Partying Like it's 1999

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life... Oh, and party like it's 1999. If you're a Prince fan, that is.

Had a girls night out tonight with a few of Jim's high school classmates I've come to know over the years. So glad they invited me to tag along because we had a fun time pretending we were at a Prince concert. For lack of a better word, The Prince Experience is a tribute band. And a pretty talented one at that.

Had to get my head-to-toe purple vibe going for this one! 

Terri, Lori and I rode together from Rapids and met Lisa up in Wausau at Townies, a bar/restaurant right across the block from The Grand Theatre. So that worked out well. And it was good food, too!

Terri and I ordered matching shirts on Amazon. They say Prince on the front and 1999 on the back. And of course, that was the last song after the first encore! 

I'll say the lead performer tried to look like Prince. Wasn't quite there, but his voice – with all the falsetto moments and screams that were trademarks of Prince – was spot on. So it was entertaining. Fun to sing along and dance to a full spectrum of songs – not just the Purple Rain soundtrack. 

Meanwhile back home, our husbands had dinner together and went to hear another classmate sing with his band. I guess it was old school rock night. Though they were partying more like it was 1981, not 1999.

#purplepower 

Tuesday Treats

Pretty sure I was the only one happy that it was raining when I woke up. Actually, make that me and 9,999 other Twins fans who waited in line for Prince umbrellas. It wasn't purple rain, but it was a good enough excuse to use my new umbrella.

And show it off, of course.

College Boy was happy about the rain, too. He got to nap in my recliner until the sun came out at noon, then go to work.

My second treat after the umbrella came at lunch. My co-worker (who shall remain nameless and shameless) and I got our steps in the hard way. Hard ice cream that is.

Yup, from our office to King Cone, it is 1.08 miles. So 15 minutes there, grab the goods and return... all the way licking away any evidence it was anything more than a lunchtime walk. For the record, the Butter Finger-Licking Good flavor is amazing.

Final Tuesday treat was tonight when my kickboxing Wonder Twin and I finally got to see our life story on the big screen. Yup, finally saw Wonder Woman! Gwen and I both give it two thumbs up. Good story, action, humor and a little mushy stuff to tie it all together. Oh, and yummy movie theater popcorn.

Gotta love a Tuesday where you have ice cream for lunch and popcorn for supper. You might be surprised at how often those are my main food groups for the day.

Hey, I have to get these Wonder Woman super powers from somewhere.

Priceless Prince-cess

OK, in 50 words or less, my Priceless Prince adventure at Target Field... Well, more than 50 words, I'm sure.

Got to my niece Caryn's house by noon Friday so we could golf, cool off in her pool, wait for some other family to arrive by 3 ish, and head downtown to Target Field. So that all went according to plan. Sprinkled on and off and all we could think was at least we'd have an umbrella.

Had to do some touristy things around the Target Plaza outside the entrances since couldn't get through the gates before 5:10 p.m., 2 hours before game time. There were lines already formed before 4 p.m. Everybody wanted to be among that first 10,000 to get Prince tribute umbrellas.

A new statue this year is of T.C., the Twins mascot.

 My niece Caryn.

I believe this is my 4th time posing with Kirby Puckett in this same stance. I'll probably have to check previous visits to the stadium to see if I was wearing the same shirt, too!

Caryn and the group held a spot in line so I could show the first-timers the statues and stuff around Target Plaza and get our pictures taken. Here we are in the glove. We did not even have to wait in line for any pictures because everyone was in the main "umbrella lines" at all the gates.

My sister RoAnn sitting pretty.

Sister Romey fitting like a glove.

Me lounging without a care in the world – except to get that umbrella.

Everyone was pretty much dressed in Twins gear or Prince gear. Saw a lot of cool shirts and outfits.

This was how big the line was at our gate with another half hour before gate opening. Crazy. At least they entertained us with Prince songs blaring while we waited.

Got in and got an umbrella!! Noticed a lot of signs of Prince around.

For batting practice, the Twins players wore special purple Prince/Twins shirts. They had them for sale around the stadium, too, but they sold out within minutes.

"We have umbrellas!"

Pregame song was Let's Go Crazy and the crowd was pumped!

Had to take a picture of Coach Paul Molitor for my BFF, who has been crushing on him since 1982, I think!

Some of our crew – crazy niece and niece-to-be ensemble between nephews David and Travis.

Sisters ready for popcorn and peanuts and everything!

Niece Beth and her husband Anders, who live in the Cities, arrived later than we did and were un-umbrella-ed fans. My stepson Casey also came after work and did not get one. He wasn't broken up about it or anything.

The lights than normally shine Twins Red and Blue were throwing a purple hue on Friday.

Very cool when the sun was setting!

Our seats were top level but Caryn and I stopped in the section near home plate to watch a bit.

Just by coincidence we were there for the homerun and saw the Twins' only run cross the plate.

7th inning stretch and we finally got to open the umbrellas while Purple Rain (a few seconds of it, it seemed) played.

Pretty cool but too short. Darn TV timeouts.

I as impressed with the umbrellas. Thought they'd be little "purse size" or something but they were almost golf umbrella size. Purple on the outside and ....

And the Purple Rain movies poster image on the inside. Way cool!!

After our 8-1 loss to Cleveland, the stadium lights dimmed for fireworks.

All that purple looked awesome!

Fireworks were launched off the roof a the parking garage next to the stadium. So it was a nice view from our cheap seats!

Since the fireworks were choreographed to Prince music, there had to be some purple ones, of course!

One last shot as we got in our car. Those purple light sure are cool against the dark night sky!

Had a great time with the newbies and the seasoned veterans of Twins games. Wasn't even that bummed that we lost. At one point when we were down 7-0, I said, "C'mon. I did not drive 4 hours for a shutout."

Apparently, though, I did drive 4 hours for an umbrella.

Worth it. Priceless.