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CANstruction turned out to be the most memorable New to Me event of the past week. What I thought was going to be a leisurely Saturday morning building a can sculpture with my co-workers became an all-day marathon of re-building the toppled ruins of 3000 cans of organic food under the lovely fluorescent lights of the Mall of America. The photo on the left (note wall of cans lilting a bit sideways) was taken 2 minutes before the photo on the right (note 3000 cans spread across the floor). I guess we should have recruited a structural engineer to our design team. By late afternoon, we had perfected the art of rubber band reinforcement and "St. CANthony Falls at Night" remained standing for the required 48 hours before we packed up what really looked more like a fancy grocery store display of Amy's canned soups to send to Second Harvest food shelf. Despite the extra time, the project was fun and watching a wall of cans topple like dominos just isn't something you get to see every day!
New to Me: being quoted in an article on the National Wildlife Foundation's Campus Ecology website! Check out "The 'Demand' Response - Training Wheels to Energy Efficiency." I spend much of my day job thinking about energy efficiency and trying not to be completely frustrated all of the time with the building industry's lack of progress with regard to sustainability but won't get into it here!
The last 2 weeks were a vicious cycle of thinking I'm over this annoying cold and doing more new things, then feeling more sick and so on with the ultimate result of no blogging. Top 9 New Highlights:2. Playing tourist in my hometown and checking out hotels for Jonna's school project - climbed the Chambers stairwell to view the awesome murals by Juxta Arts (see light rail mural photo) and learned the lingo on a tour of the sassy new aloft hotel (see photo of me 'recharging' by 'splash' aka the pool). 3. Visiting the Museum of Russian Art for the final week of the Russian Impressionism exhibition and the MIA for the first week of the Eero Saarinen show - go check out the architectural models. 4. Finally eating at the new Kingfield neighborhood restaurant: La Chaya. Loved the atmosphere (nice lighting), service, and wonderful food flavors - try the green bean, spinach, beet, and avocado salad. They are lacking any local beers on tap, unfortunately. 5. As it is the start of a new clothing season, Emily and I found ourselves at the MOA last week as it is the location of our favorite store: H&M. We now have a decent dinner option (Tiger Sushi) in the case of finding ourselves hungry for something other than the world's best banana creme pie (Twin City Grill). 6. For 2 days last week, everything was New to Me at my intro to Leadership Twin Cities. At this retreat, I was introduced to 60 new colleagues through a series of icebreakers, small groups, and training sessions. Many of us found it easiest to bond over the open bar at the bonfire! Look for more posts on LTC new adventures over the next 9 months. 7. Trying seriously sweet waffles at Sweet Lou's in Northfield. Liked the square theme throughout. 8. Listening to the amazing classical guitarist Sharon Isbin and the Minnesota Orchestra's performance of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. Also enjoyed Ginastera's Variaciones concertantes with all of the individual instrument solos. 9. I was not planning to list sailing on Lake Harriet as a New to Me activity until I found myself sailing ALONE this afternoon. Bill and I were enjoying the last day of summer when we came upon 2 people unable to right their capsized boat. He opted to help by jumping over to their boat thus leaving me alone on The Tangerine. Luckily, I'd had about 15 minutes of lessons earlier today so was able to sail myself around for awhile before figuring out how to pick him up again (nice jump, btw). Am very proud of my courage!
Please come to the Bedlam Theatre this Friday, September 12th, at 7:00 for the Twin Cities Homeless Locker Project Fundraiser!Earlier this summer, TAB and I came up with the idea to host our first Architecture for Humanity Minnesota fundraiser to raise $ to build the lockers that were designed at the Search for Shelter charrette. Fundraising is definitely New to Me. Now the event is almost here, and TAB and Erin have done most of the work in pulling this together. We've already had an amazing $1000 donation from Angie's organization, the Family Housing Fund, so I totally feel like the project will be a success. Several artists have generously donated their work for the silent auction. Aviette, Derailleur, The Serfs, and DJ's Christian Fritz and Terrence Jerome have all offered to play the event. It should be a great time, and I hope you can be there!
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