st. paul carnival parade

running late.

This will come as a shock to those of you who know me.
Last night I was late.
For those of you who don't know me... allow me to explain.
I am never late. I loathe being late. I am always early. Even if I think I'm going to be late for something I get all tense and paranoid. I panic as if the world is going to end because I might possibly be late for something. But the truth is - I am never late.
Until last night.

Last night I was late.
I left work and headed to Minneapolis to Luke's place. Traffic was moving at the usual pace and I arrived at Luke's without a care in the world. Plenty of time, I thought. I went inside and Luke was just about ready to leave. He changed a load of laundry and I gave Bella a treat. No hurrying at all. Back in the car Luke was in the driver's seat and we were off to the French Meadow Cafe. I had a groupon to use for dinner.
Getting to French Meadow proved to be more of an expedition than I had planned. Oh, the traffic! I didn't feel any panic though. We would still have time for dinner and make it to Spanish class at 6:30 p.m.

(What was I thinking? Why wasn't I panicking? I should have known better!)

We sat down at our table at French Meadow and ordered tea. Then we ordered an appetizer and our entrees. This is where the pressure finally started to sink in. How were we going to have enough time to eat and get to class by 6:30 p.m.? What time was it when we sat down? French Meadow Cafe isn't the kind of place where you want to rush through dinner. Why hadn't we just gone to grab some soup at Common Roots Cafe?

The thing is... not only am I never late, I am always early. SO early. In college I remember showing up to empty classrooms all. the. time. I was usually the first one to arrive for class. If I'm driving somewhere new I allow extra driving time. I'm so early that even if I get lost along the way I can still arrive early to my final destination. (That has actually happened to me.)

You know what happens when you are early for everything? You spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for others to show up. Waiting checking your clock. Waiting for things to start. Waiting.

But last night I was late.
Luke flagged down our waitress and asked her, "Can you bring our bill with our entrees? We have somewhere we need to be at 6:30." The entrees were served and we ate fast. If anyone was watching us they probably thought we were in the middle of a fight. It was all action and no talking. Eat your dinner. Hurry up. Even at this point I wasn't completely freaking out about being late. Classes never really start on time anyway, right? I know this after all of my 'showing up early and waiting around' experience.

My debit card was out and ready to go. But wait, oh no. What's this? The bill is wrong. I should only have to pay about $8 after the groupon discount yet the waitress charged almost $20 to my card. Crap. This isn't helping. Luke scooped up the bill and my card and got the error fixed while I continued to hurry up and eat. (He somehow managed to finish his gnocchi with lightening speed).

Bill fixed. Receipt signed. Coats are on. Luke took the car keys and planned to pick me up on the corner. No sense in both of us trying to cross Lyndale Avenue on foot with all the traffic going by. Once I was in the car we were headed only a few blocks away to Jefferson School for our very first Spanish class. Yep, that's right: LATE ON THE FIRST NIGHT OF CLASS.

We hurried into the building and quickly asked the Community Education office staff person where we needed to go. Third floor. We rode the elevator with another guy going to the same class. We finally reached the room and walked in through the open door. The lights were off and the instructor was already going through powerpoint slides. Seriously. And do you know what time it was right then? 6:33 p.m. SERIOUSLY. And you know what else? Three other students showed up AFTER US.

So yes, ladies and gentleman, last night I was late. And even though I was late, the world didn't end. I survived. Everything's just fine. Other people were even later than me. Plus, I don't think I really missed much during those first three minutes of class. Maybe now I can use this experience and just be on time for things rather than always early. Maybe.

Gold Medal Flour

My favorite sign still rocks in black and white.

Aster Cafe.

My favorite thing to order is the manchego cheese plate with raisins and marcona almonds.

miss.

learn something.

My goals for 2011 are still spinning around in my head. Eventually I will get them on paper. And yes I mean on real paper, that I write on with one of my favorite pens, not some electronic document. Meanwhile, I want to learn some things.

I'm signed up for a Spanish community education class in Minneapolis that starts later this month. And I'm also working on this. Tonight I focused on step three.

Here's a sunny picture to warm you up.

name the location!

200 bonus points to anyone who knows where this photo was taken!

winter fun.

While I was in Wisconsin for Christmas I had the chance to go snow shoeing with my Uncle. He took me on a little tour of the woods and the traps he has set. The traps were empty but the weather was perfect for being outside. Later that day we ventured out again with my brother-in-law and nephew. It was a great way to spend time on Christmas day.

fruit cake.

Snow Day Project

I realize that what I am about to post is something that won't earn me any bonus points. Unless of course I'm in search of geek bonus points. Then I'll be set. But you see, we've had a bit of snow here in Minnesota. Actually, a ton of snow. So there was a day when I couldn't really leave the house because of all the snow. Enter in a day devoted to projects. I have a whole list of projects that I want to work on and this one is finally complete. Thanks to the snow day.

I used all of these pretty papers...


To create a very pretty recipe dividers...


To go inside a very pretty binder.


And now all of my recipes are in plastic page covers, neatly organized and ready for use.
Lovely.

more found beauty.

glow.

found beauty.

it's on the way.

SNOW!

snowman village.

Me: "This is our fifth Christmas living together!"
Kjersta: "That's insane."
Me: "And we have had a snowman village every year."
Kjersta: "I don't know why we wouldn't."

leaves and acorns.

Not so long ago my dear sweet roomie and I spent the day baking. And watching the movie Elf. Twice. We made some gingersnaps in the shape of acorns and leaves. Very appropriate for fall, but not so appropriate according to the snowy weather that day. Regardless, gingersnaps are fabulous little gems of fall baking.

snow. and copycat.

I want to wash my hands, my hair, my face with snow!

Yep. New mailbox. New address. It's been a few weeks since I moved into the new place and I still have boxes left to unpack, but so far, so good. I'm especially appreciative of the garage with the upcoming winter weather.

I love it when bloggers post with a bunch of different links from around the web. Some examples include: Friday Favorites from Erin Louise, Gift ideas at Design*Sponge, A Cup of Jo.

Here's a few things I've found online lately that I think are worth sharing...

Great bags from Bayan Hippo.

Mitten gift tags.

Fun bike necklace.

I like the stuff at this shop.

Why haven't I made this caramel sauce yet?

Shoe clips will rock your face off.

Very pretty tablecloths.

welcome winter.

I think just about all of my friends on facebook posted a picture of the snow yesterday. Here's one from me:

copycat #1. I am a Sum of All These Parts.

Here's my first attempt at borrowing a blog idea and making it my own. I wholeheartedly agree with Amanda over at Mocking Bird about how we should introduce ourselves.

So allow me to introduce myself.

I am a friend

a sister

a daughter

an organizer

a blogger

a listener

a photographer

a bicyclist

a maple syrup lover

a list maker

a collector

and so much more.

copycat.

Did you know that November is National Blog Posting Month? I was completely unaware until I read about it here. Thanks Jen.

So I was thinking about all the blogs that I read on my google reader... there are so many unique posts to scour for cool ideas. Blog writers are always asking for comments on their questions or design options. I think what might be even more flattering is to copy some of their blog posts. I don't mean copy verbatim or steal someone's ideas. I mean, take the concept of their blog post and re-create it based on myself. Of course I would provide a link to the original blog post and give full credit for the idea. Does that make sense? Maybe this could be the start of a series.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of the gorgeous green lights under the 35W Bridge. Enjoy. (it's blurry because I was driving while I took the photo. whoops.)