Recap and where have I been?

Hey guys, I hope you are all well and enjoying Fall and all it has to offer. The leaves have already hit peak here and are on ground for the most part. I have been reading all of you via bloglines but I can't comment, so I am sorry, but I have been thinking of each of you!

Here is the good news, I am back. And I am hoping not to disappear again any time soon. For those of you who have stuck with me and given me all of your support, I cannot tell you how much it means to me. I have had the roughest couple of months I could ever imagine and September was literally unbearable and my health (both physical and mental) has taken a toll as a result but I am on the mend and I know that I can get through this.

I am not really going to get into the nitty gritty here, but lets just say that relationships can be very challenging and sometimes you have to fight for what you want in life. Life is hard sometimes, but maybe that is what makes us stronger and appreciate what we have in life. If anyone does want the details please feel free to email me! Lets just say though that while Labor Day weekend started off okay, it did not end all that well. . . .

We attended our last Saints game of the season, and that night really went to the dogs, literally.

It was bring your dog to the park night. I was thinking Miss Libby and Devil Dog really would have enjoyed the evening! SO much fun. My sister and brother in law were able to join us as well which made the night so much better. We really had a good time.

Before heading up to the lake for Labor Day weekend, we picked up a Wii, and it has been non-stop enjoyment and entertainment ever since!

The boy and I celebrated his birthday in style. This week in particular was a pretty tough one, but I had to put all of that aside and celebrate a truly wonderful person. We went back to the same restaurant that I had taken him to last year, M & S Grill, at his request. My friend J from out East joined us for a pre-dinner celebratory cocktail at Bellanotte before we headed to dinner. From the moment we walked through the door until the moment we left it was a fabulous experience and everything was wonderful. They greeted us by name, showed us to our table, our menus said Happy Birthday to the boy on them, a bottle of champagne was sent over courtesy of the manager and we ordered a fabulous dinner followed by a wonderful apple dessert.

He has been wanting a Dyson, so that is what he got for his birthday along with a couple of other non-essentials.

The next afternoon we set out for the Phipps Inn in Hudson, WI.

We had gone away for the weekend to a B & B to celebrate my birthday and I thought it was only fair to return the favor. Hudson is a very quaint sweet little historical town just over the border from MN in Wisconsin. Neither of us had ever been there, so we thought we would give it a try. As it turns out, our Inn Keepers at the Phipps Inn, raised their two children (one of whom I played tennis against in HS) right down the road from where the boy lives today. We got the grand tour of the Inn which was just beautiful, we were the only guests that evening, and then we were shown our room. The boy had gone ahead and arranged for flowers, chocolates and champagne which was a very sweet touch.

I had made reservations for Pier 500 that evening, so we set out for dinner after changing. Dinner was very enjoyable from what we ate (my appetite has not been around much lately, but the food looked good!). The next day we woke and had a beautiful and delicious breakfast, we both thoroughly enjoyed it, and then we set off to enjoy the fall day and explore in town. We found some fabulous shops and if you happened upon Tres Posh's pink and green photo of the week last week, then you saw a little bit of what we encountered.

That evening we had a party to attend, so we headed back to meet up with my parents to attend my aunt and uncles 50th Anniversary party. It was very nice, and very nicely done. My dad is one of 13 (two have passed away and a couple are missing, but that is my dad in khakis in the middle) and this is the third 50th anniversary we have celebrated in a year and a half, pretty impressive.

Most of my fathers siblings also have large families, so needless to say there were a lot of names and faces I did not know myself. This aunt and uncle in particular had nine children and some of their grandchildren now have children of their own. It was a lot of fun, and my female cousins from that family are incredible cooks and made all of the food except for the meat which came from a NE Mpls traditional favorite, Mayslacks.

We also celebrated the boys brothers 40th birthday that weekend, as well as his sister and brother in laws 20th anniversary and his nieces 19th birthday, so there were celebrations all over the place that weekend.

I attended my first Junior League General Meeting, our kick off meeting. It was a lot of fun and so wonderful to be a part of something so special, I am really looking forward to my first year of Junior League and looking forward to meeting and getting to know so many wonderful women.

The Wine Club bid adieu to summer and gathered for a tasting at my house. We got hit with a HUGE storm right before the members were set to arrive, complete with tornado sirens and everything, and even though we had about 42 confirmed, 25 still arrived and I was pretty impressed. It was a really nice evening and I had put together a cd of Beach Boys and Bobby Darin toons for everyone to take with them.

The movie scene has been a little dull lately, but I am looking forward to it picking back up. A few that we have seen lately have included Balls of Fury, 3:10 to Yuma, What About Chuck, The Brave One and Dan in Real Life. Most were so-so but I think that we both really liked The Brave One the best.

We have been hitting some estate sales and an auction here and there, really having a good time with those again picking up some great finds along the way. After one particularly early Saturday morning of hitting the sales, we took our finds up to the lake and spent the weekend getting them cleaned up and enjoying our finds.

This past weekend we had my nephew G of the twins spend Friday night with us. His special request and I was more than happy to oblige. I picked him up and we headed to my house for an evening of pizza and Wii.

He really had a good time playing with the boy. I had come down with a head cold or a bad case of my allergies so I was a little under the weather, but regardless it was so much fun to have him for the night. He is SUCH a good boy, went to bed without a problem, ate dinner and did not ask or want for a thing! Such a fun little guy to have around. After we hit some of the estate sales with him, we stopped by to see my parents (dad had his middle toe amputated earlier in the week, don't ask. . .) and then dropped him off before heading to the lake for a rainy relaxing weekend with just the two of us. It was really nice to just sit all day yesterday looking out at the rain and mist coming down on the lake, snuggled under a blanket reading or watching a movie, definitely a weekend to remember. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well, I have a wonderful recipe for you all tomorrow!