On The Streets: Weekend in Minnesota

This past weekend has been filled with memorable road trips and fun adventures. One of my boyfriend's friends, J.L. came to visit us from California....Yay, our first visitor! Since my boyfriend's birthday was last week J.L. and I had planned a birthday surprise for him. So we packed our bags and set out on our 5 1/2 hour road trip to Minnesota to meet with him. 

Once we arrived, we called my boyfriend to pick us up. My boyfriend was definitely surprised to see J.L! I could imagine the song "reunited and it feels so go", playing in the background. Then there was more exciting news! My boyfriend told us that he got two pairs of tickets to go to a Minnesota Twins baseball game! I have only been to one major league baseball game in my life which was for the Dodgers two years ago, so I was pretty excited for this! There is something about watching a live baseball game that makes it a special experience. Here are some pictures I took at the game!!

The Minnesota Twins game are held at the Target Center in Minneapolis. It's such a huge stadium! 

Check us out! Hay!!

I loved the energy people had whenever the Chicago Cubs (whom the Twins were playing against) and the Minnesota Twins would hit the ball. My favorite part was watching people on the "Kiss Cam" or big screen dancing and cheering, it was totally great!  At the end of the game, the final score was 2-7 Minnesota Twins winning the game. And did I mention it was fireworks night! It was a great way to end our first night in Minnesota!

Day 2

The second day was even more spectacular because I got to accompany my boyfriend to work an event. The event was called MSRA Back to the Fifties Weekend. From what my boyfriend told me, he said it's a huge event that happens every year filled with classic cars and hot rods. He wasn't kidding when he said it was a huge event, cause when we got there we saw rows and rows of cars starting to line up. The event pretty much covered a good chunk of the Minnesota State Fairgrounds with about 11,995 participants. Crazy right!?

There was so many vendor booths, people dressed up in retro fashion, and of course cars of all shapes and models that I just had to take a whole bunch of pictures!

Spider Mobile!

Happy couple!

Well hello there!

 At the end of the day I felt like I had completed an entire workout from just walking everywhere. There were so many cars to see that I don't think I got to see all of them. Regardless, I was happy that I got to experience it with great company!

On our way back to Omaha, I asked J.L. what he thought about Minnesota. He said he really liked it! Thanks Minnesota for the awesome adventures...until next time!

From LA, With Luv

Fati <3

Weekend Fun in Minnesota Part 2: The Adventure Continues

Cowles Conservatory

There is so much to see in Minnesota that you would need more than a day or two to visit museums and visit the little boutiques and shops around the city. Since it was a nice day outside, we decided to take a walk around the Walker Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. When you first walk the first thing you see is a artist-designed mini golf course. Its a really unique space to enjoy with family and friends.

Then in the middle of the garden you see this enormous spoon with a cherry on top! I didn't realize it was a spoon until after taking this photo. This sculpture is called "Spoonbridge and Cherry" made by Claes Oldenburg. He is known for his large scale public objects such as this.

"Spoonridge and Cherry" Artist: Claes Oldenburg

Boyfriend and I

As we continued walking we saw other variations of sculptures made by different artists, check out the photos below!

"Molecule" Artist: Mark di Suervo

Garden walkway

"Hare on Bell on Portland Stone Piers" Artist: Barry Flanagan

Posing!

"Without Words" Artist: Judith Shea

Passing through the "Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge"

My favorite piece was inside the Cowles Conservatory. It was of a giant glass fish. I was just amazed at how this sculpture was made and how detailed it was. 

"Standing Glass Fish" Artist: Frank Gehry

Sadly, we weren't able to see all of the sculptures but from what I had already seen, I had a great time. Its nice to walk around and see things that you usually don't see especially a giant spoon! If you're ever in Minneapolis I highly recommend going to the Walker Sculpture Garden!

More info. about the Walker Art Center: http://www.walkerart.org

Map of the garden: http://www.walkerart.org/garden/

From LA, With Luv

Fati <3

Weekend Adventure to Minnesota Part 1

This weekend my boyfriend and I decided to get out of Omaha for a little bit and venture out to Minnesota; home of the Minnesota Vikings and known for its largest city, Minneapolis! A few things I was looking forward to seeing in this trips was the Mall of America, art around the city, and just things that we had never seen before. 

Look here's a photo of us looking pretty excited!!

Our first stop was the Mall of America. When we first got to the parking lot I couldn't believe how big it was, I felt as if we were going to Disneyland cause of the traffic and the rows of cars waiting to find parking. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but, it was pretty big. As we entered, I saw people sitting down with their bags on the floor and their faces looking tired as if they had been walking for hours.  Once we got to the center of the mall, I was speechless. Four stories filled with 520 stores, 50 restaurants and attractions, and the nation's largest indoor theme park! Also did I mention that there's no sales tax on clothes or shoes! Crazy right! 

There are so many things to look at, where do you start!

Welcome to the jungle, I mean mall!

When you walk to the south end of the mall, towards the south food court you are able to see this giant Transformer figure made out of Legos. It was a sight to see! I wonder how many Legos it took to make this and the other creations around it.

Giant Transformer made out of Legos!

The indoor amusement park was just breathe-taking, I'm still wondering how they fit that all in one mall!

Indoor Amusement Park & Nickelodeon Universe

After we made our rounds around the mall, I spotted this cute vintage boutique called Tatyana, a retro inspired dress shop. I had to go inside and take a look. And of course try on some clothes!

*Those high-waist pants would look great with some wedges and a red belt. 

Pants: Carpenter Capri- $134.00

Blouse: Tie-N-Go Flower- $45.00

Dress: Windward- $132.00

They even have men's clothes!

Shirt: Anchor Mustard Diamond Bowling Shirt- $60.00

One of the girls there had on this lovely cherry dress! 

She's wearing: Wild Berries dress- *On sale for $84.00

After our mini detour at Tatyana's we continued to walk around and see what other things this mall didn't have. My boyfriend had been wanting to get some nice dress shoes and a minimalist wallet, so we found a store called Johnston & Murphy. This store is known for their craftsmanship in shoes, classic style clothes for men and women, and leather goods such as wallets & messenger bags. We met this delightful gentleman who helped us out and posed for me for a photo! I gotta say, I really like his mustache!

Briefcase/messenger bag: Vintage Collection Flapover Briefcase- $395.00

After 4.5 hours of walking, going on roller coasters, seeing the different stores, and meeting cool people, we decided to leave. What I liked about the mall was that there are different themes on each floor that you go on. At one point we saw a giant chandelier dangling. One of the things I should of brought with me was my walking shoes, because you can walk for hours and not even realize where the time has gone. Then again time flies when you're having fun right!

 More to come on part 2 of my weekend in Minnesota!

Happy Blogging!

From LA, With Luv

Fati <3