Rooftop drinking

Back in May, when Minneapolis was just beginning to emerge from its pseudo-spring that felt more like winter and the sun was actually shining on occasion, I wanted to make sure I didn't let summer pass me by without taking advantage of being able to sit outside without a hat and mittens, so I pledged to have a drink on a rooftop or patio every week for the whole summer. (I know, it's totally heroic.)

A beautiful day in the neighborhood.

I posted said pledge on Facebook and was surprised at how enthusiastic people were about this idea. Over the last two months, I've been asked about my quest at least weekly. Such excitement makes me think I should maybe be trying to harder to seek out new and interesting patios and rooftops around the Twin Cities, but so far I've just been happy to complete my pledge every week except one. (Please note that so far Minneapolis summer has been at least 70% thunderstorms.)

So since I get asked a lot, here is the list of patios and rooftops I have visited this summer on my quest -- along with the all-important rating (which I would have made umbrellas if I could figure out how to put the symbol in):

1. Brit's Pub ***
2. Margaritaville (Las Vegas) ****
3. Muddy Waters **
4. Pittsburgh Blue *
5. Masa *
6. Seven **
7. Ciao Bella * 
8. moto-i **

With the exception of Brit's, I don't feel like I've hit the supposedly best places yet. I have to make an effort to get out to Stella's, Cafeteria and Psycho Suzi's in the next few weeks. Let's hope the sun keeps shining!

Birthday blur

Birthday week just barreled through like a freight train. In fact, things moved so fast that I forgot to enjoy the week between my/boys bday week and Father's Day/husband bday week and here we are right back into celebration mode...which isn't bad, mind you. It's just really expensive and slightly chaotic.

This was my first birthday in 4 years that I didn't stare at my 40 by 40 list. Perhaps this is because I am so far behind schedule on it this year or maybe it's just because I've just been on autopilot lately. Either way, it deserves a bit of reflection. I just went through a crossed off the two most recent things I accomplished:

#6 Learn to play guitar
I did this! I really did. I'm not a pro or anything, but I learned 7 or 8 chords and could legitimately sit down and play you a song today, which is a LOT more than I could do back in January. (Hopefully you like "Hey Jude" and "Live on Tomorrow") I thought about recording myself playing as proof that I'd accomplished this one (because usually there is some kind of evidence), but I think I left my recording-myself-singing-songs phase behind when I was about 11...I can't even imagine if YouTube had existed back then.

#36 Eat at Per Se
My dessert tasting menu experience was so lovely and fun that I think it fulfills this list item. True, when I put this on the list I imagined eating in the main dining room, but I feel like I got just the perfect amount of the Per Se experience without dropping $500 on dinner. (I'm so fiscally responsible!)

Reading through my 40 by 40 list is such a great reminder of how much you can change year-to-year without even realizing. Running a 5K is always the easiest example to use because I literally could not run one mile back when I made this list and now I run two miles as a regular jog and can run a 5K on a moment's notice.

I like #22 too (Learn to make and appreciate a good martini) because dirty martinis are now one of my favorite drinks. I even started a book club that includes drinking martinis! 4 years ago I didn't even know how to order one properly.

This is all to say that I still love my 40 by 40 list even though I haven't been loving blogging much lately. Everything comes in waves, right? So maybe if I ride this one out, I'll re-emerge in a place where I can put blogging back into my routine...if I take all of the trips remaining on my list, I should have plenty to blog about.

In good news, we're taking a step toward #18 (Be debt free) - we finally got our old house back on the market yesterday! That's the house we brought our tiny babies home to 10 years ago, so it's got lots of good memories, but it's also the house we've been saddled with for the past six years while the housing market tanked, so I will be very happy and relieved to sign it over to a new owner. (Fingers crossed)

Off I go, marching into Father's Day and another birthday, and before we know it June will be over. Go smell some flowers or something.

Absentee

I missed a month. An entire 31-day month passed without me blogging. I'd like to tell you that I have been up to so many exciting things that I simply could not find the time, but it's more like I've been sucked into a never-ending loop of work, cook, sleep, repeat and whatever brain cells have not been sacrificed to that black hole have been stolen by Candy Crush. (Seriously, I wish I was playing it right now.)

Pretty, pretty ice cream

I did leave the black hole briefly to go to Vegas, which was fun and exciting and delicious. I definitely should have written a whole post about that trip, but now it was nearly a month ago, so I'll just give you the barebones highlights:

• Best Dessert of the Trip goes to RM Seafood, where we got 16 (!) flavors of ice cream and had to guess all the flavors. (Peanut butter was very yummy, garlic was not.)
• Best Way to Spend a Monday morning goes to sipping pina coladas by the pool. (Although New York-New York is not really the place to stay if you really love to hang out at the pool.)
• Best Attraction of the Trip goes to the Neon Boneyard, which is pretty much what it sounds like. Lots of pieces of Vegas history all in one place, plus now I have another reason to go back because they're going to start doing nighttime tours with the signs all lit up! 

Culminating with that trip, I've almost entirely fallen off the healthy eating wagon. I mean, I still love my gluten-free crackers, but I've been slacking on the rest of it. Which is to say that I do not have any Smart and Good recipes, nor will I within the next week, as we've just kicked off BIRTHDAY WEEK over here, which is really more like birthday month because my birthday is the day before the boys' birthday, which is exactly two weeks before my husband's birthday. Geminis are we.

So, I really will have a lot going on over the next few days and weeks, but I will make sure that I also come back to the blog, because I really need to revisit my 40 by 40 list and formally acknowledge all the things I did not do...more to come.