Duly Noted

A handmade hat by Hannah.  Also- note the pretty leather earrings and Misha's star trek tee!  Both treasured gifts. A knit hat I began ages ago...finally completed.  I improvised the finish as Rachel The Dog shredded my pattern.

I'm really having too much fun with picmonkey .  Anywho, the snow is coming down after some initial sleet.  Gotta love the wintry mix.  Luckily, I just got back from a neighborhood stroll with Rachel the Dog so she is peacefully contemplating the snowfall from her perch on our very vintage living room coach.  The sofa is three generations at this point and I can't seem to find one that I like more. I mean, check this puppy out: Her 60's floral print actually matches our leather west elm chairs perfectly.  She can fit four plus adults (and multiple dogs). And, she is really comfortable!  I have napped here on many an occasion. Before I head out the door to work up a sweat at the Macalester gym, here's a run down of this weekend's highlights: Vinyasa + Restorative Yoga with my friend Julia.  It wasn't a pre-natal yoga class, but I've known the instructor for many years so she was sensitive to altering some poses for me.  I was surpri...

A crafty blog clued me into this super adorable and EASY online photo editor .  How cute is this?   As a side note, I cannot claim authorship for the tag line.  Copyright Mike Vasich @2004.

Last year, my colleague organized a monthly book club.  The parameters: 1)We will read The New York Times ten best books of the year, 2)members can participate freely depending on their taste and calendar, 3)the facilitator role will rotate, and 4)meetings are held in a public venue so nobody has to clean their house.  The group chose to hold meetings at Global Market, a colorful hub in the center of Minneapolis with dozens of food options and diverse company. Since my book conversations are primarily with eleventh graders, I decided it would be in my best interest to join the club this year and recalibrate my literary speak amongst a more intellectual crowd.  Our first book was Katherine Boo's Behind The Beautiful Forevers.   Heading to Thursday's meeting, I wasn't sure what (or who) to expect.  I found myself getting nervous; I rarely talk shop with adults!  I knew my colleague ran with a pretty bright circle as he is a former professor of a nearby libe...

This list mostly speaks for itself.  I tried to keep this list short and focused on a few small changes and goals that will hopefully make a big impact.  Quality over quantity, folks.  I am going to adopt that as my 2012 motto.  Some of you, dear readers, may be alarmed that I included buying matching underwear on my blog, but everyone wears underwear, right?  So, it might as well be cute.  My thinking is that if one buys a set a month, one would have nearly two weeks worth of matching underwear by the end of the year!  That's just fabulous.  Now, I'll be honest; I was apprehensive about mentioning this resolution on Duly Noted, BUT after sharing this resolution with several female friends and all of whom except ONE immediately decided that they too would make this a resolution, I felt confident that my readership would understand that this goal is not about being seductive...it's about self-love.  (Duly note: the ONE friend who did not...

The Longfellow Lights Committee gathered Friday evening to put the finishing touches our awards and head out into our neighborhood to determine this year's quality light displays. All members of the committee were filled with cheer including the canines in the party. We took judging very seriously.  Considering all decisions with equal weight. Our first award, a snowman, immediately fell apart and an air of disappointment filled the crisp winter air. Fortunately, the judges took the collapsed award in stride and the evening proved to be a success. Highlights included: a police officer playing holiday music from his loud speaker so we could enjoy a coordinated music/light three house display presenting an award to a homeowner in person.  She was frightened, then overcome with holiday gratitude. an on-looker directing us toward a miracle on 34th street.  (see video included above).  The evening closed with food and spirits ...

This race actually happened BEFORE the monster dash half marathon.  It was a really unique race for a number of reasons.  First off, the race was organized by a Macalester student (a Somali student who graduated from Minneapolis South High School) with support from American Refugee Committee (an organization I feel a special connection to thanks to my inspiring good friend who enacts her passion for refugee rights everyday at ARC). Appropriately, the race was a 5k run/walk to raise money for hunger relief in Somalia.  Local organizations and high schools were involved so I saw many a familiar face at the start line on the windy Sunday October morning. Joan and I decided to run a couple warm up miles over to the University of Minnesota flats on east river parkway.  The course was gorgeous; it covered trails and floating walkways along the river road that I had never run on before.  Judging from the relatively small number of racers (350 as compared to the t...

Our very first CSA share. Lots of salad greens of all varieties. So far, we've all the spring greens, romaine, oakleaf lettuce, and arugula, but the bok choy and some other kind of spicy lettuce is awaiting the proper recipe. Suggestions? As a former CSA farm intern and a ranch intern, I have some wild notions about the need to wash vegetables immediately. The way I see it is that if you wash and dry right away, and then store in inviting fridge containers, you are more likely to grab that bucket of lettuce and run with it. Alas, without a salad spinner, the washing and drying process calls for some creativity. Later that night, wedding invitation assembly and addressing! Mike assembled, I addressed. What a team. Since I used pretty wet ink for little heart stamp on the envelope, the final invite package needed drying space as well. Again, with no tables left to cover due to the greens amounts, further inspiration was required. I will post the interior invitations and rsvp...

I'm pretty lucky to have some fit, athletic lady friends that need some running buddies as much as I do. This morning, we had our first collective meeting (although, truth be told we did more running, eating, and chatting than "meeting" but that's the point right?!). It was very relaxed; we did manage to pull together some suggestions for the future of the collective however. Ideas included night runs, races (in which we would sponsor a women's health non-profit, girls' sports causes, etc), and once a month run and brunch. So a very successful first meeting. Best of all, the women who came to the meeting are totally inspiring individuals and amazing friends. That's really the best news of all. Also, if you read this, are female, and like to run...and live in the twin cities. Shoot me an email and I will get you on the list serv. Future running goals: -TC Marathon 2009 -Urban Wildland Half Marathon: Aug. 1st -Some kind of trail race...I am IN LOVE ...

My crafty, industrious friend Callie is currently in the process of making many paper and basket reed lanterns for her wedding. It's quite an ambitious project. Although she's been leading the effort, several of us girlfriends having been gluing paper and forming animal frames here and there. Here's some shots of the dragon lantern we were working on the other night. On wedding night, the lanterns will be lit up by candles inside of wire-hanging bell jars secured within the lanterns. I told Callie she better hang on to these for my fantasy wedding someday.

As promised, here are some stills of the making of Orange Mighty Trio's first music video for their new album, Infrastructure. What a funky looking word. Joe and Kris Swanberg , independent filmmakers and our good friends, directed and filmed the shoot in sunny Chicago. In spite of a few piano-moving mishaps (okay only one really- a piano toppling in the moving van that occured within in one mile of leaving Mike's house en route to Chicago!), the band and crew had a blast. There were some beautiful shots of Zack on the roof of Joe and Kris's building but unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me. Kris also has a successful little rooftop garden. The basil plants seem very happy as they look out on the cityscape.

First, a lovely chicken coop that my friend and I lodged in while interning at Common Harvest Farm in Osceola, Wisconsin. Interior Pictures: The second set of pictures I discovered on Katy Elliott's Blog .

This was a new sketch for my friend's birthday present! An older drawing of a regular daydream of mine.