Life & Times in 2013

TAKE CALCULATED RISKS.
THAT IS QUITE
DIFFERENT FROM BEING RASH.

On New Years Eve, I spent the evening with the dear and wonderful, Jenni. When I finished work in St. Paul at the shoe store (more on this later), I picked her up and we headed to my place to make the dish I have so wonderful procrastinated on, the green bean casserole I received ingredients for as part of my Secret Santa. When it had cooked and without eating it, we moved on to apparel. Our plans included the Beer and Pretzel Party: Dress to Impress. With my personal stylist on hand, Jenni concocted what I was to wear so ensure we went out in style. We headed out to pick up our dinner, chinese take-out and then headed back to Jenni's to enjoy it- not to mention celebrate our fortune resolutions!!  Afterwards, we headed to Hannah and Amanda's for the shindig.

As we walked into the party, only knowing Hannah and Amanda, I could have sworn we walked into the wrong apartment. The music was going, conversations were innumerable, and there were so. many. people. Finally Amanda emerged from the crowd directing us on where to go to put our coats. Talk about a blast. There was dancing, great music, conversation, not to mention the meet and greets with soo manyyyyyyy peopppple. At one point, Jenni had a Michael Jackson encounter. This required photographic evidence:

PHOTO SHOOT WITH MICHAEL. .

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Be jealous. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and could not thank Amanda and Hannah enough..

WITH OUR LOVELY HOSTESS', HANNAH AND AMANDA!

They provided a bit of a champagne fountain when it got closer to midnight. We counted down off of people's cell phone clocks, and rang in the new year with some of the world's best company! 

On New Years day, when I finally rolled out of bed, I went to Jenni's house to order more chinese take-out and to go see Perks of Being a Wallflower. I cannot wait to purchase the book, soundtrack, and movie- once it is released. This movie was wonderful and fascinating.

HANNAH BELTING IT FOR
LUNA AND THE SUNBROTHERS.

TAYLOR & ME LOVING
EVERY SECOND OF
SERENADING BY HANNAH.

I went to see Luna and the Sunbrothers peform at the coffee shop again, and the were of course marvelous. I'm really enjoying seeing Hannah so often, not to mention hearing her sing! The group is great, my offer still stands, if you want to join me- let me know! The coffee shop they perform at has recently gone under a name change. It was previously, Second Moon Coffee House. It is now called Precision Grind Coffee. It's located off of Franklin and 22nd, and they typically play every other Thursday (as in, this week, but not next, but then again on the following). Yes, they have this discussion every week and it is hilarious. :D They have great coffee, great art, and great sounds. If you're a fan of specialty drinks, straight up coffee, free WiFi, or jazz & blues, you should be there. As soon as possible. Let me know if you're interested in finding out more about them, or just visit their Facebook page!

Since it is the holidays and people are in the area that aren't always, a miniature London Reunion was in store. Adrian, Shannon and I live here now, and Taylor is home being on break from university. Taylor came up with a wonderful idea for an out-of-the-box activity and drinks: Sky Zone and Margaritas. Not at the same time, mind you.. that would be outrageous! We paid $8.00 for a half hour of jump time. Shannon and I were joking to Taylor that we should jump for an hour, we've got the time! Taylor kept insisting that she had done this before and we would understand when it got to that point. Sure enough. We had 12 minutes left to jump, and we were exhausted. It was such a great workout. Even a few days later now, my shoulders are aching horribly. When I stretch my arms out forward, the muscles between my shoulder blades feel like a telescope being opened, section by section. I cannot wait to go back!! After jumping, we headed to Taylor's for fantastic margaritas and catch-up time with Adrian, who unfortunately could not make it to the trampoline house.. Next time FOR SURE!

BIRKENSTOCK SOCKS. 

As you may have picked up on in the first sentence here, I have another job. This is another part time deal, looking to raise funds in my life. Here is the point in time where you say, "Of course you did."... I have a job at a shoe store called Shoesters. There are two locations in Minnesota, and two locations in Virginia. We specialize in foreign comfort shoes, some fashion shoes, and loads of Smart Wool clothing. I had to share this picture today. I organized all of the Smart Wool socks, and then moved on to fix the mess of several, maybe seven (?), boxes of unorganized Birkenstock socks. Here is the outcome: seven MORE boxes of ORGANIZED Birkenstock socks. Loveeeeee itttt! :)


A short note about a fun adventure.. On Sunday, Jenni and I headed to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the exhibit: China's Terracotta Warriors. It was fabulous. We arrived later than planned, around 10:45am only to find the MIA didn't open until 11:00am. Much to our surprise, there were somewhere around 100 people (or more, who knows!?) waiting in line ahead of us. Here is the moment Jenni reminds me, Sunday is the free, Target-sponsored day. Of course! We made our way into the atrium, happy to be warmer than the 1º F temperatures outside. This was the case, until MORE people came. It was tremendous, and everyone wanted to be out of the cold. Even the people standing outside.. who were holding the doors wide open. I'm leading off topic here... When they let us in, Jenni and I decided to start with the short documentary about the Terracotta Warriors. This video was immensely helpful, at least to me, as I have not studied or learned more about this since approximately Mr. Robert's 6th grade S.O.A.R. and history class. Yes, I know, shame on me. However, as soon as the first cycle of the video ended, the executive decision of getting in line for the exhibit was made. It maybe took a half hour for us to get in, but as we were heading through the exhibits, we heard employees saying the line had become so long that some people might not get through the exhibit today... WOW. I'm so glad we made it in.. not to mention snapped a couple photos to create the picture above. :)

Once again, I promise not to procrastinate on my blog posts again. It is entirely too difficult to remember details of events so far from the original fun!! Here is my resolution. At least two blogs a month. One for every trip I take, another for every crazy Minnesota-related adventure, and one to just let you know that life is swell and what crafts are in my head or cooking is being done in the kitchen. All of this needs work, and it's an adventure.. why not document it? It will be all the more fun to recount and revisit in days, weeks, months, and years to come.
Sarah Marsh