Minnesota Eh!

This is a little late, but last Friday the Engineer and I took off for a suburb of the twin cities of Minnesota to visit our friend the Musician for the weekend.  Some things the Engineer and I learned this weekend,
There are many different versions of the alphabet game, we completed none of them,
When a tire blows on a semi it sounds like a gunshot going off and will awaken all sleeping passengers in a vehicle
It's really easy to mess with the Musician as to when you are going to appear on her doorstep, Minnesotans don't appreciate when you show up in Blackhawks shirts,
Old people from Minnesota will attempt to make any connection to foreign youth -- "One time I drove through Illinois on my way to Florida...",
It's the land of 10,000 lakes and no Minnesotan will let you forget it,

As is evidenced by most of my pictures from the weekend.

Going three days without rain is absolutely glorious,
The Cathedral of St. Paul is gorgeous,

I really want to go back and do more touristy things in the twin cities because two and half days were not enough,
It is possible for either the Engineer or I to fall asleep every single time we get in a car, thankfully there is no photographic evidence of that,
Knowing where you're going is especially helpful when taking friends from out of state on a tour,
It's fun to match your friends,

What you can't see is our matching black shorts and over the shoulder purses...

Also on Engineer's list were they don't sell liquor in MN grocery stores and you should always wear tight swim suit bottoms when boating. 

All in all I'd say the Musician did a pretty good job at convincing us that Minnesota is pretty cool place. 

A Reintroduction

She came and she conquered. After a stressful 72 hours and a nerve wrecking 4.  Madam President became Madam Treasurer, for the state of Illinois.  No big deal, I mean my best friend just became one of the biggest names in the FFA world in the state of Illinois.  So basically I'm best friends with a famous person.

Before she got elected though we had to go through the stress of the elections.  The candidates are allowed to have a runner who tells them what they should do for their next speech or how they are doing since all the candidates are only allowed to be on stage to give speeches for the position currently up and then they are put in a locker room in the basement of the conference center.  As Madam Treasurer's faithful sidekick I was asked to be her runner which turns out is a rather stressful job.  I impatiently awaited the few seconds I was allowed to go see her between positions to encourage her and give her bits of advice from our advisors.  When we got to the position of treasurer we were down to the wire and really wanting to pull this out.  The last three times I had seen her I had been able to get her to laugh or break a smile and I was getting told to help her relax.  Not an easy job when a person is incredibly nervous, but on this last time I was finally able to break her tension and got her to crack a smile.  She went out there and rocked it and landed the position of treasurer.

What a blessing it was to be the first person to see her after she came off the stage.  To see her start crying with excitement and relief on her success.  I am so proud of her and wish her the best of luck on her adventure for the next 365 days.  Bless the other four who are going to spend the year with her.   I hope for her sake that since she has to travel all over the state she takes Siri with her so she doesn't get lost.

I Made Them Just for You

This week is Illinois State FFA Convention. I'm attending for the first time as a non FFA member and as a runner for a state officer candidate. In honor of Madam President's impending election, I made her some brownies, hot mess brownies.

I told her they were for her because they're a hot mess and so is she. Unfortunately, due to unplanned circumstances events she's not staying in my hotel room like she was supposed to so she hasn't tried them. We'll see how they are liked. 

Oh and send up some prayers for her during elections on Thursday morning.