Buffalo In The Blink Of An Eye

Gals at Creekview

Potato pancakes (with bacon & applesauce) & wings - hell yeah!

Me with Christina and Tracy - my grade school buddies

The daughter of one of my friends just recently got married.  I LOVE weddings and I LOVE going to Buffalo, so it was a no-brainer that I wanted to take part in the celebration (not to mention, of course, that I wanted to share in the special day of the bride and her family).  If David, the kids and I had not just returned from a trip to Buffalo at Easter time, we would've all traveled to NY - while roping one of my friends to watch the

Me & Tammy - friends since Buff State 1988

kids so that David & I could attend the wedding.  Yet, since we all just returned from NY, it didn't make sense for all of us to travel back to Buffalo so quickly.  As a result, it was decided that I would have a quick mama-getaway that was timed so that I could attend the wedding.

Me with MOMS Club friends - Eileen, Mary, Kym, Cecilia and Jen

Ordering up drinks at the bar.

The title of this blog post, "Buffalo In The Blink Of An Eye" pretty much sums up my weekend.  Leaving Minnesota on Friday afternoon and returning on Sunday evening only allowed  for some very quick visits, however I tried to take advantage of every second that I had.  When I arrived in Buffalo on Friday night, my friends Kym,Mary (who happened to be the birthday girl that night), Jen and Cecilia picked me up at the airport.  Off we went to dinner at the Creekview restaurant and there the five of us met up with four more gals, Tammy, Eileen, Tracy and Christina.  The gals that met me out are from different circles of friendship (grade school

I LOVE my friends!! (with Tammy)

friends, college friend, MOMS Club) and yet since I moved to Minnesota, this is the 5th opportunity for the lot of us to get together which has allowed for each of these friends to get to know each other.  Soooo fun! I am so blessed!

The band music ended & we moved the party inside

Buffalo is all about seeing all the people I love when I visit.  Of course, the added perk to Buffalo trips is the amazing foods that can only be had in Buffalo.  There is never enough time to enjoy all the yummy Buffalo food cravings I have, however, I do my best to jam as many as I can into my belly when I am there.  And so, my Buffalo blog posts are just as much sharing my experiences with my friends as they are sharing the yummy goodies that I indulged in.  While at the Creekview, I ordered my regular "go to" item on their menu - they make *the* best potato pancakes.  However, when we were waiting for our table, a waitress was bringing out an order of wings that looked and smelled soooo good.  Since you just can't good wings in Minnesota, I ordered some wings as well. Oy!

After dinner, me and the girls headed out to catch the last set of a local cover band, Hit N Run. The bar provided a good place to spend more time together and enjoy some quality people watching.  It was a good ending to an awesome evening with amazing friends.

Tim Horton's - A Buffalo staple

My friend, Kym, and her family was kind enough to put me up during my visit.  I have raved on Facebook and I have to rave here too - Kym's guest room has THE most
comfortable bed.  Several times I threatened to steal the mattress from her guest bedroom.......if only I could figure out how to fit it in my carry-on luggage.  Between that and Kym's cat, Bandit, Kym should be grateful that I didn't "accidentally" have one of those two items land up in Minnesota!

Saturday morning, I NEEDED my Tim Horton's fix.  Kym and I headed over to the Tim Horton's for coffee and donuts, did a drive by of my old house (sighhhhh....) and then ran to Walmart for some flowers to be used the next day (see below).  Funny thing is that both the Tim Horton's and the Walmart that we went to were in my old neighborhood, however neither of them where opened yet (still building) when we moved.

Andrea & her hubby, Brock

In the early afternoon, I was off to the wedding ceremony of Andrea & Brock.  My connection to the wedding??  I used to work with Andrea's dad, Mike, when I worked in corporate accounting for a large grocery chain.  Between our mutual love of dance (and the fact that our spouses are not dancers), Mike and I were always partners in crime on the dance floor.  In fact, with my mom and her circle of friends Mike had eventually became known as "Polka Mike".  Through polka dancing with my mom and her friends to hitting local lawn fetes and bars that had live bands, Mike's family and my own family began to know each other well.  It was nice to attend a wedding and know more than just the bride and/or groom. It was nice to reconnect with their family as well.  In addition to the bride's family, at the reception I was seated with a bunch of people that I used to work with and so, "going stag" to the wedding was not a problem at all as I had so many people to visit (and dance) with.

Probably the only person crazier than me on the dance floor - "Polka Mike"

The bride, Andrea, was stunning.  The ceremony was beautiful as well.  (I soooo miss east coast churches - not all Catholic churches are created equal)  The ceremony was beautiful and very personalized.  Between seeing Mike give his daughter away and the groom's grandmother tearing up as she gave one of the readings at church, my only regret was not being armed with tissues.

There was a bit of time between the ceremony and the reception.  What is an out of town gal to do??.....go get La Nova Pizza, of course!!!  I ordered up a large pizza so that I could freeze it at Kym's house and bring it home (oh, what the heck, I grabbed a slice to go to!).  Buffalonians don't believe me but YES, frozen and reheated Buffalo pizza is better than anything David and I can find here.  I also bought David a Spot Coffee (Buffalo coffee shop) travel mug as he had lost the lid to his.

The "Tops Gang" at the wedding reception

The reception itself  was so nice.  Like I previously mentioned, it was nice to visit with so many people that I know.  But of course, later in the evening, .....you guessed it, I danced the night away!  So, so, so much fun!!  I was sore for days.

Royal subs....YUM!

On Sunday, I had my friend Kym traipsing all over town.  I would tease Kym, by telling her that she was "carting my princess ass around town".  Kym was a good sport and helped me fit in any last minute things I wanted to do before my flight left later Sunday evening.  Of course Kym & I started out the day with the mandatory Tim Horton's visit!  Afterwards, the above mentioned flowers were taken to the cemetery and planted by my maternal grandmother, grandfather and great-grandmother.  I also visited the mausoleum where my mom and dad rest.  I was also able to accomplish a silly errand that I just never seemed to get to at home (because it required sending out a letter), and that was to close a lingering bank account (yawn!!) that just had a few measly dollars left in it. (Yep, one of the branches was open on Sunday!)  Next, Kym shuffled me to the outlet mall in search of boat shoes at the Timberland Outlet......turns out that store is no longer at the mall. I did, however get to pick up some summer PJ's to bring home for the kids.  After the mall, Kym & I grabbed another one of my Buffalo fixes - a royal sub. Although a 1/2 of a sub would've been plenty for lunch, I busted my gut by eating the entire thing!  After lunch, Kym took me for my mandatory Wegman's pilgrimage.  What I would've really wanted would be to lift the entire Wegman's store and plop it in my back yard, but since that wasn't possible I just grabbed some pastry hearts (again, *where* are those in Minnesota??) and a few small treats for the kids.  Since I was carrying on my luggage, I wasn't able to pick up all the goodies that I would've liked.  After Wegmans, it was time to head back to Kym's house to get the rest of my goodies packed up to leave.  After a tea break and a moment to put up my feet, it was already time to head to the airport.......BUT, one more stop for this "princess ass".  My last stop before being dropped at the airport was to get one final Buffalo delicacy to take home for me and David to enjoy as a late night dinner once I arrived back in the Twin Cities.  And so, Kym chauffeured me to Charlie the Butcher's so that I could travel with two beef on weck sandwiches (David's favorite) for 900+ miles.

Thanks, Kym, for putting up with me at your house all weekend (and, of course, for carting my "princess ass" around!

Despite the fact that my carry-on luggage roller handle broke and I had to carry/drag my overstuffed carry on bag from one end to the other of the Detroit airport (my connection) and MSP airport, the flight back was uneventful.  The weekend flew by too quickly but I was happy to see David and the kids.  After a great visit with friends and such good times, I came back home feeling rejuvenated and having a full "fuel tank" - a sign of a successful getaway.  David and I always look for opportunities for us/me to return to Buffalo, yet in the meantime I need to up my MSP recruiting efforts!