Posted on

Wonderful Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend and am ready for the work week. After a productive day at work Saturday, Goalielocks and I headed to the Luke Combs concert with my bro, sister-in-law, Richard and Suelen. To be honest, I’ve never been a country music fan. However, Goalielocks and I would listen to Combs every time we drove to Miami for hockey his U16AA season. Luke Combs’ music brings up so many great memories of that season and of spending time with him.

I’ve never seen the BB&T Center (or whatever it’s now called) so full. It was filled to the brim. Consequently, it took us over thirty minutes to actually get into the stadium for the show. We’ve been there a lot for hockey games and have never waited more than five minutes to get into the arena. Fortunately, our seats were club level so the lines for the bar and the bathroom were not bad. The lines on the 100 level, however, were absolutely ridiculous. I did get to see some of my favorite people from Kaplan, which was epic.

Many artists sound way better on their records, but not Luke Combs. To be clear, he sounds amazing on his records. It’s just he sounds even better in person. His voice is absolutely incredible and so was the crowd. The arena had an amazing energy that I wish we could bottle and preserve for the Panthers games. At any rate, if you have an opportunity to see Luke Combs, even if you’re not into country music, you should see him. After all, according to Goalielocks Comb is baseball cap or bass fishing cap country not cowboy boots and cowboy hat country.

I spent Sunday baking and organizing. I baked a French apple tart and made some chocolate avocado mousse. Both turned out really well. Additonally, I cooked pasta with lamb sauce, but I wasn’t thrilled with how it turned out. Don’t get me wrong, it was good just not as good as the last time I made it. Nevertheless, we had an awesome dinner before heading outside for Halloween.

It was a beautiful evening, so we rolled the cooler over to Carrie and Mark’s for drinks and trick or treating. Unfortunately, the trick or treaters were sparse and we have entirely too much candy leftover. Clearly, I don’t need lots of candy in the house on top of the tart and mousse. Even though there were few trick or treaters, we had a great time hanging out with our neighbors.

It was a wonderful weekend. In fact, I even took Anakin on a run for the first time since last spring. Goalielocks and his girlfriend carved pumpkins and then took some great picture at the farmers market near us. They turned out great. Meanwhile, the Mayor had a wonderful weekend with his boys.

Posted on

Happy National Eat Your Kid’s Halloween Candy Day

Guess what day it is!  Not only is it hump day, we’re over half way there, it is National Eat Your Kid’s Halloween Candy Day.  A little known holiday that’s a bit of mystery outside of the parenting circuit. Nevertheless, it is a very important one.  As a parent, we’ve earned the right to pilfer their candy.  If we left it to them, we’d only get the raisins, pencils or pennies.  We can’t have that nonsense!

jenr9Jx.gif

Back in my day, you hit the mother load when you got a full size candy bar in your bag.  Oh how we have raise the bar!  Goalielocks came home with several king sized bars last night.  Could you have imagined that back in the 80s and 90s?  If this seems excessive, it is.  However, it does help mitigate the loss of candy to National Eat Your Kid’s Halloween Candy Day.

 

In order to mitigate the extra calories, I headed back to the Barre for more fun.  It was another fabulous class. Truly,  I can’t recommend Adam’s class highly enough.   Let me tell you, Xtend Barre is a lot harder than it looks.  I felt the first class for almost a week!  You can imagine my horror when I got to class and the dreaded Bosu was back.   Literally, the last time I did the class on the Bosu, I couldn’t laugh, sneeze, cough or move for like 5 days.  It hurt my abs to simply exist.

Unfortunately, I’m battling a nasty cold.  I am praying that I’m done with the coughing fits before the pan of tonight’s class hits my abs.  Otherwise, sweet mother of Jesus,  there will not be enough Aleve in the world to cure my ills.  If I’m looking at the bright side, the good news is that class is superbly effective.  I guess that’s what keeps bringing us all back now isn’t it.

Tonight’s song “I Want Candy” by Bow Wow Wow

 

Posted on

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to all the ghosts and goblins in the blogosphere!  I hope you had a delightfully ghoulish day and an equally fantastic night.  I love the fun of Halloween.  At work, there are several people that go all out with amazing costumes and creations.  Unquestionably, I admire their creativity and bravery.  Not only do they dress up, but these guys go into character.  I mean, I can wear a costume, but it is tough to get into character.

IMG_3579

One of my co-workers, our marketing guru, goes hog wild for Halloween. Every year he pulls off a wildly different and authentic costume.  Last year, he was John Lennon.  This year, he was the Godfather.  As is the case every year, he absolutely nailed it!  His officer was awesomely decorate with all the accouterments one would expect from the Don on the day of his daughter’s wedding.  Twinkies, poker chips, beverages, music, playing cards and framed music.  Everything about the execution, pun intended, of his character and his office was absolutely pitch perfect.  Undoubtedly, he has inspired me and my leadership team to up our game next Halloween.

At Zumba, Halloween is always a fun week as I breakout Michael Jackon’s Thriller.  The girls and I love dancing to a little MJ.  It’s a nice change of pace from the usual Zumba music.  Not to mention, its a bit nostalgic.  I think we all remember when the Thriller video debuted.  It was incredible.  There’s nothing like it on MTV today, which is a shame.

12186456_10206696856213982_3579641326948138726_o

Meanwhile on the home front, Jake’s spending his Halloween at work.  Goalielocks went to a friend’s house for a party and trick or treating.  Lastly, the Mayor reluctantly went trick or treating.  I couldn’t believe he didn’t want to go!  I remember growing up we’d go as far as we could to get as much candy as possible.  It wasn’t always easy because the weather in Minnesota was bitterly cold and snowy.  Nevertheless, we’d make my mom take us miles and miles.  Halloween was all about getting the biggest candy hull possible.  Apparently, that isn’t the case with today’s kids.  If I were a kid now, I’d go to every house in my neighborhood not just our loop.

374256_10150371975573213_1514554026_n

Lastly, as the trick or treaters wind down, we’ll start binge watching the second season of Stranger Things.  Can I tell you how excited I am to be current on the “hot show?”  I mean, we just finished “Big Love” like a year ago and that’s been off the air for over six years.  Amazingly, the entire family is into this show.  The hubby and I love it because it reminds us of the movies of our youth.  It’s like the awesomeness of ET, Goonies, Stand By Me all in one.  Not to mention the soundtrack is amazing.  Moreover, the girl that plays Eleven is simply incredible.  It is some of the best acting you’ll see bar none.  She’s amazing!  I won’t post spoilers here because that will ruin the fun for others.  Meanwhile, I’m happy to be starting season 2 tonight.

Was there ever as doubt as to tonight’s music video?  I thought not… Enjoy MJ’s epic Thriller