The weekend in le nutshell

Hey y'aaallll. How were your weekends? Relaxing? Active? Fleeting? That's pretty how much I view the weekends. Do as many fun things as you can and try to sleep in at least one of the days.

Friday: I finally saw Indeed for the first time in a couple of months - so much has changed as they prepare to open for business in the next couple of weeks. 

Saturday: I woke up pretty early and immediately started painting. I've found that painting is a relaxing and rewarding way to start the day. Then I went for a run and headed out to meet my newish bloggy friend for brunch at Wilde Roast. Smoked gouda hashbrowns? Good-a. 

Then it was off to Indeed for my sister Nancy's birthday. We "sampled" the beer and got into some shenanigans throughout the evening. (My sister's name is Nan and the beer is called Shenanigans, get it?)

Sunday:I mostly recovered and then attended a wedding. I tried to buy balloons but was denied due to the helium shortage. Did you know that existed? Our helium reservoir that supplies 75% of the world's supply is running out, the price is spiking dramatically, and the helium we are using is going first toward hospitals for MRIs and other technology. Thus, no balloons for me. I guess MRIs might be more important, or something. Punny headlines read, "Senators see ballooning national crisis" and "Helium shortage deflates local businesses." 

Now, the real purpose of this post:

Happy [Belated] Birthday Ms. Nancy!
Nancy is my twin, but older, so not really. She is one of the most hard-working people I know, whose actual weakness in an interview would be that she cares too much. Always trying to do what is best for everyone around her, Nancy has a lot of people who look up to her and her intelligent, creative, stylish ways. She has influenced almost every facet of my life from what I studied in college, to my hobbies in crafting, down to the stores at which I shop. She supports me and encourages me and I appreciate it so much. Fancy Nancy, U R A Q T!

The weekend, in le nutshell

Hi friends, can you even believe it’s already another week? It’s already in the later part of May?! It’s already almost summer?! Gahhhhhhhh. If I resonate with anything in The Happiness Project, it’s that “The days are long and the years are short.” So, so short.

ANYWAY...

How were your weekends? Mine shaped up nicely! On Friday I teetered between going out and staying in and finally chose the former and was glad for it. It took me an hour to drive through detours from St. Paul to Uptown, then I had dinner at Stella’s (crowded, terrible service, mediocre food, good drinks) and felt extremely underdressed in pants and a tank top. I should have worn a body-con dress with cutouts, stilettos, and shimmery everything. Just kidding, but seriously. Then we headed to William’s Peanut Bar (always a good time in my book) and played some Skee-Ball and ate peanuts and met some rather interesting characters. And I took a photo of this girl, who was downing a pitcher of beer and dancing wildly at a table by herself.

I went back to my car to find a parking ticket (gotta read ALL of the signs, Jen) but since I didn’t really drink and I had such a good time, it was all worth it.

Saturday, I had a car appointment and caught up on reading the news and my book club book while I waited. Then it was time for Art-a-Whirl, which I wrote about here. Then, croquet at the boyfriend’s brother’s house for his wife’s birthday. But then it started thunderstorming and hailing like a banshee, so instead, we played cribbage to our hearts’ content. We love cribbage. Like, a lot.

Sunday was the graduation ceremony of my BFF, Jessica. She had to attend a “hooding ceremony” which was Catholic Mass in disguise, then we had a breakfast reception, split up, and reunited for the regular ceremony. The student speaker was a young student from Uganda, graduating Summa Cum Laude, a scholar of all sorts, head of everything, the only student member of some fancy board, etc, etc. She has a job lined up with the government working in Uganda for public health, but first, she must train for a bit at Yale. Then she’ll return for grad school. And she was funny and metaphorical and delivered a perfect speech. Sigh. What am I doing in this world? This girl has accomplished in University what most people hope to accomplish in tens of years.

Attending a graduation ceremony makes me wish I was in school again, which is kind of funny because all of the people in the ceremony are just glad to be done. On another note, I didn’t realize how beautiful St. Kate’s grounds are!

Hope your week is fabulous. I am sure it will fly by like a mothereffer.

Too much fun [and a birthday tribute]!

Καλημέρα! (Kalimera!) That’s Greek for good morning! I’m greeting you in Greek because yesterday was Greek Easter, a holiday I have probably celebrated as much as I have regular Easter because of my bff Jessica, although I didn’t celebrate yesterday, run-on sentence to the max. Instead, I had brunch with some lovely ladies to celebrate Jessica's birthday! We ate at Pat’s Tap in Minneapolis, which had the right ideas in mind, but had trouble executing them yesterday. (Poor service, okay food, inoperable skee ball machines). I'm mostly in support of it because the name of the establishment is a palindrome.

{Exhibit A of tucker-outage}

The weekend was crazy, as usual, just how I like it, but today I am completely tuckered out and somehow have to muster up energy to see Cults at First Avenue tonight. After tonight, I’m going into hibernation. It’s snowing out, so it’s fitting. I don’t even mind snow right now. I was a little shocked to see it this morning, despite the weather reports warning me about it last night, but it feels a little refreshing. I did feel bad for the worms who made their way out to the pavement, only to freeze to death. Anyway, no photos or energy yet to show you the weekend, so that will have to wait a day or two. Until then, it’s time for a birthday tribute!

Happy birthday to Ms. Jessica!

Oh where, oh where do I even begin? I've known Jessica since we were 9 years old. If you know how ancient I am, then you know this is a long time. We have shared neighborhoods, families, heat wave parties, classes, cooking lessons, heartbreak, success, concerts, vacations, and everything best friends could share. I could not have asked for a better fran to grow up right next door to. Jessica always cares so much for other people, it’s no wonder she’s graduating with a psychology degree and so interested in the human condition. Besides being intelligent and genuinely concerned about the state of the world, she’s fun, hilarious, the best auntie, and kind of a badass. Don’t mess with Jess. Happy birthday Loops, I hope it’s a great one full of good juju for the year to come.

Happy Weekend!!

Happy Friday! I am so incredibly excited for this weekend!! 

This is why:

Today: I have a half day at work, then it's time for primping and off to Stillwater to my boyfriend's brother's wedding. After the ceremony, we're headed out for dinner and a good time.

Tomorrow: Quick morning recovery from the wedding shenanigans will probably be in order and then I'm off to a 2nd birthday fiesta! Syrup and green grapes for everyone. (This is what my nephew requested for his birthday gifts and by golly, I shall oblige).

Sunday: Easter! I don't really celebrate, but the boyfriend's mother insists I do, and I love it. Pastels? Egg hunt? Chocolate? Brunch? Check, check, check, check!!

I'll be sure to recap here once the weekend is over and I have some photographic proof of what an excellent time I had. Yes, I'm planning for the future, but so what!

Have a great weekend people!! Use some exclamation points!!

A weekend of celebrations

Hello Monday, hello friends! This week is starting out blustery, rainy and cold. I actually do like rain, but lately it has been coinciding with allergy flare-ups and that makes for a stuffy atmosphere. On the other hand, I wasn’t ready for summer yet, so I’m glad for this change.

Anyway, the weekend weather was glor-i-ous! I spent Friday celebrating my brother-in-law's birthday on a little Northeast Minneapolis pub crawl. Saturday morning was a race to finish some bridal shower bunting with the help of my sister, Nancy.

{I love crafting}

Bridal showers can often be awkward and boring, but I should have known from the beginning that this one would not be like that, as it was hosted by my boyfriend's mother and she is anything but boring. We had delicious food, spiked punch, fun games, and even better company.

{Just one of the decadent desserts}

{Tulips, dice game, prizes}

Afterwards, I headed to a different bride's bachelorette party and had a long dinner at Kikugawa on Main (it was alright), karaoke at Boomtown (way more fun than I expected) and finally, too much embarrassing dancing at Honey Lounge (and consequent facebook barraging).

{Celine Dion at a Norebang place}

{A spiffy cocktail at Honey Lounge}

Sunday was a slow recovery with a trip to see The Hunger Games. I enjoyed the movie, but of course, there are always parts that are left out or skimmed over and you feel like they robbed the book of such great detail. In its defense, it was already 2.5 hours long and if you wanted a 4-hour long movie, then maybe you could have gotten it all. It made me go home and finish the second book and now, as expected, I am severely craving the third and final book. Ahh, the torture! Just so you know, I was purposely avoiding the "finish it in three days" method, because then I would have only had three days of it and not drawn it out as long as I possibly could. I've been told not to rush through it because it will leave you feeling deprived and devastated. Yes, books do this.

The weekend, in le nutshell

Ah, we meet again! The weekend was much too short but filled with lots of happiness and celebration!

On Friday I celebrated my friend's birthday by going to Comedy Sportz and then to William's Peanut Bar. We had a lot of fun playing skee ball and eating peanuts.

Saturday, I stopped in the middle of the road for two wild turkeys and after driving for a bit, decided I needed to turn around and follow them. They waddled pretty slowly to Party City and I snapped some photos of them and watched as people came out of the stores and realized there were two turkeys on the sidewalk. Hehe.

I spent St. Patrick's Day first at Stella's eating oysters and fish tacos, then hopped on my first-ever party bus, aptly named the Busweiser. We drove all around town and I had somuchfun with friends.

{Creative way to litter}

I

{The boyfriend and his best friend}

{Some of my bestest in the Midwestest}

We all donned our green in some shape or form. Mine was on the bottom, so it's hard to tell in photos.

{Most of the kids}

I guess some of you might know that I like to creAture watch. This means I make fun of people who wear, do or say things in public that they shouldn't. I know this is mean, but, honestly:

{Her shirt was slashed horizontally all down the chest}

{The end}

And one more thing before I go...

{Same same but different}

Happy Birthday to Mr. Nathan!

Nathan is my brother-in-law whom I have known since I was in elementary school. We share a love for baseball, brew, espresso (although mine is heavily sugared), sarcasm, travel, TV shows, and music. Many years ago, I was in a really low place in my life and ended up basically living at Nancy and Nathan's house. It took a lot for me to get out of bed and finally, Nathan had had enough of my self-pity and made me go to yoga with him. Yoga healed me mentally and emotionally and I am a completely different person because of it. And it all started with Nathan (and that wife of his). Happy Birthday Mr. Nathan!

Merry...Tuesday?

Ah, the week has begun. I intended to post yesterday but work got in the way and I had to skip my breaks. So here I am, after a long day of audit torture.

But back to the good stuff, le weekend. Friday was spent at the bowling alley. My back was aching and my finger was crying over a wide papercut, so I didn't feel like bowling. But then I decided to stop being a poor sport (and an old lady) and look, I had fun. We ended up on my sister's couch watching lots of tv shows (how typical).

Saturday started out extremely lazy. Then I went for a 3.8-mile run with my sister along the Mississippi River. And once again, I was lazy and didn’t want to go and had to be dragged out there and was happier for it. Moral of the story is stop being lazy and complaining about everything!?!? Hmf. Saturday continued on and le boyfriend and I went shopping (nothing to show for it) and to dinner at W.A. Frost, which was yummy. Then we hopped from here to there and celebrated another birthday. I swear there is a birthday practically every weekend! I guess it makes sense since there are only 52 weekends in a year and there are many people in this world who have been born...

Anyway, Sunday was breakfast, lazing, hoopin’ it up at the nearby basketball court, dinner, then watching Night at the Museum. I would say this was my most laid-back and lazy weekend yet. It’s a nice change to not know what you’re doing until the day you’re actually doing it. It doesn’t happen that often in my book. And now, let’s try to get through this week, shall we?

How I Shall Survive:

1. Audits. Zero fun but there for a reason. We’ll only be better because of it. (And have to do a crap ton of work but whatever). I gotta think of the big picture here.

2. MSP Fashion Week. That’s right. A low-key, smaller-scale fantastic week of style events and sales. I plan on going to a trunk show and maybe some kind of designer showcase. We’ll see.

3. Concerts. I have a concert to look forward to at the end of the week. Then I have eight more planned for the future…oops!

And lastly:

Happy [Belated] Birthday to Mr. Kevin!

Kevin is my brother-in-law who is ultra-nice and will do a lot of considerate things for people. He livens up my work day by being hilarious. He knows how to make you feel as though you’ve done a great job at anything, even if my cooking does suck. He’s a great guy to my sister, and that’s the number one thing I look for in someone who is married to my sister. Go figure. Happy birthday Schmevin!

Merry Monday

Dear weekend,

I wish I never quit you.

Love, 

Jennifer

But really. The weekend started off with a girls' night at my friend's house. We drank wine, ate dessert and caught up on life. Then it was back to work for a half day, then on to a huge birthday celebration.

We started out by playing trampoline dodgeball at Sky Zone in Oakdale, MN. Trampoline dodgeball is just how it sounds, awesome. I never enjoyed dodgeball when I was in elementary school but now that I'm grown and every throw and dodge results in some sort of stress injury or pulled muscle, I loved it. After dodging and sweating bullets, we headed to dinner at Pracna on Main (one of my old favorites) and ended the night at Donny Dirk’s Zombie Den (one of my new favorites). I thought the bar would be over-the-top with the Zombie theme, but it was just enough. The lighting, the fabulously-crafted cocktails and the overall ambiance were perfect. I didn’t particularly enjoy the unexpected screening of Garbage Pail Kids, however. At the end of the night, instead of blaring lights and bartenders screaming “Get the eff out!” there was a classy surprise. You will just have to go there and stay until bar close to find out what that is.

On Sunday I got to tour the home of Indeed Brewing Company before it gets renovated. Pretty-effing-cool is my overall assessment. Eating Vietnamese food, making Valentine’s Day cards, catching up on tv shows, and baking with my sister ended my weekend.

And for the birthday part of this post:

Happy birthday to Mr. Micah!

I met Micah basically after he asked my good friend to marry him, 10 years ago. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that a group of us started spending more time together and I realized how much Micah and I had in common – mostly a love for music, grammar and all things punny. Micah (along with his wife Carrie) pushes me to do things I wouldn't normally do like run obstacle course races (Warrior Dash, Muddy Buddy), go to shows of bands I've never heard of, and learn about new Internet things (Evernote, Spotify, Fab.com, etc.) Micah is a very intelligent, kind, creative* and funny sort of guy. I'm lucky to know him. Happy birthday, Micah!

*He's the one who made the video featured here.

Also, photos are coming but I'm waiting on one more and I can't wait on this post anymore since the day is almost over.

Merry Monday

Hello dearies! It's been probably over a month since I last wrote this installment since there were so many other things happening on Monday, like the day off of work for Christmas, the day off of work for the New Year and although I was working, MLK Jr. Day and Lunar New Year warranted other thoughts.

Now I am finally back to being at work on a regular, old Monday. Cue the trumpets! Wahoooie! It's 100% a Monday at work too. This weekend was fun and fast, as usual. I spent Friday celebrating Laura's birthday in Uptown (it was such a college reunion!), Saturday I attended the boyfran's high school alumni basketball game and we celebrated three years of going steady with a tarte from Chez Arnaud, a dinner at Rudy's Redeye Grill, a viewing of Super 8, and a night out with his friends who were in town. 

Sunday was a day of volunteering (you can read all about it here) and then I went and cuddled with my nephews for a couple of hours. Then, I saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and was blown away. You can also read about that movie here. All in all, a good weekend.

This month has been one of the best, with so many activities and what I feel are accomplishments. I planned to run 25 miles this month and am at 22 so far. I wanted to see at least three movies and I've seen 4x that amount. I did really well on my resolution chart in terms of the weekly and monthly goals, and not so well on the daily goals.

This is what I'm looking forward to and what will give me energy today:

1. My coworker comes back tomorrow. I'm trying to finish a lot of her stuff I was filling in for, so this day will be busy, busy.

2. Book club is tomorrow and I'm excited to see everyone. (Not as excited to see all of their tans from their January vacations, snots!)

3. Next weekend one of my favorite comedians (Chris Barnes) is coming to town and I'm definitely going to see him.

The days are long, but the years are short. This one is already flying by! I hope you have a great Monday! 

Hecticity.

So I don't think that's a word, but I'm going with it. That is what my life feels like. How in the WORLD is today Friday?! Whhhaaaaaat?! (Well, yesterday was Thursday, and tomorrow is Saturday, so I guess that's how). Even Rebecca Black could answer that. Boy, do I miss her.

Anyway, the past four days have been crazy at work with a coworker gone and much to do before the end of February. But it makes me more productive and more amped up. Seriously, Friday? Tonight is my cutie pie friend Laura's birthday bash. In celebration of her golden birthday, I've decided to revisit the wonderful cake balls from Christmas. This time, in golden birthday form.

One problem. I added too much frosting to the mix and didn't think it was a huge issue. Until I coated, decorated, chilled, cut, and was disappointed by the mushiness of it all. I guess I learned my lesson: don't get overzealous on the frosting. I thought about scrapping the entire thing but after the resources spent on the project, I figure people who are drinking keg beer won't mind semi-mushy cake. Right?

I've also decided to do a short little thingy about my friend's birthdays this year on this blog. I realize I might be digging a hole in case I forget an important birthday or don't happen to post around that time. Please forgive me in advance, I'm trying.
Here is thingy number one.

Happy birthday to Miss Laura!
Laura and I met briefly during freshman year of college at a Halloween party. We didn’t meet again until we had the class “Intimate Relations” together - it’s okay, you can make fun of us. After that, we saw each other here and there, had another class together, and then thought, what the heck? Let’s move in together. Yeah, we took the fast track. And we’ve been besties ever since, sharing crazy nights, lots of gabbing and shopping, and Vietnamese food. Laura and I are now travel buddies on top of that! Happy birthday to my beautiful, optimistic, strong and courageous friend who has more friends than anyone I know. 

Merry Monday

Happy Monday! (Is that an oxymoron? Heh.) Unlike about 78.1% of my weekends, this one seemed to last forever, in a very, very good way. Thanksgiving started perfectly with a Turkey Day 5k (an easy-breezy-fun-run), Friday was a very long day at work (mainly because I was thinking about the people who weren’t at work), but I ended it with a couple of games of pool and Big Buck Hunter (yep) in Uptown. 

Saturday was the loveliest day of all! It started out with a breakfast at Grandview Grill (my new favorite breakfast joint) to reunite with my friends from high school. Then my sister and I headed over to the new Anthropologie on Grand and did a bit of damage. Afterwards, we had dinner at Punch Pizza (also a favorite spot) before buying macarons at Surdyk’s (sub-par) and heading to First Ave. to catch The Pines and Mason Jennings. Mason was amazing, as always. He played a good mix of songs from his latest album, Minnesota, some from the album before that, and some from the 7 albums before that. He threw in a couple of covers too, which I was all for. After the show, we headed a block or two over to Kieran’s to meet my friend David who I studied with in Hong Kong three long years ago. And you know, I might have stayed up until 4am getting beat at card games. 

Sunday I headed to the mall with some girlies to do a bit of birthday shopping (thanks family for having holiday birthdays) and then bolted out of there to go to yet another Thanksgiving dinner, complete with cribbage and football.

Okay, so you might not care about the ins and outs of my weekend, but when I write about what I did, it not only serves as a little bit of a record, but also a moment at least to reflect on it and appreciate it before moving on. Sooner or later though, I’m going to be reflecting on something a minute or two after it happens…hmm…

Anyway, I’m super glad I had a couple of reunions this past weekend and can’t wait to have more over Christmas! But for now, it’s Monday, there’s a LOT to do this week at work (not so much socially), and I am, as usual, tired. 

What should I think about today?

1. Cyber Monday. Some might say I like to dabble in shopping. 

2. Running. I did surprisingly well at both Thanksgiving dinners, only eating one plate, minimal desert, and barely anything else those days. Still, I feel a bit guilty and am going to go running after work.

3. Connecting. Sometimes when I have reunions, I get addicted to the idea of them. Especially because David wants to go to Toronto together to visit all of our HK friends. So now I'm thinking about every possible reunion I can muster up.

Was your weekend long or short? Was it hard getting up for work today? (Yes over here!) Anyway, I hope your Monday is super-cali-frag-i-listic! 

Merry Monday

Ahh, this weekend was so full of activity that I can barely stay awake today. I guess I still need to master the art of sleeping with my eyes open at work. Heehee.

Friday was the boyfran’s birthday celebration, Saturday was dinner downtown and the Jerry Seinfeld show, and Sunday rounded it out with dinner (also downtown) and the Mat Kearney concert. I feel like I was either running around or laying on the couch watching reruns of 30 Rock. (So excited for its return!)

How am I going to get through today?

1. Being productive: I have a lot of work to do today and by golly, I am doing it.

2. Short work week: Only three days! Then a day off! Then back to work for a day! Then two off!

3. Thanksgiving: I’m going to teach some of my family (the willing and eager ones) a fun card game I played all Saturday night after the show. Plus, it’s le B-I-L’s birthday celebration so that will be fun too.

That’s all I can muster up right now. My other b-l-o-g is getting a makeover as we speak, so that’s kind of exciting too. 

Boyfran Birthday!

Today is a very special day - the day my boyfran! was born. I am very lucky to have this guy in my life, so I thought I'd write a post to tell you why.

Why he's cool in general:

1. He cares a lot for his family. He makes it a point to spend time with them and go on trips with them, even his extended family.

2. He cares a lot for his friends and is always there, especially in times of need.

3. He cares a lot for strangers. Just kidding. But he can become friends with almost anyone within five minutes of meeting them. 

4. He's rugged and manly. He does physical things all day, plays basketball, kayaks, camps, hunts, catches fish with his teeth...okay, maybe some of that is untrue. Heeeheee. 

5. He's an "old soul."

6. Despite the love for brew and "za," he cares about his health.

7. He ran a marathon because he wanted to and had the discipline for it; and then he decided not to run one again because he didn't enjoy it that much and it took a toll on his body. I like that he recognizes what he likes and doesn't like and does what he wants to do.

8. He's really friggen cool, but he doesn't act like he knows he's really friggen cool.

9. He's silly.

10. He's extremely fun to be around.

Why he's cool with me:

1. The boyfran is chivalrous. Even after three years, he still opens my doors, holds heavy things, walks me to my car, and puts my jacket on for me. I like to think of myself as pretty independent, but even I can't turn these gestures down.

2. He knows how to change it up and takes me on dates to see funny comedians, will stay in for a game night, go to a musical, a sporting event, a day trip, a shopping trip, anything!

3. He gives thoughtful and creative presents. (Ice skates, running kit, handmade cribbage board...)

4. He has an impeccable taste in music and is the best concert buddy even though our heights make it odd to position ourselves in a room.

5. He doesn't mind that I extended this list to 5 to meet the needs of my OCD.


And he makes things like this for me:

And best of all: he loves me! :P There are about 80 billion other things, but we'll save those for another day. So boyfran, today is your day. I love you (and so do all of my family and friends, which kind of makes things awkward).

Also:

Happy birthday!