Birthday Trip to the Twin Cities

I just got back yesterday from my surprise birthday trip to Minneapolis and St. Paul. I had a total blast with my precious mom, who had been keeping the destination a secret for what seemed like forever!

We left the morning after the toddler's first birthday. So, the night before we had some friends over and did the whole cake-messy house-craziness thing. (Speaking of cake, I burned his birthday cake and sobbed like a five year old--seriously like a five year old, I tell you! So much for acting like a grown up. Pathetic.) I didn't get to bed until 10:30 (which actually is early for me), and my alarm clock went off at 4 am! (What a way to celebrate my son's first birthday, with a 4 am wake-up call....yet another reminder of why I'm glad that we're waiting for bambino numero due.)

My first thought was: I'm about to find out where we're going! When my mom showed up at 5 to get me, she looked so fancy-schmancy-adorable that the first words out of my mouth were: "Are we going to the Hamptons!?"

She busted out laughing. "No!" We both were jumping up and down in the driveway in the pitch-black dark we were so excited. (We're kind of obsessed with taking trips together. We notoriously have way too much fun. Seriously. We should have an adult chaperone or something.)

Then, she handed me this book...

"Ahhhhh!" I screamed. "We're going to the Mall of America!!" The Mall of America had been one of my original guesses as to where this shopping spree birthday extravaganza might take place.

So, as soon as our second plane landed in Minneapolis, we hopped in the rental car and drove straight to the Mall of America...

I was jumping up and down in the seat like a little kid! And then, when we got inside, I pretty much just dragged my jaw along on the floor...

We ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe...

Then, after we shopped until we could shop no more, we drove to our hotel in downtown Minneapolis...

That evening, we walked to Masa for dinner. It was delish, delish, delish! So healthy and so filling! The restaurant is small enough to have an intimate feel, but not so small that you feel like you have to get all dressed up and talk in whispers. Our waiter was nice, and there were windows around the restaurant so that we could watch the people walking by. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone!

After dinner, my mom and I walked around downtown for a bit. I have to say that I am super-critical of cities outside of the South. You know me....next to the Bible, I've got my copy of Southern Living. I live and breathe the South. Hello, what's the url for my blog? Yeah. You get it. But still, in all honesty, these were the nicest and friendliest people I have ever encountered above the Mason-Dixon Line, truly. The city was also the cleanest city I've ever been in. It was so clean that it felt surreal. I cannot say enough positive things about Minneapolis. I would go back there in a heartbeat! Here are some pictures that I took that evening...

The next day, after even more shopping, we drove to St. Paul to see the Cathedral of St. Paul. We were both totally in awe. I've been in some incredible cathedrals and churches in England, Italy, and France, but this truly looked like it did not belong in a city in America. It was gorgeous. (And just so that you can understand the scale of this cathedral, the little dots on the bottom of the pictures are people!)

That evening, we walked to another nearby restaurant, Zelo. While the food was excellent, the service was not. (I'm no sommelier, but looking for wine tearing while testing a bottle of wine doesn't warrant the comment, "What? Is there something on your glass?") Anyway. I probably wouldn't go back there, but here is a picture of our food...

And us...

And then we went into this enormous Target that was close to the restaurant...

The next morning, we went to Hell's Kitchen for breakfast, because our tour book said it was "hands down" the best place to get breakfast. Well, we ordered yogurt and granola for breakfast, so I don't know about that, but I do know that it was really cool in a creepy-ish sort of way. The chandeliers had knives hanging down from them by threads! It was a unique restaurant, for sure!

We ended our trip with an attempt to blend in with the locals (yeah right--our southern accents stood out like Yankees at a crawfish boil) by visiting the Mill City Farmers Market. Okay, it was precious to the extreme. Like, I wanted to just sit around and eat local food and talk with those sweet people all day!

What a fabulous trip! The twin, crazy blondes had a great time in the Twin Cities! :)