Weekend Recap!

Hey hope everyone had a good weekend! It was a good weekend for us to spend in the city due to the fact that it rained and was humid and cloudy all weekend, so not even a good lake weekend!

We had the boys niece with us for the weekend, and we started out Friday late afternoon at the Uptown Art Fair. Neither of us had ever been before, so we all had a good time exploring and checking things out. We saw some fabulous art from some incredibly talented artists. There was definitely something for everyone and it was nice to see so much diversity.

We even got to sit and listen to a really good band for a while and then headed over to Bar Abilene for some dinner. Then we headed back to my place and caught Premonition with Sandra Bullock. Have you seen it? Check it out on Netflix if you get the chance.

We got up early and headed out for what we thought was going to be a really good and interesting sale. It was a 5 model home builders furniture liquidation sale. So we figured, hmmm, could be a great place to pick up some really good furniture at a great price. No such luck. And it was rainy and humid. We got there early and had the number 5 ticket, they were only letting in 10 groups of people at a time. There really was not that much to choose from, the furniture was not that great and I think it was a waste of our time and a waste of a good morning to sleep in, but oh well. After a swing into Super Target for some provisions, we took his niece to IKEA to check out what they might have for her dorm room. She was surprised by how much they had at such great prices. I remember going to the one in NJ and purchasing some items for my first place out East. They always had some great staples. We picked up a couple of surge strips and extension cords as well as some Swedish fish of course!

After we had finished up there, we decided we were ready for lunch. During her weekend with us, the boy and I decided it would be a good idea to expose his niece to some things and experiences that she may not have had before. So we took her for sushi and hibachi at a place in Minneapolis called Wasabi. It is rather new, opened about 10 months ago. It is also not far from the bridge collapse so we got to talk to our waitress about that some as well. The food was great, the boy and I really enjoyed it, not sure if the niece loved it, but she said she would be willing to try it again. One thing she really liked though was the edamame. I think that both she and the boy were surprised when I later told them that essentially what they were eating were soy beans.

We had chosen that particular restaurant due to its proximity to the next stop, which was The Mill City Museum. I had been there a while back, but had been mentioning to the boy how much I thought that he would enjoy it. It is a great museum that explains a lot about the history of Minneapolis and the mills. Both General Mills, Gold Medal Flour and Pillsbury found their homes here in Minneapolis and at one time Minneapolis was the largest flour and grain supplier in the world. We now rank 4th. It also had a great vantage point to the bridge collapse site and we were able to get a closer look at the wreckage.

After our tour of the museum, we headed over to the new Guthrie for a walk through there. There is a great feature to the new theater which is called the Endless Bridge.

We were fortunate enough to run into the wife of one of the architects who informed us that it took more steel to build that portion of the theater than it took to build the Eiffel Tower. . . .can you even imagine?

We were pretty zonked, so after a drive around the lakes, we headed back to my place for a little veg time before heading over to the countries oldest mall, Southdale (did you know that the indoor shopping mall was created here in MN? See it must be in my blood) for dinner at CPK and a movie. It was PACKED. We had bought tickets to go and see I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry, but before the previews had even started there were not TWO seats together, so after talking to management, we decided to just go and see No Reservations, where we had the last three seats together which were in the front row. See what a rainy summer day in Minneapolis will do to people? It was a great movie though, and Catherine Zeta Jones is SO pretty.

We were fortunate enough to all sleep in Sunday morning, which felt really good. I finished up reading a book, got a little work done and then we headed to Ike's for brunch. Now if you have been reading me for a while, you know what big fans the boy and I are of brunch. But during the summer we don't get out to try places too much due to the fact that we are up at the lake most weekends. I had been telling him about Ike's brunch for some time now, and he loved it.

It moved into a tie for first place in fact. A lot of food, but we had a really good time. So after dropping his niece back at her car, getting his bag packed up for the week ( we are going to try to get back on more of a regular schedule for the next few weeks where we are at my house during the week and his or the lake on the weekends, especially now with the traffic being re-routed from the bridge collapse and it looks like I will not have to travel until the end of August) we headed over to my sisters to see them and the kids for a little bit. My favorite brother in law in the whole wide world, okay, and my only one, had picked up a ton of product for me at work. I was out of pretty much everything. Oh, did I mention he works for Aveda. I can not even begin to tell you how much that comes in handy. I was trying to explain to the boy just how much money it saves me having him work there. But when I think about it, I am not even sure if I would use all of the Aveda product that I do if he didn't work there and get things for me like he does. It really is absolutely wonderful and I think my hair thanks him too. But the funny part is, the boy loves the stuff just as much. The great part is that Aveda has a new mens line. The boy loves the stuff, especially the soap. I love the Sap Moss and he was able to get me the large size, 33 oz of the shampoo and conditioner.

On our way back into the city we stopped and picked up a new printer for my house. I had been wanting a wireless one that also prints on photo paper. This is the one that I picked up. We have not had a chance to set it up yet, but I will let you know how it goes. It was all about cleaning, installing the new air conditioner for my office and kitchen last night (my place now is fully air conditioned with window units, I do not even want to see my electric bill next month) and organized for this week. Busy week, but I am sure a good one!

Hope you all had a good weekend! I was very excited to see the new addition to Chloe's family this morning and cannot wait to get more updates. I meant the addition that will be coming about 8 months or so from now, not the calling cards, but I am excited about those too!