Land O Lakes

The previous post was intended to bring my peeps up to date on how we ended up in NY however, I skipped some really fun details about our jaunt across the country.  Since I hadn't been home to Minneapolis in nearly three and a half years, and I really wanted Ian to see where I was from, we decided to begin our off-island journey in the land of ten thousand lakes.  Signing up for an Alaska Airlines credit card may have been one of the smartest things I did this year because it provided me with a) enough capital to start the business and b) a free buddy pass which we used to get my man to Minneapolis.  We also re-upped Puna's service animal status and she is now official on every major airline.  (aka - free.)  As expected, it was cold as s@*t when we landed.  April in Minnesota means that winter is still hanging on for dear life and there are dirty, crusted remnants of snowbanks on every corner that makes the city feel like you've just recovered from a battle.  And in fact, you have.  April in Minnesota is also the time that people start wearing shorts because it's forty, not forty below.  Forty for us however, was something we hadn't felt in years and the fact that neither of us had shoes was instantly, an issue.

We rented a car and headed to the Savik's house in St Louis Park.  They invited us to stay with them for a couple days and we graciously accepted their offer.  I had been stalking old Toyota Landcruisers on craigslist before we left the islands and already had my heart set on one that was located about an hour north of the cities.  I figured if we were going to be driving a crappy car around the posh Hamptons, it might as well be a crappy classic.  Not to mention, I've been obsessed with them for years.  Ian really wanted to go buy shoes first, but instead I made him drive up north to go check out the rig because 'I was scared someone else would buy it first.'  (Even though it had been in the lot for over a month.)   She was still there when we arrived and ole Billy the salesman dropped the price from 4K to 2500K because needless to say, she wasn't perfect.  More rust than we expected, no radio, cracked front headlight and plenty of miles but, there was no way we were leaving without her.  I pretty much, had to have it.  So away we drove in our new/old '89 FJ62.  Minnetonka is her name, which means water buffalo in Ojibwe.

The next couple of days were blurry as we hit every 'must go to' bar in Minneapolis and Nordeast including an incredible dinner at Manny's on our first night.  We stopped by the Independent to say hello to some old co-workers and of course, made it to the Pancake House.  We even made it to the Walker Sculpture Garden so Ian could experience "Cherry on Spoon."  Grams took us to a lovely Perkins dinner one night and also made me some breakfast one morning.  After our livers couldn't stand it anymore, we headed to Duluth to go stay with my parents.  It was a well needed week of rest even though Mom and Dad kept us really busy with things like alpine sledding, drives up the lakeshore, trips to the iron-ore loading docks and of course, watching the boats come in.  The lake re-froze while we were there.  It also snowed, and never made it out of the forties.  I did a bunch of work for the business that week too which gave us plenty of travel money.  The next post will discuss where all the travel money went.  (It may or may not have something to do with the Landcruiser I had to have.)

Here are some pics from our stay up north.  Check back in for stories from a rather hellacious road trip.

HI to NY

You know how it feels as you get farther and farther away from something, it becomes that much harder to go back?  For example, this blog?!  It's been so long and so much has happened that I was having a hard time trying to figure out where to begin so instead, I just didn't.  But here I am, in New York, eating cold macaroni and cheese and staring at a mound of feathers and I thought I'd distract myself from something inevitable by finally doing this.  In a nutshell, this is a brief synopsis of the last half year.

Puna at the house in East Hampton, NY

because we weren't leaving the lot without it....

Hawaii winter was cold and rainy with mediocre surf all season long.  Sadly, we didn't get in the water nearly as much as we should have and instead, worked our asses off.  But we got what we wanted out of being back home and that was the comfort of family and the ability to save a bunch of money and for that we owe everything to Ian's parents, Jon and Kathy.  Infinite love and gratitude to you both.  In March, I started an online business selling hair-feather extensions.  Random, indeed and instantly profitable.  I am completely obsessed and Ian has been immensely supportive.  The details are tedious and time consuming and I've been very, very busy with it all.  I finally put the shop on vacation last week and it was well-needed.  It has been an amazing experience and I feel very blessed that it's been successful.  In May, we left the island.  Ian was itching for adventure and for that, I love him.  We had initially applied for summer jobs in Alaska and when that fell through, Ian got in touch with his high-school friends who own a couple of restaurants in the Hampton's and hire seasonally.  So, here we are.  We live in the Hamptons.  Funny.  I know.  Two hippies in the Hampton's.  One with forty feathers in her hair.  We're working at a sushi restaurant on Main Street and Ian has a crazy Saturday night bartending gig where he passes giant magnums of Cristal through a coatcheck window and makes hundreds and hundreds of dollars.  Pretty awesome.  Sag Harbor is really beautiful - all of the Hamptons are, actually.  It's more country than I expected and there are some awesome beaches out in Montauk.  Ian has surfed already.  We got wetsuits this week and soon enough, there will be hurricane swell.  Puna is doing well and we miss Lea everyday.  And that's all I got for now.  A good start.  More details on our return to Nicaragua in the next post.