Our BIG Family Weekend

The weekend flew by with my family, and we took in a wide variety of activities and covered a lot of land.

I picked up my older brother at MSP on Friday afternoon, and then we had a late patio lunch at Jax’s on University in Northeast. We ate way too much, but it set the pace for the weekend!  I started with a Stella on tap, and together, we enjoyed onion rings, a house salad with creamy peppercorn dressing, and tenderloin with sauteed mushrooms and onions on pumpernickel bread with horseradish sauce. To top it off, we shared a rich serving of bread pudding. As always, Jax’s provided excellent service, a great atmosphere and amazing food.

On Friday night, we were off to the pre-season Vikings game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

On Saturday morning, all eight of us headed to Theo Wirth Park for a morning run and then stopped by the Minneapolis Farmers Market for breakfast and people watching. I also picked up a bouquet of fresh flowers for $5.  Jeff and my brother skipped the farmers market for a more hardy breakfast at Moose and Sadie’s.

We showered and headed out for a tour of the city. We made our way down St. Anthony Parkway, traveled north to visit our office in Shoreview,  toured the North Oaks neighborhood, east to White Bear Lake downtown, south through downtown St. Paul, toured Grand and Summit Streets, and then back west and north by the St. Paul Saints stadium, State Fairgrounds and Como Park.

On Saturday afternoon, we ate an early dinner at Psycho Suzie’s on the patio . We enjoyed happy hour drinks and ordered the famous cheese curds, wings and a couple large pizzas.

After dinner, we went in separate directions. A few headed to Valleyfair for roller-coaster rides and thrills, and the rest of us went to  went to the Mall of America for some shopping!

On Sunday morning, we splurged one more time. We had breakfast on Hennepin at the Krumerkaz Sausage Co. For $9.99, they offer an all-you-can-eat buffet that is spectacular. It runs from 10 am – 2pm. I highly, highly recommend this!

After 6+ months in the city, these are some of my favorite city highlights!

Preparing for House Guests on the Cheap

As a family, we celebrated my parent’s 25th wedding anniversary in Minneapolis this weekend.

In the 6+ months that we’ve lived in the apartment, we have not had one guest so I had done very little to make the place seem presentable. So last weekend, I moved into high gear to ensure I felt good by the time they arrived. And fortunately, we also had a new recliner on order from Carroll’s Furniture that arrived Friday morning, just in time.

To keep things on the cheap, I visited Ikea, Target, Wal-mart and an estate sale. Here are the items I purchased to help pull the house together and to help accommodate our guests.

Ikea (Approx. $55)

• 3 magazine box sets - $2.99 each
• Plant – $9.99
• Pot – $14.99
• 2 silver picture frames – $2.99 each
• Stainless steal bowl – $6.99
• 4 Sheets – $1.99 each

Wal-mart (Approx. $60)

• Small potted plant – $7.50
• Black and white canvas wall hanging – $27.00
• 2 10×13 black frames – $12.96 each

Target (Approx $115)

• 2 giraffe print throw pillows – $14.99 each
• Purple silk throw pillow – $17.99
• 2 twin air mattresses – $18.89 each
• Air mattress pump -  $21.14
• Wicker basket – $10.48
• Bathroom rug – $11.98

Estate sale ($9)

• 2 Saturday Evening Posts – $1 each
• Oil painting – $7.00

The house came together nicely for $250 and garnered lots of nice comments from my family!