a saint no doubt

Although the main highlight over the last week was most certainly seeing St. Vincent with Jena, I will say that keeping a full social calendar helps one from feeling so removed of personal contact, a side affect of working from home. Last week was as busy as the weekend. On Wednesday, Jena came over for an overdue girl's night, which mainly consisted of my experimentation with a couple new recipes (a new weekly fixture) and sifting through fabrics for a new sewing project. Although the corn cakes with avocado lime salsa were just so so, the caramelized apple crepes with hazelnuts were delightful. Think apple pie in a crepe. On Thursday, I met up with my friend Jonathan for dinner at Tin Shed and then we hopped from The Nest Bar on Alberta all the way down to Back Stage Bar off Hawthorne (I am starting to feel like I live there). On Friday, Jonathan came over and made one of the best veggie burritos I have ever had and we watched New York I Love You which was the sister film to Paris Je t'aime. The latter was certainly better. 

 

On Saturday, I had been invited to a "cocktail brunch" at Veritable Quandary downtown by someone I had met through a meet up and was lucky to meet some lovely new women and eat some delicious crab benedict. A very strange coincidence was that the girl, who I had seen on Thursday at The Nest sitting at the end of the bar was the same girl sitting next to me at brunch. Her gorgeous and recently acquired sleeve of large roses, which were wrapped with saran at the bar made her stand out. I am getting the itch for something permanent on my wrists maybe (perhaps a pair of Kokanee Salmon: an ugly fish to some, but representative of growing up in the Tahoe basin where they are endemic to the lake)....And the artists here are no amateurs! Later that evening, I picked up Jena and after dinner and we made our way to The Doug Fir to see St. Vincent. I could spend a great many pages describing what a wonderful performer she is, but instead, decided to simply say, GO and see her if you can. I promise you will be as enamored as every single person in the room who is transfixed by the talent that pours from her soul. She is quite simply incredible and that was the BEST performance I have seen since M. Ward. You have to love a girl who can, as Jena so accurately qualified it, shred. It's rare to find an artist who is even better live. GO!! And since I didn't take my camera, I thought I would just illustrate one of my favorite moments from the show. 

Sunday came and went and I dragged my butt to Sara and Jesse's to talk through the last 30 minutes of the game with Sara, neither one of us a football fan, and then made my way home a couple hours later. Yesterday was one of those extremely productive and good-for-the-soul kind of days. It was sunny, which generally means I pack up the dogs and take them to the arboretum, which is so grand in both scale and nature. Walking on the walnut trail made me feel like I was in an aviary. I don't think I have ever heard so many different kinds of birds all at once. The highlight was a woodpecker, an audible rarity for me and one that makes you feel like you are definitely in the woods. Today is shaping up to be another sunny day (two in a row is something to celebrate). I can't emphasize enough what this weather has done to and for me. After living a life of Reno winters (which always seemed to creep into my bones) and surviving a Minnesota winter (which I maintain isn't so bad, but is definitely extremely cold, often very snowy and waaaaay too long) and now walking around in a sweatshirt in 55+ degree weather every day in spring-type weather in February is a lot to be grateful for, especially when the sun shines. I feel so lucky and satisfied with this climate.

It's strange to get the feeling of a seasonal change, which is ALWAYS euphoric, so early on, especially when you can no longer relate to how your friends are living through negative below and feet of snow. Don't think I could go back to that. 

Back to work now. There are bills to pay. Tuesdays have quickly become my favorite day because I have yoga to look forward to (I haven't missed a class in over a month)! I think I like it.