Belle in Minnesota: charlotte back to mn

Reading by the pool!

Our 4 day trip to Charlotte has commenced and we're back to Minneapolis. This picture is now where I wish I was! I loved going getting to explore new coffee shops, doing some shopping and looking at the gorgeous mansions and Southern homes around there and getting to have a perpetual date with my husband. Andrew was glad to get his class knocked out and have a break from the 40 degree weather.

One of the coffee shops I enjoyed:

Amiele's bakery

eclectic decorating

blueberry-cream cheese muffin!

By the way, it snowed in MN while we were in NC. Crazy.

Here is part of my piece of mind: this winter has been the 4th snowiest in MN history (according to some local news channel) and Minneapolis is the coldest metropolitan area in the US. It's been cold and snowy for seasoned Minnesotans. It wasn't until after I moved that I realized these facts: we're north of Maine, NY, and most other places I categorized as "too cold," and we're closer to Canada than than Chicago. Anyway, I am grateful to be in Minnesota! This is for sure, without a doubt where God has currently called us.

And moving on from a weather rant...Charlotte was beautiful and the area we were in was upscale and ritzy so that was fun. Yesterday I went shopping then picked up Andrew from class in time to read by the pool and get a little sun. Then I made a make-shift dinner in our little kitchenette. We had pasta with some spinach, basil, turkey, and a bell pepper- all cut with a plastic knife :). Eating that like that reminded me of when Andrew and I were first married and still hadn't put all our new wedding gifts away. We actually had friends over for dinner at our huge table ($200 at a World Market closing) with metal chairs and a garden bench because the store didn't have any of the chairs left. We had a pork loin that we baked on a cookie sheet and we used grill tools to cook with and plasticware for eating. Fun memories!

Anyway, after dinner we headed to Dean and Deluca because of my good friend Samm's recommendation. It's a gourmet grocery store complete with all kinds of specialty meets, and odd but interesting ingredients like duck fat in a jar, anchovy oil, smoked soy sauce, unique pastas and grains, rice krispy sandwich treats. We had desert there and sat and talked for a long while with the tree-lit trees surrounding the store and it's outdoor cafe. It was a fun memory.

After bumming around the next day, it was time to come back to Minnesota. We caught a late connecting flight and finally made it back.

Since getting back, I got to see some of the girls I love spending time with on campus and then it was Easter break. So we've enjoyed some lazy days at home. Though it's been a little gloomy, I'm glad it's not snowing and the green grass keeps things bright.

Here are some of the fun things I saw while window shopping in Charlotte: