the weather in the twin cities and a-maz-ing today. we have had the windows open since about 10:30am. the breeze is cool, the sun is bright. it’s awesome. i totally should’ve planned for a visit to a winery today, but, since i’m supposed to be taking it easy this weekend (i had a tooth pulled on thursday for my second — and final — tooth implant), i will relive the memories of a recent visit to a couple wineries with a few good girlfriends.

winehaven, in chisago city, is the second oldest winery in minnesota. it is also the fourth winery that we crossed off of our three rivers wine trail passports.

the tasting was free and pretty delicious! i enjoyed their deer garden blush quite a bit.

i’m a sucker for a cool label!

i wanted to buy more, but i resisted for now and just brought home a bottle of mead to enjoy sometime with jason.

kristi, bertine, vani, and i were heading to one more winery for our winery adventure day. we stopped at romayne’s on main in taylors falls for lunch — and there was a chili cook off (and tasting) going on. we all felt a little overwhelmed and distracted by the chaos here, but the bloody marys and burgers were pretty delicious.

they had a really lovely-looking patio out front that would be awesome to visit in the summer, by the way.

the gals and i headed across the river to chateau st. croix (in wisconsin!) to spend a crowd cut coupon i had purchased (tour/cheese/tastings).

jason and i have visited before, so kristi and vani took the tour (and were in charge of getting the cheese) while bertine and i started tasting wine.

we were actually a little bit late for the tour reservation i had made, so it turned out that vani and kristi had snuck into a completely different tour organized through living social. and they almost had them fooled until it was discovered that there two more people than there were chairs for their reception.

this reminded me of a christmas gift i got from jason’s aunt, renee — a diy wine cork trivet. i am currently saving every wine cork (including the plastic ones) for it, since it could maybe be something decorative for the house instead of just something on which we put hot things. (the majority of the corks i have so far are from apothic red. have you tried that wine? i love it. looking forward to trying the recently released apothic white, too.)

good girlfriends + good wine + mini road trip = an excellent day

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!

kristi and i went for a walk around our neighborhood yesterday. the smell of lilacs is stuck in my nose.

i’ve decided i really like purple flowers.

this weekend was art-a-whirl in northeast minneapolis. kristi and i visited “johnstock” on johnson street ne and 29th avenue. we even toured the old hollywood theater – that was awesome!

this is the main entrance. i don’t think any of it is renovated yet, but there will still be a show hosted there soon. “waiting for godot” by theatre pro rata debuts in july.

it’s a huge, amazing space. very impressive. i admit i was also looking for orbs. (i haven’t watched enough ghost hunters lately, i suppose.)

i would’ve really liked to see what was at the bottom of these stairs, but they were closed to the public.

then we crossed the street to see a bunch of crafty booths and live music.

pretty low key, but the sun had only recently come out of hiding after a very rainy morning.

stopped at the coffee shop ne for a cherry french soda. felt like a kid again.

this is a medium, guys. YUM.

sorry about your typo. i’m sure your clothes and bags will be cute regardless.

free wine? of course i’ll come visit!

audubon park is much prettier than this photo.

we felt very awkward in this studio because we felt like we were wandering into someone’s house (humans win!) but at least picked up a great compilation of local music. chris koza, caroline smith & the goodnight sleeps, halloween, alaska and many others.

cute backyard, too.

weird and i want one!

as we headed home, we saw the nordeast turkeys. kristi decided this was a bit of good luck. i’ll take it!

we also took a break in the park, sitting among the dandelions and soaking up some vitamin d.

so bright.

ant on my leg, whatchu doin’.

kristi crafted a fantastic dandelion crown.

lily of the valley, ahh

this is in my neighborhood, too.

Kristi and I used to joke about being soul mates, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true.

Karyn is my sister and I know she only wants the best for me.

Vani can always make me giggle like an idiot, which is a good thing.

Jen does a really good job of bringing me out of my shell.

Erin is the reason that all I’m doing lately is knitting; she’s due to have her first baby at the beginning of January.

Jason helps me forget to be self-conscious.

kristi and i wanted to get growlers and lay on a beach. so we went to duluth!

we actually missed the correct exit in order to get to the beach. oops.

is duluth ever really warm and sunny?

duluth is always scenic, at least.

i imagine that countless people have gotten engaged on that boardwalk. i know at least one, i guess.

giant beer at fitger’s brewhouse.

i got a growler of starfire, yum!

and then we decided to take a scenic drive up a very tall hill!

i am constantly photographing flowers. they are just so photograph-able!

on our way home we very nearly got smashed by a tornado. can you believe that! silly midwestern weather.