Number 1: I got my Minnesota driver’s license (not in the mail yet, but I got it). For those of you who don’t know – to get a license in this wonderful land of 10,000 lakes, you gotta take the Permit Test! Wha??? Yes, you heard me. So I studied, studied, studied, and viola – passed it! I was also excited about getting a new picture on my license, and have my weight change from 120 to 117 lb! The lady at the DMV and I have also decided that my eye color is Grey! Took us a while to figure it out, she was going to put it down as blue, but my eyes are anything, but… Well anyways, once the license actually comes in the mail, I’ll let you all take a look
Number 2: Thrifting! I totally planned that! You know me! After I was done at the DMV, which was located on Lake and Chicago, I went east to check out the local Savers. On the way there, though, I got sidetracked to St. Vincent’s thrift store and got the most amazing $4 pair of shoes you can get!
The coolest thing is that they are made in Brazil, so I wanted to use this moment and say hi to all of my Brazilian friends out there! You girls are a ton of fun!
And last but not least: Sam and I made Peanut Butter/Hershey Hugs Blossoms – aren’t they tasty looking?
I hope you had a Fantabulous day! I love you all, and thanks for reading
PS. I did make it to Savers and it didn’t impress me much. I will do a more detailed review later in one of my upcoming posts, where I will talk about the most popular thrift stores in Minneapolis! So stay tuned!
This is one of the reasons why I don’t like Saturdays, there is nothing to do. I have ESL lessons even on Sundays, and it kinda brightens up my day, and creates a bit more of a schedule.
This morning Sam and I watched Pirates of Silicone Valley:
and I was pleasantly surprised by that movie. I was also pleasantly surprised with myself with not falling asleep on it. Maybe it was the early morning, or the fact that I woke up at 6.20 am telling Sam that we forgot to set the alarm and that I don’t want him to be late for work. That’s when he told me: It’s Saturday, babe…
At around 11am we went for a walk around the North Loop Neighborhood (aka Warehouse District) of Minneapolis. I promised to show Sam all the fun looking lofts.
On the way back I was starving, literally starving. And when I am starving, I get super cranky and start complaining. I think I am worse than a hungry man! I eventually made it home, and this is where hell broke loose.
I ate a chicken sandwich, 2 tomatoes, a granola bar and some trail mix. Not counting the multiple glasses of lemonade.
Later I decided to make a cake, Sam’s been asking me for one, and I was dying to try some of the new pans we’ve got as wedding gifts.
After a long consideration we decided to make carrot cake.
I made too much batter, and it all started overflowing in the oven, then the frosting wouldn’t turn out, and finally, the smell of butter made me so sick, I couldn’t stay in the apartment any longer. So I went outside for a walk, and someone was having their wedding reception in Loring Park, and it looked like so much fun…
I know today is just not my day, and most of you will probably tell me to go and shut my 117 lb mouth up, but I am feeling extremely fat and ugly today. So I am gonna go work out, and then finish my book. Thank God there is still some motivation left around!
I remember back when I was in High School, one of the older girls at church had a sweatshirt which said – Looking for you… It was some cheesy looking piece of clothing, which she got at a thrift store, and when I asked her about the print, she just said: “Too bad it doesn’t say – Looking for you Jesus”.
From all the Jesus’ talk that I remember, he is pretty easy to find. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not making fun of Christianity or God, I just know that finding Jesus is relatively easy, it’s knowing Jesus that becomes hard. But I am not going to preach to you today.
When you come to think of it, we are always looking for something in our lives:
- a job,
- a good deal,
- someone to spend the rest of the life with,
- someone to spend the night with (people are all different, you know ),
- the perfect outfit,
- a way out (of anything),
- a way in
- a good book to read,
…
The list can go on and on.
My list is probably going to be different from yours, but there will be only slight differences. So come to think of it – we are all out here, looking for same stuff, and what if the “bank” of “stuff that needs to be found” runs out? What do you do then? Thank God there is overstock.com!
But in all seriousness of the matter, what are some things that you are looking for today?
PS. Remember, there are some guys out there who still haven’t found what they were looking for
This morning while walking with Sam to work in the rain we were trying to find an entrance to the skywalk which is closer to our house, and taking a turn on w 14th street, we passed by this:
And if you read Russian, you will understand why I got so excited. So this afternoon, after I came back from the Mall of America, I decided to check the Russian pharmacy out!
And I can’t explain how happy I was to discover that they don’t only carry meds, but Russian chocolate, canned fish (shproty and seledka), a lot of herbs that I use for making tea, essential oils, tar soap(!), Russian toothpaste and shampoos
Of course everything is ridiculously overpriced But at least the owner is nice and speaks English, which is perfect for Sam, because the store in St. Louis park is not very English-speakers friendly!
The other highlight of my day was going to the Mall of America with Kara, and even though schmucks from the Apple store didn’t want to give me a new charger for my Mac for free (I have one word for you and it’s not blog appropriate!), so much for getting Apple Care, we were able to get her a stunning bridesmaids dress from Macy’s!
I have finally gotten around to checking out my dress. I was kind of concerned whether it would fit, or look exactly like on the website. But White House Black Market has exceeded all of my expectations! I am so so grateful! I would’ve posted pictures, but I don’t want Sam to see it! And he doesn’t want to see it until the wedding day either. So now it’s hanging at his parent’s house, in what used to be Sam’s old room, ironic isn’t it?
This morning I also heard the news about Amy Winehouse, I blogged about her a couple months ago in my post about “Good role model, bad role model…” You can re-read it here, if you’d like
I didn’t want to believe it at first, thought that maybe the newspapers website was hacked, just like last week. But no, and I heard DJs talking about how she died at 27 along with Kurt Cobain and someone else, I can’t remember who. So what’s up with that age? Is there anything special about number 27? Here is what I found on-line posted by Chris More (http://27.chrismore.com/)
Amy Winehouse, died on July 23rd, 2011 at age 27.
J.D. Salinger died on January 27, 2010. He wrote The Catcher in the Rye, which has 26 chapters and it is believed this missing chapter was number 27.
Joseph Merrick aka “The Elephant Man”. He died strangely of suffocation at the age of 27. born: august 5, 1862 died: April 11, 1890
The First Blood Shed for the Revolution - The first casualty associated with the start of the American Revolutionary War was a man named Crispus Attucks, who died alongside several associates during the infamous “Boston Massacre.” Attucks was 27 years old and a natural born leader, according to his friends. He was also an escaped slave.
Kurt Cobain – April 5, 1994 – 27 – heroin OD/shotgun to the head
Masaccio – June, 1428 – 27 – poisoned?
Jimi Hendrix – September 18, 1970 – 27 – vomit inhalation from drugs
Janice Joplin – October of 1970 – 27 – drug overdose
Jim Morrison – July 3, 1971 – 27 – heart failure
Brian Jones – 3rd of July, 1969 – 27 – drowning
Thuy Trang – September 3rd 2001 – 27 – car crash
Jeremy Ward – May 25, 2003 – 27 – Drug Overdose
Keiko – December 12, 2003 – 27 – pneumonia
Jean-Michel Basquiat – 08/12/1988 – 27 – drug overdose
Ron “Pigpen” McKernan – 03/08/1973 – 27 – liver failure
Highest Death Toll From An Airplane Disaster – The worst ever air disaster took place on March 27, 1977, when two Boeing 747s, operated by Pan-Am and KLM, collided on the runway at Tenerife, Canary Islands, killing 583 people
11/20/2003 – Istanbul explosions kill 27 and target British Consulate and HSBC Bank – These are the worst two attacks of their kind in the history of Turkey.
Teen idol Jonathan Brandis dies at 27 from an attempted suicide the day before.
Bob Hope died on July 27th at the age of 100
Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, known as the world’s first computer programmer lived from December 10, 1815 – November 27, 1852.
Al Wilson of Canned Heat died at 27 from Suicide
Wallace Yohn from Chase died in an Airplane Crash at the age of 27
And last, but not least, we got to go to Costco, thanks to my future mother in law who agreed to take us! They have a pretty sweet deal on flowers, so that’s where my wedding flowers will be coming from (rather inexpensive, so if you are trying to save money, that’s one of the great ways to do so, I found it in one of my books!). Needless to say, we also got a whole bunch of food, which will last us a while, so I am all excited about that! I feel like it’s been an extremely productive day, and I am even more excited for tomorrow.
I know this is going to seem weird, that I blogged about my first day in America before blogging about my trip here. But sometimes I just like doing things backwards. And it’s probably the jetleg kicking in as well!
My mom and I left Vladimir at about 3 am on Wednesday morning, the cab driver was super fast, we got to Sheremetyevo in under 3 hours! There were a couple times when I really questioned our driver, and whether he had cut out his license out of a cereal box or not! Once at Sheremetyevo I checked my bags, and after spending a little bit more time with my mom, I went to the passports control. It didn’t take a lot of time, and I soon found myself catching up on the latest episode of Chelsea Lately.
That’s when I saw one of the Russian TV hosts, Vladimir Pozner. He’s been on TV well for forever! I remember watching him when I was about 6 or 7, because the cartoons were on, right after his talk-show. He was very nicely dressed and so tan! I was going to go get his autograph, but Chelsea Lately was more important, and I couldn’t find him afterwards, talk about missed opportunities here.
Terminal D was a very pleasant surprise, nice and clean, free wireless, a cafe called “Mama Russia”. I was hanging out by one of the outlets, watching the Kardashians and Jerseylicious and charging my Mac at the same time, which was further away from the gate. When I finally came up to the gate I saw that they have put the blue tape all around it and before you could get on the plane they checked your documents again.
And this is when the fun began. So apparently I was chosen by a computer for an additional search. I mean the girl looked through everything. Made me turn on all of my electronics. Had me take sips of my water. I also had a deodorant in my suitcase, I asked her if she wanted me to apply it. Then I said that it was okay for her to be searching my stuff, she was only doing her job, and that was probably the one way for her to make money. She also asked me if I was going for work. I said I was immigrating, getting married and all. After the search was over she wished me “happiness in marriage” and off I went, waiting in the gate area with other passengers. Other than me they also searched one other girl. I guess the computer was determined to only have the airport employees to search 2 people on the flight that day!
The good thing was – I got two seats to myself, which meant 2 blankets, 2 pillows, but no 2 meals, which weren’t good anyways. Sorry Aeroflot, food sucked!
Once I got States side, everything was a breeze, especially after I DIDN’T forget to pull out my New York State driver’s license.
Coming to Minneapolis, I also got 2 seats to myself! And arriving here was like coming home! I finally got to see the apartment that Sam wouldn’t show me on Skype, keeping it a surprise. I love every square inch of it! Already thinking about decorating it, but don’t want to buy everything just yet, with the wedding coming up I know I will be able to register for a lot of things.
Tomorrow I get to see my dress! I’ve never been more excited. Also, Sam and I have started premarital counseling!
You know how it’s always important that everything gets a good start? I think I got a pretty good one today. It was my first day in America today, well first day on this trip, and it’s the 4th one and hopefully the last one. After yesterdays events I don’t know when I am going to have enough courage to get on an international flight again. The only downside is jet-leg, I woke up at 4.30 am, and now it’s 8 pm and I am sleepwalking. I am also making dinner. I guess I can be pretty proud of myself for combining the two! Who would’ve thought!
I was finally able to dig into my YouTube giveaway! Loving all the bags and necklaces! I remember blogging about it a while back. But if you’ve missed that post or forgot, that was when I won a Ted Baker purse and some other stuff!
I was also able to go through the clothes that I left with Sam last fall! Trust me, those feel like brand new clothes now! You know the trick that works with the kids when you take away their toy and hide it, and then give it back to them a couple months later and they play with it like it’s new? Yeah, I totally fell for that!
There were many other great things today. Our neighborhood is amazing! I wish you all could come and visit! It’s so green, and there are flowers everywhere. I also forgot about the bunnies. There were no bunnies roaming the streets of NYC, so I forgot all about them! I love watching the animals here, even if it’s just squirrels!
Some other things that I did today included:
- walking Sam to work
- teaching my ESL lessons
- unpacking and organizing the walk-in closet/storage room
- talking to my mom and cousin
- shopping at the farmer’s marker
- shopping at Marshalls
- shopping at Target
- going out for a drink
- writing an even bigger shopping list/to-do list for the weekend
I am so so excited tomorrow is FRIDAY!
I am also planning on writing about my trip here, all the fun and not so fun stuff. And now Sam and I are off to eating some delicious chicken that I made!
Xoxo
PS. My camera broke, so for future shots I am going to have to use my phone, the quality isn’t great, but at least I’ll be able to show where I live
The day before my interview at the Embassy, my cousin and I went out for dinner and dessert, then we walked around the neighborhood, taking weird pictures, including the ones with Anton Chekov, whom we found all alone, near a high school.
I was trying to fly away
And so was my cousin
See I didn’t lie when I said it was a bad hair day!
),
