Entries Tagged 'Random Fun' ↓

my wonderful friend, mary, invited me to join a group of awesome ladies who just wanna sing: the prairie fire lady choir. and, oh my.

for tonight’s practice, we convened in the current studios at mpr headquarters in downtown st. paul. i could’ve been a lot more insane with the happy (people AROUND THE WORLD are listening to mpr! what an important place! filled with so much greatness!), but i managed to keep myself in check. but i know i can tell you: if i had let loose, i might not’ve been able to stop giggling with absolute delight.

mary works at mpr, so she gave me a tour of the building before practice began. we walked past the studio where mark wheat was broadcasting.

FLASHBACK:

yes, i’m a groupie for everyone and everything that is awesome.

it was a lot of fun learning some new music, singing with other ladies, and generally having a good time! i will definitely keep joining the rehearsals.

their next performance is october 8^th at the st. paul zombie pub crawl. this choir may be one of the few where you get to practice moaning for braaaains.

it begins with sunrise over minneapolis.

early in the week, i decided i would go spend a saturday harvesting grapes at falconer vineyards in red wing, minnesota, after seeing their facebook post requesting volunteers. i have been wanting to visit the vineyard for a few years and had no other plans for the day. so — i would get a full day of experience. and photos.

it was a sunny morning as i drove i-94 through the twin cities, but as i got near hastings a fog began to settle in.

creepy to be driving over a fog-drenched bridge that’s being worked on and sits above the mississippi river. especially after the bridge collapse of august 2007. it takes a brave minnesotan…

when i arrived at the vineyard, it was chilly and foggy but i was excited! there were about 7 other volunteers at 8:30 a.m., fortifying themselves with pancakes, sausage and coffee.

we were tasked with picking la crescent grapes for the day. these are cold-hardy grapes produced at the university of minnesota and they are delicious!

this is cedar, the winery dog. very lovely and friendly. definitely deserves skritches.

the grapes had been frosted a couple weekends ago, which ends their ripening process. the staff of the vineyard seemed disappointed with these grapes, but i’m sure they’ll still produce a delicious vintage. because they were picked with love and care, you see.

john falconer, the owner of the vineyard, came to visit my picking partner and me as we happened upon this little birds’ nest. he said it’s typically seed-eaters that nest in the grapes.

by the end of the day at 5:30 p.m., we had twice this amount of grapes at least.

for lunch, john and his staff made us many wood-fired pizzas. though the pepperoni was especially delicious, i would like to go back to try the “grapes of wrath” pizza — red grapes on a pizza? must try!

after lunch, i brought my camera out into the field.

i believe these are frontenac — also a umn grape.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pork-chop/6182418428/in/set-72157627749944132/

RODENT-HANCE!

is this a gopher? is my alumni pride showing? (go, gophs!)

just when we thought our fingers might freeze off (around 1:30 p.m.), the sun came out! which felt so, so, so good.

steve and stacie jane provided musical entertainment in the afternoon.

after the long day of harvesting (and being one of the few who stayed from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.), john recommended that i take home a bottle of merechal foch. i have never had any of the wines at falconer vineyards, so of course, i accepted. but something wasn’t quite right… i slowly walked out to my car and decided that if there were a spot out in front of the winery, i would stay for a quick tasting.

luckily, there was a spot out front! la crescent, la crescent moon, snowy white, chambourchin, frontenac port… i really wanted to write “yum!” next to each of these wines on my tasting notes.

so yummy.

and it ends with sunset over st. paul.

the vineyard is accepting more volunteers for another harvesting day next saturday, october 1^st. if you enjoy drinking wine, you should definitely go get in touch with some grapes — and stay for a taste!

I heard grandpa on my transistor radio,
Though he turned in his bones twenty years ago,

And he said, “Kid, there’s something that I’d like to show you,
Get your things, its time for us to go”

So I grabbed my backpack, my flashlight, and a bag of caramel corn,

I got my bicycle, and the radio, and I had it on the road, I said
“I’m ready for what I’m about to see. Yup!”

I headed north to rain that turned to snow
Through rusty towns and dusty gravel roads
And I said, “Grandpa, where is this thing you wanted to show me?”
He said, “Kid, you got a long way to go”

So I went through canyons, caves and catacombs, I sailed on bicycle boats
I slept in chapels and brothels, I met the nicest folks
I said, “I’m ready for what I’m about to see. Yup!”

I heard grandpa on my transistor radio
He said, “Kid, its time for me to go,
And I know that there was something that I wanted to show you,

But its time for you to find it on your own.”

Let me tell you about rage when a signal died that day,
There’s nothing out there and I don’t care; Its to take my life away
I’m not ready and I don’t want to see. Nope!”

Its been years since I heard my transistor radio
Yet I keep going to where it seems I’m meant to go

And I finally realized what he wanted to show me
Where I’ve been, where I am, its the show

many, many thanks to my good friend, mary, and her boyfriend, jonathan, for scoring jason and me awesome seats to see cloud cult at orchestra hall (7th row, center). neither of us had been there before. we were blown away by our seats, and then blown away again by the sound that caroline smith and cloud cult filled the space with. they made me cry* and they made me boogie. it was a wonderful time! (come back to minneapolis soon, cloud cult!!)

* it’s really not that hard to make me cry, i credit my irish heritage for this “blessing.”

this year, vani was my date for rock the garden. she is an awesome date, by the way! you are jealous.

it was actually sorta fun to hang out in the rain and drizzle all afternoon. we fortified ourselves with summit beer and fabulous food from the chef shack (bison burger and bacon beer brats, drool).

i borrowed jason’s barenaked ladies poncho for the occasion and felt like a pretty terrible girlfriend when the neckline ripped pretty early on. does anyone know where i can buy a replacement? or maybe i can get him something awesome when we’re in san francisco in four and a half days eeeeeeee!!

i was trying to find vani and myself in the time-lapse video, but there are just too many people and we all look like ants!

social media in the rain is tough. i was typing from under my poncho.

kristi and jared shared our sitting area. somehow they walked right by us, which is amazing. seriously, there were so many people.

that’s neko case. she sounded positively delightful. also, the zoom on my camera sorta sucks. i think it’s almost time for a new point and shoot… any recommendations?

okay, so i also enjoyed the heck out of a gyro. it seemed like everyone around me was enjoying them, so i had to have my own later in the evening.

my cute date and me.

my charming landlords.

in this photo, kristi is waiting for jared to return from the barrio food truck with “like, a million tacos.” (he came back with one of each!)

i’m always makin’ friends with nature. as long as the nature isn’t in my house, you know?

barry and stacia joined our excellent spot for a better view of my morning jacket.

that’s mark wheat in the fuzzy distance.

this guy started a beach ball that bounced around to the front of the audience during the first few songs of my morning jackets’ setlist. way to go, beach ball guy! he was really proud of himself.

oh, we also ate the hell out of some fries.

i danced. everything was so wet and muddy! it was pretty fun.

see that beach ball?! yeah.

meanwhile, sunset.

i love you, rock the garden! see you next year!

the word of the day was…

this past valentine’s day, my sweet boyfriend snuck into my house and left a big bouquet of flowers along with a couple groupons that i would like — one was for a visit to chateau st. croix winery & vineyard, which included a tour, a cheese plate, wine tastings, and two souvenir glasses to take home. the winery was across the river in wisconsin, so we decided to make a whole, fun day trip out of it.

we paused in st. croix falls at a scenic overlook since we were a little ahead of “schedule.”

i think this photo is hilarious because it was my idea to look DIRECTLY INTO THE SUN so of course i’m making a stupid face and ruining an otherwise pretty darn cute photo.

i’m now not sure if those (off to the left of the photo) are taylor’s falls or st. croix’s falls.

king of the world! … or at least of this rock.

look at all that lichen.

zooooom!

jason risked his life for this photo. i almost had to leave him behind. (but he had the keys to the car…)

james knox polk: thank you for making wisconsin and for providing a name for a great street to live on (twice).

chateau. lions everywhere. i loved it.

now entering narnia!

our first tastings: 2006 atelier alexander valley zinfandel (the zin) and jaune d’or port (“like drinking a sugar cookie”). both very delicious. i liked most of what we tasted, and i went home with a bottle of the 2009 wild river rose.

oh, now we’re on the tour.

it would be fun to volunteer on bottling day/weekend in september. who wants to join me?

jason got on the floor for this photo, reviewed it, then proclaimed he was a genius. yes, you are, sweetie.

the cheese plate for two. you mean i have to share this?!

jason was even gonna eat the whole plate, too!

super cute bottle. i would’ve bought a bottle if i had a “wine fund” set aside.

knights like us, baby we were born to runnn… to the winery… to drink wine…

this photo was an “accident” but it’s evidence of the face that i make at jason most of the time. it’s my i’m-falling-more-in-love-with-you-right-now face.

dead wine barrel converted into a charcoal grill = totally awesome! can also be used as a smoker.

it was a special festival weekend at the winery, showcasing some of the local artisans and businesses. the sun came out just for us to wander around the booths and take it all in.

at this booth i informed jason of my plan to some day have my own sheep and my own wool-spinning machine. heck yes, i’m gonna make my own yarn. maybe i’ll get a llama, too (that is the yarn used for the hats in the foreground).

i liked the chardonnay and roasted garlic marinade.

meow!

i wanted to steal this puppy.

this is his (her?) “good side.”

see? more lions!

hello, wisconsin.

this is in the bathroom. sort of rude, but sort of funny, too.

vineyard birds.

sign says: “open wine”
i say: “okay, i will!”

then we stopped at this goofy little sculpture park on our way to stillwater.

this is the work area. there was some art in production as we walked around.

jason told me i live here. it doesn’t even have a floor.

there wasn’t any gold leaf left for us.

hey, then we got to stillwater! the river here was really high — the muddy area is where it had been in the last couple weeks.

strawberry/banana malts at leo’s.

obligatory photos of the stillwater lift bridge.

see the water? those steps are supposedly leading down to a lower pedestrian pathway. i will have to imagine…

this photo is mostly to show the streetlamp in the water.

this is the one place on gowalla that i didn’t check in. dang!

all in all, it was a pretty perfect day with my sweetheart — good weather, good scenery, good wine…

thanks so much for the gift, jason. i love you.