good morning.

I'm trying to start blogging more regularly, but today is going to be a busy one, so I'm just popping in to say hello and hope you have a fabulous Wednesday!

Oh! And Sarah and I went to Punch Pizza for lunch yesterday (we had buy one get one free tickets from a concert we went to a couple of weeks ago!) and then explored Grand Ave. in St. Paul. I had always heard of all of the cute little shops, boutiques and restaurants on the avenue, but had never been there. So we saddled up in Sarah's car, rolled the windows down, put the sunroof back, slipped on our shades and took a ride. On Living Luesdays, we are not mapquesters or Google mappers, we are adventurers. So we headed off in the general direction, got off at the street Sarah thought could be close, I chose to "turn right" and then we ran right into it! I love the little surprises life throws your way.

Speaking of little surprises, we found orange Post-it notes all along one side of the avenue. They were put up on shop windows, on the sides of buildings, on fences, all sorts of random, inconspicuous places. And they all held wonderful, uplifting messages. Here's a photo of the first one we saw:Wonderful, right? I love how one person's simple gesture of writing inspirational messages on a Post-it made both Sarah's and my day. (And I'm sure every other person's who stopped and noticed them.) So today, I challenge you to pay it forward somehow. Flashing someone a smile, opening a door for the person behind you, holding the elevator, paying for someone's coffee, etc. It makes a difference. Sometimes you just need a random act of kindness.

it's living luesday!

from here

I'm not sure what's on the schedule for today, but Sarah and I are going to plan a little adventure over lunch. This week is filling up with so many things so quickly! I've committed (volunteered) to write press releases for two nonprofits within a weeks time, so I'll be focusing on those, along with a big project at work and lots and lots of job searching/applying. I've gotten a few bites and leads and things, but I'm trying to be responsible so until I get a position I'm happy with, I'll continue applying places. I'm hoping I'll have everything figured out by mid-August (I'm supposed to hear back from a few places mid-July), so I have another month of planning and hoping and preparing ahead of me. But enough job talk, it's Living Luesday! Go out and be adventurous!

Minnesota Gurls

I can't help it, I think this is just hilarious. If you don't like California Gurls by Katy Perry, then you might want to skip this one. If you do and think it'd be a sweet remix with people from the Midwest, hit play immediately.

this is actually what i'm doing right now.

at the risk of full disclosure, I've eaten about 100 too many of these, haven't brushed my hair in quite some time, am sweating a little bit due to the lack of AC on in our house right now, and am slowly but surely learning to use my (NEW) webcam! in the words of Usher, OMG.

dear new-daddy and new-mommy (and landlords) Joe and Stacy:

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your baby is very cute to watch fall asleep.
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the winnie the pooh hat is a must-see.
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I
J
K
bath time routine is fun with ms. nae.
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everyone likes to make fun of Joe.
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mr. Jayden is the best.
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cougars are fun, wait and see.
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Z

Your family is made up of super cuties! Thank you for letting me (Skype) into your lives!

(Joe, Ash told me you don't like to read grownup things anymore, so I tried to write this at a baby book level.)

Sarahnae{d}

My good friend Sarah and I started a blog! Head on over to Sarahnae{d} (pronounced like the word "serenade") to check it out!

Sarah and I started what we like to call "Living Luesdays" this summer and this is a way we can document them (along with pictures, dialogue, music, quotes, stories and a healthy supply of wit.) Every Tuesday, we plan something to do in the cities that we have always been meaning to do, but haven't actually done. The cool thing is, most are free or cheap, and all of them are further integrating us into the Minneapolis/St. Paul communities and culture. So far we have gone to Garrison Keillor's bookstore, to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, had a huge craft day, have supported our friends' coaching little league, have been baking fiends and spent the day at a new lake. We have many other days in the works, and we will keep our Sarahnae{d} blog updated with all of these things, including more pictures once I get more organized!

The whole point of this is that you should enjoy where you are while you’re there. Because no matter how big or small, every city has something special about it. It’s just up to you whether or not you want to find and embrace it.

I hope you'll check it out sometime!

http://sarahnaed.tumblr.com/

17.

Roommates are inevitable when you are in college. I mean, unless you are rich or have some other outstanding need to live alone, you will be assigned a roommate. Or you will choose a roommate. Or you will find yourself without a place to live and take the first sublease that comes your way, complete with that roommate. However it works out, you learn to live with someone else.

I have moved a lot since I started college. I spent one semester at my first school with one roommate. Her name was Stacy and she was sarcastic, sly, clean, very mature for her age, and always loving on a boy. She seemed like the one person in my world who belonged at that school. I was probably the one in hers that did not. I realized this early on and applied to a different college, which I got into and decided to transfer to. The day after I told her my decision, I came home to a crying roommate, on the phone with her mother, who had also chosen to leave that school for a different path. It was incredible to me that even after only living together for a month and a half, we had changed each other so much that I was starting to feel like I belonged there and she was realizing there was something else she needed.

Next came three girls living in a suite-style dorm, which sounds much larger and more spacious than it really was. Since I was the new girl coming in at the middle of the semester to a large school where I only knew one other person, it was difficult. But it all ended up working out well and I found a nice group that I could have inside jokes with and get dressed up to hit the town with.

Fast forwarding through another year in the dorms (residence halls as housing people like to call them), a summer in the Grapefruit house with Jake and Hanna, a semester abroad with four roommates, a sublease, another summer in the Grapefruit, this time with Tanya and Hanna, and a year in a house with one stable roommate and the other room rotating with a new person every couple months and there you have it. I've had 17 roommates in the past four years.

I've lived with girls and boys. I've lived with obsessive clean freaks, casual cleaners, and dirty people. I've had my own room and I've shared with up to three others. I've lived in a different country, lots of different zip codes, three different dorm rooms, a duplex, an apartment building, a house, you name it. And this is what I've realized about myself:

I hate it when there are tons of dirty dishes.

This is a major pet peeve. Just do your dishes, and I'll be a happy camper. One of my friends once told me (only 5 roommates in) that I would be the easiest wife because I've lived with so many different people. If my future husband does the dishes, or at least loads the dishwasher, I think that might just be true.

I've realized that just because people are your roommates, that does not mean they have to be your best friends. Out of talking to a lot of people who moved in with their best friends, it actually seems to be harder to live with them because you know one another so well that you feel comfortable leaving things dirtier (i.e. dishes) and it is harder to come up and enforce rules to avoid this.

You also can learn a lot about a person by seeing their interactions when you live with them. This has to be one of my favorite parts. It's interesting figuring out who will take responsibility for duties like remembering which week is recycling week, etc. (In the neighborhoods I've lived in, recycling is every other week.) And when you make big batches of dessert because you have a craving for it, (and what you do when you get bored is bake...bad habit) it's nice to be able to share it with someone instead of seeing all of those cupcakes, brownies, cookies, special K bars, etc. go to your own hips.

Phoenix and Cowboy Orchestras

This time last year I was highly addicted to this band, and this song has crept back into my play list somehow. Phoenix just sounds like summer to me. (I wish there was a way I could embed this music without having to share the handmade videos that go along with it on youtube.)

Speaking of music, I went to one of the oddest concerts ever on Wednesday night. It was actually more of a collaboration of multiple arts. The band was The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra and, despite my hesitations and the fact that I had never heard of them before, they exceeded any expectations I had. The fiddle player! Oh wow the fiddle player. She was incredible.
We went because during intermission, a friend of mine performed. And by performed I mean juggled! He and a few other members from his juggling club did tricks on stage and it was so fun to see them in front of an audience! He has tried to teach me how to juggle on numerous occasions, all to no avail. Maybe I'll give it another shot this summer.

On top of all of that, a local filmmaker collaborated with the GCO sometime prior and had made 3 short films that would introduce a song to the audience before the band actually played it. It was a really interesting take on collaboration. Like having a music video right before seeing the real thing live, only the videos were more human than a music video. I'm not sure I'm describing this very well, but they play again in two weeks with a different set of collaborators, so this might turn into a Wednesday night outing every couple of weeks!
After the concert and short films and juggling, they played a classic sci-fi film. We didn't stay for all of it, but it was definitely a whole night full of entertainment for a very small fee. I've been a big fan of anything I can do for free or on a limited budget, so it was perfect. I got to see my friend perform, live music, interesting local artists' videos, and part of another full-length movie all in the cozy Suburban World Theater, which I realized I've walked past at least 20 times and never even noticed. Funny how that happens, huh?

photos from here.

a bedtime tune.

Madeline from Slow RECORDS on Vimeo.

originally seen here.

whoosh.

I'm in the midst of job applications. This has been a very demanding process which, thankfully, I'm not alone in. Most of my friends are also applying for jobs. Near. Far. All around the country. It's exhausting. And there have been many rants and freak-outs and scared college graduates banding together. It's always heartwarming and bittersweet once one of us is out of the job-seeking grind and officially going to start a steady job. So to those of you who are searching, you're not alone and if you just got something, congratulations!

Once I hit a certain number of applications sent in, I get a prize. I told myself this today and am now trying to think of a really good one that will make all the work and writing and rewriting and editing worth it. I initially thought of a new book (of course) but that is just not special enough. (Plus I went through my bookshelves last night and there are far too many books that I own and have not read yet for me to purchase anything new.) Perhaps some really good new music once I get my new computer? I think that would be perfect. Or a fun day out somewhere. Hmm...I'll let you know what I decide and when I get the reward!

For now I still have lots and lots of resumes to refine and cover letters to write and job searching to do. I've almost been a college graduate for an entire month (WHOO!) and still have yet to find a full-time placement. Thankfully, I do have a part-time job for the summer that I love and truly am going to be sad to leave once August rolls around.

If you, however, have been looking for a few books to read and are a little strapped for cash, Barnes and Noble is having a wonderful online sale here of 100 bestsellers. All of the books on the list are marked down to $3.99, and there are some really wonderful writers represented. Enjoy!

a new currently:

just finished reading: Paper Towns by John Greene. I loved it.

now starting: Love Me by Garrison Keillor

working on: editing a friends personal statement for med school, helping another friend create press releases for her internship

needing to: apply for more jobs!

just read this NYT op ed: A Gift for Grads: Start-Ups

planning: a trip to a bookstore. just to browse. promise.

woke up today: at 8:28am...I forgot to reset my alarm to a morning time (I tried napping yesterday but it didn't work) and needed to make the 8:36am bus. I did. And with style, wearing a necklace I just finished making, jeans, moccs, cardigan (of course) and my purple glasses to match both the cardigan and necklace.

excited for: a business proposal in the works! kind of a off-in-the-land-of-when-i-have-money-dream-job, but we are starting it now with a blog and craft days. I'll share that link and the story behind it soon.

want a new song? Parachute by Ingrid Michaelson is it!

my brother got married!

and that explains my absence lately. I took a few days off of work last week to help with the wedding and be in it, and before that I was working hard on a surprise slide show presentation for the happy couple.

The day was wonderful. They say it's good luck to have rain on your wedding day, and there definitely were showers in the morning, but it all lightened up and finally the sun poked out right before we were to walk down the aisle. It was such a happy, exciting day, and I now have a sister-in-law!

If you want to see more photos like the one above, head on over to the photographer, studio lb's, blog post here. (And a fun fact for you: the photographer's boyfriend was one of Brian's groomsmen!)