Good To Be Home.

We've only been back in MN for a week and a half but it feels much longer due to an action packed schedule that includes seeing lots of friends, visiting our favorite spots in the neighborhood, relaxation at the CBC and catching up on our favorite shows at home, which is just how we like it. I'll probably have a hard time remembering exactly what we were up to unless I blog about it, so here we go:

* Thursday night Punch Pizza and vino at our friend PC's place in St. Paul with our friends M&P who were visiting from Seattle. We all worked together and used to hang out all the time when they lived here. When we all get together a ridic amount of laughter ensues, sadly we don't get to hang out enough.

* Dinner party at our place Friday with the same gang and a few other friends, cooked by M who is an amazing chef. She made the best spaghetti and meatballs I have ever tasted - it was definitely one of the best meals ever cooked in our kitchen. Probably tied with Thanksgiving cooked by my sister and mom. Anything I have made would come in a close 100th.

* Drinks at our place with the gang Saturday night followed by an Oliveto at Marvel Bar, a yummy dinner at Heidi's that was unfortunately tainted by a dud of a waitress (which sucks because we could see another guy there who waited on us last time and was fantastic - he even remembered Jeff from waiting on us last summer and said hi) followed by dessert and drinks at Bar La Grassa with an awesome server who remembered Jeff's drink order..maybe we go across the street a little too often.

* Brunch back at P's cooked by M Sunday morning, then heading out to WBL to pick up lil G, and a night of catching up on our favorite shows: the season premiere of "Californication," the season finale of "Dexter" I missed while in Cali, and some Sho On Demand of "Homeland" starring Claire Danes which is my new favorite show. So addicting..we've almost watched all 12 episodes in a week.

* Getting my new MacBookAir all set up with the nerds at Southdale..I really, really love this computer. Still can't believe how light and fast it is..esp compared to my Mac from 2005 that recently died. Also picked up some new duds for G at H&M as seen above.

* Book club Monday night to discuss "Room" which so far is pretty good but I think I have too many books going right now and need to start on the one for Feb book club, so not sure if I will finish it. Love that it doesn't really matter whether or not we read the books..it's just a bunch of fun ladies who get together once a month to drink wine, eat good food and chat.

* Lovely 52 degree weather that allowed me to take lil' G to the park and be outside all day which was kind of crazy for Jan in MN. Unfortunately we have since gone back to "normal" ie freezing temperatures.

* Taking a walk in the neighborhood Tuesday night since it was still fairly warm out and spotting our friend behind the bar at Public House, going inside to say hi and grab a beer and finding more friends sitting at the bar. All part of our network of DJs/househeads who are always fun to run in to. Had a couple of drinks there, walked down to grab some vino at the store in our hood and ran into another DJ friend, went home and cooked dinner.

* Celebrating a very good friend's bday with drinks Wednesday night at The Loop and Black Sheep Pizza back at our place so G could sleep in his crib and we could stay warm with a fire in the fireplace, vino and good convo.

* Meeting for a fabulous black tie event I'm working on..details coming soon. Got to catch up with some friends as well, which is always a good thing.

* Happy hour haircut Friday at Brian Graham Salon with vino, electronica and my favorite hairstylist Trish..always a good way to start off the weekend. We hit Sapor for a cheap happy hour dinner of beet pizza, burgers, fries, truffled brussel sprouts and vino..yum. G loved it too. Then it was home to chill and watch a few more eps of "Homeland."

* Family swim at the CBC Saturday afternoon..lil' G requests the "pool" now after spending many days at the outdoor pool near my parents in The OC. This one is indoor but he loves being in it and I'm very appreciative that I can swim laps, hot tub, steam and sauna when it's chilly outside. Plus, G loves playing with the kids in the nursery there.

* Saturday night at WA Frost, one of my favorite places in the Twin Cities. A good friend of ours works there but had the night off so we had drinks outside by the fire on the gorgeous patio and then planned to head to the Red Bull Crushed Ice event taking place a few blocks away. We started walking there and met some people who had just returned and said it was really hard to see anything, not really worth it, so we turned around, went back into the bar at Frost and had a delicious dinner. Wound up hanging there for awhile and staying overnight at our friend's place in LoTo, then hit Bon Vi for a nice little breakfast before heading out to pick up lil' G.

* Sunday night dinner at Jeff's parents, then home to watch the Golden Globes and a new "Californication."

* Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr, and Jefe didn't have to work, so we had a nice little day in Linden Hills hitting Tillia for lunch, Wild Rumpus so G could chase the chickens around like he likes to do and the CBC for a much needed workout, swim, hot tub and steam.

Whew, busy busy but it's really good to be home.