Continuation...

We got our day started sometime after our brunch of spam, eggs, and rice. Day one of Firemarshall J's stay ended pretty late and guest or not, I wasn't about to get up at 9:00am. Sorry. 'Twas cool of hubby to have taken the day off so he could play chauffeur. We decided to head out to see St. Anthony's Falls of the Mississippi River. Let me just say here that whoever comes to visit us is going to see this place. It's like taking all the out-of-towners to see the Golden Gate Bridge in da City. It doesn't really equate in beauty, but it's just as famous in my opinion. There is one bridge of many that goes over the mighty river that is perfect for anyone's kodak moments. St. Anthony's Falls is, well, a bunch of falls. I just thought it'd be this one huge body of water that just runs up, down, and through the U.S. Blew my mind when I heard that some people, foolish foolish people, have actually tried to do the whole Huckleberry Finn trek up the river- our first week here, two high school students did just that and one drowned.

The weather outside was just plain freezing, literally. 32 degrees. "And I want to see this river how badly?" Lol. I figure, Firemarshall J was going to miss the snow flurries, let him at least experience the chilling wind factor of 11 degrees. Needless to say, the three of us were frozen and chattering icicles after about 15 minutes out the car. It wasn't even funny. It felt like my ears were going to snap off the sides of my head and I swear, even my eyeballs were cold!

We headed into Minneapolis to check out the downtown. We wanted Firemarshall J to see the walkways that connect most of the buildings. It's like the Embarcadero in the da City...ya'll know how they connect from one through four? It's just like that. But the downtown skyways are enclosed and heated. That way, people can get from place to another in the wintertime without ever stepping out into the frigid air. Honestly, it makes you feel like a guinea pig. That was only my second time walking through and it's just a bunch of signs and arrows pointing in this direction and that. But the cool part is that the skyways are lined with shops galore! You can literally go from one end of downtown to the other. It's also connected to some major restaurants, hotels, and upscale shopping venues. We made our way to the 5-Star hotel, Le Meridien. This hotel is where the celebrities would probably stay, yet hubby stayed here once in what they called the cheapest room. Yes, the cheapest room that had a plasma tv in the room and a 15-inch plasma in the bathroom. It's all art deco and wouldn't even make it on a Trading Spaces episode. Hubby wanted to at least show us the registration and lounge area of the hotel. The lounge area next to the bar looked similar to what you see on MTV as they follow the stars' birthdays as they party and drink up. Now as upscale and uppity as it was, us commonfolk were bundled up in sweatshirts and jeans and honestly, I so felt out of my element. Firemarshall J and I were itching to leave, especially when some the people who worked there kept eyeing us, but there was hubby getting all comfortable in a chair. It was sweet, I won't lie. Must be nice to be able to afford such accomodations. Anyways, as we started our trek, there's a definite change in the people. In a matter of a few blocks, we went from corporate world business power suits to Nellyville hoodlums. Aahhh...reminds me of back home. LOL! Well, we did our tourist thang and snapped some pics. Hopefully hubby will get them up on the site soon.

Mall of America...part II

Our lil' adventure downtown took its toll on our tummies and so we headed back home for a quick dinner. Dinner, Chris Rock's "Bring in the Pain" dvd, some PS2 Madden. We hit MOA about 45 minutes before closing and were on a mission for Firemarshall J to buy some pasalubong. It was so dizzying with all the Christmas lights as we turned corners upon corners searching for that store that one of them saw the night before. Sheesh, ya'll know it's not like Serramonte or Stonestown...it's more like 10 of those malls and then some! We finally found the store we wanted and Jon got what he needed. With the last 10 minutes or so, we ventured on the 3rd floor and was surprised at the myriad of other stores that Doh and I hadn't seen yet. Whoa! Plus, there's that whole string of clubs on the 4th floor. I hear one can purchase a $5 pass and you can go hopping from club to club. $5! We got excited when we saw what we thought was a Hawaiian restaurant. Checked out the menu and our bubbles popped. 'Twas basically a menu of food with a pineapple on the side. Nothing like E Komo Mai back home. Boo. Although we never got the chance to ride the rollercoaster and the other rides with Firemarshall J, we did find Krispy Kreme! lol!

Jazzmine's

Hubby had been talking about this jazz club he went to downtown. On Tuesdays, they have an open mic night and so we headed there for some spoken word. By the time we got there, it was crowded, but we found a lil' table behind this huge pillar. The place had a tiny stage, but the poets that were out and about were off the hook! They were mixing up the whole lyrical thang with some music, rap, and/or beatbox. I have never been to a real spoken word event before. It was a bit intimidating 'cuz everyone and anyone had journals with them and man, everyone LOOKED like a poet. We were lucky 'cuz they announced that this was going to be their last night before they go into hibernation. Haha, hibernation, hiatus, whatever. Like I said, I never really been to something like this prior. The closest I've gotten is by reading various writers' blogs. To hear them speak so soulful and passionate was awesome. There were some thought-provoking pieces and others were just full of anger and bitterness. In my opinion, there is ironic beauty in that. Finding the words to captivate and convey the bottled feelings within to express yourself and open yourself up for others to hear. Talk about being inspired to write again...

Successful Visit- yay!

Although it was only a couple of days, it was nice to have a friend from back home come out to visit us. It gave hubby and I the chance to play tourist, but overall, the time spent hanging out was cool. Up until Firemarshall J came, Doh considered him more of my friend. Hahaha, makes me think back to how we became good friends. He was part of ASU and I was in PACE. We had an Asian American Studies class, but when lecture got boring, we'd bust out writing notes in class to crack each other up. We kept in touch through the years and I became his personal shrink. LOL! Damn, if I charged him for everytime we talked about drama about this and that, I'd be one rich woman! =) (just keepin' it real!) During his time here, he got to hang out more with hubby. I'm glad that they get along so well and Doh was just happy that he got to kick some ass in Madden! On the real though, Firemarshall J is one of my bestest buds and we appreciate that he came all the way out to see us. Thanks to the pseudo-Filipino for coming out- you'll always be known as our first guest! Whoo hoo! Much love from the both of us!