Back off Minnesota

Minnesota tried to front real hard last week. Day I fly into town = first day of negative temperatures in the entire month of January. The next four consecutive days? Negative. Double digit negative? Yep.

Back the fuck up Minnesota, you don't scare me.

great dudes. great place.

look at that babette & roomie. look at that wine soaked pasta!

SO much food. plate after plate. hearts bar la grassa, hearts.

jurikills.

pbg+hmck. i stare dreamily.

babettes leslie + kyndra

spending quality time with quality people is one of the great joys in life.

Moments.

Looking through my minneapolis photos I realized there were a number of flicks on my camera that haven't made it up on the blog (and a few that have) that are lovely snapshots of a perfect moment. Some of these moments were perfect because of who I shared them with; some because at the time, and still now, they make me feel like the life I live is a very special one. There's not much more to these than that...hope they remind you that the little things can be really great moments.

fancy salt! for leslie and sam

So even if you're not going to get Barbeque from Black's, or buy fancy salt or find a swingset during your lunch break make sure you do something (and take a photo). Keep those moments coming.

words & dreams

Austin Kleon is technically a writer but I think I would consider him an artist as well. He lives in Austin and last summer I went to the Hotel San Jose for a film screening/artist talk and he happened to be part of the event. I had not heard of him, but I definitely know the Hotel San Jose.

This beautiful oasis was literally the first place I ever went in Austin, if only for a second.


After a 20 hour drive from Minneapolis to our first ever SXSW we parked on Congress Avenue to get lunch at Guerro's. As we walked up the street Jenn and I peaked in through this gate. We walked in to a Secret Garden.

I've since learned you are allowed to walk through that gate and make your way back to the lovely courtyard. If you do make it back there do yourself a favor and grab a seat at the big wooden table in the back and ask for a michelada. I prefer the wooden table in the back as it makes for great people watching, and if you don't have a large group it's a lovely way to meet interesting people. I prefer the micheladas because they are delicious.

I stumbled across Austin Kleon's website while looking for images of sxsw for a work proposal. I found his post titled "SXSW Horoscopes" and I've been transported back to a lovely evening from last summer, where I sat in the outodoor courtyard of the Hotel San Jose in the heat and drank Micheladas with sweat pouring off the glass. Crystal and Tomasz along with an assortment of other characters played with newspapers and markers and attempted to create our own stories.

These are my favorite of his SXSW Horoscopes. How charming!

If you've never tried this approach at writing a poem I highly encourage it. Choose an article, grab a sharpie and give it a try - it's harder than you might imagine.

Sometimes you just need to swing it out

Two weeks ago I had the most glorious lunch break of all time with my lovely coworkers Monica & Anastasia. I had mentioned earlier in the day that I wanted to go out for a juice or coffee, so we stopped at Daily Juice and basked in the sunlight and the glory of all things fresh and delicious. It was so beautiful out I decided to take the girls on a little adventure...cue non-stop laughter the first 15 minutes we were swinging. Sheer joy is a swingset on a sunny day.

this kid was both psyched and confused by our presence. so was his dad.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

45 degrees and rainy in Houston and Austin...it's cold and gray and different...but still charming. There are palm trees here, and it's Christmas...I find that charming anyway. The only other experience I've had like this was a few years back in Puerto Rico. It wasn't Christmas, but right after and everyone still had yard decorations up...bright green lawns, palm trees and inflatable snowmen. I think I took more photos of Christmas decorations in PR than I did of the beach.Full disclosure...I did not take the above photo...I definitely stole this from google.

Anyway. It's charming here but I miss the snow, and all of you. xoxo and Merry Christmas loves...biggest hugs to all of you.

What makes a lady?

I started reading Bossypants this week...Tina Fey makes me laugh out loud while reading, and then I interrupt whatever James is doing to read him whatever it was that made me laugh. My delivery is off, but I think he gets the comic idea.

She talks about how she went to a conference while doing research for Mean Girls, the best Lindsey Lohan movie of all time (admittedly not saying much here). At this conference the women were asked to write down the time they first time they truly felt like a woman. Turns out most of them wrote down things like being heckled at by dudes. Cat calls, nice tits, look at that ass, etc. Sad.

It was this year, my 27th on this fine earth that I think I started to feel like a woman for the first time...and it was all because of lipstick. You see, I have small lips. Tiny lips. My top lip is basically non-existant. Growing up I tried not to show my teeth when smiling in photos because it made my non-lips even smaller. I remember doing makeovers at a slumber party when I was maybe 13 and my friend's mom told me I could always draw on an upper lip with lip liner ("Just like movie stars!" she told me). Due to my non-lip complex I never wore lipstick. Gloss, tint, maybe lightly colored chapstick...yes. Bright red lipstick? No.

This year I said fuck it. I like red lipstick. I like orangey red lipstick. I like bubblegum pink lipstick. I want to wear it. So I did what any grown woman does, I bought 99 cent L.A. Colors lipstick from the dollar store near my house. Don't judge...I wanted to test my ability to wear before making a more expensive purchase.

It's not really the lipstick that makes me feel like a woman. It's the fact that I finally said fuck it.

learning to be poor...and other first world problems

James does not think I'm poor, he thinks I have extravagant taste for my income level. He may be right, but I still think I'm poor.

I am going to pretend it's Lent and give a few things up (even though I don't practice Lent when it is Lent; I don't know how else to justify this without just feeling poor).

Since we bought a car we now have to make car payments. Making car payments is something I've never done, not really. I've always either bought a car I could afford outright *amazing 1987 Honda Civic...anyone remember that death trap (?); or I made car payments to my grandparents for the now deceased Mercury Sable. Making car payments to your grandparents is about the least serious thing you can do...it is not like they send some thugs or collectors after you if you only pay them $50 one month instead of the $150 you promised. They love you, they won't do that.

Guess who will do that? Capitol One.

Things I will be giving up so I'm not so poor:

1. Cheese. Oh sure, we can still buy sharp cheddar or pepperjack for our sandwiches, but if you want a nice bucheron or chevre don't come knockin on my door.



2. Clothes. Oh god, clothes. I love clothes. So much. I like pants, dresses, skirts, shorts, tanks, blouses, sweaters, I even like vests. I don't do much shopping, I really haven't since I moved to Texas and became poor. Now I'll be doing no shopping. My dream of red pants will never come true.



3. Brunch. The ultimate first world indulgence. Mimosas, bloody marys, hot coffee with fresh cream no more. Goodbye Condesa & Taverna...I'll miss your delicious treats.




4. The idea that I can buy new furniture soon. Curtains, tapestries and a new couch? I think not.




5. Fixing all of my boots. I don't even want to buy new boots, but all of my winter boots need repairs. Guess I'll be picking my favorite pair.

So, if you're still reading: Please forgive me for being such an uppity white girl with first world problems.

The fact is, and what I'm struggling with...but I do know is this: None of those things matter, not really. All that matters is I have love, endless amounts of love from amazing people in my life who I care about so much and who I love back. Maybe I won't be able to impress those people that I love with my red pants and my awesome boots at my dinner party with a great cheese plate where we talk about how fabulous my vintage couch that I personally re-upholstered is while we reminisce about what a great brunch we had the day before. I think you guys would still like me if I asked you over for Ramen. I make a mean Ramen (and it's cheap!)