Not sure how we started watching Friends, but that became a huge part of our weekend. We started watching Season 3 and couldn't stop; we watched the whole thing. It was so relaxing, and the nostalgia was fun. I started watching Friends during its first season, when I was in 7th grade. I stopped watching for a few years in high school, when I was too busy being Goth to watch TV. Anyway, I think Season 3 is one of the best. I love Chandler and Joey's shenanigans. And Ross yelling that they were on a break. And the chick and the duck.
As we were watching, they made several references to being around 28 years old. It's so crazy to think that I am now older than the characters on that show. But my life is nothing like theirs. That show gave a misrepresentation of life in your 20's. I've got the cool apartment in the city thing happening. But I've never had my best friends living across the hall. (Unless you count college.) And they make it look so easy to coordinate all six of their schedules; they spend SO much time hanging out. Which, I understand, was to make the plots work. But still, I thought that's what life would be like. Instead, my friends are all so busy working, it's not very often that a big group of us can get together. And what's up with Monica's perfectly decorated apartment? Decorating is expensive! How could she afford all that nice stuff? And Ross has been Dr. Geller since Season 1, making him a Dr./Paleontologist at the age of 25. Seriously?
I used to watch that show and think their lives seemed so glamorous and couldn't wait to be an adult and have a cool job and hang out with my friends and have silly dating mishaps. But now that I'm at that age, life does not feel glamorous. But does anyone feel like their own life is glamorous? Who knows, maybe Jackie Kennedy even felt like her life was tedious sometimes.
ANYWAY, the main idea of this post wasn't supposed to be about Friends. Back to the trip.
The first thing we did when I arrived was go for a walk so Kelly could show me her neighbor's pirate ship.
They have a pirate ship in their yard. Beyond that, there are no answers to any of the questions we have about it. Just random silliness.Kelly and I ate a lot on this trip. My favorite meal was dinner at the Red Stag Supper Club, where I ordered beet ravioli with goat cheese (the pasta was red and made with beets!), some kind of mixed drink with bourbon and homemade sweet and sour, and grasshopper creme brulee for dessert. Everything was amazing. The place also just had a really cool atmosphere.
(You had to flip your coaster to show if you wanted still or sparkling water. Fancy.)
(The bar.)
(The red stag on top of the building.) The next day was filled with more food. We had lunch at a Japanese place, then went to check out a bakery. The one we were looking for wasn't there, but instead, we discovered The Donut Cooperative, aka Nirvana.
Look at this donut display. All made from scratch daily.
The ones on the top left are chocolate banana. I had one of the lemon donuts (top right). In the second row you will find glazed with rice krispies, marshmallow frosting and sprinkles, and glazed with gummy bears (Kelly had one of these). In the bottom row are peanut butter donuts with jelly filling. These donuts were just insanely awesome. Everyone needs to go to this place and keep it in business.
Our next stop was downtown Minneapolis to see the flagship Target store:
and the Mary Tyler Moore (aka the original Carrie Bradshaw) statue :
We ended the day at Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge, a Tiki bar. You actually have to put down a $5 deposit on their mugs because they're stolen so often.
The next morning we had breakfast at the most amazing place, Isles Bun and Coffee. It was like being invited over to someone's house for breakfast and hanging out in their kitchen while they make cinnamon buns. All they serve are cinnamon buns, caramel buns, scones, and coffee. They are baking behind the counter, and there's flour everywhere and mixers going and it looks just like the mess you make in your own kitchen. The girls were running back and forth from taking orders and making the rolls. It was such a great place. I'd go there every day and weigh 300 pounds if I lived in that neighborhood.
Then we shopped at Patina, which is my new favorite store. I found some fabulous things for my apartment there.
That afternoon we went snowtubing,
then went out to a bar in a nearby small town to ring in the new year. The word of the night was absurd. This bar was just full of characters. For example. this guy was attempting to hit on me, but it was like he'd had too much to drink to form a coherent thought. He was trying to carry on a conversation, but just kept staring at my chest so much I thought that maybe I'd popped out of my shirt or something. He reminded me of Charlie from Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There were also some really interesting (and dangerous) dance moves going on, involving people of all ages. It was a quite a crowd. Kelly and I hugged at midnight and were out of the bar by 12:05.I really like Minneapolis. The people are super nice, and I love how they truly embrace the winter. They find creative ways to make it fun, like snowkiting (which we were going to try this weekend but it didn't work out). I also love how downtown is designed with heated parking garages and walkways so you don't actually have to go outside. There's so much great shopping and food and a really strong hipster vibe there. Oh, and I almost forgot the best part- The Current!
Kelly introduced me to the very best radio station in the whole world! The Current, 89.3. It's a Minnesota Public Radio station. They play everything from Lupe Fiasco to Bon Iver and tons of bands I've never heard of. Sometimes they play really weird stuff; there were many times in the car when Kelly and I would just look at each other and burst out laughing. It was the perfect soundtrack for the weekend. I am learning so many great new songs from this station! I'm going to have it streaming from the internet all the time now.
So, to sum up a super long post: Minneapolis wins at food, shopping, and music. Kelly is one of my very favorite people to hang out with. And the show Friends creates unrealistic expectations of adulthood.
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