There were not one but two signs advertising boobs a garage sale near Upper 157th St W and Garrett Dr in Apple Valley, MN. I may just go to see what else they have ;)
Archive for the ‘Apple Valley’
Best Garage Sale Ever: Apple Valley, MN
Apple Valley Central Village: A City Council Nightmare?
Ahh, my most favorite parcel of barren and treeless land, originally slated for development of more cheap and poorly constructed housing and retail space to be occupied by chains and/or other failing businesses has really caught the ire of the Apple Valley City Council. Yup, the grand vision for the Apple Valley Central Village has hit another snag and more delays are expected because the developer originally interested in building just under 200 more town homes (just what Apple Valley needs!) and retail space has asked to alter the original plans and build fewer townhomes (which didn’t sell the first time and are instead being leased, much to the grave disappointment of the Apple Valley City Council) and reduce the square footage of retail space because, well, the buildings already there aren’t exactly beating off prospective business owners with a stick.
According to the Star Tribune, City Council member John Bergman said that the delays and headaches of choosing a local developer over a big corporate developer is his worst nightmare. Apparently, even though preexisting and established businesses under the “Save Downtown Apple Valley” moniker are still very concerned about the prospect of a Cedar highway destroying the real downtown Apple Valley, Mr. Bergman would rather fret over the prospect of not building housing and retail space that isn’t likely to get filled any time soon than lose sleep over the real downtown area.
Yes, there is a good possibility that Apple Valley will lose a $2.3 million grant if the already delayed project doesn’t move forward but honestly, the City Council needs to get back down to Earth and stop living the unattainable dream of this unnecessary “walkable downtown” that seems to be the fucking buzzword of all the suburbs. Let’s concern ourselves with established and preexisting businesses rather than new construction that may never get filled. I’d rather see open plots of land covered in scrub grass and dusty dirt than overpriced and empty storefronts with “Lease Now” signs cluttering the windows.
Both would be common scenes in a ghost town, one just happens to have cost a lot more money to create.
Luxury Sweets’ Open Mic Night: Apple Valley, MN
Last week we read about an open mic night be held at Luxury Sweets in Apple Valley and decided to head over to check it out. We arrived just before 7 to a completely packed house. There were plenty of staff members on hand to sell gelato and there were plenty of people there to eat and listen to some cover free live music.
Kim ordered a strange combination of blue raspberry and mascarpone while I picked up a mascarpone and creme brule. $7.00 later we had our over-sized scoops and found the last remaining open table in the place. The music started up soon after that with some fairly terrible artist repeating the same 10 words (give or take) throughout the entire song. I wasn’t interested. The next person up was quite a bit better but by then Kim was already ready to go and we were out the door in just under an hour. I was really looking forward to seeing some of the others perform but Kim had things to do *shrug*.
The gelato was tasty and I have recommended it before. It was nice to see so many people come out to see live music being played in the South Metro but I really think that this type of shindig needs to occur in a place where the acoustics are a little better and where children are not permitted — preferably somewhere that serves alcohol. The echoes of the music and the children’s shrill voices coupled with the idle chit-chat between guests made it almost unbearable to listen to in our little corner. I guess if we go again we’ll have to sit front and center to ensure that we can actually hear.
Anyway a fun time and a nice change of pace for Apple Valley.
See all the pictures from Open Mic Night at Luxury Sweets on Flickr here (camera).
Open Mic Night at Luxury Sweets: Apple Valley, MN
We got our print copy of Thisweek yesterday and Kim was leafing through their “Thisweekend” insert and noticed that Luxury Sweets in Apple Valley is hosting an open mic night on May 5th between 7pm and 9pm featuring five local folk/rock artists. Admission is free and their gelato is fucking awesome. This is right up our alley!
Scheduled to perform are (all except Chastity Brown are fucking MySpace pages, you have been warned):
1. Stook!
2. Carl Franzen
5. Erin Kate
For more information log on to bettermusicians.com. Apparently La Luz Cafe (who haven’t even opened yet AFAIK) is co-sponsoring the event.
I checked the listing at bettermusicians.com and they list Roger Flyer instead of Stook! You have been warned :)
Each artist will perform a three song set, the goal is to do this the first and third Monday of each month.
Kim and I are planning to go.
Enchanted Free Dinner at LeeAnn Chin
Two freebies to chat about tonight, since other than the pile of tainted dirt from the new Twins stadium site being dumped in the Minnesota River floodplain instead of in the “ultra-secure” lined landfill that will one day be directly adjacent to a nice lake and recreation area in Burnsville, there really isn’t anything worth writing about.
First freebie was a movie rental which we cashed in on Friday night for Disney’s Enchanted. While I had heard the movie was funny I didn’t believe anything I was told. Rarely do I find girly movies worth my time but knowing that Kimmy suffered her way through American Gangster I figured renting that would be an even trade. Unfortunately, it wasn’t terrible even because after the stupid cartoon beginning, the rest of the movie (well, minus the stupid cartoon ending) was quite enjoyable and I found myself pausing it several times to laugh, almost in hysterics and usually out loud, because it really was that funny. If you haven’t seen Enchanted yet and you’re looking to please the significant other in your life that might be into girlish movies, this is one that I promise will be at least tolerable for you.
The second freebie was also a Kim special which was to try out two of LeeAnn Chin’s three new menu items between 4:30 and 6:15 today only. Now, I despise LeeAnn Chin almost as much as I despise anything on this planet and even though I have been called hypocritical by plenty of douchebags on the Internet, there are just some things you must do to please your wife (thankfully, she doesn’t enjoy coffee enough to make me go into Starbucks) and this was one of those times.
We were greeted with a long line stretching out the front door and after we got inside we were offered a small cup of their “excellent” frozen yogurt. Having not ingested frozen yogurt since TCBY’s heyday in the late 1980s I found this taste test to be just like eating really cold yogurt. Before I could even open my mouth to form the words, they had already come out of Kim’s. While I eat yogurt every single day, and for the most part have come to tolerate it, this was pretty nasty and not something I would eat again, especially not in a large portion after eating fake Chinese food.
Their three new options were Mongolian, Bourbon, and Kalbi chicken. The free deal mandated that you get at least one of the three before getting another free but I decided to go with two new ones just for kicks. Anything had to be better than what they normally offer, right? Well, not so much in this case. The new offerings taste exactly like everything else they offer…the same. There are no distinct flavors in anything they serve and the Kalbi and Mongolian chicken were no exceptions.
My recommendation? Don’t bother with LeeAnn Chin, even if your wife likes it and it’s free but definitely rent Enchanted — funny flick.
