Week in review

During the workweek (Monday through Friday), between meetings and meet-ups with friends, I usually have plans on two or three evenings. This week's calendar was fuller than usual, and though I didn't plan it intentionally that way, the timing was good. I love my nights at home, and with the temperatures still low, low, low, my homebody tendency is more pronounced than usual this time of year. This week's plan was heavy on new activities and new places: just the ticket.

Monday night was a trip to the movies with Sara. We drove to a suburb to catch a screening of "That Awkward Moment" before it left theaters, primarily because we've been fans of Zac Efron since "High School Musical 2." (True story.) What did we find? $5.50 tickets and an empty theater.

Making plans to catch a weeknight movie was very fun, and I need to do that more often.

Next: thanks to my brother's suggestion, I attended my first Policy and a Pint, a monthly event hosted by The Current, the Twin Cities' member-sponsored radio station. This month's conversation was about the state of education in Minnesota - a set of issues about which I'm passionate - and the discussion, in front of a big audience at the Varsity Theater, was thoughtful and thought-provoking. I learned a lot from the panel's community members, and by the end of the evening, my head was full of more questions and ideas. I will be marking my calendar for future Policy and a Pint events.

Bonus: getting to spend time with my brother and sister in a neat venue.

Also, Josh is coaching baseball now, so most weeknights he's with the team at practice, but he had a new adventure of his own this week: he went to Costco for the first time and came home with a gigantic bag full of grapefruits for me!!

Later in the week: Ladies Night Out on Grand Avenue! Grand Avenue is a St. Paul street lined with shops and restaurants, and the avenue's business association organized a night with sales, specials, samples and that kind of thing. I met three friends at a salon for blowouts and makeup, and then we headed to dinner, with stops in between for a wine tasting and picking up a free spice at Penzey's. Leisurely strolling Grand Avenue is so nice in the warmer months, and this was a great reminder that it's still fun even when the weather is cold. (The strolling was just less leisurely.)

And today I went with Sara to see the American Swedish Institute's amazing Papercut! exhibit. It featured the work of a Danish artist named Karen Bit Vejle, as well as several other artists. The exhibit's link will give you a good sense of what papercutting looks like (its technical name is psaligraphy), but basically, it's the art of drawing with scissors (tiny scissors). Papercutting has a long tradition in Scandinavian countries, particularly in Denmark, and Hans Christian Andersen was well-known for his psaligraphy work.

I've loved the aesthetic of papercutting for a long time, before I actually knew the name for the art, and it was incredible to see the pieces up close and in person. The intricacy of the tiny details was stunning.

one example of Karen Bit Vejle's psaligraphy

I could not recommend this exhibit more highly. It was also our first visit to the American Swedish Institute, which is in Minneapolis and links a historic mansion to a modern gallery. The papercutting exhibit is in both areas, and the mansion also houses a more permanent exhibit on Swedish history and culture. It's a beautiful space.

This week's new experiences were a good antidote to our subzero days.

Movie night

This evening I was walking Wish around the neighborhood, and we strolled past a group of kids batting around a balloon, trying to keep it in the air. It lifted momentarily out of their reach, and one howled, "Gone with the wind!"

I was tickled by this, because all day, I have been looking forward to my evening plan. You'll see how it connects in a moment.

You may remember how I enjoyed reading Gone With the Wind this summer - and when I expressed that, some of you insisted that I must watch the film adaptation. (How nice that such an activity would also support #97 See five classic movies on my 101 in 1,001 list!) Awhile back, I was browsing upcoming classic movies, and I found a quite rare "Gone With the Wind" TV showing on TCM. Last night, the DVR successfully recorded it!

I've made a pan of macaroni and cheese, and tonight, I'm going to sit down under a quilt and watch all four hours of "Gone With the Wind."

Also, this happened today:

Anyway, have you see the movie and/or read the book, and how do they compare? And do you have a favorite classic movie? I need to branch out in this category, because to me, a really beloved classic movie is something like Rookie of the Year. Help me, Reader!

Marvelous Monday, 2012, Vol. 5

It's 40 degrees today and that is marvelous!  But this Marvelous Monday is entirely a weekend recap.  Argh!  Mark my words: next Monday's entry will be completely about Monday.

1) READER!  I learned what an autonomous snowplow competition is! Yesterday morning I went for an impromptu run with my brother.  We were near downtown and I asked if he wanted to swing over there to look at the ice sculptures, and I lamented missing the autonomous snowplows the day before.  Lo and behold, the competition was still in full swing!

It's SO COOL.  Contrary to what I imagined, the snowplows are not full-size monsters cruising around sans driver.  They're little miniature snowplow robots, about the size of a large coffee table, and they're designed by teams of college students from all over the country.  Then the little snowplows navigate a course that includes a 180-degree turn, completely controlled by a computer program.  Again: SO COOL!

2) Sunday Night Movie Night at my home is officially a streak!  Last night, it was "Moneyball."  I am no movie critic so I can't contribute scintillating new insights, but I thought both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were fantastic.  And so was the girl who played Brad Pitt's daughter.  We really liked it.

3) Treats. I finally got to try Koppelin's legendary hot chocolate yesterday at the coffee shop's new location at Marshall and Cleveland, and it lived up to its reputation.  That block might be the best in St. Paul in terms of treats: Koppelin's, next to Izzy's ice cream, next to Sweets Bakeshop.  Sara and I skipped the ice cream but did investigate the macarons and cupcakes at Sweets.  I tried mint-basil and lemon macarons, and the lemon in particular was soooo good.

4) I went to a swap party this weekend hosted by a friend from high school.  The idea is that you bring gently used clothes, household items, books and DVDs - plus unopened toiletries - and assemble them garage sale-style.  Each person gets a little poker chip for each item she brought, then you get to go through and pick out your new prizes, and items left over at the end all get donated. Among other items, I brought home a cookbook, a shirt (that I'm wearing today!), and an awesome shoe rack for the entryway.  Kudos to Kristen for organizing it!

5) I cooked beans from...scratch? for the first time yesterday.  This process definitely cuts the cost and sodium compared to canned beans, so it seems like it's a good project for a Sunday evening hanging out at home.  I am crossing my fingers that the kidney beans turned out okay and will try them tonight or tomorrow night in Moosewood chili.

Reader, tell me: What's marvelous about your Monday?  What was marvelous about your weekend?

Marvelous Monday (Vol. 4)

Here at Miles and Laurel, Marvelous Monday is usually a merge between a true Marvelous Monday (noting five nice things about Monday) and a weekend recap of highlights still on my mind.  This weekend started with a chilly but great long run with Molly on Saturday morning, and after that was done, I let the rainy, icy, chilly weather keep me mostly inside for the rest of the weekend in a cozy sort of way.  Thus, some of my Marvelous Monday notes are riffs on that theme.

1) Josh will either laugh or roll his eyes when he sees this because I've been crowing about nonstop, but I will now shout to the world that I downloaded Hulu Plus for my new phone and have been back on a Parks and Recreation kick.  It makes me laugh just thinking about it.

2) Today I signed up for the next six weeks of boot camp class through work.  This may not be marvelous exactly, but I came to terms with the idea that I just need a little more of a forced nudge to do strength training.  It felt good to act on that realization instead of just mumbling to myself over and over that tomorrow would be a perfect day to finally going on strength work.

3) We rented "Midnight in Paris" and watched it last night.  I kind of want to make Sunday movie nights a more regular occurrence!  It was a fun and festive way to end the weekend, especially because we were both utterly charmed by the movie.  It makes me want to listen to Cole Porter now, too.

4) Winter birthdays!  There are a ton in my family - more on this in the coming weeks - and among my friends.  I sounded the first birthday alarm over the weekend, but warm, happy birthday wishes go out to Nat (whose day was yesterday) and Dawn (whose is tomorrow)!

5) This morning I was attacking hacking demolishing scraping my windshield and a sheet of ice that was larger than an 8x11 piece of paper flew off.  It was pretty cool.

Currently

A short report of what I've been up to, in handy list form! The categories are in groups of three, which I heard once is the most memorable number for writing and speaking. So, go forth and memorize!

Eating

1) I've officially been tinkering with a Cooking Light recipe for baked ziti with summer vegetables. I made it just before we left for Washington, and it turned into a very nice little casserole.  But midway through the preparation steps, it smelled so good that I wanted to stop the process and eat dinner then and there.  Last night, I tried just that, and it turned into a good mix of pasta, vegetables (summer squash, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes) with basil and garlic and oregano, minus the baking and ricotta-adding.  I guess I learned that both "Baked ziti and summer veggies" and its friend "Ziti and summer veggies" are great dinners. As an added bonus, I was on the phone with my mom while I was cooking and thus gleefully eyeballed all of the herbs and spices, and it still turned out edible.

2) I got a big bag of green beans from the CSA box late last week and just love them. It reminds me of the long rows of green and purple beans that we used to pick in the garden at home, except this time I don't have to pick them and chop the ends off--I just get to eat them!  If summer had a taste, it would be a real battle between green beans and watermelon.

3) Popcorn.  Its inclusion here could be misleading because I haven't actually had popcorn in the last month, but some friends recently were talking about being on major make-your-own-seasoning kicks, using different combinations of herbs, butter, cheese, etc.  I vow to get on a similar kick. Suggestions welcomed.

Reading

1) Sisterhood Everlasting, the latest book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants saga. I am not part of the Harry Potter craze, but I guess you could call this my equivalent, if only I were actually a young adult when I started reading these books. (I have a hunch that I was firmly in "adult" range.) My sister and I love them fiercely (even though, yes, our ages add up to 48) and we were practically breathless--her in Germany, me in St. Paul--when the book was released in June. I was able to wait until our flight to Washington, read 93 percent of the book on the plane (thanks, Kindle), and finished it while we were waiting in line for a ferry.  Then I regaled Josh with the summary and I think he was thrilled.

2) Maine was next on my vacation fiction list. It tells the stories of three generations of women in a family that makes annual summer trips to a beach house on the Maine coast. I enjoyed the book a lot, but even more importantly, I would really like to summer on the Maine coast. (And yes, summer as a verb, too.)

3) Next up: Little Bee, recommended to me ages ago from my friend Meghan.

Watching

1) I saw "Bridesmaids" over the weekend, and since I'm not really one to compile lists of things that I hate, you can probably deduce by this point in the post that I loved it. Kristen Wiig cracks me up. I was that weirdo in the theatre who laughs longer than everyone else.

2) "Next Food Network Star" is my current guilty pleasure on TV. Josh and I love it but we can't seem to find anyone else in the United States who also watches it.

3) It's Tour de France time! I've followed this magnificent race in varying degrees of detail for the last 10 years, but lagged this year because of our trip's timing. I turned on the television yesterday and got sucked into a very exciting stage. Today's a rest day for the cyclists, but tomorrow I'm back in. It's an enormous spectacle, a beautiful race, and dare I say, one of the most incredible athletic achievements on earth. It's great.

Doing

1) Running club session #2!  I did my long run on Saturday with the group and got to explore trails on the other side of the city that I rarely encounter on my own. It was muggy, muggy, but I felt pretty good and loved my new fuel belt that I got last week. So comfortable.

2) Dinner with family on Friday night: the first time all five of us have been in the same place since January!  Welcome back, Sis.

3) Trying to stay cool: It's really summer here in St. Paul, with temps in the upper 80s and low 90s and humidity and dew point charging to keep up. Last night, a big thunderstorm rumbled through and broke some of the humidity. Before that, Josh and I went for a walk around our neighborhood and made a sharp turn to cut our route short because we were melting. Hence, all of the TV and movie references earlier in the post!

Instead of saying goodbye, a friend of mine signs off from a conversation with, "Happy days."  So, happy days.