Mall of America, Baby!!! :D :D

Well I am back from the most amazing speech tournament e.v.e.r. :D  Wow....it's hard to even know where to begin!!  I took over 865 photos during our travels to and from Minnesota, so prepare for a very long blog series :)  I guess that I should go in order (you know - start at the very beginning and work my way through the week) but since patience is not my strong point, I'm jumping to one of my favorite parts of the whole week :)  Some people had mentioned that we might want to stop in at the largest mall in America, and since anything thing with the word 'mall' in it instantly has my attention, we made sure to pay it a visit!  One of my New York friends taught me how to talk 'Harlem style' and even though I am definitely not fluent in the language yet, the Mall of America would definitely be classified as 'type wavy'.  In other words....it's the coolest place on earth :D  

We actually went three times, but the first time we went I didn't take my camera.  The next day we returned with a group of speech friends and took the mall by storm ;)

And just sayin', but any time a mall has an amusement park, it is bound to be pretty awesome!!

There were about three or four of these displays in the Lego store, and I must say that they were pretty cool :)  This one was the biggest (probably close to two stories tall) and was made entirely of Legos!!

Favorite store #1

Favorite store #2 :)

Next stop: American Girl place!! (we even managed to get the guys into this store :D)  Three of us were able to find our look-alikes :)

Even her name is Rebecca!! (although it is spelled the wrong way ;D)

Leah made us all stop in the Hello Kitty store so....

And we just couldn't pass up the life-sized posters ;)

(I, of course, always detour for Jamba Juice :D)

The second time we went, the girls I was with couldn't pass up the opportunity to ride a roller coaster in a mall :)  I prefer to have my feet on solid ground, so I stayed back and photographed the occasion...

(Renee had second thoughts :D)

They survived :)

Quick ninja pose :)

I will keep that in mind.

AND WE FOUND A LIFE IS GOOD STORE!!!!! :D  They had some really cute things, but we just ended up 'window shopping'.

(isn't that shirt awesome??!!)

Renee had never been to an American Girl store, so we had to commemorate the occasion :)

And while we were upstairs (yes - I got my second Jamba Juice of the week :D) we stumbled across a yo-yo competition - it was way too cool!!!  These guys were doing crazy things with their yo-yos, and I was having too much fun watching, so Renee grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures :) (thanks Renee!!)

All in all, it was definitely a highlight of the trip!!  If you are ever in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is the place to be :)

Many more tournament pictures coming soon!!

Bex <3

A morning in the Strip District :)

I always love to see the look on out-of-town friends when I tell them that we shop in the Strip District :D  But no matter what its name implies, Pittsburgh's Strip District is one of my favorite places to be.  Today was an absolutely gorgeous summer day, and the streets are always jammed on Saturday mornings, so we decided to head down and 'explore' :)  As always, the stores were so much fun to walk around in, the smell of gyros, fresh lemonade, and baklava filled the air, and through it all, my camera shutter clicked non-stop :D  So with that, enjoy this incredibly long post about the best place in town (well, the best place besides CONSOL :P)

(this mural was just completed)

In the summertime, there is a great farmer's market set up in a parking lot - you can find anything from meat to lettuce!

So this new candy shop just opened, and it was such a neat place!!  As you can see, I had a little too much fun with the chocolate lips ;D

Speaking of new places, we discovered a little gem of a fabric shop.  Even though I am anything but a seamstress, this place was almost enough to make me want to get out a sewing machine!  The fabric was absolutely gorgeous, and I know where to go next time I need a Jane Austen dress :)

Yes - I always have to practice mirror pictures :D

This man was just standing on the street corner playing this instrument - he sounded wonderful!!

My dad tried, but for whatever reason it just didn't sound the same ;)

I accompanied him:

Next stop: the Mexican market.  This awesome place always smells like fresh salsa and warm tortillas :D  My stomach is growling just thinking about it....

But although the store smells amazing, I could never quite bring myself to try these (even though they are cheddar flavored!):

Or these:

Moving on.....to the best doughnuts in town :)

*cough* why on earth would I ever want a picture of this shirt? *cough*

Speaking of the best team ever:

(yay for awkward self-portraits :D)

Whatever this was, it smelled amazing!

Near the end of the main street, there is a huge fishmarket that I haven't been in for years.  We had time today, though, so we stopped in for a bit, and I'm so glad we did! (WARNING: this next sequence of photos is not for the squeamish, so I don't recommend that you eat while reading this :D)

These guys were awesome - we stood and watched them clean the fish for a long time, and they all posed for their picture :D

This guy took the fish first, and scraped off all the scales:

Then it was passed to the next man who sliced it open:

And then the fish moved right along to be gutted:

The last guy was in charge of slicing the larger fish into fillets:

I love cool signs :D

Outside the store, there were tables upon tables of the most amazing-looking cookies....

It's amazing how many people smile at you when you're holding a camera!!

This place supposedly has one of the best breakfasts in town - I'd love to try it sometime!

And we just couldn't pass our favorite place without partaking ;)

We stopped in at a little general store, and my mom was thrilled to find her favorite childhood candy!

My dad and I were more interested in these:

I knew that I had Viking roots somewhere in my bloodline!

All in all, it was such a fun morning :D  Summer is HERE!!!!  I'm lovin' every moment....

Bex <3