Tuesday!

Tuesday was pretty fun. I had to work extra late, so I was 20 minutes late meeting Georgia, Dan's aunt. She was gracious enough to wait for me at the hotel. When I got in, we zoomed off to Mall of America and grabbed some Italian food on the first floor. I guzzled some chianti and felt better about the cold day, which was also a bit stressful at work.

We toured most of legoland and the amusement park. Somehow, I thought I was going to ride the rollercoaster there. I was pretty convinced. DEFINITELY RIDING THE ROLLERCOASTER.

Then reality set in. Rollercoaster rides cost 6 points, 6 points cost $19.86

For one ride. Not so much.

So we tried on some funny hats, ate chocolates from Godiva, and went shopping at the kitchen store. YUM. I bought Dan some spices and some chai and a cute little apron for myself. It was cheaper than most of the aprons that I'm obsessed with at Prydes and BonBon. We also tried on some funny hats, and it's a travesty that those photos are lost!

I had a lot of fun with Georgia, and again, got to talk about Don, which was very therapeutic. I wasn't expecting this trip to be so good for the soul, but it was. :) Today, 2 weeks after returning from MN, we had two big boxes of chocolates waiting for us from Georgia. Delicious, delicious, delicious. They came at just the right time, because we were a bit frustrated with the bathroom remodel that we have going on and chocolates were refreshing. There is hope!

Wednesday, Crystal and I walked over to Macy's after the free dinner in the hotel. (Shrimp, delicious, by the way) I bought some 5 year anniversary stuff for Dan, and then went out for Ethiopian.

Thursday, we went for pizza with Trent, which was really fun, and Friday, we went home. I got to ride on the skycab in the airport. Almost as fun as the rollercoaster.

Saturday, after getting little sleep, we were up for our 6 hour shift at the KC marathon. It was cold, wet, and some drivers were grumpy. Stationed at mile 18 was nice, people had a good downhill, but a lot of them were really tired. Of course.

After the marathon, we drove back to Iowa for Ryan's Des Moines marathon. He finished in 4 hours, 22 minutes. As he sprinted down the last 100 meters, I had tears in my eyes. My mom drove to several different spots to watch him, but we stayed at the finish line to watch Jana and Shannon finish the half.

I really missed out this year with this race, but I was just too busy in 2009 to commit to a race. I'm hopeful that 2010 slows down a bit. The entire family deserves a big break.

Being back in KC is bittersweet. On one hand, I am back with Dan and Nitro. :)

On the other, Dan is sick, the house is a mess, and I have a pile of work waiting for me, still, and I'm lonely. I miss having 12 days of coworkers near me to talk, and old friends to visit. I'll get used to it here again, and I hope that when this giant bathroom remodel is done, we can throw a big party and relax.

Key words: relax.

Ark.

It appears that a lot of my photos are missing. My camera battery died before I could upload everything and I somehow managed to corrupt iphoto.

So, we'll just make a recap, briefly. I realize that I suck at blogging. Sometimes recapping life seems tedious and obnoxious.

But Monday, in Minneapolis, I went to dinner with Jim & Amy and Jonathan, Katherine and Aurora. The photos of baby aurora are really cute, her hair is now red and curly, like her Mommy's. She's walking now, too. We ended up going to King & Thai, which I walked to. It wasn't such a far walk, but on the way home Jim and Amy offered a ride. The restaurant itself was relatively accomodating, and I ordered lamb, since I probably won't get to eat lamb much in the future. The saddest part was that I couldn't take my leftovers with me, and there were heaping portions, so I donated them to my werewolf buddy, Jim.

I met Jim this summer when he came down to visit another friend, but we'd been playing this online game called Werewolf for awhile, so I sort of knew him from that. He and his GF seem pretty happy in Minneapolis. At the end of the night, I said goodbye to Katherine and Jonathan. Forever?

Hopefully not.

It was really hard to say goodbye to one of the oldest friendships I've had in KC and when we left it made it all the more real. They really did sell their house that was 2 blocks from us, they really did move away, and we won't get to see each other for several months.

I'm trying to think of where we left off, and regret that I haven't been as prompt with updating the blog. I'll just try to attribute it to the fact that we're being active.

Friday night, I scored some tickets to the Decemberist show. Thanks, Craigslist. I was lucky that Craig wanted to go, too, because the guy on Craigslist would only sell the pair at a discount.

Decemberists rock!

I was slightly expecting a show like the First Avenue club, since that's the only show I've been to in Minneapolis. The State Theatre was so different than that. It was ornate and beautiful, and I don't think that anything compared to it in KC, except for maybe the Uptown Theatre. Or whichever one is downtown. I wish I had my camera with me when I went to the show, but I was afraid they'd confiscate it. Decemberists played the Hazards of Love all the way through and then some big hits. Dan was right, the show was well worth it. I just want to listen to that album over and over.

When I got home from the show, Eddie and Kent were in the hotel lounge, so I had a drink with them and went to sleep.

Saturday, we used our gift card for the trip to Keys Cafe. YUM. I was surprised that I was able to eat everything they offered. I must have been hungry, despite that there was not a chocolate chip pancake option.

After Keys, I walked over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. My boss suggested that we walk there, and it wasn't that bad. 16 blocks, and we were able to see a totally different part of the town. Well, "totally different", but it was cool. I think I'm forging a bond with Minneapolis, mostly because the skywalks are like Des Moines and the people were so nice here. Of all of my trips around the country this summer, the people in MN are the friendliest. Someone came up to me randomly in the art museum and started describing a piece from "The Lost Symbol", but they were polite and nice about it.

My favorite pieces couldn't be photographed, but for some reason, I really liked the MOUTH in the above photo. This sounds weird, but I just wanted to crawl into the mouth and take a nap. I know that's strange and silly, but that's the beauty of art. It opens your soul to a totally different place and sometimes you're a completely different person, just because of artwork. I should try to be an artist.... too bad I completely lack the talent.

So, we took a taxi back home b/c poor Craig only had a hoodie. I took a photo of the snow to show Dan, who was having a much warmer day when we received the snow. The other photo is of the roosters and statue and french room exhibit. I really like looking at room layouts and furniture from the past, so the MIA was a good fit for me.

Jen and Joe picked me up from the hotel. I had to take a 15 minute catnap before I met them, and they took me to their new house AND gave me an engagement photo. Jen reminded me that she'd actually been to our wedding....wow. They've done a lot of work to their house, and in only one year. Pretty impressive stuff. Joe helped me understand how soldering works on copper pipes, and I must say that it was helpful and nice to talk about silly home improvement concepts, because so many people I know either have perfect houses or don't do home improvement stuff. It always encourages me to know what work other people have done or tried on their own.

Anyway, I just rested on Sunday, because I was tired from the Hard Rock Cafe and William's hopping.

I guess I did do something on Sunday: Dan's cousins took me to breakfast at a place right outside of downtown. We've talked a lot about Don's death and illness and her mom's death last year. Sad subjects! I think I was feeling the weight of the trip and everything that's sucked this year, so I hope I didn't end up sounding like the most self-pitying person.

It's weird to be able to talk freely about it with family members, and I feel bad that Dan doesn't get to have these conversations, because they really help. Jennie and Jao (wow, that's similar to Jen and Joe, isn't it) are sweet and well educated, and I hope that I see them again soon.

Thursday

I didn't do much on Wednesday, except go over to 8th street grill with Marina. Since I'd just eaten room service, I ended up just not eating anything at the grille.

The above photo is of the light rail, with the hopes that this photo will convince KC, MO that it's time to open up the light rail option. (again!)

On Thursday, our awesome boss took us out for Mexican. This is our last photo with Veronica and Virginia, who have both been with the company longer than I.
HEre's the margarita, 2 for 1. Delicious. But I soon realized that my liver cannot keep up with this company's level of drinking.

Best part of Minneapolis is taking the public transportation everywhere. God bless the bus. Here, we wait outside for the bus to come. Their transfers are just as nice as the KC, MO transfers, you get about 2 hours. Their busses here are hybrid, which is nicer than KC's system, too, but a single bus can cost like $500K, so I won't complain. I'm just lucky to be so close to the KC busses. I'm looking forward to the MAX 25 to come to Troost. I will say that public transit would really encourage my hubby to come to this city!

This is the skyline, beautiful, beautiful MN.

I decided it was easier to upload the photos and then text around it. More to come for Friday and Saturday...

Hell's Kitchen

After shaking off the grogginess I felt from waking up a full 2 hours earlier than I'm used to, we got out of the hotel and over to the office, perfectly on time. It was pretty nice to have the skywalk, since it was raining and only one person was smart enough to bring an umbrella. (not me)

So we trekked 2 blocks, walked into the office and sat down. The security group was not expecting us. They couldn't find the names of any of our managers. Word from the first group was that it could take 1 hour for someone to come down to get us, so we waited for another 20 minutes. THEN we realized we were at the wrong building in downtown Minneapolis.

Duh.

After a bit more navigation, we made it to the new building, a bit late and a bit damp. Everyone at the office was pretty awesome, and this year we get to participate in the Employee Giving program. Lame though it may be, I was stoked for this part, since I didn't get to participate last year. Perhaps I should get out more. Which of course, we rectified by going out.... to

http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/

We all got a gift certificate to Hell's Kitchen. Some people have been here for 2 weeks and not used their cards, but I used mine tonight. I feel a bit foolish, since that's my nicest restaurant card. Not everyone likes this place, but I thought it was a combination of Disney's Haunted Mansion and a semi-biker bar.

I managed to come home and run for a full 20 minutes on the treadmill, 2 miles. After 1.5 mimosas. The .5 was part of my employee giving plan. ;) My home is that I'll get back into shape while I'm here, and that I'll finish 2 books and try to be really prepared for the new job. So far, on track, mimosas and all.

Arrival Day

We said our very final goodbyes at work today, after cleaning every single cube, flat surface, and filling at least 7 shred bins of old files and unneeded papers. We headed to the airport immediately to avoid any possible traffic.

Here is our nice hotel room-- the bed on the right is mine.

My roommate and I are so excited that everyone else arrived at the airport, since of course, we'd been there waiting for several hours.

6 of us, who shall remain anonymous, will continue on in Minneapolis. Our flight left around 7, we arrived around 9 and somehow managed to not find our ground transportation guy because he was watching football and we were running around in an insane attempt to find the person that would drive us, while not leaving our arthritic coworker behind. Luckily, she was not eaten by wild bears that often live in Minneapolis.

Here we are, in the airport, and at our hotel. Marina and I are roommates in a giant, giant room. The staff here is very nice, having already replace the toothbrush that I forgot, and they all welcome us, since our compadres have already been here for 2 weeks.

Tomorrow, we'll get our nice room-service breakfast. I've ordered oatmeal, hot tea, and tomato juice. It's going to be so amazing to have breakfast delivered to the door and not have to wash any dishes. I'm still having trouble realizing that the cost is covered, and am thus ordering conservatively. After breakfast, we'll walk over to our office and experience the joy of the new company.

1 day left!

I'm leaving on a jet plane.....and I'll be back in 12 days.

This will be the longest I've been gone since Greece, the longest I've ever been away from KC since we moved here, the longest I've been away from Nitro, and of course, Dan. We tried to spend a lot of time together before the flight takes off, since I won't have a chance to be back over the weekends or anything. Difficult though it may be, we'll survive.

I have 2 suitcases full of clothes, since I'll need one work outfit, one casual outfit and clothes to work out in. I have a laptop carry on, a stack of work to do (small) and a purse. Nearly all of my coworkers will be in Minneapolis together, and we're all staying with roommates. I think it's going to be a bit like college, for better and worse. :)

I'll try to leave the work stuff out of the blog, but that might be impossible, since it's the primary reason for this trip. I'm going to try to post photos and interesting bits about Minneapolis, since I haven't been there since highschool.

Time: 10:0o PM

Temp: 54 degrees

However, I'm resolving to do something touristy in Minneapolis for each day that I'm there.