Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Bloggers, Meet Minneapolis

Happy Wednesday! I took Friday off so my work week is half over! Oh how I adore 4 day weeks!

So I sort of failed on capturing last weekend on film. It was one of those weekends where I was sort of too busy having fun to think to take photos... But I do have some photos to share with you! You'll have to keep an eye on Kyla, Mandy, and Nora's blogs as I think they all did a much better job of capturing the weekend!

We started off the weekend with a Mexican Fiesta at my house! I used my little sister's guac & margarita recipes, my sister-in-law's vegetarian enchilada recipe, and Karina aka Gluten Free Goddess's Spanish Rice recipe. It was far from gourmet, but I didn't want a stressful hosting experience. Even though this was a super casual meal, I am totally crossing "host a dinner party" off my 30 before 30 list.

On Saturday morning we walked from our hotel to the Mill City area of Minneapolis to check out the Mill City Farmer's Market (which was awesome!). After roaming through the market, we headed up to the observation deck of the Guthrie theater to check out the views of the Mississippi River. Kyla snapped this photo of Mandy, Nora, and I.

I have no pictures from Saturday afternoon unfortunately, but we had lunch at French Meadow Cafe, checked out Wild Rumpus Book Store, and had ice cream at Sebastian Joe's.

On Saturday night, we checked out the concert at the Lake Harriet Band Shell. We were all pretty starving so we only stayed for 3 songs, but the musicians were very talented. I snapped this shot of Nora, Kyla, and Mandy.

After checking out the concert, we headed to Chatterbox Pub where we had dinner, played music bingo, and chatted away.

On Sunday morning, we headed back to the Mill City area and had breakfast at Spoonriver, which was delicious.

After brunch we headed over to the Sculpture Garden to check out the infamous Cherry-on-a-Spoon sculpture.

At this point, the heat of the day and the go, go, go schedule sort of caught up with us, so we headed to Caribou to caffeinate and relax for a bit! After some caffeine, we stopped by Whole Foods to check out the cheap t-shirts that Nora had mentioned in her guest post last Friday. Kyla and I both bought some (and I bought a French Cafe CD!).

Our last stop for the weekend was the MN State Fair. It really lived up to its "Great Minnesota Sweat Together" nickname as it was hot and humid! But we all had foods we were dying to try, so to the fair we went!

Nora, Kyla, and Mandy split some cheese curds - which they all thought were so delicious...

And I enjoyed "bacon on a stick". I think my meat-loving brothers are probably proud of me for trying this - it was delicious!! And really, it's not a state fair experience unless you eat SOMETHING on a stick!

The evening was capped off with an Amos Lee/Brandi Carlile concert (which was AWESOME) and a fireworks show. I kind of want to marry Amos Lee. He's handsome - and his voice is amazing. And he has a southern accent. I mean, doesn't Lisa Lee have quite the ring to it?

So there you have it! I'm short on pictures, but have many, many memories from this weekend. After exchanging countless emails, bbm's, and texts with these ladies, it was fabulous to meet them face-to-face! I can't wait for our next meet-up - and to meet more of my readers in the year to come!!

23 comments:

Charbelle said...

Yay!!! This looks like so much fun!!! So glad the weather wasn't rainy and y'all were able to do everything you wanted to do!!

Becky said...

Sooooo much fun! Thanks for sharing pics!

Mandy said...

Such a fantastic trip. I had so much fun galavanting around your city and spending time with you, Nora, and Kyla. Thanks for arranging everything and showing us around your beautiful city! XOXO (So I can start counting down to April, right?)

Gracie said...

So much fun, and so funny that MY visitors come take Mississippi River pictures just like yours do, and we live so far apart. What a mighty river indeed!
I had bacon with breakfast. I should totally have slapped that thing onto a stick.

Unknown said...

I just read Mandy's post about your bloggers' weekend. How wonderful! Looks like you planned well! We will see you this weekend!

Jess said...

Sounds and looks like you guys had such a great time! The Mexican dinner looks delicious.

There's a few bloggers I would love to meet! Lucky all of you, getting to spend an entire weekend together.

Nora said...

You definitely have some great pictures that I do not have =) I'm ready for another round of music bingo and okay, if I'm being honest, cheese curds. I've kind of been thinking about them non-stop since I got back!

You're a fabulous hostess (and person, but you already knew that I think!)and dare I say, you could start a company showing people the super fun things to do in Minne!

Marlys said...

Sounds like a great weekend and that you had a great time with your blogger friends! I'm so glad the weather cooperated, inspite of the heat & humidity! That's the great midwest, though!

Abby said...

Looks like you had such a fun weekend!! That is awesome!

And, do not try for one second discounting that meal for your dinner party! First off, it look delicious. Second, the presentation was great. And finally, anytime you are cooking a variety of different dishes for people you don't cook for on a regular basis - it's a challenge!

Leigh said...

Looks like you had a fabulous weekend!

It would definitely be fun to see a city that I have never been to and to meet great blog friends along with it :)

Amber said...

That meal looks DELICIOUS!!! Omg. Yum!

I am so glad you ladies had a fabulous weekend (I knew you would). And I must say, you are all so pretty and photogenic!!! XO

Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks said...

What a great weekend ... full of fun activities and wonderful gals. Yay!

Kyla Roma said...

The dinner was amazing! Thank you so much for showing us around, it was the best weekend :)

crystal said...

It looks like it was so much fun!! What a perfect weekend :) I love that you didn't have time to take a bunch of pictures too, to me that means that it was all captured in fun and connections instead!

Although, I would have appreciated a picture of Brandi :) I didn't know Amos Lee was playing with her, that is a perfect concert combination!! So jealous....

Lauren @ Sassy Molassy said...

Lisa, looks like you hosted an awesome weekend! I love that shirt you're wearing with the necklace type decoration on it. Bacon on a stick...yum.

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

Aww that looks like so much fun! I need to come to your area very soon!

I definitely think you can cross off host a dinner party, it didn't say it had to be a FANCY dinner party.

Zaneta @ Runner's Luck said...

looks like you had a blast!! :D

Cherry Blossoms said...

What a fun weekend for you ladies!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

Sounds fun!!

That sculpture is really cool!

Jess said...

Bacon on a stick appeals to me so much right now after that picture. I mean, bacon. Easily accessible, on a stick. What more could a girl as for?

Unknown said...

That looks like such a fun weekend! I want to check out Minneapolis!

Lisa-Marie said...

There are som any things i could sensibly comment on in this post, but all I can think is 'I want some bacon on a stick!'

It looks like super fun!

Stephany said...

Looks like such a fun weekend! All the pics are fabulous.