On The Road

I'm feeling a bit discombobulated lately. I've barely been home and my routine is all out of whack. It's amazing how just a couple of days away can really throw a person off. Or at least me.

A little over a week ago, I headed to Atlanta for a work thing. I'd never been and was a bit worried about all sorts of things related to travel as it had been a while. Everything ended up being fine, but I did have a panic attack when I reached my hotel room.

This was a work thing and so there were work things I had to do most of the time so I didn't really get out much.

I had dinner Sunday night in the hotel bar.

Lonely beer for one.

My late dinner of grilled veggies and mashed potatoes.  It was worth the wait.

My food took a really long time to get to me and this had a big impact on my trip. Since I barely left the hotel and spent most meals eating at the hotel bar, I was overrun with customer service making it up to me for the rest of the trip. Free drinks and dessert and oodles of apologies whenever I came in sight of the manager. I wasn't even bitchy about my food being late that first night. I was way too tired and distraught to even care.

Free dessert. Chocolate mousse. It was so good I got again the next day.

But the overall customer service and friendliness from the people of Atlanta was amazing. Everywhere I went, I was greeted with big smiles and warm gestures.

I returned home late Tuesday evening sometime after 11pm. I was tired. I had to check out of my hotel room at 2, but my flight wasn't until 8:30 so I had been lugging my luggage for hours. And the Atlanta airport is no picnic. It was insanity. Not a single seat at any bar or restaurant for the longest time. Completely crowded.

I had to work the next two days and then there was a show (2 shows actually) that I had been looking forward to on Thursday night. So I went out. And it was a blast. Soda Pop Jerk, Rank Strangers, and Sex Rays at Palmers Bar on the West Bank in Minneapolis. It was great. So many friend were there. Great music. So much fun.

 Soda Pop Jerk.

Rank Strangers.

Sex Rays.

The only reason I could really attend this show, though, was because I had taken Friday off of work to decompress after the crazy week and to prep for Cannonball on Saturday.

Cannonball is an annual road trip, scavenger hunt, film festival put on my some friends of mine. Teams of 4 follow an itinerary that takes them throughout the state to a final location unknown until the morning of. Each team has a theme and general movie plot of their choosing and have to film their day at various locations and compile a short film to show at the end of the day. My team won last year.

It's a lot of fun but exhausting. You spend about 8 hours in a car, running around, filming, editing...it can be a long day. Then you get to the final location (a lodge somewhere) and you show your film and watch others and they are all super funny and then you spend the rest of the evening in a big house party. The house party part gets harder and harder each year. The older you get, the less appealing just crashing anywhere becomes. This time I forced myself to stay up until 4am and every last person was going to bed just so I could sleep on the super comfortable couch and not in the sweat lodge/stink room that was the communal bedroom. 

Some of our stops...

The Mermaid bar in Mounds View, MN.

Treasure City (somewhere in northern MN)

The Last Turn Saloon in Bemidji, MN where they serve burgers with egg rolls on them (this was not my dinner).

When you do finally get to your final location, it's dark and you don't really get to see where you are staying until the next morning. For example, I had no idea this was out the back door until I woke up in the morning:

Somewhere in Marcell, MN

I had taken Monday off of work, as well. After 5 years of Cannonball, I finally learned I need that extra day of recovery.

I then went to bed Monday night not feeling so great and woke up in the middle of the night unable to swallow. I seem to have caught a slight cold, which is completely expected. So now I'm just dealing with that. I stayed home sick yesterday after already being off of work last Friday and Monday - not to mention being out of town early last week in Atlanta.  So that's why I'm feeling discombobulated. I'm just out of sorts. I keep forgetting what day it is and what things I'm supposed to be doing. Like prepping for my residency at The Nomad in November (every Thursday!). I've just finally been able to concentrate on it. I'm sure I'll finally start feeling normal again by next Thursday just in time to play rock shows until 2am in the middle of the week. But that's okay. Because I really like playing rock shows. I hope you can make it out one of these nights! 

Things I Love Right Now

I just had this idea for a new reoccurring blog topic that will - like all of my reoccurring blog topics (see: Music Mondays, Favorite Songs Ever, Sunday Lists as examples) just die a quick death. But, whatever.

So I think - for now - I might make the first blog post of each month be about things I'm really loving at the moment. Things I'm really loving in all areas of all things.

So here goes (in no particular order)...

1. My black jeans.

I'm not saying I look super awesome in them or anything. It's just that I don't buy jeans because I don't find them all that comfortable. And the last time I tried to wear these I must have been super bloated or I've dropped a few pounds recently because they were one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever dressed my body in. But the other day I was in a pinch and needed something to wear and I put them on and they felt like sweatpants. So I've worn them pretty much every day since. So I should probably give them their props now because next week they most likely won't fit so well again and I will go back to hating them.


2. The Walking Dead

This show is quite the roller coaster, isn't it? And I don't just mean the intensity of each episode, but I mean how it can go from being a pretty good show to sucking so horribly to suddenly being ridiculously amazing. Three episodes into the third season and it seems to have finally figured itself out. But there's still a lot to go, so we'll see if it can hold up. (There I go. Always the pessimist).


3. "Good Intentions Paving Company" by Joanna Newsom



I've been in love with this song for a couple of months now. A week ago I had a show in Duluth and, driving home that night, I listened to this song 3 times in a row. I would have listened more, but I didn't want to be ridiculous. My goal is to write a song like this.


4. This dog.

The husband and I are totally ready to get a dog again. We still cry for Murray way more than is probably normal, but we are ready to have a dog in the house again. Unfortunately, the timing is just not that great right now. But I don't know. I've got it bad for this guy. If he's still available to adopt in a week...


5. Mashed Potatoes

OMG I could eat mashed potatoes for every meal and be so happy. Right now my favorite meal consists of a heaping helping of mashed potatoes, which I pick up from the Byerlys' hot dish meal deli section, fake bbq riblets, and corn. It's so good. Such comfort food.

The Sample Room

What seems like forever ago now, I had dinner at The Sample Room in NE Minneapolis to celebrate a friend's new job - and my new job, too, I guess.

I had been here once before, briefly, during Art-A-Whirl a couple of summers ago. We sat outside and I don't even think I had anything.

We ended up here for the celebration after a last minute search for a place to celebrate the night before. We called everywhere and there wasn't a single place that had a table for 7 at 6pm on a Saturday night. That seemed weird.

But since The Sample Room doesn't take reservations, we took our chances and managed to get a table in a very, very crowded restaurant.

Two things I liked about The Sample Room:
1. It was super crowded. There's something about having dinner with friends in a loud, crowded restaurant. It helps make it seem like more of a party. It wasn't obnoxiously loud. It's just a very small space and every table was filled with people chatting it up.
2. I did not spot any children there. Maybe due to the fact that it's a very small, loud restaurant, people don't think of it as a place to bring The Family. And I'm happy about that. I know people with kids are allowed to eat at restaurants, but some restaurants just don't feel like the kind of place that toddlers need to run around in and babies need to scream in. Some place just feel a little more "adult" and The Sample Room had that vibe. At least for that night.

Two things I did not like about The Sample Room:
1. The wait. It took FOREVER to get our food. We had plans to go see a friend's band for an early show and I was worried that we wouldn't make it - even though the early dinner time was partly planned to allow plenty of time to catch them. And then, when you're sitting there waiting for your food,  you end up drinking more and then the bill goes up and up and up...
2. The food. The food was...okay. There was nothing I had that I would tell people "OMG you HAVE to go to The Sample Room and have this dish!" And since it is the "sample" room, the servings are small, as you are supposed to share them and try many things. But they are also pricey and not very vegetarian friendly. So, my little bowl of potatoes was all I had and there really wasn't much else I could do about that.

But, for the most part, it was a pleasant experience and I would probably go again when I didn't have to be somewhere else at a certain time and now that I know what to expect.

Victory 44

One of my 10 Things for 2012 is to go to a new restaurant once a month. And so far I'm off to a good start!

I went to Victory 44 for a friend's birthday dinner. I was a little concerned, after going online to view their menu prior to dinner, because I'm a vegetarian and the menu picture they posted on their site showed only meat. I don't mind being around meat being consumed - I'm not one of those vegetarians - but when I go out to dinner, I like to eat something and there didn't appear to be anything on the menu for me. Also, everyone was planning on doing the Chef's Tasting which is a $50 for a five course meal, each course served with a glass of wine that is supposed to go perfectly with the dish. So, to spend $50 on food that I couldn't eat was a slight concern. But, I thought I could just sit and drink wine all night and that would be cool. I choose to be a vegetarian. I put myself in this situation and I was more looking forward to the hanging out with friends part.

But much to my surprise, the chef was happy to work with my vegetarianism and served me five courses all meat free that still each went with each glass of wine. And all of it was delicious. I would try to tell you what they served me, but I am no good with stuff like that so all I can say is that it was all very fancy and that one dish had roasted pears and I love pears.

Dessert was goat cheese and pomegranate seeds and it tasted just like ice cream. So. Good.

The atmosphere is great: Loud, but not obnoxious. Just loud enough where you don't feel like you have to sit and whisper. A very friendly wait staff. Good seating options. Clean bathrooms.

And the food was super tasty.

I'd recommend.