? Maybe George has left the music biz to pursue a career in Bollywood??




Has anyone seen Slumdog Millionaire yet? Let me know what you thought if you have!

Fondue, Fun and Friends!

So, in the quest for discovering the perfect blog topic to rocket me into blogosphere celebrity, I have discovered that I am stumped. Not sure any of my topics would interest more than the handful of folks who peruse these ramblings every now and again.

With that in mind, here are the events of the last few weeks.

For our anniversary, Mark sent me a beautiful arrangement of roses and calla lillies (thank you!) and then we went to see The Simpsons movie for our anniversary... I know, I know ROMANTIC, you're all jealous. But we did have THE most fabulous dinner EVER.

Words can not describe the joy of a night filled with cheese, oil and chocolate fondue. Raspberry Chocolate fondue no less. We stuffed ourselves silly, and then Mark asked for some more bananas to scoop up the remaining chocolate - you can't let it go to waste no matter how much you feel like your stomach is about to explode! A good night all around.

Then bright and early Monday morning, I was off for a few days of girls only fun! I met up with my most awesomest friend Dana in San Francisco. My flight was only a little delayed, so once I got in, we met up and off we went for 4 days of fun, shopping, eating, and more shopping of course! Neither of us had been to San Fran before and we hadn't had a great girls trip since the infamous Winnipeg to Jacksonville Girls Trip of 2000, so this was long overdue! We were able to score a sweet hotel (too bad our room didn't portray that sweetness - I'll leave the sordid details out, but all I need to say is "thin walls") in a great location, so once we got checked in we were off... to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch!! How much better does it get than having a CF on top of a Macy's? So naturally, after eating, we shopped and shopped and shopped. Too bad we never went back to the hotel with any bags!

The next morning we narrowly made our boat out to Alcatraz (Dana and I are debating entering the next Speed Walkers Olympics!), and enjoyed a day on "The Rock", after which we wandered around the Wharf, ate some sourdough bread, Ghiradelli's hot fudge sundaes, watched the Sea Lions, and ripped every muscle in our calves from walking up and down cliff sized streets. A little old lady pushing a stroller passed by us as we rested our sorry butts on some stairs!! I don't know if I have ever seen a steeper street than on the way up to see the crooked part of Lombard Street (and I have climbed Bear's Hump!! You Canadians know what I mean!).

We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, walked part way across it (we didn't know what we would find on the other side!) encountered a man with diarrhea on the bus (NOT fun), killed the battery on my camera, shopped more, found this great little Italian place in North Beach with a hot waiter, and just had a ton o' fun! I highly recommend girl's only trips!

Since then it has been back to the grind, just working and shopping for appliances and furniture; Which I am happy to say, WE ARE DONE!! Well we need to get some curtains, but I think I know what I want. We've probably spent every weekend for the last month and a half going out every Saturday to "shop" for appliances, a table and a couch.

We are excited though, only a week and a half until we close and can get out of apartment living. The last nail in the coffin occurred Monday morning. Mark left for work about 6:45 and shortly after, he called to tell me to take the elevator down, not the stairs. Apparently two residence-challenged folk were camped out on our stairs. Not a huge deal, right? It is when they are sleeping INSIDE your interior staircase that does not open from the outside!! Mark had to step over both of them to get down the stairs. A little freaky, and you just hope no one wakes up as you are lifting your leg up over them!!

We are more than ready for all that comes with being a homeowner!

So, I guess my search for the blog topic to make me a household name continues -I'll take some suggestions if anyone has some.

And that brings you up to speed with the Smith's!

Trivia Master

So over the past week, I have decided two things; 1) I really should have been on Vh1's World Series of Pop Culture. Seriously. My brain is full of all of the needed information for this show. I don't know how some of the teams who are participating this year made it on. Granted, there are some good players, but really.. put me, Mark and Dawnell on a team, and we would take them all down.

#2) I Love Pat Kiernan. And no, not just because he is Canadian. He really has got to be one of the funniest hosts on TV these days. Ok, so he is really a newsanchor on New York City's Channel 1, but for the past two years he has hosted the WSOPC, and he is great. Nothing is as funny as the whitest, driest, newsanchor on tv reading lyrics from songs about butts (you had to see it). He cracks me up and makes the show so funny!! The show just would not be the same without him on it, not one little bit! He is also a very good newsanchor. If you don't live in the NYC area, you may have seen him in Night at the Museum, as himself, doing the news on Channel 1. He has also played himself on Spin Cit and in the Interpreter.

While I was not able to be a contestant on the show, we did score some tickets to two nights of tapings.... but don't get me started on that again. I got robbed of proving my pop culture prowess AND seeing (maybe even drooling on) Pat Kiernan!! I guess it will have to wait for another time.

Although this past weekend, Mark and I stopped by a place called Dave and Busters (or what I like to call Chuck E Cheese's for adults). The food stunk, but Mark wanted to play games. So after a slightly below-average dinner, we went to look at the games, and of course Mark was determined to play. So he hit some animal killing video game and then decided we needed to play the trivia game. It was all full so we had to hang out and watch. Four people had been there for quite some time and were obviously loving it, continuing to win all of the tickets! One seat opened up and I let Mark jump in. After one round another chair opened up, so I joined in. After two rounds, the four people who had initially been there decided this 3rd round would be their last. Mark is positive they left because of me, but I think anyone can answer 5 random trivia questions in about 2.5 seconds and get them all right, right? Ok, so I toot my own horn on that one... but I did also end up last in one of the rounds, but some of the history questions have me at a disadvantage since we don't learn a lot of US history in Canada! But we made out all right, won a few rounds and we won enough tickets to cash in for a food chopper AND a stuffed Cookie Monster! There isn't a whole lot of choice in the "prize room", basically stuffed animals, candy, random Dave and Busters paraphernalia (t-shirts, cups, hats), so there wasn't a lot to choose from, and who doesn't need a stuffed Cookie Monster anyway??

So I guess I wil have to wait for my chance to prove my trivia genuis (of useless information anyway) to the world, and more sadly, I will have to wait for Pat.

The wait is over.

I know you have all been waiting patiently for this, and I am proud to have you wait no longer!! I am sad to say the best video of the bunch would not load... so the allusive dancing Mark will remain hidden for a little while longer. Until then though... enjoy the Village People!!

There are no words....

Ok, so this weekend was awesome for so many reason. The first reason... I kicked Mark's butt at miniature golf! The second reason... we got a new cordless phone! Say goodbye to constant static and dead batteries.

BUT, the best reason this weekend was awesome.... the Taste of Minnesota. So we heard about the TOM and decided to check it out. We had been to the Taste of Times Square on previous years and enjoyed it, and figured Minnesota has some good restaurants, so it should be a good time. Well, let me tell you... it wasn't like the Taste of Times Square. Here in MN, they seem to pride their Taste of, to be more like the county/state fair. The food vendors consisted of burgers, fried cheese curds, french fries, pork chop on a stick.... not quite what we were expecting, and it was a little pricey for what it was. Anyway, we won a coupon for a free pizza thanks to my inate ability for random celeb/tv/pop culture trivia, so it couldn't be that bad, right? Of course not!! Especially since I haven't even told you about the BEST. PART. EVER.

Yes, that is the ORIGINAL Village People! In all their glory. Here's some more of them...

I wish I had been able to get a clear shot of the Indian in his YMCA headdress, but the crowd wouldn't let me have it! There were arms everywhere, swaying back and forth, heads jumping up and down... there was just no good shot! There's nothing quite like 6 men all in their 50's or older, shaking their bums, and thrusting their pelvises (is that the proper plural form??) in our general direction.

Now the bonus part about this concert experience was the crowd. It was quite the cross section of people. There were the cool kids like us, the moms bringing their 10 year olds, random dancing guys by themselves, and the grandfolks like these...

This picture cannot do justice to the amount of entertainment this lady and her husbnad provided to us. From the moment the guys took the stage she had her camera glued to her face taking thousands of pictures and/or video, it was hard to tell. She did take the odd break from her camera but quickly went back to it when the boys started with the pelvic thrusts!! Never have I seen such excitement over the girations of 50+ year old men.. well not from someone wearing a fanny pack. In addition to this lovely lady, was her husband, who also had his camera glued to his face the entire time. I guess they thought one camera would not suffice in capturing all that is glorious about the Village People. Now don't get me wrong, I am the first one to sing along to Macho Man... but that night was probably one of the most fun nights ever. Just the crowd, the music... and finally seeing Mark let loose of his inner disco moves. It was like a Mastercard commerical... Priceless.

It did bring around a question to ponder.... do you think the Village People are having a great time, or do you think they feel a little bit of sadness to the whole thing. We tend to think there is a bit of both, but this group is constantly touring. The day after they busted a move at the Taste of Minnesota, they whisked off to a concert in California. They've been playing in Europe... it seems nonstop. I never would have guessed they still had such a busy touring life! I think it is just the younger crowd that might feel a little of the "sadness", not the tear inducing, tug at your heart strings kind, but the "sad", sort of pathetic, feel sorry for them kind. Looking around, the older folks were going to town loving it up. Maybe that's what we will be like 30 years from now, when any of the current bands we like go on tour and we find ourselves at the concert, rocking out while we wear our fanny packs being laughed at by all the young whippersnappers!

I am in possession of some great video, but can't for the life of me figure out how to upload it!! If anyone knows, will you please pass on the info either in the comments section or email me, video this good MUST be shared with the world.

Oh, did I mention the concert was FREE! Another reason it was so amazing!

One more thing, for anyone who finds themselves at an event when the YMCA is played, just a bit of advice, straight from the mouths of the Village People.... the "M" in YMCA is not done with your fingertips meeting on your head (like monkey arms they said) you make the point of the M in front of your body, elbos out to the side. So let's all make sure we do it right from now on!!

Breakin' it down MSP style

So this weekend Minneapolis has their Mosaic street fair, cultural event downtown. It was a free event, so Mark and I decided to check it out after a day of neighbourhood shopping. We weren't too sure what to expect as we approached... but it was a pretty decent time. We got there just as it was starting, so there wasn't too much going on. We got some food from the local vendors set up. They had a few restaurants or something set up and you could get Mexican, African, Chinese and some other types of food. So we sampled a few things and listened to/watched a local drumline/dance team perform. They were pretty good, very entertaining.

After the drums, we moved along to check out the St. Paul Irish Dancers. I am not a huge Irish Dancer fan... well, I've never seen it too much, so I wasn't overly excited. It was a group of young kids and a few teenagers, and they were really good!! There was this one little girl, the crowd absolutely loved her! She was so little, and she couldn't have been more then 7 or 8, she was so much fun to watch! She is the littlest girl in the picture to the left. So cute!! And al the girls had their hair curled so when the danced and jumped their curls went up a foot or two in the air!! Must have taken forever to curl their hair like that!

Alright, so after drumlines and Irish dancing... what comes next? Hip Hop obviously!! We made our way over to the theatre with the Hip Hop "exhibit"... what would we find there? There was a group of 6 people, probably in their mid 20's, and they broke down the history of hip hop for the crowd, did some examples of 4 styles of hip hop, and then did a routine they put together. I think the funniest thing was the audience make-up. There were some families with kids, some younger couples (Mark and I), and some 20 somethings... but there were also some much older people in the crowd. At one point the girl doing the history part asked if everyone knew what something was (I can't remember, but most people would have at least heard of it) but there was an older couple (60's maybe) sitting in front of us, and they leaned over to each other and both said "what? what is that?", it was funny. Everyone had a good time though and the dancers did some pretty sweet moves. (the picture to the right isn't the group we saw, but one guuy did do this move!) The whole time we were there I kept thinking of Suzanne and Melissa, and how they would have loved this and would have probably been dancing along!! It was hard to get pictures because we were a few rows back, but I got some video of them... but apparently I don't know how to upload that to this website, so I can't share it with everyone!! It was a fun night though. We actually ran into someone we know from our ward here too... very strange since we have only been to the ward a few times and what are the odds?? We are looking forward to discovering the other fun, free, city events they have going on in the summer here... there seems to be a lot! Should be a fun summer!