Thursday, August 30, 2018

Jason Mraz


Last weekend I took my husband to a Jason Mraz concert for our anniversary. It was simply fantastic! He and his band put on a show filled with love and joy and had us swaying our arms and dancing in our aisles. Mraz's band plus Raining Jane, an all-female foursome of talented musician/singers made it really vibrant! His opening band, Brett Dennen, was new to us and we loved his relaxed Southern California vibe. The whole night was meant to fill us up and bring us "Good Vibes" and it certainly accomplished that for both of us and the hundreds of others sitting outside with us.

{Chris Schorn Photos}

Here is a little Mraz playlist and Brett Dennen via Spotify for you to enjoy.

With all that love flowing around us it was hard to watch one woman one row ahead of us who spent the concert alternately flipping through Facebook posts and videotaping whole segments of the show and then listening to them right after. Peace, love, happiness and all that; I know she has the right to watch the show in her own way. It was distracting and annoying and yet just a small blip of an otherwise magical show. We left singing and smiling...

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Back to school


The end of school vacation is here. {try not to sob} 

Summer remains-I prefer a long summer. This summer was the busiest I've had in a long time. Two grad classes to spark my imagination and recreate my classroom and two lovely vacations to relax my brain and prepare for the year ahead. I'm ready to celebrate more JOY at school and at home. I've finally fallen head first back into my yoga practice and feel ready to keep that going every day with intention.  Today as I practiced my mind took me back to Loon Lake in Northern Minnesota. A perfectly calm place to be.


Groovy Girl is back at the dance thing and we'll spend 4 nights at the studio each week. We've picked up a small batch of school supplies here and there. Today she managed to choose a new backpack (difficult b/c of ALL the choices) but she prefers to wait until her classes begin to see what she really needs. I'm freaked out about the need for a $180.00 graphing calculator...?   I'm also shocked that my baby is a junior in high school and my firstborn is about to graduate from college! My - how time flies. It seems like yesterday that I was rocking my way through library grad school with a 6-year-old and a baby. And now I'm in my 16th year of teaching.


This past week I've made new binders for myself, got a little organized, mentally prepared my brain, and made a new batch of my homemade salsa.  My mom has huge batches of tomatoes and I wanted to remind myself of all the steps so I did it alone one night this week; chopping onions, banana peppers, jalapenos, and skinning 20 cups of hot tomatoes while listening to music. It was magic in motion and a whirlwind of hot, spicy, and a few tears shed to get to the final-6 jars of salsa!


I made a simple dinner tonight with farmers market fare and I've had a lovely glass of pinot noir. I ate an amazing dark chocolate bar with blackberry sage and I shared with G, J, and K. In a few minutes, I'm going off to do a little bedtime yoga. This year is going to fly by and I want it to begin (and end) with flare. Are you ready for school?


Saturday, August 11, 2018

Slow August Day in Fertile

{Cloth napkins-YES!}
We had an lovely vacation getaway in Northern Minnesota the past long week. It was spectacular and I have many stories to tell but on the way home, we stopped at an amazing restaurant, Cafe Mir, in the small town of Fertile, IA. Honestly, I'd never heard of Fertile before today. Now I'm a fan and I will be back. I was impressed that they have their own small public library.

My mom's garden provides swiss chard to the chef and they use sustainable, local ingredients when possible. Not hard to do when you're in Iowa; we have so much produce and organic farmers raising sustainable meat. While many restaurants are on this bandwagon not always is the food as amazing as the concept. Everything we ordered was delicious. There were 5 of us and we ordered a sauteed eggplant dish as a starter, and as meals, we had a pork and beef lasagna, a braised leg of lamb, Hrbek's ribeye steak, and a wood-fired Margherita pizza for Groovy Girl. I had a "cornucopia salad for dinner, the lighter eater that I am, which is roasted sweet corn, feta, mixed hot and sweet peppers, cilantro, and lime.  It was such a refreshing combination and a perfect amount. We had rhubarb pie for dessert and they make their own fresh bread as well. 

{rhubarb pie}
The table was interesting with a lot of mismatched glasses, plates, and bowls giving it an authentic old farmhouse appeal. Also, they used real cotton napkins which just warmed my heart. I don't know when I'm going to take the time to drive an hour and a half north to dine again at Cafe Mir but I know there are other treats on the menu I want to try. Road trip anyone...?  I'm also curious to see what they will change seasonally. 

{unassuming front of Cafe Mir}
After being on vacation I am realizing that my need for real food, homecooked, slow-cooked grub plus my natural inclination to eat small meals is often confounding to people. I just like to know where my food comes from and I've purposely spoiled myself. I like real greens not iceberg lettuce in a salad. Why bother? I'm not a meat eater and I prefer small batches of food compared to large platefuls. I'm not trying to be a pain; I just like what I like.