all that's past is prologue...

Brutus and I are spending part of this afternoon at a taproom, while I asses how I did for this year's resolutions (spoiler alert, not well). So these are the resolutions I made : 1. Become a QuickBooks Pro Advisor. 2. Clean out storage areas. 3. Write a letter a month. 4. Plant a ton of bulbs at all the houses (remind me of this in the fall). 5. Never pass up a chance to be kind.. And how I did:   1. Become a QuickBooks Pro Advisor. Didn't even try. Hmm, maybe this does not matter to me as much as I thought it did? 2. Clean out storage areas. Sort of. I'm calling it a success. 3. Write a letter a month. Ummm, again, no. 4. Plant a ton of bulbs at all the houses (remind me of this in the fall). TOTAL FREAKING SUCCESS! (though none of you did indeed remind me). I remembered this in November, ordered a ton from Holland Bulbs, and planted soooooo many bulbs! I'm excited for spring. I might get some paper whites for inside the house this winter too. 5. Never pass up a chanc...

  To say I have been eagerly awaiting Yum! to open at Selby and Snelling is an understatement. I'm not going to get into my feelings about the new development there; but I will say that I used to dream of the "Patti cake" (though not enough to drive to St. Louis Park for it), so I was very happy to hear that a location was opening here. It opened on Tuesday, and I headed over right away that night to pick up some desserts to bring home. Due to a system glitch, I had to wait longer than usual, so they cheerfully comped my order. And yes, the cake was every bit as good as I remembered, and Beatrix loved her cupcake. We have not had a lot of family time together due to the circus holiday show, so tonight we decided to go out for dinner together (Patrick was especially excited to try it). He had the mahi-mahi tacos (a huge piece of well seasoned fish over greens, then you build your own taco), and Beatrix and I had the grilled cheese (on challah! with homemade delicious chip...

It's been a long weekend — week actually. Today I told both Patrick and Beatrix that I was just not up for much more Christmas decorating than we had done. We have a tree and a wreath up, but the bins of ornaments have sat there since early December, but much more seemed impossible right now.  A little while, our friend Rachel called to see if Beatrix and I could take advantage of last minute tickets to Anastasia (which I really wanted to see), but we could not get going fast enough. And it felt like a stupid thing to be upset about missing out on (on top of skipping yoga today), but was one nonetheless. So, a little worn down, I ran some errands. When I came back, Beatrix had decided to do some decorating after all. It's not *everything* that we usually do, and it's not in the usual places. Which makes it all the fresher and were and more valuable. It's a whole new way to look at Christmas. I went to a wonderful book club meeting — I love the people in my book club. M...

There's something invigorating about going to clear the snow after the first big snowfall of the year. Though as I was doing it, I noticed that there are 3 kind of ways to clear your sidewalk: 1) You go out with the snowblower and, while you have it out, you clear as much as you can. That was much of our neighborhood this morning. First Deb and Dave cleared our main walk. Then Patrick went out with the snowblower and did a little more, but a narrow path down the walk of the new-built home on the other side of Deb, then cleared out the block's OG's walk fully. He then went on to do similar things at the Hague and Winter Street houses. That's kind of our theory; help out people as much as you can. It was kind of fun to see all the neighbors in the snow, on a beautiful sunny morning. 2) You get a service. Also a reasonable move (and it turns out we did not to clear John and Linda's because they had hired a service this year, the same one a couple of other neighbors use...

Back in July, I colored my hair with E-Salon , and today I have Madison Reed a try. Here's my hair before: Madison Reed seems to use less packaging that E-Salon, so that's a plus. It did not, however, come with a brush like E-Salon, so I had to use the application bottle. It also did not have as many steps as E-Salon, so was easier to put on. I appreciated the little cap while the color was setting.  It also did not smell as good, though, and I am mixed on the color (it seems to be a lot darker than the color I selected): So I am not 100% sure...