Girls trip to MSP

I packed my bags and headed north this weekend.  Cathy, Jodi and I decided that we needed a little kid free girl time so we headed up to Minneapolis/St. Paul for a little shopping.

We took off shortly after lunch and arrived in downtown St. Paul just a couple hours later.

 We checked in at the Crowne Plaza.  We had a nice corner room with a view overlooking the Mississippi River.  It felt just like home where my nice corner bedroom view overlooks the mighty Turkey.  Ok, not the same at all. ;)

We wasted no time before heading out the door to get pedicures.  Being a non touchy/feely kind of girl, and being extremely ticklish, I have managed to avoid pedis all my life.  I was extremely nervous of all the germs, strangers touching me, etc., but I thought I would give it a whirl.  In the end, it was ok.  I love the end result, but not sure that I love the process.  Does that make sense?  I went with classic red.  Predictable?

 On the way to get our pedis we encountered some Israeli protesters around the capital.  There were cops on bike and horse.  Um, enough said...

By now we were getting hungry, so we got all dazzled up and went on the search for a place to eat.  We settled on the Downtowner Woodfire Grill.  It was about a mile away, so we walked.  Did I mention the weather was perfect?

The inside was very cute and cozy.  I loved the atmosphere.  My chicken alfredo was so so - my sisters steak and mashed potatoes was off the hook though!

The walk back to the hotel was just as nice.  The sidewalks were packed with people and the scenery was beautiful.

Aw, my sisters.  I love these girls!

Saturday brought a new day, and some gloomy weather.  Yuck.  That didn't damper our spirits though.  First stop:  Trader Joe's!  We were all looking forward to going to TJ's, and it did not disappoint!

Grocery shopping made us hungry, so we got some breakfast and then hit up IKEA!

This place was huge!  So much to take in.  We could have spent the whole day in there.  

I will definitely be making a trip back in the future. 

We then started to venture back towards home and did a lot more shopping on the way.  We hit up an outlet mall and the always popular shopping destinations.  In the end, the back of our car was full!

We even managed to bring home a new puppy for Eryn!  She really wants the real thing, but I think this one might come in a close second!