Thankful

(via)

In honor of Thanksgiving I wanted to take time to write down a few things we are grateful for.

First and for most each other. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Our amazing families and getting to visit soon.

Our health

For Linda doing well

Our church, which provides a place for us always, even with our crazy gypsy lifestyle.

The knowledge of the gospel

Our teeny tiny apt that is just for us and heat included :)

Our friends

Two operating cars

Food in our fridge

Jobs (My husband gets payed to sing. Can you believe it?)

The skyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first beautiful snow fall we got to watch together. (I'll post pics soon)

The confidence to cook more. Home cooked meals are becoming easier for us :)

We are so blessed. Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!

Tin Cup Food Challenge

(via)

Let's start off by saying if you have no clue who this guy is...this post will likely confuse you.

Gabe would like to BE him. And that is that.

Adam Richman stars on Man v. Food Nation on the travel channel and we both love the show.

He goes to cities around the U.S. scouting out good food spots and takes on extreme food challenges.

Gabe saw one recently where Adam visited the Twin Cities and was giddy with anticipation of going to a local dive called Tin Cup.

The challenge:

Two- one lb. burgers and two pounds of fries. These aren't just any burgers, they're juicy lucys which means they have a cheesy filling in the interior and these so happened to have jalapenos in the center and the actual burger was smothered in a hot pepper siracha sauce. Sound good?

Gabe and his friend Jon were up to the challenge.

Haha, don't you love the excitement!

Gabe finished the first burger in four minutes...

Second one took a little longer but he was foooooooooooooooooocused.

Starting to not feel so good.

.....aaaaaaand he's done. Finished both burgers but couldn't mange all the fries. The best part- he had to be at rehearsal in less than 30 minutes. I'm not sure how he didn't get sick.

In the fight against man versus food...sadly...FOOD won.

One beautiful silent night

This weekend marked the opening of Silent Night, a world premiere opera, which Gabe was so fortunate to be a part of. The show was stunning and probably my favorite to date. Remember a few weeks ago I told you about a photo shoot Gabe was a part of for the opera...

Here's how it turned out.

Cool, huh?

The show was even cooler. Here are several links to photos, and reviews. So exciting over here!!

Here's a great article from MPR that was written before the show. (It has great pics and audio)

'Silent Night' recounts Christmas Truce across no man's land Minnesota Public Radio News

Liam Bonner as Lt. Audebert, Gabriel Preisser as Lt. Gordon and Craig Irvin as Lt. Horstmayer in "Silent Night." The new Minnesota Opera production tells the story of the 1914 Christmas Truce during World War I. (Via Minnesota Opera/Michael Daniel)

Review from the Star Tribune

Troy Cook's Palmer, Andrew Wilkowske's Ponchel and the trio of lieutenants (Liam Bonner, Craig Irvin, Gabriel Preisser) merit special praise.

The review from the Examiner

Vocally Silent Night relies heavily on the commanding baritones of Craig Irvin (as the German Lieutenant Horstmayer), Gabriel Preisser (as the Scottish Lieutenant Gordon), and Liam Bonner (as the French Lieutenant Audebert). The interplay of these three talented singers - from tersely delivered formalities to the affectionate cordialities of unlikely friends – is endlessly compelling, their tonal synchronicity suggesting a private sympathy that runs deeper than the capricious ideologies of their clashing nations.

skyway

Last week Gabe and I went on a date night to the movies. It was the first time going since we moved here and we decided to try taking the skyway there. The Minneapolis skyway is over 5 miles long and connects 52 city blocks. It is crucial during the winter months (more crucial now for the FL kids) and we are connected to practically everything. It's not always the quickest route but it's defintely the warmest. We went to the movies and came back home and didn't walk outside once. Thank the heavens for this skyway connected apartment. Gabe calls the skyway our house, just a connection of where we sleep. It is filled with shops, restaurants, salons, etc. The catch...only open late on the weeknights with limited places open on the weekends. Definitely catering more towards individuals that work in the city. I made a little map so you could see where we go most and how far it is from where we live.

Basic Map via

The heart shape covers my fav place, Target. Nicollet Mall, the long red line is literally like an outdoor/partially covered mall, it's in the opening credits of the Mary Tyler Moore show.

Star = movies, Basketball = Target Center. After I finished editing this map I realized it's totally outdated. The skyway goes much further now. They are even building another one on the building next to ours which will give us a shortcut to certain places. Pretty neat, huh?