Catching Up

When the Olympics ended, I had so much catching up to do with New items that I did not have time to blog. Now, stuck in bed with a cold, I am able to note the New highlights of the past 2 weeks:

MN State Fair: To celebrate Jonna's birthday,  Jenn, Bridget, and I met up with Jonna + friends at Ye Olde Mill for an always fun ride through the pitch black tunnel o' love. New to Me fair experiences included an after-dark ride on the most exciting elevator in town (Space Tower) and a very salty Pickle Pop - recommended only for the novelty factor. 

Sailing: Anyone who has seen me recently has asked about the hideous bruises across the back of my calves - evidence of my first sailing experience. Little did I know that Bill's offer of a ride last Saturday was actually recruitment for his Sunday race crew. After a brief practice session on one of the most perfect sunny days of the summer, I agreed to use my new skills in the very windy race the next day. Turns out he always wins, so I didn't have much to worry about (except the bruises)!

Republican National Convention: Not one to miss out on one of the biggest events ever to happen in MSP, I dragged TAB and Amanda on a Metro Transit adventure to the March on the RNC on Labor Day. We joined the 10,000+ other peaceful protesters on the streets of St. Paul and saw more cops/riot police than I could have imagined. I was frustrated that the media only told the story of the few anarchists that broke a storefront window. After the march, we heard some great bands at the Take Back Labor Day concert and then spent a few hours trying to return home to Minneapolis.

Juxtaposition Arts

On Thursday, I finally took a night off from Olympics-watching to attend the Broadway Beat fundraiser at Juxtaposition Arts with Jonna. I was first impressed by Deanna and Roger Cummings of Juxta Arts at Solutions vol. 2. Formed in 1995 and located off West Broadway in North Minneapolis, the non-profit's mission is "to empower youth and community to use the arts to actualize their full potential". We were lucky enough to be there for a neighborhood mural tour of the students' work (see photos with artist Eli) to see how Juxta's projects are creating a positive street culture that truly enhances the community. The night also included a live art auction with spokenword artist Tish Jones as MC and a silent auction in which I bought a painting/collage by Ron Brown. The whole night I was so amazed by this program that offers free art classes and instruction to youth and produces such high quality work. I felt lucky to be a part of the night and to have this asset in our community. Next year you all must attend!

Summer Continued

My Olympics-watching led me on a search for South Minneapolis bars with large screen TV's this week. Since I typically make an effort NOT to go to these places, I had no idea where to look. Luckily, Ryan introduced me to the large flat screens of Pepito's on Wednesday. The TV watching atmosphere was so good that I went back again with Emily, Meg, and Kara on Thursday. I'll be back next week to take Em's advice and try the Mexican Margarita.

In non-Olympics news, the end of the summer is here for our office interns. I always think that for us year-round workers, summer doesn't really end until the weather turns cold around October, but it was nice to celebrate with some half-price ($5) cocktails at Saffron's excellent happy hour (New to Me) with Mark, Amy, Tab, Amber, and Dan. Each drink was a beautiful color in a perfect glass. I think the Mediterranean Sunset won for color, Cuban in the Middle East for the tall highball glass, and No Name Drink for strength. Tab recommends the Saffron Rose. They have pleasant outdoor seating, excellent service, cloth napkins, constantly filled glasses of ice water, and tiny plates of decent food ($3.50). Try it.

Beijing 2008

On 08.08.08, I turned on my TV to watch something other than DVD's for the first time since the 2006 Winter Olympics. Although I've never been particularly into watching sports, I love the Olympics. I like the idea of all of the world coming together for one purpose, learning factoids about obscure events, and always the human interest stories. Did you see the great one about the 33 year old gymnast who saved her son by moving to Germany? It may be 2 weeks before I do anything else new! 

New to Me events of last week:

Saturday: In Okoboji, selected Mrs. Lady's Mexican restaurant based on number of cars in the parking lot. Not happy to find meat sauce on my broccoli and cheese enchilada.

Sunday: Enjoyed new patio at Acadia until the rain finally came. 

Monday: Bought a cart-full of organic canned food for LHB's design team to practice Canstruction.

Tuesday: Bittersweet at the Varsity Theater - loved Shana Halligan's mermaid dress and the venue.

Wednesday: Drove to Crookston and back. In one day. By myself. Luckily, had a sweet rental car.

Thursday: Kara was visiting Eden Prairie from Portland. A long drive to the burbs but was surprised to find a decent restaurant with yummy mojitio's at least: Wildfire.

Friday: Like I said above, not much new since i turned on the TV to watch the amazing opening ceremonies. Gotta run - human interest story on Michael Phelps...

Guest Blog

This week I returned to the New to Me project with enthusiasm. Week in review:

Sunday: Learned how to make cornbread in an iron skillet on the grill - yum

Monday: Finally got around to doing something I've been meaning to try for years: the Walker's Summer Music and Movies. All the urban hipsters collected in Loring Park to listen to live music and whisper through old black & white films.

Tuesday: Angie and Marisa obliged me in trying a new restaurant before attending "The Government Inspector" so we selected Harry's Food and Cocktails. Let's just say that sometimes it is best to stick with old favorites.

Wednesday: For dinner before the (horrible) Twins v. White Sox game, Angie and I selected Matt's Bar after reading a recent detailed description in an email from my mom:

"Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, food critic for Minnesota Monthly and also a Carleton grad, had written about all the best hamburgers in Minnesota. She wrote about Matt's Bar, "Matt's has been making these well-charred, unspeakably delicious Jucy Lucys, the best in the state--the best, no doubt, in the world--since, legend has it, 1954." Matt's is at 3500 Cedar Ave. so we drove over there from 2600 Park Ave. and ate Jucy Lucys and French fries in a very crowded small bar. Looking around, we seemed to fit in with the rest of the group. They don't use plates but wrap the hamburgers in paper. The fries were in a plastic basket. We drank natural lemonade in a bottle. According to the menu they do serve grilled cheese so you could go there with friends who like hamburgers. The middle of the hamburgers is filled with cheese which melts and with the first bite leaks out so is rather messy. We satisfied our hunger and had another nice outing."

I did enjoy my grilled cheese while watching the others devour Jucy Lucy's. Maybe my mom will start blogging too?

Thursday: Neither the Walker nor Solutions Twin Cities is New to Me, but Solutions for the Other 90% was a great new event. The presentation by Jeffrey and Alissa for our own group, Architecture for Humanity MN, even inspired me.

Friday: Took the day off and headed to Okoboji for our annual retreat at Sarah's cabin. Had a decent dinner at a new Boji restaurant: Kazarelli's. Their card states their Dock GPS (N 43 22.562 W 095 10.729) but no website. Fun to try a new place and a new beer: New Belgium's Summer Wheat - very nice and I thought I didn't like wheat beers! Now to relax some more...