Bits and pieces of life that don't really fit anywhere else or merit their own post:
puppy snuggles at Hannah's during the "Bachelorette" premiere WAY forever ago
I finished moving and looked like I had done several rounds in a steel cage death match. My boss did point out that the bruises formed a semi-smiley face pattern. Small victories?
Lake Harriet date nights with the Jodester...circling the lake and savoring Bread and Pickle wraps afterward.
Admiring the lupine blooms along the Lake Harriet trail
The most appropriate and adorable thank-you gift from friends...anything remotely Francophile or macaron-related automatically has my heart, bien sûr.
The Notre Dame-iest gallery wall that every gallery-walled outside the 46556 is now the focal point of the House of Hal and Lizzie's entryway.
Pre-Orpheum dinner at lovely Third Bird across Loring Park...
...highlight of which was the cheddar bacon popcorn and this delectable grilled peach and burrata salad, about which I may still be fantasizing.
"Bridges of Madison County" as Jodester's replacement date when Papa Bear left us to go fish epically in Canada...total win. Jason Robert Brown wrote the music and it is, like the rest of his work, almost always transcendently lovely.
Slowly freezing and watching the Twins get slaughtered by the Phillies on an unseasonably cold late-June day during a work outing.
The current state of my bedroom gallery wall, also featuring a plethora of artwork from last year's Paris trip and this year's Scandinavia trip piled on the dresser which needs to get framed and added!
Spotted the Osmobile, the Minnesota Orchestra's cutest and cleverest moving advertisement, on my way home from work a few weeks ago and almost crashed my car to get a picture of it. No shame in my Osmobsession.
The most precious and tiniest ducklings on Lake Harriet before the Minnesota Orchestra's Concert in the Park...squeeeee!!
Like I said, going through a major Founding Fathers phase right now and laughed fairly hard at this.
Kels, Katie, Erin and I did an Escape Room the weekend of the Fourth and we ALMOST got out. Lost in the last 17 seconds. I blame the fact that I spent the first twenty minutes trapped in handcuffs for my major lack of valuable contributions apart from getting a safe cracked. Also, a score is 20 years, for those who are unsure.
I'm now shamelessly one of those girls who is going to drag all her girlfriends to yoga with her, and then make them drink iced coffee and talk about how zen it was to watch the sun come up during sun salutations. OMG BASIC BITCH LEVEL UP ACHIEVED.
Fourth of July on Lake Marion, before face-shattering!
Little Bro destroying some wake like he would later destroy my incisors! (I'm joking. All is well, it was not Jonathan's fault, and it's still such an epic war story.)
The best Manhattan in the Twin Cities is at the St. Paul Grill. It is called "The Manhattan Experience," it will set you back $16, and it is worth every penny. Jodester and I went before Adele and it was the bourbon-soaked cherry on top of a perfect evening.
Poking around the prettiest alleyway in the North Loop after #ripbookclub brunch on Sunday...
...then accidentally day-drinking all day with one Nate Trembley, who is a: a terrible influence and b: a genius who told me about mixing Dangerous Man's Chocolate Milk Stout and Peanut Butter Porter for a beer experience that they literally refer to as "The Peanut Butter Cup." Holy omg decadence.
I may have gotten my ass kicked twice in five minutes flat at Candyland, but I sank all of Nate's battleships, including the Lego that he stuck on his board to sub in for his missing aircraft carrier.
Will you accept this rosé? Watching "The Bachelorette" with Hannah. Obsessing over Luke, skeptical on Jordan, and so, so devastated that James Taylor got eliminated. I'll date/marry him, then he can share a name with a famous singer and I'll be the second coming of Liz Taylor WHEEEEE!