I Painted Calligraphy on a Pallet!

When we were visiting friends a couple weeks ago in Minneapolis, our friend Hannah had a pallet that she painted white and had an idea to paint a bible verse on it.  After deciding what would look best, we decided on John 16:33 painted in calligraphy in the center.  Then when she gets the chance, she can cut down the pallet so it is a more manageable size to hang on her walls or above a bed.  I just love how it turned out and am so proud of it! By far my largest scale calligraphy painting project yet.

I was pretty proud that I got it all done in an afternoon/ evening basically while they were prepping food for homemade sushi and then afterwards cleaning up.  Ha! that night we accidentally made 17 rolls.  They tasted so good and were so fun to make that we couldn't stop stuffing and rolling.

Top photos by Scott.

Bottom photo from my instagram. #amedetails

Film from Minnesota 2011

We went to visit good friends of ours in Minneapolis back in 2011 when we first moved to North dakota after we got married. I finally developed film from then and love how the pictures came out. Isn't it great reliving memories through forgotten film? We went to the Minnesota State Fair (after everyone telling us how wonderful it is) and were not disappointed. We basically ate our way through there.

We also spent some time walking around the Mississippi River which was just so beautiful. Thanks again Zach and hannah for having us! See you next weekend!

My 25th Birthday

Over Memorial Day weekend we celebrated my 25th birthday. Scotty surprised me with a trip to Minneapolis for the weekend. Our drive down was very rainy, in fact it had been raining for like 2 weeks at this point and rained the whole weekend, but the landscape with the dreary sky, lush green trees and hills reminded me of some scenes form Pride and Prejudice. 

When we got to our hotel, we went up to the bar and had drinks and appetizers since it was late. I had a crazy berry martini and tried the roasted cauliflower (I have seen recipes for them everywhere lately) and Scott got a whisky drink and some crazy sliders. As you can see in the photos the bar was heavily infused in dark purple lighting and a beautiful chandilier. 

We treated ourselves to room service. I think this is what Scott was looking forward to since he planned the trip. We got french pressed coffee, french toast, poached eggs (because I still can't figure out how to cook these!) and fresh orange juice. It came complete with smarties- a fun touch.

Then we did some shopping and wondering around the Mall of America. We got there really early so we wondered around the empty mall through the crazy theme park center and to the opposite side we never walk. After a morning of shipping, we had a Nordstrom lunch complete with some of my favorite tomato soup and a ricotta cookie. Then we headed over to Ikea to pick up some random things where Scott had clearly gotten a little bored and played the guitar out of our new kitchen shelves. 

We took an awesome nap after all our shopping. When we work up, we searched 'restaurants' on our phone and picked the one with the most stars and reviews that was also within walking distance. It turned out to be a place we were recommended to go... Fugo de Chao! It was seriously one of the most memorable and delicious meals I have ever had.

You get this card on your table where one side is green and the other red. Green means bring me food, red means no food for me right now- ours were always on the green side. It was a brazilian stead house where waiters walked around with most amazing cuts of meat that they would cut pieces off of while also bringing you fried bananas and fried polenta (along with a delicious salad bar and drinks!) I had the guy with the bottom sirloin come back around 3 times because it was so good, and I don't eat much meat anymore. We seriously can't stop thinking about that fried polenta.

Turning 25, or getting ready to, put a spark in me that I wasn't expecting. I was slightly nervous to turn 25, I mean it is a big milestone, my twenties are half over and I really don't feel like I am as proud of my accomplishments of my lower twenties as I want to be. So I decided it was time to change some things, first up find a red lipstick that I like and matches my skin tone. I know its not that big of a deal, but I have never worn red lipstick before this day. The nicest lady at Sephora helped me pick one out by Nars. 

Zach and Hannah met up with us at the mall again to also do some shopping (they were there for the big red lipstick debut) and then we spent the rest of the day with them having dinner at their house and then went out for dessert to celebrate Hannah and I's May birthdays. We all had late night coffees and shared four desserts. 

We seriously had one of the best trips. There is nothing like a much needed vacation snuggling in soft hotel beds.

2012 In Review

I know it is a bit late but I thought I would try and remember some awesome times in 2012

^^ We ate lots of blizzards of the month to help get through the winter/ We went to Duluth, MN on spring break to go skiing and hang out with friends/ We saw Elton John in concert

 ^^ I celebrated my golden birthday at Toasted Frog, one of our favorite restaurants in Grand Forks/ We also celebrated our one year anniversary. All of this was going on during studying for step one :/

^^We had lots of time at Starbucks, it was always a pleasure to sit outside/ We biked to Dairy Queen/ Our plants made it outside on our porch/ and we were outside as much as possible too

^^We biked everywhere we could/ Chris came to visit and to help us move/ and we moved into a new place in Fargo!

^^Celebrating Scott being done with Step one and our new move, we took off to Vegas to visit family for a few days. Katelyn came into town to say hi and we went and visited the Hoover Dam and the new bridge./ I also helped my dad change the lightbulbs (a regular thing at my house)/ and spied my cat hanging out on the waterfall.

^^One of our trips to Vegas Bobo couldn't be there, but the good news was that we had a layover in Salt Lake so we surprised her at her work and had lunch/ In Fargo, we heard good news and celebrated out with dessert at the Hodo.

^^We went to the street fair and ate lots of delicious fried foods. My favorite were the fried oreos/ We bought a new car/ Went on lots of walks/ and bought a puppy! We still went on lots of bike rides too.

^^With Wesley came lots of naps too.

^^We traveled a lot last summer. We went to Minot to visit friends/ Met family half way in Bismarck/ and made it to Minneapolis a few times (I have to always have the tomato soup whenever we go to Nordstrom)

^^My mom came to visit since we couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving. We went and got her favorite chips at JL Beers and went to Winnipeg for the first time/ Zach and Hannah came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us/ I had my first cup of coffee/ and we got our first Christmas tree!

We celebrated Christmas three times/ spent some time with Scott's family in North Carolina/ after spending time with my family in Las Vegas.

2012 was good and we are so excited to see what the rest of 2013 has to bring!

Minneapolis, MN

We headed to Minneapolis toward the end of October to visit some friends and shop for a new chair for our living room. The leaves were still changing and on the trees and it was so beautiful to see.

A couple of things I have taken granted I really appreciated on the drive there like sunshine and city lights. At that time, we hadn't seen the sun here in Fargo for like three days and it was so nice to see it peak through the clouds and warm our faces as we drove. The city lights were also so beautiful as we drove in Friday evening, I just giggled looking at all the buildings. It sounds like I am crazy, but there is just something about city lights- I used to drive to the 'top of las Vegas' and look at all the city lights at night for hours.

AND then... we treated ourselves to some of Nordstrom's tomato soup, the best comfort food ever. I felt recharged. Zach and Hannah also treated us to a fun place to eat and a comedy show. It was a great trip!