Well, August is over.

I felt like doing something like a currently post, but decided against it. I can't believe it's the last day of August already! This summer has gone by fast, but also had its' ups and downs. I lost a good friend, went on my first vacation in years, and been on countless work trips that have eaten up all of my time it seems like. Time I could have spent blogging! But of course, sometimes things don't go as you think they will.

So here's a quick little recap of some of the more fun stuff I've been doing in the last couple of months.

July Trip to Dayton, OH

best friends forever!

I finally went somewhere that isn't in the state of Wisconsin for a long trip! I went to Dayton, Ohio to visit one of my best friends on this planet, Tiffany, since her and her husband Brian have been here to Milwaukee a couple of times and I just really needed to get out. I had four days of great times, including a July 4th trip to the Air Force Museum, fireworks, bike rides, good food, and allaround great times. I also got my bike updated, which is something I've wanted to do for a great long while. Now, I finally have the handlebars of my dreams, and it's all thanks to them. It was absolutely great to go somewhere new, and go on a little adventure - even if it meant six hours in the car by myself either way. I also got to eat at a Steak N Shake for the first time ever, and I must say that their red velvet shakes are the best. Just theeeee best. Oh, and I also finally got to try some of the new lip balm from her DIY cosmetics line, and it's prettymuch the best lip balm ever. She has a lot of cool stuff that you can check out at her Etsy shop, here! I talked about her nail polish in an old post, too, which you can find here!

Work trips have basically been my main focus of this whole summer. Inspecting fire trucks is a big job, but someone has to do it! For the last month or two, I've probably been gone at least once a week out of each week. I'm finally allowed to be home without trips for about the next two weeks.

As for the friend I lost, it hasn't been easy. There have been a lot of questions, a lot of wondering why. All I can say, though, a couple of months later, is that I hope that he's in a better place and not in pain anymore. That's really the best I can say.

Back in the positive, I have a lot of great stuff coming up as far as blogging goes. I'm going to be putting together a lot of neat stuff. I'm going to bring back the Tattoo Stories series, have some new Book Club Mondays, and am really shooting to have at least one post a day. This evening, however, check back, as I am going to be putting up a giveaway for Diamond Candles!

It's been a good summer. It's been long, difficult at times, and at other times great, but for the most part, it has been a great one.

Minneapolis Mania!

Let me start this post off by stating: PICTURE HEAVY. Not really pictures of me, just pictures of random awesome stuff we came in contact with in the midst of our trip. Like sharks. Two weeks ago, we decided to go to Minneapolis!

Until two Fridays ago, Mike had been at annual Army training for about two weeks. He had the idea midway through training that he wanted to go out of town. I was a bit taken aback, mostly because I figured that being gone for two weeks would mean he would want to be home! Of course, that was not to be! After a little bit of bickering back and forth on where to go (since, let’s be honest, that’s what happened), we decided on Minneapolis. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, and Mike hadn’t been for a few years, either. So off we were!

As soon as he got home on Friday night, we took off. We didn’t stop until we hit Wisconsin Dells, and that was only for a quick bathroom break and a trip to Taco Bell – I discovered that Sinclair gas stations exist, though! I had never seen one, and the giant dinosaur coming out of the top of the building reminded me of the dinosaur that was always stolen from a gas station in Green Bay growing up around homecoming.

We had a lot of fun on the drive there, even though we got pulled over (whoops)! The passenger side headlight of the car was out, which we didn’t know, and the officer questioned Mike on his car’s modifications, but Mike only walked away with a $10 ticket for not having his insurance card on him! That led to a mission to Wal-Mart for the correct bulb, and a bit of a hit to our planned arrival time.

Thanks to Hotwire, we got a great price on a halfway decent room, and finally got to fall asleep at around 2:30 AM. Saturday morning, though, it was up and at ‘em to the Mall of America!

If I can only give one tip and one tip only to those going to the MOA, I would suggest this: go as soon as the place opens. 9:30 AM. Parking is amazing, there aren’t a lot of people getting in your way, and if need be, you can have an in-and-out shopping experience. We wandered around and giggled to ourselves at the gaggles of teenage girls lining up to see Cody Simpson (I have no idea who he even is, but apparently he’s a big deal to those in the 10-16 age bracket) on the way to the aquarium!

So much fun. I had no idea there even was such a thing in the mall, but I was proven wrong. Was it huge? No. was it a halfway decent price for the ability to see a bunch of awesome animals and go through the crazy tunnel tanks? Yes.

After the aquarium, we just wandered around the mall and got all touristy. We were there for around two or three hours, and probably went into four stores. One of which was a new-ish store I discovered called Typo, where I finally found Washi tape! It is just a small store filled with stationery and other items like that – think a bit of an Urban Outfitters vibe about it – and the cashier was awesome and gave me a huge discount for a reason I still don’t know! And I got this awesome metal water bottle for $5 with my purchase. Can’t go wrong. After that was the obligatory trip to Lush, and that was about it!

Out of the three sushi places in the mall, we decided on a small one on the second floor called Tiger Sushi. It was so great! One place advertised ‘American Sushi’, which doesn’t even sound good for a second, and the other seemed a bit too upper crust for what we wanted to pay for a lunch. If you’re at the Mall of America and want sushi, I would definitely, hands down, tell you to check out Tiger Sushi.

Making record time and getting out of the mall at around 12:00, we decided to check out the Como Zoo and Observatory – a free attraction in Minneapolis. Parking was atrocious so we decided to take the shuttle, which was no problem at all. Donated a few dollars at the door and walked around with the families, but were feeling a little disappointed (mostly at how everyone else was acting), so went to the Observatory instead. So many fewer people and such awesome stuff to see! Mike was a little disappointed because their Japanese Garden was closed for renovations, but I told him we’ll have to go back again and see it when it’s finished.

I was getting a bit tired of being around crowds at that point, so we just opted to drive around and find places (mostly yarn stores and auto shops), and then wound up back at the hotel for a few hours before setting out for dinner.

We decided on Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge, a restaurant that we found through random searches on our phones. Our food was great and came out quick – it was sad to leave half of it there but we got so full so fast! Only thing I would say I would change would be the waitstaff – our waiter was kind of a jerk.

Sunday was nothing more than a ride home, taking the long way to go to Herrschner’s craft factory in Steven’s Point, and in order for Mike to get his quick driving bug out of the way via the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive. We got home at around 6:00 PM, both exhausted, but glad to have had the weekend we did, because it was absolutely great.

It reminded me that it can’t be all work and no play – there has to be a break in the monotony sometime. It was so nice to get out of town for just a couple of days.