all that's past is prologue...

Beatrix's spring break has started ... with a ton of extra circus classes! So while she was at an extra rehearsal tonight, Patrick and I hung out at Wandering Leaf, running into friends and reading, despite the busy-ness of a taproom the Saturday before Saint Patrick's Day. Then I had managed to snag a reservation at Catzen Coffee , where we had delicious drinks and a cheese-ceuterie. And where Patrick in particular got some "Tim Time." I love hanging out there with friends; it's so relaxing! Now we're hanging with the dog and watching Moana 2 , also perfect.

It was a snow day for many people today, after we got almost 12" of snow. But not for Beatrix, whose school was apparently the only one open in the metro area,  or Patrick, who shoveled everything out, or for me, who got buried in a raft of zoom calls and issues where people just were not listening. So I took a couple of small breaks to finish off some projects I had wanted to get knocked off for awhile. Because I was distracted and kind of annoyed, neither of them were perfectly executed, but I am going for the "perfect is the enemy of good" here. In 2020-2021, Skewed Visions did a performance piece by mail as a way to adapt to covid conditions. These 4 pieces were sent separately but intended to go together as a commentary on the epidemic. I finally got around to framing them in a double-sided glass frame so both sides could be viewed; now I just have to suss where to display it. Working on this, especially on a day stuck at home, was a startling reminder of those tim...

As Viv reminded us at yoga today, it's Women's Month. Which got me thinking about the so many women who have been incredible teachers, mentors, role models, and friends to me over the years. If I were to list them all, this post would never end. But five in particular, without whom I would not be the person I am today, stand out: 1. Nine I met Nina Koch when my seventh grade trip to Widji, where she was a winter staff counselor. Our bond was immediate, much to the amusement of other counselors ("Hey, 9, I thought you said you were never going to have kids!") and by the end I was calling her my older ("by 10 years, 7 months, and 5 days") sister. Thanks to 9, I started to go to Widji, and met the other people there who became so important to me. I discovered a great love of the outdoors, especially the northwoods. I began to understand feminism. Over the years, we wrote long letters; I would go up to Widji on winter weekends and we would hang out in her cabin ...

Take out from a local immigrant-owned restaurant. Reading by the fire with the pets. Texting with a close friend. Dropping your brave kid off at her school dance alone after her plans with friends fell though. French wine from 1999 from the cellar. Impromptu charcuterie with good friends while you wait to pick her up. Liquor-filled chocolates from the Amsterdam airport and affogato. Clean sheets on the bed. It's the damn little things, that are actually big ones, that keep us sane.

So Patrick and I just finished our #yearcompass books (which got delayed for all kinds of reasons this year, the main part being when Quickbooks Online locked me out for days and I had to rebuild everything, but I digress. The final part of the process is to set your word for the year — so much better than a resolution. Last year, my word was BUILD, and I do think I spent a lot of the year building in many ways — physical projects, building clients, building relationships... This year, my word was going to be GROW. But *maybe* in this case the delay was good. Because I don't know if I can dedicate myself to growing in 2025. I might just need to try to stay sane. (and also I had a tarot session on New year's Eve that did not make "Grow" seem like the best choice.) So after a lot of back and forth, my word became "ATTEND," and I like that a lot. Attend more performances, and art. Attend parties and events. Attend to friendships and relationships. Attend to the...

In general, I only work with non-profits. But I did work with several small, women-owned businesses — mainly providing payroll services but occasionally some other advice — and they have all sold those businesses to new owners recently (maybe it's me that caused this all?).  These three were: -  The New Victorian B and B, owned and operated by Whitney Blessing. Whitney's and our connections goes way back; her family lived at Summit two separate times, we've twice spent the night at the B&B and spent many other evenings there over the course of our friendship (including many memorable New Year Eves!). Beatrix was the first non-Blessing child at Common Roots Montessori School, which Whitney founded and which was originally attached to the B & B (the school has also changed over and is located in Bandana Square, they are still clients and are thriving). Whitney and her family poured their heart into the B&B and it was amazing. I am sure the new owners will carry on...

In the midst of...everything...it was nice to have a nice Valentine's Day. Patrick baked a lovely breakfast for us and picked up some African coffee. After I got some work done, we headed over to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the small Moulin Rouge Toulouse-Latrec exhibit. We basically had a docent all to ourselves and she had some really interesting things to say about the pieces (plus she was thrilled to hear about our piece). My favorite piece was a sketch he had done of May Belfort's black cat that she could use for menus for her famous dinner parties — the cat is chasing a mouse into Toulouse-Latrec's chop signature. The museum gave us red hearts we could leave at our favorite pieces and I left mine there. Though predictably most people's favorite was the jade mountain. We then went into the courtyard to see the ice sculptures. A George Morrison totem carved in ice is pretty damn impressive: We then went over to Bruhaven and finished our #yearcompasss boo...

No, not that kind of woof, unless you have a lead on a pomeranian that needs a home... I have declared this week my WOOF — Week Of Outstanding Filing. My friend Charles proves how well he knows my by commenting: But this is exactly why it is needed. On Saturday, most of my home office looked like this: Or, if stacked, this: After a few filing sessions, it now looks like this — definitely some room for improvement, but better. And after some similar time at a client's today, my in-box there, which had been too full to add anything more to, looks like this: In attending to this filing, which is definitely my Achilles heel, I am making some progress in the rest of my life. And that feels good.

Beatrix turned seventeen today, which is clearly incorrect because I was there when she was born and it was not that long ago. She threw a small party here last night and then tonight we took her out to dinner. We wanted something fun and with a great atmosphere, so she picked Earl Giles Distillery from the idea list I gave her (based on good mocktails, a variety of food, and instagram-worthy), and she picked right. First of all, both their mocktails and cocktails were very good. Patrick had a NOLA-worthy Hurricane (though not as strong), I had a "Snow Day Spritz," and Beatrix had some kind of amazing tea-cocktail that was gorgeous. The food was also excellent, though there was SO Much of it — we have plenty of tasty leftovers! I had pizza, which I was worried about because my recent experience at Og Zaza was Not Good. But this was great; Patrick had a tasty chicken dish, and Beatrix had some harissa potatoes which were very tasty (if you see me eating her leftovers, no you d...

So when the Guthrie first announced last year that they were doing Midsummer Night's Dream this season, I yawned a little. I mean, it's clearly a good play. I've seen it several times, including when Beatrix played Hermia in her middle school production (though she be but little, she IS fierce...). And I've been reading a lot of "Shakespeare really didn't write most of the things attributed to him" conspiracy theory lately, because it's easier to face than contemporary politics. But I was invited to opening night (thanks Guthrie folks!), and I was really pleased to see that the Guthrie was again doing one of those joyous opening nights where you get to see tons of friends and people you know and the lobby is all abuzz during intermission, and I had heard good things from my friend Liz who saw it in previews, so we went, and it was the best choice I have made recently. What a fantastic, joyous night. The cast is outstanding, with several Guthrie debuts...

I had very much wanted to see Conclave in theaters last fall, but we never seem to actually get *out* to movie theaters. So I was happy to see the DVD on the "Lucky Day" shelf at the library, and after my meeting last night I came home to Patrick making some popcorn and we settled down to watch it. It was great — the cinematography was beautiful and that would have been better on the big screen, but just being able to hang out and watch a movie together, in the middle of my busiest month, was great. So I don't see enough movies, and I have not seen a lot of great ones lately (besides Conclave, and Wicked on Christmas.) Last year started well (partially thanks to the Spirit Awards) with the American Fiction, Maestro, Four Daughters , and The Color Purple , but got kind of slow after that. Probably because I did not see enough movies. And really I need to see more. Most of our viewing activities are series on TV that we watch slowly over a way too long period because we di...

(I'm distracting myself from the Big Things by obsessing over some smaller ones....) Lately we've had a string of either meh or fine-but-nothing-to-write-home-about meals out, which got me thinking about some of the great meals of my life. The only current Michelin-starred restaurant I have eaten at is a place called Cookies Cream in Berlin, a hidden almost speakeasy-like place that took us a few tries to find. It was really All That, and was entirely vegetarian, so I did not have to worry about any of it. It was incredible. I did eat at Chez Panisse when it still had a Michelin Star, with Patrick and my friend Val. It was indeed amazing. Even better was when Val, Patrick and I ate at Bouchon , before it gained its star but when Chef Keller was actually dining there that night. As one might expect, it was incredible. I have wanted to dine at the French Laundry since the days when you had to keep on calling on the day that reservations opened up for 2 months later, but it has ...

Many of you know of my love for Bar + Cart. It's no Lawless; no matter how often I m there I never seem to become a regular. But I'm there frequently; we both have Gold Cards; and I try to get people there as often as I can. We were just there with my Norwegian cousins and were super-happy to share it with them. It's been the kind of place I also like to bring new people to for happy hour meetings, so I was super excited when, just last week on January 9, they announced a whole new happy hour menu with great prices! I posted it on my timeline and tons of people wanted to meet up for drinks. Great way to start 2025! Today I met my friend there. I was a little surprised when, newly painted on the door it said "Social Hour 3-6,"but I thought maybe they were incentivizing showing up before 5:00. Menu prices were higher too, but they had just made another post about the happy hour earlier today, so I figured it was all good. My friend and I were wedged into a table bef...

 Catzen Coffee opened on New Year's Day, but the demand has been high so I had not made it there yet. I've been following them on social media for what seems like forever (and I am sure longer to them).  So today, when my amazing friend Kate offered to help me with a spreadsheet, I said we should meet there. I solved the spreadsheet thing before she got there, but we turn out to be an incredibly effective co-working team; I got more done in that two hours than I would have been able to at home (which face it, is kind of like a cat cafe in itself...). I also had a delicious fig walnut latte. It was still very busy while we were there, so we worked mostly outside of the cat "den" area, and then headed into it at the end for some cat time. It was truly as amazing as expected. Their "most famous" guy "Big (Cup o') Joe" was as incredible as I expected him to be, but honestly all the cats we got to meet were awesome, from super cuddly LeeRoy Jenkins...

I started on my new year's resolutions tonight by putting together this hot fudge pie — hope it tastes as good as it smells baking! More on the resolutions soon. A hint is that we spent much of this weekend deep cleaning the kitchen — like the tops of the cabinets, sorting out and getting rid of dishware we don't use, spraying down the cabinet doors with Dawn, etc. It felt really good to get it taken care of and I am looking forward to a cleaner and more organized kitchen. I also promise that that tangine was not that greasy the last time I used it.

 As I ease into 2025, I'm also thinking back on 2024. Rather than a resolution, I had a word — BUILD — and this is what I wrote about it. "Build" ended up meaning a lot about my physical environment instead of all the meanings of the word: Our front doors:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/03/welcome-build-post.html Art: (not a "Build" post per se but close enough):  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/02/femme-au-plateau.html The new woodwork above the fireplace:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/03/keep-home-fires-burning-build-post.html A lifetime dream of going to Africa:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/africa-build-post.html Front curtains (working on a new storm window now):  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/in-my-defense-i-was-left-unsupervised.html Scraping the garage:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/scraping-by-build-post.html Planting at Summit:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/april-showers-buil...

As I ease into 2025, I'm also thinking back on 2024. Rather than a resolution, I had a word — BUILD — and this is what I wrote about it. "Build" ended up meaning a lot about my physical environment instead of all the meanings of the word: Our front doors:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/03/welcome-build-post.html Art: (not a "Build" post per se but close enough):  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/02/femme-au-plateau.html The new woodwork above the fireplace:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/03/keep-home-fires-burning-build-post.html A lifetime dream of going to Africa:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/africa-build-post.html Front curtains (working on a new storm window now):  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/in-my-defense-i-was-left-unsupervised.html Scraping the garage:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/scraping-by-build-post.html Planting at Summit:  https://prologuist.blogspot.com/2024/04/april-showers-build-post...

I can't let 2024 go, though, without a few high points: 1. Tanzania and Zanzibar This trip speaks for itself. The most amazing trip we've ever done. 2. Other trips Other trips were pretty great too — New York for college visits and shows and seeing friends, a couple of cabin visits, Duluth day trip, New Orleans for Thanksgiving. 3. Beatrix's first summer show at circus. Her triumph, not mine — but she was great. 4. Aurora Borealis 4. Purchasing a Toulouse-Latrec. I'm still happy every day when I look at it. 5. Family here for Christmas The Norwegians were here and it was so much fun!