Category: Uncategorized

Patio Obsession

Posted on by Christina

As soon as I can take the dog outside, minus a coat, my patio obsession begins. This obsession is real, I’ve talked about it before, here.

When do they open? How early do they open? How many are within walking distance?

How can I decorate my patio? Where can I find that perfect outdoor rug? One with color and pattern and all the feel of spring.

I’ve been pinning patio inspiration for months. Just waiting for those sales to spring up!

I have finally acquired almost all of my new patio pieces. A side table or so may still be on their way… But an almost complete and perfect patio sits waiting to  greet our Minnesota summer.

Not much can add to my perfect patio, except the perfect snack! A simple cheese plate, enhanced by Blue Diamond Nut Thins. Have you tried these guys ? I had not previously, and they are delish! The perfect accompaniment to a wedge of double cream brie 😉

I can’t lie, I even had them for breakfast the other morning…..

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Side note: Bets on whether or not I ate that entire wedge by myself…?

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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Nut Thins.

Lets Break a Rule

Posted on by Christina

A little fun fact about me.  I don’t break the rules. I cannot handle the enormous guilt I experience when doing so.

I follow the rules and I most likely annoying others about them.

Perhaps this explains my career choice?

You know, the law and such.

Perhaps this holds me back from having a bit more fun? Perhaps I miss out on fully experiencing things because of that little angel of good on my shoulder, poking me, shaking its head and laying out every almost impossible negligence scenario in my head.

I blame my Torts Professor.

With all of this in mind, imagine my reaction to the “Trail Closed” sign while hiking last weekend. My frozen pause, my we shouldn’t do this look.  My ok, lets turn back now attitude. Turn back we did.  No amount of convincing was going to get me to change my mind.

No, none at all.  And as we walked back down the trail, other hikers were headed past us. Brazenly moving the sign away and traipsing up that hill (bluff).

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I’m quite convinced my thought process could be overheard, as that little angel of good kept poking my shoulder, shaking its head and my desire to try the new and explore arguing back.

It took a mere four people nonchalantly passing the sign to convince me to break the rules.  All the while every ridiculous tragedy scenario running through my head. ( It never goes away. never)

Break the rules we did.

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Rule breaking required shopping and pizza.  But of course.

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Have you been to Red Wing, MN? It is a town that calls for exploring. A day trip, a weekend, just go. I could spend hours in and out of the shops, sampling the beers and O! The St. James Hotel, I would love to spend a night there. Who is in for a weekend trip with me to Red Wing?

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I promise to consider breaking a few more rules, key word, consider 🙂

The Greenie

Posted on by Christina

As Spring creeps in, the weekend days get longer.. and so does my appetite for adventure.

To explore and hop into places I’ve never been.

Northeast Minneapolis is full of such places.

Despite living so close to many of my “undiscovereds”only when the snow begins to melt do I get this re-energized need to discover.

Discover I did last weekend.

A group of us finally made to a legendary dive bar.

A dive bar known for its kool-aid-ish, make you crazy type of a drink. (Note I did not get crazy, merely craved some post drink late night scallops. Normal, right?)

I do not even want to know what is it in.  But post drink, that frozen pizza served all over the bar was smelling mighty delicious.  Like I was seriously tempted to grab a slice of that processed peperoni off of my neighbor’s (read stranger’s) pie.

The bar was hopping at like 5pm and the people watching was over the top.  The Greenies (and the Pinkies) were a flowing.

And I can finally say I’ve had the famous Greenie of Northeast at Tony Jaros River Garden.

 Nothing like a green drink to usher in my spring 🙂

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Have you been?

Birthdays and Kumquat Trees..

Posted on by Christina

When you turn 36, I hear Kumquat trees are the perfect gift.

At least for some 🙂

Yes there’s a back story there, one of lasagna and jokes, cocktails and kumquat upside down cake.

Which naturally leads one to purchase a kumquat tree for a birthday present.

Normal, right?

Yeah, I bought a kumquat tree.

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It was a weekend of birthdays and accidents.

A weekend of wine and Bolognese.

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Baby showers and sperm poems.

Yes, I wrote a poem that may or may not have included sperm jokes.

Bring back the weekend already?!

How was yours?

Friday Favs #4

Posted on by Christina

Its the weekend, weekend. Phew!

Who is ready for Saturday morning sculpt, family dinner and down time? This girl.

This week brought a weird mix of events and I am ready for a wind down.

However with the weird also comes the good.

Linking up with Katie, Heather and Claire for Friday Favs!!

1) With this weeks amazing (yes I mean 35 degrees!) weather, I went on a 1.9 mile run outside. Yep I just said that. Me, the “I hate running, maybe ill try it next year, I’ll stick to the elliptical”, self just said that. Mom, dad, are you on the ground right now in shock? Want to know what’s even more shocking? I liked it. Yes, liked it enough to agree to a 5k. Funny the things or people it takes to push you out of your comfort zone and try something knew 😉 Couch to 5k here we come.

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2) New fur friends. My friend Jen shared her lady crushes this week, and I’m hopping on the bandwagon, fur baby style.

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Best buds. Big and Little.

3) Disasters in the kitchen. Yes, disasters…. I do not recommend this “healthified” curry, whole wheat, all veggie mac n cheeses, not one bit. Though I still think in concept, it sounded delish! I love a good chopping\mixing/experimenting session in the kitchen…. even if it didn’t work out. Who has an actually good version of this veggie curry mac n cheeses?

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4) This bottle of wine. Pinot Noir like I like my Pinot. Full bodied but not too heavy…. 🙂 A 2012 Vaughn Duffy. Someone tells me there were only 99 cases made. Which totally means I’m headed to France 44 to purchase the remaining bottles. If you see these somewhere else, buy it! If not for you, for me…

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5) And as you read this, we are officially one week away from Vietnam! The bucket list trip is on the horizon and I’m ready to go!

Happy Weekend! What are your plans?

Heartbreak Hotel

Posted on by Christina

Well Hello Monday, you came faster than preferred…. 😉

Nothing like a weekend recap to beat the Monday blues.

Only two words are necessary to recap my weekend.

SAM. SMITH.

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Yes, the king of all things heartbreak, love and the search for the elusive future love, was in town on Saturday.

If anyone has ever experienced the breath taking, stomach pain, nightmare inducing type of break up, you understand Sam Smith.  Or rather, he understands you.

If you are on the seemingly elusive search for future love, his words speak to you.  If you hold on to the hope, that you will find that which you seek, the lyrics most likely hit a cord.

He’s open about pain, about joy and future certainty that despite the journey and the stumbling blocks, the love he seeks will be found.  At least, this is my interpretation of what his music is all about.

A number of his songs speak to emotions or experiences from my past, (which I’m guessing many of us can say) and seeing him in person was a romantic and hopeful experience for me.

Go see his show!

And because this post may not have been quite an uplifting Monday experience, here are cupcakes!

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Who doesn’t like cupcakes?

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Uplifted yet?

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How was your weekend?

Unplugged

Posted on by Christina

Could you do it? Could you go unplugged for a day?

Unplugged, as in only using your phone for calls and texts. You could take pictures, but not upload them; to ANYTHING. No social media, no games. Unplug, to purely the “dumb” functions of your phone.

I found myself wondering this same question a few weeks ago. I feel the need to on the regular, tweet my random thoughts, visually get lost in Instagram and constantly scroll Facebook for updates.

My hand almost itches to grab my phone every five minutes. That cannot be normal.

So when Alyssa reached out about the Unplugged campaign, on behalf of Creative Expressions, I said yes! (Creative Expressions is a women owned Utah business, specializing in promotional products. Check them out here.)

The challenge: to unplug for one day. To live one day without accessing social media, email, games, etc. To experience that one day with family/friends and not be distracted by my phone.

I have friends who live one day a week with “no internet day.” I’ve wondered for quite some time if I could do it… and here was my chance 🙂

Heres how I spent my day, resisting the urge to grab my phone every 5 minutes. First Stop, IKEA! The roomie and I have been meaning to go for quite some time, say like since September?!

Shameless Selfie in my Unplugged T: my skeptical, will I make it face?

(Forgive me for the selfies, if you are familiar with these parts, I never take them. So I had to include a classic bathroom selfie :))

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And another one: this is my, get me out of IKEA face, with my sanity still in tact. Seriously, who goes to IKEA on a Saturday morning?! Bad decision. The line for daycare was out the door.

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I finally found new throw pillows….  Yes mom I gave in to my pillow problem again 🙂 Confused? See here.

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Next stop, the Weisman Art Museum at the U of M, with Jen. It was here I struggled the most with the challenge.  I arrived early and could not play around with my phone. I could not scroll through Insta, I could not upload the gorgeous pictures of the view behind me…

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And I most certianly could not tweet about the woman walking around in numerous, almost uncountable furry items. I mean, I know it was cold, but she was almost unrecognizable as a human. Yogi the bear would have been a better descriptor.

My fingers were just itching to tweet something sarcastic.  Instead I enjoyed the comedy in that moment and had a good laugh to myself 🙂 People were probably wondering who the strange lady was, laughing to herself in the museum….

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I would like this lady in my apartment please 🙂

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(Photo cred Jen)

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How gorgeous is Minneapolis?! As I couldn’t upload these to anything, I spent more time standing and taking in the view, focusing on what was right in front of me, instead of finding the perfect filter….

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Overall I think the challenge was more difficult for me than expected. My phone/social media habits are quite apparent now, it was a very eye opening challenge 🙂

 Tell me in the comments how you would spend your day Unplugged and a randomly selected comment will win your own Unplugged T 🙂

Friday Favs #2

Posted on by Christina

Happy happy weekend! I don’t know about you, but I’m so ready for a break 🙂

Before I’m off to happy hour, here are a few of my favs from the week.

Linking up with Katie, Heather and Claire!!

1.Total Wine. Have you been? To the Mecca of wine and bewilderment. Yes. After a rough work day, a day of brain shutting-down-ness, I finally made it here. I wandered the aisles in awe. Wine, aka god’s grapes, everywhere. Its walls of unending eye (wine) candy.

I walked those aisles in awe, bewilderment and wonder.

Ok…. I might have a wine problem.

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2.  This bench in South Minneapolis. It reminds me, 18 months ago I wasn’t here. I was in a different city, state and stage. I’m thrilled to be in Minneapolis now, but who knows where in another 18 months I could be…

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3. The new passport arrived. My last ten months with an expired passport made me feel naked. But its here! And this just means our Vietnam trip is that much closer

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4. These vegan double chocolate cookies. Yes I said vegan, and they’re from Angel Food Bakery and Coffee Bar. How did I not know about this place? If you didn’t tell me these were vegan, I wouldn’t have known…

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5.These stuffed pork chops. Pretty sure more than one person was disappointed they didn’t make it over for dinner Tuesday night.. chops stuffed with bacon, apples, onions and walnuts. Yum.

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Not Dazzling

Posted on by Christina

A couple phrases you probably don’t want to say just prior to walking to a first date…

“Off I go, bleeding zit and all!”

Word to the wise, don’t play with your skin 30 minutes prior to running out the door…

Or “Just noticed some sticky white stuff on my sweater….”

These are not dazzling.

 I did attempt to find some “dazzle” at the Minneapolis Holidazzle Christmas Village over the weekend….

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My croissant eating skills may need some finesse..

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I may be a Grinch, but I did not feel transported back to the German holiday markets I’ve experienced in my past…

It was more about the company, the exploration… and perhaps the cider beer at the bar across the street?!

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Tis the season though, to search for the dazzle, to enjoy your company, to experience. Perhaps as we get older, we need to remember, search a bit harder for the meaning, the magic, the feeling, the excitement.

So I will be over here, remembering not to pick at my face, prior to a date, and working on my croissant face shoving skills.

HOW WAS YOUR WEEKEND?

I Like my Eggs Pink

Posted on by Christina

Sometimes it is all about the hype I create for myself.

Reading the reviews. Anticipating the opening.

Putting the place on your must try list.

Lusting after it on the list… wondering…. when will I go?

And then finally, finally being able to cross it off.

Do you make lists? And get a rediculous amount of satisfaction from crossing something off that list? I make must try restaurant lists (we know this, unless you are new to these parts :)). I make lists at work. Lists of recipies to make. Lists of furniture my new place needs. List of make up to try. Places to shop.

Please never look at the notes app in my Iphone, it is an extravaganza of lists and makes me look like a crazy list lady!

Last weekend I was finally able to cross Tiny Diner off my restaurant list. ( Yes it fell into a carve out to the challenge!)

It had that Brasa-neighborhood-like feel. It was bigger than I anticipated, more like, “Medium Diner”? The monthly city focus on thier menu begs me to go back and try another month.

November is San Francisco, one of my favorite cities! Just having the city focus on their menu brings back memories of the wharf, eating chowder out of bread bowls, the smell of the water and the brisk wind on my cheeks.  The memories necessitated a bite of my dining partner’s softshell crab sandwich.

And these deviled eggs! I will be back for these eggs.. the Lake Superior smoked white fish, golden beet puree, horseradish yogurt and dill.

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Have you been to Tiny Diner? Do you make lists?

xoxo The Crazy List Lady