Surprise weekend recap

Thank you for the kind words on Friday's post :) I can happily say the funk has been busted. Or at least temporarily. This weekend was fantastic. 

When M gave me my graduation card he promised me we would go on a trip after I took the bar exam. Well, life got in the way (isn't that always how it goes) and that trip turned into a staycation in MN at a northern cabin.... and THAT quickly turned into a staycation in the cities. 

So, M planned a series of events Saturday and Sunday. I did accidentally open my gmail calendar, which he had long ago synched with his so "you don't always have to ask if I'm free on a particular night!" and saw what part of Sunday's plans entailed. Saturday's were all a surprise, although I did successfully guess a few of them. 

[Warning: This is a picture heavy post]

Saturday

The day began at 9:00 a.m., just how I like my weekends. Seriously. You can't pry me out of bed before 7 on a weekday, but Saturday morning? I relish waking up early and drinking coffee while the world is still quiet. I guessed "breakfast and a walk" (one of my favorite activities) but had the wrong breakfast and walk location, haha. 

We headed to St. Anthony Main (where our engagement photos will be taken in October!)

 

 to Aster Cafe-- best quiche in Minneapolis...and I'd know, I've done the legwork. 

I flippin' LOVE St. Anthony Main. Give me a quaint "downtowny" area with shops and restaurants, preferably near a river, and I'm in heaven. 

Add to that a cobblestone patio under the trees...and, well.. there are just no words.  

 Spinach, parmesean and prosciutto quiche. the best.

 The historic Stone Arch Bridge leading from St. Anthony Main leading to downtown. It's solely a walking/running/biking bridge.

 From breakfast, we walked across the bridge to the Mill City Museum farmers market, next to the Guthrie (where many national plays are performed).. another of my favorite things.

 

 Minneapolis Graffiti on the side of the Mill City Ruins. Can't wait until I get to say this! :) 

 

Cooking demonstration at the farmer's market. 

From there, we went home and relaxed and napped. M was going to let me pick where we went for lunch, but, we were both SO full from breakfast we decided to pass on lunch. 

Our next "activity" was at 3:00. A long time ago when we were looking for a northern cabin or resort to go to as our "trip" M mentioned looking into massages and was astonished at this particular resort's costs. SO when he mentioned the 3:00 activity and he said it'd only take a half hour, I guessed it was a massage. 

I was right! M got us a couples massage.

 (sneaking photos while we were "changing")

 It was HEAVENLY. The lady worked me over a bit but I felt like butter afterwards. After that, we went home and got ready for a 5:00 reservation "downtown." I knew M had received a gift card form work as a thank you for a new business pitch and it had to be used at a particular "brand" of restaurant. I happen to know the Capital Grille was one of said restaurants, so I guessed correct! 

We enjoyed an out of this world dinner at Capital Grille in downtown Minneapolis

 annnndd who goes to one of the nicest restaurants in Minneapolis and orders french fries? This girl. Just keepin' it real, folks. To be fair they were parmesean truffle fries... which you may recall I oogled over in my Moorhead weekend recap post last weekend. SO, when deciding on an appetizer and none of the seafood options were cutting it, truffle fries were a natural choice.

 Nom nom nom. 

I aim to become a truffle fry connoisseur. I have to admit, the Fargo, ND truffle fries were better. They were thinner, and the dipping sauce that came with them.. ohhhh the dipping sauce. It was heavenly. 

 

 

 M enjoyed some coffee before our "8:00 activity"

Early in the day M had mentioned he had to get "reservations, an appointment, and tickets" for the day's activities. (If that doesn't scream over-analytical-lawyer-to-be, I'm not sure what does). Well, the appointment was the massage, the reservations were clearly dinner, so leaving "tickets" as the last activity I guessed correctly and we headed across downtown to the Acme Comedy Club for our last activity!

 It was hilarious, and a fun night as always. 

Sunday

As I mentioned, I accidentally saw Sunday's activities in my calendar, so I knew we were heading to the St. Croix Vinyards and the Dock Cafe for dinner. M admitted the day was more "casual" so we headed out at our leisure around 10:30. 

We pulled up, to M's surprise as well, to find out the 2 activities he'd planned were at the same location! Aside from the winery tour we were going to go to the apple farm. 

M made friends with the goats

We walked around the grounds and checked out the vineyard

Then we headed inside for a wine tasting. 

What?! 11:45 is a totally normal time to enjoy 6 samples of wine. 

I hadn't eaten any breakfast, so being the lightweight I am, this wine tasting resulted in a nice little noontime buzz. 

We bought our 2 favorite bottles, and headed back to the apple orchard to buy some apples. Unfortunately we couldn't pick our own just yet, as they weren't fully ripe, but we were able to get some already picked apples

From there we drove into downtown Stillwater, another one of my favorite places. 

Again, give me a quaint downtown near the water, and as I said... heaven. 

We ate lunch at an outdoor patio, and then putzed through an antique shop. Here's irony: I HATE clutter and random shit everywhere. I am very much a minimalist when it comes to decor. Yet, M and I are suckers for antique shops. I love looking at other people's old stuff. There are some really neat things in antique shops. That being said, I also was on the lookout for a wooden wine box for cards for the gifts table for the wedding. I scored big! Found the perfect box. I'll show you guys after I finish a small craft I want to do with it. 

Afterwards, we walked down by the river. 

Where we parked ourselves in the grass to relax for a while until dinner. 

We walked around a bit more and then both decided we were still so full from dinner, that we canceled our reservation and drove home early. I read for a while, and then we ordered Papa John's with a free promo card we had. 

Currently sitting on the couch, winding down. 

It was a fantastic weekend, filled with all my favorite things! M did a great job. He also made it all that more difficult to face the fact that tomorrow is Monday.

-Kelly