all that's past is prologue...

A post this morning gave me that "tourist in your own town" vibe, because it asked about your perfect dining day where you live. If I cheat a little, I can easily do this for Duluth, because we do it all the time: Breakfast is Tobie's take-out on the way. Lunch at Sir Ben's overlooking the lake. An afternoon beer at Ursa Minor, then a coffee at Dovetail, and a cider and some soft serve at Wild State. Happy hour at Vikre. Dinner at Va Bene. My home city of Saint Paul took more thought, but I think I am going with: Breakfast at High Hat. Lunch at Afro Deli. A day drink at either Lake Monster or Wandering Leaf. A coffee at Catzen. Happy hour at Bar Cart. Dinner at Emerald Lounge. Dessert at Cafe Latte (I'm a traditionalist). --- What about you? Take me on your perfect dining day.

Two posts in one day brought to you by the welcome occasion of welcoming a new dog to our household! Meet Ernest! Ernie was lovingly fostered by our friends the Moes. They are great people, and you might have even seen Ernest (then called Duckie) on Bluesky doing fundraising cameos for Depresh Mode and Sleeping with Celebrities (and it's not too late to support them!) Ernie comes from Alabama, and has some recovery to do from double hernia surgery and heartworm.  But he's had a relatively chill introduction to the other animals, and I think he's going to fit in just fine. We're all sitting around right now watching a very strange rock opera with Sadie Sink and having some weird drink concoctions to clean out the liquor cabinet. Somehow, I think someone approves.

Internet challenges can be my downfall. I always sign up thinking I am going to revamp my Linked In page/revitalize my wardrobe/learn Portuguese fluently while losing 30 pounds, all in a month. I get a good start but never really make it. Last year I was fairly successful in an Instagram #52weeksofhome photo challenge, but I have fallen off this year. But the Apartment Therapy "Cure" is always my downfall, where I start off well and fall down fast. The Apartment Therapy emails always remind me of this. BUT in a recent email from them I did get a great tip: We have A LOT of books, and they are double-shelved because we don't have enough room. That means that we can never see the ones in the back. And Patrick eats a LOT of eggs, which has been key to him losing weight and keeping his diabetes under control. So when the email came with the tip to use the empty egg carton to slightly raise your back row of books so you can see them, we were intrigued. As you can see, it's...