Midwest trip

My trip to the Midwest went well. It was jam-packed with events because I wasn't there for long at all. Exhausting as it was, I had a really good time. I usually feel kind of anxious when I'm there, antsy to get back home (oh how I love being home) until the very last day, at which point I get sad. This time I was just soaking up family time and doing as much as I could. I really liked being there.
Dan and I went to school lunch with my nephew, Dayde, who is in second grade. The kids at the table seemed suspicious of us. We then played basketball with Dayde at recess, a sport which he is surprisingly good at, despite the fact that he's only 7. He was all "I can stand with my back to the basket and get the ball in." and I was all "No you can't." But then he did, and I was all "Say whaaaaaaat?" Other than that, I got to spend a lot of time with all my nephews, which was fun because they are cute and funny.
I went to David's Bridal in Rochester, MN with my mom and sister (which I think that every girl from the Iowa/Minnesota does when she gets engaged) even though I didn't really want to (the wedding isn't for over a year and I didn't really think I would find a wedding dress). I ended up finding a dress that I fell in love with, it turned me into a total girl. I tried on three or four others, but that was the dress. People always say "When you find your wedding dress, you'll know," but I thought that was just silly. I thought that that only hap pend in Sophia Kinsella novels. Boy was I wrong. I bought it and had them ship it to me, I will be getting it any time now. That's a giant stress out of the way!
I took Dan on the unofficial tour of what I like to do when I visit Mason City (which he's been on at least once before because we lived there for three weeks before moving to Minneapolis). We went to Southbridge Mall, the Music Man Square, the MacNider art museam, and the Meridith Wilson foot bridge. Also we spent a lot of time at Taco Tico and Culvers. And bought Iowa t-shirts at Walgreens. Three for $10!

On Sunday afternoon we took a bus up to Minneapolis. It was weird to be back. We had a really nice night. Dinner at Azia, where I inexplicably got drunk off of one glass of wine and a few sips of beer. We spent the night wandering around uptown, and eventually went back to our hotel armed with lunchables. We spent half the day Monday downtown, hitting all of the regular spots we could. After breakfast at Dunn Bros, we snooped around the outside of our old building. We took the old familiar walk down Nicollett to Barnes & Noble, and many people I used to work with were there that day.
We eventually took a bus back uptown, and had the inevitable encounter with a crazy person. I let Dan have the conversation with the enthusiastic guy in the orange jumpsuit. It was a beautiful day, so we grabbed lunch and then headed over to Lake Calhoun. We were staying with some friends that night, and we got there just in time for the Cornhole toss competition. Many glasses of sangria later, I found myself playing twister in Jodi's driveway, and later petting a marsupial. Needless to say, it was a fun night.

We flew out the next day, and Dan promptly got extremely sick. He is now feeling much better, and I am sick. I hope that this bug living in my stomach goes away soon, because toast, saltine crackers, and ginger ale make for a boring diet.