Minneapolis Light Rail

DJ and I went to the Twins game last night. We started the festivities with a happy hour (cheap beer and APPS!!) in the Warehouse District and took the light rail to the Metrodome. This is my first time on the light rail. I was a big supporter when it was proposed since I truly believe this city needs better forms of public transportation. In my utopia, I would live in a city where I wouldn't have to drive, and could take public transportation everywhere. But I do live here, where having a car is almost essential in order to get around in an efficient manner.

Anyway....A few observations from the ride:

• It was very clean and CHEAP. It only cost us 50 cents one way to get to the dome.
• I was surprised how slow it was. I am used to subways in NYC, which are pretty speedy. I know that light rail and subways are a bit different, but I did expect for it to move a bit quicker. I did find it somewhat amusing that there was an advertisement for Qwest High Speed internet on the side of one of the trains. As the train crept by it really didn't bring high speed internet to mind.
  
• Minnesotans are weird. I get that I am a Minnesotan (and yes I am weird) but I typically like to get where I am going quickly. I don't fuck around. As we were leaving the dome last night we needed to cross to the other side of the tracks to catch the other train. As we pushed through the herd of people slooooowlly lining by the tracks I overheard some snide comments. Not to be mean, but come on people. You are just standing there...MOVE it. There is plenty of room for you to move over. Sorry for the rant but the passive agressiveness around here angers me at times.

Overall a good experience. I know they are planning on building out to the northwestern metro area, where all our urban sprawl seems to migrate. It will probably be a good thing.

J'adore les fleurs

I LOVE flowers......adore them. That is why I decided to make the trip to the local nursery yesterday. That and the fact the flower bed by the fence was looking a bit sparse...it needed something. Too much money later (hey I justified it since I had a $50 gift certificate that needed to be spent.) this is what the backyard now looks like:


That is what was planted along the fence. With the exception of the huge hydrangea bush at the end, this was pretty much empty.



The flower bed off the patio. There were some perennials there but I basically filled it in with some cosmos, daisies and these:

I have NO idea what they are, but they were pretty.

I also weeded along the side of the house and planted these:


Sorry for the bad pic. Basically impatiens, more cosmos and daisies. Loved this:

I also don't know what these are but they will be pretty when they flower.

One more shot.....since I sometimes get pic happy in these blogs. This is the patio. In the pots, w have about 5 tomato plants, peppers, cucumbers and some herbs. Salsa will be made as soon as this baby is ready to harvest.

Love love love, the backyard....it sucks that our growing season is so short.

Summer Solstice

I just remembered an interesting conversation with the bouncy gay dude who did my hair. I mentioned that we were invited to a party for summer solstice (Soulstice Party). He told me that you can balance an egg on it's end during the summer or winter solstice. It either needs to be done at noon or at midnight. He said he's done it. Pretty cool.

If you've tried it comment. I would be interested to see if it actually works.

He also told me about the mentos in diet coke show, but I have yet to see that.

Actually now that I think about it I drink a TON of diet coke. That kind of makes me nervous.

Weekend Fun

After an extraordinary hiatus from blogging, I have decided to do it again. I am not sure why, but I figure it's time to shake some things up.....blogging more may help me do that. We'll see.

Anyway, I had a great weekend. For whatever reason I feel like life has been so busy lately. We were home this weekend, which was delightful.

Friday: We saw Bill Maher at the Orphium Theatre. Overall a pretty good show.

Saturday was busy. I managed to drag myself out of bed to get my hair done at 8:30 am. I go to the Aveda Institute in Mpls, which is a GREAT deal. You can't complain about $68 for a full foil and haircut. This was done by a bouncy gay guy, who came up to me and immediately declared that my dress was "FABULOUS"! He went on about how my skin was flawless and my eyes were gorgeous. I felt like a supermodel when I left there with all the compliments this guy was dishing out. The guy even did my makeup to boot! Woo hoo!

Saturday afternoon was spent at D and Mom's house for a reception to celebrate their recent wedding. View the pics here. The rest of Saturday was blissfully quiet.

I finally got around to doing some direly needed gardening on Sunday. I traveled out to Bachmans and spend a crap load on flowers. I got them all in the ground and the backyard looks great. I'll post pics in another post.

Weekends at home are fun.