November!

November is here and I think we are going to get a taste of winter today in Minneapolis! They are calling for a chance of 2-4 inches of snow this afternoon and into the evening. Although I am not thrilled about winter, ever, I am excited to have that first snow fall and walk around the lake. In the mail last week we got a brochure about 3 day snow emergencies explaining the parking. Woah was I confused! THREE day snow emergencies?? What are we doing up here?

I felt bad about starting my blogging with a slightly negative post. I was having a social media rant day!

I had a great start to November this past week and already this week. On Friday, November 1, Alex and I hung out at after I got off work and watched 20/20. It was perfect. Saturday, I woke up early, walked Dallas (of course), did some laundry, cleaned up the apartment a little bit, and didn't turn on the TV once! My friend from work, Mollie, came over and we went to Art Attack in Nordeast. It was such a cool thing. Artist in a warehouse open their studios and you walk through and can buy their art. There was one artist that made things figurines out of wood and they looked like a mix of the Tin Man and the candle stick from Beauty and the Beast. I don’t know why, but it reminded me of my grandpa. It may be because of these African statues he had in their house. Either way, it made me feel like he was with me for the day :) 

After the Art Attack, Mollie and I came back to my house and let Dallas out and fed him dinner. Then we went to meet Amanda Bo out for dinner with some of her friends that live right in my neighborhood. We ate at Buddha Kitchen, which was really good except the service. Her friends are so amazingly nice! It doesn’t surprise me though, Amanda finds the best people. So hopefully I will be seeing her friends again and can form my own friendship with them. We ended up making it a long night out! Mollie and I finally walked back to my apartment around 2:30 or 3:30, I don’t remember if the clocks had changed or not! We had such a good time. Mollie and I had never hung out before outside of work. It was nice to spend time with her and to get to know her better. Such a sweet, smart and innocent woman!

On Sunday I was super tired and ended up napping for longer than I had hoped. Dallas and I snuggled up most of the day and watched football. Of course Alex was working the whole weekend. Amanda and her friend Meg stopped over for a little while that evening and checked out my apartment. It was so nice to have friends over this weekend! It made me feel like I was home again and people knew it was okay just to pop in whenever and have a conversation. It made me really miss Steph and my little neighbor kids.

Yesterday, Monday, I had an interview with St. David’s Center for Children and Adults. I thought it went really well! The building is beautiful and the people I interviewed with were so nice and professional. I would love to stay at Children’s, especially since I am starting to make friends, but I need a job with benefits. This position would only be 30 hours with potential of going into 40, but I will get PTO and better pay. AND I would be able to get back into retail in time for the holidays! I miss my Gap co-workers :( 

Anyways, I have filled you in on what is happening in Minneapolis. This weekend my mom and mother in law are coming to visit. We are going to get some shopping in and hopefully take them downtown to see some cool things. Should be a good time!

<3 NMM

P.S.- GO BEARS!!!  

October 28, 2013

I never thought I would be much of a blogger. Once we moved to Minneapolis in July I tried to distance myself from social media. I found myself on it all the time checking in to see what my friends back home were up to. It was taking away my time from getting out and meeting new people; face to face. Life without Facebook has been amazing! It’s funny to me when people say, “OMG, I could not do it.” It is probably the easiest thing I have ever given up. I find myself enjoying my quite time, walking the dog more, cooking more, and really looking at the things that surround me. Being adventurous is much more fun that sitting on my phone and feeling left out because everyone else is posting about the weddings they were invited to that you weren’t, pictures of food, drunks, and obnoxious posts about people complaining about something idiotic or praising themselves for working out and eating healthy.

I am happy for those that are making changes in their daily routine to better their quality of life, but STOP posting pictures of your sweaty chest and selfies in the mirror at the gym. Do you really need to brag about that? It’s sad that they do really; to make themselves feel better and get a ‘like’ on their post. Maybe I’m too rational, but I take pride in being proud of myself and not having to share it with the world. My life is private and I want to share it with those who matter. And those that matter are the ones that I can reach out to via a telephone call and not a FB post.

While this blog won’t be negative towards social media, I thought I would explain myself as to why I don’t have Facebook anymore and the reasons I keep off social media. Life in Minneapolis has been good and tough. Alex and I both like our jobs, the area we are living in is perfect, and we are slowly making new friends. Of course we miss our home, but this challenge has brought us closer together and we have learned new things about ourselves. We have seen some amazing things up Nord and we are grateful for this opportunity. I have plenty more to write about, but I will save that for future blogs. Although I’m not sure if anyone will read this, I will take pride in knowing that blogging is something I am trying and will hopefully expanded my writing skills.

Until next time,

Nicole