WEEKEND RAMBLINGS OCTOBER 4, 2015

I had a nice three day weekend. Matt had his six month checkup Friday so I took the day off and we headed to Fargo.  His appointment lasted all of maybe five minutes. His grafts are growing well and they're happy with his progress. Next appointment will be in six months for his one year. After his appointment we headed out for an afternoon of shopping and eating.

First stop was at Prairie Yarns. I've been wanting to check out the yarn stores in Fargo but it never seems to work out. I really wanted to buy some sock yarn so I have my next knitting projects lined up. Matt was a little shocked at how much sock yarn costs. I think he appreciates the socks I've made him a little bit more. He decided he didn't need another pair right now so I bought myself two different yarns. The staff were really nice and helpful. I really appreciated them offering to ball my yarn for me for free. Matt appreciated it even more that he didn't have to help me ball it. It's a really nice courtesy service to offer. I asked about spinning classes but she doesn't have an instructor right now but she did have some roving that I checked out. I'll be watching and hoping she finds an instructor. The picture below doesn't do justice to the yarn on the right, I couldn't get the lighting to reflect all the variegation in it. I also found these adorable puppy stitch markers.  They sort of look like a border collie so I had to have them.

We were definitely hungry after the yarn store stop so we decided to eat lunch.  We've been wanting to check out the Middle Eastern restaurants in Fargo so we chose to try Aladdin's Cafe and it was an absolutely delicious meal. We both chose to have the combination platter. Matt chose the Kufta Kabob and Gyro meat with rice and I chose the Kufta Kabob and Chicken Kabob with hummus. The meats were so tender and well seasoned. We could have sat there all day and feasted. We will definitely be going back. We ended our meal properly with some baklava and fig bars to bring home. I wish I'd thought to take pictures of the food. The only thing we didn't like was that the food was served on foam disposable plates and they had plastic utensils. 

Next stop was the mall. I needed a new pair of shoes to wear to work. I love my crocs and clogs but with the amount of snow we get here I really needed something with a higher back to keep snow out of my shoes. I had a great guy helping me and I was able to find a pair. Matt said the guy had a foot fetish. Unfortunately they didn't have the Dansko style I wanted in brown so he ordered it to be delivered to the house at no extra cost. I doubt many stores do that anymore. I've wanted to try Dansko shoes for a while but they have European sizes so I needed to try some on to find out what size I would be. He also recommended a new slipper by Vionic they just started carrying that has a nice orthopedic arch support. I have a really high arch so the chiropractor has now had me start wearing an insert to help support the arch. These slippers are perfect and the arch support is high so I won't have to wear an insert in them. They will be great for wearing at the house.

Vionic Slipper in black

I got these in dark brown

We wasted some time after that at Target and then Coldstone before heading to a destination we've been wanting to checkout since I found it online, Prairie Rose Meadery. We both got a flight of four meads to try. Both of us chose cherry and ginger. Matt chose star anise and mint and I chose blackberry and traditional to round out our flights. My favorite was the traditional. Matt liked the unique taste of the star anise. If you're in the Fargo area, definitely check out this meadery. The staff were very nice and helpful. We really enjoyed talking to them while we sampled the meads. We ended up purchasing a bottle of the traditional to bring home. Again, I forgot to take pictures. The Meadery was larger than I expected it would be. It's located in a business district but wasn't hard to find. They have a bar area, table area and some couches so you can pick how you'd like to relax while sipping some mead. We enjoyed checking over the mead making area through the glass from the bar. The meads were very smooth. She'd actually been to B. Necktar which was one of our favorite hangouts in Michigan. They do have a cheese and cracker board to help clear the palate or snack on but it was a bit steep in  my opinion at over $13 or for a couple dollars more you could add salami to the board. I didn't ask what types of cheeses they had as we were still full from lunch.

Wedding Ramblings

I've been sick for the past two weeks and just haven't had any energy to get anything posted so I apologize for this being so tardy.

I traveled to Houston, Texas, the beginning of December for my son's wedding.  What a wonderful time!  There just wasn't enough time to spend with the kids.  The rehearsal was Thursday night and the wedding Friday so it was pretty busy.  The food was delicious!  I'd hoped to explore Saturday but honestly couldn't get up the drive to go anywhere.  I berated myself over not having a very gypsy spirit but the desire just wasn't there. The weather was cold, about 38', so outdoor venues would have not been enjoyable and outdoor venues are typically the ones I like best.  I'd decided to watch some Netflix on my tablet and knit for the day until I was blessed to be invited to spend the day with the bride's family.  I told them I wanted them to adopt me!  Saturday night Jordon and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse to watch Catching Fire.  I wish we had theaters like that here.  There are tables in front of your seats and you can place orders throughout the movie for food and drinks.  Jordon and I ordered chili fries and a pizza and split them.  It was really nice being able to sip on a glass of wine while watching the movie.

Aren't they a beautiful couple! 

I found it amusing that the first thing my son Jordon said was that Texas disappointed him as we were driving from the airport to the hotel.  He wanted to know where all the ranches were and where the horses were.  I found it amusing.  Houston looked like every other metropolis area I've been to.  We really need to go back and explore outside of Houston.  Although, I understand Houston does have some wonderful museums downtown.  To be honest, I was feeling slightly claustrophobic with so many buildings and people.  It's amazing how fast I've acclimated to living in small town America.

My travels were anything but smooth.  We were expected bad weather  the night before I flow out so I left early that afternoon to stay ahead of the storm arriving.  Matt got me a hotel for the night so I wouldn't have to get up in the wee hours and travel in nasty weather.  Our favorite hotel in Fargo when we need to stay is the Best Western Kelly Inn.  It has the most beautiful decor with an outdoor nature theme.  Even the ceramic tiles in the hall have wild animals etched into them.  They have a fabulous kids' pool area and a wonderful hot tub for the adults.  One thing we both love is their happy hour.  You could eat and drink there for free and not have to go out for dinner if you wanted.  On my arrival I went and got a plate of cheeses and a glass of wine to hold me over until I decided where I wanted to have dinner.

  Distressed leather and tapestry chair that was super comfortable to sit in.

 Beautiful valance boxes over curtains.

Super comfortable bed with adorable throw on it.  There are 6 pillows on the bed!

Travel to the Fargo airport early Wednesday morning was a nightmare with ice slick roads but I was not going to let anything prevent me from getting on that plane!  Due to the weather our flight was delayed getting into Denver and I missed my next plane.  I sat and watched beautiful downy snowflakes fall so thickly I couldn't see the buildings across the runway and wondered if I would get out of Denver.  Fortunately I was able to get the next flight out with roughly a 3 hour delay.  I was very happy to land in Houston on the day I was supposed to.  I normally don't buy food on planes but got a bit hungry on the flight to Houston so I decided to try one of the Tapas Snack Boxes (about $8.50).  This was delicious and very filling for the price.  It had a tube of hummus and a bag of pita chips, a container of a cream type cheese and a package of crackers, a container of roasted red pepper bruschetta and a package of cream crackers along with a bag of marinated herbed olives and a bag of almonds.

On my return trip weather was once again a factor.  My flight was from Houston to Chicago then to Fargo.  It was a weird route to say the least.  The weather was so bad that they didn't have anybody to get our plane out of the hanger and after 3 hours finally switched us to another plane.  I landed in Fargo at 11 pm, 6 hours after I was supposed to.  While we were waiting for our luggage the security guard told us that we were lucky we got there and that our flight had been the last plane out of Chicago before they closed the airport down.  I was just too exhausted to drive home on nasty roads so I ended up staying in Fargo at the hotel again.  I could have really of used the hot tube after getting there but unfortunately the pool area was closed.  I was just happy to be back in North Dakota.