I’m in Minneapolis!

I’ve never been to Minnesota before, but I’m in Minneapolis for a few days, so I’d love some tips. I’m particularly looking for delicious items of food to put in my mouth — like the best doughnut, or best bloody mary, that kind of thing. Also, I’m curious about fun places to shop, especially vintage and second hand.

Last night our waiter at the Mexican food restaurant said, “The green salsa is gonna be our Salsa Verde.” Also, there were key terms on the back of the menu explaining the types of peppers and what “queso” was and such. For me, it was exotic, like the menu at Denny’s needing a glossary. The food, in case you’re wondering, was delicious.

So far, Midwesterners are living up to their reputation of being crazy nice, and the streets downtown are clean enough that I’d feel comfortable picnicking on the sidewalk.

Hat in the air,
Maggie

(Update: I wanted to edit the menu paragraph after a couple of people pointed out that my comments came across as rude, but decided to apologize and explain my intent in comments instead. Search for *** to find my notes.)

Make Travel Size Toiletries with a Heat Sealer

Last week, I showed you what I keep in my purse kit, and a bunch of you asked me about how I managed to seal SPF and makeup inside straws for tiny transport.

Most of the secret lies in owning a heat sealer. I own one by accident for a project I did a couple years ago, but the sucker is so damn handy that I do encourage you to get one. (Here’s a mini heat sealer for $25 on Amazon, or you can get a more versatile one for $10 more.) That’s said, if you don’t feel like buying one, you can apparently do the same thing with a lighter. I would obviously burn myself, so I’ll leave that to the pros.

Here’s how I make my own travel-sized toiletries. Continue reading “Make Travel Size Toiletries with a Heat Sealer”

My Bag Kit, Everyday Essentials

This is my purse kit, and I use it several times a day, especially when I’m traveling. Everything pictured fits in that tiny pencil case on the left, and I move it from bag to bag so I always have a little packet of musts. Here’s what’s in it:

• Tampon, whether I need it or not, because I’m a sister.
• Fugly earphones that have a microphone for calls in the car or Spotify while I’m on a walk.
• Bobby pin
• Safety pin
• Single-serve eye drops, did you even know these existed? Best.
Tide to Go pen, which is some sort of stain-removing witchcraft, highly recommend.
• Eye liner
• Dental floss, both the circular white container and the wand.
Pilot G-TEC-C4 pen, which is smaller and has a much finer pen than my beloved Pilot Precise
• Perfume
• Burt’s Bees Lip Balm, so pepperminty and tingly.
• My two favorite shades of Maybelline Super Stay (Keep Up the Flame and Spice), which never ever comes off in a way that will startle you.
• Homemade teeny packets of SPF and concealer, which I have heat sealed in a straw because I am MacGyver. These make me crazy happy.
• Two bandaids and some fashion tape, which I use for fixing blown hems or holes in clothing, secured with a binder clip.
• Hair band
• Packet of asprin
• Tube of Weleda Skin Food, which I’m always pushing on people because it smells so good and makes your hands velvety.
• The pencil case is by Danica Studio.

All of the things, at your fingertips my friend. So good. Am I the only one who does this?

20 Unique Hats from Australia’s Melbourne Cup

Attend Australia’s Melbourne Cup horse race in a hat by an Aussie designer? Check.

Tourism Australia asked me to choose six Life List goals to accomplish while we were there for Go Mighty’s Go Australia trips, and they suggested I attend the Melbourne Cup. I was told it was like the Kentucky Derby writ large.

That was an understatement. Imagine the Super Bowl falling on the Fourth of July, but everyone is dressed for church on Easter Sunday, and drinking like it’s St. Patrick’s Day. In other words, it’s a hell of a time.

Continue reading “20 Unique Hats from Australia’s Melbourne Cup”

Hey. Want To Go To Australia?

I fell for Australia on a business trip in 2005, “Australia! They have giant rats that carry their babies around in tummy pouches. Aussies! Very similar to Americans, except more in touch with their mortality due to the myriad poisonous things surrounding them.

I remember that trip vividly, lazy breakfasts at Bills, feeding kangaroos, fruit tasting with a guy named Digby (Digby? I mean, come on. Central casting was in on that one). Also, they have trees that sting there! They call them Stinging Trees! Apt, Australia. Apt.

Anyway, one of the poignant things about travel is how you come to love a place, knowing you’ll likely never get to see it again. Because you should probably save up for health insurance and maybe pay your taxes or whatever.

So I’m feeling giddy right now, because…

A Bunch of Us Are Going to Australia

Go Mighty has been working for months with Tourism Australia and Air New Zealand to find ways to encourage folks to visit Australia. In the coming weeks ten people, including me, will travel there to cross off Life List goals and meet some of our favorite Aussie bloggers. (Hi, Pip!)

But! What about you? What if you want to ride a kangaroo while a didgeridoo sounds in the distance?

You Should Come Too

If you’d like a chance to win your own trip, because you’re canny like that, make a list of all the things you’d like to do and see in Australia — swimming with the fishes in the Great Barrier Reef, learning to butcher at Victor Churchill, touring Melbourne in a hot air balloon at sunrise, investigating whether Australian toilets really do flush backward.

Then tag your aspirational-Aussie goals #goaustralia on your Go Mighty profile. On November 1, Go Mighty will select one community member to travel with a friend to Australia. This is merit based, so do it up right by uploading fun photos with your goals, writing stories around why you want to do particular things, and setting goals that say something about who you are. Shine bright like a diamond, and so forth.

Let’s Fill a Plane on the Cheap

If Australia is on your list, but you’d like to visit with your whole family, or an entire small town, here’s how to get $200 off of each ticket:

If 332 of us promise to visit Australia in 2014, enough to fill an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 aircraft, it will trigger a $200-off discount code. Like a Groupon, but for koala hugging. Head to Go Mighty and click on Fill-A-Plane for all the info.

Come! We shall cuddle wallabies, barbecue in the middle of December, lasso crocodiles and have them pull our rowboats, then be reported missing on the evening news. Just like real Aussies.

Aussie slang prints by Droops Store.

It Never Rains in Seattle

 

I’m in Seattle. The coffee is really good here, and so is the weather. “It rains alllll the time! All of us are sad!

Please. I’m on to you, Washington.

I’m here for Bumbershoot, which is a music festival, and PAX, which is a gamer expo. The latter is a particular delight. Last night we were passing through a hotel lobby, and a group of attendees were getting up to leave. The front desk lady yelled, “WAIT! One of you forgot this,” and held aloft a giant inflatable sword. The group looked around confused, until one of them realized he was about to leave unarmed and ran over to claim it.

 

On the way out of dinner,  Jessie overheard a guy say, “Actually, she was originally a unicorn…” He was wearing a tail.

I like it here very much. Everyone should move to Seattle forthwith to enjoy the weather, coffee, and cosplay. Together we can drive up property values and begin to publicly complain about the weather, because you can’t possibly imagine how bad it is until you live here. No, really.