The Great MN Get Together

Today Jared & I spent a full 7 hours at the MN State Fair! Even though it was the coldest weather we've ever experienced at a State Fair (65 degrees), we had a ton of fun together. Here are some highlights:

Australian Battered Potatoes - A+

That ass would make a great purse

Excuse me, Miss, your teets are showing

Making New Friends

Cuddle Buddies

Scotch Eggs (Hard-boiled egg surrounded by sausage, deep fried) A+

Chocolate Covered Bacon from Famous Daves - B

Sweet Martha's Cookies & Ice Cold Milk - A (as always)

Sweet Martha's Cookies Slowest Employee of the Year - F!! (our line was lapped about 5 times, we think he may have been smoking something)

Playing with Heavy Machinery

Buffalo Kebabs - C (the meat was too tough)

We think we're funny because we stick our heads through oval cut-outs on wood board

On the State Fair version of the chair lift

Stewie NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swirly Potato Dog - B+

Island Noodles (Bazaar) - B-

#1 Vikings Fan

Dairy Building Strawberry Malt - A (forgot to take picture)

And then, there was...

TGIFinally

It's finally Friday...time to celebrate by splurging on some fantastic food, of course. Tonight we tried Cristos in St. Paul. It is a Greek restaurant in the old Union Depot, which made for a beautiful & romantic atmosphere. They often hold weddings in this location with high ceilings, marble floors and large windows along each side of the room. We had read great reviews about the food at both this location and the Minneapolis location (on Eat Street) and thought it absolutely lived up to our expectations. We started out with an eggplant "hummus" appetizer (I won't even bother trying to remember how to spell the actual name), and then split a sampler plate of the most popular dinner entrees. My favorite was the lamb meat, while Jared liked the sausage. We had a LOT of leftovers! And of course, vino was enjoyed. After dinner we joined some friends at Grand 7 in Saint Paul for our friend Becca's birthday. That place is an awesome little dive bar! The bartender Gina pours 'em strong and the regulars are so comfortable with each other and the bar that they broke out into a full out male dance party. It was hilarious. Yay for the weekend!

Mischief Maker...

The above was taken last summer when we were living in Columbus (on a pool day, as you can see by my outfit).

See what happens when you don't have any friends and need to find ways to entertain yourself??

WHAT A WEEK this has been. We've been SUPER busy at work - so much so that I forget to even go to the bathroom, let alone take time to eat or do anything else. And not to mention I've been so scatter-brained that yesterday morning when I was trying to "multi-task" by putting some BBQ ribs in the crock pot before work, that I forgot to turn the oven broiler off before leaving the condo and almost burnt the place down. Oops!

I've come home every night tired, malnourished and needing vino. Friday can't come soon enough...

Love is in the air...

...Can you feel it? This past weekend was wonderful and wedding-filled. On Saturday Jared & I participated in the (mandatory) "Engaged Couples Retreat" at the Basilica. What we were initially dreading turned out to be a pretty good day with cool people, good food and interesting conversation. The topic of the day was "Temperament". Temperament by definition is "the combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person; natural predisposition." Temperament runs deeper than personality, as it is just the natural tendencies that a person is born with. The marriage counselor opened the day by telling us that we were going to learn about our own temperament and that of our future spouse. She then followed by telling us, "You can't change your temperament, nor can you change anyone else's. So we have to learn how to accept our partner's temperament in full or we should not marry that person." Yikes! That scared me right off the bat! ...what if Jared finds out that I'm a complete lunatic!? :) kidding, kidding... maybe So anyway, the counselor and her husband talked to us about life, love, their own temperaments, and how they've learned to live with each other and love each other unconditionally over the years. They even said the word "sex"... in a church...and they're old. That kind of gave me the heebies. eww When they finally passed us our own temperament analysis (they made us take a test weeks before the session) Jared & I tore open the envelopes like kids on Christmas. Tell me who I am, God! And we were pleasantly...ehh...not surprised. Turns out we knew exactly who we were, and who each other were. Based on the analysis, everyone's temperament can be identified by three areas in their lives: Social, Control & Affection. Here are our results, in a nutshell (all numbers are on a scale from 1-10):

1. Social Needs: Jared & I both have a fairly high "need" to be invited/included in social events (both 7s). We like people to like us. However, I have a higher need to initiate social events or situations (me=8, he=4), so I need to realize he may not always be up for hosting a Sunday BBQ. He also needs to realize that because I have a slightly higher need for socialization, I'm going to be socializing without him once in awhile. We can handle that.
2. Control: This area surprised us more than any of the other categories. Before seeing our results, Jared assumed it was going to tell me that I'm a control freak. I mean, I do control a lot of the areas in our lives and relationship. But, I actually have a low need for control (4) and a higher want to have someone else in control (6). When we saw that, it suddenly made complete sense. I am ALWAYS asking for his or someone else's opinion before making a final decision on anything (and I mean anything). Deep down, I would love for someone to just make my life easier and tell me what to do. Jared, on the other hand, is kind of an "odd duck" in the control area. He has a VERY LOW need for control (1) but also a VERY LOW want to have someone else control him (1). So basically, it's very hard for Jared to make any changes in life because he doesn't want to take control of his actions nor does he want someone to take control for him. In conclusion, I have to accept the fact that I probably will always have to be the one to take charge, and he has to accept that I'm going to take charge. We can handle it, but this might be where we face the most challenges.
3. Affection: No problems here - we both had identical scores. We both have a high need for affection (7) and a high desire to give affection (8). Fun :)

So, that might be a little TMI, but this will be fun to look back on in 10 years and we can see how our temperaments "shook out".

Immediately following the retreat we rushed over to the Conservatory at Carlson for the wedding of our friends, Jake & Salwa. Jared was in the band with Jake for awhile, and we've all kept in touch through it all. The wedding was fabulous, the bride looked beautiful, the food was out of this world, and we all had on our dancing shoes. My favorite kind of night.

And to top off the weekend, on Sunday a bunch of my girls came over for a "Vegas Town hall Meeting" AKA planning session for Halloween weekend & my bachelorette in Vegas! It made us even more excited for the big weekend, and the girls gave me a sneak-preview of the dress they are making for me to wear on the night of my bachelorette. It is short, white, SUPER CUTE, and even better...compliments of the lovely Jenny Carle Designs.

Have I mentioned that I have the best friends in the world?

Foodie Friday

If you haven't noticed, Jared & I have a little tradition. Every Friday we treat ourselves to a new restaurant in the Twin Cities. It is usually my favorite night of the week, because it is the one evening we can splurge on ourselves "guilt-free" and dedicate our entire love, time and attention on each other. Tonight we tried out Barrio in Saint Paul. It is famous for being a tequila bar (there is one in both Minneapolis & St. Paul), and we have been wanting to see what the hype is all about for awhile now. We were immediately impressed by the atmosphere. It is decorated beautifully, with beautiful lighting, beautiful music, beautiful people, etc. They even had TVs on in the bar, where we got to watch Favre dressed in purple! We each ordered one of their signature margaritas, which was honestly the only $9 margarita we've ever ordered that WE BOTH felt gave us our "booze worth" for the money. We then continued to order an array of their "small plates", probably too many, but my oh my was it fun!! Things we loved: Chorizo enchilada, guacamole, tequila shrimp, chicken tostadas, steak tacos Things we thought were "ok": crab empanadas (too bready) So as you can see, we loved more than we didn't love. A+!! Question of the day: Are you happy? I am. I really, really am :) I am so blessed to have so many great people in my life. I love you all: my fiance, sisters, family, friends, in-laws (almost), co-workers; thank you for being the best.

Recipe Thursday

I thought I would share a few good recipes that I've recently come across: Ashley's Awesome Teriyaki So I made up this recipe last night. I decided to make broccoli, brown rice, and fish with an asian glaze. I didn't have a recipe for an "asian glaze", so I used my knowledge for making sauces along with the "asiany" ingredients I had in my cupboard and came up with what both Jared & I consider to be the best teriyaki sauce we've ever had. Heat approx. 2TBS olive oil over medium heat. Add approx. 1 tsp chopped garlic and 1TBS ground ginger and saute until fragrant (about 30 secs). Add 2TBS soy sauce, 2tsp fish sauce, and 2TBS brown sugar. Simmer over low heat, stirring often, for approx. 5 minutes. Enjoy! Summer Sangria This next recipe I got compliments of my awesome co-worker Niki. We share a passion for good food and good wine! ½ cup Brandy ¼ cup lemon juice 1/3 cup frozen lemonade concentrate 1/3 cup orange juice 1 bottle red wine ½ cup triple sec 1 lemon (sliced in rounds) 1 lime (sliced in rounds) 1 orange (sliced in rounds) 1 Fuji Apple (sliced thin) 1 Peach (sliced thin) ¼ cup sugar (optional) Mix all the ingredients above and let sit overnight Top with soda water (or ginger ale if you want it sweeter) If you want to make it white sangria just use white wine. I would also switch the ½ cup brandy and ½ cup triple sec for 1/3 cup brandy 1/3 cup peach schnapps 1/3 cup triple sec.

Long Weekend at the Cabin

Why is it that there isn't a happier place on Earth than a North Woods cabin? Is it because us Minnesotans were raised to cherish the smell of pine, the sound of loons, and the look of the early morning sun reflecting off one of our 10,000+ lakes? Or is it just because beer tastes that much better at a slightly dumpier version of home where a bonfire is the main evening attraction? Who knows and who really cares. Cabins are just the best. This past weekend Jared & I joined his family at their cabin near Sturgeon Lake, MN. It was a great time, as usual, but I am very upset with myself that I did not get ANY pictures while we were there. Especially because I tried waterskiing for the first time ever and got up on my 4th try! Not too shabby, ay? But anyway, to make a long story short, the weekend was spent playing cards, making bonfires, floating in our deluxe floaties, watersports on the boat, eating tons of food, and drinking our favorite outdoor summer drink: "Strip & Go Nakeds" (recipe below). Oh yes, and we also got to spend some quality bonding time with our OH SO CUTE niece (God Daughter) Avery, and nephew Jaxon (cue in the "awwww"s): The weather was on & off, and when rain came on Sunday morning we decided to make the 1/2 hour drive to Duluth for a little antique shopping and to catch a movie: District 9. This movie got great reviews but it didn't do much for me. None the less, what should have been a rainy gloomy day turned out to be a great one. Worst part of the weekend: On Sunday morning as I was carefully walking down a wet flight of outdoor stairs, my flip-flop slipped out from under me and I slid down about 8 stairs right on my butt. Jared, who was standing on the ground below, watched me in horror as he witnessed what he later explains as, "Ashley with a possessed look on her face sliding down half the stairs, pausing for a second, and then proceeding to slide down the rest while looking me straight in the eye, as if she didn't like my reaction enough from her first fall." I have no clue what he's talking about, as that sounds like a scene from The Excorcist to me, but no matter what the explanation is I still have a huge black bruise right on my tush. :-/ We came home on Monday, and that night was a great extension to a great weekend as my bridesmaids and I picked out and ordered dresses! We did end up going with the dress posted below, in a color called "firecracker", which is I'd say a mix between peach and salmon. Hard to explain, but pretty. Check! Recipe for Strip & Go Nakeds Ingredients: 6 cans of beer 12 oz Frozen Lemonade Concentrate (1 carton) 12 oz Vodka Directions: Mix all ingredients together in large pitcher. Serve over ice & enjoy.

Limo Bus = Reserved!

I FINALLY sent in the contract for our limo bus on the day of our wedding. I am SO excited!! We are using Custom Luxury, and are really happy to have found such an inexpensive and great service. They are charging us $312 for 2 hours, and that includes gratuity! One of the benefits of a long engagement is that I've realy had the time to do my research on every single aspect of the wedding and be as frugal as possible. While we want a beautiful day, we don't want to be paying it off once the day is over. Theknot.com message boards have really helped me find great deals in the area, such as this one. I'm pretty sure all other limo companies I have looked into or talked to at wedding fairs charge at least $600 for 2 hours, so this feels like a steal!

The Krystal Coach Limo Bus:

42" Plasma TV

DVD Player

Sony Playstation

Kareoke Machine

Stereo System

Fiber Optic Accent Lighting

...if we don't show up at the reception...it might be because we decided to stay and party in the bus!!

The Blizzard Diet

Today the wonderful and holy Dairy Queen was running a special where half of their Blizzard proceeds went to the Children's Miracle Network. Well now, what better excuse to get out of the office with your entire team and eat the guilt-laden Blizzard, than to save children!? So needless to say, I had a Blizzard for lunch. A banana split one. And it was delicious. You know, just saving the world, one Blizzard at a time. I think I was made fun of everyone on my team for buying such a boring, nasty, fruit-filled Blizzard. But I was thinking ahead, you see. With the wedding coming up, I have calories on the brain, and even the thought of eating a Blizzard horrifies me. So, like any borderline obsessive calorie counting bride would, I went on calorieking.com before we made the trip and discovered that a small banana split blizzard has less calories than all the rest, and comes in at a mere 440 calories. Score! So I ate that blizzard. I ate it good. I scraped the bottom of that paper cup hard with my spoon, and at the end even tipped it upside down to let every last creamylicious drop fall on my tounge. That's what she said. Then it was gone. Lunch was over. Usually that's the time when I head straight to the chocolate bowl for my 2 pieces of "desert". But, I didn't want any. Didn't I just have "desert", in a way? Hmm. Then 3'oclock rolled around, which usually means it's time for another piece of chocolate. But wait...I was still full from my Blizzard. Hmm. So 5'oclock finally came, and on my drive home I performed my usual ritual of thinking back to what I ate that day and how many calories I probably consumed. Normally there is a list of things: apple, yogurt, sandwich, granola bar, 3 pieces of chocolate...about 600 calories total, give or take. But today, the Blizzard stood alone, at a mere 440 calories. So from here on out, I'm going to go where no woman has gone before, and begin the Blizzard Diet. It satifies, eliminates the need for an afternoon desert, and even has 11 grams of protein. And if it works, I am bound to be more famous than Jared the Subway guy. 7 pounds and 8 months to go. Bring on the Blizzards...

Time flies when you're having fun

I can't believe the weekend has passed us by and it's already TUESDAY. Holy Crap. This weekend was quite blastastic. On Saturday some of us girls tailgated and then went to a St. Paul Saints game to celebrate our beloved friend Micki's 25th birthday. MAN we are getting old! As I told Micki, while gifting her with a bottle of Jose Cuervo Strawberry Margaritas and a bag of corn nuts, "The age of 25 reminds me of Full House, when Uncle Jessie turned 25, and Aunt Becky reminded him that he was halfway to 50." Ick, ick on a stick. By Sunday morning, it was time to finally visit the Uptown Art Fair (which, we discovered, is the 2nd largest gathering in Minnesota outside of the State Fair). We started the morning over brunch at Spring Street in Northeast Minneapolis. It was my first time there, and I was very pleased to find awesome breakfast food and easily the BEST BLOODY MARY I have had in my entire life. And that is no lie. The art fair was fun, but hot, and everything was far above our budget. So we wanted out of there fairly quickly. Today, 4 of my bridesmaids and I went BM dress shopping for the 2nd time. The first time, we went to The Wedding Shoppe in Saint Paul. We were horrified with the customer service, but ended up finding a dress that everyone really liked. After Six 6553:

Not satisfied with only one shopping trip, tonight we headed to Pricilla of Boston in the 50th & France area of Edina. As you can imagine, the shop was gorgeous and the customer service was night & day from The Wedding Shoppe. But unfortunately, none of the dresses that were in our buget really "wowed" everyone. It's hard to find something when there are so many different opinions, tastes and body types. So, back to square one! I have a feeling we'll ultimately choose the dress above - don't you always go back to the one that first caught your eye?

I will leave you this evening with a quote from Family Guy that just made Jared giggle like a school girl on the couch...

Stewy to Brian: "Something positive: You look like Snoopy and it makes me smile. Something negative: You have smelly dog farts."

Doesn't take much, does it? ;)

TGIF...burp.

Why is it that Fridays are so much sweeter when you have the day off? Today was a great day. We had our first cake tasting at the Roseville Bakery! This was the one part of wedding planning that I have looked forward to since I first knew what a wedding was. The owner, Amy, sat down with us and let us try a lot of great cakes. They were delicous, and definitely budget friendly, so it seems like a win for us. After the tasting, we met some of my work friends at Pancho Villa, by FAR our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Minneapolis (and trust me, we've tried quite a few). They have all day happy hour Monday-Friday, which include 2x1 drinks and margaritas. and not to mention, the BEST spanish kareoke in town. Que divertido. YUM. *** By far the highlight of the day was dinner. We finally tried Rudolph's, a locally "famous" BBQ place on the Lyndale/Franklin cross-street in Minneapolis. This place absolutely lived up to the hype. We split a half-rack of both the spare and baby back ribs, and both were seasoned and grilled to perfection. DOUBLE YUM. **** Speaking of food, which seems to be the topic of the day, I'd like to close this posting with a little story from last night: It turned out that not only did I have today off, but so did a few of my girlfriends. That can only mean one thing: ladies night. We had a great time at Stella's and the new Cowboy Slim's in Uptown, and at the end of the night, as any woman would, we wanted FOOD. Luckily for us, there is a 24hour McDonalds a block away from both bars. Unluckily for us, it is drive-thru only, and we were walking home. Hmmm....pretty sure going through a drive-thru on foot is not only looked down upon, but illegal. Right? Oh don't worry, my friends are clever & determined, and it wasn't long until they had a solution... They walk up to a car sitting in the McDonalds drive-thru line... (knock, knock) Man rolls down window. "Excuse me, sir, can we sit in your back seat and order food with you?" "Ummm, sure. Hop on in." So, we proceeded to get into a stranger's car, order our 2am value meals, and then even get a ride home from the guys that we later found out were French cooks at Vincent's and actually really, really cool. Just a day in the life...

Who are these DINKs?

When I first considered starting a blog, the one thing that made me nervous was wondering, "How do I start it out? Do I need to introduce myself?" Chances are, the two people that might read this are people we already know, love, and talk to on a daily basis. So introductions seem a little, eh, silly. Even so, I feel a little bit like I'm entering the unknown here, and the only way I know how to react to the unknown is by smiling and saying... "Hi, I'm Ashley. It's great to meet you." Me I'm a graduate of a private Catholic university in St. Paul, MN. I majored in Entrepreneurship and Spanish, with the hopes that I'd someday move to a foreign country and open a little restaurant on the beach. Hey - there's still time, right!? In the meantime, I work in sales for a major product manufacturer in the Twin Cities, and have become pretty passionate about my work. And well, the job is pretty "cushy," which helps. Him His name is Jared. He is a full time student, and also works full time at a company that lets him do pretty cool stuff like guard top secret government "junk". And no, I'm not a cradle rocker! He took a slight "detour" after his first year at college and joined a band, which became pretty darn successful after he jumped on the bandwagon (no pun intended). He basically spent 4 amazing years hunkered down in a studio writing & recording music and touring the U.S. with the band. Epicurean (the band) is still going strong, but he has decided to take off his touring hat and trade it in for school, a career, and a happy fiance. You can still find their CD in stores like Best Buy, and watch out for their second album coming out next year! US

We've been dating for 6 years. Met in high school, but didn't start dating until just after I graduated. We've made it through the ups & downs of long distance (I worked in Ohio for a year after college) and the band touring, and he popped the BIG QUESTION last fall. We currently own a condo in "the city" a.k.a. Uptown Minneapolis, and are planning a wedding for the Spring of 2010!

So, I'm assuming this blog will be a lot about our life together, the new restaurants we try ever so often, politics, movies, cooking, wine, wedding planning, our hilarious friends, and whatever little surprises life has in store for us. Hopefully by the end of this crazy little thing called life, we'll have a good story to tell.

Just to give you an example of how exciting and spontaneous a typical night is for us, the following is a recap of last night:

After spending a few hours chatting and enjoying nice summer beverages on the patio with our beautiful friend Lindsay, we were getting ready to turn in for the night and flipped on The Food Network (big mistake). The show on was featuring the best burgers in the U.S., with a portion highlighting the godliness that is White Castle burgers, better known as "sliders" (for more reasons than one). Jared looked at me, at 10:30 at night mind you, and insisted, "We're going to White Castle!!"

So, last night at 11:00pm, while most of you were sleeping, we were in the drive through hearing, "Whatchu cravin' fo!?"

What...not the kind of "spontaneity" you would have expected??

D.I.N.K. in the City

It is very possible that this blog title gave you a strange visual at first glance. I can hear the thoughts going through your head right about now, "DINK in the City? Is that some sort of male sequel to 'Sex and the City'"? :) No, silly. D.I.N.K. in the marketing world refers to people with "Double Income, No Kids." DINKs are typically couples who have two stable incomes coming into their household, but either don't have kids yet or just don't want kids all togther. Either way, DINKs to marketers and salespeople = $$. No, I'm not rich by any means. But us DINKs have no one else to spend money on nor anyone else's lives to worry about but our own. Sure, we care immensely about the wellbeing of our family and friends, but at the end of the day we are only responsible for ourselves. And because we don't have kids waiting for us when we get home from work, nor can we fully enjoy the "singles" bar scene as much as our single peers, we typically need to find other ways to entertain ourselves day in and day out. And that, my friends, can prove to be one of the most exciting, boring, fun, unfulfilling, scandalous, and awkward stages in life. How can I use so many different adjectives in one sentense, you might wonder. Want to find out?