As Americana as…well, Baseball

As promised, here are some cool photos I took from the games I went to over the 4th of July weekend. There are pictures of parachutes, beer, silly people, TC the Bear wearing a Pavano mustache, ect…

Parachuters!

Garrett Jones Action Figure visits Target Field

Random photos from the weekend

Rockets red glare!

My favorite spot in Target Field!

me & @baseballhappy

The brought out the big flag!

me & Ryan

Cool!

TC Pavano 'Stache & Ryan

Ry is Premium, yo!

Me & Ryan

Public Service Announcement for the Day:

Oh, and for the record…it isn’t in good taste to ask people to blog/promote your event with the offer of something and then not actually delivering.

Hey Minnesotans, watch the All-Star game from the comfort of Target Field!

If you would all allow me a moment to promote a really, really awesome event here in Minneapolis. Wait…don’t stop reading now! Have I led you wrong yet? Okay, sure…sometimes I blather on about how much I love David Cook and reality television shows but this is different. I swear!

All-Star Event at Target Field!
Tuesday, July 13 at Target Field

Next Tuesday, Pillsbury United Communities is hosting an awesome event at Target Field – a private screening of the All-Star Game. This event is a fundraiser for Pillsbury United Communities, a nonprofit organization with multiple locations in Minneapolis' inner city neighborhoods – including four neighborhood centers and a professional live theatre. PUC serves more than 35,000 people each year – nearly 10% of Minneapolis!

What better way to watch the All-Star game than AT the home of two (maybe three) of our Minnesota Twins All-Stars! If you purchase your tickets to this event by the end of Wednesday (tomorrow) you can use a Groupon! (Groupon is an online form of a coupon…no cutting needed). The Groupon offers $40 tickets…pretty damn discounted so you can’t go wrong with that deal!

Groupon, yo!

For additional information and details on this event please visit their site: Home Field Advantage Event

I live right by the Pillsbury House Theater and I know what a great organization and opportunity it gives to the community. Food, baseball, cheering, Target Field, All-Stars? You can’t miss out on this!

***I am in the process of editing my photos from my baseball-filled weekend and I will post them tomorrow. Watch this space!

<--- This is a teaser.

Pack my bags, walking in rain/Hear them voices inside my head/Drinking that booze & taking down names

Calling all Twins bloggers & tweeters!
MetsGrrl will be in Minneapolis this upcoming weekend! Besides going on a baseball tour and eating a Jucy Lucy at Matt’s Bar she wants to gather and watch the Twins and Mets matchup on TV. So, come join us! This would be a perfect time to break out your old Santana Twins shirts and join us at Kieran’s Irish Pub (the new location in Block E, across from the Target Center). We’ll be meeting around noon on Sunday, June 27.

Metsgrrl Meet-up
Kieran’s Irish Pub
600 Hennepin Ave
http://www.kierans.com/

Happy hour from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., 7 days a week. $4 pints, house wines, rail drinks

Let me know if you are interested in joining and then I can pass along a headcount to Kieran’s. Just a warning…this isn’t one of those fancy meet-ups. There will be no shenanigans or hoopla. Just us and baseball and beer.

Also, rumor has it that Garrett Jones Action Figure will be debuting at the bar on this momentous occasion.

Baseball, mall, hall, call, asparagus, Jason castro, shawl, tall…
My little five-year old niece, Lucy, is learning all about rhyming. She rhymes everything and well, the heading above is an example of her rhyming style. I don’t think she’s destined to be the next Eminem or anything but at least she’s trying.

So baseball…
I am still very much in love with Target Field. I’ve been to a handful (almost two handfuls – insert inappropriate comment here) of games and each one makes my love of the ballpark grow. Yeah, it’s sappy but that’s how I feel. Hey, I am a girl that was raised in the Metrodome. Raised seeing a dingy grey domed roof, bright green fake grass, cheap plastic blue seats and closed walkways. Anyways, I skipped out of work early last Thursday and headed to Target field to watch the Twins. The weather was perfect…a hot summer day. I was thankful that my seats were in the shade…a nice breeze, cold beer & tasty tacos.





There was yet another proposal on the jumbotron.



This dude rides the Ghetto#5 bus. Pirate Pride!

Music Video of the Day

In honor of Vinnie (THANK YOU) scoring me a ticket to Stone Temple Pilots concert that is coming through town here in August…I give you a song from Scott Weiland’s solo album.

Scott Weiland – Paralysis

Blame it on the rain, blame it on the stars, whatever you do don’t put the blame on you

The clouds parted and the sun sparkled over downtown Minneapolis (I am sure some angels were singing and shit but I think they are sick of me requesting Free Bird). For some strange reason I had Milli Vanilli’s greatest hit, Blame It On The Rain, stuck in my head.

I was excited to go to the game with Jess (of the Tulsa Roadtrip for MWK Concert crew) and introduce her to Target Field. I also got to introduce her some Hibbinites (those who hail from Hibbing, MN)…Vinnie and his guys are 100% Hibbing and 200% hilarious.

The game was great, the company was awesome (we fangirled MWK, Ryan Star & David Cook), the food was good (taco Tuesday), and we won…pretty much a quadruple threat.


CandyLand in downtown Minneapolis offers a Game Day special. For $10 you can get a bag of Chicago Mix, a bag of plain popcorn, a bag of either sunflower seeds or peanuts, and a bag of candy. It is all approved to go into the ballpark so you would be set with sweet treats! I am doing this on my next game!


If you are looking for Father's Day Presents get yourself to Walmart (words I don't utter often). They have a great selection of Father's Day/Twins stuff. I really, really want this tshirt.

Photos from the game last night:
Twins (Slowey) vs. Kansas City Royals (Greinke) - June 8, 2010

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galatica. or Pittsburgh. Food. Yankees

Before I give you my blurb and photos from my trip to Pittsburgh I wanted to throw out the bit o’info that I am going to the Twins game tonight. I am NOT a fan of going to games when the Yankees are in town, mostly because the amount of Minnesota Yankee fans that pop out of the far reaches of our fair state. Also, I hate the Yankees. (Note: I do not hate Yankee fans…well, most of them.) So, I am putting on my Twins shirt and my sunblock and heading to Target Field to experience my first WARM game at our fantastic ballpark. Now…what to eat? What to drink? What insults to mutter under my breath at the family of four wearing Jeter jerseys?

I Heart Pittsburgh
I survived a kickass trip to Pittsburgh, the City of Food (well, that’s my nickname for it.) I was like my own travel show where I ate at non-chain restaurants, tried local faves, drank in the hotel bar while telling crazy stories drunkenly. Okay…so that last part would be an exclusive for MY travel show. I experience a giant rain delay on my only Pittsburgh Pirates game and I snagged a Garrett Jones action figure for @baseballhappy. I feel like I succeed in having the mid-range level of fun! Especially considering I got to sit next to Davey Jones (yes, THE Davey Jones from the Monkees) at the hotel bar. I also stood next to Hermans Hermits at the valet stand.

PNC Park


A famous Primanti Bros Sammie.

I hopped across the border to West Virginia to have lunch with Darcie!


A pretty and rainy day view from my hotel window.


I had coffee with dinos!


Sushi in a boat tastes the best.

Extra! Extra! Lipgloss & Those Girls Combine to take Pittsburgh by storm!

As I pack my bags (including my one lonely Pittsburgh Pirate tshirt) I am making a mental note of all the things that Oh, Those Girls and I have decided we wanted to do:
· Breakfast Sundaes at DeLuca’s
· Walk by the giant hamburger
· Steak and Lube
· Baseball
· Tour
· Eating
· Walking
· Garrett Jones Bobblehead
· Eating
· Baseball

However will we fit it all in?

One of my fave Pittsburgh memories – the room service menu at the hotel

Wish us luck and follow our twitters for shenanigans as they happen!

@baseballipgloss

@baseballhappy

Pittsburgh Affair! Plus proof that I fangirl my own city: My Faves of Minneapolis – Music, Beer & Food

Pittsburgh or Bust
In one week and one day I will be hurtling in an airplane towards the east coast and Pittsburgh, PA. Now, most of you may know how I am in love with Pittsburgh…the city, the people, PNC Park and the Pittsburgh Pirates. I almost feel dirty because I am cheating on my first love of Minneapolis/Twins. Anyways, I am so very much looking forward to this baseball weeked with Those Girls & Pittsburgh, The City. It is Garrett Jones Action Figure Weekend and well…let’s be honest…shenanigans are bound to happen when there is beer, a city, and an action figure.

Hometown Pride
There are so many awesome things about Minneapolis…it’s almost impossible to list them BUT I am going to give it a try.

Music

Tune into 89.3 The Current on Saturday, May 15 and enjoy Minnesota music at its finest. The Current will be playing only Minnesota music all day long. Check out their Minnewiki for more info.

Beer

There are some kickass breweries here in Minnesota (and Wisconsin). The past few years I have been…hesitant to order Premium Grain Belt whilst rocking out at First Ave or any outdoor music festival because…well…because of Hipsters. For a while there Premium was the Hipsters Choice of Beer and that really turned me off it. Thankfully, the flighty tendencies of the hipsters have them moving on to tallboys of PBR. Whew! Now I can enjoy my local brew again! Plus, last month they launched a new brew in their collection… Grain Belt Nordeast! If you are a local guy or gal you know that Nordeast is known as the Hipster Capitol of the world and yet that won’t discourage me from testing this newest edition to the Beer Family. (Word has it that the secret ingredient is tears from a crying hipster at a Vampire Weekend concert.)

Food

Photo from http://www.michaelbirawerart.com

Matt’s Bar, the Institution. Besides music and beer I find myself having a lot of pride in one place…a bar that serves hamburgers…nee Amazingly Simple Tasty Treasure Filled Hamburgers. Matt’s Bar, the Institution. This place holds a special place in my heart (and my neighborhood). It is the home of the ORIGINAL Jucy Lucy. Man vs Food was there, food wars, Andrew Zimmerman, Anthony Bourdain…they all have to stop at Matt’s Bar and so should you! Hey, if you are coming to town this summer to check out the new Target Field give me a call and I’ll take you to Matt’s. A couple months ago I got to show/brag/preen/crow/introduce Matt’s Bar to Sarah (Scoreboard Gourmet) to the awesomeness of the Jucy Lucy. You can read her recap here plus tons of other great stadium food items (including a bunch from Target Field).