i’ve been following along with jenni’s monthly updates on completing a list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days, which has finally motivated me to begin my own.

yesterday i kicked off my own 101 in 1001 list by having lunch at the melting pot with my sister — #12: Visit 20 new-to-me restaurants in the Twin Cities.

the motivation behind going for lunch was actually because jason had purchased one of those online coupon things and it was going to expire before he could find time to use it. so… thanks, sweetie!

though we didn’t anticipate it being a two hour visit, it was a fun lunch! the booths are wide and tall, so it felt very much like we were dining privately. the food was all delicious, too!

i currently have 61 items on my list that should have 101 items. i’ve been trying to brainstorm, but i’m sure more ideas of things to get done will come along. do you have any suggestions? i think i could probably add some goals related to my professional life, fill out of the list of goals for home, and add some more twin city to do’s easily enough. what am i missing?

I cheated on these a little bit.

But Betty Crocker knows how to do things right, so I trusted her to help me.

I borrowed the second part of this recipe from How Sweet It Is (again).

Pumpkin Layer
⅓ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 large egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425° F.

In a bowl, whisk together sugars and egg until smooth. Add in pumpkin and spice, again mixing until combine. Finish by adding in heavy cream, stirring until everything is mixed, then pour on top of the cooled brownie layer and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for 10 minutes (9×13 dish) or 15 minutes (8×8 dish), then reduce heat to 325° F and bake for 18–20 minutes (9×13 dish)/22–25 minutes (8x8dish) or until pumpkin layer is set. Let cool completely (ideally overnight, or about 3–4 hours) then slice and serve.

While I waited for everything to cool, I admired our first Christmas tree together. We have a blue/bronze/brown motif going on with our ornaments. I think it’s pretty special.

Since I was already feeling sentimental, I decided to make these brownies a sweet(er) special treat for Jason and me.

We opened a bottle of dessert wine that we bought while traveling around New England in September 2010 — Roughshod from Blacksmiths Winery in Casco, Maine.

Delicious! I will definitely make these brownies again next fall, but we’ll just have to go back to New England to get another bottle of Roughshod…

Luckily, two of my friends from South Dakota, Bridget and Lindy, decided to take a weekend vacation to the cities. This quelled my fear that I was truly boring. If I decided to stay in and do nothing, at least I’d have friends to talk to about how much I love staying in and doing nothing!

My weekend actually began with an 11/11/11 celebration at work — finger food and Apothic Red. I’ve been with Gage Marketing for about two weeks now, and the worst thing I’ve found is the toilet paper. Seriously, so far this place is rad. I’ve had a couple small projects so far — I’m looking forward to more — but it was pretty nice to end the work week with a glass of wine.

That evening, Jason and I went to a wedding on UMN’s Showboat. Our friends, Joe and Laura, got married. The ceremony was very lovely, her dress was gorgeous, and the karaoke was great!

On Saturday, I joined Bridget and Lindy for a day of adventure. We ate brunch at Fat Nat’s Eggs — a casual joint that I pass everyday going to and from work. I ordered the “Favrito” and it was super spicy and delicious. The atmosphere was similar to that of a VFW. It was a down-to-earth restaurant, and I will definitely go back to try more of the spicy breakfast platters they offer.

After that, we went to view some Ukrainian antiquities at the Museum of Russian Art. I’ve passed the building before, but never actually gone in. We saw a lot of tools, jewelry and vases that were about 4,000–6,000 years old and our minds boggled. I really, really wish I could’ve taken photos to share with you. We also saw art from Oleg Vassiliev. Most of his art was political and a bit over my head, but I enjoyed his storybook illustrations that were on display.

Then? IKEA. Boy, did I get some ideas about things I’d like to have in my house…

So we wore ourselves out pretty well and came up with the best way to recover and ring in my 30^th birthday: we stopped at Target for part 2 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on DVD, the fixin’s for Tater Tot Hot Dish, and some cake mix. Kristi and Jason joined us for the evening as well.

Having friends that will watch parts 1 and 2 of the final Harry Potter installment with me? Priceless. I’m a pretty lucky gal!

Yesterday morning, I made a strata and Vani came over for some chatter before Bridget and Lindy had to head back to South Dakota. I opened various cards I received in the mail and the gift that Jason got for me — remote start for my car! That will be so nice to have this winter! My brother and sister-in-law sent me the most recent A Book Apart books (because I also <3 web) and my sister and brother-in-law sent me a gift card to Amazon.com (what should I get for myself??).

So, I'm feeling pretty spoiled thankful because I have an awesome boyfriend, amazingly generous friends, and a pretty good life in general. So far this decade is off to a fantastic start!

last saturday night, jason and i went for a photo tour with midwest photo safari. our nighttime tour was at st. anthony main in minneapolis.

we met at 6pm for a brief introduction and initial set-up. don and rebecca, our tour guides, made sure we all knew how to adjust settings on our cameras and got our tripods set up correctly.

the first tip i learned? adjust the exposure compensation in aperture-priority mode. so simple! yet so handy for those times i don’t want to go completely manual.

my dslr is a canon rebel xsi. rebecca saw me shooting the guthrie and the gold medal flour sign across the river, and gave me my second canon-specific tip: set the white balance to “tungsten” to bring out more blue in the sky. voilá!

c’est magnifique!

i was enjoying capturing the light reflections in the water.

then rebecca told me to try f22 to help the lights form more of a star…

i was hooked. (she told me not to go overboard, but! stars!)

we ended the evening on the northern end of the stone arch bridge. i was taking some photos in the middle of the bridge when a bicyclist with a blinking light approached.

see the weirdo dashed line on the left-hand side of the photo? oooh, mystery light…

and? don and rebecca even provide certification after the tour. cute.

it all felt a bit rushed, but we both got some good tips for nighttime photography, as well as booklet to bring home with even more tips and ideas. jason and i plan to go again on our own sometime — maybe when it’s a bit warmer, too. (jason hasn’t posted his photos yet, but he has one of me all bundled up — hat, gloves, sweatshirt, etc. brr! october in minnesota can be quite chilly!)

where i left off: it was about 5 p.m. and we had a half hour to choose a smithsonian museum to run through. i chose the natural history museum which was silly because (a) i had already been there (b) it was further away, thus more walking (c) i like animals too much.

things that come from the ocean are usually really gross.

but light art is cool.

huuuuuuugs!

during choir rehearsal the other night, we all chose a power animal. i went with the american bison.

i think jason took this photo, but it reminds me of a halloween costume i once wore:

that was the best halloween costume. ever. (incidentally, what are you planning to be for halloween this year?)

kitty photos! because i’m a crazy cat lady.

after the museum closed, we wandered around to the east side of the building to see the butterfly garden.

we saw two butterflies and a few bees. maybe it was a bit late in the season… so we started the walk back to the hotel, with a detour to see the white house.

the white house.

we did the whole we’ll-take-your-photo-if-you-take-ours.

i paused to take a photo of the house next to the white house – is this the vice president’s quarters, i think? anyway, i was shooed out of the way by one of the gate guards. it seemed like something was happening, so we hung around like tourists are wont to do. suddenly, three suvs came tearing out of the gate and i’m pretty sure i saw michelle obama in the back of the first car. at least, i saw her silhouette. very exciting. (am i too easily excited?)

the north side of the white house. oooh aaah.

visiting longfellow was our last pit stop (and i saw a live city rat here!) before getting back to the hotel. i think i fell asleep for about an hour, then woke up hungry. for dinner that night, we decided to visit hank’s oyster bar.

we had some pretty delicious food. and some other food, that maybe is more of an acquired taste.

our flight on wednesday didn’t leave until the early afternoon, so we decided to squeeze in one more visit to the smithsonian museum of american history. worth it!

(i love barbie, she’s amazing.)

julia child’s kitchen! i didn’t realize this is the museum where it is housed.

and honestly? it was so cluttered. this kitchen would drive me insane.

this diorama of a ’70s house was all about plastics and toxins, if i remember right.

bomb shelter!

i really think dioramas with people in them are creepy.

two bison in one post. too much?

the last exhibit we saw was all about dresses of the first ladies. i wish i had captured more of the sparkle.

jason hung out with jfk. i smiled at my new bff, michelle.

jason one-upped me by waving at hillary.

and then it was time to go home. i’m not entirely sure why, but something about our flight being crazy busy and full meant we got some vouchers for free drinks during the flights. what luxury!

we are suckers for free. but it was still a nice little treat. (thanks, delta!)

i wish we could travel more often.