Weekend!

After a late start Saturday morning, we headed north to Duluth to see Lake Superior. It was so windy and cold, I had to wrap the blanket in our car around me to keep my legs warm. On the way home we stopped at a casino, then when we got back in town we headed over to a co-workers house for drinks, bonfire and s'mores. Very fun day, lots of exercise.

Catch ups

The view from my desk at work



My office space



The office I share my space in



My building



Last week we went to Mt Normandale Lake Park after work.



It has big trees



and colorful trees



and mushrooms



and unidentifiable red trees/bushes



and views of the olympic ski jump (how do they get up there without a mountain behind it?!?!)



And restrooms



without stall doors

Our week

This week we explored Bush Lake (just a little because it only had a beach, not a trail), then moved on to Hyland Lake and went for a jog around the lake.




It was beautiful


and we talked about Shubh's interview that he had earlier that day for an Assistant GM with Appleby's. The downside? This is the first lake we've encountered mosquitoes.

Last night we hit the art crawl in downtown St. Paul. We started off at a local bar to celebrate Shubh's job offer from Arby's as a GM (yay!) and the fact that he talked the guy up an extra $5K and still hasn't accepted yet since he'd prefer the Appleby's job. The bar had 1/2 price drinks and free popcorn for happy hour, 4-9, and we had a nice visit with some cyclist who gave us the low-down on the ski hills in MN. Found out we'll have to drive 4.5 hours each way to get to a decent ski bump.

Once we hit the first stop on the art crawl we realized it wasn't just an art gallery in the building, it was the entire building! It's in an area where artists live or have their studios, and everyone opens their doors. The first and third buildings we stopped in each had 5 floors, the second building had 8, and they were all old historic buildings. We only hit 3 of the 14 or so stops on the map!

The first person we talked to on our first stop is a frame-maker (yes, feel free to correct me if you know what he would really be called) and he gave us a personal tour of the back of the shop, where they do all the work. It was beautiful stuff, and they restore old frames AND paintings. Very neat to see and hear his stories. The rest of the tour got a little weird as far as the art was concerned, but we did meet a woman who is married to a professional poker player and she was sharing her studio with an 8 year old who was displaying some of her own paintings--and they weren't half bad compared to some of the stuff we saw. This art crawl is a semi-annual thing, and the little girl asked the big girl who could be an artist, and who could display stuff. Big woman said anyone can. Then they worked out a deal where big girl would give little girl space, but they didn't keep in touch til little girl's dad called big girl 2 nights before the crawl. Rambling...



We finished off the night with THE MOST incredible indian food we've had in the states. Almost orgasmic...incredible. http://indiahousesaintpaul.com/


BEST news? We have warmer temps here this weekend than you do at home!! We're in the 80s and you only get 60s and 70s. Yay, finally a bright spot! (even if it is only 2 days out of 365 1/4)

Tuesday 10/5/10

Today I had my first business lunch. Man, do people up here speak slowly! The accent cracks me up every time I hear it, and today I heard my first midwest phrase since being here...Do you know what you want or do you need more time yet?

We found Trader Joe's on Excelsior and Grand, and what a fantastic surprise--they had morbier! for a lot less than home prices, AND they were sampling champagne!! Yummy.

Worked out at our new apartment. Nothing fantastic, but heck of a lot cheaper than a gym membership!

This last weekend we went to Hyland Park Ski and Snowboard area on Saturday--we took a $5 chairlift to the top of the hill where they had a band, bbq, telescopes for when the sun went down, bonfires, and birds from the aviary. It was fun to be above all the leaves and see the different colors--leaves haven't changed too much, but enough to be pretty.





Sunday we went to the farmer's market--it's incredible! A taste of France with all the scarves, Viet Nam with the foot massage stands, and every other farmer's market you can imagine. The cut flower bouquets have a mandatory 3 kale blossoms in every grouping. The poblano peppers are about 1/2 the size as back home, and I learned how brussel sprouts grow. Strange!!





Monday S moved our apartments--we moved from Oaks Vernon to Oaks Lincoln. 1 freeway further west of work at 2 blocks north. He took care of everything while I was at work--he is too good to me. Packs me lunch every day, too. Love him!

Almost Made It....

I have 3 days of class left - 2 RER tix/day.....been using the half-price tickets even though you have to be a kid or have a card that qualifies you. Today I got stopped by the police. Fortunately I'd been rehearsing my speech for just this occasion.
I'm a student, here's my student card. No, it's no good. But don't students get discounts? No, it's no good. Hmmm, not a great conversationalist. You pay 25 euros. Uh, ok, how do I do that? (as I'm on the train platform, no ATM) Do you take cards? Yes. Dammito! Then another one of the 15 police comes over, they have an exchange in which I catch that I'm American and I've given a lame excuse. :D BUT, the outcome: You go buy another ticket and no fine. YAY!!! Only now I have 7 tickets that I can't use, and I have 6 more times to ride the train. That's 10 euros! Oh well, better than 25.

My greatest strength is seeing the best in you. My greatest weakness is remembering the best in you.

Don't think for a minute that my lack of posts means I've forgotten all of you....I miss you all like crazy, including the one I 'yoinked' the title for this blog from.