a quick hello from California!

HI!

It's been all quiet on the western front lately, and I'm sorry - I've been really focused on trying to get my feet on the ground and settling in. I still kind of can't believe I live in California now...this whole endeavor hasn't ceased to feel like one long, bizarre vacation quite yet, and I'm not sure how long it will be before the novelty wears off. Waking up to this view every day isn't going to get old anytime soon, that's for sure.

I would be majorly remiss if I didn't recognize the enormous help/support/emotional lifeline that both my parents have been, especially my mother. Not many people would voluntarily commit to a 33-hour cross-country road trip, let alone cram that trip into 2.5 days after I grossly overestimated our driving ability and underestimated the horror of backcountry roads in Wyoming and Idaho. Jodes was an incredibly patient saint the entire way, and was a tower of emotional fortitude every time I started to freak myself out with the enormity of this move/decision/insane life change. More to come on that front soon!

Today is my first day of work (!!!), and I'm looking forward to getting into a routine that makes a bit more sense than the last week has. I've spent a couple days exploring Stanford's campus, and can't get over how stunning and different it is than anywhere I've seen. While the Mission-style buildings and palm trees aren't what I typically think of when I think "college," I'm still enchanted with the atmosphere of being on a campus and looking forward to having that as part of my daily life. 

I'm also enjoying the whole process of exploration and making friends. Mikey, a friend of a friend from Notre Dame, invited me to join his friends for Taco Tuesday last week and it was an utter delight. This weekend, Laura and I saw "Roman Holiday" on Saturday, and I met up with Alex, my fabulous mezzo-soprano friend, for brunch and Joshua Bell at the San Francisco Symphony on Sunday. All things considered, I'm starting to build something resembling my kind of life out here...it's just going to take a bit to get truly settled and on my feet. 

As for everything else? Laura, Fiona and I are settling into a routine and figuring out each other's habits while we wait for Dave to come complete our funny little roommate trifecta, I'm slowly mastering driving like a Californian (aka suicidally), and I've been to either Target or Anthropologie literally every day, so not that much has changed. (Fun tidbit: the country's biggest Anthro is 15 minutes from my house. I'm so screwed.) I guess what they say is true...you can take the girl out of Minnesota, but you can't take the Target out of the Minnesota girl...

More to come. Love you!

Twin Cities Love Letters: Part II

I had grand ambitions of spending the last month of my time in the Twin Cities paying homage to the myriad things I'll miss about my home. Instead, I spent time with my family and friends, got way too into Rachel's season of "The Bachelorette," read a few books, and drank a LOT of drinks at a LOT of happy hours. 

Now I'm on the road to California with my fabulous mother, and have nothing better to do than write...so here we go! 

I will deeply, truly miss the arts scene in the Twin Cities, which was one of my primary sources of joy over the last six years. I have deeply entrenched myself in said scene, with over fifty ticketed events in the last calendar year. And said scene brings an absolutely immense amount of joy to my life. 

Orchestra Hall is practically my home away from home these days, and my Minnesota Orchestra musicians feel like my best friends (that I don't actually know in real life, oops). My raging silver-fox crush on Osmo Vänskä has not abated after his marriage to concertmaster Erin Keefe, I live for their movies-and-music concerts, and their guest performers have brought me to so many standing ovations that I can't keep count anymore. 

I'm so in love with the orchestra that I followed them all over the Cities, from their Pint of Music chamber concerts at local breweries to Lake Harriet, where we showed up two hours early to ensure front row seats for this utter magic.

Fortunately, I have the San Francisco Symphony practically in my backyard, and am already getting excited to head to Davies Memorial Hall for this season's Bernstein centennial and their enormous repertoire under their conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas. 

Similarly, I've really gotten into the Minnesota Opera over the last few years, especially as Michael has been able to join me for our Tempo nights. While the Ordway's Grand Staircase and foyer always make me smile as is...

...it's when you throw some of the loveliest people in front of that view that it truly gets memorable. I have met some of my favorite Twin Cities/Minnesota acquaintances and friends through opera, and had such great experiences over the last few years...my first "Tosca" after the world's hastiest French dinner, a world premiere of a new work this May, and seeing my first Wagner production ("Das Rheingold," the Minnesota Opera's first stab at the Ring Cycle). 

Another opera highlight of this year was seeing the incomparable Renée Fleming through the Schubert Club this year, especially memorable as she officially "retired" from performing operas just this May! 

Of course, with the ranked-number-eight-in-the-world San Francisco Opera just up the highway, I won't be missing out on keeping opera in my life. What I will miss, however, is spending time with my fellow opera-loving friends enjoying it. I'm hoping to drag Laura and Dave to a few productions with me, but I'm most excited for next summer's full Ring Cycle...Michael and I are already planning his trip out for it and I can't wait!  

I'll miss driving past the Orpheum's light-up marquee, and taking pictures of the show signs on it every time we go to something. But San Francisco gets Equity performances from Broadway too, including (of course) "Hamilton," in its first tour stop. I think I'll be fine for Broadway. 

Truly irreplaceable, however, is my beloved Guthrie. I spent a very unproductive afternoon going through the list of shows in their past seasons, and ultimately came to the realization that I have seen 62 Guthrie productions in my life, starting with "A Christmas Carol" at the age of twelve and carrying through to the world premiere of "Refugia" just two weeks ago. 

The Guthrie holds a special place in my theater-loving heart. I blame it for my passion for Shakespeare, my expectation that any stage play be impeccably produced, have an immaculate set, and feature top-notch acting. I have my favorite "regulars" in their shows, and have found new favorites through actors making their debut. While they have staged a few things I didn't love (um, hi, "Mr Burns, a Post-Electric Play"), I have rarely left the Guthrie without a sense of total satisfaction and well-being.

It's also going to be ridiculously hard to replace the black-tie lifestyle my arts involvement has enabled. By being one of the most active young arts patrons in the Twin Cities, I've ended up on the list for galas galore (alliteration intended, of course), and I've come to really love getting dressed up and celebrating the arts to benefit the arts. From last summer's glittering Diamond Anniversary "Rhapsody in Blue" orchestra gala...

...to April's "Springtime in Paris" benefit for the Ordway, I've had a ball (and quite a lot of champagne). This year's Orchestra Ball theme is "A Night on the Silk Road," and the featured performer for the June 24th event is Dessa. The Guthrie is throwing a huge gala the night before, featuring Bernadette Peters, and I had access to tickets for both. To say I'm crushed to miss them is a massive understatement. I'll have to satisfy myself with this fall's San Francisco Opera Ball, I suppose! 

Here's to the Twin Cities arts scene...and to the void that the lack of that world will leave in my life. Can't wait to come back and make concerts, shows and operas a priority every time I head back to Minnesota! 

Houston, we have a job.

Guys, I've been so cagey with everyone about my Bay Area employment status, and it's led to SO many incredulous questions about exactly why I am making this move and WHAT the heck I will be doing out there to support myself in the 11th-most expensive county in the country (that's right, great life choice!). There is a good reason for this: I was waiting for every T to be crossed and I to be dotted before I made it official here in my most public of arenas! I'm so, so, SO incredibly excited to finally share with you all...

I have been offered, and accepted, a role at Stanford University!!

This has been the lengthiest and most convoluted of processes, as I referred to here (albeit obliquely). A couple weeks ago, I actually found myself trying to choose between Stanford and the freaking San Francisco 49ers, who had also come to the table with an offer. Talk about being spoiled for choice. Ultimately, the Stanford role was a perfect fit. Getting there, however, was a saga. 

I was initially offered an interview for one role at Stanford, and had a great screening interview with their recruiting group, a third party. That group then got me in touch with the Stanford crew, and I had, no joke, the most awkward, weirdest, hardest/worst phone interview of my life. I'm not comfortable sharing details here, but needless to say I knew, the second I got off the phone, that I would not be going forward with that position. I felt let down, disappointed, frustrated...a whole gamut of emotion knowing an opportunity to work at a world-renowned institution had just gone down the drain. 

Imagine my surprise when the Stanford recruiters submitted me for another posting with the university. Against my better judgment, I completely got my hopes up, and they skyrocketed after I had a great first interview with the university's new assistant controller and head of fund management. Before I knew it, I was flying out to Palo Alto mid-week in early May for a day of intensive interviews with half a dozen people. 

At the beginning of the following week, I received a call from the Stanford recruiter while I was at work. She led off with the caveat that "everything was ultimately good news," but my heart plummeted when she told me I would not be receiving an offer for the position I had interviewed for. She launched right away into the good news...that everyone I had interviewed with at Stanford had loved me, and that the university was going down the road of custom-tailoring a position for me. 

YOU GUYS. I was genuinely struck dumb...a rare occurrence for me. After mumbling my way incoherently through the rest of the call, I did a spastic total loser happy dance in the conference room I was hiding in, and promptly burst into tears. As the last few weeks have gone by, I've been in near-constant communication with Stanford and their recruiters, talking to others in the group, working on designing the role (because I've been given input on what I want my role to be!), discussing logistics and details, and handling all the official paperwork and red tape. 

I am so humbled by and grateful for this opportunity. For one of the foremost academic institutions in the world to think I'm someone special and worth bringing on board is an honor beyond anything I could have fathomed at the beginning of this process. And to have them place so much faith in me to pioneer a new role, the first of its kind at the university...that's an opportunity beyond my wildest dreams. I am SO EXCITED to start this new chapter, and to work my ass off to be worthy of the trust they've placed in me. 

Although it will make things interesting on November 25th when Notre Dame rolls into town for football...

(I mean, not really. GO IRISH, duh!) 

Goodbye, Minneapolis

As you read this, my mom and I are somewhere in western Minnesota or South Dakota, in a black Honda Civic packed to the gills with three suitcases, two lamps, a potted plant, and every article of clothing that was once hanging in my Loring Park walk-in closet. I said goodbye to the Twin Cities this morning, although it feels like I've been saying goodbye for a lot longer. 

Since I decided on this move, I've been thinking so much about Minneapolis. How this city has defined and shaped me for the last six years as a young adult, but really for my entire life. I had an almost out-of-body moment en route between goodbye parties last Friday, when I passed the building where I started my professional career at Ernst & Young. The café table where I sat the morning of my job interview was vacant, and I could almost see myself...black Calvin Klein suit, turquoise silk blouse from J.Crew, headphones in and my pump-up playlist blasting as I sipped a Caribou cold press. I remember feeling like my whole life was about to start that morning, and I imagined it all taking place right there. 

To think that I'm taking such a sudden, intentional left turn and leaving this city, this state, behind...it's a bit mind-boggling. I will miss so much about Minneapolis. I will miss how it feels like I can get anywhere in half an hour or less. Similarly, I will miss being able to see the skyline from half an hour away in almost any direction, thanks to Minnesota's prairie flatness. I'll miss the stillness of the Lakes on a summer morning, and the sunsets over Loring Park. The way the snow squeaks under boots when it gets teeth-hurtingly cold, and watching flaming red sugar maple leaves fall on Cathedral Hill in Saint Paul. 

Spoon and Stable happy hours, Tattersall's patio, and exploring new restaurants with friends and family. The moment when Erin Keefe tunes the Minnesota Orchestra, or settling into the rose velvet seats at the Ordway for another opera. The view from the Endless Bridge at the Guthrie. Baking in the sun at Target Field every summer, and watching Notre Dame games with friends at the Crooked Pint (actually, I WON'T miss the Crooked Pint at all...). And honestly, those friends, and my family. These are the things I'm intentionally giving up in leaving here, and when I stop to really think about that, it's a bit gut-searing. 

I just realized that 3rd Street downtown becomes Central in Nordeast. Isles Bakery, my favorite little breakfast hole in the wall, isn't so little anymore after an expansion. Continually realizing and discovering little gems like that make me happy, and remind me that there is still so much about this city that I don't know and haven't explored. 

While I am incandescently excited to take this next step, I can't deny how bittersweet it feels to close this specific chapter. Saying goodbye (for now?) to the city that has played such a huge role in shaping who I am today breaks my heart, but makes me incredibly grateful to have had those moments. Four apartments, one broken heart, numerous friends, one first date at a VFW, too many cocktails, 57 Guthrie shows, two jobs, three promotions, and myriad adventures later, I think that I can comfortably say that the girl waiting in the lobby for her EY interview would be excited and proud and thankful to be where she is today. I am. And though I'm so excited for the next chapter in California, I'm completely okay with saying "Au revoir" instead of "Adieu" to the Twin Cities. 

Til we meet again, you lovely.

Bookworm: May 2017

“There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become a part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.” - Gail Carson Levine

Loved: 

Terrible Virtue: A Novel, Ellen Feldman: It felt timely to read a book about one of the major crusaders in the fight for women's reproductive rights. This (fictional-ish) tale of Margaret Sanger was a fantastic read...I've seen it compared to "Loving Frank" and "The Paris Wife," which I also loved. 

The Names They Gave Us, Emery Lord: This sits solidly in the young adult readership camp, but I've loved Emery Lord's writing since she wrote for a website I follow like...eight years ago. This story of cancer and faith and finding one's own way was so light, quick and beautifully written. Totally recommend for any age. 

Enjoyed: 

Diana in Search of Herself, Sally Bedell Smith: I went on a royals biography kick and thought this biography of Princess Diana handled a really complex woman with candor and impartiality. Definitely recommend, especially in light of the 20th anniversary of her death this summer. 

Tolerated: 

It Seemed Important at the Time, Gloria Vanderbilt: Oh god this was just obnoxious. A totally self-serving account of how awesome heiress Gloria Vanderbilt is and how many men she's slept with, basically. Waste of about two hours of my life. 

Re-reads: 

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern: Magic and a circus at the end of the 19th century. I've read this about half a dozen times in the last five-ish years and I still love it every time. 

The White Queen, Philippa Gregory: Plantagenets doing duplicitous things. Very fictionalized, and not as fun as her Tudor works, in my opinion. 

The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory: Lancasters doing duplicitous things to Plantagenets. Again, not my favorite (If I'm going to read really fictional historical fiction, I want it to be sexier and really lean into the fictional aspect, HA.).

The Royal We, Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks: Another perennial fave - an imagined depiction of a fictional "William" and "Kate," but Kate (Bex) is American. I've read it about five times and it's still so fun. 

Love the One You're With, Emily Giffin: She wrote "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue," and this one, about the trials of old and new loves, is a quick, good beach read. 

Baby Proof, Emily Giffin: Ditto above, only with babies and whether or not people should/can/want to have them.

The Debutante Divorcée, Plum Sykes: The frothiest, silliest mid-2000s romp through upper upper class Manhattan. Super fast, super perfect for a beach or poolside (with a cocktail mandatory). 

Bergdorf Blondes, Plum Sykes: See above, minus the divorce stuff, plus falling in love adorably and a little bit of England, OOH!