Happy Hour at Chez Animal Hair Can I get you a drink?

We went out to dinner this evening (another amazing meal at Quang Deli…YUM). When we got home, I got out of the car and there was a cat sitting on the doorstep of the neighbors house. He mewed at me and I went over to say hi. He walked right up to me and I put my hand out, he rubbed up against me. Very sweet and very trusting. I assumed he belonged to the neighbors. Greg came over and said hi to him too, scratched him on the butt, etc. We said bye and went toward our gate. He jumped off the porch and came running after us.

We let him into the yard for a little bit then sent him away, said goodbye and thanks for visiting. As soon as I shut the gate he tried to climb over it to get back in.

We let the dogs out and Bear ran straight to the fence scaring the shit out of the cat. We thought that would have taken care of it.

A little while later we went back out side to go over to Tom’s and fix the satellite TV and the cat was back in the yard. So we let everyone out and let him meet everyone. It was surprisingly simple.

We were feeling sorry for him, he was wet and it was kind of cold. So we poured some food into Misha’s old bowl and set him up on the porch with food and water. He ate a little, but I think he was more lonely than hungry.

We went in the house. A while later we went back outside and he was there in the back yard again, trying to get in the house.

We put him back on the porch.

Greg went out to see if he was still there and I said, ‘I say if he’s still out there, let him come in’. Well he was. So we let him in the house and wandered around like he owned the place, with Dudley in tow.

He is now sacked out on the couch.

Posted under pets

Last night we went to happy hour (shocking, I know). But here’s a twist…we didn’t go to Aura. Well, ok we did. But first we went to Amazing Thailand. When Kari was in town she went there for happy hour then came over to Aura and met us. She was raving about the HH appis. Spring rolls, egg rolls, chicken wings, etc. So we vowed to try it some day. I love Aura, I really do. And their food is very good. Problem is, I’ve had everything on the menu eleventy thousand times and frankly I’m tired of it. Plus, I am still steamed that they removed my favorite dish, the Truffle Mushroom Orzo. Last night we were starving and the thought of another BLT calzone was not working for me. So we switched things up. Jody came out with us too!

So we went to Amazing Thailand. As we were walking by we noticed a man out front taking video of the street outside. We walked in and there was no one there. Empty, except for a bartender (what more do you need, right?). So we ordered some drinks and some yummy appis. We got Chicken Wings with Chill Sauce. (yes, chill sauce, not chili sauce…that menu had a LOT of typos, oh did we laugh). We also got spring rolls and fried squid. But Jody made us call it calamari because while she will eat calamari, she will not eat squid. Everything was very good.

While we were waiting for our food the video guy came in and started shooting inside too. Then one of the servers came up and asked us if we wanted to be in a video. Jody asked if we had to sing and dance (she was up for it…you’ve seen Jody dance right?), but the answer was no. We just had to eat drink and talk to each other. We were a little wary of the last part but we agreed. They took another couple into one of the side rooms adjacent to the bar and set them at a table, then served them one of their pineapple dishes and took video of them while they ate.

Then the camera was moved out to the bar again and he took some video of us talking. We mostly talked about what we would talk about and said ‘peas and carrots, peas and carrots’ like they do on stage. We were actors now. I though Jody was going to ask for her own trailer any minute. She’s kind of a diva, you know.

Then he filmed a shot of the bartender pouring Jody’s beer and giving it to her. She drank it and made a happy face (the bartender wanted her to go ‘ahhhh’).

We all signed releases while the manager (owner?) came over and thanked us for participating. Jody asked what our pay was and he asked if we were given a free round. I mentioned that the bartender said that Jody’s beer was free. Jody made some crack about how he should comp our whole night. He asked the bartender how much we had already gotten and then said he’d take care of it. So we just paid a (hefty) tip and finished up and left. Cheap and yummy eats!! And it worked out well for the bartender too.

While we were sitting there we could see Tomy across the street serving some outside tables and we felt like we were cheating. We walked down the street to the bookstore where Greg had to buy Neil Stephenson’s new ginourmous book. As we were walking toward Aura I got a text message from Tomy that said simply: “Traitors”

So this video was shot for City Search and it’s up on their website. Here it is!

Posted under Friends, celebrity news/gossip, happy hour

What do you think??

[click here]

Posted under Random Thoughts

Yesterday I had Greg pull out the sewing machine for me because I was going to attempt for the 3rd time to sew my never worn Alloy pants. I bought them online (3 pairs) not realizing that the bottom of the leg is large enough to house a small family. Seriously, when I pulled them out of the bag they came in, I thought I was looking at the waistline and it was the leg opening. So I wanted to sew them up the sides to make them a reasonable sized flair. So was in the house pinning the pants and I heard *crash, bang, kaboom*, I dropped everything and ran outside. Greg was standing, which is good, but he was holding onto his arm.

I’ll back up a little: he has been working on the eaves outside. I cringe every time he gets up on that ladder. It always looks like it’s not planted firmly enough. But the ladder he was using for the most part is a really nice sturdy one that he borrowed from Corey.

But yesterday he pulled out a shorter one that my dad gave us about 14 years ago and it was old then. He put it up on the side of the house (the other one didn’t fit where he wanted to be) and while he was on it, it bent right at the middle and down he went. He landed on his right arm on the patio bricks. Broke the Smokey Joe and nearly took out the gardening table.

He came in and had some water and we put an ice pack on it. He was shaking and possibly in shock. I gave him some advil and he wanted to wait a little bit to see if we needed to go to Urgent Care. We did.

So after spending some time online trying to figure out where to go (we called his insurance company’s customer service line, but they were closed. Nice). We were pretty sure that Park Nicollet was safe, so that’s where we ended up.

There were quite a lot of people there, but most of them with colds/flu I think. Only a few gimps. The nurses and docs were all cheery and jokey and it was actually quite an easy process. Greg had his arm x-rayed and even had to sit on the floor in order to get the right angle.

The doc came back and said that everything was 99.9% ok. The .1% was that there’s a possibility that the little bone in his elbow is cracked. They gave him a sling and sent him home.

I’m playing nurse today (as well as driver) so I took today off. I so wish I had taken photos at the hospital but I forgot.

Thanks muchly to Corey who came over and cleaned up the yard, put away the ladders and finished the eaves for Greg. He also drove us to happy hour. That’s what friends are for.

Oh and when we got back and I tried to sew my pants, I discovered that the sewing machine has a blown out motor. I don’t think it’s in the cards for me to ever wear these pants.

Now Greg will have to learn how to mouse, eat, shift, and whatnot else with his left hand instead.

UPDATE: Greg got the cast put on today and turns out, his elbow is also broken.

Posted under Random Thoughts

(note: this is part 8 of our trip journal. The first part is found [HERE])

Saturday, July 12, 2008 – Last day

We got up sort of early, cleaned up, cleaned the apartment a little and packed up. We had to catch our shuttle at about 7am.

Say goodbye to our cute little corner.

Off to the airport where we waited in line for our line to open. We were behind an African family that was very fun to watch. There were two parents and three children. The youngest was a cute little boy of about 4 who wanted nothing more than to push the luggage cart as far and as fast as he could. Mom’s job was to keep him in check. She was struggling. They were all very good humored and that child was so adorable even though he was slamming that cart into people, no one got upset.

We then waited for our flight to Amsterdam. I was pretty tired so I slept through most of it.

Then from Amsterdam we came to Minneapolis. Long flight, but thankfully uneventful. I tried to watch a movie, but kept falling asleep.

Arrived home around 5pm and after some cluster&^#% in finding our ride (why do you get out of the car and start looking through the airport for people if you are not going to just plan to meet them at the gate? And if you’re going to do something like that wouldn’t you have your cell phone on?) we got home.

Posted under Random Thoughts