skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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!
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.
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!
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.
Posts
