20 Dates Under $20

20 Dates Under $20

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Citypages Best of Link

Jeff found this link tonight. Love the categories and thought I’d share …

http://www.citypages.com/bestof/2009/section/the-city-gritty-21/

Seattle, Whistler and the BIG 30 … Here I come!

On Wednesday, Jeff and I will set out for Seattle and Whistler for a nice, extra long weekend. And the trip is all because I turn 30 next weekend …

As for 30, I really don’t have an opinion about it (but it makes me wonder how many other blog posts are out there about turning 30 – humm.) And since I never get to the end of long emotional posts (no offense meant to anyone; it’s just my need for short and quick), there will be no post about turn 30 and what it means to me or how I feel.

Instead, I am super pumped about making the trip to Seattle and then driving to Whistler. We arrive in Seattle late on June 3 and then drive to Whistler on June 4. To be honest, I only know a little about Seattle … Pikes Place Market, Space Needle, Seattle Grace Hospital (fictional – I know – from Grey’s Anatomy), and I once read in Runner’s World about its great running trails. And, I want to make sure we take in Seattle’s best on Thursday.

So, my task this weekend is to be an Internet junkie searching for the best of the best for our trip and looking for tips on where the locals go.

My search has only just begun, but it began on the Pikes Place Fish Market Web site. On it, there is a slideshow of the city. Picking up a few clues from it, my next step is to look into the following:

• Dick’s Drive-in
• City Market
• Post Alley

And my questions are …

1. Is it worth seeing the Space Needle if we only have 6 hours of daylight in the city?
2. If you were going to have only three meals in the city – late dinner, breakfast and lunch - where do we go?

This weekend, Jeff and I are also going to buy a little pocket camcorder to capture our trip. Video will be a new adventure for me.

I am pushing my max length on what I am comfortable reading … I’ll keep you posted.

MPLS St. Paul Local Artists

A couple weekends back, Jeff and I ate at the Mill City Cafe in Northeast. Lucky us – the local artists in the building where the cafe is located open their studios to the public on the second Saturday of each month. It was a great morning outing, and here are a few of the artists that caught my attention.

Jennifer Massoll (oil painting)

Marcia McEachron (steel and bronze sculpture)

Kit Wilson (jewelry)

New Blog Name – Do you know that place?

Now that I’ve been in Minnesota for nearly six months, I suppose it is time to make the official blog name transition. And lesson learned … don’t name your blog after a city or a boyfriend or anything that might change!  Renaming is a bugger!

To really break it down, I love searching for the mom and pop shops. The places tucked into a side street and hidden in a residential neighborhood. The hunt for shop or cafe that offers everything that you wouldn’t find at your typical chain restaurant and department store. I love neighborhoods, homes and communities that have character and personality. Sometimes I want to hear brilliant banter from the guy who could be a college professor, who plays the guitar and who connects the whole world together with his knowledge of history. Other times, I want to sit at the neighborhood bar and enjoy the life of a simple man. So what do I love … finding just the right consignment store, donut shop or veggie sandwich to add to my very own Best Of … list.

Do you know that place?

This is me on the weekends. This is me when I am traveling.  That is how my mind works.

Bella and Edward …

I am spending time with Bella and Edward. I will return to my regular posts shortly.

GREAT Book: Echoes from the Dead

My friend Sheri recently loaned me Echoes from the Dead, written by  Johan Theorin. It was a great read … the type you can’t put down for an entire weekend.

Theorin is a Swedish-born author, and as far as I can tell (with minimal research), this is his first published book (November 2008). It quickly became a best seller in Sweden and has received rave reviews throughout.

Here’s a bit more about him from the Barnes and Noble Web site:

Johan Theorin was born in 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and has spent every summer of his life on northern Oland. He is a journalist and scriptwriter. His second novel, Night Blizzard, will be published by Delacorte in 2009.

(Guess that pretty much confirms that this is his first published novel. From just a little research, it looks like Night Blizzard will be available September 29, 2009.)

I highly recommend this book. If you are still in cold, wintry weather (like me in Minnesota), take a weekend and curl up with this one before it gets nice outside.

Enjoy.

Lucky Magazine Jewelry & Bag Links

Lucky Magazine does a great job of  finding unique and up-and-coming jewelry and purse designers. Here are a few of my favorites from the March 2009 issue.

1. Becky Kelso – Calcite necklace
2. Mulberry bag – Shimmy tote (or all bags!)
3. BYLU jewelry
4. Andrea Brueckner bags
5. The Jack Rabbit Collection bags

Plus, check out the Hello! Lucky thank you cards featured in the same issue.

What I am lovin’ right now …

A few on the management team recently got Breitling watches to help promote our Quarterly Giveaway in which we are giving a Breitling watch to one of our top agents.  The watches just arrived … Holy Smokes – they are sexy. I mean really sexy. Silly me, lusting over the white Michael Kors watch for summer when the Breitling watch is dead sexy (as one of our managers would say). I am in love …

Moving back from my dreams to reality … here are just a few things from my What I am Lovin’ list that are a little more realistic for the time being.

1) WHITE Micheal Kors watch  (This will certainly do, but I’d really like a Breitling. Haha!)

Michael Kors Oversized Chronograph Watch

2) WHITE GOLD Diana Men’s Band

Diana Men's Band

3)  Wild West Girl Old Gringo Cowboy Boots

 

One more dream. I am also madly in love with the Jeep Wrangler . Not this summer but maybe next …

Good Book: The Devil in the White City

Just finished a good non-fiction book by Erik Larson – The Devil in the White City about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago World’s Fair). Did you know that the Ferris Wheel was created for the fair and that Shredded Wheat and Cracker Jacks debutted at the fair as did Pabst Blue Ribbon beer?