Minneapolis Weekend

I went to Minneapolis this past weekend.  It was amazing.  On Thursday, I met Emily at her house, then we went to dinner at French Meadow.  It's my favorite gluten-friendly restaurant in Minneapolis. 

Dinner at French Meadow

I started the night off with a glass of wine and g-free bread (it's my favorite!).  Emily and I split the crab cakes appetizer.  Emily had artichoke and feta ravioli for dinner.  I had fish tacos.  It was amazing.  I can't get enough of this place!

Then, Emily and I drove out to Canterbury Park for Emily's work event.  Even though I lived in the Minneapolis area for my last two years of high school, I somehow never made it to Canterbury Park.  Emily's dad loves horse racing, and had made Emily an Excel spreadsheet with his top picks for the horse race.  Unfortunately, it didn't really help.  However, we had a great time enjoying her co-workers, the perfect weather (80s), and red slushies.

Emily putting in her bet

The (un)winning ticket

Love you, Emily!

The horses

On Friday, I took my time getting ready at Emily's house (since Emily and Frank are real grown-ups and had to work).  Mimi and Harvey, Emily's cats, kept me entertained.

Mimi and Harvey have a rough life

Mimi likes to play with Emily's iPad

Then, I met Gena and Kari in downtown St. Paul for lunch at Trattoria da Vinci.  Catching up with my "little sisters" is always so good - it makes me feel completely at home.  We took advantage of the pasta bar, and then, since Mom Rohl was paying for lunch, we opted for dessert.  Gena got tiramisu; Kari got chocolate gelatto; and I got roasted banana gelatto.  The roasted banana gelatto was the best gelatto I've ever tasted.

Risotto from the pasta bar

Kari's chocolate gelatto

My roasted banana gelatto

Gena's tiramisu

Love you, girls!

Friday night, I headed out to Plymouth to spend the evening with Cassie.  We met her sister and headed out to Lord Fletchers on Lake Minnetonka.  Again, the weather was beautiful, the setting was relaxing, and the conversation was casual. 

On Saturday, I drove over to River Falls, Wisconsin, to have breakfast with my little sister.  I haven't seen her in probably a year, so I thought it was time.  We spent almost two hours chatting and catching up.

After breakfast, I drove over to Stillwater, Minnesota, for the kick-off of Cassie's bachelorette party.  We took a winery tour of the St. Croix Vineyards, and then participated in a wine tasting.

The bride-to-be and me

Saturday night we spend the evening in downtown Minneapolis celebrating Cassie's pending nuptials.  I'm so happy for you, Cassie!

The bride and bridesmaids

Had to grab a shot in the phone booth at Brit's!

So, this marathon weekend may be contributing to my exhaustion.  It was wonderful to catch up with everyone!  Can't wait to celebrate with Cassie and Jake at the end of the month!

Summer Reading...and a Kitchen

Last week, I finished 50 Shades of Grey (talked about reading it here and here).  It didn't end how I'd anticipated.  That's to be expected, I'm sure.  That's probably why it's one of three books.  I'll start the second book next week.  This week is impossibly busy with two days of propping, two days of photography, and then Josh starts law school on Sunday.  I'm already exhausted, and it's just Monday.  However, I pitched a kitchen story and drop zone story today, and they were approved and I'm really looking forward to seeing the design through to photography.  Also, here's a link to a really cool post on creative ways to use subway tile.  I love subway tile and think it gets a bad reputation because it's so classic (and some people think that's boring).  I find the post inspirational.  I hope you do too.  Below is a little kitchen eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

Love the white, yellow, and aqua in this kitchen.

Cassie's Wedding Tree

A while back, I told Cassie I'd like to help her with her wedding stationary or anything she needed help with before the big day.  I was thrilled to work on the bridal shower invitations, especially since I couldn't make it up to Minneapolis due to attending Kappa Convention in Florida.  One thing Cassie wanted was a wedding tree at the guest book table (where people stamp their fingerprint as a "leaf" on the tree).  It seemed easy enough, so I agreed to make it.  Finding a tree vector image was actually pretty fun, and then last night I put it all together.  I've spent the last few weeks researching the best way to print the image, but after LOTS of research (and dumb-sounding phone calls), I finally found the best way to print it.  One of the scrapbook stores in town offers color printing and copying of 12x12-inch scrapbook pages (and they use good paper and ink so the image doesn't fade).  So, I designed the wedding tree to fit a 12x12-inch page.

Then, I went to Michael's last night to find a frame for the wedding tree (hello, last minute...), only to learn that all the 12x12-inch frames are ugly.  I was going to opt for a rectangular frame and then have a matte made for it, but the matte would take 10 days to get...which means I wouldn't be able to give it to Cassie this weekend.  And then, I had a brilliant revelation.  When I went to bed, I casually looked up at the art I have above my bed.  It's our monogram...and it's in a giant frame from IKEA that conveniently has a 12x12-inch opening (it's actually a bit smaller than that to allow for some overlap with the matte, but it's pretty darn close).  So, I'm saved (as long as the Minneapolis IKEA store has the frames).

Here's the artwork.

Cassie's Wedding Tree

And here's the frame I plan to use.

IKEA Ribba frame

I'll take a photo later of what the combo looks like together.

Last night, I also finished the prototype for Cassie's wedding programs.  I plan to round the corners and print them on ivory cardstock, but this is the general concept for them.  Also, don't point out how I put the year as 2013...I already know.  I'm working on all 2013 stories now, so I think it's 2013.  I've made the edits (now that the prototypes are already printed). Once Cassie has her ceremony order decided, I'll add the order of events on to the front of the fan.  The wedding party is listed on the back.

Front of Cassie's wedding program fans (artistic photo version)

Front and back of Cassie's wedding program fans (boring photo version)

And here's the inspirational artwork above my bed. 

IKEA frames and DIY artwork

And now, I'm off to drop off materials with my builder downtown, print the wedding tree at the scrapbook store in Ankeny, and then drive to Minneapolis...