08/08/08 (means infinity)

meant to blog yesterday, but i was preoccupied with work, job interviews & job hunting... plus i was pretty tired from the trip too.

there was a miscommunication with the location of my interview yesterday. i was so ready, but unfortunately the position was based in downtown which for sure will not work for me and my kids' schedule. was i disappointed? hmm, somewhat only bcoz i wanted to get a head start with interviews... i sorta knew this wasn't the job for me due to the salary range, but they were eager to speak with me and so i was looking forward for the interview. oh well! so much for that.

anyway, the car we rented was due back at 6pm. i was already done with my interview around 3p, but the problem was i didn't have a ride back home. noel couldn't leave work that early, plus he was stuck at a customer's house till 8p... i had to call people. thankfully, my friend, aileen, just got out of work and met me at pompei (love their chicken herb ravioli, btw... hehehe). had a quick bite and left to return the car. we had a chance to catch up and was sorta encouraging her to take a road trip with her husband... funny how she hesitated coz she said, they might just end up killing each other just minutes away from home lolz

so how was our 08/08/08 anni trip? it was A+++! i guess the last minute planning really does work!

fri: instead of leaving at 6p, we ended up leaving at 8p so we didn't get to minnesota till 2a. i felt so bad for my husband coz he was falling asleep already, but he was forcing himself to drive coz he just wanted me to relax and enjoy, but i had to... otherwise we wouldn't have the chance to reach our destination lolz

checked in at the holiday inn and the rest is history...

sat: had an early breakfast @ the hotel and left to spend the whole day at mall of america. wow! so many stores and i ended up just buying 2 things... a scarf and a coach wristlet. ugh! our gift for each other was a shopping spree... i had my chance, but i ended up with 2 things, great! i was so focus on looking for the right scarf that i didn't have the energy to look for other things, well besides stuff for the kids. noel on the other hand had 4 pairs of shoes @ nordstrom, couple of jeans, 4 tops from diff stores & a belt... oh wait, he got himself another magic trick to entertain the kids. =) we closed the mall... more than 10hrs of shopping - wow! a dream come true hehehe

sun: had our bf and planned something we haven't done before so we went kayaking. it was still early to go home so we decided to pass by wisconsin dells, but unfortunately, we couldn't find the spot we saw on our way to minnesota. so since it was already 3p and we haven't had lunch, we decided to just find the nearest japanese restaurant. we then ended up in a small town called, monoma in madison, wisconsin. at first we were thinking, "what did we get ourselves into?" lolz, but lo and behold... we had no idea that this pleasant summer afternoon in this small town ended up to be such a beautiful spot to complete our short vacation. the place was filled with mini stores, restaurants and hang-out spots with a view of the lake and some other new construction building to complete the tourist area. we walked around the streets, found ourselves shopping at ragstock and wow! never knew we would find the coolest stuff we've been looking for at a cheap price. oh and did i mention that i found the scarf i've been wanting at this store also? yep! i was set.

we were eyeing on this japanese restaurant we saw first, but as we kept walking, we saw this new japanese restaurant built on the roof top called, wasabi. again, 2 thumbs up! i think we were both sushied out after this... hehehe we ate, spider roll, dragon and 2 rounds of spicy ken. noel finished the 2nd round, i had to make room for my cold stone's coffee lovers in a waffle bowl ice cream hehehe.

okay, i think this 2 day trip added 5 lbs on our scale. whew! we didn't get home till almost 10p. it was an awesome last min. trip to celebrate our 11th anni... alwayz good to make that time alone as husband and wife... away from the kids. although it was hard, we both realized that it keeps our marriage, healthy.

well, that's our mini vacation story... hope you all will be inspired to take that trip alone with your spouse.

if you're on a budget, that's ok... one of the cost effective ways we did was to rent a car, which cost us less than $200 (including gas) from friday afternoon till monday @ 6p. now if we used our suv? well, that would've doubled the price, plus we loose out on the mileage & my tires will be all worn out. and with the hotel, make sure to get one with a complimentary breakfast and an indoor pool. now that's a deal!

after you've booked your transportation and lodging, all you need to do is enjoy every moment wherever the road takes you. one thing that's good during the long drive is that you get to talk about anything (of course avoid any discussion that would ruin your vacation - don't sweat the small stuff!)

ok, that's it for now! God bless!