CNN's Money Magazine Top 100 Places To Live 2006

Ok people. I’m just shocked at what I found when I looked at this list. Why? Well for one – my hometown in on the list! Check this out…

#10. Eden Prairie, MN – Eden Prairie is a place where very wealthy people live – keep in mind is NOT my hometown but wouldn’t mind l. I have been here before but only for pretend. I mean, it’s not like I shop there or anything. I have driven through it and gone to lunch there a few times. Oooo la la – Call me privileged…

#12. Eagan, MN - This is where two of my close friends live. I don’t want to call out who incase they would like to keep their living location super secret and out of the blogging public’s eye. I have been there 100’s of time and find that it’s a very nice area. Maybe I need to think about moving to the east side?

Naw.

#54. Blaine, MN – This is where I grew up and went to high school. I’m usually not all that proud of that fact being when I grew up there it was like growing up in a corn field - there was not a whole lot there and not much to do. I was constantly teased by my friends in Coon Rapids (where I went to private school 1st-9^th grade) about how I live in B.F.E (Bum F**@!# Egypt –I lived far away). I was considered the girl that lived ‘up north’ to anyone I met that didn’t live north of me - which is just funny when you think about what ‘up north’ in Minnesota is really about.

In recent years however, the place has boomed into this bustling suburb. It’s sad really because when I visit the places we used to hang out, they have changed so much its hardly recognizable. I mean, they have cut down so many trees in the name of progress. ‘Dead Mans’ – the bike trails we would race around, jump and hurt ourselves at has been bulldozed for a road that leads into a new neighborhood. It was heartbreaking to see but I realize I’m old and gray now – life happens.

So maybe I finally have something to be proud of huh? Maybe…naw…

#67. Rochester, MN – This is the town were my ex-boyfriend moved too for another chick while we were dating when I was sick. This is also the town where I had to go in order to feel better since no one here in Minneapolis could help me. (I got issues – physically that is…) It’s the home of the world renowned Mayo Clinic. It’s no wonder this place is on the list, I mean if you are hurt – you’re gonna get fixed up right. Ya know what I’m talking about?

Despite what I felt was a city of betrayal at first (how dramatic of me right?) it turned out that in the end it was my savior city and without it I would have been doomed. Kudus to Rochester…