My Epic Trip to MN

Like I mentioned in my last post, 

I took a trip to Minnesota to see my bestie, Ann.

It was a fun filled, busy, & crazy 4 days.

I took very few photos... honestly, we were just too busy to stop and take photos.

As soon as I got to MN, we went to lunch at a cute Italian place called Broder's and then went shoe shopping at Marathon Sports (where Ann has a partnership - cool, right?!).

of course, we hit up Caribou Coffee.

yum.

Lots of caffeine was necessary during this trip.

late nights, early mornings, mean lots of coffee!

snoodling with Biscuit.

so cute!

Friday morning, Ann and I headed out for a long run around the lakes (Calhoun, Harriet and Isles)

sad to say... it did not go well for Ann. :(

It was raining and she had a tough time.

I basically had word vomit and talked the entire time.

Ann probably learned more about me than she ever really cared to learn.

we call runs like these #LoggingTheMiles

Friday night we had a BBQ/Bonfire with Ann's college friends.

Anna, Rachel, Ann, Amy, me, Ashley, Sarah, and Michelle.

the phrase (and twitter hashtag) "WaahWaah" was coined that night.

Whenever something is sad or someone is bummed, you say "waah waah" and make the crying motion with your hands.

I'll be happy to show anyone. ;)

Saturday morning mirror pic (just like Ann! ha!)

Saturday morning we headed to the PFG Coffee Meet Up at the Beat Coffeehouse

(where I introduced the barista to a dirty chai - a chai latte with shot of espresso)

Hannah, Ann, Kat, ?, Erin, Me, and Annie

Michelle, Meredith, me, Kelly, Kris

I had such a good time meeting Jen, (the PriorFatGirl) and "workshopping" with Kat and Annie.

It was so much fun chatting about weight loss and running and food and everything in between. 

Hannah, Kat, Ann and I then went to Whole Foods for lunch.

where we ate ALL of the things from the salad bar.

de-li-cious... so good.

but of course, there was a fro-yo place right around the corner, so... of course, we hit it up. ;)

p.s. attention Minnesota, 48cents an ounce is a rip off. #JustSaying

we then hit up the Mall of America.

where we tried on ALL of the clearance shoes at DSW.

Bought ALL of the clearance clothes at Old Navy

and where I went to hang out with my PEEPS. :) 

Later that night, we had a get together with some of the bloggers from the PFG meet up.

Many twitter hashtags were created that night.

this night was EPIC on SO MANY dang levels.

Some of the girls went from #SoberToSchwasted really quickly.

not naming names... *cough cough Maria and Jen cough cough*

Some of them may blame me... and well... they probably should.

I found an idea for Jolly Rancher vodka on Pinterest.

let's just say... it was a #PinterestRecipeFAIL

and #ITakeAllOfTheBlame

group shot #TweetUpShot #ThisIsNotATweetUp

Lt - Rt: Me, Kat, Ann, Jen, Maria, Stacey, Sarah, Annie and Erin

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT

"What's happening on the twitters tonight?

Nothing. We're all here."

#OMG #IDie

#WhatHappenedLastNight?

#NoComment

#SoberToSchwasted

#BlackOutTweetUp

my "workshop" girls

Annie and Kat

Love these girls. too much fun.

dancing... lots of singing and dancing!

this particular scene was of Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" ;)

I was up way too damn late on Saturday night, 

but Sunday morning, we had a date with Carissa (Gluten Free Runner).

Ann and I drove to Lake Harriet to meet up with Carissa.

Carissa and I ran around Lake Harriet (about 3 miles) and Ann did a 2 miler (1 mile out & back)

Afterwards, we headed out to breakfast at the French Meadow Bakery.

Loved chatting with Carissa. It's amazing how much we learned about each other in a 28 minute run!

Sunday night, Ann and I met up with Hannah and Kat and Brady at a local Indian Food place (I've already forgotten the name...)

We talked about ALL the things from the night before (aka #WhatTheHellHappenedLastNight) and about running, racing, and boys.

I almost had a heart attack when we walked outside and I thought the eye of the storm was closing in on us.

It was tornado watch weather.

Freaked me out.

black (seriously, the pic doesn't do it justice) skies and clouds so low I felt like I could reach up and touch them.

according to Ann, Minnesota is basically a cluster of weather.

Cold weather from Canada, etc, etc, warm weather from somewhere else. 

I was fascinated on the drive home and loved watching the clouds roll in.

She told me as long as the sirens stayed silent, we were good.

Well... as we were walking in the house, a siren sounded.

And I FREAKED out.

turns out... it was only an ambulance.

The weather was exceptionally crazy while I was there.

Thursday was nice, warm weather, Friday it rained, Saturday it was warm, borderline hot, Sunday was tornado watch, and Monday, as we drove to the airport it started snowing.

Minnesota weather for the win?!

Oh... and I go to hang out with Ann's Momma, Nancy a few times while I was visiting.

Nancy is a doll, by the way.

She brought me cheese curds and took me for fro-yo. :)

Ann?! Why did I not take a pic with your Momma?! Ahh!

so, as you can tell... I had a blast while I was visiting Ann in Minnesota.

I met so many AMAZING girls!

I had such a great time. 

I wish I could go back and hang out with everyone again next weekend.

There are so many one-liners, inside jokes, twitter convos that I continue to think about and I will laugh about at random times. Good times. Good friends.

Oh yeah.

We've decided that when you meet someone for the first time through blogging, that INITIAL meeting, you are BLOG friends. After that, you are just friends. 

For instance, I met Hannah on Thursday. We were blog friends that day.

I saw Hannah again on Saturday, we were friends. (no longer blog-related)

Non-bloggers tend to get a little concerned when you tell them that you are traveling across the country to meet a bunch of bloggers. 

Who am I to judge? I met Dizzle on MySpace. ;)

*Anyone else ever travel to meet up with bloggers? travel out of state?*

*Anyone else have pinterest recipe fail?*