I left Friday to meet Justin in Minnesota (he had been there for work) for our wedding season finale celebrating our friends, Tony & Caroline. It was a quick 44 hours in my home state, but we jammed a whole lot in. 
Friday:
1:00 – I landed safe and sound at the greatest airport in the world and met Justin at the rental car counter. We made a quick stop at Caribou Coffee because we could and then stopped to grab a bottle of Champagne for the happy couple.
2:00 – Arrived at the Sells B&B (which is what we call our friend’s house since we stay in their guest room often.) Changed into wedding attire and had a pre wedding drink.
3:00 – Drove to Minnetonka Orchards for the wedding. We arrived a few minutes early and got to say our hellos to friends.
4:00 – We watched the ceremony in the most beautiful setting. One of my favorite moments was the sun coming out on queue during the Beatles’ song, Here Comes the Sun. 

5:00 – Enjoyed some Loon Juice cider and took pictures with friends and even remembered to have someone take a picture of Justin & I.  Us ladies were not in the wedding, but we all had coordinated dresses. Maroon is quite the color this season.

6:00-10:00 – Danced and sang Wilson Phillips. Chatted with some new friends that we were seated with and found out that one of the guys grew up in the same Orange County town as Justin. SMALL WORLD. Hugged the happy couple numerous times. Possibly ended up doing an entire dance number with ties on our heads. 
11:00 – Got a ride home while I ate multiple donuts they handed out at the wedding as favors. 
Saturday
12:00 – Enjoyed Parkway Pizza, girl talk with Kelsey and a little H2O.
1:00 – 8:00 – Sleepy time.
9:00 – Coffee time and playing with some of my favorite Minnesota dogs. The weather was so amazing.
10:00 – Drove to Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis for a Bloody Mary brunch. This included a 15 minute tour of their build your own bloody bar. I promise you I will post more pictures of this magical place in the near future when I write a love letter to the Midwest Bloody Mary scene, but you can see our final products below.

11:00 – Ate the not-so-great food and enjoyed our super amazing drinks and good company.
12:00 – Enjoyed a little fall color on our drive north to the Pumpkin Patch to meet our nieces and nephew.
1:00 – Got our pumpkin painting on… after lots of hugs and squeezes from the kids.

2:00 – Enjoyed a hayride and the kids got some pony rides. It was a busy afternoon at the Anoka County Farms and it was absolutely perfect outside. We ate mini donuts and cheese curds. We held Rodney the rabbit (and I decided I wanted to have a rabbit.)

3:00 – We said our goodbyes to a couple of the kids who needed naps and we snuck in french fries and ice cream with the blond squad.

4:00 – 5:00 – Met a few friends for a beer on our way back to the city at a supper club. Very classy. I got to hear about Hawaii vacations, new jobs and we laughed a lot. We also mastered the living photo on the iPhone 6s.
6:00 – 9:00 – Spent time with my brother and his new wife and my parents. My dad was returning from a fall color trip up the north shore and had the World’s Best Donuts and Russ Kendall’s smoked Salmon to share. My sister-in-law made taco dip and I stuffed my face for hours. I played with my bulldog niece, Molly and the cats.

10:00 – Stopped at one final stop to see our friend Brian’s new house. It’s so amazing that we can celebrate big moments for friends – even if it is just for a minute.
11:00 – Got some late night laughs in with Kelsey involving lots of Dubsmash before finally crawling into bed.

Sunday


7:00 – Woke up and showered and packed up.
8:00 – Enjoyed a beautiful drive to the airport. The sun was just rising above the trees and it was gorgeous outside.

9:00 – Got some exercise walking around the airport and shopping. I’m telling you all that I could live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. It is clean, big and has the best food and shopping.
10:00 – Enjoyed some baileys & coffee on the flight home while finishing my book.

It was an amazing weekend. We have been lucky to be able to celebrate lots this summer with our friends and family in Minnesota. This will be our last trip home for a while (other than quick work trips) so I’m glad we got so much jammed into a quick weekend.

Thanks for being awesome Minnesota.