On the Move

In just under 2 weeks I will once again be moving. I have moved about 8 times in the past 4 years and I am hoping to stay put for a little longer this time. I am not moving very far from where I live now, only about two miles, but the area is quite a bit different.

I currently live in a part of Minneapolis known as Uptown. It is a vibrant area just southwest of Downtown that boasts tons of small shops, coffee houses, art galleries and restaurants. It is a fun place to live with so much going on all within walking distance. The only trouble with living in Uptown is the cost of living here. Ben and I don't get to experience Uptown the way others do because we are always on a budget but it's fun to be around it all.

Last year Ben and I were lucky to get our current apartment because they needed an on-site caretaker. We had a huge reduction in rent but the work was pretty hard and sometimes really gross. When we heard, after a year of living here, that they no-longer needed us to care-take we knew immediately that we couldn't afford to live here! So it was time to move elsewhere.

Our budget is pretty tight so we ended up searching through tons of apartments and most were too much for us. I finally found the perfect spot last week! We had a list of criteria that we were looking for but most important was the price.

It is an upper unit in a duplex located in the Harrison Neighborhood of Minneapolis. We now have a big backyard, a huge basement, free laundry and the ski trails are a block and a half from my door! We will care-take at our new apartment too so we will be saving some on rent but doing some extra work too.

With Theodore Wirth Park (the site of the 2011 XC Junior Olympics) outside my back door there are countless recreational activities available. I will be contacting the local high school called Harrison Academy and will begin working with their students this fall. I will update soon about what the plans are for the upcoming weeks.

I am also happy to report that my symptoms have subsided and I am back to feeling like myself. Training has been going well and my energy has been great!

MN State Fair

I have lived in Minnesota for almost 5 years now and except for the first year I have visited the fair every year.

My mother, who was also born in NYC and lived there most of her life, lives in MN now too and this was our first MN State Fair together! We laughed and joked about what was the most important part of the Fair if you are a true Minnesotan. We decided that just going was the most important part and now we had to schedule this in as a "must do" every year if we want to feel like true Minnesotans. We lived it up at the Fair and enjoyed good food, expos, games, and people from all over the state. My Mom and Me waiting for the Bus to the Fair Some nice looking Ears!

A Clean Tractor

It was awesome! We walked forever and saw almost everything the fair had to offer! The biggest disappointment of the Fair was that the Cow, Pig, and Chicken barns were not open by the time we stopped by. We remedied the need for livestock by visiting the baby barn and got our fill of newborns from the farm world! Everything from bunnies, piglets, new born calves and baby chicks. This was by far my mom's favorite part of the fair!

Pull up contest! My kind of Fair The Fair's BIGGEST PUMPKIN The Fair's Tiniest Peppers! These are so cute but HOT!!!

My mom was pretty exhausted by the time the evening was over and I was a little worried about her. When I called to check on how she was feeling the next day she said she was in the best mood she had been in for months! It's great that a simple Fair can bring so much happiness to so many people this time of year. Even Lahti was psyched to get his new chew toy octopus when we got home.

Lahti Vs. Stuffed Octopus

The Octopus was such a hit he only lasted about 5 minutes before the apartment was covered in stuffing and tentacles.