Sundays in the city

Another week, another Sunday!

After being gone last weekend, and a busy week – it’s been a weekend of getting things in order. You know that feeling when you’ve been absent from your home and while you don’t notice it, things keep piling up? Clothes, dust, dishes, (and your fridge is empty because you haven’t been home enough to cook). Everything needs a reset.

That was much of the weekend. We’re doing a mini-Whole30 this week and I spent much of the morning at the store and prepping food for the week. My feet are tired!

As The Knot keeps reminding me – we only have XXX days until our wedding! This didn’t really stress me out until this past week when it suddenly seemed like we were behind. I know it will all get done and it will be fun and no one will notice if all the details we planned aren’t finished, but there are definitely some things that have to be done sooner rather than later.

We managed to tick off a few of those things this weekend – like getting Z’s suit, scheduling a cake tasting, eyeing up some invitations, looking at flower shops to make appointments and registering (which was really fun). I know that there is more to come, but so far – we’re just having a lot of fun.

If you’ve been married – what was your favorite registry gift? And was it something you’d registered for or something you just got?

Before I sign off for the night, a few things to check out in the Mpls/St. Paul area that are rapidly becoming favorites:

Heirloom in St. Paul – cozy, delicious food, fantastic wine list and great bartenders.
Minnesota Orchestra’s Symphony in 60 (we saw the Rite of Spring last week and I forgot how intense it is.) I have been so impressed with the way the orchestra has made a concerted effort to get people into the hall – especially now, we need to be patronizing the arts. It’s important and good for the soul.
Mucci in St. Paul – prosecco on tap, need I say more?
Baseball starts tomorrow!

Cheers to a great week – happy April!

 

Sunday in the city

Z & I live right near a college and as spring break just rolled around, AND St. Patrick’s Day was on a Friday – we were fully prepared to hole up in our house to avoid the madness. It seems like most of the students had already gone home for the weekend – AMAZING. Quiet Friday night in with pad thai and a movie? Yes please.

Saturday was our date day this week. We had gotten a gift card to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for Christmas from my folks, specifically, the Bruce Munro Winter Light installations. I never remember that we have such a great outdoor resource just under an hour away and even though we went specifically for this special exhibit, we’ll be back. The exhibit goes through April 9 – so if you haven’t been and are interested in light/sound/art and nature, you should definitely check it out.

As part of our evening out, we planned to go to Excelsior for dinner afterwards and on the suggestion of a few friends, Yumi’s Sushi was where we ended up. Delicious!

Today we had the opportunity to see the National Lutheran Choir and hear some Bach in a beautiful church just downtown. The concert was lovely – and I got to see a few people I hadn’t seen in a long time from my days at SMU. Funny where life takes you sometimes.

I love that we have so many great places to visit – all in our own city! Our weekend felt more like a staycation than just an ordinary weekend and I’m ready to take on the week ahead.

If you were to do a staycation in your city – what would you do?

Wind, weather and poetry

One of my absolute favorite memories of a discovery was the first time I heard The Writer’s Almanac on MPR driving home one day from work. The poem was a Mary Oliver poem and Garrison Keillor was reading. It was winter, it was snowy and the sky was dark, dotted with patches of moonlight through the snow. I nearly missed it for flipping through the radio to find something that wasn’t the pop song of the minute.

It was lovely, it was warm and it made me feel as if I was the only person listening in that moment.

I still have the daily email sent to me and often I end up sharing the poem of the day because it’s so lovely or appropriate.

Today is such a day. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Weather

There is weather on the day you are born
and weather on the day you die. There is
the year of drought, and the year of floods,
when everything rises and swells,
the year when winter will not stop falling,
and the year when summer lightning
burns the prairie, makes it disappear.
There are the weathervanes, dizzy
on top of farmhouses, hurricanes
curled like cats on a map of sky:
there are cows under the trees outlined
in flies. There is the weather that blows
a stranger into town and the weather
that changes suddenly: an argument,
a sickness, a baby born
too soon. Crops fail and a field becomes
a study in hunger; storm clouds
billow over the sea;
tornadoes appear like the drunk
trunks of elephants. People talking about
weather are people who don’t know what to say
and yet the weather is what happens to all of us:
the blizzard that makes our neighborhoods
strange, the flood that carries away
our plans. We are getting ready for the weather,
or cleaning up after the weather, or enduring
the weather. We are drenched in rain
or sweat: we are looking for an umbrella,
a second mitten; we are gathering
wood to build a fire.

“Weather” by Faith Shearin from Orpheus, Turning. © The Broadkill River Press, 2015.

Hidden museum gems

One of the best things about living in such a thriving arts community is that there is no shortage of amazing museums, theaters, and musical opportunities. Living in the middle of all of it, I think we often forget what is around us.

I first visited The Museum of Russian Art a few years ago on a Groupon (which, by the way, I’ve always thought was a great way to try new things) and enjoyed it immensely!

Then I promptly forgot about it.

A few weeks ago, Z and I were looking for a weekend adventure and decided to head to Minneapolis to see an exhibit that was only there for one or two more days: Stage Designs by Vera Mednikova: From Pushkin to Hawthorne. It was amazing. I’m glad we went!

The museum is gorgeous – with nooks and crannies and more exhibits than I had remembered. We easily could have spent more time there than we did. Other exhibits that I found inspiring and interesting:

Unknown Fabergé: New Finds and Re-Discoveries
Art of Valerian Formozov: Visions of the Russian Heartland

Gorgeously displayed with fantastic information as part of the introductions and on each piece. The exhibitions they have up and coming look equally incredible and I’m sure we’ll be back – a great afternoon date!

What hidden gems have you discovered in your own city?