A sad day for Twins fans

I have to start off by blogging in memory of Luis Castillo. Yesterday, the Twins traded him to the Mets. While GM Terry Ryan has assured fans that we are NOT giving up, it does appear that way to some. I, am not one of those people.

They did little montages of clips of Castillo on the Twins broadcast, on SportsCenter, and on Baseball Tonight. I almost cried. Not that that's a big shock or anything. My two favorite Castillo moments of the season were definitely when he was making fun of someone for sliding (I think it might have been the Fiance, but I can't remember). It was classic Castillo fun! The other is when he hit a triple and slid into third. His reaction was amazing. I will definitely miss him!

A tribute to Luis Castillo from my other favorite Twins fan, Lucy.

RIP Luis "Game Face" Castillo
RIP Luis "Smell Em" Castillo
RIP Luis "Piranha" Castillo

Today is a sad, sad day.

I am sure that the mood in our clubhouse was not the best yesterday. The trade happened only a few hours before the game. It sure appeared that we came out to prove something in that game and that was exciting to watch. We had several players that really stood out to me.

J.J. took over in the lead off spot and went 3 for 4. He scored 2 of our 3 runs. If he hadn't been getting on base, Mauer wouldn't have had anyone to drive in. One of his hits was a triple that was oh, so close to being another homerun. Dang baggy.

Hubby #2 was 2 for 4 and had all 3 of our RBIs. It was really exciting to see some clutch hitting out of him.

The fiance was 2 for 3 with a walk.

And finally...

Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

Nutty pitched 8 complete innings. He allowed only 1 run on 2 hits. Now that is impressive.

Go Twins!

Gonzo the Great!

The Twins game today rocked my socks off! Garza pitched a gem and I was just really hoping we could get some offense going on and get him a win for once. We didn't quite get him the win, but in the top of the 8th inning, we did get our offense going.

Prancer grounded out, but then J.J. was hit by a pitch. Next up was Jason Pear, but he struck out swinging. With only one out left in the inning, Redmond came in to bat for Tiny Superhero. Redmond, the consummate clutch hitter that he is, came up with an RBI double to tie the game. Little J-Rod came in to run for Redmond and he scored when Hubby #2 reached on a fielding error. Hubby #2 then got to second on a throwing error. Oh good times. Okay, almost done. Fiance topped the inning off with a double to score Hubby #2 and then Hunter popped out for our final out of the inning.

We got to cap off the game with a solo homer by Prancer in the 9th and went on to win the game 4-1. Did you all keep up with that?

Boyfriend of the Day: Matt Garza

Gonzo was the clear choice on this one. He had 11 strikeouts (a career high) through 6 innings. He only gave up 1 run on 5 hits. It was an incredible game, it really was.

We are now only 7.5 games (and it could be 7 by the end of the night!) behind the Tigers. Go Twins!

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (7)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

I love Jason Tyner!

I just have to get Friday's game out of the way quickly. Then I can move on to bigger, better, and far more exciting things!

Friday's Score: 4-10
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI.

And now on to the exciting game! Santana pitched a very good game, unfortunately he didn't get the win. He had 12 strikeouts in 7 innings. Including striking out the side in the 5th. He gets the No Decision and good old Neshekel gets the win.

Saturday's Score: 3-2
Boyfriend of the Year: Jason Tyner

He was 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. But here's what is truly remarkable. Jason Jason hit his first major league homerun! It took him 1,221 at bats to finally hit one over the fence. Beth and I had been waiting for this moment all season. So when it finally happened, I jumped up and down and screamed and cheered. Yes, I was watching on TV, but who cares!

Because of the fact that I have been waiting for this all season, he gets B.O.Y. honors today. If I wasn't already engaged, and if he wasn't already married... I'm in love ;)

My favorite moments after the home run were J-Rod getting really excited in the dugout, Joe Nathan calling for the ball because it went into the MN bullpen (talk about good luck), and some random old guy hugging J.J. and J.J. looking like he was trying to get away, but couldn't. It was some classic entertainment people. If you missed it, that's really too bad for you.

He had some great coverage on Baseball Tonight and SportsCenter. He even was interviewed over the phone. It was really exciting! Kudos to J.J.!

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (13)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (7)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

Concert at the Castle

My parents had yet another concert at their house last night. They brought in a blues singer/guitar player named Tab Benoit. As Steve so kindly pointed out, I had been a "doubting Thomas" about the whole thing. I clearly need to trust my parents, because it was a great concert. He is incredibly talented. I think I could listen to him play guitar all day long. Holy wow.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. The concert was moved from the deck/backyard into the garage/under a tent in the driveway. It was still a really good time though. I am really glad that Sarah came down for it so I got to hang-out with her. She even got in some HP reading while she was there. My aunt and uncle came up from Iowa and I always love getting to talk to my aunt Janet. She is the most incredible woman and I love her dearly.

Matt poured a bottle of water down my pants, that was not cool. I was quite uncomfortable for the rest of the night. Steve told him that he was lucky I didn't punch him in the face. Yeah, pretty much. The food was really, really good. I think my aunt's trail mix and the cheese curds were my favorite.

My parents were only mildly embarrassing. My mom still needs to learn that you do not need to yell into a microphone. Oh boy. We got to celebrate her 50th birthday (even though it's not until August 6th) with everyone there because Tab kept bringing it up. I think my other favorite thing was the fact that we had port-a-potties there. Nice. Or, maybe when Tab played an alligator head. Yeah, creepy and Happy Gilmore-ish. Pictures coming soon...

And switching gears now... I made chocolate chip pancakes this morning for Monet and Ilana. I think it's the first successful batch of pancakes I have ever made. Yay!

Dance dance!

Life has been moving along at quite the pace. I can't believe it will be August next week. It seems completely unreal to me. Before I know it, I'll be back at school setting up my classroom. Oh man, I can't wait! If anyone is in or around Rochester, you should totally come visit me!

This also means that the time to say goodbye to some really great friends is approaching faster than I am willing to admit. I find it kind of strange how much I'm dreading it. Especially considering the fact that I rarely see some of them anyway. And the fact that we have a mostly online friendship. In that case, it doesn't seem like much should change. Yet, I'm still not wanting it to come. I'm so excited for everyone that is going off to college. It's such an exciting time. But I would definitely be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss any of them. I just hope to see everyone a lot in August and then plan some visits. I am definitely going to Concordia in October for Homecoming. And hopefully I can stop by Crown sometime, maybe on the way to one of Matt's meets in St. Cloud. Waldorf though... That could be a tricksy one...

The Twins have an off-day, so you get another Top 10. I was watching "So You Think You Can Dance?" last night and figured I could give dance movies a whirl. I had a hard time coming up with 10 movies, and I'm sure I missed some. But here's my list.

Janet's Top 10 Dance Movies
10 - Footloose (I don't remember too much)
9 - Take the Lead
8 - Step Up
7 - West Side Story
6 - Billy Elliot
5 - Save the Last Dance
4 - Center Stage
3 - Dirty Dancing
2 - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
1 - Strictly Ballroom

Speaking of "So You Think You Can Dance?". I again watched it last night and didn't agree with the judges critiques. If anyone knows about dancing (ballroom, contemporary, hip-hop, anything), you should come over and watch it with me next week. I need some help interpreting!

My Beloved Twins

I really don't even want to talk about the Twins right now. This is just embarrassing. But, I still have faith that we can pull through this.

Tuesday's Score: 0-7
Boyfriend of the Day: Rondell White

He's back from the DL and had two hits tonight, including a double. Yay! Hopefully he can boost our offense. Although he did a good job in this game, we couldn't get anything going.

Wednesday's Score: 1-13
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

Because he had absolutely NOTHING to do with this horrible excuse of a game. I think it was a blessing that it wasn't televised today. I'm actually near tears over this one, guys.

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: The Pitching Staff

Oh my goodness! This was a monstrocity. I don't even want to talk about it. All I'll say is that Santana giving up four homeruns doesn't look so bad anymore...

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (12)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
5 - Kubel Khan (5)

The Wedding

This wedding I went to this past weekend was easily the best wedding I've ever been to. I don't recall ever having that much fun. The wedding itself went really, really well. I was incredibly nervous to do my reading, but I didn't screw up, yay!

The dinner and reception were also a lot of fun. I hung-out with the bridesmaids and my new Coast Guard friends before dinner and then got to sit with some of them at dinner. The food was incredibly. Holy wow, I have never had food like that at a wedding before. And the desserts were to die for.

Then we got to the dance. I only remember really dancing at one wedding before. And I'd had a few drinks to help me relax. This time, I decided I just wanted to have fun. And so I did. It was a little awkward at first because everyone was dancing as couples, even to the fast songs. I danced with my dad to a few songs at the beginning.

I was talking to Kim and we decided that we needed a good "girl" song to dance to. The next song that played was "Brown-Eyed Girl." She and her husband, Scott, and I went out and partied it up :) Next up... "Coba Cabana." Jess, Kim, and I (even though we were in disbelief) kept the dancing going through Barry Manilow. And then we hit the "Electric Slide." The DJ said he'd never had a group that big all know that dance at a wedding before. Yay us! The last song I really remember dancing to was "Love Shack." We copied the music video and formed two lines and had people dance down the middle. Oh man, it was a really good time. There some other songs in there, but nothing else too memorable.

So yeah, the wedding was wonderful. I definitely made the right decision in going. I got Kim's contact info so she and I can keep in touch. It was a weekend that I will always remember.

My Boyfriends

For the sake of time, I'm going to do this really quickly. I haven't gotten a chance to blog about the last four Twins games. I watched a few of them, and missed a few of them. I've seen highlights on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight for all of them, I think.

Friday's Score: 7-5
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

I'm going to have to agree with Lucy that Kubel Khan is really growing on me. I was not a huge fan of his at the beginning of the season, but he's turning out to be a pretty good player. He was 3 for 3 with 1 run and 2 RBIs. He tripled in the first inning on two outs to score Morneau and Hunter, He had five total bases, and he even stole a base. Wow.

Saturday's Score: 5-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

We were tied at 2 in the 8th inning when he hit a stand-up, inside-the-park homer that scored 3 runs. It was amazing!

Sunday's Score: 2-7
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

This game was so sad that I had a really hard time. No one had more than one hit and no one had more thane one RBI. I went with Fiance because his RBI came on 2 outs.

Monday's Score: 4-6
Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

Um, hello! He hit two homeruns in this game. The slugger is back!

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Johann Santana

I don't know what was going on today. He didn't even get a quality start. Grr. He gave up 4 homers. 4!!! I was incredibly frustrated.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (12)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
T4 - Jason Pear & Kubel Khan (5)

In other Twins news... Last Thursday, one of my swimmers went to the Twins game. He went on a field trip with SACC. I had been joking with his mom the day before about how much I love the Fiance. When I got to the pool yesterday I was given a Justin Morneau baseball from them. It was so sweet of them! I love my swimmers :)

I love Chuck

Any of you who know me well, know that weddings are not really my thing. So, as some of you know, I was really, really dreading the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and bachelorette party that I had to go to last night. However, I had one of the most fun nights of the summer.

We got to our hotel around 4 yesterday. I showered and got dressed and ready to head over to the church. I ended up riding over with Meredith's brother, Zach, and his girlfriend. The rehearsal went pretty well. It was very intense. It's a traditional Catholic wedding so I have to remember to bow when I go up and down from reading. I'm pretty much petrified that I'll forget something.

I rode over to the dinner with three of the bridesmaids, Kate, Beth, and Jessica, and Beth's boyfriend, Dan. Kate and I used to swim together and she, Meredith, and I went on a People to People trip to Europe when we were in high school. I've also known Beth a little bit over the years, just through Meredith. We definitely had some good laughs in the car. Especially when Jessica didn't see a stop light and had to slam on her breaks when Kate pointed it out.

Dinner was good, we all sat together. Everyone I was with ordered a glass of wine and I had a Diet Coke. The waiter asked me if I was 18, because I guess I look 18? I laughed at him. He carded everyone at the table for their wine. But later, when I ordered a drink later, he didn't card me. I guess laughing at him worked?

We ran back to the hotel to change quick and then headed out for a pretty tame bachelorette party. I was able to change my shoes and purse to match my new outfit, but I forgot to change my hairclip. It was driving me nuts because it was black and everything else was brown. Yes, I know I have OCD.

Anyway, so it was all of the bridesmaids, me, and the wives/girlfriends of the groomsmen and ushers. And we had a BLAST! Kate made Meredith a shirt that said, "I love Chuck." It was pretty cute. We just sat in the bar, had a few drinks, talked and laughed A LOT, and even played Kate's version of the Newlywed game with Meredith. Chuck's answers (sent to Kate in an e-mail back in May) were hilarious.

Some of my favorite quotes from the night:

"Do you want to go driving around with Ross and drink some homemade beer?"- Beth
"Who the heck is Ross?" - All the rest of us

"Oh, he must be a Libra. When is his birthday? Yep, he is." - Jessica

"What time is it now on military time? 24:37?" - Kim

"And blady-blah-blah." (x6 times just at the bar) - Jessica

"Are you in the Brown family?" - Kim

I also enjoyed our talks about nicknames (Mr. Big, Teach, etc.) and our merciless making fun of Kate for being the "Matron of Honor."

I'll blog sometime when I get home about the wedding and reception. I'm sure it'll be fun!

And I heard the Twins had a good game last night. I can't wait to see it!

Off for the weekend

I'm just going to post really quickly before I leave for Chicago.

Twins game yesterday = DEPRESSING!

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

He was 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI. Yay Kubel Khan!

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Nathan

Lead off walks ALWAYS come back to bite you in the butt. Stupid closers.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (5)
5 - Kubel Khan (4)

In case anyone cares, there are 9 players at 0 and 2 players at -1.

Alright, and now I'm off to Chicago for Meredith's wedding. I'm quite nervous still about reading. I don't know why. I might be online from the hotel, but we shall see.

And don't forget... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is out tonight at midnight. I can't wait! But remember that I am probably the slowest reader ever, so don't talk to me about it until you know I'm done.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Tales from the obsessed fan

Oh my goodness, did I ever have fun last night! Honestly, my day started off pretty rough. But once 2:30 came, it was all better. I picked up Lucy and we headed back to my house (which is a total disaster, by the way!) to make posters. It took us too long to decide what to put on them so we had to make them pretty fast. Her's said "Punto is my Hero" and mine said "Circle us Bert, We're Cobbers" and it had our mascot in a Twins jersey. I was pretty impressed with us :) Of course, it didn't get us circled, but I have hope for our future.

We talked pretty much non-stop the entire time we were in the car, I thought it was pretty fun. We got to the Dome in plenty of time and we found the "Cobber Country" tent. Pretty sure that Cobber Night was so pathetic it was funny. But I'm still glad we went. Cobber Night has been happening for 6 years and we've lost every time. We hoped last night would change, but no such luck. The guy that seemed to be in charge liked our signs. Although, he didn't understand Lucy's. Um, hello! Clearly he is not a Twins fan. He even took a picture of us with the Circle Us Bert sign. We'll have to see if that one shows up on the Concordia website. Yikes.

I have to say that Lucy is probably the best person EVER to go to a Twins game with. She is way more fun than my family because she gets all into it too. We stood up between every inning and held our signs. We screamed and got glared at by the guy next to us. Well, that was really her because I started off a little slow with my cheering. We also discovered that we say the same thing at the same time freakily often. We even "whoo" the same :P Haha!

Our seats were amazing! We were practically on the field. Yay! We got some great views of the pitchers warming up and just chatting in the bull pen. I let Lucy be in charge of pictures, so I'll steal them when she posts them so you can all be jealous of us :P

The game was one of the craziest games I have ever been at. Too many beach balls and fights and crazy stuff. But it was really, really fun. Playing Twingo was pretty sweet too. My mom, Matt, & John must have watched us the whole time because they even noticed when Lucy held her sign upside-down (which was only for like 3 seconds and then she flipped it). At some point, they came over and sat behind us because the people that were there had left. The kids in front of us kept wanting the "Twins hater" to leave. Haha!

Anyway, I had an amazing time and I cannot wait to do it again! Even though we lost, it was probably the most fun I've ever had at a game. I might even have to bring my Homer Hanky next time and jump on the "rally cap" bandwagon with Lucy.

Not much good came from that game, but I'm going to have to go with...

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

He went 4 for 4. That's impressive no matter how you slice it.

Ex-Boyfriend of the Day: Jeff Cirillo

Seriously, I do not like him. I have never liked him. And his pop-up to the catcher today when we really needed a clutch it just really irked me.

Lucy gave me the idea to call him an Ex-B.O.D. instead of an Anti-B.O.D. And to then give those players a negative point on my tally. So I did. I have only had three so far and it was Cirillo twice. I'm going to also give Jason Pear the Ex-B.O.D. honors for the other night... Grr...

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (8)
4 - Jason Pear (5)
T5 - Kubel Khan & Johan (3)

"Circle me Bert, I like corn."

Tonight's Twins game was incredibly boring. Beth was laughing at me because the one time I watch a game live (meaning I can't fast forward the boring parts), it's a 1-0 final. Matt Garza pitched a great game. He pitched 7 innings and only gave up 3 hits and 1 unearned run. Stupid Pear Boy's error. Grr.

I'm definitely hoping (and praying hardcore) that tomorrow's game is more exciting and that it has a better end result. Go Twins!

Boyfriend of the Day: Matt Garza

It's just too bad that we couldn't get him a win, or at the very least a no decision. At least his ERA is still 0.00.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (7)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
T5 - Kubel Khan & Johan (3)

I really need a good nickname for Johan.

Sorry, I've been slacking

So I'm uberly excited for the next week or so. I get to have lunch with Miss Kelly today. Tomorrow is the Twins game that I've been excited about for weeks now :) My mom, brother, and boss are going to the game too, but our seats are better. You should definitely look for Lucy and me on FSN! I'm leaving for Meredith's wedding in Chicago on Friday morning. It should be a fun weekend. Too bad she already told me there are no single guys coming. What the heck!?! I'm rushing back on Sunday to get to Alyssia's talk and then Closing for TEC 68. Woot woot!

Next week is sure to be busy, as well. My parents are having a house concert on Thursday, so there will be plenty to do to get ready for that. I'm really looking forward to it. Especially because Sarah's coming down for it. Yay!

And to top all of that off... I found out last night (and confirmed it today with my Mom) that we're going to Olympic Trials next summer! It's 8 days of the fastest swimming in the country. Oh my goodness, I am freaking pumped! It'll be even cooler if we know someone swimming. And there is definitely a chance of that, so let's go Orcas!

I have been so busy blogging about the Twins that I forgot about my Top 10 lists. Here are my favorite sports movies. I'm sure I'll get a lot of crap for my selections, but it's just my opinion.

10 - The Cutting Edge
9 - The Mighty Ducks
8 - Bend it Like Beckham
7 - A League of Their Own
6 - Hoosiers
5 - Seabiscuit
4 - Remember the Titans
3 - Cool Runnings
2 - Facing the Giants
1 - Miracle

Get out that broom!

Here is the cue for those of you who aren't Twins fans to stop reading... I have gotten a lot of grief this week from you crazy non-baseball followers (what the heck is wrong with you?!?) about my incessant Twins blogging. All I have to say is... Deal with it. The season is half-way over, but don't expect me to let-up on it until the bitter end.

Our first series after the All-Star break was against the Oakland A's. I was very hopeful that we could have a strong start to the second half and my hopes were definitely realized. We swept Oakland in a 4-game series. Holy wow am I excited! Apparently the sweep was so exciting that Lucy couldn't resist the urge to text me about it :P

I watched Thursday's game, but it was very late at night and I was a little out of it. I didn't see any of Friday's game, but I was getting updates from Matt. I was able to watch most of last night's game from the hotel room in Mason City. And I listened to the 3rd through 8th innings of today's game in the car and then watched the 9th inning when I got home. It was definitely some great baseball. I'm glad I have all the games Moxied so I can watch them tonight when Beth gets home.

Thursday's Score: 6-2
Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddles was arguably one of the players struggling the most at the plate before the break. But boy did he ever come out swinging on Thursday. He went 4 for 4 with 1 run and 1 RBI.

Friday's Score: 5-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Johan Santana

He's always been a second-half pitcher. I hope this year is no different than the others. He pitched 7 innings today and only gave up 4 hits. He had 8 Ks and no earned runs. Yay for Johan!

Saturday's Score: 4-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Tyner

Oh how I love Jason Jason. And I'm finally able to give him the nod as my B.O.D. He was 2 for 3 with an RBI today and that included a double.

Sunday's Score: 4-3
Boyfriend of the Day: Joe Mauer

Mauer had the walk-off hit today to complete our sweep! He was 3 for 4 with a walk and an RBI. He even stole a base to cap off an incredible day as our DH.

Basically, it was a great weekends for my Twins :) I didn't think it was possible, but after today, I'm even more excited to go to the game on Wednesday. We have two really tough teams coming in next week, but I have faith in my team.

On Friday night, Beth and I were watching KTTC in our hotel room. Yeah, we got the Rochester news in Mason City. Anyway, we watched the sports highlights to see what the final Twins score was. The sportscaster said, "And Jeff Cirillo went wee, wee, wee, wee all the way to third." Beth and I stared silently at the TV for a few moments, we then turned to each other and busted up laughing. Her comment was, "This is why we watch ESPN for our sports coverage." How right you are, Beth. How right you are.

Top 5 Boyfriends of the Day
1 - The Fiance (10)
2 - Tiny Superhero (9)
3 - Cuddles (7)
4 - Jason Pear (6)
5 - Kubel Khan & Johan (3)

Harry Potter

At midnight this morning, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opened. Oh my goodness was it ever exciting!

Laura, Matt, & Rebecca got here a little before 8. We got into our costumes around 9 and headed over to Kwik Trip to stock up on snacks. We definitely got some looks and people asked us why we were dressed up. Yay? We made it to Chateau about 9:45. Laura went up and asked someone where the line was starting. They told us just to sit at one of the tables on the side. We sat down at the front table on the far side. We played a rousing game of Loot, which I won, by the way. Yay, first time that's ever happened! At 10ish, some guy came over and told us we had to go to the other side because we were in theater 7. I was slightly annoyed by this since I'd been told that we could go into any theater and didn't have to go to the one on our ticket, but whatever. After some crowd control issues, we did make it into our theater.

I was really impressed that we were in our seats by 10:15. Although, it wasn't as fun to be sitting in there as it was playing cards in the lobby. Oh well. Beth and I went out to get our free popcorn and realized that the other side hadn't gotten to go in yet. Too bad for them!

I texted Lucy to see which theater she was in and it was the same one we were in. Yay for Theater 7! Anyway, we ended up saving seats for her. She called me just in time, they were the last two seats in our row because some guys came and took the whole other half of it. Anyway, it all worked out.

The movie was amazing. I really enjoyed it! Especially considering that 5 is not my favorite book. I have a feeling that when I reread the book though, I'll like it a lot more. Some highlights from the movie were Luna (perfect casting, super funny!), the final battle scene (amazing!), and a whole bunch of other stuff too! I won't put too much in here as I'm sure a lot of people haven't seen it yet. I'm ready to go again. Perhaps in IMAX?

Anyway, the night was amazing. My friends are amazing. Yay for dressing up. "I'm free!" I loved everything about it.

A non-Twins blog. Shocking.

Today was quite the day. It was easily one of the most stressful days of my summer. I had a lovely little breakdown in my car on the way home from work. My poor mom had to calm me down via cell phone conversation and then she wanted me to call my dad. So then I called him and he couldn't even understand me because of how hard I was crying. Whoops. But I think I got it figured out. At least for the time being.

Anyway, the real point of this blog is how great things turned out tonight. I got to the pool this afternoon and checked my voice mail really quickly before I got in the water. Laura called and told me that she, Matt, & Rebecca are coming here tomorrow to go see the midnight show of Harry Potter with Beth & me. Woot woot! I am so freaking pumped. Words cannot even begin to describe how excited I am. And we're all dressing up. Well, all of us except for Beth. Matt's going to be Harry, Rebecca will be Hermione, I am dressing up like Professor Umbridge (because she wears pink and I have lots of pink), and Laura's going as Dobie. Haha! If any of you are at Chateau, look for us! You probably won't be able to miss us.

And, one final note. Kelly is getting an honorable mention tonight for being amazing and sweet and an inspiration to everyone she meets. I love her to death. She wants to be my B.O.D. so bad :) I told her that she isn't a boy and she isn't a Twins player/manager/coach/mascot, so she can't be an official one. So that's why she gets an honorable mention. Get it? Got it? Good.

Goodnight.

An update on my boyfriends

As requested, I want to update you all on all of my summer boyfriends and who is leading the race. I should first tell you about yesterday's game... There really isn't much to say.

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

He was 2 for 3. It was rather unfortunate that we could never get him around to score, but he certainly did his part yesterday. Both defensively and offensively. I'm ready for a streak from him after the break! Yay!

The Home Run Derby was tonight. The fiance did alright. He got 4 homers in the first round which left him in a tie for the 4th spot. Unfortunately, he did not win the tie break. But that's okay. He had fun and had Johan and Torii and Gardy there to support him.

The season is half over and here are my boyfriends so far:

1st Place - The fiance (10)
2nd Place - Tiny Superhero (9)
3rd Place (tied) - Pear Boy & Cuddles (6)
5th Place - Kubel Khan (3)
6th Place - Nutty, Castillo, Torii, Johan, & Granny (2)
11th Place - Boof, Suwihwoh, & Hubby #2 (1)

A few random notes...

I have stolen three of those nicknames from Lucy. Hers are better than mine sometimes. Or I just don't have one. Hopefully she's down with that because I already did it.

I really need nicknames for some of the guys. I keep suggesting some and Beth shoots me down. Oh well.

Is anyone surprised that my favorite player is leading. Lucy's favorite player is in 2nd. And Beth's favorite player is tied for 3rd. Hmm.

Goal for the second half of the season: Be less biased?

Am I really old enough to be a "chaperone?"

I spent the weekend in Owatonna chaperoning a lock-in at Good Shepherd. I do not feel like I'm old enough to be a "chaperone." Of course, I did have Brandon tell me today that I looked like a 12 year-old, so then that really makes me feel unqualified for the job :P

I got to the church right at 7 last night. When Mariah got there a little while later, we decided that we needed Starbucks so we left quick. People played "Apples to Apples" and cards for the first part of the night. The band got together and practiced in the sanctuary and the sound guy came to do a sound check. I got to run the slides and make sure everything matched up. What Mariah? It's all about Jews?

Around 10 o'clock, Laura decided it was time for her relay race. The part that I supervised was people coming in and having to get a Cheeto off of a plate of whipped cream using only their mouth. It was nasty, but I did get some funny pictures. The best was when people grabbed Cheetos that had already been in someone's mouth. Ick!

Then we played "Lynch Mob." We played with the full 22 people (plus a moderator). It's still the best game ever. I got to be a criminal in one game. One of the other criminals got killed by Typhoid Mary right away and then the other one had to leave me to play guitar. But I had them all convinced that I was the deputy and I won the game. Yay!

The other Laura activity of the night was a competition between Me & Ben and Shayla & Brandon. The boys sat in chairs and then Shayla and I had to cover their faces in whipped cream and then throw Cheetos on them. Ben & I won, of course :) Sorry boys! It was all Laura's idea!

Emmalee gave her talk for me since I can't hear it at the weekend :( It's amazing and I love her. We came downstairs again in time for Laura's devo and then everyone cleaned up for the night. Mariah, Emmalee, Jill, and I locked ourselves in the music room and talked until 4 o'clock this morning. Jill is freaking hilarious when she talks in her sleep. How much are Popsicles again? We had two alarms set, but neither went off. We woke-up about 5 minutes before we had to have our cars moved, but that's okay. We still had plenty of time.

The services went great today. It was really fun to all be there together. The Children's message was probably my favorite. Props to Levi and Brandon for being amazing chickens and Aaron was the best monkey ever! In the 10:30 service, they scared two little girls back to their parents. I could not stop laughing. Oh, good times.

One of the readings today was from Isaiah 66:10. It says, "For this is what the Lord says: 'I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.'" We could not figure out what dandled meant. I asked Beth. It means bounced. Good to know, eh?

Basically, it was an uber fun weekend! When's the next one :P

Time flies when you're having fun?

Well it certainly seems like summer is flying by. I can hardly believe it. I look at my schedule each week and I'm usually overwhelmed by how much I have going on. But I just keep telling myself that there are only four weeks left of the swimming season. Once we hit August 6th, I might be able to breathe again.

I have plans every weekend for the next month. Tonight is the TEC Lock-In and services tomorrow morning in Owatonna. Next weekend we have a meet in Mason City. The weekend after that is the wedding in Chicago. Then A/B Finals in Winona and then the State Meet at the U. Whew. And that's just the weekends...

Next week is the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and TEC Council. The week after that, I have the Twins game with Lucy, the Orca Championships, and final stuff to get ready for the wedding. And the week after that we have the concert at my parents' house (anybody want to come?).

But, I will admit, I'm having a really fun summer. And, other than the meets, I'm uberly excited for what's to come! Well, it's time for me to head to O-Town, but before I go...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

Three reasons. #1, because I can do whatever I want. #2, because the FOX commentators kept calling him Paul Bunyan, which led to Beth calling him Lumberjack, which led to me cracking up. #3, because there wasn't too much to get excited about in this game. But that's okay. We're probably tired after scoring 32 runs yesterday! And the good news, Red's okay! See y'all on the flip side :)

Oh, and remember... If you haven't checked it out yet... My favorite new blog :)

A Glorious Twins Day!

This is my 200th post. Woot woot! Maybe that's why the Twins had such a glorious day today. I'd like to think so, anyway.

Both games today were completely insane. Seriously. We're getting some great coverage on both ESPN and MSN though. Yay Twins! Finally getting the credit they deserve. We scored 32 runs today. Does that happen? Oh my wow.

Does anyone else find it totally bizarre that this is the team who scored only 1 run in 3 games to start this week? Because I do. The offense was ignited today, that is for darn sure!

Well I blogged enough about today's game... Onto the fun of tonight...

The first inning started off with a bang. The fiance hit a three run homer to get us a little cushion. The bottom of the first inning was not so good... Stupid Thome couldn't hold onto his bat. He let go of it and it went to the backstop and then a few pitches later he swung through a pitch and let go of his bat behind him. He hit the home plate umpire and Mike Redmond. Red had to leave the game to get stitches. This meant that Hubby #2 had to come in and catch again after he caught the four hour game this afternoon. This also meant that our pitches had to hit. Oh, good times.

Of our 12 runs, 11 of them were scored on homers. The fiance hit three of them (3 run, solo, 2 run). Hunter (solo), Cuddles (solo), and Suwihwoh (3 run) each hit one.

As Lucy said, "Fiance's slugging is back." Heck yes! He's the fourth Twin to hit 3 home runs in a game. And the last time it happened was back in 1973. That's before he or I were even born. Oh man it was exciting to watch. He's getting ready for the Home Run Derby, clearly :)

Again, from Lucy...

FIANCE =

BOYFRIEND OF THE YEAR

Which brings us to my favorite part of the program...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

Haha, since it was a doubleheader, I got to have two boyfriends today. I'm really glad that the fiance was one of them. He was 3 for 5 tonight with 3 runs and 6 RBIs. That means that overall today he was 6 for 10 with 6 runs and 9 RBIs. That is darn impressive!

Don't forget... The best thing since sliced bread :)

And one final note... I just heard the TV in the other room and have a great quote to sum up today. "Meanwhile, the Twins go in and beat the White Sox in a doubleheader like a tied up goat." Haha!

All you fair weather fans can come out from hiding now...

In case you're living in a cave, Slowey got optioned back to AAA Rochester yesterday. It was pretty much immediately following the game. Too bad for little Slowey. We called Dwayne back up. That brings us to 15 players with nicknames and 10 without. We shall keep working on it.

My eek exciting news for the day...

Let's go back to the beginning. Back in May, possibly even April, I mentioned to Lucy that we should go to Cobber Night at the Dome together. I had gotten something in the mail inviting me to it and it said it was on June 18th. She said she couldn't go because she'd be on tour. Lo and behold the middle of June came around and Matt informed me that June 18th was an away game. Hmm... I checked the Concordia website and saw they switched it to July 18th. Yay!

Lucy and I decided that we'd go together. We decided to use her dad's season tickets (so thankful for free tickets!) and not sit in the Cobber section. However, I have been e-mailing Diane in the Alumni office, we get name tags for the game and we're going to be joining in the "pregame festivities" outside the Dome. I'm pumped.

Oh, but I digress... Not that all of that isn't exciting in and of itself, but here's the kicker. So Lucy sent me a note last night saying she was working on tickets. I was not suppose to get my hopes up, but she was clearly excited about something. Today, her dad got us the tickets. We're in the section right behind the Twins bullpen... In the 4th row!!! Holy Batman! I'm too excited for words!

Lucy and I have lots of Twins stuff to do... We not only have Cobber Night, but we also have to get together and play with Legos. Yeah, that's coming soon...

I'm a saddened, and a bit frustrated, that the first game of our doubleheader against Chicago wasn't televised. So heartbreaking that I didn't get to see this amazing game on TV. However, I sat at my computer the entire game. I watched and listened to Gameday on MLB.com. For the record, listening to the Chicago commentators about killed me. Grr.

The game lasted forever. I feel really bad because there isn't much time before they have to play again. The good news is that we get to watch the next game. Woot woot!

So during the game, when I got excited about something, I found ways to tell Lucy. We clearly think alike because she sent me a Facebook message at the exact same time that I texted her. The moment... Kubel Khan's grand slam. Heck yes!

We scored 4 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 6 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th, 0 in the 6th, 4 in the 7th, 2 in the 8th, and 0 in the 9th. Not gonna lie, that's crazy. We had 20 runs on 21 hits. That's nothing short of incredible. Why does our offense not balance out. We can't score to save our life against the stupid Yankees, and then this. Haha! I think we may be trying to prove something today. No?

Castillo was 3 for 4 with 4 runs
*J-Rod didn't do anything
Pear Boy was 3 for 6 with 4 runs
Mauer was 4 for 6 with 4 runs & 5 RBIs
Cuddly Cuddy scored a run
The Fiance was 3 for 5 with 3 runs & 3 RBIs
Hunter was 3 for 4 with 3 runs & 3 RBIs
*Prancer Prancer was 1 for 1 with an RBI
Kubel Khan was 2 for 3 with 1 run and 7 RBIs
Jason Jason drew a walk
Tiny Superhero was 2 for 5 with an RBI

Baker pitched 5 innings. He gave up 7 runs on 9 hits with 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, and 1 home run.

Grandpa pitched 2 innings. He gave up 3 runs on 4 hits with 1 walk and 1 home run.

Dwayne pitched 1 1/3 innings. He gave up 4 runs on 5 hits with 1 walk and 1 home run.

Rincylinder pitched 2/3 of an inning. He had 1 strikeout and he walked in a run, but who cares! We won by crap-ton of runs.

I really can't comment on defensive plays since I couldn't see it. But I'm sure there were some good plays :)

That was the highest scoring game I have ever witnessed. I mean, seriously, 34 runs on 39 hits?!? Man, I am so mad I didn't get to watch it. I just saw the SportsCenter coverage and it was hilarious. Some random facts I learned...

It was the most runs scored in a game since the Rockies and the Reds combined for 36 runs in May of 1999.

John Garland (AKA Judy) is the first starting pitcher to allow 12 runs since... John Garland last season.

Anyone want to place a bet on how exciting Game #2 is going to be? I'm thinking a 0-0 pitchers duel or something... Haha :P

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Kubel

Janet (via text at 2:33 pm): Woot woot! Yay for Kubel Kahn
Lucy (via Facebook at 2:33 pm): OH MY GOSH. Jason Kubel. I am going to die.
Janet (via Facebook at 2:34 pm): Bahaha! I just texted you that :P This is amazing.
Lucy (via text at 2:35 pm): oh my gosh. That's what garland gets for walking hunter. I wish this was televised
Janet (via text at 2:36 pm): I saw it coming as soon as they started walking Hunter... Idiots. You and me both kid. We play well and we can't even see it!
Lucy (via Facebook at 2:37 pm): Yeah we did that at the EXACT same time. Hahaha.

Once again, here is the plug to read Lucy's amazingly awesome Twins blog! I can't wait to see what she writes after this afternoon's game. Oh my wow, so much to choose from! Now, I am not forcing any of you at gunpoint to leave comments. But we do all love comments, right? So you should leave some :) I have left the first comment on all three posts so far. I'm sure that streak won't last too long though. Thanks to Aaron and Tim for already commenting. They're clearly the devoted Twins fans among my readers (all 3 of them?).

Happy Twins Day... Stay tuned for another blog after tonight's game.

Pear Boy

Beth and I were watching the Twins game today and we were talking about how Jason Pear never seems to catch a break. Did anyone else think that call at first in the 2nd inning was a little sketchy? Anyway, I decided to devote a blog just to Jason Pear.

* Even though Beth doesn't really like it, I've given Bartlett another nickname. I seem to call him Pear Boy an awful lot lately.

* Beth has a life-size poster of Jason Pear upstairs, but she hasn't hung it up yet.

* Jason Pear has gone 16 for 17 in stolen bases this year. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is. I even made a sign to keep track of his stolen bases. It's on the wall by the TV.

Boyfriend of the Day: Jason Bartlett

He was only 1 for 4, but he had 2 runs and 2 RBIs on a double.

Today's game was pretty depressing. I can't believe Neshekel gave up that two run homer. Ugh, it went straight through my heart. And we got so close in the 9th. Dang. On the bright side, I did get to watch Tiny Superhero run. I wish I could get some of my swimmers to swim with that kind of intensity. AND he broke a 22 at-bat hitless streak. I didn't realize it was that bad! I'm glad he redeemed himself a tad bit offensively today.

We only have 4 games left until the All-Star break. At that point I will post a tally of all the B.O.D.s so far this season. I'll say that the Fiance and Tiny Superhero are leading the way right now. Pear Boy and Cuddly Cuddy might make a run for it, though. Stay tuned.

And don't forget to read ...only another Twins blog... and leave comments. It's my new favorite Twins blog. Okay, so what if it's the only Twins blog that I read. It's still really good.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! My day started with coaching, of course. We gave all the kids sugar to send them off to enjoy a day with their parents. Haha! We gave the Age Groupers ice cream cones, the Junior Groupers ice cream cones and cookies, and the Gold and Silver Groupers ice cream cones and cupcakes. Oh how I adore holidays!

After work, our day really started. Matt brought Megan over and then we all went to see "Ratatouille." It's a really funny movie. Pixar has done it again. But I expected as much. Pixar doesn't make bad movies. It's definitely up there with my favorites. "Finding Nemo" still has a stronghold on the top spot, though.

We came home and watched the Twins game. Unfortunately, some one in my family left the TV on when we left, so we came home and saw the final score. Grr. It was still well worth watching though. More on that later... Next, we played Mario Party on Wii for awhile. I am yet to win a game. In fact, of the six times we've played, I've been last five times. Either I really suck at the game, or I just have the worst luck in the world. I'm hoping it's the latter.

When we got hungry, we decided it was time for dinner. We hit for .333 tonight. First we tried Fiesta, but it was closed. Then we drove up to Whistle Binkies, but it was close. Finally we got to Carlos O'Kelly's and ate there. After dinner we played some more Wii and that's about it. We were going to watch the fireworks, but we got lazy and we weren't thrilled with the weather.

I didn't blog yet about last night's Twins game. But I don't think I want to. It was not a pretty sight. However...

Boyfriend of the Day: Justin Morneau

He had two hits and gave me a little hope where not much could be found.

Today's game was WAY better. I did feel slightly pathetic when I was excited that we got a run. I asked how many scoreless innings we had gone only to realize it really hadn't been THAT bad. Santana pitched another great game. I'm glad he seems to be out of his funk. Let's hope our offense can stay alive and get our pitchers some run support. Bartlett and Hunter both scored two runs today and Kubel and Rodriguez each hit a two run homer (Hunter was on base for both of them).

The B.O.D. selection was a tad hard today because I'd like to award it to someone for their offensive contributions. Clearly, that's what we've been lacking these past few games. However, when Tiny Superhero makes a play like he did today, I'm going to go with him.

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

I haven't gotten to watch Baseball Tonight or SportsCenter yet, but I will. And if he's not in the Top Plays and Web Gems, I will be livid!

And how for the shameless plug part of my program...

A few months ago, I linked to Bat-Girl's blog. Lucy had told me about it and I really liked it. I was probably only reading for a few weeks when she decided to quit writing. Well we don't have to wait any longer for another Twins blog because Lucy decided to start one today! YAY! I've linked to it, so all of you Twins fans should check it out and comment for her.

Oh happy day

Both yesterday and today were really good days. Really long days, but really good days. I've been covering some early morning coaching for my boss who is out of town and I have not been compensating by going to bed early. Oh well. You only live once, right?

Last night I spent some time in Stewartville with old friends. We met up at Greg & Jennie's with Laura and her mom. We all know each other through T.E.C. and then Laura and I both worked for Greg out at Lutherdale the summer after our freshman year of college. Laura went to school out in Seattle and that's where she still lives. I don't think I had seen her since our summer at camp, so it had been 6 years. It was so nice to catch up and reminisce :)

Then today I got to have lunch with Lucy. We met at 11:30. She was on time, I was the late one. Whoops. I figured we'd maybe be there for an hour and a half at the most. But three hours later, I finally had to leave to get my car in to the shop. I love talking to her and I am so excited to go to a Twins game with her in a few weeks! I think it might be time for a paper chain countdown... I keep saying that, but maybe I should really make one :)

So the highlight of last night's baseball game was seeing Erin on TV. I actually didn't see it when I watched last night because we watched it on ESPN. However, I was sitting at Saturn this afternoon, waiting for my car to be done with an oil change, and flipped on FSN. Sure enough, they were replaying the game. They came back from the commercials and there was Erin. Oh good timing.

I really have nothing else to say about that game. I sat in silence as it ended. The only prediction of Erik's that I wanted to happen, now cannot. We can still win the rest of the games though. Go Twins!

Boyfriend of the Day: Nick Punto

He sat on the bench. Enough said.

Anti-Boyfriends of the Day: Luis Castillo and Jeff Cirillo

Seriously, you have to be able to turn those routine plays. Grr.

Ooh, and more nicknames for you all :P

Scott Baker - Nutty
Jason Bartlett - Jason Pear
Jeff Cirillo - Suwihwoh
Michael Cuddyer - Cuddly Cuddy
Lew Ford - Prancer (now don't forget the carousel music)
Jason Kubel - Jason Kubel Khan (lately we leave off the Jason)
Justin Morneau - The Fiance, Hubby
Pat Neshek - Neshekel
Ramon Ortiz - Grandpa
Nick Punto - Tiny Superhero
Juan Rincon - Rincylinder
Luis Rodriguez - J-Rod
Jason Tyner - Jason Jason

I got Nutty from Miss Lucy. I had been giving her credit for Tiny Superhero, but I guess it's really from Bat Girl. All is good though, I still heard it first from Lucy.

Erik's Predictions

Yesterday was a good day. We planned a lunch with Connie, Meredith, Joyce, Amy, Mom, and me at Whistle Binkies on the Lake. The Moms (Connie, Joyce, and my mom) have been friends for years. I know that Connie and my mom met when Meredith and I were two. I'm not sure when they met Joyce, but I think it was either at the same time, or really close to it. Over the years we've done lots together. Yesterday we reminisced about our crazy political memories like doing mailings, meeting Barbara Bush, and having some random guy ask us if our parents made us dress like clowns (we were wearing Bush hats as 10 year-olds).

The lunch yesterday was basically instead of a bridal shower for Meredith (who's wedding is only 2 weeks from Saturday in Chicago!). It was so fun to get all of us together. We really need to do it more often. We had some great laughs and it was really fun to catch up on everyone's lives.

I learned a very valuable lesson, too. If you're sitting outside at a restaurant, either sit under the umbrella or not under it. Sitting half-way under it leaves you with a very strange sunburn. I have one bright red arm and one tan one. Ha!

The Twins game yesterday was another good one. It was another great pitcher's duel out of Baker. He threw something like 79 pitches, and only gave up 3 hits. I'm pretty sure it counts as a complete game for him, too. It was quite impressive and the commentators on all the sports shows were talking about how phenomenal he was (heck yes!). It's too bad that one bad pitch cost him and the Twins the game. Stupid home runs. It's also too bad we couldn't get our hits in the same inning. We did have six of them. It's always hard to go scoreless.

I should also mention that Bartlett had 5 of the first 7 outs. I found it rather humorous. I think he go the shaft not making Web Gems on one of them, but whatever. That's just the media bias against the Twins.

Anyway, that's all okay because we still won the series. I really didn't expect us to sweep. I was really, really pleased with Baker's performance. And that's why...

Boyfriend of the Day: Scott Baker

So I got to the pool this morning and one of the coaches, Erik, (a crazy Yankees fan from back East) gave me three predictions.

#1 - The Twins will sweep the Yankees.
#2 - Joe Torre will not be the manager after the All-Star break.
#3 - Mike Hargrove will be the new manager.

We'll see if he's right. I'm definitely hoping he is. Especially on #1 :)

Landscaping

If any of you have ever been to my house, you know that the landscaping really sucked. The front yard was a disaster. Totally overrun with weeds and crap because the people who lived here before me tried to make less to mow, and it was a disaster. The backyard basically had no grass. It's all clover and stuff. The landscaping isn't horrible, but there were a lot of weeds.

Alright, so there's the background you need. This spring my parents decided it was time to fix all the landscaping. They've been here weeding and pulling out stuff (stumps, trees, clothes lines, etc.) several times. The weekend that I was gone in Chicago, I came home to see that they had cut down a tree in front, put mulch in around plants, and put up a railing on my front steps.

This weekend was more landscaping. We mostly cut down weeds, grape vines, and trees in the backyard and mulched some more. We ripped up ugly landscaping and are now ready to put grass seed down. Bottom line, my parents are amazing and did a ton of work. AND I am no longer embarrassed about how my yard looks. It's still a big dirt pile, but you can tell we're working on it. And it's going to to look SO much better when all is said and done. I'm really excited :)

The Twins game yesterday was another good one. Slowey had a strong outing and we played solid offense and defense. Good ol' Tiny Superhero had the #1 Web Gem last night and was on SportsCenter's Top Plays! Yay! Jason Pear also stole his 16th base. He's got a perfect record going this season.

Boyfriend of the Day: Michael Cuddyer

Cuddly Cuddy had a triple and a 3 run homer. Now that's good offense :)