A Historic Day

Tuesday, May 14th was a historic day in Minnesota.  Governor Dayton signed the bill that allows same sex marriage in Minnesota and people can start getting married on August 1st, the day it goes into effect.  In fact, Minneapolis City Hall  will open at 12:01 am to accommodate the many that will marry that day.  According to an analysis by UCLA, in the first three years of same sex marriage being legal in Minnesota, $42 million will be pumped into the economy as well $3 million in tax revenue.

I don't typically talk about my political beliefs on my blog and I don't really intend to start now.  The issue of allowing same sex couples to marry isn't a political belief for me, nor a religious one.  It's a civil right.  It's a human right.  A right that we all have now in the state of Minnesota.  We are the 12th state in the nation to pass a law like this as well as the 3rd state this month alone.  We're catching on, America.  Keep it going.

A couple of my best friends throughout my life are gay and I am so happy that they will have the choice and freedom to marry who they love.

I'm proud to be a Minnesotan every day but I'm extra proud to live in this state right now.  Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.  

A Piece of History

Thirty six years ago today, my Gramma (at some point over time, she would change the spelling from Grandma to Gramma) gave my parents a newspaper from that day, marking the day I was born.  They gave this to me while I was in my 20's and it was today (I'm writing this on 1/20), that I opened it for my first time.

The papers are a little yellowed but have remained mostly intact.  I thought it was a good day to pull it out since President Obama was sworn into office today for his second term.  On the day this post will be published, President Obama will re-enact the swearing in for the public on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, my birthday. If you look at the picture below, President Carter was sworn in 36 years ago today (1/20).

After opening up the next newspaper, I realized it was from January 20, 1981, exactly 32 years ago.  The Iran hostage crisis ended that day after 444 days.  

What a great piece of personal history, huh?

Minnesota History Center: 1968 Exhibit

After we visited Cherrie and had lunch with M's family on Saturday, we went to the Minnesota History Center which is within walking distance of the cathedral.  It was such a beautiful, sunny, warm February day with no snow on the ground and we were able to hang outside without a jacket and be comfortable.

I had purchased a Groupon a while back for a one year household membership to the Minnesota Historical Society, which includes entrance into all of these places.

M and I had just been to the history center for Winterfest, however it looked way different this time around.  We visited a few of the exhibits but we went there to see the 1968 exhibit which closed on Monday.  And what do you get for waiting until the last weekend to see it?  A 30 minute wait to get into the exhibit as well as elbow-to-elbow treatment once you're in there, which actually made it difficult to enjoy and forced us to have to rush through it.

Instead of giving you a rundown of what exactly it was, I'll sum it up on pictures instead.  Some where taken with my phone and some were taken with the camera but all were taken quickly because of the people on top of us.

Other areas:

We may have stopped at Mojo Monkey Donuts also.  It's the second time we've been there in as many weeks.  Yum!

It was M that got the gigantic s'more donut