To-Do List

11 Things Every Minnesotan Should Try in 2011.

Now everyone come visit me so we can check some of these puppies off this list.

"Why We're Here"

To everyone who asked me "Why would you move from California to Minneapolis??!?!???":

Why We're Here: Twin Cities from Seven and Sixty Productions on Vimeo.

Courtesy of Stuff About Minneapolis (I love this guy):

Workers chopping ice along the dam, Falls of St. Anthony, Minneapolis (1899)
Wow, it is going to get cold tonight and tomorrow. What are they saying, -20* to -30* below zero? Yeah it’s going to be mighty chilly walking from your house, into your car, and then into the coffee shop. What will your total outside exposure be? 10 minutes? Sure hope that Columbia Omni-Heat Squall Line Fleece Jacket you have on under your North Face McMurdo Parka keeps you warm.
Do you think these guys with the shovels and pickaxes in this picture complained about chopping ice outside for ten hours in the cold? They probably got paid a quarter an hour and for lunch they sat on the ice and ate a stale biscuit with a piece of pickled bacon. And they probably had to hear slurs all day long about being Irish.
When you pull out your laptop do the people at the coffee shop verbally attack you for your Irish heritage?
Didn’t think so.
Remember your roots Minnesota and get a little tough.
Photo by Minnesota Historical Society

HOLY F&%#ING SNOWSTORM

Well, it's snowing like crazy.  I know eventually it won't freak me out so much but holy shit.  There is so much snow dumping down I don't know if it's exciting or scary.  Both?  Do I want to go play?  Do I want to go to bed?  Should I try cleaning a few inches (feet!!!??!?) off of my car that is parked out front in what looks like an increasingly large snow bank right now?

I'm fortunate I don't HAVE to go anywhere right now, but knowing I'd have a really hard time getting anywhere makes me feel claustrophobic.  I'm trying to appreciate that there's food and alcohol in the house, the heat's on, and my car is parked on the side that doesn't have to be clear until Monday morning.

Minneapolis Freeze

I don't care how cold it is, I'm still falling in love with my new city...
  

(Via Stuff About Minneapolis and Flickr.)

Lovelies

About a year and a half ago I got to finally meet Lilly in San Francisco, through our mutual friend Tommy.  Lilly's sister Fuzzy used to live with Tommy in Brooklyn, and I met her for the first time when we were first visiting NYC last January.  Now, Lilly is living in an apartment in Loring Park with their cousin Nora, and Fuzzy lives in the Whittier neighborhood.  A few days after I moved in, we figured out we live two short blocks away from each other.

I got to be sister wives with them for Halloween, along with Chelsea.  I also get to hang out with another cousin Lyz a lot.  I met Fuzzy and Lilly's mom, she told me welcome to the clan.  It make my heart smile.

These women are some that make me happy I get to be one, happy that I live here, happy to be tall, happy to be alive.  They are, individually or as a group, incredible.  Along with my loves Katie, Kate, Lauren, Erin, Anna, and Stephanie (and a few members of the male species too) they have made this city feel like home. 

I saw this video today on Fuzzy's blog.  Hard to believe, but she's even more wonderful in real life.


working from home from Fuzzy on Vimeo.

Job Search Work Spaces

 So I am working from an eclectic mix of settings...

 

(Back patio, Madison's east side, 10/10/10)

(Dining room table, Uptown Minneapolis, 10/14/10)

Start

I'm in Minneapolis.

I arrived 9 days ago, but then left for three days, so it's just now that I feel like I'm actually here.  Mostly.  I've slept most of the last 2 days on an air mattress that I think might be responsible for a backache and some really strange dreams.

I have to get a bed.  I have to get a job.  I have to start getting out of bed before lunchtime.  I have to stop letting the fact that the movers in charge of my stuff are jerks put me in a bad mood.  I have to write some thank-you for the wonderful, generous, loving things people did to help me leave.  I have a lot to do.

It's cold in the mornings, warm in the afternoons, and other than rain last week sunny and cheerful outside.

So it begins.

The Day After Tomorrow

Less than 48 hours until I'm no longer a resident of California...

My room/house looks like a hurricane came through it, but its getting better.

I'm writing this from my knees.  My computer's here on the desk that will be picked up by movers tomorrow, and my chair is elsewhere.  I'm surrounded by clothes to take, clothes to pack, and clothes to donate.  CD's to sort through.  A few boxes of journals and letters that will come with us in the car.

"Us" is my sister and me.  We're going to go see the Grand Canyon this week; neither of us ever have.  We'll see a good amount of desert too, then we'll see lovelies in KC, then we'll pull into Minneapolis about a week from today.

I keep thinking about what's the same and what's different from when I did this the last time.  Almost everything is different, but yet here I am, surrounded by items, a car still to clean and route to plan, drinking coffee, listening to a mix of sappy country and angry rap music, thinking it's a beautiful day - just like I was three years and three months ago.

I'm not alone this time.  When I left Fayetteville I was gloriously alone and all was right.  As I leave Healdsburg I have Megan, and all is right. 

I've said goodbye slowly and quietly here.  One at a time.  I won't get to see everybody I'd like to say goodbye to before I leave this time.  Last time there were parties.  A few of them.  This time, I want a conversations, a glass of wine if there's time, and hugs.  I still cry a little but I know all is well.

It is indeed a beautiful day.