A Run Down Memory Lane

Last Thursday, I left work at 3pm so I could fit a workout in. It wasn't exactly a "nice" day but I knew I'd enjoy a run outside way more than a run on the gym "dreadmill." My plan is to try to workout at 3pm one day/week to help me hit my goal of 4 workouts/week. I haven't ran in this area of Minneapolis in a very long time. My last run down there might have even been the morning of my wedding almost 5 years ago when I ran a very similar loop with my sister - on a similarly cold day! 

When I met Phil back in the fall of 2012, I was living in on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, along the Mississippi River. It is one of my favorite areas of Minneapolis, but an area I did not really know much about until I rented a condo there. I had moved into a condo in the summer of 2011. Prior to that, I was living in a condo that I owned in the suburbs of Minneapolis. And I HATED it. When I bought in 2005, the only place I could afford was the suburbs. Then the market tanked in 2008-2009 and I was stuck out there. Then in February of 2011, I took a trip to Paris for my 40th birthday (which you could read about on my Paris blog that's been dormant since my last trip to Paris in 2013). I stayed in a charming apartment in the Marais area of Paris and came back wishing my life looked more like my vacation life did. So after much thought and some research, I decided to rent out my suburban condo and move into a condo rental in the Mill City area of Minneapolis. 

The condo building where I lived!

I ended up living there from summer 2011 until I was relocated to Charlotte in 2013 for a job (I met Phil in October and found out I had to move in January... it was a tough thing to go through). I spent 1 year in Charlotte and then moved back to Minneapolis in May 2014 and back into this building. In total, I lived in 3 condos in this building - my first faced downtown and my next 2 faced the river, which I much preferred. 

It was an amazing place to live for this period of my life, especially as a runner. I lived at the base of a pedestrian bridge and could run for miles along the river. 

This is the end of the pedestrian bridge - you can see my condo building (brown building) is right by this bridge)

I wonder how many times I crossed this bridge while living in that condo building. At one point, I had a friend that lived in a condo building that was at the base of the other side of the pedestrian bridge so I have memories of walking across to spend time with her. 

The Stone Arch Bridge

When you run across that pedestrian bridge, you see the beautiful St. Anthony Falls. Of course this picture doesn't do it justice! 

St. Anthony Falls

On the other side of the river from where I lived is the church where Phil and I got married. That's the church I've been taking Paul to this spring. It's a good 20 minutes from where we live so not very convenient, but I love the vibe of that parish so have remained a member there. 

I lived in this area of Minneapolis until May of 2016 when I moved into Phil's house in south Minneapolis. Funny story - I moved in on Friday and then had hip surgery to repair a labral tear the following Monday. Boy was that trial by fire to see if we could live together! We got engaged that December so getting a sneak peak of me being completely reliant on him didn't scare him off. ;) But I wouldn't recommend having a a painful surgery that requires using crutches for 3 weeks right after moving in with someone!

So do I miss living in this area of Minneapolis? Honestly, not really. It was great for that stage of my life, but it was really hard to host people at my condo since parking was so difficult. There were some guest parking spots in the parking garage but it was tough to get a spot. It's much easier to host friends living where we do now as there is ample street parking. Plus I still do most of my runs by the water since we live close to a creek and Lake Harriet. And overall, I much prefer living in a house versus sharing walls with someone in a condo building. But I am glad I had the opportunity to live there and will also fondly remember the years I spent living there in the early- to mid-2010s! And I'm happy that I'm back to running so I can run down memory lane on days I work out after work!

Is there an area of your city that brings back memories for you? 

Sister Weekends Are the Best Kind of Weekend

This past week I got my younger sister all to myself for just under 48 hours. It was blissful! Abby has lived in AZ for the past 8-9 years but she has been back in the Midwest for 6 months while he husband trains at an Air Force base in Fargo, ND. Her and her husband make a couple of trips back each year but it's usually for a holiday and they maximize their time with the whole family. So I don't exactly get her to myself, besides when we sneak away for a run or something like that.

Phil had his post-wedding bachelor party so it was the perfect weekend for Abby to come and visit. Here's how we spent our time!

On Friday Night Abby got to our place around dinner time. She was running a half marathon in the morning, so I made her the white wine chicken pasta dish that I always make the night before a race plus a Greek salad. I was so excited to dig in that I forgot to take a picture! We chatted for a bit after dinner and then headed to bed as we had an early morning ahead of ourselves!

On Saturday morning we left the house around 6 am, grabbed Starbucks to fuel us for the day, and then I dropped her off at the race start. The race was in the West metro area, along Lake Minnetonka. Originally I was supposed to run this race with her, but my body had other plans this summer. So while she ran, I read at a local coffee shop.

My latest read has been a great one!

I caught her at the end of the race, though, about 1/4 of a mile before the finish! She looked great and ran such a strong race!

After the race, we met up for brunch with my college friend, Heidi. She's met Abby multiple times over the years so it was fun for her to see Abby while she was in town. I love that my sister has gotten to know some of my closest friends over the years! Brunch was delicious. The place we went to had gouda hashbrowns and they were seriously the best hashbrowns I've ever had!!

After the race, we went back to my house, showered, and did some prep work for the Indian dishes we'd be making in the evening. On Saturday afternoon we did a little bit of exploring. Our first stop was Minnehaha Falls, which is a place where I take most visitors. It's such a cool area - not something you'd expect in the city!

We needed to go to an Indian grocery store next and it happened to be walking distance from my favorite distillery, Tattersall Distilling. If you like cocktails and happen to be in Minneapolis, you have to check this place out! They make a bunch of liquors, like gin, vodka, and bourbon, on sight and they have delicious, creative drinks! They also have fun n/a options, which is what I went with that day (I had a tamarind, ginger, peach soda drink).

After that we headed back to our house and relaxed for about an hour. Then it was time to make our Indian feast! We picked 2 recipes out of a cook book I had received for our wedding - Chicken Tikka Masala and a coconut chile shrimp dish. The chicken Tikka Masala required us to make the Chicken Tandoori dish, so we actually made 3 recipes.

First up, we made the chicken tandoori. It's made with bone-in chicken thighs. We marinated the chicken for about 5 hours in a yogurt marinade.

Next up, you had to carefully take the bones out of the chicken thighs and then you browned the chicken thighs in melted butter (this is NOT a light recipe!).

Then it was time to make the sauce, which is made from a puree of serrano chiles, garlic, ginger, diced tomatoes, and a bunch of other spices.

After that, you added some whipping cream and garam masala, and the chicken went back in the sauce to simmer away.

Next up we made the coconut chile shrimp. This was a very easy dish to make and it came together very quickly. The recipe calls for fresh or frozen grated coconut, which we were able to find at the Indian grocery store. I was surprised that the dish did not taste like coconut - the grated coconut mostly gave it some texture.

I served both dishes with basmati rice.

Here's my delicious spread!

It was so fun to spend 2.5 hours in the kitchen with Abby. We both love to cook and we love Indian food so it was the perfect way to spend the evening. Plus we both agreed that the dishes we made - especially the Tikka Masala - were as good as what you would get in an Indian restaurant!

After dinner we watched (500) Days of Summer (we both love Zooey Deschanel and are obsessed with this movie) and headed to bed early again!

On Sunday morning we went over to my garden so Abby could help me gather some fresh produce. I sent her home with some tomatillos, green beans, a zucchini, and some cherry tomatoes. I brought home lots of zucchini and tomatillos!

Then we met up with my friend Courtney and her little guy Leo, who is almost 2, and walked to the Farmer's Market and then to my favorite brunch spot - Hola Arepa. This is another place that I tend to take visitors - plus almost the entire menu is GF so I have so many delicious options to choose from!  I had a pork arepa with fried yuca which is pretty much the only thing I get there since it's so delicious! Mmmmm.

After that, Abby hit the road and I spent the afternoon doing some "adulting". I fly to Chicago for a 2-day work trip this morning so it was nice to have the afternoon/evening to do laundry and get things done.

The week ahead is another busy and exciting week as Julia Child Night is on Saturday night! It's usually in October or November but we are having it early this year! And Abby and her husband are coming for it so you'll finally get to see what Julia Child Night is all about. We'll have 32 guests this year so it's bigger than ever!

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Scenes from the Weekend

Happy Monday, friends!  This is a short, 2-day week for me as we leave for Oregon on Wednesday morning. The weather forecast is looking pretty craptastic (rain and high winds) so I'm pretty bummed about that but I know that we'll have a great trip even in the weather isn't optimal. I am just hoping and praying that the rain holds off long enough for us to get at least 1 decent hike in!

Luckily, the weather was gorgeous here this weekend. The temperatures have definitely cooled off but we've had lots of sunshine and mild temperatures during the day.  Since I know that our nice days are numbered, I tried to spend as much time outdoors as I could.  Here's how I spent my weekend!

On Friday night, we had a card night with friends so I made this apple crisp recipe for dessert. It is not light in calories or sugar but sometimes you need an indulgent treat! While I was assembling the apple crisp, my sous chef Oscar kept me company. As I said in my photo caption on Instagram, I know some people are probably appalled that we let Oscar on the kitchen counter, but she stays away from the food and likes to be able to observe what is going on. And who can say no to this sweet face?

My sweet shadow

Saturday was a super full day. On Saturday morning, I had my sock knitting class at 10:30 am but before that I swung by the Farmer's Market to pick up the half-share of meat from a local organic farm that we'll be sharing with another friend. I feel good about the source of most of my food but meat was one area that I didn't feel great about, so I am glad we found a reasonably priced farm to purchase meat from!

The knitting class I went to was great. It's very tricky to knit 2 socks at the same time on 2 circular needles, so I am glad the class was small as the instructor was able to spend time getting each of us started. After the class, I went home and Phil instructed me to sit down and relax while he made lunch for us.  I followed his orders.  :)  The rest of Saturday afternoon was filled with things like cleaning out my garden, doing my running intervals, and going to church.

On Saturday evening, I made a special carb-loading meal for Phil since he was running a 10 mile race the next day. Since he loves loves (and I do, too!) I made this simple Pasta Puttanesca recipe (but left out the anchovy paste because I just can't get on board with anchovies). I served the pasta with a salad with more olives and other goodies like cucumbers from my garden and pepperoncini.

We were up bright and early on Sunday morning as Phil's race started at 7 am. I dropped him and his friend off at the start and then met up with my friend Amber. The marathon and 10 mile race end in St. Paul, so we biked over to St. Paul and had breakfast at French Meadow and did some planning for our trip to Spain! We got quite a bit of planning done before heading over to the 23.5 mile area of the marathon course on Summit Avenue. My friend Grace, who I know through blogging, was running the marathon. It was fun to cheer her on.  She looked great when we saw her and ran a super strong race, finishing in 3:12!!  I am in awe of people like her who can maintain that kind of pace (7:20 min/mile) for 26.2 miles!!  Unbelievable!!

After that, we biked back along the mighty Mississippi.  It was a cool morning but the skies were blue. I love biking along this stretch of the Mississippi as it's so picturesque with the skyline of Minneapolis in the background.

The leaves haven't changed as much as they normally would at this time of year, but you can see peaks of orange and red in the photos below.

Sunday afternoon was more slow-paced for me, which was such what I needed. I relaxed on the couch and did some reading. Later in the day, I picked up Grace and we grabbed coffee. I'm really glad we got a chance to chat in person after reading each others' blogs for many years. Plus, she had the same hip surgery as I did so it was nice to talk to someone who has been through the same surgery and has fully recovered.

On Sunday evening, Phil and I watched the debate together. Like all of the debates, it was kind of a train wreck in that it was painful to watch but I just couldn't look away. After that, we headed to bed as I was exhausted from my busy weekend and Phil was exhausted since he ran a strong race on Sunday morning (he finished the 10 mile race in 1:18!).

After my busy weekend, I'm sure glad I have a vacation to look forward to this week!  I'll be back with a vacation recap next week!

How did you fill your weekend? 

Do It Now - Taking in Live Perfomances

When you live in a city that you think you are always going to live in (or will live in for a long period of time), it's really easy to take things for granted.  I was the queen of doing that before I was relocated to Charlotte.  Minneapolis has a lot to offer but I wasn't always great about making the most of it as I thought there would always be time to do the things I wanted to do. But after living in Charlotte, I knew that when I moved back, I needed to have more of a "Do It Now" perspective as you just never know when life is going to throw a curve ball at you. 

I'm applying this "Do It Now" perspective to multiple areas of my life, but one area I'm applying it to lately is taking in live performances.  Luckily I live in a city that has lots of opportunities to choose from.  In fact, Minneapolis has the second most theater seats per capita - we are second only to New York! Here are some of the live performances I've taken in or will be taking in over the coming months!
 

Last month, a couple of friends from work and I snagged a Living Social deal for tickets to Mary Poppins at a local dinner theater.  I loved this movie so much as a child so it was very fun to see the live production version of it! Both of my co-workers enjoy going to live productions so I can see us doing something like this again!

Tonight, Phil and I are going to "An Evening with Neil deGrasse Tyson" at one of the theaters in downtown Minneapolis.  For those of who aren't familiar with him, NDT is the host of the popular show, Cosmos, which is a show about all things science.  NDT is an astrophysicist but he has a way of explaining complex things in a way that the average person can understand.  I bought the tickets to this show as part of Phil's Christmas present.  He loves NDT so I was really excited to surprise him with this gift.  We know 2 other couples that are going to the show so we'll all have dinner together before.  It should be a really fun night. 

In June, I'm going to an Ingrid Michaelson concert with 3 other friends.  Ingrid has been on my "bucket list" of artists I want to see live for many years so I am excited that I will finally get to see her in concert!  I own all of her albums and have been a fan for years so I am really excited to see her live!

Last, but not least, in June I am also going to see the musical production of Once with my friend Courtney.  We actually bought tickets for this the day they went on sale in November because I wanted to make sure we got great seats.  I loved the movie Once and I have heard great things about the live production!

I don't know that I'll take in as many live performances in the second half of the year as I will during the first half of the year, but I'm excited that I've got so much to look forward to in the coming months!

Do you like to go to live performances?  Is there something that your city/area of the country offers that you tend to take for granted?    

Showing Lori the City I Love!

I got to host Lori this past weekend and we had the best time!  She had never been to Minneapolis so it was fun to show her some of my favorite sights and introduce her to some of my favorite local restaurants.  Here is how we kept ourselves busy this weekend!

On Friday morning I picked her up from the airport and we headed to Minnehaha Falls which is a pretty waterfall in south Minneapolis that is about 10 minutes from the airport.  It was a beautiful day to see the falls as it was so sunny and warm out!

We had to take a waterfall selfie!

After walking around for a bit, we drove through an area called Uptown so she could see what that area is like, I ran an errand, and then we had lunch at a place I hadn't been to but had been wanting to try called Lagos Tacos.  The food was so good!

After stuffing ourselves with tacos, chips, and salsa, we went for a walk around part of Lake Harriet and then went to Wild Rumpus Bookstore which is this awesome children's book store in the Linden Hills area of Minneapolis.  It's a very unique story and just something I feel like everyone should see!  The store has lots of animals, like chickens, cats, chinchillas, birds, a lizard, etc.  There is so much to see so it's a great place to take kids (and animal lovers). 

One of the chickens walking around the store

There is usually one or two cats hanging out in the window.  The store was all decked out for Halloween!

After all of that exploring, we were pretty tired out so we went back to my place to relax for the rest of the evening.  I made dinner and we watched some HGTV.  We called it an early night as Lori got up super early for her flight that day!

On Saturday morning we woke up to a beautiful day.  The weather was in the low 50s which is pretty amazing for this time of year as it could certainly be MUCH cooler!  The sun was shining and the view from my balcony was so peaceful and beautiful.

We opted to go for a run in Phil's neighborhood instead of mine as the leaves in my neighborhood had dropped more than his and I knew of a good 4 mile flat route that we could do by his house.  Plus I had to check in on the cat that he's been pet sitting for as he was out of town for a bachelor party.  The area where we ran was so pretty as it is a wooded area with paved running and biking paths that follows a creek.

His neighborhood is so pretty right now.  When we were walking back to his house, this tree was seriously raining leaves - it felt like a magical fall day!

After our run, we stopped by his house so I could check in on Ted, the cat.  Phil LOVES this cat so much, I don't know what he will do when this long-term pet sitting arrangement ends (his owner is working on a contract out in LA and has been gone at least 80% of the time since January).  I also have fallen in love with Ted as he is the sweetest cat. 

Our next stop was Victor's 1959 Cafe for brunch!  It is a tiny little Cuban place close to Phil's house that has awesome food.  I started off with a sweetened cafe con leche which was so good!  Lori and I both had the hardest time picking our meals as there were so many good, interesting options!

After brunch we headed back to my condo, got ready for the day and then walked into downtown Minneapolis so I could show her what our city center is like.  We grabbed some coffee at Starbucks and then did a little browsing at some of the stores.  It was nice to be able to show her what our downtown was like.  Yes, it is smaller than other large cities but I think it has a lot to offer for its size (Banana Republic, Gap, Macy's, Target, Barnes and Noble, etc).  She could see why I missed living here as I can pretty much walk to most of the places I tend to shop at.

On Saturday night we went to church in my neighborhood and then went to Brasa for dinner, which is my favorite casual dining restaurant in Minneapolis!  Almost the entire menu is gluten free so it's a great place for me to eat as I can really order what I want instead of choosing from a limited number of options.  We ordered a selection of small plates to share and the food was SO good!

We had roasted pork, smoked beef with BBQ sauce, romaine and mozzarella salad, crispy yucca, and rice and pigeon peas with ham sofrito.  It was all delicious!

On Sunday we started off the day by going to a yoga sculpt class at the yoga studio by my house.  I love this class because it's a combo of cardio, strength training and stretching.  After the class, I made breakfast for us and we did a little exploring in my neighborhood.  It was fun to walk around and show her all the views in my neighborhood!

We capped off the weekend by going to my running club annual party.  I am on the board so needed to be there so was glad that Lori was up for coming along!

It was such a fun weekend and I think we struck a great balance of being out and about and having down time in the afternoons to read and chat.  I am also so glad that the weather was so nice as it made exploring on foot so much more enjoyable.  Lori came at the perfect time as the weather has shifted this week and it's much cooler!

How was your weekend?

Playing Tour Guide!

Happy Friday!  It's an especially happy Friday today because my friend Lori flies in from Charlotte this morning!  She has never been to Minneapolis so I can not wait to show her around!  I love hosting friends, especially those who haven't been to Minneapolis before as it's fun to play tour guide and show them my favorite parts of the city.

We have a loose agenda for the weekend as I don't want it to feel over planned, but some of the things we plan on doing are:

- check out Minnehaha Falls
- go for a walk around one of the local lakes
- eat ice cream at my favorite local place
- go for a run in my neighborhood along the Mississippi
- have brunch at Victor's and dinner at Brasa
- check out my favorite local bookstore (their website needs some TLC but trust me when I say it's the coolest kids bookstore I've been to!)
- spend some time in my neighborhood taking in the views!

Depending on how our schedule shakes out, we might also do a day trip to one of the local state parks to take in some fall foliage but we'll see how things play out!

I'm excited to host Lori, but I'm also looking forward to getting lots of one-on-one time with her.  She was a great support system for me when I lived in Charlotte and one thing I really appreciated is that despite the fact that she loves Charlotte, she never once made me feel bad about not liking it there.  She always made it clear that she understood why I wasn't happy there and she offered up a lot of prayers that I would find my way home.  Now I am excited to show what exactly I was missing when I lived down in Charlotte.  And luckily, mother nature is giving us the gift of beautiful, unseasonably warm fall weather!

When is the last time you hosted visitors?  What are some of your favorite things to do when you have visitors?  My favorite thing to do when I have visitors is go for walks in my neighborhood and take them up to the observation deck of a local theater as it has great views of the area!  Oh and getting ice cream at Sebastian Joe's is a must, too!

Falling Back in Love with Fall

I love this quote by Anne of Green Gables!

I've struggled to really embrace fall this year.  I usually love this time of year but this year I wasn't quite ready to let go of summer.  But over the course of the last two weekends, I started to fall back in love with fall.  I think I came to the realization that ready or not, fall is here so I might as well embrace it.  After all, it is a stunning time of year in the Midwest, and it can be a brief season so I might as well make the most of it!

I just have to look out my window to be reminded of how beautiful this time of year is.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - I feel so lucky to live where I do.

The last two Sundays, I've gone on long runs along the mighty Mississippi.  It's a beautiful area with paved running and biking trails lined by trees.

The trees in this residential area along the river seem particularly beautiful this year.

I recently rediscovered a running path that I hadn't ran in over 2 years which takes you closer to the Mississippi River.  The fall colors are stunning. I can't wait to run this path with my friend Lori when she visits this coming weekend!

The sun was shining and the reflection off the water was beautiful.

The path I ran features a bridge that runs parallel to the shore of the river.  I love the juxtaposition of the great outdoors and urban life in this photo; it's a peaceful wooded area but you can see the Minneapolis skyline in the distance.
   

This running path is probably 5 miles from the center of the city but it feels like a different world. The 2 pictures show how the fall colors have begun to peak over the last week as they were taken in the same area!

This past Saturday, I also had the chance to go for a nice long bike ride with my friend Courtney. We covered about 24 miles and saw lots of beautiful fall colors along the way. 

Biking is so much more fun with a buddy!

After fighting the transition into a new season for awhile, now my mind is saying:  "OK fall, I'm ready for you."

Have you greeted fall with open arms or have you struggled to embrace the change of seasons? 

Funday-Sunday on a Bike

As I said at the end of my post yesterday, I capped off my Sunday with a nice long bike ride.  I have a nice ride membership, which is the bike share program in Minneapolis and they changed the program so that people with a membership can use the bikes for 60 minutes at a time before checking the bike into a docking station (daily users can use them for a max of 30 minutes).  This is a nice change as it allows me to take longer bike ride without worrying about not being able to find a docking station in time.

My GPS wasn't cooperating with me on this ride, so I am not sure how far I biked, but I am going to guesstimate that I biked about 10 miles, maybe more.  The mileage doesn't matter, what matters is that I had fun and got some fresh air!  Here are some of the sights I saw on this bike ride!

I started off by biking to the chain of lakes.  I have logged countless miles around these lake so know them like the back of my hand.  I love that you get peaks of the skyline at various points around the lakes!  This picture was taken by Lake of the Isles.  

After biking around the lake, I headed back towards downtown Minneapolis and biked through the sculpture garden where you'll find this famous cherry-on-the-spoon sculpture!

After that I biked through downtown Minneapolis and over to my neighborhood.  There are a lot of beautiful areas in Minneapolis but my neighborhood is my favorite.  I just think the St. Anthony Falls are so pretty!

My head is blocking it, but my condo is located to the left of the tallest building in this photo.

I biked across the river to an area called St. Anthony Main which is a really cute area with restaurants.  It also features beautiful views of the downtown skyline!

I had biked for about 80 minutes so I figured I earned some gelato!  I ate my salted caramel and vanilla gelato on a park bench with a view of the city.  The gelato and the view were fabulous.

Running has always been my first love but I have to say that biking has become a close second.  I am strongly considering getting a road bike as that would allow me to log more miles.  The nice ride bikes are super convenient but since they are cruiser style bikes, they are super heavy so it's pretty taxing to do long rides on them.  I have some bike research to do, but I just might be purchasing one this summer (and I am hoping I can talk Phil into buying one too so we can go on some biking dates!).

In the mean time, I'll be getting a lot of mileage out of these nice ride bikes.  And when I renewed my membership they sent me some day pass vouchers so I will be able to use those when/if I have visitors!

Do you enjoy biking?  Is your city bike friendly?  Minneapolis is usually neck-in-neck with Portland for being the most bike friendly city in the U.S.  We have lots of bike paths/greenways and many of our roads in the city have bike lanes so I feel pretty safe biking around.