Prince is from there- it has to be good!

The only things I knew about Minneapolis prior to this weekend were: 1) Prince is from there and 2) the Mall of America is there. I don't know that much more about it now but I do know that I'd like to find out! It has professional sports teams for basketball, hockey, football and baseball- we almost went to a Twins game on Saturday night but decided against it at the last minute. Here's what Minneapolis looks like driving into town from the south:



I think it looks pretty cool and I would have loved to do a lot of exploring. Unfortunately, a breakfast stop on the road at a Perkins restuarant left Rob feeling a little less than perky so Saturday's activities were pretty limited. The big reason for the trip to Minneapolis, which is about 200 miles north of where we are, was to start looking at IKEA and picking out our new kitchen cabinets and designing those. We were also looking for ideas for the office area in the basement and wardrobes for the master bedroom and we found some things (shown below) that we really liked.

I had to work very hard to convince Rob that our 1957 mid century style Ranch house just would not look good with a farmhouse sink- even a cool one like this:


Here is a photo of what I would like the kitchen to look like- sort of.


I would love to get these desks and bookshelves for the office but that may have to wait a little while as there are more important things to get done first.


We spent most of the evening in the hotel, going over the kitchen plans we'd designed while at IKEA for 4 hours. We ventured out to a nearby Olive Garden for dinner but that was as much excitement as we had that night since Rob still felt yucky. Sunday morning it was time for...



The Mall of America! With its many stores and four floors, it was more than even I could handle. We made it through about 2.5 floors and then I had to say it was time to go- Rob was more than happy to oblige. I suppose next time I go I can start at the top and work my way down. I did pick up some new shorts at Gap and some cool mixing bowls that have a non-skid bottom on them and a cute apron at Williams Sonoma. Oh, and a super duper wallet at Macy's. Here we are in front of the amusement park portion of the mall. Due to Rob's still-upset tummy, we were not able to enjoy any of the rides :o(