Sister time

My sister and I are 6 years and 10 months apart. 

I can remember the day my mom came home from the hospital with her. 

The anticipation was almost too much for a 1st grader who hadn't yet seen this sister she had been told she had. You see back-in-the-day we didn't get to go to the hospital to see the new babies,

 and the mom's stayed in for a lot longer. I remember my brother Rick (18months older than I) and me running all the way home after school to see our little sister.

As we grow older the age difference seems less and less, but we really do come from different generations and are at different stages of life. 

Once a year we have a shopping day with the anticipation of Christmas soon to come. 

Today was that day...

(Never mind the photo-bomb coming out the doors of this restaurant).

We shop, we eat, we talk, we laugh and this year my sister talked a lot about Andrea Bocelli, ha ha!

We left the house about 10:15am and didn't return until after 7:00 pm 

We got much accomplished, times just flies when you're having fun with your sister.

 Check out this angel-wing-dress Christmas tree, or maybe you'd prefer the bright red tree?

We checked out this new store called "At Home"

 I would call it a glorified gigantic "Hobby Lobby" 

 There's always time for a mid afternoon coffee break at Caribou!

 I thankful for my sister, and for the times we get to hang out.

It's nearly a 2 hour drive to the northwest edge of the Twin Cities to get to my sister's house, but it's worth the drive in that crazy rush-hour traffic

St. Paul...such a pretty skyline

Do any of you have "Sister Traditions"?

 I would love to hear about it.

We shop til we drop...

A few times a year I offer to hang out with my 15 year old niece so that 

her Mom (my sister) and Dad can get away for a weekend. 

I love hanging out with J. 

We have a love for shopping and we usually make a day of it, shopping till we drop.

Many trips to the fitting rooms for J

Another favorite stop for us is "Ulta" a giant makeup/beauty store.

This nice make-up lady offered to  "Pop" my eyes!

I learned a few fun techniques from her.

Before we headed home J. talked me into

  driving her to the Humane society so she could pet the animals.

I can't really say no to this girl.

We had left that morning at 9:30 a.m. and didn't return home until about 5:00 p.m.

We only came home because the family dog Ruby needed to be let out and fed.

and well... she needed to have a little attention too.

 Can you see Ruby snuggled up against my foot.

  

Did I mention that J. and I also like to eat....

J. likes talking me places that I've not been before or places I love that Rochester doest have.

This was lunch on Saturday in Maple Grove. 

One of my favorite restaurants is "Granite City"

We both needed take-home boxes 

This was lunch on Sunday....

 A new place for me called "yum"

 and YES, it was "yum" 

 We both had an order of these little burgers and shared and order of fries.

Each burger was 3.5 bites  :)

 Did I mention Starbucks and Caribou?

We do those too  :)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my weekend with J. as we went to check out the 

Art Shanty Village on Lake Harriet.

Date morning

Had a date with Audrey today...

1st stop, Caribou for some "coffee"

I had to make a stop at fleet farm. 

She needed to stop and admire the womens sweaters.

 She has always been a little fashion Diva, she loves clothes and takes notice to what others are wearing, often giving compliments on what they are wearing .  

She dresses her self in cute little outfits making sure to  match her hair bows and clips.

Standing-in with the manniquins at Old Navy...

Do you see the little human girl?

We had our coffee, bought some treats, a couple of new outfits and  of course new PJ,s, 

This girl loves her "jammies".  

After our date we met Brianna and Carson for lunch. 

Such a fun morning with my little shopping buddy. 

  Love her!!!

A girls gotta shop

Ok, I know I have a Grandma blog http://granmum.blogspot.com but ...

certain things just belong on this blog.

Isn't she lovely

You see, I'm a shopper, I LOVE to browse....and shop. I dont always buy, but I love to shop.

I know of a girl who may just be my match

My shopping buddy

she touches clothes as she walks by....like grandma

she looks like she has a mission as she sorts through the racks...like grandma

she loves to try on clothes...like grandma

Then she gets distracted....

with little soft stuffed animals that cause her to go into sleepy, quiet & calm mode

It puts her right down on the ground

A girl can only shop for so long..... that part we don't see eye to eye on :)

Shopping day

Yesterday...

...was my annual December shopping trip with my sister.

~

My favorite place to shop in all of Minnesota

Maple Grove, just 20 minutes from my sis's house.

It's a fun place to go especially around Christmas time

It's an outdoor mall, with lots of cool shops and yummy places to eat

You walk from shop to shop, Christmas music playing on outside speakers

It's very festive.

Time goes by way to fast, but we have fun with the time we share.

The next morning, my sis and her husband were off to work

so I got to spend some time with these two

My nephew Sam, and niece Jensen

I drove the kids to school then spent a few hours shopping by myself....

Back to Rochester I went....

to my quiet little town where I can appreciate how easy it is to get around.

I love the twin cities ( it's a nice place to visit) but I wouldn't want to live there.

Two days off...two day full of things to do !

Gotta have them "days off", but are they really "days off" ?

Yesterday I made a stop into my mom & dad's for a visit and then out mow dad's yard. I told dad it's the closest thing I'll ever be to a "farmer". Afterwards I headed home to put some more clothes out on the line, then over to Brie & Chris's to watch "sweet pea" (Audrey). I decided we needed to head over to the park but it was not a good idea in the 90+ degree weather, needless to say, we didn't stay long. Got back home about 5:30 started some cleaning, had some supper then Rick & I went to "Inception"....good movie! Got home from the movie and finished cleaning, done at 10:30 :)

Day 2...

another 90+ degree day, let's not even mention the humidity, blahhhhhhh

~~~

Got up and headed to Caribou to start my day.

To calm my over-reactive mind, I had to make a list of all the places

I needed to get to today

.

I got everything accomplished with time to spare.

***

(took that time to spare to fold the clothes that I washed yesterday)

TODAY

THINGS I DID TODAY....

Spent the morning doing my favorite thing,

*sippin' on my Chocolate/Raspberry lite Latte while....

*reading...learning and growing in my faith.

~~~

Yesterday a walked past this little treasure,

picked it up.... put it down...opened it up....then put it down.

*Today, I found a $10 off coupon on-line and hiked over to the mall to purchase this (already 30% off) Nicole Miller clutch :)

I did use my Christmas money that I got from my in-laws so I dont have to feel a bit guilty.
~

*I went to Walgreens for the first time and was pleased to say they get big points for having the toilet paper dispenser in the correct place,

If you dont get my point you can see my blog about this subject that I did a while ago .
http://jackie000.blogspot.com/2009/03/contortionist-moves-and-knee-injuries.html

~

*On the way home I notice the BLUE sky peeking out from under the clouds

~~~

*Got home and decided to go for a walk....

while listening to my book on tape that my wonderful husband got me for Valentines day.

~

To top the day off, we got a visit from Brianna & Chris and....
This little one....about to give grandma a kiss :)