Back in the Bustle

So this weekend was the whirlwind trip to Minneapolis!!

We flew out early Saturday morning, and it was jammed pack from the moment we stepped off the plane. We had to go pick up the rental car and hurry over to our first apartment appointment (like the alliteration Suzi?). It was in Bloomington, close to the MoA. It was a decent place, nice amenities but the apartment seemed neglected. The price was good... but we had to hurry on to appointment #2. We pulled into the lot, walked into the lobby, the management people weren't there (thankfully), and we bailed. It was a dump!! Who knows, maybe we missed out on some sweet apartment, but I highly, HIGHLY doubt it!

Anyway, we picked a one bedroom plus den that has a 6 month lease, so if we don't like it... see ya! We also got a $200 gift card to Target! AND it has a Washer and Dryer IN the unit!! Very good selling point if I do say so myself. And how funny is this... we are moving from NYC to Minneapolis, into an apartment complex called.... The East Village! So now we can say we've lived in the East Village (no one needs to know the difference!).

So it was a productive trip, and thankfully Mark won't have to live in a hotel for a week or two! He should be in, on his comfy new air mattress by Wednesday!

Minneapolis is a nice city. They have a cool downtown, lots of restaurants and shops and suburbs if you don't want to be in the city. We drove around a lot (some on purpose, some not on purpose), saw the WalMart White Trash Central in St. Paul, were reminded of what a normal LDS ward is like (who knew old people went to church??) and had milk and cookies at the hotel we switched to! Let's just say... the Ramada is usually a decent hotel to stay in, but not the downtown one in Minneapolis... go to the Normandy Inn instead, trust me. It was so bad, it made my picture of the day!

So Mark has started work there, and is enjoying it so far (as much as you can after 1 day). Hopefully I will be able to find something shortly I get out there. We met some really nice people who gave me some places to check out, and apparently the job market is really good right now, so it looks promising!! I'll put some pictures from our trip up a little later...

Hail Minnesota

Hail Minnesota
Minnesota, hail to thee!Hail to thee, our state so dear,Thy light shall ever be A beacon bright and clear.Thy son and daughters trueWill proclaim thee near and far,They shall guard thy fame and adore thy name;Thou shalt be their Northern Star.
Like the stream that bends to sea,Like the pine that seeks the blue;Minnesota, still for theeThy sons are strong and true.From the woods and waters fair;From the prairies waving far,At thy call they throng with their shout and song;Hailing thee their Northern Star.

So that is the official state song of Minnesota, don't ask to what tune it is sung, because I do not know! My guess is we won't hear it being sung while we are in Minneapolis this weekend, but maybe they will have a lovely quartet awaiting us as we exit the plane...? Probably not, but you never know!

Could you live in a place named something that made you laugh every time you said it? Mark has been doing apartment hunting online and setting up times to go check them out over the weekend and one of the apartment complexes is called the "Minnehaha" it just MAKES you laugh... it has "HAHA" right in it!!

I am trying to decide how I make the apartment decision... what's the most important factor? Price? Location? Square footage? I think for me it is neighbours. I wish they had a way to let you know how noisy your neighbours were going to be. I swear if we pick a place and 2 days into it the people next door are blaring their music all hours of the day and someone has a parrot they keep right next to the wall... ugh, how DO you test for noisy neighbours when you are only in the apartment 10 or 15 minutes max? Cross your fingers we find a place beside someone quiet, and non-bothersome, instead of the crazies we have had out in NYC!!

Spidey snacks, Spidey snacks...

So I think I am obsessed with/addicted to Spider Man fruit snacks. They're fantastic!! Now, I know they are just fruit snacks, but these have got to be some of the best fruit snacks I have had. Perhaps it the shapes, perhaps it the taste, perhaps it is the memories they conjure of watching Spider Man on Saturday mornings when I was little (okay, 18 but still!). Regardless... they are some good fruit snacks. Now this image isn't the same image that is on my mondo-sized Costco box, but I am guessing it is the same yumm-o-licious snack inside! I think I could eat the whole box in a day, which I haven't, but lately I am sure I eat many more packs than I should be. One positive, there are only 9 snacks per bag (although the bag I just finished eating had 10! Surprise!!)... so eating 2 or 3 or maybe even 4 packs isn't that much, is it? They are surprising low in calories (only 80 per pack)! I don't know what I will do when the box is empty... is it possible to go into a Spidey snack withdrawal induced coma? I think the white ones are my favourite.

Tasty Minnesota Tidbits!

In anticipation of our upcoming move, I thought I would do a little digging on Minneapolis, and Minnesota, and see what we could all learn! Here is what I found:

* Minneapolis is first in the nation in literacy and second in per capita theaters
* The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields --- 9.5 million square feet

* Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined
* Minneapolis was ranked in 1998 by Money magazine as the best large Midwestern city in which to live

* Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country

* Minneapolis was named one of the safest cities in the United States.
* Minnesota is the nation's 12th largest state. 4,854 square miles of Minnesota's area is covered by water.
* “Minnesota” translates literally to “sky-tinted water.”

* Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state

* Minneapolis ranks fifth in the country in total downtown retail sales, only behind New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, and San Francisco. There is no sales tax on clothing in Minnesota (Yay!!)
* The first Automatic Pop-up toaster was marketed in June 1926 by McGraw Electric Co. in Minneapolis under the name Toastmaster. The retail price was $13.50
* For many years, the world's largest twine ball has sat in Darwin. It weighs 17,400 pounds, is twelve feet in diameter, and was the creation of Francis A. Johnson.

* Tonka Trucks were developed and are continued to be manufactured in Minnetonka

* The world's largest pelican stands at the base of the Mill Pond dam on the Pelican River, right in downtown Pelican Rapids

* Minneapolis’ famed skyway system connecting 52 blocks (nearly five miles) of downtown makes it possible to live, eat, work and shop without going outside
* Minnesota Inventions: Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables
* Alexander Anderson of Red Wing discovered the processes to puff wheat and rice giving us the indispensable rice cakes.

And now we are all a little more Minnesota educated! :o)

Is $25,000 really THAT exciting?

I will admit it, I like to watch Wheel of Fortune.

I wouldn't say I am the most awesome Wheel player, but I will say I am known to be a bit better than the average word puzzle solver. Mark continues to tell me I should go on Wheel... but that would require being in television, and I don't think I am ready for that! So, here is the question of the day, and it is really more Mark's question than mine, but I will pose it for him. So, for those of you not familiar with Wheel; they play a number word puzzle solving rounds, and come the end of the designated rounds, whoever has the most money goes to the Bonus Round! When you go to the bonus round you spin a mini wheel and choose the prize based on where the wheel stops. The prizes can be cash ($25K-$100K), cars, trips, etc. So Mark's question is this... if $25K is the lowest amount of money you can win, should you really be THAT excited to win it? Now, I see the point that it is the lowest cash prize, but sometimes the cars and/or trips can be less than $25K, so then it is exciting!! What if you win the supped up PT Cruiser for $21K (maybe it's worth more, I don't know) or the European vineyard trip (guessing that isn't over $25K)... you might want to trade in your prize for the measly $25K afterall!! So yes Mark, I say it IS really THAT exciting! :o)

As a side note... why did the stop letting people spend their money in the prize room? I liked that! They always had the most random things, like a ceramic frog for $1750! Everyone wants one of those!!

Technical Difficulties

So apparently, I am not as tech savvy as I thought! I tried to upload one of those nice picture slideshow things to the page, but it posted it is a blog item, not one of the "on the side" items!! So I tried to delete the blog... let's just say there is no slide show on the page anymore! Maybe when I have more patience to figure it out I will give it a second attempt!

Quite the "suit"able weekend!

It was a lovely weekend in NYC. Lots of sun and warm weather... perfect for shopping! Mark and I went out and took advantage of a lovely sale to buy him a few suits for work. Having worked for the past 3 years at an office that is business casual, he doesn't own enough suits to wear at an office that is all suits all day. We had an enjoyable experience at the tailors too! A lovely little family run, tailoring/dry cleaning/random jewelry store in Rego Park (just a 4 subways stops out on the F train). They had a nice little changing room about the size of our closet at home! So now we have Mark all suited up (nice pun!) to start work next week... all we need now is somewhere for him to stay!

I also had a lovely shopping day and bought 2 new pairs of shoes (thank you DSW!) with some birthday money and some coupons! What better way to get stuff when you don't end up paying for any of it?? And yes I checked, Minneapolis has DSW's! We would not have moved there if they didn't. Seriously.

Maiden Blog

Hello Bloggers and Blog readers!
We decided to join the blogging community, and bore everyone with the painful dullness that is our lives! Just kidding! Well, only sort of... today we actually have some fun and exciting news. We are moving out of New York City! It is very exciting, and we are looking forward to what will come next. This weekend Mark is leaving for Minneapolis and starts his new job on the 30th. I am staying in NY until May 21st or so and will be working until then. We've been in NYC for 3 years now, which is about how long we intended to stay, so it has worked out well... just very quickly. We have lots to do, but it will be fun to buy a car and find a new apartment (and eventually a house of our own!!). Minneapolis is a nice city, very liveable and friendly, and it really has so much to offer. We look forward to exploring it and the area around it; Mark will finally be able to put his fishing stuff back to use. The city has so many parks and outdoor things that there will be plenty to keep us busy this summer. I know everyone can't believe we would be excited to go somewhere so cold in the winter, but how much fun will Christmas be with snow? I don't mind the cold, and even with it, Minneapolis is a city of skywalks, so you never have to go outside while you are downtown! It will be an exciting time for us... bring on the cold! :o) And the Mall of Americ of course, it's no West Edmonton Mall, but we will take what we can get!