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Tuesday Top 10: Trip to Chicago

Aug 092011

I am now home from my trip to Chicago and will be blogging about it in more depth when I get a chance to go through the 400+ photos I took ;)

My favorite things about this particular trip (many repeats from my Happy Saturday m8w1 post):

1. Mitsuwa Japanese Marketplace

2. Navy Pier

3. Madison Avenue

4. The Bean & Crown Fountain at Millenium Park

5. Spending time with family

6. Chicago-Style Pizza

7. Chicago Dogs at Portillo’s

8. Double-Decker Bus Tour

9. Giant Burgers at Al’s Char House

10. Seeing Sade in concert for the first time ever

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday Top 10: Cities to Live In

Top 10, Travel 3 Responses »

May 032011

Sometimes I dream of living somewhere other than the Twin Cities. I actually do love living here but there are other cities that I think I would love to live in (given I earned as much $ and cost of living was comparable)

1. Austin, TX

2. San Diego, CA

3. Portland, OR

4. Seattle, WA

5. Tucson, AZ

6. Anywhere in Hawaii

7. Boulder, CO

8. Vancouver, BC

9. Santa Fe, NM

10. Anywhere along Gulf Coast in FL

11. Boston, MA

What cities would you love to live in?

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday Top 20: Current NY Times Best Sellers

Books, Top 10 3 Responses »

Apr 262011

I have been gathering books for my summer reading, has anyone read any of these latest Bestsellers??? The one I have read are highlighted.

1		WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen. After his parents die in a car accident, a young veterinary student — and an elephant — save a Depression-era circus.	116

2		THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. Three women — a white socialite and two black maids — work on a tell-all book about black domestic servants in 1960s Mississippi.	2

3		THE 9TH JUDGMENT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. A mother and her child are gunned down, and Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women’s Murder Club have only a shred of evidence: a cryptic message scrawled in lipstick.	1

4		CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese. (Vintage, $15.95.) Twin brothers, conjoined and then separated, grow up amid the political turmoil of Ethiopia.	64

5		THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein. (Harper Paperbacks, $14.99.) An insightful Lab-terrier mix helps his owner, a struggling race car driver.	97

6		SOMETHING BORROWED, by Emily Giffin. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99.) A maid of honor to her charmed friend, Rachel White has always played by the rules. But that changes on her 30th birthday.	2

7		THE POSTMISTRESS, by Sarah Blake. (Berkley, $15.) A tale of two worlds and two women delivering the news in 1940: Iris James, a spinster who runs the post office in a coastal Massachusetts town, and Frankie Bard, a reporter in London with Edward R. Murrow.	11

8		HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, by Jamie Ford. (Ballantine, $15.) A friendship between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl in Seattle during World War II.	47

9	*	HEART OF THE MATTER, by Emily Giffin. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99.) Two women in a Boston suburb have little in common beyond a fierce love for their children, but their lives converge after a tragic accident.	5

10		EVERY LAST ONE, by Anna Quindlen. (Random House, $15.) After a shocking assault on her family, a woman must discover how to live the rest of her life.	3

11	*	THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO,by Stieg Larsson. (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $14.95.) A hacker and a journalist investigate the disappearance of a Swedish heiress; the first volume in the Millennium trilogy.	95
			Buy
12		THE JUDGMENT, by Beverly Lewis. (Bethany House, $14.99.) In Lancaster County’s Amish country, an engaged woman still pines for a man who has left the community under a cloud of suspicion.	2
			Buy
13		LITTLE BEE, by Chris Cleave. (Simon & Schuster, $14.) The lives of two women collide: a Nigerian refugee and an English magazine editor to whose home the refugee escapes after fleeing an immigration detention center.	61
			Buy
14		THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, by Stieg Larsson. (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $15.95.) In Volume 2 of the Millennium trilogy, the Swedish hacker Lisbeth Salander becomes a murder suspect.	56
			Buy
15	*	MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND, by Helen Simonson. (Random House, $15.) Love and cultural conflict among characters loosed in an English village.	20
			Buy
16		APE HOUSE, by Sara Gruen. (Spiegel & Grau, $15.) Bonobos disappear from a research laboratory and turn up on reality TV, to the consternation of a scientist who studies them.	2
			Buy
17		PRIVATE, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Grand Central, $14.99.) Jack Morgan, a former Marine and the head of an investigative firm, pursues the murderer of his best friend’s wife.	8
			Buy
18		A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD, by Jennifer Egan. (Anchor, $14.95.) Time is the relentless “goon squad” in this rock ’n’ roll novel, which explores the tattered lives of a cynical record producer and the people who intersect his world.
			Buy
19		THE ISLAND, by Elin Hilderbrand. (Reagan Arthur/Back Bay/Little, Brown, $14.99.) A woman, her daughters and her sister take refuge from life’s complications on a tiny island near Nantucket, but their time there is far from quiet.	6
			Buy
20	*	THE IMPERFECTIONISTS, by Tom Rachman. (Dial, $15.) The goings-on, presented from myriad points of view, among the neurotic staff of an English-language newspaper in Rome.	13

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday’s Top Ten: Best Smells

Top 10 7 Responses »

Apr 192011

Tuesday again already! My Top 10 this week is……. favorite smells (no particular order). No surprise that many of these are foods! lol

1. Fresh Citrus

2. Peppers & onions cooking

3. Sizzling Bacon

4. Easter Lilies

5. Pizza baking in a old & seasoned pizza oven

6. Acqua de Gio

7. Apple Crisp (or pie)

8. Baking Pumpkin

9. Char- Grilled Meats

10. Clean Laundry

11. Coconut

12. Gardenia

What are your favorite smells?

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Top 10: Things I miss about Dusty

Cats, Top 10 1 Response »

Apr 122011

I have quite a few more cat/animal posts that I will be writing about in the next few weeks, hopefully you’ll stick around and not be too bored ;)

It has been almost a week since My Dusty died and although I am feeling more at peace with it, there are many things about him that I will always miss

I am so cute! (Dusty)

1. He was my shadow, always following me around

2. He was a great cuddler and loved to sit in my lap or on my chest

3. Purring in my ear at night and wanting to sleep as close to me as possible (if not ON me)

4. Hanging out with me in the bathroom while I took a bath

5. Dusty kisses (even if he did have stinky breath)

6. He was extremely passive and non-aggressive

7. He was great around all kids and animals, very gentle

8. He could sense when I was coming home and was always there to greet me

9. He would come when I called him, no matter where he was in the house or if he was sound asleep

10. The days when he was a very fat gray cuddly koala bear

11. He always hung out with me on the deck while I sat in the sun or read a book

Yep, I really miss him :(

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday Top 10: Most Bizarre Foods I’ve Eaten

Top 10 7 Responses »

Apr 052011

I have blogged before about Bizarre Foods and since I am also trying to make a comeback with my regular weekly features such as Tuesday Top 10, today I am listing foods (meats) that I have eaten that are not considered ordinary (although I don’t consider any of these truly that bizarre). I’ll try just about anything within reason as long as it isn’t still breathing ;)

1. Lengua (tongue)

2. Tripe and Intestines

3. Alligator

4. Rabbit

5. Bear

6. Elk

7. Uni (sea anemone)

8. Shark

9. Octopus and squid

10. Turtle

11. Frog Legs

How about you? Have you tried any of these things? What would make your list of Bizarre Foods you have eaten? Bloggers…. go make your own Top 10 list and I will link back to it here.

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday’s Top 10: Talents and Abilities I Wish I Had

Top 10 1 Response »

Nov 162010

It has been months since I last posted a Tuesday Top 10, but I got today’s List Idea from a local radio station who usually has a Top 10 of some kind on Tuesdays.

I wish I was able to:

Teleport
Read Minds
Sing
Fluently speak every language in the world
Metabolize like a teenage boy
Correctly Guess the Winning Lottery #s
Heal the Sick
Make Time Stop
Be in Two Places at Once
Photographic Memory

What talents and abilities do you wish you had? Feel free to repost!

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday’s Top 10: Breakfast Foods

Food and Drink, Top 10 3 Responses »

Mar 232010

I love breakfast foods! Even for dinner sometimes ;)

My favorite Breakfast Foods include (there are probably more out there that I would like but have never tried?):

1. Breakfast burrito (egg, potato, meat, veggies, hot sauce, etc)

2. Fried egg/bacon/cheddar/mayo sandwich on toast

3. French Toast with maple syrup

4. Omelet (white cheddar or swiss, meat, shroom, veggie)

5. Buttermilk Pancakes

6. Corned Beef Hash

7. My mom’s Caramel Rolls

8. Egg Bake Casserole (I like almost all of them!)

9. Muffins/Donut/Danish

10. Belgian Waffles with Strawberries

11. Oatmeal

12. Grits with butter, ham, cheese and seasonings

13. Bagel with cream cheese

What are your favorite breakfast foods??

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday’s Top 10: Things to do on a Rainy Day

Top 10 No Responses »

Mar 162010

Spring is indeed right around the corner, the rain is a sure sign!!

Here is my list of favorite things to do on a rainy day. Kind of boring and lazy, but isn’t that what rainy days are all about?

1. Sleep late

2. Read a good book

3. Watch a movie or Tv

4. Snuggle

5. Put together a jig-saw puzzle

6. Bake something sweet and delicious

7. Listen to music

8. Play cards or other game

9. Tell/listen to ghost stories or watch scary movies

10. Catch up on tons of Computer/Internet Stuff

What do YOU like to do on rainy days??

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday Top 10: Ways I’d Rather Waste $2k+

Top 10 5 Responses »

Mar 022010

My vehicle has been in the “shop” for the past few days and if tomorrow goes as expected, repairs will be done by the end of the night on Wednesday (finger crossed). It’s looking like the repairs will be around $2000 but could be much higher. Stinks, stinks, stinks. So anyway, today’s Top 10 List is about all the other things I would rather have blown $2k on if I had an extra $2k to blow.

1. A Romantic Tropical Vacation

2. Practically every camera lens I ever wanted

3. About 700 ice cream treats ~ enough to last me 10 years

4. Girls Get-Away somewhere with all my Besties

5. A lifetime supply of shoes

6. A new wardrobe

7. Large Flat Screen TV

8. New Mac to replace home computer

9. New carpet

10. One-0f-a-kind Artwork

But instead I am putting it into my car. Nothing fun about that at all.

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday’s Top 10: Biggest Tear-Jerkers

Movies, Top 10 2 Responses »

Feb 232010

I am not a big movie person, but I can be quite emotional/sensitive sometimes when I watch them. It seems like there are many movies that have made me cry but these are the ones over the years that really made an impact on me when I watched them for the first time.

1. Titanic

2. E.T.

3. Bambi

4. Forrest Gump

5. Beaches

6. Steel Magnolias

7. Lion King

8. Big Fish

9. Green Mile

10. A Walk to Remember

11. My Life

12. My Girl

What are the saddest movies you have ever seen?

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Tuesday’s Top 10: Favorite Desserts

Top 10 3 Responses »

Jan 122010

It has been a few weeks at least since I posted a Top 10 (or in many case, Top 12!). Couldn't think of anything ingenious off the top of my head so I'll go with something that comes easy for me to think of …….. desserts!

1. Ice Cream (sundae, malt, etc)

2. White Chocolate Chip Macademia Nut Cookies

3. Carrot Cake

4. Cheesecake

5. Apple Crisp or Apple Turnovers

6. German Chocolate Cake

7. Peanut Butter Blossoms

8. Pumpkin Bars

9. Chocolate Chip Cookies

10. Turtle Bars (my Gram's recipe)

11. Flan

12. Tres Leches Cake

What are your favorite desserts? Make your own list and post to your blog!

Tuesday’s Top 10: Favorite 80′s Fashion

Top 10 6 Responses »

Dec 222009

Today's Top 10 gives us another chance to look at the wonderful 80's. This list is my favorite fashionable items of the 80's. This does not mean I would wear any of it today, no matter how popular this stuff is again! But here is proof that I was as awesome as it gets in the 80's!

1. Jelly Shoes & Jelly Bracelets

2. Plastic charm bracelets

3. NEON

4. Big HAIR (permed of course!)

5. Reebok high tops in every color

6. Big hair ribbons

7. Pinned or rolled jeans

8. Tights (textured, colored, you name it!)

9. Big, Bright Funky Patterns

10.Banana Clips

11. Puff-painted and jeweled t-shirts and sweatshirts

12. Leg warmers

13. Acid washed denim

14. Anything with Scottie dogs

15. Esprit Bags

I am sure I forgot many fashionable items on this list…… what was your favorite 80's fashion??

Tuesday’s Top 10: Favorite 80′s Movies

Top 10 14 Responses »

Dec 082009

I know I am slightly dating myself with this post, but I was a child of the 80's. What a wonderful decade to grow up! Here is my list of Favorite Movies of the 80's

1. Karate Kid

2. The Goonies

3. Ghostbusters

4. Sixteen Candles

5. E.T.

6. Indiana Jones

7. Purple Rain (totally inappropriate at age 8 but what can I say? Prince has always been my man)

8. Adventures in Babysitting

9. Willy Wonka

10. Star Wars

ETA at 6:21pm: There are a few more 80's movies I had to add since this morning when I first posted this

11. Dirty Dancing

12. Stand by Me

13. Back to the Future

14. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (How did I forget this??!! It was almost my #1 Fave)

What were your favorite movies from the 80's?? Go ahead and make your own list and post it on your blog!

Tueday’s Top 10: My Christmas List

Top 10 2 Responses »

Dec 012009

I know I have been a good girl this year, but I don't know if Santa can afford the list I have put together!

Camera
Flat screen TV
A tropical vacation
A new car
Jewelry
A new backpack/computer bag
Clothes and shoes
Scarfs, gloves, socks, slippers, boots
Purse & wallet
Gift certificates to restaurants

What are you hoping to get for Christmas this year? Go ahead and make your own Top 10 and post it on your blog!

Tuesday’s Top 10: Thanksgiving Day

Top 10 2 Responses »

Nov 242009

This week's edition of Tuesday's Top 10 is looking at my Favorite Things about Thanksgiving Day.

1. Celebrating with Family

2. Green Bean Casserole

3. Apple Pie

4. Pumpkin Pie (and pecan pie too!)

5. Turkey

6. Stuffing

7. Mashed Potatoes & Gravy

8. Football

9. Traditional walk-around-the-block after dinner

10. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (okay, its been years since I watched it, but it was a favorite as a kid)

Tuesday’s Top 10: Favorite Foods

Top 10 7 Responses »

Nov 172009

Alrighty, here we go with another installment of Tuesday's Top 10. This week I will list my favorite foods. This is super hard for me because I love food so much, it is hard to narrow down just 10 (as it is with all my Top 10 lists!). lol. These are not in any particular order

1. Tacos

2. Sushi

3. Calzones

4. Steak (ribeye, T bone or fillet)

5. Ice Cream

6. Chicken Pita with Spicy Feta

7. Beef Hot Dogs

8. Reuben Sandwich

9. Sesame Chicken

10. Buffalo Wings

11. Thai Green Curry with chicken & vegetables

I knew I wouldn't be able to stop at 10! I could go on and on with all the foods I like!

What are your favorite foods?

Tuesday’s Top 10: Travel Destinations

Top 10, Travel 7 Responses »

Nov 102009

Did you know that I got a passport nearly 3 years ago and I have yet to use it?! Oh well, at least I have one and can be ready to go in an instant if I ever score a trip abroad ;)

Anyway, this week's Top 10 on Tuesday are my future travel destinations. Because someday I WILL go to these places (and many others, these are just my Top 10!).

1. Costa Rica

2. Barcelona, Spain

3. Japan

4. Rio de Janiero, Brazil

5. Hawaii

6. Netherlands

7. Italy (and Greece!)

8. Australia

9. Alaska

10. Thailand

If any of you have ever been to these places, I am seriously jealous!

Tuesday’s Top 10: Concerts

Concerts, Top 10 3 Responses »

Nov 032009

In an effort to blog more, today I have put together a list of the Top 10 concerts I have been to (and ya'll know I have been to MANY over the years). It was hard to decide but I chose the shows that were a combo of awesome stage presence, emotional impact and just plain FUN!

1. Santana at Hard Rock in Vegas 12-31-99 (most memorable way I can think of to ring in the new millenium!)

2. Prince (can't pinpoint which has been my favorite, I've been to too many!)

3. Tom Petty (amazing)

4. Roger Waters (WOW! If only I had been old enough to see Pink Floyd back in the day)

5. The Police Reunion Tour (kick ass)

6. Queensryche (many of their shows rocked my socks off)

7. Cynic (I am so happy they got back together and that I got to witness it. I love love love the album Traced in Air)

8. Pantera (RIP Dimebag Darrell)

9. Steve Vai & Joe Satriani (best guitar players in the world!)

10. Snoop Dogg (*this might've been the most fun at a concert I ever had!)

11. Sevendust (One of my all-time favorite bands, I almost forgot to add them to my list!)