Since 2005 Chuck and I have seen the Tampa Bay Lightning in person.  It’s become an annual tradition to head to Tampa to see the Lightning play.  (You can read about last year’s trip or sift through my Lightning posts)

Fair warning this is a picture/video heavy post 

Hockey Paradise  - February 4, 2012

10-10:30am — Breakfast

10:30-12:30 — We made friends and passed the time by talking to other Lightning fans.  Many were season ticket holders that had attended a pancake breakfast.  Of course, the players we wanted to see the most were the last two out of the Forum.

Chuck loves hockey but he his favorite player is St. Louis.  He admires his determination and skills while not being as tall as most of the players when he entered the NHL.  Being 5’8 was a challenge back in 1998 with all the clutching and grabbing pre-lockout.

12:30-5 –pool time, lunch at Hattricks, bumming around the Riverwalk, enjoying the sun

5-5:30 – Getting ready

Want proof we were right behind the bench? Here is a screen shot I took off my iphone from a video of the tv coverage. Yep that’s me behind Boucher! And if you look close you can see Chuck looking at the scoreboard.

5:30-6:30 — Exploring all the renovations of the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Only word to explain it…AMAZING. A little taste of the changes are the Budlight Party Deck, new flat screen tvs, taking out suites in the corners to open up standing room, the tesla coils and the organ. I was too in awe to take a lot of photos.  I know, what kind of blogger am I?

6:30 — Warmups

7 — Game Time!  Please note my use of restraint since I put up only a handful (ok 2 hands) of photos.  Being right behind the home bench, you can imagine how many photos I actually took.   Especially since it was Marty St. Louis’ 900th game and he scored a hat trick!

Marty’s post game interview

10:30 —  Hanging out on the Budlight Party Deck and enjoying the Gloriana Concert

It was an awesome day, the only thing that was missing was when Vinny threw the puck into our section after being named one of the 3 stars of the game.  The others were Stamkos and St. Louis.

Seriously, it was the best day. I hope next year’s annual adventure can live up to these past two years.

Because I don’t have enough to look at in this post, here is one more video of Vinny & Marty one on one at practice on Monday.

Let’s start off by saying I don’t dispute the fact that the NHL needs more rivalries but this article, NHL Misses Yet Another Chance to Amp Up Rivalries,  rubbed me the wrong way.  Simply put the All-Star game has always been and always will be a extremely high skilled pick-up game.  Players and owners hold their breath the weekend of the All-Star game praying that no one gets hurt.

However, the NHL ‘higher-ups’ could have overruled the voting system in order to bring the fans a more heated battle – making the All-Star game just as passionate, if not more, than a regular season – or even post-season – game.

The NHL has dropped the ball here. The All-Star game is a perfect venue to fuel the fire beneath some quickly cooling rivalries.

If you want better rivalry, as far as an All-Star setting, it would be better created with a country against country game.   For example the Canda Cup ’72.

The NHL didn’t drop the ball puck(?) on building rivalries, the All-Star game isn’t the opportunity to build them.  They would have been quickly built with the realignment that the players voted down.

For the record, I would have liked to see the realignment take place to have  home and home games because that really would have amped up rivalries.

Booking a private party has some perks such as:

1. You get to choose from ANY of over 1000 paintings – some are 2 hour and some are 3 hour classes.
2. You get a private party room with your own artist.
3. No set up, no clean up – just show up!
4. It’s the same price as a regular class.

Mallory picked Autumn bouquet for the painting.  Wendilynn walked us through it step by step and it was amazing to see how different each of our paintings turned out.  They were very unique to each of us.  See for yourself.

Painting with a twist - try it!

I can’t stress enough how much fun this was and it didn’t matter whatsoever that I wasn’t a painter. I want to go back for a class. You can check out their schedule to see if there is a painting project you may be interested in.  What do you have to lose?  If you hate it you don’t have to hang it.  But keep in mind, their number one rule is “Be kind to yourself”.

I think I can add this to my list accomplishments that isn’t on my 30 before 30 list, don’t you?

Have you been to Painting with a Twist?  Would you recommend it?  If you go, let me know what you think!

*I was in no way asked to write about this establishment, I was just lucky enough to be invited to join in the fun and found it a really enjoyable place.*

Things I’ve accomplished so far:

1. Buying a cottage in Oscoda
2. Taking photos to blow up and frame
3. Visit California
   
   
4. Blogger meet-up 

   
   

5. Run a 5k
   
   
6. Gathering my recipes and making a cookbook
7. Girls getaway
   
   
8. French braiding my own hair
9. Hockey game in Chicago
   
   
10. Build/Refinish something
    
    
11. Freelance - I made money creating some PDF forms, does that count?

Considering there was a lot of travel on my list I think I’m doing pretty well.

I’m currently working on these:

1. Take  classes related to work/career –
   Currently in a Grad Cert Program
2. Visit Toronto & ride the train -
   My cousin and her family lives in Toronto, we keep saying we are going to go.
3. Finish my office space –
   This is a must do!
4. Finish the basement -
   Currently putting up drywall
5. Get my pictures and music organized -
   I’m working on it, should get a new external hard drive

Things that I’ve accomplished that weren’t on the list:

1. Joined a hockey team
2. Traveled abroad
3. Raising a puppy
4. Installed a toilet

See the original list.

Yummy lunch ideas

Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies

Chalkboard Mugs

Earring/Jewelry Holder

2012 feels like it’s going to be a different kind of year.  It’s probably because there are a lot of things that are about to start, when usually at this time I’m dreading the long month of January.

Breakfast Club Hockey – Chuck and I are attending hockey skills classes on Wednesday mornings starting next week.  I’m pretty pumped since I just bought myself new skates, Easton S-17.  I’m hoping having skates baked just for me, instead of buying used equipment,  will alleviate the problem I was having with my arches. (Thank you year end bonus! The first time I have ever received one because the University did not give those out)

Media Theory – I passed my statistics class with a B so I’m starting my second class in the graduate certificate.  While Media Theory doesn’t sound all that sexy, the correspondence I’ve had with this professor so far leads me to believe that class will be conducted in a much better way than the last class I took.  Thank God.

Dog Training – Chuck and I are taking both Stella (who is 11 months now!) and Scooby to obedience training.  Scooby completed training when I got my dog training certificate in 2007 but since the loss of Nani he hasn’t been the same.  We are hoping the mental stimulation and social interaction with other dogs will make him little bit happier.  We choose a class through Judi, who I met through my externship with for Animal Behavior College and has since opened her own business.

In other little things that are contributing to this new year feeling different from others, I bought a white board and cork board for Chuck and I to keep track of expenses and try to get some things in order.  It feels good to be this productive at the beginning of January, maybe I’ll try and make it a new year’s tradition.

About a month ago I was uber excited about the Red Wings versus the Tampa Bay Lightning game and then I never spoke about it again.  Contrary to what you may be thinking, it’s not because the Lightning lost and I didn’t follow the plan to wear my Lightning shirt during warmups and change into my jersey for the game.  Or because I might have gotten lip from co-workers who were at the game as well, or the flack I caught from my friends that we met up with at the game.

Simply, I have pictures all over the place and I couldn’t find the motivation to compile them to post here.  Lazy, I know.

In a nutshell, I had hopes that the Lightning would beat the Wings but then I kind of didn’t want to give Steve Yzerman the joy of beating his alma mater the first time back.  During a tv timeout they did a tribute to Yzerman for his first time  back at the Joe.

It was nice and short and his new team made sure to stand up and pay respect to their amazing GM.

Can someone tell me when or if the Lightning have ever beaten the Wings?  In my search it looks like in 2004 they tied, as this was before shootouts.

Regardless of the end score, because it was difficult for me to choose who to root for (I found myself cheering whenever anyone scored), Chuck and I had a great time and kept up with attending every Red Wing and Lightning game.

I got a response from the customer service team with an email address.  I was at a holiday party so I waited until late Saturday night to send an email. The next day I went into Barnes and Noble and the staff was super friendly and willing to help.  They had to contact the Nook support line who requested I take the phone to verify information.  She then informed me that their computers were down and if I CALLED BACK in an hour they would be able to issue me a replacement.

Um…NO.  Luckily (well maybe not so lucky), when I informed the gentleman helping me he said he would get his manager’s consent to exchange it for me.  I was just going to return everything then and there but I thought maybe I just had a defective one, because after all, it happens.  They issued me an exchange and I took my brand new replacement home.

Thinking I would be a good consumer I plugged the Nook Simple Touch in to  charge and went about my day.  When I got home I was eager to get back to reading the book I was so rudely interrupted in reading.  The Nook was completely unresponsive.  It hadn’t charged, which means it wouldn’t turn on at all.

I called customer service and tweeted again (because you know most times, if you publicly call out a company they will respond).  The customer service hotline assured me that it MUST be a bad USB cable and that I could go into the store.  By the this time it was too late and the store was about to close.

Monday, I got a response back from the customer service email that had been tweeted to me.  When I explained that it MUST be the USB cord he replied saying he would send me one in the mail.  I got it today.

It didn’t work.

Sorry Barnes and Noble, but 2 defective devices in a row and I’m out.  I returned it tonight with no problems.  For the most part your customer service is great, your products? Not so much.

I’m going to buy a Kindle now.  Hopefully I’ll have more luck.

This weather is pretty amazing. It’s been in the 50-60′s for the past week. Pretty unheard of for the mitten state. It’s been wonderful since we got a late start raking all the leaves and we needed to finish painting the basement with drylock before we put the drywall up. That in itself was a blessing we were thankful for. I’m also loving wearing sweaters or long sleeves with a scarf and being reasonably warm. It seems that this mild weather will be coming to an end the middle of next week though.

I’m not a big Black Friday shopper but yesterday I did brave going to Barnes and Noble to purchase a Nook Simple Touch. I wasn’t sure about the whole e-reader thing at first but when we go up north sometimes I don’t bring enough books or I forget them all together. A Nook would be perfect to bring on weekend trips and when I travel. You never have to worry about not having a book. I decided on the Simple Touch because all I wanted was something to read books on.  Right now, I am not in the market for a tablet or an iPad.  When I got home, I bought a $.99 book and I love it. It’s exactly like reading a book but I don’t have to hold the pages back which makes reading more comfortable. The next books I intend to buy are The Happiness Project and The Joy of Less. Any others you would suggest?

I’m excited for this next week.  The Tampa Bay Lightning will be at the Joe on Wednesday.  Our tickets are behind the visitor’s bench.  I CAN NOT wait!

There really is nothing like live theater and definitely when it’s the night after opening night.   The actor that played the judge was either an understudy or was having a bad night because more than a couple times he forgot a line or two.  Though it spoiled a couple instances of suspense, the play was really incredible and the cast was amazing.  It’s a long play, 3 hours, but I was so memorized by the acting and story I barely noticed.  I had forgotten how intense the story of The Crucible is.  If you’re not familiar with the play, it is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials, something I became interested in when I was a younger.  After seeing the play last week, I have to assume that the book I read as a child left out parts or that I didn’t understand the initial cause of crying witch the first time I read it. (Or what was my mom thinking letting me read things like that, haha)

If you are from metro Detroit, have you been to the Baldwin?  If so, what was the last production you saw there?