Yes, I know that I have been terrible at updating this summer! I'm not going to bother giving any excuses, I'm just going to have to go forward and try to do better from now on :) Sometimes I forget that not everyone utilizes Facebook, and hasn't been able to follow along with all of my summer updates. But while you all did not get to enjoy any blog updates over the past couple of months, I am going to recap the summer in one massive post. I'll highlight the main events of each month.
MAY
The big event in May was my graduation from the University of Minnesota. Of course, it was only an unofficial graduation since I still had two summer classes to complete. However, it was wonderful to have so many family members be able to make it to St. Paul for the big event.
Following my graduation, I made it home to Milwaukee for a week to help Emily celebrate her 9th birthday! I made it back to Minnesota in time to help my little man, Paxton, celebrate his 3rd birthday! It's hard to believe that I've been taking care of him for two years now. He's grown into such a little bundle of energy.
The big excitement over Memorial Day weekend was that my good friend Ellie and her long-time boyfriend Marty got engaged! They have been dating for about four years now, and live together in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul. Marty popped the question while they were at Ellie's parents' cabin in Hudson, Wisconsin.
JUNE
June began with more celebration. Ellie and Marty hosted a wonderful party to celebrate their engagement, as well as Ellie's 25th birthday.
Mira and I made a trip to Madison around mid-June to meet up with some of our old college friends. We decided to go all out and spend a little extra money to stay in a hotel. We had an awesome time. The weather was perfect pretty much all weekend, and we really enjoyed getting to reconnect with some of the old crew, like Rachel and Betsy and Candace. Rachel is working as the Communications Director for Mayor Dave in Madison, a position that she has held for about the past two years now. Betsy recently got engaged and is working as a nurse at the Children's Hospital in Madison. Candace is working for Epic Systems in Verona, WI doing graphic design and other things. She recently became an Auntie for the first time! Mira and I also discovered a new favorite Madison destination: Lazy Jane's cafe on Willy Street, where the best scones in the entire world can be enjoyed.
The most important event in June, at least from my perspective, is that I met and started dating Allie. We met in Minneapolis at a place called The Kitty Cat Klub right before I left for Madison. After I returned we had our first official date: brunch at The French Meadow Cafe in Uptown. From there, the rest is history :) Ooh and I should also throw in that Mira met a special someone as well: Jim, who is a good friend of Marty's. He lives in Iowa at the moment, but so far they have been making the long-distance thing work out. He's a fantastic guy, and he and Mira are a wonderful match!
Twin Cities Pride was at the end of June. Pride is always a super fun event, with stuff going on all weekend. I went out Friday night, then spent some time at the festival grounds (at Loring Park in Minneapolis) on Saturday afternoon. The best day, however, was on Sunday. We had a few people over for a delicious early breakfast and then headed to Minneapolis for the parade. Following the parade, I spent the afternoon at the Pride festival with Allie and our friends Emily and Brian. We had a great time going around to different booths and just enjoying the sunshine.
Summer classes throughout much of June. I took two classes over the summer. The first was Mediation & Conflict Resolution. That class was only six sessions spread out over three weeks. Even though it was a short class, it was extremely intense! Each class lasted from 9:00-5:00. The instructor for the class, Mark Umbreit, is the director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality and Peace Studies. He is a leading practitioner and scholar in the field of mediation and restorative justice. The class was unbelievably inspiring. One of the most touching and unforgettable days was when Mary Johnson, a woman from North Minneapolis, came to speak to us. Her son was murdered many years ago, and she has gone through the healing and forgiveness process and has come to forge a close relationship with her son's killer, as well as begin an organization that works to end violence through the facilitation of healing and reconciliation through families of victims and perpetrators. (Read an article about her inspiring story in the Star Tribune right here). Another very touching moment came when viewing an amazing documentary called Pray the Devil Back to Hell which documents a peace movement organized by Christian and Muslim women in Liberia. Amazingly, one of my classmates was from Liberia and actually was a member of the church where this movement began. He was able to share firsthand his own perspective with us, which made the documentary even more moving. I would recommend it to everyone (it's available on Netflix). It's so important to hear these stories that we in America often have such little awareness of.
My other class was much less inspiring, but still interesting: Psychopathology and Social Work Practice. That class ran throughout June and into July. It covered all of the basic mental health diagnostic type of stuff.
JULY
July was a mostly relaxing and enjoyable month. It included activities such as a wonderful party on my friend Trish's balcony in downtown St. Paul, a fantastic visit to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum with Allie, and a trip to Winona, MN for the Midwest Music Festival with my friend Emily. We went specifically to see one of our favorite local artists, Dessa, perform. I first tuned into Dessa back in May, after Emily introduced me to her. She is a quickly rising star in the Twin Cities music scene. She started out writing spoken word poetry and later became a member of the Doomtree Hip-Hop Collective. She's an incredible writer and performer and earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the U of M at the age of 20. At the age of 28, she now also has a Master's degree and teaches at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. My friend Emily is more or less her number one fan, so we've become somewhat of Dessa groupies this summer, going to many of her shows. (Middle picture is of Emily and me with Dessa in the middle, at her show in Winona). The rest of July included lazy afternoons, coffee shops, outings with Allie and her dog Puffs (who is the second love of my life), and trying to escape the sweltering heat.
AUGUST
August began with a wonderful trip home to Milwaukee with Allie. We went to the Firefly Art Fair, had lunch with Katelyn and Emily at Alterra on the Lake, took Emily to the movies, went to the Zoo, explored Milwaukee a bit, and had a wonderful dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. The final day of our trip we made a stop in Madison, which had to be cut short because Allie was not feeling well. Despite the shortened ending of the trip, it was overall a lovely long-weekend getaway!
Other miscellaneous mid-August events included my friend Jessica's 23rd birthday celebration, the Pizza Luce Block Party in Uptown (where Dessa performed), and a visit with Paxton and his new baby brother Emerson, Melody's 28th birthday celebration, cheering Mira on as she ran a half marathon, and a fun ladies night where we all dressed up in formal wear.
Near the end of August, I got the big news that I was being offered a job as a Mental Health Practitioner for Fraser's autism program. Knowing that my job would be starting and Allie's classes at the U would be starting up soon, we decided to have a little getaway and go to her family's cabin near Spooner, Wisconsin. We spent about two nights at the cabin and had such a nice and relaxing time.
When we got back from the cabin, the next big adventure was attending the Minnesota State Fair, otherwise known as the Great Minnesota Get-Together. I went twice because Mira and I had gotten tickets to see one of our favorite artists, Brandi Carlile, perform at the State Fair Grandstand. So I went the evening of the 29th with Mira and enjoyed the amazing show. Then Allie and I went together a couple of days later and had the best time ever. We ate fried pickle slices, a turkey drumstick and a grilled marshmallow, banana and chocolate sandwich. We visited with alpacas, rode rides, and had an all around fantastic fair experience!
SEPTEMBER
The first official day that summer ended for me was September 7th, my hire date at Fraser. I had new staff orientation, which was pretty boring, focusing mostly on HIPAA and work safety, etc. The 7th was also Allie's first day of classes. She has been in school for 3 years now, but this is her first semester at the University of Minnesota. To celebrate the beginning of our new adventures, we went on a fancy date to an italian restaurant in Uptown called Il Gatto. It was a bittersweet evening, knowing that things were likely to change once our schedules became much, much more busy.
So that pretty much sums up my summer! Sometime soon I will post about my first week and a half at the new job.
