Speaking of FUN ..... SundayFundayIDon'tHaveToRunDay

well, kinda........

last year I reminded you about the Citrus Heights Fun Day that runs from 11am to 4pm at Rusch Park. it is THAT time of year again......THIS Sunday in fact!! same ol' same ol' that I told you last year about what they'll have their and how much fun you will have.......and please note I mentioned the parking issue last year! this year I expect it to be a bit more chaotic due to construction and a really stupid light cycle. (yes....that "reader" is ME! and while I am totally supportive of the improvements they are doing, I want them completed before someone gets hurt!)

back on topic.............. this year, the City politely sent us all a postcard about the event and apologized for the parking/traffic issues associated with THROWING US A FREE PARTY!!!

"Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding." Lol!

I am SO not going to tell you how I feel about THAT......but if you know me you already know how I feel. I do wonder how many people they sent those postcards too........because if my house is the closest parking you can find, I'd suggest a movie instead!

Drive-Ins: we have one....check it out! (FREE!)

you probably aren't old enough to remember American Graffiti................heck, I'm not! but I do remember E-ticket rides at Disneyland, rotary dial phones, and the drive-ins! somehow I connect American Graffiti with the drive-ins.

currently there are 368 drive-ins open in the United States. at their pinnacle of popularity in the late 1950's, there were between 4,000 and 5,000 drive-ins. I can remember Sacramento having 3: Sunrise off Greenback just north of Fair Oaks Blvd, 49er out in Rio Linda, and Sacramento 6, the big one out off of 50 & Bradshaw. and no, I am NOT including the adult drive-in off of I80 in Davis. still don't understand how that was supposed to make sense!

anyway......of the 3 I can remember, the only one remaining is Sacramento 6. and every year I remember hearing that they too were closing down. well......opened in 1972, it was sold in 2006 and is now a WestWind Drive-In. they not only own our local drive-in but they own a total of 7 drive-ins throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona. I am also a little more than humored by the fact that their mascot is a dinosaur! is it a Fred Flinstone reference? a nod to the prehistoric feel of watching a movie IN YOUR CAR? or a sarcastic jab at the fact that most drive-ins smell like gas for the first half hour after the movie starts?

for myself, my biggest memory of the drive-ins are watching Star Wars. I honestly think we saw that movie 10 times.............and all at the drive-ins. why? I don't know. maybe because it was because you used to pay per carload? maybe because it was easy to pile a group of kids in a car and if the youngest fell asleep you didn't have to do anything with them? and the older kids who had eaten too many red vines could bounce around without disturbing the people sitting in the seats around them?!?!? I remember the importance of finding a speaker that worked. see......in the ol' days, kiddies, they had these fangled boxes attached to wires that played the sound from the movie. you would attach it to your window. sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't. it was like a fun little game to start the evening off right! the best was when you didn't have a neighbor and could use TWO speakers! now in the 21st century you use this new fangled thing called........wait for it.........a car STEREO!!! though seriously, I won't be surprised if I can one day stream it on my phone.

there is nothing more nostalgic than a summer evening at the drive-ins!

which leads me to the point of this particular rambling..................... FREE MOVIE NIGHT AT WESTWIND!!!!

need I saw more?

The first step is admitting you have an addiction.....

so very true! but somehow it doesn't make that addiction any easier to deal with. well.......at least in my case. and no, we aren't talking anything life threatening......well....yes, I guess it can be if you think about things like obesity and diabetes, etc.....

my addiction....................... COKE!!!!

good ol' fashioned Coca Cola!!!

oh MY! how sweet, wonderful, refreshing, and perfect a Coke can be! why I remember days coming home from a particularly nasty day at work to pour myself 6 oz of Coke and having it wash away all my stress. oh, and a particularly hot and humid summer that I would have a frozen Coke from Burger King for breakfast. those were the days my friend!

as I learned about the dangers of high fructose corn syrup (what problem? it's just corn! NOT!!), I tried switching to Mexican Coke as much as possible but I could never make the jump to Diet Coke. a couple years for Lent I gave up Coke. it fulfilled two things that I felt were important in any Lenten sacrifice: it made me a better person, and it was giving up something that was hard to give up. I mean, I could have given up running in to oncoming traffic. that would make me a better person, but not really difficult to stop doing.

anyway.......... I survived my 40 days of no soda every time. what? I didn't just give up Coke? well for me the two are the same thing. Coke is the only one I care about.............no, Pepsi isn't okay (is Monopoly money okay? yeah, didn't think so!) then what is the problem giving it up FOREVER?? (duh duh dummm.....)

yeah, that is what makes it an addiction!

so I had tried to cut back on my Coke consumption and had gotten down to an average of 2 or so a week. I say average because there were days where I would have 2 or 3 and then not for another week or so. I told myself that I needed to go cold turkey and thought it would be great to do a Soda Free September. heck, I planned to out myself on my blog and tell the world what I was doing to keep myself accountable. the fact that I have a weekend long scrapbook retreat in the MIDDLE of my self imposed Soda Free September scared the bee-jeezers out of me! seriously!

then.......I read on a friend's blog about Rethink Your Drink. it was exactly what I wanted to do! (and look at all those scary statistics! YIKES!!!) so I signed up. nope, it wasn't September 1st........... but really why was I waiting? it is like those people (not me. never me.) who eat all the ice cream and cookies in the house so they can start their diet the next day.

I got weekly emails from Rethink reminding me of my pledge and giving me encouragement and alternatives to soda. heck, I already knew....... WATER, WATER, WATER! didn't make me want a Coke any less. and there were a few days where I could FEEL the craving. who would know? what harm would it do?? see.......A.D.D.I.C.T.I.O.N!

despite that, it was kinda cool to get the emails and think how I had survived another week Coke free. I even kinda lost track of time when I got the last email: I had gone THIRTY DAYS soda free!!! wahooo!!!!

so now I am 33 days soda free. I plan to continue. I even turned down the idea of a cola flavored shave ice last night thinking that it probably wasn't a good idea. see........like addictions, one taste.......on glorious beautiful mouthful of that amazing taste..........oh my gosh......and you are back at the beginning. I know it. I've been there before.....Easter morning with that bottle/can/whatever in front of me (btw, McDonalds Cokes are the best. don't know how. don't know why. but they are. take my word for it.)

33 days clean. I plan to keep going. this scrapbook weekend may or may not be the test. heck, today, next Tuesday, October 11th, anyday may or may not be the test. isn't that the way it always is?

but don't ever get me wrong...................... I LOVE COKE!

Celebrating a little piece of local history!

on September 8th, Sylvan Cemetery will be celebrating its 150th Anniversary! yes, that means that it was established back in 1862. it started out with less than an acre along Auburn Blvd in the heart of what I call “Old” Citrus Heights. now the cemetery covers 18 acres......... way more than I realized. 

Photo from Sylvan Cemetery District website.

the Sylvan Cemetery District was established in 1926, the oldest in Sacramento County, and covers from Folsom Lake to the other side of the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport.

what is a District? in the case of cemeteries, a District is a local agency created in an election and governed by a board appointed trustees. the District is accountable to the public and are responsible for governing the care and maintenance of the cemetery thought the collection of an endowment fund. they collect money from plot purchases to place in the fund but can only use the interest earned to take care of the cemetery. I totally didn’t know this stuff!

anyway…….back to my story……..this Saturday the cemetery is celebrating its 150th Anniversary and throwing themselves a party! from 11am to 3pm they will be hosting tours of the cemetery and telling stories about the 1,300 soldiers from as far back as the Civil War and Spanish-American War buried there along with many of the founding families of Citrus Heights. there are some beautiful headstones and statues to view and you might even learn a few things.

so bring your curiosity and come see a piece of history in our own backyard! also bring a couple bucks as they will probably be asking for donations to fund a bell tower. I wish it would be similar to a church bell that would count down the hours. I am sure the kids next door at Sylvan Middle School would hope for the same. but it sounds like it will chime for funerals and other formal occasions. either way, it sounds like a lovey addition to a site that makes Citrus Heights a beautiful place to live…….and die?!?!? (and it is tax deductible)

7401 Auburn Blvd, Citrus Heights, 11am to 3pm

Looking behind the @SacBurgerBattle

I'm not a food blogger. I eat food. I love food. But I'm more in to events......well and food, but you know what I mean. I tend to spend more time thinking about how events are organized.........about the time, effort, and money put into doing an event........ the organizational detail oriented side of things. What can be calculated, sliced and diced in an Excel spreadsheet. So.....when a friend said he was putting together Sacramento's First Annual Burger Battle, I saw this as my opportunity to be nosey and ask all those questions that had plagued me.

imagine this: 800 people ready to eat burgers and 15 restaurants making burgers (not including the beer, cider, and wine spots) all gathered at Raley Field for an evening of awesomeness all to support the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. how does one decide to do something like this? do you just wake up one random morning and say "hey, eating burgers would be a great way to raise money for charity"?!? and where oh where would you start?

to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start) Rodney is the man behind the event. He runs BurgerJunkies and eats burgers......lots of burgers. Rodney's daughter was diagnosed with Crohns when she was 5 years old. Crohns is an autoimmune disorder that keeps the body from absorbing important nutrients in food. Not a good thing for anyone, and especially an adorable little girl who has a lot of growing to do! so Rodney wanted to combine his love for his daughter and his love for cheeseburgers and came up with the Battle idea.

last year, Rodney was introduced to Lisa from the Downtown Sacramento Partnership by a Foodspotting buddy, Larry.  (dontcha love social media?) they really helped Rodney decide that this crazy notion of his was a viable concept! Rodney started talking to restaurants and venues to piece together the event. he had attended the Burger Battle in Denver and had some insight on how an event like this would need to be organized. restaurants were quick to jump at the chance to show off their burgers (please note I totally resisted an off-color comment there). in fact, Rodney had more restaurants wanting to participate than he had space for! that's a lotta burgers! anyway, at this point, Rodney has spent 5 months making phone calls and personal visits to get the restaurants and venue lined up, promoting the event and the other hundred details that need attending.

here is where I start itching and I want to make lists....lots and lots of lists.....

800 people are coming to this event, two weeks from today. assuming that each person eats at 3/4 of the restaurants (I am kinda assuming that no one is really going to have room for ALL the burgers and that some people might share their burgers) and that each burger is cut in 1/4 for service, we are talking..........2,250 BURGERS!!!

assuming that the burgers average $10 retail (which I guarantee you is low based on the restaurants and quality ingredients involved).......we are talking $22,500 for the burgers. this doesn't include either having additional staff working......or as some places will be doing, shutting down their money making restaurant so they can be at the Battle. that also doesn't include the beer and wine and raffle prizes. (oh yeah, didn't mention those, did I? well there are raffle prizes. awesome ones......but I'm not telling what they are. you'll have to be surprised!)
that is a lot of time and effort for a 3 hour event (4 hours if you pony up for the VIP tickets - if there are any still available) taking place on a Tuesday night in the middle of September. I would say it is going to be hot......because it might be......but Raley Field is laid out perfectly for that wonderful Delta Breeze and I am sure the patron saint of burgers (who might that be?!?!) will make sure the weather is fine!

before I close, I want to talk about every single restaurant that is coming together for the Battle. they all deserve a blog post of their own......on a blog that gets a whole lot more traffic than mine......but I can't type that much and have already rambled on more than normal......so here's what I can do:

AWESOME BURGER BATTLE RESTAURANTS

and then tell you that I have personally been to 9 out of the 15................ and would go back to all of them ...................and am looking forward to trying the other 6 either before or after the Battle. (update: make that 10 out of 15 with 5 left to go......) and while the actual burgers the contestants (right? this is a competion) are preparing is a top secret secret, I can tell you that The Eatery actually made a burger in Rodney's honor. it is called the Junkie Burger. ask them about it when you go in. it isn't on the menu but those in the know can request one. I can also tell you that my own burger loving husband has said he could eat Krushburger's Ninja Burger every day for the rest of his life. and don't let my lack of a nifty neato keen comment about a place give you the idea that I think less of their offering........any of these places all on their own would make a burger lover happy!

Disclaimer: Rodney didn't pay for this blog post or give me tickets. I already bought my ticket and did this post because I am a nosey parker and am in awe of all the work people are putting in to make this event a success..................I want to hug them all!

ALSO.......now that he has his blog post live, check out Round About Sac Town for a review of the Denver Burger Battle AND a chance to WIN tickets to the Sacramento Burger Battle! be sure to tell 'em I sent ya!

I look forward to seeing you on September 18th! promise, no taking pictures of me with burger juices running down my shirt. I promise the same in return!