Yesterday was my 26th Birthday, and man was it great! Unfortunately, I had to work all day on Saturday and then got a tiny bit done at Laurel (we finished painting the living room! yay, finally!), and pretty much passed out early after that. But my best friend Emma came over to Laurel bright and early (ish) make me savory delicious birthday pancakes for bfast, and I cant imagine a better use to initiate our new stove! (You seriously have to get the recipe from her, they had corn, and herbs and BACON in them!) Then my parents came over, and our good friend Trygve too. The boys took down the fallen tree in back with a borrowed chainsaw and lots of elbow grease. The whole thing was covered in vines, and so were the surrounding trees. I can't believe what a mess it was back there. But we now have a good tree-sized pile of waste to take to the garden center. Finally, I got a good head start on painting the entryway (flat black! its going to be so fancy!) while my mom scrubbed everything she could get her hands on (the kitchen and bathrooms, the windows and baseboards, oh my!). Oh also! My dad power-washed the front and back porches for us! They look so amazing and shiny and clean now!

Then as a surprise, Alex and I got changed and he took me to The Bachelor Farmer for a wonderful Birthday dinner! (PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS EATEN THERE YOU GUYS). I got to wear my dress that I had altered at the tailor (was long-sleeved and high-necked, now it has a LOW BACK!) My friend Katy is the hostess there, so she sent over some champagne as a treat (what a nice lady! Thanks Katy!) All in all, I have to say it may just be the best and most satisfying Birthday of all time. Thanks family and friends for being the best a girl could ask for!


dress: vintage 70's, thrifted, and altered by the tailor to be sleeveless
wedges: Mossimo, thrifted from Fake Target


OKAY OKAY HOUSE PIX IN THE NEXT POST, I SWEAR.

Alex and I had maybe the best date night last night. Here we go: Alex helped me set up an updated budget and Mint account (since I'll be buying a HOUSE, and also therefore a NEW CAR very soon), until we realized that it was already 9pm and neither of us had eaten dinner yet. As a reward for all of our hard work, we then hopped over to Mt. Fuji and stuffed ourselves with piles of sushi (I'm not kidding, even our waitress said "I cant believe you ate all of that sushi!"). On the way home, Alex got a hankering to watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (with the best Sean Connery role ever made), so we stayed up to about 1:30am watching that.

It. Was. The. Best. Constructive AND fun! What have you guys been up to?


blouse: vintage, thrifted from Everyday People
shorts: from the swap!
belt: vintage, thrifted
flats: originally Urban, found on the free shelf, new clasps added by me!
headscarf: vintage silk scarf, gift from a friend of the family

YOU GUYS. IT IS SO HOTT OUTT. RIGHT?

For those of you not from the Twin Cities, let's just say that it's reaching up to 100 degrees today, and there has been no end to the heat madness in sight, as of yet. So today, I donned a bright orange headscarf. It was only appropriate. Alex and I are going to head out for date night in a bit (air-conditioned restaurant, then air conditioned movie YESSSSS), and then if we can just make it through the night, we'll be home free! Yes, that's right. We are heading up north to the cabin tomorrow straight-away after work, for a long 4th of July Holiday weekend! I Just. Can't. Wait. It's going to be the perfect weekend for not only beating the heat in the city, but for lying around in the water and grilling on the deck at the cabin!

Ohmigosh, I'm so flushed in these pictures! Can you tell it's hot??

dress: AA

belt: vintage, thrifted

headscarf: vintage silk scarf, a gift from Emma!

sandals: vintage, thrifted

See you guys when we return! Whether you're planning on watching fireworks, heading to the cabin, to the pool or staying home for some quintessential grilling and chilling, have a great Holiday everyone!!

When Alex and I moved in together in 2008, we both had busy full time jobs and lots of friends and etc, and we started realizing that we didnt spend much quality time with each other alone anymore, even though we lived together. Most of our time alone was spent curled up in front of the tv or crammed in the bathroom brushing our teeth in the morning! Great stuff, but not very romantic. So we carved out some time each week just for date nights, deciding on Mondays mainly because we knew things most likely conflict on Monday nights. AND I SWEAR YOU GUYS, it is one of the best decisions we have ever made. We usually go out to a new-to-us restaurant (or one of our all-time favs), since we are so obsessed with food. But we also go to movies, bowling, the Walker or walks/picnics in the park. It really reminds us to connect as a couple, and actually we tend to look forward to Mondays now (who does that?!)

So I would highly recommend it to all couples out there: married, dating, living together, not living together, have kids, newly dating, dating forever or what have you!

Here is an outfit I wore to our last date night. I had totally forgotten that I had this dress (or maybe rather, how much I like this dress!) We went to Red Stag in NE, which we rarely get over to, even though Alex has deemed their burger the "best burger he has ever had in his life." He always gets that. I got a spicy chili-infused mint julep (not for the faint of heart, actually!) and polenta. YUM. The night was ended with some Mad Men on the couch, if I remember correctly. We have been watching it from the beginning again, since we havent seen any of the new episodes and wanted to get back up to date with it first. Can I just say, it is so different the second time around?!?



dress: F21, years ago
fleur de lis necklace: etsy, gift from Alex!
sandals: vintage, thrifted
bag: vintage, Melrose Flea

PS: I am sporting the necklace Alex picked out for me for our first married anniversary, though you probably cant see it very well in this picture. He did such an awesome job (he snooped my Pinterest for something I liked, GENIUS)!

Also also, in a sort-of-related-fashion, I recently stumbled across this hobby compatibility quiz that Amanda from wit + whistle whipped up. What a curious and fun idea! Maybe Alex and I will go golfing or take a ceramics class next date night, we will see!

Sorry I've been pretty MIA from the blog lately. I have nothing very exciting to report. I have however, been eating some great food, hanging with great friends, and other boring stuff like that. So here's a little instagram round-up of what my life has looked like these past few weeks. A Handsome Husband, some rollerskating (or lack-there-of), manicures, a little thrifting here and there, and beers from India, oh my!

PS: I've also started doing Ballet Beautiful (that's another thing off of my new year's checklist, woo-hoo!). Has anyone else tried it? (except you, Miss Carla) It is really kicking my ass. Seriously, the first two days I could barely walk, my butt hurt so much. I hate that I knew I was out of shape, but I didnt realize I was that out of shape. The exercises have been getting gradually easier though, which is so cool!

Though it's not equally represented on this blog, in addition to loving fashion, thrifting, homewares, photography and design, I am a total (though I hate the word) foodie. There's a part of me that cannot (and most times, will not) go to the same bar or restaurant twice because I just know that there are so many great places I left left on my list to try! There are new places opening up all the time, and getting great reviews too. The Minneapolis/St Paul restaurant scene really is booming, if you can believe such a thing in this dreadful economy.

I have been dreaming (no really, in my actual dreams too) of the day when the empty building on 26th and Nicollet was going to finally replace Thom Pham's AZIA with some new places to wine and dine. Every day I drive by there on my way home from work, and I cant even tell you the amount of gossip I've shared about the topic with Heavy Table, my coworkers and the owners of nearby restaurants Jasmine Deli and The Bad Waitress.

Calamari with spicy Harissa dressing!

Finally, Eat Street Social (owned by the same peeps as Northeast Social) announced their opening night, and my good friend Ben (also a foodie) and I decided we had to check it out! I dont have very good pictures of the experience (I rarely do when it comes to food!), but suffice it to say, it was wonderful. And it was so heart-warming to see the place packed, on opening night, with photographers taking peoples pictures, and everyone seeming so jazzed that this place is finally here. Every hour, the bartenders rang a large bell and cheersed everyone! It was so festive, and it goes perfectly with the "social house" aspect. It is definitely going to be the new meeting place in the Whittier area after a show at CTC, an opening at the MIA or after class at MCAD.

They give you the extra drink from the shaker in a little caraffe! This was an egg creme of some sort.

There is a really great in-depth description and review by DeRusha here (glowing, in fact). Go there and read all about it. It also talks about Pat's Tap and the virtues of great neighborhood pubs, newly opened in South Minneapolis, which I also really loved (they have skee-ball!).

In addition to Eat Street Social, a Dunn Brothers + Provisions opened this summer in the anemone sushi space, and just the other day, I saw them installing a mysterious new bright orange AZIA Market Restaurant + Bar sign in the old AZIA space on the corner. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! AND WHEN WILL IT BE HERE??

Stay Tuned.

Sometimes when I get home from being freezing cold all day at work, and all I want to do is be warm. So this is what I did the other day, I threw on some additional layers, and then added a necklace later when we went out to meet Maggie & Brett and Gene & Jill for Thai at our favorite Thai place!

sweater: vintage, from swap
flannel: AA
necklace: vintage, two birds
jeans: J.Crew
socks: SmartWool, gift

EDIT: It is currently -10 below! I have a feeling that tonight is going to be another one of those nights...

Happy post-Holidays everyone! Today, Alex and I just lazed around the apartment and watched tv, played video games and started to put away our lovely gifts. We also went out to the Aster Cafe for our normal date night. We went for lunch as an excuse to get out of the house mid-day, actually, but it was nice to keep that part of our Monday since we both have off work.

on Alex
flannel: vintage, thrifted
down vest: vintage Eddie Bauer, thrifted
jeans: Banana Republic
boots: DSW

on me
sweater dress: Elie Tahari, thrifted
peacoat: Express, free shelf
tights: Hansel from Basel
shoes: originally Target, thrifted from fake Target

It makes me so happy when Alex joins me in my remix picture every once in awhile. :) On this day, we went for a walk around the lake, and to the boys' place to babysit the kitty. Then we stopped for a few groceries and made yummy tuna sandwiches with lettuce and tomato and ate watermelon from our CSA. Then we spend all night lounging around and watching Star Trek Voyager episodes on Netflix (our latest obsession)! I love relaxing summer days like this.

on him:
vintage cowboy shirt: Tatter's
white hanes tee: Target
jeans: Banana Republic
flippy floppies: DSW
sunglasses: vintage, Succotash

on me:
dress: thrifted from Everyday People, originally from Anthropologie!
cardigan: Target?
leather sandals: vintage, thrifted from Savers
straw bag: vintage, thrifted from Everyday People

Found in a box from moving (just like I thought) and immediately worn on a hot date with my husband tonight (nope, still hasnt gotten old).