Date with hubby!

The first day of spring!!-

can't see them very well but some deer are crossing in front of us.

This last weekend my hubby and I took a quick trip to Minneapolis for one night.  It was a really pleasant trip, not just because there was no snow and the temperature was actually above 30 on the 20th of March, but because of this little thing-a-ma-chig, one of the hubby's latest gadgets.  Meet Harmin the Garmin. 

This thing is one of the best things to happen to our marriage in 20 years, I don't know why we didn't get one looong time ago.  I will never again take the blame for wrong turns or not getting where we are trying to go.  The maps can stay in the glove box and I am a happy camper!  Bill can argue with Harmin all he wants, it won't bother me a bit.  Sigh.  ;-)  And Bill makes him work, he had to recalculate a LOT.

Of course, there a couple stops one has to make on the way there, McDonald's Meats for jerky and the Clearwater Travel Plaza for good soup and wow is that delicious bread. 

And if you succomb at the pastry counter, the best fritters ever.

I succombed.  Eating a whole one at one time is not recommended (if even possible) due to massive sugar overload.

We found our hotel quite handily and in good moods thanks to Harmin.  It was a VERY NICE Hilton with a king-sized bed that felt like I imagine heaven will feel like.

The reason for our trip was to attend the Century 21 Agent Appreciation/Awards Gala.  We had a fabulous three course meal including salmon and barbequed beef brisket something or other.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the food! 

Bill and his business partner, Betsy, received the 2009 Quality Service Team Award for the second year.  Woot woot!  Also in the photo is Mark, the owner/broker of Century 21 in Bemidji, with the 2009 Gold Medallion Office Award.  Their spouses/significant others also attended the deal.

....and this award as well.... did I mention woot woot?!

It was fun to get dudded up for this gala event with all those mucky mucks of real estate. :-)  Well, sort of, at least the food and drinks were good.  JK

The next morning, after tearing Bill away from the NFL network, we decided to check out the IKEA store since we had never been there.  Oh my goodness, I had no idea.  I felt very claustrophobic.  It was like a huge multi-storied maze with no windows and no way out except to follow the hoardes of mice people cramming along the gray path that twisted and turned and seemed it would never end.  We eventually made it out unscathed and didn't buy a thing.  We had to ponder the experience for a while afterwards. 

We stopped to pick up Brian's Fantom keyboard at a repair shop.  Here's Bill lugging it to the car- it weighs about 80 lbs in the case!  Brian barely survived the three weeks without it.  He has a new song on his web site called Hearing Things, kinda cool, check it out!

The other highlight was the old barns along the way.......hubby didn't mind stopping for me and Harmin either, even though it meant recalculating sometimes.

I like this one not too far from our house with the little still-frozen pond in front of the barn. 

So thanks for the great weekend, Bill!  And Harmin.  I love you both.