Autumn Trip To Minnesota!

On the day I was heading to Minnesota,

we had flood warnings in Arizona!

The cats helped me pack! 

Can you see two cats amongst the stacks of clothes?

I love these colors and patterns together.

I focused on black & white as my base colors,

pink and blue (including denim) as my accents.

My friend Jen took me to the airport, and we saw THREE car accidents 

along our route.

Visibility was poor.

Thanks to Jen's good driving and God's protection, we made it!

The airport was leaking.

These trash bins were catching the drips.

You can sort of tell how bad the visibility was because

you can't see the mountains back there!

I was happy that our flight wasn't delayed;

Arizonans aren't always the best in actual WEATHER. 

When I moved here (22+ years ago!), I would've said that

weather is always happening.

Now, of course, I know that WEATHER is only when

it's raining or storming or when there's a dust storm.

It struck me as odd when Arizonans would say,

"I hear there's some WEATHER coming,"

but now I say it myself!

Airplane carpet!

There was a chiropractor in the airport where I landed!

Here's a strangely-angled photo of my travel outfit:

top: Tommy Hilfiger (Macy's)
skirt: Rekucci (Amazon)
sweater: Ross
tights, shoes: Target

Waiting for my parents to arrive to pick me up!

Everything is GREEN and lush in Minnesota.

It was cloudy there, too.

I tried to get closer-up photos of these towers

because their tops disappeared into the clouds!

We went to Davanni's on the way home.

They have gluten-free pizza that I can get without cheese to veganize it.

I've never been to this Davanni's before, and it had a pleasantly

old-school atmosphere.

It even had photos of the kindergarten glass of 1965 

and their adorable teacher!

When we left, we were surprised by RAIN!

My hospitable parents welcomed me in person and in writing:

My Mom's love language is GIFTS, and my Dad is very generous.

They always have something sweet and thoughtful waiting for me when I arrive.

This time it was a "ridiculously amusing" catnip ball they bought in Vermont.

Our cats will love it!

Since it felt two hours earlier than it actually was,

I stayed up late, chatted with Greg on the phone, read,

and had a snack (I had brought chocolate banana muffins with me).

What a great travel day!

find this book here

The next day we slowly got ready and headed to Chipotle for lunch.

Here's what I wore.

pants: Maison Jules (Macy's)
camisole & blouse, socks: Target

I love these pants especially because of the little ruffle at the waist!

I didn't have much meal-type food around (although there were plenty of yummy snacks!),

so we were planning to get groceries.

Here's my veggie bowl (no cheese, no meat):

While I was in Minnesota, the trees were slowly changing color.

GORGEOUS.

I saw some cute baby crabapples!

The Starbucks guy came around to give away free samples

of some yummy chilled products.  

They weren't Christie-safe,

but my cute parents tried them out!

We went to Cub next, to get the groceries we couldn't find at Target.

Cub has great gluten-free and healthy options, in a special section,

making them easy to find.

They had a beautiful array of chrysanthemums in pretty autumn colors.

The pots were cute, too!

It was warm (78, I think) and misty and extremely humid.

After running those errands, my head was aching.

Eventually it started POURING rain.

I wanted a picture with rain in the background, so here it is!

Can't even see the rain, but it was there!

I had asked if I could cook while I was there to

take the pressure off; I eat a carefully planned-out diet,

and it helps me stay healthy and energetic, so I didn't want to 

mess things up while I was busy having fun!

The first meal I made was my favorite lentil pasta casserole

and salad.

It makes a HUGE batch, so I had leftovers to eat for other meals

(and late-night snacks!)

Yum yum (at least from my perspective!)

The next day was shopping at Kohl's with my Mom!
Coming soon . . .