This is For MOM..

It's not my mom's 60th birthday until March 22nd. But since ive been in party planning mode these past few days, I thought I would do her the favor of posting the pictures we used for the invites for her party. And since my mom has never seen my blog site NOR does she know how to turn on a computer, I think it's safe to assume that she will not see todays posting. And even if she did, she would probably laugh! She's a good sport!

Nice hair mom.. this picture was taken when she was probably in her late 20's. Holy make up.. holy hair doo and holy fugly yellow door we had in our living room. She's got the "white girl Fro" kickin.. lol... omg.. she would pay my sister and I $1 to brush her hair when she would rat it out like that. That was big money back in the 70's.

The next pic to the Right, was when she was in her mid 30's im guessing..Still a lot of make up I think.. but the hair doo calmed down alot! Thank god. Ironically, my mom was a hair stylist for about 25-26 years I believe. She owned a salon in NE Mpls where she made all the "blue hairs" or LOL's beautiful. (for those of you that dont know what these are.. blue hairs are the old bags that have that tint/hint of a purle color to their hair.. and the LOL's are Little Old Ladies.) She's been out of the hair business for a while now. She moved on to the other love of her life: Make up.

OK.. this pic to the Left is a few years old.. however, she looks pretty much the same. She now sells make up for Estee Lauder at the local mall. She's very good at it and everyone loves her.. but not more than her daughters! :) Yes, she's very beautiful and she holds her age very well! Both my parents look good for their age.. thank you God!! I hope this runs in the family.. well at least down my way.

And then we have probably the most current pic (R) of her which was taken about a year and a half ago. She looks the same as the pic to the Left.. except no glasses. I can onky hope that I look half this good when im her age.

So my mom will be the BIG 60. The party is taking place on March 21. We rented a hall for the event. And my dad, what a wonderful man he is... has offered to pay for the entire party. He and my mom have been divorced for about 17 years now.. and they are still good friends. He said that "Fritz" (my mom's nickname) deserves a nice party. So, a nice party it is.. and hopefully she gets a good turn out of good friends and family!

I love my mommy!! xoxoxo

Winter Sucks !

Im Baaaaaaack, but who knows for how long?lol.. hopefully for good. I have completely dropped the ball on this blogging thing and I regret it. When I dont blog for a while, I lose my train of thought and then too much is going on and it's hard to figure out where to pick up again. So, lucky you.. Ive had so much going on since ive last blogged theres plenty to blog about. But where do I start?

WORK:

I am currently working for a non-profit arts organization called COMPAS. My good friend Delia, who always comes through for me, quit her job there. They wanted someone to come in and fill the position until they could hire someone on a permanent basis. Delia suggested to her boss that since her favorite friend, Paula was currently unemployed, that I come and be the "fill-in" person for now. Well, I started working there on January 26 (ironically the day after my last blog posting) and im still there. They have suspended their search to fill this position until further notice! This is good news for me cause I have nothing else in the works. However, there are a few issues with this. The company that laid me off last December is only covering my medical insurance until the end of April. And I can not go with out medical insurance.. I can join COBRA, but that will cost me a lot of money. They also cover my perscriptions (not all of the cost) and I am on a few of those as well. I guess this means that I have to spend some quality time looking for a J-O-B.

A few likes: The people are very nice and friendly, the office is located in the beautiful Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul, the hours are flexible, the dress code is fairly casual, my friend Delia works close by so I get to see her all the time!!!

A few dislikes: The drive sucks, parking sucks (especially when there are events at the Excel Center cause the price of parking goes up.), I have to walk a ways from the parking ramp to get to the office cause all the cheap parking is NOT close (ok im exaggerating a bit here.. it's prob approx 3 -4 city blocks..lol)

So, overall, I can not complain. I feel very grateful to have this job right now in this economy. At least it's bringing in some extra money for me.. and who can complain about that?

PLAY:

My play time has been spent going up north a lot to my aunt and uncles house. They have a place on Damn Lake in Aitkin, MN. It takes approximately 1hr 40 mins to get there from Mpls, so not too bad. It's nice to have a get away from the big city once in a while.

I was there this past weekend for an "Ice Golf" Tournament on the lake. Yes, only in Aitkin is there Ice Golf. It's a lot of fun and NO, the fairways and greens are not groomed! The first time I played my aunt and I won the tourney.. however, there were probably only 6 teams (2 man teams). This past weekend, we didnt do so hot. It's all about the club youre using.. you only get one club so you must choose wisely!

It's always a good time going up north. I have met a lot of nice people.. fun party people.

WEATHER & SPORTS: Have I mentioned how much I hate winter yet? Winter totally blows! Yes, another winter storm today! Thankfully we didnt get as much here in the city as they did in northern MN. I would never live up there.. well maybe in the summer, but I would rather gouge my eyeballs out than live up there in the winter. Most of the snow has melted for the most part, but I will have to get out and take a picture of our front yard. We live on a cul-de-sac and they pile up all the snow from that area in our yard. There is still a huge mound of snow in our yard. This is the time of year we are FOR SURE getting snow. March starts the Minnesota State High School Tournaments for sports.. State wrestling tourney last week, girls hockey this week, boys hockey next week and we ALWAYS get snow storms when these tourneys starts.(Yes.. all at the Excel Center thank you, which once again drives up the cost of parking for me.. $12/day.. compared to $4 when no sports). After hockey, comes girls hoops and then boys hoops.. then I think that's it. If you dont know, MN is HUGE on the State High School Tournaments. Then my favorite time of year.... MARCH MADNESS!!! I cant wait. I know what I will be doing for the next few weekends.. watching college basketball! I love it!!!

My mom turns the BIG 60 in a couple weeks. My sister, dad and I are throwing her a big party! I found a hideous pic of her when she was quite young.. the hair.. OMG... thankfully for us that hair doo went out back in the 70's. I tried up post a pic of the invite pictures.. but no luck.. I will do it tomorrow from work! lol.. My parents still look damn good for their ages.. not that 60 & 61 are old!

Well, that's about it for now! There is definately more to come in the next days. I have updates on the dating scene, party scene.. hmmm.. what else? I will think of more. Im glad to be back!

Cheers!! xoxo