Where in the World is... BK?

The world's most overpriced sun shade, the toyota center, and Dusty are pretty much the only things I think of when I think of the Tri Cities... but it is still a fun enough weekend getaway destination. The Chiefs were playing the Americans so a large contingent of Chiefs fans invaded Tri for Saturday's big game. My blog can't do the trip anywhere cose to justice, definitely a 'should have been there weekend'. But here goes a recap!

The Tri trip pretty much centers around drinking. As such the mentaility held by most is drink often and excessively. People started with adult beverages at 4pm dinner at Red Robin, which stemmed into shots at the hotel bar, beers at the game, and then back to the hotel bar for some more fun. The game was awesome as not only did the Chiefs win, but most people were a few beers deep by then so were having a blast hitting people in the gropu with cheer sticks:) Back at the hotel bar our group had the whole upper tier of the seating area so had a great time jamming out to karokee, having heart to hearts, and making the occasional pit stop to the restroom for mini bottle shots.

By the time we called it a night from drinking 5 of us headed back to the room where debates over who was sleeping where, who broke a glass and who was going to feel like crap made for a late night. And sure enough by the time someone started chirping at 8am about how uncomfortable the floor had been, everyone else was too exhausted to care. Some could barely make it out of bed, while others were all about letting the tree frogs into the room. By the time everyone ate some grub at Shari's and our carvan left Pasco 3 of the 6 people in the group slept on the way home. Epic weekend as usual.

Zumba does not prepare a person for Salsa dancing

= ?

I have recently been doing Zumba as an exercise class at the YMCA. I had hoped that it would better prepare me for Salsa dancing as I've known for about two months that my cousin and I were going to go. However, when we got to the Salsa club my few zumba moves proved utterly useless! Clubbing in Vegas is a very different scene than Salsa dancing in Minneapolis. Normal clubbing moves are easy enough to figure out and if you aren't a good dancer you just wear a cute little dress and kind of shimmy and you're fine. However, Salsa moves are much more complicated, so if you dont know what you are doing you are pretty much screwed!

Initially I was quite excited for a night out on the town and checking out Minneapolis night life. However upon arrival and seeing the skill everyone in the club seemed to possess I was intimidated. I got a beer, hoping that would help calm my nerves/give me slight dancing ability. Unfortunately before I could drink more than a sip of it my cousin's friend came up and asked me to dance. He was a married, 30 year old Mexican guy who knew how to dance. I clearly did not. After an awkward few minutes the song thankfully ended and I could resume drinking my beer. Shortly thereafter my cousin and her Mexican husband hit the dance floor themselves to show off their moves. I was left standing alone with my beer at the bar.

Enter in guy number 2. Again I explained that I had no Salsa skills, again he didn't care and we attempted to dance. Clearly I failed miserably. Finally that song ended, I picked my beer back up, and another guy came up to talk to me. (As I type I realize there probably weren't any other unmarried females in the bar, as really had any guy actually watched me dance they would not have asked me to be their partner!) However, as the guys before, this one didnt mind my supposed lack of talent. We gave it a shot and actually had fun! He was much better at slowly explaining the dance moves and was patient so I didn't feel judged, as I had by the other 2. We ended up dancing the rest of the time I was there and I was disappointed when my cousin wanted to call it a night and head home. Not sure the next time I'm going to Salsa dance, but when I do I hope I end up with a patient partner as that made all the difference in the world!

Where in the World is... BK?

Charles Schultz, 10,000 lakes, and the Mall of America are a few things commonly associated with this past weekend's vacation destination.... that's right, You betcha, I was in Minnesota! I went to visit relatives and had a good time catching up with them as well as experiencing a Minnesota winter! I walked around part of one of their many lakes and remembered that I'm a California girl at the core! I think I have a picture all bundled up, but I dont think that's going to be posted as well I look warm, but like an idiot;) I didnt end up wearing my big puffy coat that took up half my duffle bag, so looks like I fail again at packing. Whoops!

Food update!

In case you somehow didn't get that memo... I like food:) Though this is a true statement for most people, the type of food I enjoy is slightly different. I'll admit it, I'm a picky eater. However, I like simple foods. Imagine what a 10 year old eats... that's pretty much encompasses the types of foods I consume:) The main difference between said middle schooler and me is not that I'm a foot taller, barely, but rather that I have had more opportunity to try foods from more places. The perfect example revolves around the burrito world. Yes my order consists of a regular bean, cheese, and rice burrito, which in the past year has had occasional additions of tomato, guacamole and sour cream, but I like things basic. People dont understand the greatness that is his type of burrito, but to me the best way to judge a restaurant is to see how they prepare basic things. If their standard cheese pizza is fantastic than odds are the rest of their more extravagant menu items are tasty as well. That all being said, the motivation for this post is that tomorrow I'm going to Minnesota. Obviously I am super excited to see my relatives, but the highlight of my day today was ordering my poppy seed bread!!! Tschida's bakery is a small place in St. Paul and they make the best poppy seed bread ever!!! Trust me! I've tried a variety of places in attempts to find a local option, yet sadly without success. Tomorrow stopping by Tschida's is the first thing I'm going to do upon landing in the Twin Cities:) Be jealous:)

Toaster Ovens, the under appreciated appliance

I ended up coming home for lunch today. It was glorious! Instead of staying at work and just microwaving a frozen lean cuisine I made a delicious lunch! I sliced up some havarti cheese, threw it on a pita and then after a quick toasting in my toaster oven added tomato and avocado to it. It was fantastic! As I was thoroughly enjoying the melted cheese, toasted flat bread creation I realized that many people under appreciate toaster ovens. True I typically only use mine to make pita sandwiches and pizza bagels, but really the toaster oven makes those tasty treats possible. I don't have the patience to wait for my oven to preheat and then bake my pizza bagel so realistically without the toaster oven pizza bagels would be stricken from my diet. Tragic I know! It is for this reason that I feel today we should all take a moment and appreciate our many useful kitchen items! :)

Deciphering dreams

Pretty sure there is some 'deeper meaning' associated with dreams. Perhaps they are the 'insight to your soul' or something. Though that could just be your eyes... Hmm... Anyways, I don't know what my dreams from last night say about me, but whatever it is I don't think it's a good thing!

My dreams consisted of Care Bears, which isn't cooompletely random as we talked about them at work earlier in the day. But then I had a nightmare about 2 dogs and 2 cats continually walking from my balcony into my living room. This second one really perplexes me seeing as I live on the second floor, don't have a balcony or screen door, and have never seen the dog or cat breeds around my apartment complex. It was scary though as if that actually happened I'd have no clue how to get the animals out! That dream perhaps stems from an incident a few months ago involving a hamster getting stuck in my heating vent... don't worry though the hamster and my heating vent both ended up being fine.

Packing...

Since I am out of town just about every weekend you'd think I'd get used to, and good at, packing. However this is tooootally not the case! No matter how many times I pack I continually make the same mistake of procrastinating and then overpacking. I always wait til the night before and then can't focus on the task at hand so end up taking about an hour and a half to pack. Even for a weekend trip. It happens. Granted last weekend it only took me about 10 minutes, but that was because my flight departed about an hour after I started packing so I didn't have time to waste. I'm going to Minnesota this weekend. I'm stoked to see relatives, but am dreading trying to fit snow boats and jackets into a duffle bag. Plus I'm going salsa dancing in Minneapolis my first day so then have to pack cute shoes, but snow appropriate shoes. I don't own any such shoes. And have plans tomorrow so can't go shoe shopping. I thought about it though:) I've tried mentally planning out outfits, but realistically all anyone is going to see is my jacket and scarf! Alas guaranteed tomorrow I'll be stressing over which of my gazillion tank tops to pack for layering purposes. It's a girl thing:) Perhaps I'll take an inventory of what I pack and post it. We'll see. Over/under for tank tops packed is 7. I'll be gone 4 days... any bets?

Finding eternal bliss... at a Trader Joe's near you... so if you're in Spokane the ultimate happiness is currently unattainable

Pretty sure that I'm the easiest person in the world to make happy. I went to Trader Joe's today and was in heavenly bliss for about a half hour as I perused the frozen food aisle. Everything just looked amazingly delicious! Back when I was applying to colleges I had a spreadsheet with a variety of categories to figure out which school was the best fit for me. At the time things like basketball rankings, proximity to ski resorts, and price of on campus laundry were important. Now that I'm an adult and trying to figure out where I'll end up living I'm realizing that having a local Trader Joe's would be quite instrumental in allowing me to lead a happy life:) As such, the next time I think about moving to a fresh city you can bet there is going to be a cell detailing how many Trader Joe's are in the general vicinity:)

Where in the World is... BK?

Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan, Jason Mesnick(the Bachelor), underachieving sports teams, and Starbucks are things associated with my current whereabouts:) That's right I am Sleepless in Seattle! I love flying in and seeing the bright city lights! Though it always makes me miss big city life. Spokane's view upon descent is nothing compared to the Emerald City. Granted the San Francisco Bay Area is still home to my favorite city skyline:) But I am quite happy to be in Seattle for the weekend seeing friends and family. Pretty much all that's on tap for the next few days is seeing the sights, eating some tasty Noah's Bagels, making a trip to Trader Joe's and watching the Super Bowl!

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego

So though I'm not nearly as cool as Carmen Sandiego, I do travel fairly frequently so am going to start a where in the world is BK segment. If you want your city to be featured let me know why I should come visit:) Food, fun people, and the ability to wear flip flops are all great motivators:)

Here I am! :)

World, get ready for the flavors! :)