Big city, yeah, yeah.

9 Feb

[Big city, yeah, yeah.]  I went to the Cities on Thursday night.  Pastor Joel from Montana [the pastor whom Paige and I had just seen a week earlier] was in town for a continuing education event.  It was almost as if we didn’t actually live a 16 train ride away, seeing each other twice in the course of a matter of weeks.  The continuing education event at the seminary was over and Joel was getting on the train that night.  We made dinner plans and I made plans to arrive in the Cities a bit early to explore a few of my favorite places.

IMG_2019Favorite place #1: Paper Source.  I drool over the catalogs when they arrive in the mail. It’s where I buy bookmaking supplies and my Christmas cards.  They have an entire wall of cards and envelopes in every size arranged by color.  #dreamy

 

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Favorite place #2: Right across the street in Uptown is the Kitchen Window.  A kitchen store.  #drool.  I went in for a pastry blender and walked out with that and the creme-of-the-crop candy coating discs that I use for cakepops.  I usually pick up the Wilton’s brand from craft stores but when Merken’s brand is available, it makes huge difference.

IMG_2021Favorite place #3: I met up with Joel and Paige at the seminary and we were off to Punch Pizza where the pizzas are cooked at 800 degrees for 90 seconds and the best salad on the face of the earth exists.  Hands down.

I do love the Cities and seeing my friends there.  I love St.Anthony Park [featured photo] and creme brulee at Wilde Roast.  I kinda miss it all – the paper, the proximity to high quality cakepops supplies, the pizza, and especially the friends.

friday favorites.

8 Feb

It’s been a crazy week.  I’m sorry I haven’t been more bloggy.  Turns out returning  to work after vacation will make you crazy — so crazy that your administrative assistant just knows to bring you Girl Scout cookies to help manage your stress.


Two things: You encourage me.  And — say, what’s your space jam?  [Watch this.  It will make sense and will make your whole day better, I promise.]

Need a DIY Valentine’s idea?  These are super cute and all they require is a printer, some cardstock, and fun candies.  [Okay.  And maybe some twine and bags and tape.]

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie with Butternut Squash sounds entirely delicious.  It may be a great comfort food as the anticipated winter storm approaches this weekend.

I signed up for a continuing education class in July.  It’s a journaling/art class at the art school on Madeline Island.  I am beyond excited to escape to the island for a week, squash my inner critic, and enjoy the water.  Upon further investigation, I also learned that the instructor for the class is a creativity coach.  I’m in love with her already.

Does your phone or ipad or laptop need a fun desktop background?  How About Orange has some cute options … and they’re free!

I love everything this woman quilts.  Seriously.  She is my inspiration.

So yesterday was awesome.

4 Feb

[So yesterday was awesome.]  It started out as a regular Sunday with one major difference – I was feeling quite rested and ready after two weeks of vacation.  Bring on worship.

I’m sitting in my office, prepping and talking to the treasurer, when I see out the window a couple from my former life walking up the sidewalk.  Batman was here!  Batman and his wife were here!  [Wondering who Batman is?  Read this.]  It was so fun to see them and chat with them.  A day can’t go wrong when there are Dawson visitors involved!

Fast forward.  Everyone has left church and I’m tidying up a few loose ends before heading out.  Boy Scout dad and two of his kids [also my neighbors and a family who attend ROG] show up; they hold their den meeting at ROG some Sunday afternoons.  One of his kids with him is in the den; the other is his daughter.  Why is his daughter coming to the Boy Scout meeting?  To conduct a science experiment, in which I also participated.

Budding scientist:  Hi Pastor Lindsay.  Do you want to help me with my science project?
PL:  What do I have to do?
Budding Scientist: [whips ziploc bags of cookies from her grocery tote] Try three different cookies and then I’ll ask you some questions.

[Let me get this straight.  You want me to eat three chocolate chip cookies at the point in the day when I’m most hungry after working and running around since 7:30 this morning?]

PL: Um, yeah!

And so I tried cookies A, B, and C.  I ranked them for overall taste and crunch.  [Turns out one had baking power, one had baking soda, and one had neither.]  Most delicious and awesome science project ever.

From there, I went on a hospital call.  Sweet, dear gentleman who normally resides in the care center was in the hospital.  He was pretty weak and he hadn’t had any liquids to drink for at least a day; he tried to talk but with such a dry mouth, it was hard to understand him.  His son was there; he tried to translate for me.  At two different points, the sweet, dear gentleman said things in my general direction.  I looked at the son for translation.  First: He says he likes your scarf.  Second: He says you have a nice coat.  Well, thank you, sweet, dear gentleman.

More day of awesome continued with a trip to the dog park for Ms.Mabel, phone conversations with long lost friends, and velvetta cheese at a Superbowl party.  The only disappointment in this day of awesome was missing out on a date with my bestie, Sara, for the second time due to snow.  Darn snow.  One of these days, Sara and I will reunite and it will be all kinds of awesome.

February 1: friday favorites.

1 Feb

[February 1: friday favorites.]  There is something so full of potential with the start of a new month.  With the start of each day, really.  After clearing my mind during vacation, I’m excited to approach February.  A new month.  New possibilities.

I hereby declare February the month of the blog.  [In addition to the month I start exercising on a regular basis again, the month in which Lent begins, the month I do something creative every day, the month of everything else I could ever possibly want to do, etc.]  The blog got its own domain and a whole new look just a few weeks ago.  Now it’s time for a little focus and a little forward thinking about this thing I love to write.

And so, during this month of possibility and month of the blog, I institute a weekly post: friday favorites.  A round-up of my favorite things both on and off the web from the past week.  Let’s begin.

I saw this and loved it.  The tutorial calls for sheet metal glued to the inside of a cabinet.  Something tells me that’s not a great approach for the poor pastor in the parsonage.  But it did inspire me to 3M-strip-the-heck out of a couple cork trivets to the inside of a couple cabinets.  It’s the perfect place for recipes [no longer cluttering the side of my fridge] and coupons and all sorts of important stuff.

Another organizing idea I hopped right to was this one.  I [once again – thank God for 3M strips] 3M-stripped-the-heck out of a couple hooks and a wire basket.  It now holds my sponges and fels-naptha.

Have you watched The Office from this week?  The show has had its moments of floundering in the past years but I’m in love with it once again.  They’re going out with class and the classic humor that first made it the show I love.

Look at these darling fabric bows.  I want to make one hundred of them and cover every known surface.

Do you watch The Bachelor?  No judging, please.  If you don’t, you can but pretend you don’t.  If you do, check out this dude’s blog.  He reviews each episode in an oh-so-manly and hilarious fashion.  And apparently he has a black belt in feelings.

Have you heard of Go Mighty?  Go Mighty is an online community where you set goals, tell stories, and encourage one another to challenge the status quo.  I just joined and am still getting the hang of it.  They have an annual conference in California I would die to go to; unfortunately, it’s not in the budget or vacation this year.  One thing we all can do right now – Go Mighty is challenging everyone to take 20 minutes each day to do something intentional for yourself or for others.  20 minutes a day in February.  Today I mixed up three batches of Valentine cookie dough to bake and send to people.  That was my #20minutes.

Perhaps that’s enough for now.  Come back next Friday for more favorites!

A Trip Advisor summary.

31 Jan

[A Trip Advisor summary.] I write this from my usual spot on the left side of the couch at the ROG parsonage; Mabel curled up to my right.  Paige and I de-trained in St.Paul this morning around 7:30 after – I can say – a pretty great ride home.  We upgraded to a sleeper car; the best $55 spent.  A sleeper car room meant that not only were we able to lay down flat at night but all meals and a wine tasting were included.  [That’s a $55 value right there.]  Along with that, there was a roomier and cleaner bathroom and our own porter, Darryl, who referred to himself in the third person and helped us with anything we needed.  [Darryl’ll do that, he told us about putting the top bunk down.]

It wasn’t easy getting on the train to come home; both Melissa and I started crying.  It’s been a year and a half since I’ve seen them; it was so great to be together again. I miss them and their little girls already.  It’s been a long time since I’ve spent so much time with babies and I loved it.  I am so grateful I had the chance to hold and rock and play with Hannah Grace and Harper Joy.  Grateful.

It was a great vacation and like all great vacations, it deserves a glowing review on Trip Advisor.  Do you know Trip Advisor?  It’s a website that reviews and shares information about hotels and getaways.  If I were to write a Trip Advisor summary for this vacation, it would sound like this:

Escape to rural Montana for a week of snow, good food, and wonderful friends.  Travel by train; experience luxury and wine tastings in the sleeping cars or suffer a miserable night in coach.  You will be greeted at the train station by Rev. Joel, Melissa, and their beautiful babies.  While in Montana, excursions to historic fort cities and underground passageway tours are available and recommended.  Much of your time will be spent comforting crying babies, feeding babies, dancing with babies, and holding babies [but that’s a big part of why you went in the first place].  Time will also be devoted to church-going, Bachelor-watching, and scone-eating. Cocoa Puffs, coffee with peppermint creamer, and hand-whisked orange juice are always readily available for guests.  Private rooms.  Laundry facilities available on-site.  A welcoming, loving, and reasonably-priced destination for your next winter vacation.

I give it five stars.

Here are the rest of the photos from the journey westward.  Photos include our Havre Under the Streets tour [Chinese laundromats, opium dens, bootlegging ghosts, oh my!], one last photo of the baby girls, and adventures on the train ride home.

The beginning of the Havre Under the Streets tour. Lorraine was our tour guide and she was awesome.
The Chinese Laundromat.
The opium den. I kid not.
The barber shop. [Quite literally, all of these are under the streets. There used to be a series of tunnels and businesses under the sidewalks of Havre.]
This is Shorty. Apparently he haunts the place. Or so Lorraine told us.
Melissa requested that I bake two things while I was there: scones and a cake. These scones were pretty delicious.
Wine and cheese tasting on the train ride home.
It was tiny – this is it – but worth it to be able to lay down.
“Disrobe first.” It makes sense; once you roll onto the top bunk, there is not much space to move around.

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life in MT.

29 Jan

[Life in MT.]

Yesterday, we went to a baby shower hosted by the churches Joel serves.
Miss Hannah banana
Hug someone today. Do it. I hugged babies.
I had the pleasure of hanging out with babies again. This trip is not good for my constant and always baby fever.
Incredibly precious.
Exploring Fort Benton along the river.
Our lunch destination in Fort Benton. Super delicious.
We made a sinfully chocolate cake to enjoy during our sinful two hours of television – The Bachelor.
I like my cake best with milk.

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that awkward moment –

28 Jan

[that awkward moment-] when you see that guy you used to email until you gave some lame excuse to stop because you thought you’d never see him face-to-face.

Let this be a lesson to all of us.

Of all my friends, Melissa is one of the most supportive of my desire to end my stylishly single lifestyle [shout out to Denise for that term] and the one most actively involved in helping that happen.  That being said, last year she scoured northeast Montana for available men.  She passed my email onto one said man and hoped I didn’t mind.

Gustav* and I emailed back and forth for a short while.  But I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing.  I didn’t know what could ever come of it.  He lived in Montana; I live in Minnesota.  There were a few other quirky things that I probably should have just let go of and not factored into my decision.  [I mean, Jef with one F from last season of the Bachelorette proved that adult men who skateboard can be cool.]  I didn’t want to lead him on or anything.  Admittedly, I was probably not the most concise or polite person when it came to that last email.

I’d nearly completely forgotten about Gustav with one V until I was on the train to Montana and I told Paige about it.  And then it all came screeching back again when we walked into church on Sunday morning.  There was a gentleman in the front row that could possibly be familiar to the photos we’d exchanged.

Shit.  Could it be?

We sat down across the aisle.  I leaned over to Melissa.  “Remember when I emailed that guy?”  There was a slight pause, she smirked, and said, “Yeah.  Gustav.  He’s sitting right there.“

Double shit.

Who knows if he even remembered that one friend of his pastor’s with whom he shared his passion for skateboarding so many months ago?  That pastor from MN who now feels guilty and shallow and mean about how she may have acted a year and a half ago.  To his credit, he seemed very polite and nice and crossed the aisle to share the peace with us.  He was wearing shorts in the middle of winter but I can’t dock him for that; I knew another great man who did the same.

* name has been changed.

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Hello from MT!

27 Jan

[Hello from MT!] Above photo credit due to Rev. Paige who tried diligently today to get the perfect panoramic photo of big sky country.

Paige and I made it to the grand state of Montana yesterday afternoon. We were greeted by twin girls and their parents. Once we retrieved our luggage from a wagon [literally – a wagon pulled by an ATV] we were off and thankful to no longer be on a train.

While we can credit the train with safely getting us to our destination of Havre, MT, train travel is not nearly as glorious as I dreamed it would be. Our first clue should have been the AMTRAK station in St.Paul, where there are signs hung on the walls with duck tape. The next sixteen hours would be tolerable, but would not rank high on the scale of enjoyable.

We got on the train at midnight and found sleep hard to achieve. The seats were hard. Our foot rests didn’t work properly. I tried a round of trying to sleep on the floor and while I was able to sleep, I feel like my back paid for it in pain. Once the sun came up, things became a bit more glamorous. We ate breakfast in the dining car and hung out in the observation car. Paige was smart and had loaded a few things to watch on her iPad; we watched those. We met fun people, including Rhonda, a train employee from Chicago, who gave wonderful announcements over the loud speaker about sinks clogging in the restrooms.

Glorious or not, we are happy to be in MT. So far our time with Joel, Melissa, Hannah, and Harper has included supper at a diner and grocery shopping; a walking tour of Big Sandy and enjoying the sunshine; watching television and Pitch Perfect; and holding, feeding, and loving two little two-month olds. The next three days may be more of the same with some church, scones, and the Bachelor thrown in, which all sounds very well and good to me.

North Dakota – the least boring side.
Observation car.
My train project: trying my hand at embroidery. #newcraftyskill
Paige [the baby whisperer] reads to baby Harper.

On the road. Again.

24 Jan

[On the road.  Again.]  Mabel and I arrived back in Austin early this afternoon after many fun and relaxing days in Wisconsin.  It was great to see family, celebrate a wedding with dear friends, and relax in Mom’s new house.  It was good.

From here, it’s a mess of unpacking, laundry, and repacking as I now prep for the second leg of this vacation – Montana.  I drop Mabel off at the kennel at 5 and then Paige & I are bound for the cities.  Our train leaves the St.Paul station tonight at 11:15.  We should arrive in Havre, MT shortly after lunch tomorrow.

Turns out packing is hard.  Trying to figure out what comes with me, what gets stowed below is tough this time.  My dining room floor is currently the middle of the game what-to-pack-and-where-to-pack-it.  I’ll figure it out.  Eventually.  Likely leaving something rather important behind.  But so it goes.

We’re in Montana thru next Wednesday when we hop on the train to return home. It will be a great couple of days spent with Joel, Melissa, and their baby girls.  The last time I was in Montana visiting them was on my way to Alaska two summers ago.  They were my place to rest the second night into my trip.  It was fun to stop and see them then; I have no doubt it will be even more fun this time around, especially with a Paige, a Hannah, and a Harper happily in the mix this time!

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great love involves great risk.

22 Jan

[great love involves great risk.]  One of the readings that Kay and Peter chose for their wedding ceremony was from the Dalai Lama.  I simply cannot get it out of my head.  I love it.  I’m sharing it with all of you.

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

And that a loving atmosphere in your home

is the foundation for your life.

Be gentle with the earth,

be gentle with one another.

When disagreements come

remember always to protect the spirit of your union.

When you realize you’ve made a mistake,

take immediate steps to correct it.

Remember that the best relationship is one

in which your love for each other

exceeds your need for each other.

So love yourselves, love one another,

love all that is your life together

and all else will follow.

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