check out this shopping adventure....

greetings!

i hope you all had a fabulous weekend! can't believe my vacation up at the lake house is over...boo! tomorrow it's back to work, oh joy! don't be jealous, ha! ha!

oh well, previously i mentioned that was going over to edina, minnesota to shop. after all, i just couldn't sit at the lake the whole trip and not do any shopping....sorry, it's just not in my DNA, ha! ha!

thanks again, hopsy over at monograms & manicure's for the great recommendations! can't wait to go back next year!!

first off, i stopped over at the galleria. such a great mall, sort of reminds me of a cross between somerset [south] in troy, michigan and keystone crossing in indianapolis, indiana. the only store missing was a williams-sonoma home store, ha! ha!

below is ampersand, let's just call it a dangerous place to shop!
especially, if you are a mckenzie-childs fan....hello!!!or maybe you are a fan of simon pearce....speaking of simon pearce my family is taking part in our annual family tradition of vacation in stowe, vermont. so jealous, i am not there this year! queche, vermont is where simon pearce is made and my parents normally pick something up for my sister and me. i wonder what they will get us this year????? hmmmm.....

how about herend fishnet figurines..... love 'em! i tweeted to find out everyone displays their collection? i am still trying to figure out how to display my collection, so my husband and cats don't know them over! ha! ha!maybe you want to own the BEST brush in the world! too bad, PLD's mason pearson brush has been MIA for about a year! i was so tempted to buy another, but decided to hold off! i know one day i will find it, once all my boxes are unpacked!

check out these cute soap dishes, cute and i believe the retailed for $48?below could be the cutest store ever! one could also do some SERIOUS damage at epitome papers too! i bought a take out menu box, which i posted at the bottom of this post. check out all of the adorable frames....how about these cute photo albums...

so many great items to choose from....

below is melly, also lilly pulitzer central in minneapolis. hopsy, i stopped in to say hello to caryn but she was on the phone. so instead, i said hello to her daughter who was sitting up at the cash register....in a little lilly dress, of course!

the galleria also had such stores as williams-sonoma, restoration hardware, louis vuitton, tumi, j. jill and much more! such a great mall, if you are ever in minneapolis be sure and stop on over! remember NO SALES TAX on clothing and shoes!

after leaving the galleria, i headed for downtown edina to an area known as 50th and france. i was craving sushi so for lunch i ended up having sushi over at raku....YUMMY!! the food was great! check out the lunchbox special i got for only $10....such a steal, so much food i could only eat about 1/2 my meal, ha! ha! i also wanted to check out the cupcakes over at sweet retreat. i wasn't going to buy one, but when i saw monkey business --- i was sold, YUMMY! i could only eat 1/2, saved the rest for my husband...he has a sweet tooth too! ha! ha!

so below are photos of the 8 pairs of pants & capri's i bought over at talbot's! i scored over $650 worth of pants for under $125...plus, NO SALES TAX, BONUS!!!! plus, i bought 4 tops at talbot's along with a tank top over at banana republic. gotta love NOT having to pay sales tax, especially coming from chicago where it's just under 10% now!

also, below is the take out menu box i bought over at epitome paper, which i blogged about above.

finally, here's a photo of downtown minneapolis! great place to visit in the summer, but sorry the winters there are brutal! then again, i live in chicago and people say the same thing about chicago. ha! ha!

have a great night!

i was just watching the real housewives of d.c. --- i love it! especially with all the political drama! hee! hee! i have heard a lot of people comment about the show not being as good at real housewives of orange county, new york and new jersey....but i love it!

oh, before i forget...below are a couple of photos from the lake. this is where i spent the rest of my vacation...

~ PLD