Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Staycation, SLC Bees vs Tacoma Rainiers, Game 49


Here is another of our many staycation.  For anyone who hasn't heard, a staycation is taking the time you would use to leave the state for vacation and using it in your state, and taking advantage of the great things it has to offer you not to far away from home. An interesting concept right?  I thought it was.

The itch came on around Monday.  We have been working in the yard and working in the house, which by the way can I tell you my back is killing me! Mental note to self bend knees when pulling weeds!

This along with work in general, plus handling all the other extras in life that have a way of showing up when you least expect it.

By Tuesday the itch really came on, we thought to ourselves, the kids were all going to be off doing the things that they just love to do, and we were all caught up, even if only for the moment we were caught up! Here we are open with a free weekend and we hadn’t been to a game this year what are we waiting for? Our own short and sweet staycation!    

We looked for tickets online at the Bees website.  They really didn’t have any good seats left we should have looked sooner, I think that itch had a delay in it!  So here are with the stars aligned telling us this was our turn to get out, and we couldn’t find any decent tickets, at least not any we could have and sit together!  If you ever find yourself in this predicament I have an idea that ended up being worth the try for us.
 Use the internet to look for someone selling tickets online. 


In my case I went to KSL Classifieds.  Always make sure you check out the sellers information the best that you can, find out all the information you can and call to verify.  That is exactly what we did and it worked out dandy!  It turns out our tickets were worth more than just a seat, we ended up with two tickets, section 20 in the front row which put us in between third and home base plus a VIP parking pass that was VERY convenient that in itself!  Trust me if you have ever tried looking and paying for parking this is a definite bonus feature, you feel like your sneaking in and out! Our tickets also included fireworks after the game, and all this went for $30.00 it worked out great!


Five reasons why baseball is a great choice for a staycation?
  1. To watch the game (of course). Cheer for your favorite team.
  2. To get out and have fun without dumping a ton of money into it, (date night or family night.)
  3. Step up to the concession stands and have one of their famous All Star Dogs.
  4. Catch a foul ball. Oh the determination and don't forget the maskcot shoots off shirts to the audience too!
  5. See the expressions and hear the comments of the players live and in person.  It's always amazing to me to see the size of the players, the T.V. is very misleading, these guys are good sized players!
  6. Keep your eye on the ball, you never know where that it's going to go!  True story, I swear one time at the game a player hit the ball and it shot straight into the girls bathroom!
  7. C'mon it's baseball, an all American sports!   
Here is how I went about finding game tickets.
  •  Look online for a site such as KSL Classifieds, check out the deals.
  • Make sure you compare them with the available seats at the Bees website.
  • Never pay with credit cards over the phone.  Often they will give you a couple of options either to meet them at a arranged location for the exchange of money for the tickets, or you can pay with Pay Pal and they can take the tickets to will call for you to pick up on the day of the game.  
  • Check for credibility, make sure you follow up call to see if the sellers name is known with the game ticket office prior to sending money.
    • If you are meeting at an arranged spot let someone know who you will be meeting the address and contact information, and never go alone, it’s just good business.
    • Remember the odds are they are perfectly legitimate but it’s up to you to keep the good people honest.   


      And so after the Pre-Wedding Bridal Shower Saturday I went to it was off to the Salt Lake Bees vs. the Tacoma Rainiers game, yay!

      We were excited and looking forward to spending the summer evening up at the Spring Mobile Ballpark watching the Bees take on the Rainiers for Game 49 and firework show after to celebrate.  The Bees had not been doing the best but maybe, just maybe this would be the game that turned things around.

      We made it to the game and I was able to jump out pick up the tickets from will call and jump back into the car before the light changed, talk about great timing.  We parked in our VIP parking and off we went to get seated. We got a drink, and headed for our seats.  We were happy with our seating we had to sit in the sun for about ten minutes before it moved over behind the stadium it was warm out there though!

      The more I think about it I think there was an another agenda to going to the game for sure! I think we had something inside that was craving one of the All Star Dogs from the concession stands!  Did I just put that down in typing?  Yes I did and I even went so far as to take pictures as well! I think it's fair to say everyone loves a good hot dog.


      The baseball game concession stands know just how to pull together a great All Star Dog, it had our taste buds going while we were enjoying the yummy hot dog!


      After we got what we came for we had time to kill so we watched the game!  I don’t mean that, they just have this sauce they put on it that is pretty tasty and with the toppings it is just tasty, we split though don’t worry about me!


      It was a great time, I don't know what they were thinking but from where I was sitting it looked like everything they put together was working, the Salt Lake Bees won the game 18-9 and that was a ball game.  The fireworks were great but I really hate traffic so we snuck out early.  Another staycation under our belts!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Bridal Shower Game Ideas We Played

Here are a couple of bridal shower game ideas we had played. I don't thing that there are specific names for the games I have listed below, I don't remember hearing any,  I was just a participant!

1.    Place a necklace around the neck of each guest (bride included), the guests are told that from this moment on they are not allowed to say the groom’s name.  Whenever a guest accidently uses the grooms name the person that hears it first will get to take that guest’s necklace(s).  At the end of the party whoever has the most necklaces will be the winner.


2.    Create a 20-30 question questionnaire that is given to the groom prior to the party.  Questions from where was the bride and grooms first kiss was, and what is his favorite sports team to how many children does he want and where his dream vacation would be are asked to the groom.  His answers are recorded onto an answer sheet.  A copy of that same questionnaire given to him is then handed out to everyone except the bride (who has no idea) at the party.  The guests then guess how many questions they think the bride will answer right.  The winner is that is closest to her total right answers wins.

HINT:Think of some questions she won’t be expecting such as an animal does the groom think the bride reminds him of and why?  This will keep it exciting and funny!  Remind her it is a game and not to take offense!


3.    A type of “Papier Coture”.  Break the group of guest up into evenly divided groups with a roll of toilet paper per each group.  The goal is to design a wedding dress on one of the guests in each group with toilet paper with a limit of 5 minutes to complete the dress.  Once the time is up the group shows and explains their dress and the magnificent idea behind it and it is up to the bride to decide which group is the winner.

4.    Give each guest a sheet of lined paper and a pencil or a pen.  Take the name of the bride and groom, example Jennifer and Jared Smith, and give everyone 1 minute to see how many words they can make out of the name.  The winner with the most words will receive the prize.

HINT:  Have additional or extra gifts on hand in the event more than one of the guests is winners.

HAVE FUN!

A Pre-Wedding Party


“It started with a kiss and it turned into this…
Two people are getting married!”

It seems like it is most definitely wedding season, if there ever was one.


The day is coming soon when we all will come together to celebrate the marriage of the groom and the bride wishing them a lifetime of happy years and memories, long on laughter, and short on tears, where love is enduring dreams and that the sweet dreams come true.

Awwww how exciting!


With that said, along with the wedding invitation I received the ever so essential bridal shower invitation from my friend who is hosting the shower with her daughter for her daughter-in-law to be, with love. And that kind of set the tone for me for the celebrations that would come ahead.

The invitation had all the important information you would need, the name of the bride (of course), the date, time, location, and the address. Location...I have to tell you friends, I am not a fan of directions, it often leads me array or is it astray? It really doesn’t matter which way you look at it I get lost easily!  So I sort of stress when it comes to direction.


So I was really excited for Saturday, after the shower I had plans to go to a baseball game that evening, so I wanted to make sure I was able to time everything just so. They had a registry which I love that whole idea and insist on it next to sending money or gift cards! The registry was at Target and Bed Bath & Beyond. It took quite a bit of stress off me trying to find that right gift off of me, whew.
A party with a purpose.  The theme variation of the afternoon was “Kitchen Bath & Recipe Bridal Shower” in her honor of course. It seems like kitchen showers are amongst the most popular which makes perfect sense to me really, the kitchen is a focal part of the home for me, I spend endless moments in time there and so I can see where a first time newlywed couple would be in need of assistance in this department! There is definitely a need to set up housekeeping and prepare to embark on cooking adventures that will soon be ahead! They needed everything from silverware and plates to bathroom toiletries!I had chosen Bed Bath & Beyond as the store for the perfect gift, I logged into the registry site prior to going to the store to see what they had included on their list. Then I printed off some things I thought would be just right for them and off I went.

Bed Bath & Beyond was great, they helped me locate the items I was looking for and they even wrapped the gifts I picked for free, no extra charge! And to think here all this time I been spending countless painful minutes in time trying to perfectly wrap gifts and they have it covered, who knew.
I wanted to pick something not necessarily unique but something I could picture them really using. I went with this useful looking ceramic knife, thinking how neat that would be, if it could be neat at all! It was a “as seen on TV” Yoshiblade ceramic knife, I had never seen one of these handy looking utensils before but it had my attention (scroll down to take a look at it)!

It’s made from diamond hard zirconium oxide, and is said to be 40% sharper than that of the average knife. It says it will never rust or peel and they guaranteed it to stay sharp for life! Did I mention it also came with a bonus peeler? They will want a good peeler they are a necessity! I can see it now, all the cutting with precision and slicing ever so thin difficulties will now be a thing of the past as we know it right! Why don't I own one of these? 


The second item I got was The Round 12” Skillet. To me this looks like it would be something good to use when cooking vegetables or shrimp, a healthy addition to a kitchen. I think it will come in handy.

It was time for the shower, I made my way slowly with caution patiently driving while searching for the red balloon that would signal me to turn left, I was a little on edge as I often am when I am unsure of where I am going, I felt like I was going too far and that I had to have past it but I just kept telling myself to keep going. I started to think to myself, I know I past it already so I called my friend but just as she answered there was the red balloon! Talk about timing, I got their just in time.

She was an awesome hostess she did a good job of putting everything together. There were snacks and appetizer type goodies prepared. My friend had made this sweet poppy seed salad with bacon and romaine lettuce and red onion that was quite tasty. 7-layer beans dip, along with a spinach dip and veggies with dip. A tuna salad was put together with croissants to go with them, there was macaroni salad, chips and a few deserts, and one was a fruit salad with snickers and Twix in it! Good stuff!


During the shower we played games for a little fun and entertainment. To start she put a necklace around my neck and said I couldn’t say her son’s name if so the person that heard me say it would take my necklace, at the end of the party who ever had the most necklaces would be the winner. I didn't win that game. 
Here are a couple of bridal shower game we played. I don't think that there are specific names for the games we played so I will just describe them to you.
1. Place a necklace around the neck of each guest (bride included), the guests are told that from this moment on they are not allowed to say the groom’s name. Whenever a guest accidentally uses the grooms name the person that hears it first will get to take that guest’s necklace(s). At the end of the party whoever has the most necklaces will be the winner.
2. Create a 20-30 question questionnaire that is given to the groom prior to the party. Questions from where was the bride and grooms first kiss was, and what is his favorite sports team to how many children does he want and where his dream vacation would be are asked to the groom. His answers are recorded onto an answer sheet. A copy of that same questionnaire given to him is then handed out to everyone except the bride (who has no idea) at the party. The guests then guess how many questions they think the bride will answer right. The winner is that is closest to her total right answers wins.  By the way I won this game, that's right highest score 14 right!
HINT:Think of some questions she won’t be expecting such as an animal does the groom think the bride reminds him of and why? This will keep it exciting and funny! Remind her it is a game and not to take offense!

3. A type of “Papier Coture”. Break the group of guest up into evenly divided groups with a roll of toilet paper per each group. The goal is to design a wedding dress on one of the guests in each group with toilet paper with a limit of 5 minutes to complete the dress. Once the time is up the group shows and explains their dress and the magnificent idea behind it and it is up to the bride to decide which group is the winner.
4. Give each guest a sheet of lined paper and a pencil or a pen. Take the name of the bride and groom, example Jennifer and Jared Smith, and give everyone 1 minute to see how many words they can make out of the name. The winner with the most words will receive the prize. Guess what I won this one too! Score!
HINT: Have additional or extra gifts on hand in the event more than one of the guests is winners.
HAVE FUN!

At the end of the shower we all gathered around to see the bride open gifts from everyone and share them along with recipes that may have been attached. 
She opened up my gifts and she said her groom to be said that he had to have the Yoshiblade, which by the way if you notice is cheaper at Amazon.  She said that she had wanted the skillet because her coach swore by!  She said that it was recommended a Weight Watchers thing that works excellent!  That was good to know, I really had no idea, so I learned a little something to.
The shower was then over and it was time to get ready for a ball game!






Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Think Thai Food, and Then Eat It

OK, everyone put your best utensil forward I have something to say.  Yes that is right.  I have an opinion that I would like to share.  I love Thai food, I know I have said it before but I do, I really do LOVE Thai food. 
Now that I have got that out of the way, I really think everyone should try Thai food.  I know it seems as if I am isolating one type of cuisine, and that is probably because I am.  But you see I love it and I think you will love it to. 
So you may now find yourself wondering where am I supposed to find a Thai Restaurant.