A Year in Review

I suppose you could say 2009 was eventful. I saw a few movies, tried a new gym, took some tennis lessons, went to a play at the Guthrie, ate at some new restaurants, went to some fashion shows, completed three marketing internships, went climbing at Vertical Endeavors in St. Paul, and started a blog. I thought it would be fun, since I now have this blog, to write a few reviews on the new places I've gone, the new things I've tried, and the movies I've seen.

Favorite Movie of 2009: Avatar


I saw quite a few movies this year, but my favorite would probably have to be Avatar. I had the privilege of seeing it in 3D, which was very exciting, I even occasionally caught my hand coming up to swat virtual bugs that I thought were swarming my face. Avatar was beautiful to watch and has a little something for everyone.

Least Favorite Movie of 2009: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Although I like both Jennifer Gardner and Matthew McConaughey I felt this was a terrible plot, and just not very entertaining at all.

Favorite Restaurant of the Year: Saigon in St. Paul

A personal favorite of mine for the last 9 years, Saigon is a little hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restaurant that has the best Pho (beef broth and rice noodle soup) that I've ever had. They have reasonable prices and fresh entrees. One of my favorites is the chicken spring rolls.

New Restaurant of the Year: Ngon in St. Paul

For my birthday dinner Nick took me to Ngon in St. Paul. It is primarily Vietnamese cuisine with a fusion of, I believe, French. Located on University Avenue I was quite surprised when I walked in to find a restaurant very typical of an uptown Minneapolis ambience. It was very trendy. Though the food was good, I much prefer Saigon, which has better food and cheaper prices. I am excited, however, to go back and try their brunch.

The Guthrie: A Christmas Carol

After dinner at Ngon Nick took me to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Guthrie, which was quite good. The Guthrie architecture and design elements reminded a lot of the Walker Museum in Minneapolis. Clean lines, minimalistic, and great design elements. My only negative is that once in the Guthrie Nick and I had the hardest time actually finding the auditorium. We went up the longest escalator ever (after asking how to get to the 5th floor) and once off had to ask several employees how to get to the auditorium (others were even asking us how to get to the auditorium). More signage would definitely be helpful.

Vertical Endeavors:

For my birthday spent with my girlfriends I really wanted to try out Vertical Endeavors in St. Paul, an indoor climbing facility. At $20 for the whole day you had access to multiple climbing walls and could come and go as you please. Unfortunately, unless you have past experience belaying you are very limited to the climbing space as a majority of the ropes are designated for belaying, leaving only 5-7 automatic ropes in the whole facility. Therefore, for part of the day we spent our time crowding around the limited available ropes waiting in line, until, fortunate for us, we met another group of climbers who offered to belay us. One other slight negative about the facility is that the walls are shorter than those found at Dicks Sporting Goods and REI (or at least they appear to be). Would I go again? Definitely, but I am excited to try other indoor climbing facilities.

Beware of major camel toe! No worries though...everyone has it.

Though I did a lot in 2009 I hope to accomplish even more in 2010. I love to try new things and would really like to tap more into my adventurous side. So I salute you 2009 and welcome 2010 with open arms.

Outfit of the Day: I actually wore this in Indiana over Thanksgiving break.

Matching hat and scarf: Target
Hooded tie-dyed shirt: Clothing Swap-Free
Jeans: Rerock-Thrifted at $9.99
Off-white Angel Sleeved Cardigan: Target-$6...
Brown Suede Boots: Jessica Simpson from Macys-birthday gift from mom and dad
iPhone: Christmas gift from mom and dad

Scammed!

I am often considered by many to be naive, and have even been called gullible more than a few times in my life-time, regardless of either attributes, however, I consider myself to be self-aware and even somewhat skeptical. I say all this because though naive and gullible I am aware that scammers do exist online, thus enters my skepticism. I, however, up until lately have had very good luck when shopping or banking online. Unfortunately, my skepticism faced-off with my gullibility during Christmas shopping this year (or should I say "last year") and my gullibility dominated.

I'm not sure if you remember, but in my "Virtual Christmas Shopping" post I mentioned this Website where I purchased Rosetta Stone Spanish for my husband for an awe shocking low price of $139! For those of you who do not know, Rosetta Stone usually retails for $539, that is a $400 savings! I had never heard of the Website before but because it had a phone number posted, offered online chat for customer support, sent an email confirmation with a contact person once signing up at the site, and used Paypal for its transaction I thought for sure this site is legit, right? Wrong! Though I did receive my Rosetta Stone 3 weeks later (it was being shipped from China), and the box was shrink-wrapped and looked nearly identical to those I'd seen at Borders, I grew increasingly concerned when I realized after viewing the Spanish version at a Borders store my box was missing the black inked word "espanol" on the front and instead had a white label on the side typed "Spanish (LA). I then decided, after no longer being able to access the website, that I had an illegal copy, but continued to hope. I did give my husband Rosetta Stone for Christmas, of which he was elated to receive, but warned that I bought it from a wholesaler in China so was a bit concerned about its authenticity. Unconcerned, since the differences were indecipherable to the untrained eye, he brought it home, opened it up and was ready to begin learning Spanish, but whoa was he when he discovered that the program did NOT come with an activation code. Now, $139 down the toilet and a disappointed husband I warn you of online scams. I have not been able to access the Website for the last month and no one has responded to my inquiries from the website.

Though I have not yet discovered how to truly decipher a legitimate site from a scam, here are a few easy rules of thumb to follow for your future shopping.

1. Do NOT shop on a site that you have not either been referred to or heard of before.
2. If you cannot find reviews on the Web for the site, it may not be legitimate.
3. If its too good to be true, than it probably is TOO good to be true (that one I learned from my husband).

I sincerely hope that no one was scammed this Christmas, but if you have any advice or have been scammed in the past I would love to hear of your experience or any other rules-of-thumb for online shopping.

Best Regards and Happy New Year!