Quick Fact Sunday, Volume 3

Fact: I'm unhealthily obsessed with the Scripps National Spelling Bee. 

I vividly remember watching a documentary, "Spellbound," in Mrs. Delebo's Honors English class in 9th grade, and completely falling in love with the world of the spelling bee. In elementary school, I was that weird child that never once got a word wrong in spelling...on Monday pre-tests...let alone on the final post-tests. I read around 10,000 pages a quarter in sixth grade. And I never got less than an A on any written assignment. In short, the spelling bee seemed right up my alley. 

These kids in the documentary, though? Totally different level. They trained hard, reading the dictionary, studying Greek and Latin, and even going so far as to learn other languages to better understand cognates and roots. I fell in love with their weird quirks and oddities...the kid who tried to eat the microphone, the way they tapped or spelled the words in the air...and competed to spell words right along with them. 

Last Thursday, Kelsie and I went to Rojo post-manicures for margaritas, and the spelling bee finals were on in the bar. Despite the fact that we were having a great conversation, I kept getting distracted, watching the TV over her shoulder and thinking with every word, "I could've spelled that!"

There were two winners this year, for the second year in a row...these 13 and 14 year olds actually spelled through the entire list of words. Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar won, respectively, on the words "scherenschnitte" and "nunatak," and will each be taking home giant trophies and $35,000 toward college. How cute are they?!

I went home, started packing for Kansas, and streamed the preliminaries on my laptop...all four hours of them. While this may prove beyond a shadow of a hint of a facsimile of a doubt that I'm someday going to die alone with cats, let it be known: I didn't spell a single word wrong. 

Off to KC...congrats, Kat and Dom!

Woo-hoo, it's wedding season!

I know I'm not the only twenty-something who feels like every single time I open up Facebook, there's a spate of new engagements, wedding photos and marriages galore to celebrate. This weekend I'm headed to Kansas City (with Kelsie in tow!) to celebrate the wedding of my very first Minneapolis roommate, Kathryn!

Kat and I both went to Notre Dame, but didn't know each other in our time on campus and decided to be roommates based on a Facebook message while I was in Brazil post-graduation. Our tiny apartment, furnished in Ikea and hand-me-downs and HomeGoods decor galore, was our pride and joy, and quickly became the social center of both our lives. While I slogged through life as a public accountant, Kathryn earned her master's degree in healthcare administration, and left me and Minneapolis behind after two years to pursue a career in Dallas. Also in Dallas...her boyfriend Dom, who I got to hear plenty about as he and Kathryn started a long-distance relationship while we lived together. 

Through our two years as roommates, Kathryn and I talked a TON about weddings...browsing rings during "Friends" marathons, dissecting other people's Facebook albums, chatting about bridesmaids' dresses and venues and, of course, the men we wanted to marry. I can't believe that I'm actually going to watch her wed this weekend...so excited to see all her dreams manifested in reality. Can't wait to celebrate...if even a fraction of her girls'-night-visions are realized, it's sure to be a spectacular weekend!

oh hello, spring.

Every year when spring comes to Minneapolis, I find myself instantly appreciating the littlest, most seemingly insignificant things so much. This year has proven no different, and I’m basically floating around in a haze of lilacs and fresh air and daydreams on a daily basis.

Speaking of those lilacs…what is it about lilacs in the rain that makes for the absolute best scent ever? Kaitlin and I kept commenting on it on our riverbank walk on Monday. Yesterday I left work in an absolute downpour, sans umbrella, of course, and in a terrible mood over that fact. The office parking lot, however, is bordered by a hundred-yard stretch of lilac bushes, all of which have burst into bloom over the last week or so, and that fragrance alone, tempered by the rain and just completely diffuse in the air, made me slow my pace in spite of the fact that I couldn’t see out of my glasses and my shoes were filling up with water.

I’ve been bitten by the spring cleaning bug HARD this season. Before Kait came to visit, I found myself fighting an uncontrollable urge to really deep-clean my apartment. I spent six hours one Sunday going over the place from top (washing the tops of my cabinets, I’m not even kidding) to bottom (scouring baseboards and washing the floors…twice…), even going so far as to enlist a friend to take apart my dishwasher so I could clean it most effectively. I’ve kept my windows open as often as the weather allows for, and the light and air streaming into an immaculate apartment makes me feel all Martha Stewart-y…in a good way.

My fingernails and toes have been pastel since March, and it’s felt like wishful thinking up until recently. My ballet flats and sandals are replacing my Uggs in the front of my closet, and the floaty skirts have made their glorious reappearance in my weekly work rotation. I’m also the proud owner of a pair of the prettiest petal-pink pants…breaking out the feminine, lightweight clothes has me even more focused on honing in on fitness, too, which is so necessary and so great.

One of my favorite things about my office is that I have a beautiful view of the Mississippi River out my window. All spring I’ve watched the trees on the river, waiting for that first faint flush of green to start creeping into all the gray of the winter landscape. It blows my mind how perceptible those changes actually are, watching the riverbanks come back to life after all the frost and ice vanish. Randomly, weirdly, it seems that every time I look out the window, I see a school bus crossing the High Bridge…bright and yellow, cheerful. Now I’m wondering if, with school letting out soon, my buses will stop crossing the bridge, and even just thinking about that makes me a bit nostalgic in advance for them.

This kind of weather, this change in the seasons, this growth and rejuvenation and starting over…this kind of weather makes me want to fall in love with everything and everyone. 

Memorial Day 2015!

Oh hi, friends. Did you miss me? I hope not too much, because you were all busy out having the best Memorial Day ever. Lord knows I did...because THIS GIRL came to town!

Kait spontaneously booked a flight to Minneapolis for the holiday weekend shortly after I returned from Paris, and braved the third-world Spirit Airlines (AND a layover at O'Hare!) to come see me, Claire, and her oldest brother Tom. From the moment I picked her up at the airport on Thursday, with a white chocolate Caribou cold press waiting in the cup-holder, the weekend offered nothing but straight-up magic. I couldn't be happier or feel luckier to have such a great friend in my life! 

We started off right away with lunch at Surly, which was delicious...we both highly recommend the "hog frites," a decadent combo of pulled pork, French fries, pepperjack fondue and giardinera veggies. Having totally binged on beer and pork, we headed straight for Minnehaha Falls...in ballet flats (me) and maxi skirt (Kait)...for a nature walk/"hike!" Probably not our best idea in hindsight, but the park looked gorgeous and the weather was perfect for a long walk full of chatting and catching up. 

After a few hours we met up with Claire and Emily, a new Minneapolis resident and college friend, at Hola Arepa for happy hour on their pretty patio. Emily just returned from nine months of traveling the world with her boyfriend Kevin, and had so many amazing stories and photos to share...even having just returned from Paris, talking to her triggered my wanderlust in a big way. 

These two were pretty happy to see each other, too...

Unfortunately, the theft of Claire's wristlet, containing all her cards and ID, put a bit of a damper on the evening. Kait and I were both exhausted...she got up at 3am CST and I was up by 4 due to excitement to see her...so we turned in early. 

Claire had to work Friday morning, so Kait and I headed out for to take advantage of another beautiful spring day in Minny! We grabbed delicious breakfast sandwiches at Sun Street Breads...

...and headed straight for the Lakes, of course! I feel like summer life in the Twin Cities centers around Calhoun, Harriet, and Lake of the Isles, and it was so gratifying to be able to show Kaitlin how beautiful they are. We ate our sandwiches overlooking Lake of the Isles, then headed over and parked near Tin Fish to rent Nice Ride bikes! I absolutely loved them...we cycled both Isles and Calhoun, stopping (often) to take photos and admire the views. 

Once Claire got off work, we grabbed a few beers and headed straight for my roof to bask in the sun. 

Sometimes it's nice to be able to take a break from how "downtown" my apartment feels and just admire the gorgeous park views. Look at all those trees! Kaitlin remarked all weekend about how green Minneapolis seemed compared to Baltimore, where houses with yards are way less common than the row houses I love so much. 

And really, would it be rooftop day-drinking without a terrible Lizzie-attempt-at-a-three-person-selfie? (Having ridiculously pretty friends mitigates the awful camera framing, I guess...)

We had plans to meet Tom as soon as he got off work and head to one of my favorite hidden gems of Minneapolis for dinner...Pig Ate My Pizza, in Robbinsdale.

Every time I've been there, Ive had to wait 30-45 minutes, but we miraculously walked in and were seated right away! I'm convinced Kaitlin is good luck. 

We split a few different pies and the verdict was unanimous: dinner was fantastic. Back at my apartment, Kait force-fed me cherry beer that tasted like Kool-Aid before we headed out to Cowboy Jack's. 

The rooftop wasn't too packed and the weather was gorgeous, but Jack's was only stop #1. We had a date with dueling pianists at the Shout House, Claire's current favorite bar in the Twin Cities. Having scored a table right up front, we settled in for an evening of cocktails and watching our friend Charlie requesting "Free Bird." 

Dirty little secret: I ultimately threw the pianist $20 to play it for him. He was thrilled. I'm the best. 

We found ourselves moving a bit more slowly than expected on Saturday morning, and ended up all hanging out in my bed chatting and rehashing the last 24 hours for a solid hour. I remember looking at Kait and Claire at one point and just being totally overcome by how content I was with two of my closest friends there and together...it felt incredibly natural and right to be there with them. 

Kait and Tom grabbed brunch, and Claire and I grabbed bagels quickly, before our planned trip to A La Mode (of course) for pedis. It was Kait's first, and Claire's first in a while, and it was a hit with both of them (also of course). We picked Tom right back up and started a mini-brewery tour with a stop at Indeed.

Public service announcement: it's officially summer at Indeed, and that means they're tapping LSD, their lavender, sunflower honey, and date-infused summer ale. It's as delicious as I remembered. So everyone should probably go have some soon. 

Stop 2: Dangerous Man! 

DM is Tom's favorite brewery, so it was great for him to be able to share it with Kait. 

We sampled their Peanut Butter Porter, which I had heard is legendary. It 100% lived up to the hype...it tasted like drinking a peanut butter cup. 

And Chino for dinner! We chowed on carne asada, "Cuban Pork Crisis" carnitas, sopes, and empanadas...before snarky fortunes made me giggle.

Being totally worn out by our Friday night shenanigans, we settled on girls' night in and watched (mocked) "Fifty Shades of Grey." HA. 

Sunday brought a delicious, boozy brunch at Haute Dish...the first meal in Minnesota in which Kait did NOT consume a pork product. 

We spent a few more hours hiding from the rain and chatting, and then headed to Lakeville for an insane Italian feast courtesy of Dick and the Jodester! I'm not even kidding...lasagna, garlic bread, wine...oh, and Asian Invasion salad because Kait requested it (and because it toooootally went with Italian food, HA!). Claire's better half, Mr. Rabon, returned from a bachelor party in NC that evening, so we hung out at her apartment and spent some quality time with him! 

And Monday dawned gloomy and gray, but we didn't let it get us down: after a failed attempt to grab Mojo Monkey Donuts, we instead ended up with scones and croissants from Bread and Chocolate. Sufficiently fueled up, we headed over to the North Loop for a spectacular Mississippi nature walk featuring a little Minneapolis "love:"

A pretty spectacular skyline: 

And of course, a few good (bad) selfies with my fave. 

We lunched with Claire's family, and all too soon, it was time to take my bestie to the airport. I'm already dreaming about the next time I get to see her, whether it's a hometown trip this summer or a visit to Harvard to hang out this fall as she starts grad school there! I love her lots and couldn't imagine a better weekend. Here's hoping yours was at least a fraction as good as ours...because ours would be pretty hard to beat. 

Things I have been doing instead of blogging:

1. Reading the "Selection" trilogy. And "The Greater Journey." And "The Girl on the Train." All addictive and wonderful, and ALL highly worth a read. 

2. Binge-watching "Grey's Anatomy." 

3. Trying to pick a favorite man from this season's cast of "The Bachelorette" to root for. 

3.5. Rejoicing that my pick for the Bachelorette actually won the coveted spot (TEAM KAITLYN). 

4. Obsessing over how to clean a dishwasher. 

4.5 Enlisting assistance in the form of a guy friend with a wrench, pliers and screwdriver in that quest, none of which was actually necessary. 

5. Catching up on sleep (still) after Paris. 

6. Drinking a lot of beer with Kelsie over the course of last weekend. 

7. Hitting the gym anywhere between 4:30 and 5:15 am...the only positive thing to come from jet lag. 

8. Getting ready for a much-needed, highly-anticipated best friend invasion. 

9. Doing basically three jobs at work with no boss and very little patience. 

10. Sending absurd numbers of Snapchats. 

Did you miss me? Sorry for the hiatus. Sometimes you just need to give in to the writer's block and get outside and actually live to have something to write about. No shame, sorry I'm not sorry, and all that jazz. With that said, I'm going to continue to be quiet over the Memorial Day weekend and promise cross-my-heart and all THAT jazz that I'll be back right after with plenty to say. Happy (almost) holiday weekend, campers!