Day 3 - 4

Yesterday after work, my boss, his wife and I went to PF Changs which is a popular Chinese restaurant in Edina. They were raving about this place because they said the food tastes so good. Duh?!!! It's the blandest American food. I didn't know it was possible to make that happen for Chinese food. We had good red wine though.

Today after our 1st day at the conference center, we went to Jake O' Connors which is an Irish pub. I had a glass of Guiness, fish and chips and a bottle of red wine. I love dark beer.

Got home a little bit late which is 9:30. Have to sleep a little bit earlier today. Tomorrow, one of my colleagues Brady is coming to pick me up from my hotel so we can have an early start for Chaska, which is where the conference center is located.

Funny, but I think I am beginning to like this place.... I don't think I'll be able to adapt to the NASCAR, gun-toting, red state culture, but I think overall, it's been a good trip.

Day 2

Busy, busy, busy. This time around, I have much more to do on my trip. Thank God the weather got better tonight so it was actually possible for me to go out without freezing. I like Fall in general.

My bosses took me to this restaurant in St. Paul. I wish I could've taken pictures because that area we went to had all the old mansions that we usually see in American movies. Minneapolis is more modern and fast-paced, but St. Paul is charming because it has more character to it.

I went to this pub called the Happy Gnome and had 1 of the dark beers. Then we went to this Italian restaurant which served pretty good food. I had chicken cacciatore and ravioli with lamb. Then I had a bottle of Tuscany wine. Great thing about the people I work with, they all like going home early, so by 9 PM, I was back in my hotel.

I love travelling. I guess there's always going to be this part of me that will want to get out and see the world alone every once in a while. I still want to go home though, but short trips are fine. I'm beginning to like this place. It's nice, clean and quiet. Anyway, I have to be back here by May for a conference. If the weather stays like this through the weekend, I'm actually going to Target to do some shopping.

Beastly Weather

Brrr....it was snowing and raining when I arrived here around lunchtime. The weather is so much like how I imagined Wuthering Heights. The moment I got out of the plane, I was shocked by how cold it was, I couldn't breathe. Luckily, I had my asthma medication with me.

Wow. I only realized now that I will be here during the US elections. I'll also be here during Holloween. I'll get to go trick or treating with the kids here. One of my colleagues is adopting me for Holloween so I don't have to be alone.

As for my hotel, it's okay. Just a little creepy. I haven't seen any other guests. I swear. Minnesotta is like serial killer country.

Quick Updates

So what's been up with me in the last few months that I never blogged about?

- I finally made up my mind. Yes. I will be leaving my present company and transferring to a new company this January. Same job, same people, same shit. I'll just be working for a different corporate entity now. What happened to my client was, instead of outsourcing, they've decided to put up an in-house shared services center here in Manila.

- I watched the one-night-only Eraserheads concert in the Fort. Brought back my college memories. The best thing was I watched it with Bryan!:) We were in the SVIP section right which was the closest you could get to the stage.

- I turned 30 last September 18. Thanks to everyone who remembered. I'll probably post more thoughts about this in the next few weeks.

- One of my childhood friends Annie is getting married next year. She came home briefly this October so we could work on the wedding details. I'm going to be one of the bridesmaids.

- Despite being asked the question close to a million times as to when, I am still nowhere close to getting married in church. It's not because I am unhappy with Bryan, we just don't think it's the right time yet. For all intents and purposes anyway, we are married legally. My daughter is legitimate under Philippine law and we are doing okay as a family.

- I'll probably have time to write more posts while I am stuck in serial killer country next for the next 2 weeks. Please pray it doesn't snow yet.

Mika's 2nd birthday

My daughter Mika just turned 2 years old yesterday. Since I am going to leave for Minnesotta this Sunday, we sort of decided not to have a birthday party for her. That didn't mean though that I wasn't going to find a way to celebrate it.

We decided to have a dinner for her together with Bryan's family. We just went to Megamall and ate at Mannangs which is one of Bryan and mine's favorite restaurants. Afterwards, we made her go on all the kiddie rides she wanted to try out and ended up chasing her through most of the mall.

I was craving for Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee so we went to their branch on the 1st floor of Megamall Bldg. B. When the staff found out that it was Mika's birthday, they surprised us by giving her a special donut with chocolate icing with the words "Happy Birthday Mika!" written on it. They even played Happy Birthday on their radio and came out with balloons. I swear that really made my day!

I'm really going to miss my baby girl when I leave for 2 weeks. Of course I'm going to miss Bryan too.