Ana's move

My daughter's move went quite well...exhausting, but now done. And everyone who helped her told her that she CANNOT move for at least two years. I'm hoping she will love this place. I love this place. It's an upper duplex in south Mpls...where the boulevards are lined with mature trees and gardens are blooming everywhere. Dogs abound in backyards and kids still play in the neighborhood parks. The house...has a 3-season front porch with windows on all 3 sides, a side deck, the original (I'm guessing) tin ceiling (in excellent condition), wood floors throughout, and plenty of space.

This move was largely a family affair. A few friends of Adam and Ana's helped out (mostly Mary, who is like an adopted daughter), but besides that it was myself, Cyrus and for a bit his girlfriend, Katie (since she's just getting to know the family we didn't push her into heavy lifting detail). Since I was the senior member of the moving faction, I paced myself accordingly. And truly, a big part of my job was providing a level head and nourishment. Saturday included typical moving food: sloppy joes.

I hate moving, but truth be told, I enjoy being part of my kid's lives in this way. I am happy that they want me to be there to see their new place. I still get a certain sense of satisfaction in cooking for them (it's especially enjoyable cooking for loved ones who request their favorites and make you feel loved for doing it).

(For those of you who have been complaining, I will have pictures to post shortly. Patience, it will happen soon)

Peonies in bloom

Beautiful Saturday. The Farmer's Market is in full swing below us. I got up early this morning to buy a bouquet of peonies. Finally, they were there--several weeks later than last year.

I'm off soon to help my daughter move. Not exactly what I want to be doing on a gorgeous Saturday, but I'd rather be moving her in this weather than in rain.

And, I'll get my cardio in to boot.

Furniture Update

The new furniture arrived early this afternoon and we couldn't be happier. It wasn't too hard to figure out an arrangement that seems to work. We spent a good chunk of the evening relaxing in our his-n-hers recliners while watching t.v. and playing scrabble. The couch is beautiful...the color seems darker in the light of our apartment and works well with our other furnishings.

Ah, domestic bliss!

First Anniversary pics

Here we are enjoying the Twins game on our anniversary.

A view of our room at the Golden Lantern Inn

The lovely roses waiting in our room.

Here I am sitting in the "Risa chair" at Slumberland. Really, the chair is titled the "Risa chair". I had to take a picture of me sitting in the chair.

The recliner on the right is the one we're getting. Yes, we did get 2 for the price of 1--plus the sales ad printed the price $100 cheaper than it was supposed to be!

Ana sitting on the plum couch--this is the full-sized couch, which we would've loved getting, but there's no way it would get in our apartment!

This is the loveseat-size that we got (only in plum).

The anniversary celebration

Well, Year Two of the Marriage began today...but first, we had a wonderful celebration spread out over the last few days. (Pictures will follow soon)

Sunday we enjoyed a lovely (and delicious) brunch at Loring Pasta Bar in Dinkytown (The restaurant is located in what was the Campus Drugstore when I was a U college student. The transformation is unbelieveable). The food was incredible, the people-watching interesting and the interiors of the restaurant are so intriguing you can spend the whole meal looking around. For $15.95 it's a steal.

Unfortunately, Joel came home and wasn't feeling well (not related to the food), so we laid low the remainder of the day.

I took Monday and Tuesday off, so after some discussion, we decided to head off for Red Wing Monday afternoon. Moondance Inn, the bed and breakfast we stayed at for our honeymoon (that I absolutely love) was closed, but we found a beautiful room at the Golden Lantern Inn. The home (7000 square feet) was built in 1932 by the owner of Red Wing shoes. Our room was the original master suite. Joel surprised me with a dozen roses waiting in our room. We slept in a spacious king bed (I could get used to that) and thoroughly enjoyed the two-person whirlpool tub. The weather was quite cool (it's June, right?), so we didn't really enjoy the beautiful gardens at the inn much...but maybe another time.

There's something so restorative about leaving town and spending an evening at a b & b. Sometimes you don't have to travel far to feel like you're on a mini-vacation. I definitely prefer a b & b over a big hotel. This trip made our anniversary special (Thank you honey).

Before leaving Red Wing on Tuesday, we stopped at our favorite antique shop on Main Street and then at the Red Wing Pottery store. At the pottery store, they have good deals on Fiestaware...and we added to our collection--a beautiful plum vase and a light turquoise pitcher.

We headed home, with the plan to stop at the Hom furniture store on the way. Over the past week, we had made a few stops to look at furniture and had decided on a new couch. So...we became the proud owners of the couch pictured in the earlier post (along with 2 recliners). I am deliriously happy about the couch for a number of reasons: 1) it's purple; plum if you prefer. It's a beautiful color. 2) I have never owned a new couch, so it's exciting to make such a purchase and get to pick what I liked; 3) Most importantly, it's the first new furniture that Joel and I have picked out together. It was fun shopping together (we like the same stuff)...and it will be even more fun to get the furniture home and lay out a new furniture arrangement. It is also another step in making this apartment feel more like our home. This is part of building our life together.

We finally arrived home, had a little bit of time to unwind before we headed to the Twins game. The night didn't end with a Twins' win, but we had a great time nonetheless.

And now we're all set to start Year Two. Here we go!

A new couch!

I will write more later about our wonderful anniversary...but just had to post a picture of the beautiful couch we just bought for our living room (along with two recliners). Joel and I are doing our part to stimulate the economy.

The couch is really sort of a plum color and as my daughter said, the color "fits you". My husband does like the color and we have purple as an accent color already. With all the wood in our apartment (exposed beams, wood-beam ceilings) and the recliners being a brown-tweed color, I think the plum will work and make things POP!

I like color!

The 1-year anniversary looms ahead...

Joel and I will be celebrating our 1-year anniversary in just 5 days. I actually plan to start the celebration on Sunday (we got married on a Sunday). We've tossed around some ideas about how to celebrate. We thought about going out of town for a few days, to Red Wing, and staying at the bed and breakfast we went to last year. Next week is the one week all summer they're closed. Then I decided we'd start the celebration off on Sunday with brunch at Forepaugh's where we held our ceremony and reception. They're closed for renovations.

All right, all right, I will not be dismayed. Thus far, we are now planning Sunday brunch at Loring Pasta Bar (where we dined the evening of our wedding). And on Tuesday, we will be attending a Twins game. That seems right, since the Twins and baseball have been pivotal in our life as a couple.

I suppose at some point I'll be reflective about reaching this 1-year mark. In short, I don't think married life has been hard. In fact, I think it's been very, very good. I enjoy being married. That doesn't mean it's always easy, but it's the life I have wanted for a very long time.

I just had to find the right man for the job. That was the hard part.

This part is like the icing on the cake.