My interview for my first official craft show has been posted. I'd love it if you had a look!
Gunflint Lodge
I've been gone for a couple of weeks and I have so much to share. I'm gonna travel again this weekend as well and will hopefully have more! So this little post is about a great mini-adventure I took back in the middle of October last year up to the Gunflint Lodge. The furtherest north I've been in the states. I had been wanting to visit here for a while especially after reading Wonderstruck which is partially set on the Gunflint Trail. Even though I just missed the fall foliage there was still plenty of stark fall beauty to behold and enjoy. Staying at the lodge was a pleasant experience that included wine being left in the cabin with snacks. There was no cell service so there was a couple days break from that as well. There was plenty of hiking, climbing and picture taking followed by drinks in the main building and staring at ducks. Going into nature to do nothing is a big thing here in Minnesota and even though it's taking a while for me to get used to it, I am starting to find it very valuable to my creative process. Letting my mind wonder is making me have more ideas than anything ever. No wonder there are so many writers in Minnesota. And of course, there was a stop in Duluth, Minnesota(another great city) for a visit to Pizza Luce, the original one. I had the seasonal flat bread with mock duck, mushrooms and general yumminess. We brought along our own food makings for dinners and breakfasts in our cabin which had a full kitchen. It was cozy, warm and I drink wine in front of a fire till I fell asleep in my flannel pajamas.
See my review(s) on Trip Advisor. Happy Travels!
The St. Paul Hotel
There is a beautiful, historical place in St. Paul, Minnesota by the name of the Saint Paul Hotel. It is a lovely place to stay and I've been lucky enough to be able to stay twice in the Park Suite. The most recent time was for New Year's Eve in which there was a small celebration and bubbly all through the night. The staff is very kind and the space is so gorgeous. It's in a great location for visiting famous spots in the city as well.
Art, Sort of.
Massive house clean out which happens every January is underway. It never fails to lead to some funny rediscoveries. My 5th grade art project I made when I was bored. Won 1st place in the Art Fair at my school. Noah's Ark. The following year in 6th grade I was president of the dinosaur club and a library volunteer wherein I read every book in the library. Also, secretary of the Model Rocketry Club. Noah lost, Science won.
2015 Favorite Vegan Foods (Twin Cities)
One thing that certainly stands out about last year is a lot of really great things put into my face hole known as a mouth. Eating vegan has never been easier and the Twin Cities especially Minneapolis is turning into a haven for good vegan food. This is a picture heavy post because well, there's a lot of good stuff around now!
My favorite breakfast in town is hands down at the Modern Times Cafe. It's kale, tempeh, tofu covered in garlic tahini sauce. They also have a solid soy mocha.
My favorite new discovery is Nico's Taco Bar. I love the cactus tostada! Make sure to get salsa trios as well.
A dish at my favorite fine dining restaurant, Jasmine 26. The Basil noodles are light and flavorful. Make sure you also start with the Salt-n-Pepper Tofu, you'll be glad you did.
Truth be told, my love for Glam Doll Donuts has been tested this year. The maple vegan bar (shown above) is amazing but more than once I have gotten terrible vegan donuts there. Tiny, undercooked, dry. I am trying to cut them some slack as they learn to adapt because having a donut shop I like is fun.
The mind-blowing food revelation in town this year was learning you can get vegan gelato at the Mall of America. Paciugo has a fabulous Limoncello gelato as well as many other soy and water based flavors. What a great surprise!
This completely amazingly yummy waffle dessert comes from Kitty Corner Cafe. I can't decide whether I wish I lived closer to it or further away. I want to go here more often. I shouldn't. You should.
I love veggie sushi and Japanese food but most places are terrible at the vegan versions. This year I found two places I liked. The first is Masu. This is the veggie caterpillar. It's cute, delicious and the wasabi is actually strong. Often it is not. I like it ass-kicking. I wouldn't say it's that strong but it's better than most.
The second Japanese place I liked this year was Midori's Floating World Cafe. First, the name...lovely. Second, the food was fresh and perfect. Third, the service was pretty dreadful. It took forever to get our food and we didn't get to eat together. There are pretty decorations to look at as you grumpily wait so there's that.
Honorable mention Japanese is Unideli at United Noodle. The tiny spot in the store has great Vegan Shoyu and there's tons of it.
Favorite new fast dinner spot (or lunch) is Hot Indian Foods in the Midtown Global Market. The Vegan Channa is surprisingly delicious. I say surprising because Indian food is such an art and I don't expect too much from a tiny stand. My bad. You can get it in a fried bread wrap which is insanely decadent(or without like pictured here) but it melts in your mouth. The Indi-frites have a unique spice on them. The sauce they are served with is not vegan but ask for hot sauce with them instead, they make their own and it's out of this world.
This thing of beauty is an artful vegan pizza from Pizza Nea. My newest pizza discovery lead me to a long time spot that is perfect for a date with wine and romantic lighting. They teamed up with local vegan butcher shop The Herbivorous Butcher to make most of their pizzas available in vegan versions. The faux mozzarella is the best I've ever had.
I had two rediscoveries this year. The first being Harry Signh's. This simple rice and beans dish is so good and so hot you would not even believe it. There is a lot of vegan options here and I will warn you: my tolerance is very high and I find this food spicy as hell. It's really AWESOME.
My second rediscovered spot is Sen Yai-Sen Lek. I love the Tofu Peanut Satay. They are a community minded place with a seasonal menu and lots of good intentions. The Tofu Basil dish is also worth having.
There are plenty of places I could add but these were the new stand-outs this year for the most part.
As the new year starts and lots of people try out being vegan especially here: There's tons of places to go out.
2015
2015 was a very mixed year for me. I cannot say that everything went super great by any means. I know that blogs are supposed to be fantasy filled things but the truth of a fairy tale is there are plenty of challenging tasks before you get to the balls, pretty dresses and parties. You can walk through the magic garden but get stung by a bee or pricked by a rose. The fae forest is beautiful but treacherous and filled with your tasks you need to survive to get to your happy ending for that chapter. That is what a real fairy tale is: filled with gorgeous gowns and difficult days.
I lost both my cats in 2015. That had a big impact on me as they were both sick and one especially was unexpected.
I did complete writing two novels including one during the November NaNoWriMo Challenge.
I got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time and hike the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. I also visited the Wisconsin Dells which is a place I’ve always been curious about. We went close to the end of the season so it was not quite as lively as it gets but it sure was surrealistic while I was there. I spent a week living in non-reality in Las Vegas where I got to see three Cirque Du Soleil shows in one week and eat amazing food everyday.
There were a lot of house projects. They were tiring and trying but now my kitchen is beautifully updated and it was not planned for it to be for some time yet. It’s such a pleasure to look at it now. All the exhaustive weeks of dealing with it have yielded a rich, warm place.
I went out to a pizza farm in Northfield, MN. I liked doing that as well as visited a few more wineries around the state.
A handsome black kitty broke into my house which was funny.
There were foxes overtaking the neighborhood much to my delight.
I spent 30 days in a row giving something away every day. I ended up giving a way quite a lot of stuff this last year and starting in on my Wear What You Own project (more on that later). Car loads of things were given away. I don’t even know half the time where all this stuff comes from but it was nice to recycle and find good homes for things.
I did start a couple of clothing consignment accounts as well. I gave away half my wardrobe before it occurred to me I would probably need things in the future so getting a little money back here and there wouldn’t be a bad thing.
I had my first garden on my deck this year. It started off really well and then I left someone else to tend it. Well, it ended up ruined and I was pretty frustrated but I am going to try again this year with a bit of a better plan. I did see lots of bees, birds and butterflies out there so it succeeded for a while.
I got in one round of snow tubing with friends. That is always fun plus, I adore my friend’s 9 year old daughter. She cracks me up and is quite the daredevil.
I took lots of walks in the fall and attended NerdCon here in town with the Green brothers, Maureen Johnson, Stephanie Perkins and a lot of other great writers. It was so inspiring it got me to do the NaNoWriMo challenge.
I had my second book release party in July at CONvergence and adopted three cats who are driving me nuts. So much so the kitten’s name has officially been changed to Trouble.
Those are a few of my notable moments. There was also lots of good food and books but those are separate posts!
New Year's Eve
For 7 years (at least) (maybe more) I have been putting on big (200-300 people) NYE events. This year it didn't work out to do so and I find that I am a little lost with what to do with my time. Anyway, as I miss it I also get to look back on some of our awesome events:
400th PIECE!
A little post to share my happiness over selling my 400th piece of jewelry this holiday season. This actually happened a couple of weeks ago and I have sold more since but I was pretty excited.
It was shipped to New Mexico!
You can stop in my shop here: GirlyGeekChic.
Christmas Trees for Weirdos
I am not putting my tree up this year for a few reasons but the biggest being the three new cats in my life. They would surely bring it down at this point. They're not very well-behaved yet. I'll just say we're working on it.
As such, I've found myself exploring trees on Pinterest. I, of course, like the odd ones the best. Actually, the ones hanging from the ceiling are my favorite. I wonder if I can figure out how to do that one year. All of these pictures are from different places but I pulled them from the magical land of Pinterest.
Scenes from an Open House
It took a lot of work to get an Open House together this year but I managed to pull it off. Here's some snap shots:
There's still time to have gifts shipped! Stop by my shop to have a look! Thank you!
New Things! New Things!
I am starting to list things for my Christmas and Holidays update. I love how some of my pictures are coming out with my crystals, stones and antique Jet charms...
I would love it if you stopped by my shop GirlyGeekChic.
PUMPKINS!
Yes Halloween is over. At least, the calendar date of Halloween. I am someone who has a little Halloween around all the time. You just sort of have to when you love Dark Fantasy books and movies. Some people in my neighborhood carve these amazing pumpkins each year. I took some snaps with my phone.
NerdCon Stories
A few weeks ago I attended NerdCon. A first time convention put on by Hank Green and Patrick Rothfuss. Hank Green is of course the brother of John Green and that is no small part to play. Together they do projects that seem destined to educate and possibly even make the world a better place. Patrick Rothfuss is best known for his Kingkiller Chronicle books and is from Madison, Wisconsin. The best city in Wisconsin.
The convention itself seemed well attended for a first timer. And decently organized. In my mind there did not seem enough things to do but keep in mind the conventions I regularly attend run 4 days straight for 24 hours a day. Every one is different. The panels at this one were some of the best I've ever been to and I was especially happy to find ones focused on diversity. Something that books and media in general need more of in my opinion (and others as well!). One of my favorite speakers at the convention turned out to be Dylan Marron who is best known for his role on Welcome to NightVale. His talks and conversations about being a minority and gay trying to get cast into films were insightful and heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Something that is becoming more and more important to me as I write and just get older in general is carefully exploring commonly used phrases and just basically trying to see outside my own experience. So many things that spill from our mouths on a daily basis are steeped in racism. And that's often not an accident. People being out there trying to change the direction and raise the level of conversation is more important than ever and I was pleased that many of the guests at NerdCon wanted to talk about this subject. It's going to take place here again next year and I am really looking forward to attending again. I have a few snapshots but I didn't take many pictures. I generally was just trying to pay as close attention as possible. I didn't get one single autograph either. Which is fine as I am terrible at talking to people anyway.
Everything You Need to Know About Books in Under 10 Minutes.
A couple of weeks ago I attended NerdCon Stories here in town at the Minneapolis Convention Center. It was a pretty great experience in some ways. It was the first convention of it's type and the panels and MainStage performances were especially fun. I am used to attending a convention that has stuff going constantly for 4 days straight, 24 hours a day: this was not like that. However, what it lacked in insanity it made up for with quality. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was a portion of the MainStage performance put on by Paul of Paul and Storm fame. The point of this convention was to explore on many levels why it is stories matter. But you can't do that without having some background information. So if you want to learn and laugh and love a completely nerdtastic book joke, watch this video:
Things Made
My house has been distracting me a great deal and keeping me from making a lot of new things for my ETSY shop. Though I have made a few bits and pieces here and there as well as some more elaborate pieces that I will be posting soon!
Geeky Minnesota: The Bakken Museum
Minnesota is well known for its many inventors. One of those inventors has a charming little museum here by the name of The Bakken Museum. It is in an old mansion and dedicated to electricity. See there's this man named Earl Bakken who founded a company called Medtronic. A company that is quite famous for it's contributions to medical devices such as the pacemaker. I mean the easiest way to say this is: Minnesota is full of nerds.
The museum isn't huge but it's unique and certainly worth a visit. Bring a picnic there's a gorgeous lake across the street.
LEGOS!
Living in Minnesota is a bit of a surreal affair. Which suits me very well. When it is warm there is ample greenery and flowers with glimmering water and blustery landscapes. When it becomes fall it's like living in an Impressionist painting. Winter is pretty much living on another planet all together. The cold frozen terrains described in science fiction books and alien lands. Add to these climates the barrage of creative endeavors to entertain the populace and express artistically, scientifically and liberally -ideas, notions and environments meaning: There is a lot to do here. Especially if you fall into the kidult category such as I do myself. The unending desire to engage in things meant only for children. The truth is I did my life in reverse. I grew up in a dysfunctional, broken household where I babysat and cleaned and cared for my siblings and a mentally ill mother for much of my childhood. This was not easy, unique nor do I think I was particularly good at it. I can tell you it left little time for my imagination. Survival was first and foremost, really. Thus, I think this background was the precursor to my kidult behavior now. Whatever it may be that made me who I am now I take great delight in things such as the Lego display at the MN Landscape Arboretum. Of course, the man who put together all these installations just did it for the love of it. So I think he is a kidult as well. Also-it's just a gorgeous place anyway.
Falconer Vineyards & Winery or Wine O'Clock, of course.
The state of Minnesota holds many surprises for me even after living here for 15+ years now. One of the most recent was my visit to Red Wing, Minnesota to stop in at a winery. Because as you know if you are trying to be a writer in your late 30's you must develop a successful drinking habit. That is just a fact. Especially since you need something to drown your sorrowful explanations to your snobby reader/writer friends (who only think writers such as Bukowski and David Foster Wallace are worth reading)as to why it is you love writing science-fiction. For young adults. Or forthcoming cat storybooks or that you really want to write a comic. They will most assuredly frown upon your choices and thus you will be able to bravely walk away without crying provided you know your friendly wine bottle awaits you at home. As such the choices one makes when choosing a wine are quite important. And as someone who ascribes to Dylan Moran's wine drinking school, I am quite educated in the drinkable factor of wine.
The last winery visit took place at Falconer Vineyards in lovely, green and lush Red Wing. We didn't plan to go here as we were on our way back from other stops and decided that in order to maintain our good cheer and good health we had to have our daily allowance of fruit. Or whatever.
This is a beautiful place with a small tasting room but huge grounds and a deck filled with seating. They also have a pizza oven and that seemed quite popular. They had a tasting sheet and flight but as is always the case, the hostess was quite generous and let us try everything we wanted in addition to the tasting. It always works on me. I am absolutely a sucker and generally leave with no less than half a case. And often with the pricey ports. I also watched an old guy mansplain some convoluted way of opening wine bottles to our young, pretty hostess. Do I have to say that he did it wrong and got cork in the bottle and demonstrated mostly idiocy to the experienced server? She was a champ. Smiled and thanked him, had a secret laugh to herself. We left her a big tip.
My favorite from this visit was a white table wine made with Catawba grapes. Not one I had heard of before but enjoyed a great deal. I took home the last bottles they had for the season.
Reflections:
Ebony Fashion Fair
When I saw this exhibit coming to town I had no idea how great it would actually be. I immediately wanted to go just because I love gowns, dresses, fancy frocks and girly finery. But when I got to the Minnesota History Center and went into the exhibit I had no idea I would learn about a pioneering business in America on the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. The exhibit was centered around the Ebony magazine fashion fair that used to travel around the southern United States showcasing for the first time in our history models of color. In high fashion most notably. A world that had worked to keep people of color out of it's business. The founding family of Ebony worked tirelessly to change the images of the African American community in America. It was an uphill battle all the way. BUT-if you make the time to read the history of the magazine you will learn a great many awe-inspiring things about Johnson Publishing and the founders. I will leave you with gorgeous gowns- YSL, McQueen, Valentino, Givenchy, Dior.
National Eagle Center
When I was growing up the idea of seeing a bald eagle seemed sort of large and monumental and not like it would ever happen. I grew up far from the seemingly mythical raptors and did not have the sort of parents who really encouraged learning about nature. My mother's idea of roughing it was having a cabin with only one bathroom. I sometimes wonder if it's because of this past that I don't think I like being outdoors. Yet every time I found myself outdoors, I seem to find a great deal of happiness. And trust me it's not easy for me to get it together out there. I sunburn easy. I have terrible allergies. I get bit by every tiny thing that can find it's way to my skin. Mosquito bites swell up on me really fast and itch like mad. I sweat, I ache and dehydrate quickly. But, I still try to get out there and be apart of it. Because when I do it makes me feel a sense of peace I don't find anywhere else.
Living here in Minnesota I did not realize the first few years how incredibly rich and abundant wildlife is even in the city proper. Now I do and I am pleased to say I've seen many bald eagles as well as osprey, hawks, falcons and regularly visit herons that nest not very far from where my house is located.
But with many creatures, great and small comes many injuries and accidents that need tending. Luckily a few hours from where I am is the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minnesota. A nice, little town on the river.
The center cares for injured birds and watches after the half dozen nesting eagles on the banks of the river. Many of whom I caught more than a short glimpse of when I was out there for my visit. It's a lovely day trip and you can certainly find other places to stop like Lark Toys or Lake Pepin for a picnic. We had some lunch right down by the banks of the river and watched the eagles flying all about as we ate.
You can read more about the Bald Eagle on National Geographic's website.