A Photo-venture in St. Paul, MN {{Heavy Photos}}

Wabasha Street Bridge entrance decoration & search lights

Most of you know that I spent the past weekend in St. Paul, MN attending The Creative Connection Event. While I was there, I had a little time to wander with my camera. Something I used to love to do & I thoroughly enjoyed my little camera-adventure!! Here are a few of the results...

Wabasha Street Bridge over the Mississippi River

Another entrance to the Wabasha Street Bridge

A Barge on the Mississippi

Barge going under the Wabasha Street Bridge

Minnesota Boat Club Building built in 1910

Charlie Brown & Snoopy in Landmark Park {Charles Schultz was from Minneapolis}

Heimie's Haberdashery est. 1917

Landmark Center, was the PO, Court House & Custom House in 1902

Another view of the Landmark Center. It now houses various art organizations.

The St. Paul Hotel built in 1910

The Mighty Mississippi from the Wabasha Bridge

Under the Wabasha Bridge

Stairway leading back up to the Wabasha Bridge

St. Paul Women's City Club back in 1931

The Art Deco Architecture of the City Hall Annex

Dark alley in Downtown {on way back from dinner with friends}

Bar doorway in downtown {what can I say, I love dark, seedy areas & doors!}

The Gopher Bar Coney Islands, {on the sign: George, Cheri & sons and Andy & Phyliss too!}

Twin Cities Magic & Costume in an 1880's Victorian Bldg.

I really loved wandering around & looking at all the old buildings. St. Paul is a really beautiful city with lots of history among the new! I hope to visit again some day!

And what would a visit to St. Paul be without a little venture to The Mall of America?

This place is CRAZ-Y! 3 stories of shops, food & entertainment, including an amusement park!! They even host the Annual ScrapFest every year - right smack dab in the middle of the mall & all throughout you will find scrapbookers taking classes & making things from various vendors! It's just nuts!

The Rotunda area with a giant classroom in the foreground & the Archiver's "store" behind the curtain!

Rotunda "classroom"

Tim Holtz's Class

Tim teaching

ScrapFest Vendor booths in front of Bloomies!

Make-n-Takes lined the walkways between the stores!

Women lined up for the MnT's!!

Don't get me wrong, you know I'm a diehard scrapper, but I don't know if I could handle this kind of chaos & take classes in the middle of the mall!!!

The top of the Graphic 45 booth, one of my faves!!

Above the LEGO Store! All Made of LEGOs!

The LEGO Dragon

GIANT wall of LEGOs!

I loved that wall!!!

 I couldn't pass up taking a picture of this great retro-style shop that I've never seen before:

Then, I had to wander through Nick Universe to take picts for Maggie! There were at least 4 roller coasters, a train, a log ride & various other moving, twirling, bobbing rides with Nickelodeon themes!

I decided to play around with the settings on my camera with the Carousel since I didn't know any of the riders. Kinda fun, huh?

Lastly, what would a visit to Nick Universe be without a stop in the gift shop for Maggie?!

Did you say "Spongebob?"

Just had to bring one of these home for her!!

That's it! The last of my stuff from the St. Paul/TCC Event!

There's a series of posts going up every day at  

The Scrap-a-Teeny Girls' 

blog that goes into more detail about The Creative Connection & what I did there.

This very well could be the last post over here as I decide if & how to incorporate this blog into the Teeny blog.

Hopefully you'll stick around for the ride!

TTFN!

The TCC Event Posts

Because I am supposed to be networking with all these amazing women (& one very FABULOUS boy...) here at The Creative Connection, I realized that blogging on my personal blog was kinda silly since all my business cards are for the Teeny's!

So, hop on over to Teeny Scraps of Us for the latest...

The Creative Connection T-10 hrs, give or take...

First of all, I have to say AAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK!!! I seem to have forgotten my camera cord! I am so disappointed because tonight's post was written in the hotel bar based on my roaming around taking pix when I arrived today!!

But, I am going to post it anyway. Sorry there are no pictures to accompany my rant, but I hope to find a cord tomorrow!

{Written at 7:30pm MN Time, US}

I arrived shortly after 4 pm at the MSP airport, which by the way seems larger than Denver's!

On the taxi ride over to the hotel, we passed an old building that had "ART HERE" written on the side of it & I cursed myself for not having my camera ready, but vowed to find it later! (I never did find it - must have been on a different road than I thought! Soooo bummed because it was so appropriate for this weekend! I even walked all the way from the hotel to the River Centre; where the Foo Fighter's were playing tonight! About 9 blocks & no luck!)

But, the city-area around the hotel was really very pretty & right along the Mighty Mississippi! There are some beautiful older buildings right up against the new, as with any old city. But what struck me is that several of the building seem to have an Art Deco feel of the 1920's. For instance, (& I have a photo to post tomorrow, I suppose!) the City Hall building had these beautiful caged sconces along the outside of their building that I fell in love with! {HA! Insert photo here!} And, the bridge right across from the hotel screams Art Deco to me with some great iron-work. I took tons of photos of this mighty bridge expanding the Miss! It may have just been constructed to look that way because a plaque I found stated that some of the lights installed in the 1990's were "special occasion spot lights." But it's a beautiful bridge that I hope to share with you tomorrow!

One thing I realized as I wandered around this part of the city, is how much I miss random photo ops! I really enjoyed wandering around & just snapping pix here & there, especially of architecture. If I have any more time this week, I hope to find a historical area or maybe more of a main street to snap a few more pictures!

Outside of that, I am kind-of lonely & feel rather lost tonight as I write this down in the hotel bar, with a glass of wine & a buffet plate on the table. It seems to me that those around me {that I can discern as conference goers}, are all in groups of 2-6 or more! And here I am, my wee little self wishing that mom & Kim were with me right now to laugh & have fun with! I know that I will meet others like me that I can hang with throughout the rest of the week, but for tonight, it kinda sucks to be alone!

see you tomorrow!

Art, Life & Missing Teeth

It's almost 9 o'clock here.

Maggie's in bed {finally!}; 

Nick was asleep on the couch last I looked & I am going over the list in my head for tomorrow!

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I am super excited to attend this years' Creative Connection & I hope to come home with new ideas & a better understanding of where I want my creative-self to go. I have been toying with the idea of going back to school for some sort of art degree & hope that this trip helps me make that decision once & for all. 

I know that I will meet some amazing people who have made their craft, their career & I hope to learn how they did it ALL & still remain sane!! I hope to learn a new skill or two & to make some new life-long friends from all over!

I hope to bring back some ideas & goodies to share with my ever-supportive mom & sister! I wish desperately that they were coming with me, but I am also proud of myself for taking this step alone. Although I know that we would all learn a ton together, I know that by being by myself, I can focus on my self & what I want out of this journey. Then I can take what I learn from this & share it with them. Hopefully, we will still be headed down the same path.

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I wanted to share a couple life things with you all as well.

I recently received an email from a friend (from Jr. High!) asking me to join her for the Susan G Komen Race for a Cure this Fall with a little note in the side-bar stating how much she appreciated everyone's support over the past 15 months. My first thoughts were, HUH?!!! You see, I had not really heard from her in a while & had no idea that she was battling breast cancer! I was dumbfounded & wished I had known sooner. She's had quite the battle of it all, but is recovering as best she can & I hope to see her soon. It made me so aware of how busy we get with life & how easy it is to let things & people we care about slip by. I hope that I can be better at staying in touch with those I hold dear to my heart.

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Enough of that...My wonderful Magpie is doing fabulous in Kindergarten this year & has just lost another tooth - just in time for school photos! {I couldn't be happier - I love those toothless pictures of my youth!}

And even though I haven't had a minute to sit down & craft over the last week or so, I will show you the beginnings of a Halloween tin I am working on...

I think that's it for tonight. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can sleep tonight - never easy before a trip. I don't leave until after lunch tomorrow, but I will still be going through the List as I finish packing tomorrow! I am so afraid my bag is too heavy with my art supplies inside, but I am purposely taking my largest case so I can bring stuff home too! HA!

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