Edward!!!! o…m…g. Ben stopped watching Twilight with me last night because I was grinning and swooning like a lovesick teenager the entire time! I LOVED the movie! Sure, as some of you mentioned, the special effects were a little low budget and there were a few corny parts in the movie – but overall, the tortured love story and ahem, Robert Pattinson aka Edward Cullen, won me over. I debated going to a midnight screening of New Moon!!!

Alas, I couldn’t because I’m up early to head to the Mall of America today!!

The Mall of America is in Bloomington, MN – about 15 minutes outside of downtown Minneapolis – and in case you didn’t know, the MOA has…

• 20,000 parking spaces, 520 stores and 50 restaurants
• Light rail transit to and from the airport and downtown Minneapolis
• The nation’s largest indoor theme park
• NO SALES TAX ON CLOTHING
• 4.3 miles of total store front footage
• A consistent, indoor temperature of 70 degrees
• 4 levels, each .57 miles around
• Enough space to fit 258 Statue of Liberty’s inside
• 40 million visitors annually

How’s THAT for a mall?

My Mom and I are heading up to spend the entire day basking in the Christmas shopping glory, reveling in the beautiful holiday decorations and spending time in the great city of Minneapolis. I haven’t been back since my friend’s bachelorette party last May!

In case you didn’t know, I lived in Minneapolis for three years right after college. I have so many memories of learning how to live on my own and become an “adult”, so it hold a very special place in my little heart.

Road trip essentials:

Magazines

How I accumulated all of these, I’ll never know!

It least after reading, I’ll know how to get flat abs, lose 10lbs and decipher whether or not he’s into me.

Breakfast

I FINALLY found Peanut Butter & Jelly Lara Bars at the Hy-Vee we ate at last week! SOOOO excited – it’s the only flavor I haven’t tried!!

I adore Lara Bars for their ingredient list. It seriously makes me giddy.

Yogurt

Honeycrisp Apple

Tower o’ breakfast aka Christmas shopping fuel.

I also have my can’t-leave-home-without-it H2O.

Alright folks – I’m off! Here’s hoping we can cross everything off our Christmas shopping lists in one fell swoop! Have a wonderful Saturday!

~~~~~

Big shopping malls: Love ‘em or Leave ‘em?

What do you want for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Other?