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By kilax, November 14, 2018 12:42 pm

This is part ii of my San Francisco recap. You can read part i here! Looks like there will be a part iii because this got a bit long!

SATURDAY!

On Saturday I got to run in Golden Gate Park, which awed me. I already said this, but I’d love to run there again! And to do a race there.

We got Arzimendi Bakery for breakfast, and I had the vegan focaccia (yum). Normally I’d share food pics with you, but none turned out. So I will share other mediocre pics instead.

After we fueled we were off on a long walk through a few neighborhoods, with a planned end at The Painted Ladies near Alamo Square. On the days we walked a lot, we got about 18,000 steps in. We both enjoyed walking so much and seeing things that way – that’s how we prefer to explore!

Mica asked us what we were most surprised by in San Francisco. I said the size – looking at it on a map, I didn’t grasp how big of a city it is. I understood we’d take public transportation and get rides places, but I thought things would be a littler closer together (this is not a complaint!).

Steven said the variety of neighborhoods. He thought things would be more homogeneous, but there are distinct neighborhoods and architectural styles. He compared it to New York City, and I agree. And we don’t mean to offend San Franciscans – I am not sure if they hate the NYC comparison as much as Chicagoans do!

Our walk included stops at Hot Cookie (yum), a yarn store, Cha-Ya (vegetarian Japanese food, also yum), KitTEA Cat Cafe (just to watch – made me miss my babies even more), and Blue Bottle Coffee.

We walked up a huge hill to see the Painted Ladies and when we got to the park, Mica said “Don’t look yet! Don’t look!” until we got up a little hill in the park “Okay, you can look now.” Ha ha.

We didn’t reenact the Full House intro as planned (ha), but it was cool to see these homes we saw so many times watching that show in childhood.

Mica had told us that the show intro implies the park is a lot more open and I totally get what she meant – there was a group of trees in the park that make it feel more cramped than the TV does. Ahh, TV magic. That’s show business, baby <— put that line in solely to annoy my snis.

After hanging out at the house we went back home and ordered Patxi’s Pizza. I appreciated that they had a vegan deep dish! Even though it made both of us gassy muah ha ha.

Then we watched San Andreas (we wanted to watch something “set” in San Francisco) and played more Overcooked 2 to STAY AWAKE BECAUSE WE HAD MIDNIGHT THEATER TICKETS!

So, Mica and Harrison love The Room, this horrible 2003 movie set in San Francisco that has a cult following because of how bad it is (the 2017 film The Disaster Artist is about making The Room). Mica was STOKED when she found out it would be playing while we were there. I really think that is what she was most excited about – introducing us to it, because she knows we love to laugh!

And laugh, we did.

But first! We had to go to Target and get spoons. There are framed pictures of spoons in the movie, and whenever you see them, you yell “spoons!” and throw spoons up in the air. So fun.

When we got to the film, we found out the writer/producer/director/star Tommy Wiseau was there. It made me happy to see Mica and Harrison excited about meeting him! I still had no idea what he was like, and just thought he was polite and goofy (in a fun way).

So the movie didn’t actually start until after 1:00 am! There was a long line for people to meet Tommy and get autographs, then he did a completely goofy question and answer that got me really excited for how wacky the movie would be.

And oh, it was. I understand the obsession with it. I want to go again! It was a blast to learn the cues for all the things to shout, chant, or do. Steven and I both laughed so hard, at the movie and especially at the audience.

(The movie is about a love triangle between two friends, with bad acting, bad lines, inconsistencies, horrible sex scenes, and just so much ridiculousness.)

We got home so late! Past 3:00! But it was totally worth it! We fell asleep while repeating and laughing at the different lines from the movie. Side note: and we watched The Disaster Artist Monday/Tuesday night when we returned. Steven had seen it and liked it, and I hadn’t yet!

This is getting long so I’ll write a part iii about our last day(s)!

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By kilax, November 13, 2018 5:05 pm

We’re back from our San Francisco trip! It was our first trip (EVER!) to California and we had a great time! We followed our favorite city vacation schedule style —> do things all day and chill at home at night.

Mica*and Harrison made this trip possible for us – Mica used airline points for our flight out there (thank you!!!), and we stayed with them (thank you!!!) in the Inner Sunset neighborhood.

They were such gracious and thoughtful hosts, making our vacation effortless and relaxing by figuring out how to see and do the things we wanted, and by having suggestions for activities and meals. I normally do this sort of planning and leading when we travel and it was amazing to have someone else take charge. And how lucky that we got to experience so much of San Francisco through two of its residents!

Side note: that’s something I’ve been working on getting better at for when I have visitors – presenting tailored ideas for what to do, see, and eat. People can take them or leave them, but I personally appreciate having options presented.

Anyway!

We arrived in San Francisco Thursday afternoon and left Monday morning. I’ll break the recap in to two posts, so you aren’t completely bombarded with photos.

THURSDAY!

We had an easy flight from Chicago to San Francisco. It was nice to be on a plane with built-in entertainment consoles; I haven’t seen that in years since I’m usually on shorter flights. I watched Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Mamma Mia 2, and the time (thankfully) flew by.

Mica met us at the airport and we took a Lyft to her place. We hung out, got a bite at Peasant Pies, (delicious) took a short walk through Golden Gate Park (stunning) and then hung out and ordered Mexican food from Papalote Mexican Grill (amazing).

I was a bit out of it due to the longer day – being up at 5:00 am central time and staying up past 10:00 pm pacific time, but I got enough sleep that night and felt fine the next day!

FRIDAY!

When we woke up Friday morning Steven asked if I smelled smoke. We wondered if someone nearby was burning something. Sadly, it was from the Camp Fire wildfire. You could smell the smoke most of the day, and it was extremely hazy, as you’ll see in the photos below. I had been somewhat considering a run, but when Mica told me it was advised not to run with all that smoke, I was fine with that! (We saw so many people wearing face masks all weekend.)

Friday was our super touristy day! We had a short list of things we wanted to see/do in San Francisco – go to Alcatraz, see the Golden Gate Bridge, ride a cable car, see the Painted Ladies, and eat all the food (including a vegan donut). So Friday was our Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39 (figured we might as well walk through), Ghiradelli Square, and cable car day.

Another side note: people were super opinionated with telling me what to see and do in San Francisco when I told them I was going. A lot of people love the city and want to share the love! But a lot of people don’t know me, like the random Lyft driver from the week before who told me to skip all the touristy things and just go up to Napa Valley. Um, no, dude. That’s you. That doesn’t appeal to me, except for the scenery. And I am not going to go to San Francisco for the first time and miss all the landmarks.

Anyway (again).

So off to Alcatraz we went! It was so cool watching the island come in closer view on the boat!

Our limited knowledge of Alcatraz Island is all from the movie The Rock and what little I read in the guide book, so I found the self-guided audio tour of the penitentiary very informative, interesting, and well-done. I have bad hearing, and get distracted in a group with a guide, so an audio tour is perfect for me.

The views of the city, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, and surrounding areas from the island are remarkable… if only we could see them through the haze. We couldn’t even distinguish the bright color of the Golden Gate Bridge! Nutso!

But we still enjoyed touring all the buildings on the island, and seeing the different trees, plants, and flowers. At one point I was looking down at the choppy waters wondering what it would be like to be a criminal trying to escape by jumping and swimming and my snis text me (at that exact moment) “Don’t fall off the island snist.” Her snister senses were definitely tingling!

We went to Boudin at Pier 39 for a late lunch of sandwiches and all decided it was like an overrated Panera. We also tried some mediocre cookie dough (at DOUGHP).

*Not actually legit

The most interesting part of that area was watching and listening to the doofus-y playful sea lions (despite their horrible smell)!

Oh! And Steven made a smashed penny (with a cable car design) for his collection.

We walked through Ghiradelli Square to see if there was anything interesting there (no), then got our cable car tickets.

I think we waited in line for an hour for our ten minute ride but we didn’t care because the weather was nice and we had each other to chat with.

The ride was unremarkable – it was super crowded inside and we couldn’t see anything, except the top of Lombard Street at one point – but it was fun to do together.

(This all sounds very negative but we were having a good time – my point here is that I wanted to check out the tourist trap areas and confirm they weren’t for me – they weren’t. We’re more in to walking around random neighborhoods and discovering things. But I’m grateful we got to see what they were like, and on a Friday instead of the weekend.)

We took a Lyft home and walked to VeganBurg for dinner with Harrison when he got home from work. It’s difficult for me to decide on a meal when I go to an all vegan restaurant – I’m used to combing the menu for the one or two things that are vegan or that I can customize to make vegan! We enjoyed it (once we picked out our meals).

We stopped for ice cream at The Ice Cream Bar, then went home and played Five Second Rule and Overcooked 2… until midnight! Overcooked 2 is ADDICTIVE. And stressful. I hadn’t even heard of it (we don’t use our very old gaming system and I don’t stay current with the new games (although I do know what Red Dead Redemption II is, thanks to my brother-in-law Will)). In the game, you work with a team to create dishes at a restaurant. At first you’re just chopping vegetables for salads, but the meals become more complicated and obstacles are thrown in your way. It was super fun but I feel bad about yelling at people to get out of my way in the kitchen. Ha ha. Mica knows about my competitive-ass nature when playing games, so it’s all good! And we went to bed feeling (somewhat) successful as a group (okay, there were some moments where certain people were just spinning around in circles with the fire extinguisher).

Gosh, that game obviously made a good impression on me since I wrote so much about it!

More on the rest of our trip in part ii! (see part ii here)

*Mica and I have been blog friends since March 2009

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By kilax, November 8, 2018 6:08 am

• My goodness, the story telling in Little Fires Everywhere was so good. I’d consider owning a copy of it, to cherish again. (That, along with Station Eleven, my other favorite read from the  year!). I really want to know more about what happens to the characters! We need a part II!

• I moved from that to a guidebook of San Francisco to somewhat prepare for our trip! Well, I also tried reading a novel called Ghosted but ditched it. The author spent way too much time describing the landscape, which drove me bonkers. And it was moving slow. That’s something I liked about Little Fires Everywhere – Ng didn’t go on and on about unnecessary details. It was super detailed, but with a purpose.
• Ha, on my Monday commute, another train rider was gushing to me when she saw my reusable plastic bag. She even got hers out to show me and told me about all the times she uses it. Love it!
• What is it with iTunes taking three attempts to get my playlists to sync? And it often rewriting them or missing songs? Grr.
• An update on our intruders – there’s been four of them so far and we’ve had them all relocated.
• Here’s some cute cuddling kitty pics!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 202

Comments (16)

By kilax, November 3, 2018 12:53 pm

View down our driveway – we’re taking care of leaves today!

Crazy busy October is over and most of the things I’m looking forward to this month involve being lazy:

• Spending time with friends
• Watching the New York City Marathon with Bobbi
• Seeing Bohemian Rhapsody
• Going to San Francisco and visiting Mica and Harrison!
• Publishing the new blog layout
• Having more free time
• NAPS
• Listening to Christmas music… and maybe putting up Christmas decorations? (I’m undecided about decorating since we’ll be away on actual Christmas)

What’s on your list?

Comments (8)

By kilax, November 2, 2018 4:02 am

Two takeaways from my Chicago to Cleveland back to Chicago trip yesterday (that are only useful if you plan to ever use these airports):

1. DO NOT park at Lot H at O’Hare in Chicago.
2. If you use Uber or Lyft to get picked up at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, you have to go to a special “Ride Share” area. That is not marked anywhere in the airport (that I saw).

One day work trips that involve air travel are exhausting. I should plan overnight trips to share the travel over two days rather than all in one.

And now for a way too long typical travel story…

I left my house at 5:00 am yesterday. I got to the remote parking area and was confused by signs that told me to take the first left for Lot E, even though I never turn there for Lot E. I should have trusted my gut. I ended up in a lot I didn’t know about, Lot H.

I got there, saw I could park there, and there was hardly anyone there (a warning sign) and went in. And dropped my credit card while using the drive through kiosk. Sigh. (I found it.)

I waited at the bus stop for a ride to the airport. And waited. And waited. I thought about leaving and driving to Lot E because there’s usually lots of buses there. I finally called parking help and they told me a bus comes every twenty-four minutes.

At O’Hare remote parking, you usually take a bus to the People Mover tram at Lot E and take that to all terminals. But the tram is not in operation Monday through Friday through the winter, so the airport is relying on buses to get from parking to the terminals (and between the terminals). SO UNLESS YOU WANT A LONG WAIT, DON’T PARK IN LOT H. Lesson learned.

I stuck with it because I am dumb. I got to the airport and Cleveland just fine.

Then in Cleveland, I used Lyft for the first time. I was feeling anxious about it, but got tips from Mica the day before and thought to myself, “how bad could this be?”

I ordered my ride and waited outside the arrival area. Then quickly realized my driver was going someplace else. And I could not find signage for where to meet him ANYWHERE. I called him and he said I had to to get to a walkway and go to a special pickup area, so I went up to the departure area and found someone who explained to me how to get there. The driver had to wait for me for five minutes and I felt like an arse. But he was nice about it.

Also, it was raining the whole time and I got to walk to my ride in the rain, yay, great. Ha ha, I had just been hoping NOT to do that.

I used Lyft two more times during the day and had a hiccup each time where the driver’s app showed me on the opposite side of the street, even though I put in the exact address of where I was. What’s up with that? So yeah, more walking in the pouring rain. Whatever, I won’t melt.

Side note 1: I ate at Melt Bar & Grilled, which was the highlight of this trip! It was even better than I remember.

Side note 2: is it normal for Lyft drivers to talk to you during the whole ride?I know a lot about Mark, Robert, and David now. Granted, I’m pretty chatty.

And now, more on why you shouldn’t park in Lot H.

Oh, but first, let me mention that my hour-delayed flight home was so turbulent they couldn’t bring the drink cart out. My stomach felt like it was on a roller coaster. I tried to laugh about it, but, ugh, I felt hot (my fan didn’t work) and nauseated.

I was so glad to get off that plane and to see that our gate was right by an exit, yay! And right where I needed to be to pick up my Lot H bus!

But yeah, the problem is that the Lot H bus only comes every twenty-four minutes, right? So I talked to other passengers as I watched them get on Lot E bus after Lot E bus. I made friends with the traffic attendants. We joked around and they told me they wished all passengers were as fun and patient as me (ha, I tricked them).

Then a bus showed up and had a sign that it was going to Lot H and E. The bus driver started arguing with the traffic attendants about how Lot E people get mad at her that they have to drive though Lot H first (not sure why she wanted to argue with them).

So she went to Lot E first instead. Sigh.

But first, we had to stop at every terminal at O’Hare (I was at the first stop at terminal 1). Then after we dropped all the Lot E people off, she told me about the crazy passengers yelling at her. (I feel bad people are so rude to her – it’s not like she designs the routes.)

While riding the bus it occurred to me that I never got a parking ticket at the lot that morning. Was I so distracted by dropping my credit card that I missed it? Would I have to pay a huge lost ticket fee?

Then I got to my car and the door wouldn’t open because I’ve been ignoring the indicator on the dashboard telling me the battery is dying in my key fob. I used the valet key to open the door and was worried the car wouldn’t start because it’s a pushbutton and I have no idea what the hell to do to start it with a dead key fob (I now know). Thankfully, it started.

And thankfully, I hadn’t missed a parking ticket – that lot just has you use the same credit card to get in and out. Phew.

And thankfully, there wasn’t a ton of traffic to get out of there, and I was home by 9:00 pm.

Silly stuff like this is why I love smaller airports (like Milwaukee!) This is typical O’Hare travel, especially now with the tram down Monday-Friday. It just sucks I got home a lot later than I wanted to on a Thursday night, when I have to get up early on Fridays to teach. So the third takeaway is:

3. Try not to travel on Thursdays, or too late into Thursday evening. Or get a sub for my Friday class.

There were many positives from this trip – I got to use TSA Pre✓ and all I was carrying was a backpack and purse (it’s so nice not to worry about where my luggage will go). And my flight being delayed an hour isn’t that bad – I’ve had much worse! I think my flight was delayed three hours on my last business trip home.

But yeah, definitely not using Lot H again. (Or ignoring my low battery key fob signal!)

Comments (22)

By kilax, November 1, 2018 6:23 am

• I finished Vox! I became less anxious after the main character’s wrist counter (that tracks her speech and zaps her if she says over 100 words for the day) came off so she could work on an anti-Wernicke’s aphasia serum for the president’s brother. (BUT SPOILER, the government’s intentions are more sinister!) The entire book was suspenseful and made me feel on edge while reading it. But I obviously liked it because I finished it!

• Now I’m reading Little Fires Everywhere, which Amy recommended to me. It’s appropriate I’m starting it today, as I’m traveling to Cleveland, where the book is set!
• This morning was my first time using TSA Pre✓. It went much quicker than regular security, even though they still had me take my jacket and shoes off. It was so nice to leave my laptop in my bag though. <— welcome to the 2010s, Kim, I know. Ha.
• Today is an exciting day – it’s the day I start listening to Christmas music! Woo hoo! (But… I didn’t have time to load it on my phone this morning, so that will wait until tomorrow, sad face.)
• Speaking of Christmas, I bought a few gifts last week!
• Do people still share business cards at meetings? I always have to make sure I have some when I travel for work, or meet someone new. I haven’t received new business cards at work in YEARS. I don’t really use them – I use digital contacts. (Click through to take a poll)

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• My sleep has been such SH!T lately. Gawd. I’ve realized this month that waking up at 3:50 am on Fridays is killing me when I have a weekend full of plans. And about half of each week, the cats wake me up in the middle of the night, or, yay, even better, thirty minutes before my alarm. I’m looking forward to the extra hour gained on Sunday. I won’t get to sleep in (see: cats) but I can take a nap!

Who, us?! We NEVER try to climb the back of the headboard during the night. NEVER.

• I’m having my blog redesigned and love the look so far. I can’t wait to show you guys. Thanks to Shelley for recommending the designer!
• I have a few more “randoms” to share, but maybe I can stretch those in to a full post, ha!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 201

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By kilax, October 17, 2018 6:06 am

On to the rest of the weekend!

SATURDAY!

Mom, Dad, and I hung out at bit after the race, but not for too long – we had to get ready for my cousin Danielle’s wedding! Luckily we had a late (1:00 pm) checkout, had plenty of time to get ready, hit up Taco Bell (the post race hunger kicked in!), and drive to the wedding in Amery, Wisconsin.

Mom rode with me for the hour and twenty minute drive to the wedding, which gave us a chance to catch up. We spent a bit of time driving near the Minnesota/Wisconsin border, and the views were stunning – more gorgeous trees, and some rock formations.

We drove by the Wisconsin Interstate State Park and saw people hiking along the road and it just KILLED me not to stop and explore it! UGH! So many nature-y things to do! So little time! The weekend felt packed!

The wedding was at 3:00 pm in a park in Amery. I love outdoor weddings. It was chilly (in the 30s?) but they had blankets out for the guests to use! What a great idea! I enjoyed the ceremony. They actually got married in a courthouse last December and made lots of jokes about this being their second wedding. It was cute, and humorous.

My brother and his wife drove my Grandma’s car up for the wedding

After the wedding, I beelined to the car to eat some leftover stale donuts. Ha! I just wanted to let you guys know that those donuts got some redemption and tasted better on Saturday, only because I still had the post race hungries.

Alyssa (my sister-in-law) and me. I took that hat off for the wedding, ha. 

The reception was about thirty minutes away at a Ski Lodge in Taylors Falls, Minnesota. My grandma (Dad’s mom) rode with me, and it was nice for us to have a chance to chat, just the two of us!

Twinning it up with our jean jackets!

At the reception, I immediately got drinks (Angry Orchards!) for myself, my older brother, and his wife. It was time to PAR-TAY! (i.e. time for Kim to act MORE obnoxious than usual)

They had the MOST AMAZING wedding food – a taco bar! Yes, puh-lease! We may or may not have asked our aunt to re-open the room to the food so we could get more tacos. Ha. No shame. (But we did feel those tacos out on the dance floor later, oops.)

So yeah, just your regular wedding – drinking, eating, dancing, being a bit inappropriate…

Aunt Tracy, me, and Alyssa

CW from top left: Mom, me, Danielle, Cousin Taylor, Second Cousin Jill, Aunt Sue, Alyssa, Grandma

Mom, me, Danielle, Andrew, Alyssa

It was a fun way to end a fun day. I enjoyed seeing and meeting a few of my cousin’s friends. One table was laughing SO loud and having the greatest time and my aunt told me those were her work friends. How fantastic! I love that my cousin gets to work with people like that!

My cousin made most of the decorations and they turned out fantastic! I was impressed.

And I loved seeing my family that was there. It’s not that often we get together, being so spread out, and so busy with our own lives.

We left the wedding around 9:00 and headed to our hotel in North Branch. My mom, brother, sister-in-law, and I spent some time in the hot tub then called it a night.

SUNDAY!

I really wanted to sleep longer on Sunday (meaning, more than 6.5 hours), but I had suggested to my dad that he bring his bike to ride with me while I ran, and he did, so I wanted to make sure we got out!

There ended up being a trail right by our hotel, schweet! We went out to it, and spent eight fun miles catching up. I say this every time I get to run with my dad, but I love that one-on-one time. I love hearing what he’s up to now, stories about the past, things he’s loving, his vents, and what’s new with other family members. What a treat!

I ate a little hotel breakfast with Mom and Dad, packed up, and we said goodbye! (Sad face) I hit the road at 10:00 am and it was snowing. What. Da. Fuq.

At first it was a light snow, melting when it hit the road, but then it started sticking a little bit. Sigh. It ended up snowing for the first two hours of my drive, and raining for the next hour. I was very tired. I stopped several times to help myself stay awake.

Snow accumulation on my car!

At my final rest stop, I wasn’t able to lock my car. It buzzed when I tried to, telling me the key was inside the car. I thought that was odd – it stays on a hook in my purse – how could it have fallen out? And when? I locked the car when I got out of it at previous stops!

I searched the car for about twenty minutes and didn’t find the key and was getting pissy.

Then I remembered – I had the key in my jacket pocket last night at the wedding. Did I ever take it out? Did I really lock the car earlier?

And that’s where it was. No, I never locked the car earlier when I stopped. Oops.

Gah, I’m so glad my car is smarter than me and doesn’t let me lock myself out. I’m also glad that little exercise woke me up. I was obviously very out of it to not remember where my key was!

I chose to re-route so I would not have to drive through Milwaukee to get home (otherwise it was all major highways from Minneapolis to Madison to Milwaukee). I knew the horrible construction and congestion in Milwaukee would make me nuts. I listened to podcasts the last three hours, and drove the last hour home on country roads.

Well, almost home. I stopped for groceries. I just wanted to be home with my babies, but knew I would regret not having produce later.

I picked up these cuties at Aldi

It was minutes before Apollo and Starbuck went after the birds

What a long (but fun!) weekend.

I was home for a bit putting things away and starting laundry when Steven arrived home from his trip (he was in Kansas City to celebrate his brother’s birthday). And after a small dinner, conversation, and taking the trash out, I was in bed by 10:00 for a much needed 8.5 hours of sleep!

I’ve been on the go since then – working all day Monday and teaching, then in the city yesterday for training. I’m ready for a quiet day!

Comments (13)

By kilax, October 15, 2018 12:17 pm

This got too long so I am breaking my weekend recap in to two posts!

FRIDAY!

Ugh, Friday was surprisingly hectic. My original plan was to teach and train (one on one), then swim, then run, then take a nap (because I get up at 3:50 on Fridays), then drive to Minneapolis, and go to packet pickup, then the hotel.

That plan got scratched. Apollo woke me up at 3:00, and I was worried if I took a nap I’d never recover, so I taught and trained, went home and packed quick, then hit the road. I figured I’d have loads of time in Minneapolis to do a shakeout run, chill, and even nap.

No.

The drive was mostly okay (although at one point the forecast showed snow and I felt worried because the last time I drove in it I crashed my car). Milwaukee is a COMPLETE clusterf*ck right now and I felt bad for the few times Steven’s had to drive through it the past two weeks. After I got through there, it was smooth sailing with miles and miles of gorgeous fall foliage.

Sample rest stop tree

I got really tired for the last two hours though. I stopped a few times, cranked the music, made it really cold, ate some snacks. Blah.

When I got to Minneapolis, I made an unplanned stop at The Herbivorous Butcher, per Steven’s suggestion. It’s an all vegan deli, with all sorts of vegan fake meats (that look like real deli meats),  cheeses, and other things. I ordered the Italian Cold Cut (they only have five things on the menu – seems they really wanted it treated as a deli). It was delicious, BUT WAY TOO BIG WHAT WAS I THINKING, and I could totally taste it on my run later. Oops.

The I Like You store (crafts from local Minnesotan artists) was next door and I had to stop in. They had a huge card collection and I wanted to spend ALL the time reading ALL the cards (and buying a zillion of them) but I didn’t.

I went to packet pickup after. I had a dumb Google Maps snafu that added some extra time, then when I got there, they said I wasn’t registered for the half marathon but for the 5K, and they were all out of my size of socks. Oops! They fixed it and got me signed up for the half, and gave me the wrong size of socks, and the flannel race shirt, which I opted out of (hobby horse registrants paid a discounted fee, and got socks, not the race flannel, but could choose to pay extra for it). That was nice of them to give to me when they didn’t have to do anything extra.

And BONUS! That flannel is a soft fleece material and amazingly cozy, comfortable, and warm, so I will  be wearing it every day until March.

I finally got to the hotel way later than I thought I would, and looked (on a map) for someplace to do a three mile shakeout run. After wasting time looking for a pretty route, I just ran from the hotel, which was quite pretty.

Then I hopped in my car to go on a special mission to pick up a Starbucks Minnesota “Been There” mug for Gina. She wanted to get one when she was in Minnesota in June, but I think they told her they didn’t have them yet? Anyway, success!

While I was out, my car buzzed that I was low on gas. Crap. I totally had forgotten to get some. And I only had my license and phone with me. I wondered if a gas station would take Apple Pay, but decided to go back to the hotel, get my purse, then go to the closest gas station… which did appear to take Apple Pay. Sigh.

Then I rushed to take a shower before my parents arrived, and changed hotel rooms (from a loud first floor room right next to the lobby/entrance to a room on the third floor). So much for R&R!!!

My parents arrived around 7:15 and we left right away to get food. I’d been dreaming about Pizza Luce  since I booked this trip, but was too full from my sandwich to go there. Sad face. I was NOT too full to try some vegan donuts, so we picked a restaurant closer to Glam Doll Donuts, and ended up at Christos, a Greek restaurant (my falafel was good but the tabbouleh had too much mint for my taste).

I almost forgot to look for vegan donuts on this trip. I’m not very dedicated to my Vegan Donut Tour, am I? Luckily, I did remember on Thursday before I left and found Glam Doll Donuts. And I saw they were open until 1:00 am on Friday night/Saturday morning, and figured that meant I didn’t have to worry about them running out of vegan donuts – they probably keep making fresh donuts all day… right?!

So we got there and I was super excited to see one case (of three) with TEN different vegan donuts to try! TEN!

I commented on how they didn’t have the “Vegan Marvelous Maiden” available (a sweet potato filling one I’d seen on their Instagram) and they brought one out for me! So here is what I got to try, clockwise from top left:

Vegan Gidget (Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut), Vegan Night Moves (Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits), Vegan Chocolate Starlet (Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles), Vegan Femme Fatale (Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing), and Vegan Marvelous Maiden (Sweet Potato Filling).

I also asked for the Vegan Pin-Up Girl (Bourbon-Infused Apple Fritter), but my parents got a regular apple fritter, and I think there was a bit of confusion and I didn’t get one (not a big deal).

I was SO excited to try these because they were mostly yeast donuts and those are my favorite type. I was especially excited about the raspberry one.

We got back to the hotel and I took a small bite of the sweet potato one and liked it. Then every other one tasted stale and blah to me. What a disappointment! I wrongly assumed they’d be fresher since they were open late. They were not. Maybe the sweet potato one was the freshest? The flavor of the raspberry and Hennesy ones were decent, but I really didn’t like the cake donut or the buttercream long john. Oh well! Fun to try!

State	Date	Name	Flavor(s)	Rating (0-4)	Photo
Kansas	1/15/18	Mud Pie	Cake Chocolate Frosted
Illinois	2/7/18	Do-Rite	Chai Maple
Illinois	2/17/18	Holcomb Hollow	Lemon Vanilla
Ohio	3/23/18	Holey Toledough	Blackberry Hibiscus & Cinnamon Roll
Wisconsin	4/1/18	Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts	Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Glaze, Cinnamon Sugar, Banana Bread, S’mores, Raspberry, Samoa, and Apple Fritter
Ohio	5/12/18	Brewnuts	Lemon Ginger and Oreo P’Nut Butter
Minnesota	10/13/18	Glam Doll Donuts	Maple Buttercream & Toasted Coconut, Blackberry Henessy Icing, Fresh Jam, & Brown Sugar Bits, Chocolate Icing & Sprinkles, Fresh Raspberries & Vanilla Icing, Sweet Potato Filling.

At that point it was 10:00 pm. And my mom was beginning to work on my hobby horse for the race (she signed me up as a birthday present, and offered to make my horse). She had the outline done, but still had to finish drawing it, color it in, and attached it to the dowel. It was kind of a long night! And we still had to finish attaching it in the morning! But it turned out fantastic and I can’t wait to show you… tomorrow!

Comments (10)

By kilax, October 9, 2018 6:45 am

We had such a fun weekend with Gina, Steve, and Luca. I felt like a kid waking up on Christmas each morning – so excited for the day ahead! I also very much felt like a mid 30s adult waking up each morning – exhausted from too little sleep. Ha! But more on that below…

FRIDAY!

Their flight from Dallas was delayed an hour, then baggage took a while due to the storms in Chicago, so we had a late first night. Like, dinner after 10:00 pm late, and going to bed past 1:00 am late, eek! We weren’t on a set schedule for the weekend, but man, those late nights EFF. ME. UP. For days. Worth it though (obviously).

Obvious Friday dinner choice

SATURDAY!

We chilled at the house a bit Saturday morning. Luca (well, everyone!) loved playing with the kittens and I’m glad they got to meet them when they are still small-ish, and super playful. It warmed my heart when they happily told me about the kittens sleeping with them at night, and later in the day, when Luca was excitedly telling Rachel story about them.

We had loose plans to spend Saturday in Madison and do local basic b*tch things on Sunday. Gina, Steve, and Luca have been to a few state capitals, and were interested in seeing the Madison Capitol. And we love going to Madison!

Our drive took us through Milwaukee, so naturally, we stopped at Holey Moley to take down a few donuts.

We (later) all discussed how we eat healthy the majority of the time when we’re apart, but when we’re together, it’s such a treat… that we have more treats. A LOT more treats than normal. Especially on a short visit like this! We’ll be more conscious of this in the future.

We got to Madison and walked a bit of the Farmers’ Market (I avoided the angry pepper man), and headed down State Street to window shop and look for a place for lunch. It was busy because of the Badgers vs Cornhuskers game, and it was fun to see the sea of red and black, and the interesting outfits, and behavior.

We ended up at Chen’s Dumpling House, which was DELICIOUS, but affected all of our stomachs, some immediately, and some later.

We got the scallion pancakes, vegetable dumplings, and red bean buns

So we tried to do a bit of shopping on the way back to the capitol building but I had to call it short to go use the bathroom. Eek.

But not before stopping to take some photos!

We walked around the capitol building a bit, seeing parts of a few floors, the observation deck, and inside the rotunda.

So… the blog post title. I had another “VEGAN CAKE!!!!!” moment this weekend. Some of our party (me and Luca) aren’t so great at inside voices. Or being quiet. And we were in some really echo-y spaces.

While we were walking down the stairs out of the museum, Luca was talking to Steven and Steven jokingly says to him “I see you still haven’t learned how to whisper.” Gina was behind them and heard it, then I came down the stairs behind her yelling “Twenty-five cent postcards! I should get one!” (I saw a sign about them in the museum). Gina started laughing and crying so hard she couldn’t talk. We had no idea what she was laughing about, because she was the only one who heard those two things. We all laughed too when she finally explained it, then enjoyed randomly yelling “Twenty-five cent postcards!” to each other all weekend. Ha ha.

After the capitol, we visited Rachel at the tailgate her company puts on to raise money for the American Family Children’s Hospital. Rachel’s told me about all the work that goes in to this event but I didn’t understand it until I saw it. Wow! Just wow. And they raised $62,844.29! I was so impressed, and proud of her.

I loved that she got to meet Gina, Steve, and Luca! I talk about them so much to each other!

We headed home after that. A pit stop for a bathroom break took us to an outlet mall where we found some killer deals at Bath & Body Works and a tool store. I am very proud of myself for NOT buying anything at Bath & Body Works.

We got home late and had another late dinner. Oops. We kept joking about it, saying we must be on “river time,” because we often eat late during our river trips!

Steven was inspired by our search for vegan ramen in Madison (I was too overwhelmed by the place we found to order there), and made an Asian soup. Then we had a very adult discussion over dinner about property taxes. We’re so fun!

SUNDAY!

We took it easy on Sunday, and focused on our list of basic fall b*tch activites. We ran in the local preserve while Steven and Luca watched The LEGO Ninjago Movie.

We got Starbucks on the way home from our run, and forgot to document it as one of our basic fall b*tch activities. Darn it.

Lunch was salad and leftover soup. Okay, and some tater tots. And a few of the “chicken” tenders we made for Luca. And let’s not forget those cookies bars we made Friday and munched on all weekend.

We hung out after lunch then went to Kroll’s Harvest Farm. We checked out the animals, got our cider (ugh, forgot a picture AGAIN!) then went through their corn maze. The corn maze was “horse” themed – the center part of it was designed as a horse head, and you read horse facts in the beginning. We were given a piece of paper with twelve spots on it to punch, then had to find the twelve stations inside – some just to punch the paper, and some with trivia based on what we read (there were two hole punches corresponding to the two answer options, and you picked one to use).

It was fun! And muddy. It had rained a lot before, and was sprinkling lightly during. But we found all the stations (in order!) and made it out, and all of our answers were right. We only googled one. Ha.

After that it was on to basic fall brah activities. Steve mentioned wanting to get some cheese curds and Steven said he HAD TO get them at the “Antique Cheese Store” (really, called the “Rustic Dairyland Antique Mall”). So we went there and they got their curds and were very happy.

Then we did something REALLY exciting. Went to Menards. Steve has never been, and Steven is there once or twice a week, and wanted Steve to experience it. I think Menards is great, but don’t always enjoy our trips there (because if I’m going or was sent, we are usually in the throes of a project), however, going with Gina, Steve, and Luca made it really fun and we were a bit silly and inappropriate. I wish they could come with us on every Menards trip!

We ordered pizza for dinner (I had this amazing burger instead),

and had a fire.

Luca and I played Blokus, and after he went to bed, we played 5 Second Rule, which resulted in lots of laughs (and uncontrollable laughing and crying for me). I love that we have serious conversations together, but also have extremely goofy moments. I remember both, but the goofy moments hold a special place in my heart. I was laughing so hard at times that my face hurt!

MONDAY!

We left the house at 6:00 am Monday for their flight. I wish we would have had more time together! We did so much in two days, and the days felt long because we did so much, but it also went by so fast, sad face. Luckily I see them again in December! Woo hoo!

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By kilax, October 1, 2018 6:25 am

We had a fun and productive weekend! Yay!

FRIDAY!

On Friday we took a lovely nap after work with the babies,

then went on a walk in our local forest preserve.

We received these cute custom ornaments from my second cousin Denise on Friday! I put magnets on the back so I can enjoy them until we have a Christmas tree (and you know they are going to be on my fridge all year long).

Dinner was a  Boca “turkey” burger (are these new? or had I just not seen them before? I really like them!), while we watched the HORRIBLE movie, Rumor Has It. Horrible. So. Bad. Icky. I don’t really care for Jennifer Aniston, so that didn’t help.

SATURDAY!

I forced myself to sleep in Saturday (meaning, not getting up when my body wanted to at 4:00, and again at 5:00), since we had plans to go out that night. I thought I had all this time before teaching (and did things like write a blog post and buy our A Star is Born tickets), then had a blog issue and was all of a sudden scrambling to get out the door! Oops!

I taught Fitness Boxing then did my speedwork for the week. Yay for doing it on its own, and not making it part of my Sunday long run because I’m lazy!

We watched part of season 2 of The Good Place with lunch, then I organized and tidied up the house a bit.

In the evening we went to Milwaukee with Bobbi and John. We took them to one of our favorite restaurants, the Palomino Bar, which has vegan versions of many of the dishes. We got fried pickles to share, and I got the hot fried chicken. Bobbi and John really liked their dishes, and it made me happy they did! (I never know when I take someone to a place where I like the vegan food and they order meat dishes.)

Once we decided to go to the Palomino Bar earlier in the week, I had been thinking about how I was going to get a slice of their vegan cake. I was suspicious when I walked in Saturday and the dessert cooler wasn’t there. The waiter confirmed they no longer have their vegan cake (they’d have it brought in, but not sell enough before it went bad). NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Steven was sweet and looked up a local ice cream place that had vegan options, Babe’s Ice Cream, and lo and behold, when I walked in the door I saw THIS SIGN:

I got so excited, I jumped inside and said (okay, yelled) “VEGAN CAKE!!!” really loud and about gave the server a heart attack. I really freaked her out. And felt bad. But also, very happy they had vegan cake. Sorry, lady – I was genuinely excited.

So I had a small slice of cake, and part of an ice cream sandwich, and some of Steven’s ice cream. The cake wasn’t as good as what they had (brought-in) to the Palomino Bar, but it was nice to have that option.

After that we checked out the “Kwaktoberfest” at Cafe Hollander. It’s was a Belgian twist on Oktoberfest, so… can I say that I went to my first Oktoberfest, or not? Ha. Either way, we tried a few of the beers and hung out, and had a good time chatting and joking. At one point, I was laughing so hard at Bobbi and John’s Super Trooper 2 impersonation that my face hurt!

We had such a fun night out! It was great to catch up, and drink a little, and be a bit goofy. And I love going to Milwaukee. It’s so easy to get around, and park, etc. Although, it did rain the entire ride home, like the last time we went to Milwaukee with Bobbi and John!

SUNDAY!

Being up late + drinking = I needed to get a bit more sleep on Saturday night. I got just under 8 hours and woke up too late to do a long run, so did a quick ride on my bike, ran errands, ate lunch and finished season 2 of The Good Place with Steven, then hung up some fall decorations, and did a few tidying up chores before we went toaster oven shopping.

I added the pumpkin banner and lights. My snis helped me pick them out (we were in separate Targets at the same time)!

Steven added this paper towel roll, battery organizer, and bag holder to our linen closet! These things were just loose on the shelves in there before. Yay for more organized shelf space!

I was pretty pooped when we got home. I did some food prep, blog stuff, sous chefing, and Sunday evening chores and that was it. We started watching Phantom Thread, but ugh, not sure I am going to be able to finish that one! Too slow for me.

RANDOM CAT PICS!

Steven sent me this picture of the cats Saturday morning, saying “that squirrel thinks he’s their friend.”

What squirrel?

Oh my gosh. Yes, he does think that!

Bobbi gave us a stash of milk/Gatorade rings for the cats. Ha. They destroyed half of them in a day.

If I fits!