Do. Does. Did.

But I feel I should share the news with those who follow me in the blogosphere. So to learn about it, go to the following link, where Jake explains all. All I can say is that I’m completely overwhelmed with happiness.

http://jacobtitanic.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/mr-william-alexander-general-labourer/

MORE LOVE THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT EVEN EXISTED.

Tons of hours at Truffles this week, which will be taxing on my sanity but wonderful for funding Christmastime gifts and cheer. I worked today and I’ll be working every day until next Monday.

I gorged myself to oblivion yesterday. Mochas and coffee at Caribou were super cheap, so I had too much, and then I went to Café Mac, where I stuffed my face with Jalene and Christina and felt awful later about it. I’m not used to the luxury of being presented with station after station of more food than I can eat AND an a la mode sundae bar. Mmmmmm Mmmmm. The food was kind of disappointing, quality-wise, but it was made up for in quantity.

Then, just as I got back to the Novaks’,  I got a wonderful surprise: a text from Craig! I can’t believe I hadn’t seen him and Devin yet. So I headed back to St Paul, and we met up at the Blue Door. Despite getting the chilly table right next to the door, we had a wonderful time. I attempted photos, but the camera phone doesn’t handle dimly-lit settings well, so they just look really creepy. So for now I’ll leave them off.

It’s so nice to be here surrounded by so many wonderful people! It’s exhilerating to get to have a busy social life again.

love to all.

I’ve been trufflin’ it up lately, rolling pan after pan of ganache balls. But today I have a break! So I stayed up late last night knitting and reading and then slept in this morning up in Little Canada. Later today I’m hoping to chat with Ms. Julia, who just got back to the mainland after 5 months in Hawai’i a few days ago.

This weekend was very exciting, because Friday night was the Chanter release party and Saturday was Francisco’s birthday. Both events were great fun and, I would imagine, a great release for those poor souls who are in the middle of finals craziness.

I only have a few pictures to share with you, and they’re both foodie- and Truffles-related. The first is Christina by the nice snack spread we had at work on Saturday. Christina and Jalene teamed up with chips, bean dip and salsas, and I contributed a huge tin of mixed nuts for munching on.

Jalene and I also found these fun sodas at Target for 69 cents.

Sidral Mundet? It was just kind of apple-y and carbonated. It’s rare nowadays to drink something (while still in the country) that you’ve never heard of or seen advertised before, so it was fun.

Then at the end of the shift (still Saturday), Kathy came in with a bunch of pasta that someone had left in a basket at Wal Mart or something. I didn’t get the story straight, but either way, we got free angel-hair pasta out of it, so after our busy busy day at work, we treated ourselves with a big pasta dinner back at Jalene’s.

Jalene did most of the work!

Last night, Christina, Callie and I went to the MOA so they could take care of some Christmas shopping, and tonight I think we’re going to all have dinner at Café Mac!  It’ll be a bizarre blast from the past, for sure—but VERY delicious and filling.

Joe comes home later this week!

SO much love.

It’s been snowy, according to the KARE 11 News, all across the country the past few days. Luckily, down in Apple Valley, where I spent much of this week, it only added up to about 6-8 inches. Enough that I got to do some shoveling, but not bad. The rest of the time, I spent the days inside in the warmth with Grandma and Grandpa—and Grandma taught me how to knit!

I’ll admit, it was rocky going at first. It took me quite awhile to figure it out, and even once I did, I somehow managed to add ten loops to my needle over the course of the day. That was okay, though, because then I got to learn how to intentionally drop stitches. (I still don’t know how I managed to add them).

Once I had it down(ish), we whipped up some sugar cookie dough and I threw flour all over the place in the process of cookie-cutting them. Decorating them was the fun part! I got (maybe a little too) creative with the food coloring and ended up with a bunch of purple cookies. Not very festive, but they’re definitely interesting.

Over the few days I was there, I got to enjoy using their coffee mugs. Call me crazy, but I have a very special attachment to the coffee mugs at their house. They’re just so fun! Here are two of my faves.

Grandpa used to work for Norwest (Wells Fargo) Bank, which I assume is where this guy came from.

Awww! This one goes out to Joe

Now I’m back up Northwards. Tonight, I’m planning to go out with the Novaks to celebrate Grandpa Gene’s birthday, and later, Jalene and I are probably going to hit up the Chanter release party.

Right now, I’m in White Bear Lake (a northern Twin Cities suburb), because the Twin Cities guidebook I received, as a lovely gift while in Vienna, said that “White Bear Lake is one of the few suburban communities with any charm (or an actual downtown), and the flower-filled city center has a fair share of unique galleries, gift shops, and boutiques.” Well, okay, Mr. Moon Handbook, I said. I had no idea, so I wanted to see for myself. It was an interesting drive here from Little Canada, because I knew only that WBL was vaguely northeast of where I was. Still, I made it, and I was very pleasantly surprised. What I found reminds me a bit of Niwot, only it’s, I imagine, what Niwot only dreams it could be.

I found a store specializing in exactly what I needed for a Christmas gift for an unnamed person, and the extremely helpful store-lady pointed me in the direction of the best coffee around: Grandma’s Bakery. It’s very nice, and the coffee comes with free refills. The only down-side is the HUGE display case of doughnuts and pastries staring me right in the face. They look so good that I couldn’t resist getting one of the 75 cent holiday sprinkle ones when I went up for a refill.

LOVE

Mmmm! After work yesterday, I walked around downtown St Paul in the icy night air. SO beautiful.

I took a couple pics in Rice Park, because it looked so lovely

Look at all those little lights in Rice Park!

Landmark Center

I love the huge candle saying "Happy Holidays"

and a bigger-than-human-size nutcracker

I spent today (Monday) with Jalene and Koko, and then had a girls’ night with them, Clarissa and Christina at the Blue Door. Later, I got to play with Clarissa’s rats, Otto and Oliver, back at their place. They’re so sweet!

Tomorrow will be a Grandma Betty day, and weather-permitting, we might go down to Preston to see Great Grandma Venita on Wednesday. Supposed to be a big winter storm coming then, though, so that might not happen.

Anyway, Love from Minnesota! Stay warm

Whew! It’s good to be back. I’m getting to see what everybody’s up to nowadays and, often,  where they’ve moved. A lot of people seem to have crossed the river, which is fun for me, because now I get to explore a new part of town more extensively.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve been up to, beginning in the part of town that’s not at all new.

Lil’ Miss Henderson took me out for some crêpes at Coffee News, where I caught up on the latest gossip.

Then I snuck into the Fine Arts building to see what student art was up on display. I was greeted by some of the coolest fabrics projects I’ve ever seen. I didn’t take pictures of all of them, and the photos don’t do them justice, but here’s a preview.

The night I first met up with the Novaks (Thursday), Colleen and I went to a place called Linder’s, where I found a Christmas gift for someone un-named, and also these pretty berries.

On my way between the Novak’s place and work the other day, I stopped for a bit to grab a breve at Nina’s and read my book.

LOOOVING the book, by the way. If you haven’t read anything by Margaret Atwood, pick up whatever you can find that she wrote, because it’s guaranteed to be amazing. I love her.

This weekend was great. I worked during the days, and played at night. Friday night, Matt took D.Cox and I to the Walker (Art Center—modern stuff) to see the opening screening of the 2009 British Television Advertising Awards. The commercials were all awesome. I had too many favorites to choose from, but the ones that impressed me, and, it seemed, everyone else in the packed theater, were the three below.

And then, the third is one that I haven’t yet been able to find a video for. But if I ever do, I’ll let you know. I don’t even want to say what it’s an ad for, because that would kind of ruin it.

Then last night, Jalene and I met up with Matt and D. We went to the Tap to figure out what the plans were for the night, and ended up deciding on a place called the Kitty Cat Klub. So we grabbed Tyson and Casey and headed out. I was extremely wary of this club, and was not thrilled to be going because of the ridiculous name and its location in Dinkytown, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Nearly all of the seating comes in the form of clusters of couches around little coffee tables. The lighting is cool and the decor is bonkers. Even the band, whose CD release was being celebrated, apparently, was good. We grabbed a seat in the back room/game room, and I watchedMatt and Jalene get soundly beat at pool. That’s not to say that David and Tyson are good, just that no one in the room really had skills.

Afterward, we hit up the Micky D’s, which had more huge M (for U of M) logos in it than I’ve ever seen in one place. Tyson sat at a table away from the rest of us (he’s in the background below, between Matt and D., both of who are laughing, but you can’t tell, cause this is from my phone camera)

Jalene was also amused.

Today I worked at the store, and am now winding down at Dunn Bros.

Man, winter in the Cities is so pretty. It has such a great feel to it. Say what you want about the weather, Minneapolis and St Paul know how to do winter and make it look real pretty.

Love!

So not only do I have hours at the chocolate shop, I also have the amazing privilege of staying with both the Novak family in Little Canada and Jalene in Minneapolis. Minnesotans are incredibly gracious and kind-hearted people—-don’t let anyone tell you differently.

After a night in Little Canada, I feel completely rejuvenated. The snow is lightly blowing around outside in the icy cold  like a snow globe, and I’m all warm and cozy inside reading Encyclopedia Brown books from Joe’s room. And snuggling with Gandhi and Blue.

Life is good.

So…I guess I wasn’t clear enough when communicating with the chocolate shop before I got here. The owner didn’t put me on the schedule at all this month, which I found out when filling in for Jalene last night. At the end of the night, she asked, “So, is Jalene paying you or am I?” Uh….

Then she handed me four tens. Okay. Thanks…?

She doesn’t know if she’ll need me this month, so she’ll let me know. Yeesh. I’m on the wrong end of a don’t-call-us-we’ll-call-you scenario.

Ah well. A phone call to Joe put my mood back right, and then a night of bumming around with everybody sealed the deal. It’s good to be back. Complicated and tiring, but very good.

This morning, I woke up on Jake and Ryan’s couch and then headed out into the cold. I bought a box of cereal and milk in a juice box containter at Rainbow Foods and proceeded to combine them in an empty yogurt container I had in my backpack. I ate it on a bench next to a church with my gloves on. A squirrel befriended me for my food.

I felt bit homeless and sketchy, but the walk back to St Paul was refreshing, especially crossing the Lake/Marshall bridge over the Mississippi River. I happened upon a place called Fine Grind and was treated with the news that today is free refill day. I love being back in a coffee culture area. I can’t go five blocks without an excellent coffee shop appearing.

Pulling out my laptop  in the warmth of the shop and cosying up to a table with unlimited coffee, I regained feeling in my toes and warmth in my heart. Caffeine and the internet. What a winning combination.

Getting together with the Novaks tomorrow night! I can’t wait.

LOVE

Wow. It’s so wonderful to be back in the Twin Cities. I feel like I’m living in an alternate universe where everything is suddenly back to normal yet totally different. People live all over the place and are doing completely different things, yet when we’re all together it’s as if no time has passed at all.

It’s been a great few days. After tonight, I will have slept on three different couches in three days. I spent all of today (since Jake got home from class at 10:30 ish until we left to meet Krista’s brothers at the Blue Door around 5:30)  at Cahoots–a coffee shop on Selby– in the back room just talking,  sitting, reading, doodling, writing and whatnot with a rotating crowd consisting of Jake, Heather, Darren, Emma, Krista, Jeff…etc. Then I finally got to have some much-needed Surly at the Blue Door. It’s been a perfectly relaxing and serene day.  Now I’m wandering around campus after chatting on the phone with Joe, the birthday boy, before Alex joined him in Boulder.

I’ll be meeting up with Krista and Genevieve in a little bit, but in the meantime, I’m enjoying the peaceful, solitary thrill of walking around my old neighborhood. Krista’s leaving for Chicago tonight, so I’ve got to hold on to her while I can.

It’s weird that I haven’t noticed the absence of the mountains or the 5,000 feet of altitude. It seems like those are big things that one should miss after four months, but it just feels all too normal here in the Midwest, and I haven’t managed to notice that they’re not here.

LOVE!

I can’t help but dig through all of my old stuff. I think I’m more sentimental when I’m here. Probably helps that the house I live in here is next door (no fence in between) to the house I grew up in.

Everytime I’m here, I root through every box of mine in both my closet and basement, and I organize the clutter. I’ve gotten good at consolidating and recognizing what things I actually should be keeping and what things have really just over-stayed their welcome in my room.

The best part is flipping through my stack of old sketchbooks. Appropriately enough, I found I’d done a drawing of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, so I took a picture to prove it, and then I got a little camera happy.

I drew it from the cover of the 10 Things I Hate About You VHS sleeve during Pre-Calc.

And then I love this. From way back in the day.

A cowboy and a businessman by the fire. I’d love to know what inspired that.

Bret was in the habit of doodling occasionally in my sketchbooks. Obviously the Tripod Trilogy inspired him as well. Check out his signature! Reminds me of Krista’s.

Alright, one final one, just because I think it’s fun. In the Little House that used to stand where I’m sitting now, I kept my extensive collection of Jones Soda bottles lined up along the window (much to Mom’s chagrin).

Using pencil on top of dried watercolor used to be my favorite (aside from Sharpies)!

.

I saw in the paper today that SMASH, the store that has supplied a good deal of my t-shirt repertoire is changing its name to Raygun. According the Des Moines Register, the name is supposed to be reminiscent of ray guns. duh.  Anyway, they couldn’t get the trademark for the SMASH name because of some store in CA, so they’re going with Raygun and expanding the store for a second time. I’m glad they’re expanding, and I’ll always be a customer, but I’m not the biggest fan of the new name. Maybe it’ll grow on me.

love