Minneapolis Day Two

3 March 2014

My day started early enough to catch a little bit of the sunrise. My room faces south, so I can see enough to the east and west to see some of the sunrises and sunsets.

After I took a shower and got dressed, I went through my emails and looked at social media, and then I did my French lesson for the day. I found one of the sentences to be very fitting. (:

I decided to walk over to Panera for breakfast. It was a two-block walk. Because it was negative eight and I didn't wait long enough for my hair to dry all of the way, part of it froze. Oops. I had a chai tea latte and a cinnamon roll for breakfast. I discovered a shortcut through the shopping center on my way back to the hotel, so I only had to walk across the street!

I tried (but kind of failed) to get a picture of how my outfit kind of matched the purple hotel room.

Let's not talk about how expensive parking is in downtown Minneapolis.

Since it was such a cold day, I decided that I would go to the Mall of America and IKEA today. I went to IKEA first and I walked around the showroom upstairs. There are so many pretty rooms there. I wonder how they would feel if I tried to move in.

For lunch, I had the fiesta salad at the IKEA restaurant. It was something I would love to recreate, with a few kinds of lettuce, black beans, corn, tomatoes, chicken, cheese, and tortilla strips. When I was finished with lunch, I went downstairs and looked around at the products. I ended up buying a sheepskin rug (similar), some mugs for the motel (one set + one of each which I found in the as is section), a tiny plush orange moose, and some purple patterned bandages. I also picked out the dishes and silverware that I plan on buying on Thursday before I head home.

I went over to the Mall of America and I walked around for a few hours. I went in some stores, but I didn't really feel like shopping. I almost bought some Valentino sunglasses from Nordstrom Rack. I couldn't decide if I wanted red or tortoiseshell, and then I didn't feel like waiting in the long line.

I will never pass up going into an American Girl store, because they make me so happy. Seeing all of the dolls reminds me of my childhood, and I love seeing all of the happy little girls. Then I found this in the store and I was really excited. This was actually the second Volkswagen Beetle that I saw in the mall. There is currently a Barbie Dreamhouse Exhibit, and there is a hot pink New Beetle parked in the mall near the entrance to the exhibit. I was going to go look around in the exhibit, but then I realized that it was $23. No thank you.

After I walked through the whole mall, I decided to leave. The one thing that I bought was a Lightning McQueen toy from the Disney store for my cousin. They were playing Frozen in the store. Someday, I want to have a Disney movie marathon and watch all of the movies! I haven't seen Frozen or Tangled and probably some other newer ones. I've seen both of the Cars movies, but I haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet.

Anyway.

I went over to General Mills thinking that I could take a tour, but I was wrong. I wish I would have taken a walk around the campus with my camera, because it looked really pretty.

I went over to Yum! Kitchen and Bakery for dinner.

I love their logo and the exposed brick of the outside.

Check out this row of fresh bread behind the counter.

I had the BBQ Brisket Sammie, which has slow cooked brisket with bbq sauce, crispy onions, and pickles, served on a challah bun. It was served with some crispy potato chips, and I also had some fresh-squeezed lemonade. I would typically ask for the sandwich with out the onions and pickles, but I figured I could take them off if I wanted to. I tried to eat it like a regular sandwich, but then I gave up and used the fork and knife. I didn't really eat the pickles, but I did like the onions.

In addition to sandwiches and other entrés, they also have a bakery with cakes, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, and more. I got the dreamsicle cupcake to go.

I had to get a picture before I left, because I love that table!

I went back downtown, after I drove past the dealership that Luna is from three times this afternoon. I would love to stop in, but that would probably be weird.

When I got downtown, I ended up accidentally parking three blocks away from the hotel. Oops. I took a little walk and got back to the hotel room for my cupcake. My feet hurt so bad from all of the walking and there wasn't much of a sunset since it was so hazy, so I stayed in and did some writing and relaxed.

I wish I would have thought to take a picture when I got to the middle, where there was some sort of orange cream!

xoxo.