All Is Calm/Hollidazzle

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but our lives have actually been pretty uneventful in the past few week.  I thought I would fill you in on some of the activities we've been involved in around here.  First of all, I'll back up and tell you about our wonderful Thanksgiving.  David, and all of Cantus, was off Sunday-Friday, so he flew to Nashville on Sunday and then hitched a ride with Sarah Hackney (Thank you sooooo much!) to Searcy on Wednesday.  I flew out of MSP on Wednesday and stayed in Searcy until Sunday.  It was really wonderful to get to go home and see all my family.   

After Thanksgiving, David's Christmas season started to get a little crazy.  He flew from Little Rock the day after Thanksgiving to Wisconsin for a short tour there.  Then he came back, and he flew to Seattle for about a week to perform All Is Calm in 3 cities around Seattle.  After that trip, they came back and flew to Greenville, SC.  The night they were performing in Greenville I got a text message from Kayla (Chambers) Leader (a friend of mine at HU) asking if I was in SC with David because she was sitting in the theater about to watch Cantus perform All Is Calm.  So funny! I couldn't believe what a small world.  I was so glad she got to see that show and David.  The last trip Cantus made was to Fargo, ND, right after they got back from SC.  David had a great time and really enjoyed traveling with the Cantus guys and the three actors that perform in All Is Calm with them.  The guys got back from Fargo and then had 8 shows in 4 days for their Twin Cities performances. 

The night he got back from Fargo, David and I joined our Life Group for a holiday parade called Hollidazzle in Downtown Minneapolis.  This parade runs every Thursday-Sunday night at 6:30 from the day after Thanksgiving until the weekend before Christmas.  Of course the night we go the temperature was 5 degrees.  Here are some pictures of the parade.  (no laughing at the amount of layers I have on in these pictures. I was trying to fit in up here.  And yes, I had toe and hand warmers)

The parade takes place on Nicollet Mall (ave) from 12th st to 4th st and volunteers are the participants.  After the parade we walked down to eat dinner at Key's Bakery. 

Now I'm going to give a little info on All Is Calm since I've been talking about it so much.  (*Spoiler Warning*)   All Is Calm (AIC) is the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 of World War I.  The show is very powerful and touching.  The show consists of the 9 Cantus guys that sing throughout the show and there are 3 actors that act out the perspectives of different soldiers from both sides (German, British, Scottish, Irish).  The story goes that (this is a very shortened version) it's Christmas 1914 in the trenches and all of a sudden one of the German soldiers starts singing "Stille Nacht" (this is when a Cantus guy would sing that and play the role of that soldier) and the British soldiers don't know how to respond but they know they can't shoot an unarmed man, so they start singing too.  They continue singing and even meet in between the trenches and laugh and share "souvenirs" from their home country.  Eventually one of the commanders makes the interaction stop and no one is allowed to talk about what happened.   It's an amazing story and Cantus does an absolutely amazing job in this show.  It's getting very popular here and hopefully will become a Holiday tradition here. 


David's busy schedule is almost over.  He is singing tonight in their first of three Christmas with Cantus concerts which are all sold out.  This show has a lot of the songs that are on their newest CD that they just releated.  I am going on Thursday night, and then we have a party afterwards. 

David and I will wake up early Friday am and fly to Dallas to meet my family for Christmas and then head to Nashville later in the week.  We're really excited to get to go to Searcy and Nashville for break. 

I also want everyone to know CANTUS will be in SEARCY, AR, on January 16, 2012 at HU, so get your tickets and go listen to this great group, you'll be glad you did!!!

I want everyone to be there since I can't be there! I'll be listening in spirit!  Enjoy!

If you can't make the 16th, Cantus will be in Memphis, TN, on January 17th, 2012. 


Also, I might note that we have been having UNSEASONABLY warm temperatures up here and I am NOT complaining!!!

Mom and Dad's visit

Last weekend, my mom and dad got to come up here and visit for the first time since bringing the moving van up here.  They got here Friday evening, so David and I were both able to pick them up from the airport.  That night for dinner we went to a restaurant in Downtown St. Paul, called Meritage.  It's a French restaurant, and it was delicious.  Here's some pictures of our yummy food. 

Mom ordered the pumpkin soup with gingerbread croutons. 

Dad ordered a salad with dried apples and blue cheese.

 This is my yummy entree...roasted caribbean black grouper with a root vegetable risotto and red wine sauce. Delicious!

David ordered the Swordfish with a coriander crust and lobster tortellini.

Dad ordered the cardamom glazed wild acres farm duck that was really yummy. 

  

Of course mom ordered the "composition of carrots" that had carrot pancakes, carrot fricassee and carrot gratin. 

 So I had to order this dessert when I saw on the menu.  This was a custard with apple beignets and yes, that is grape jelly brushed onto the plate.  It was very unusual but very delicious.

After dinner we went back to the apartment and went to bed.  We woke up Saturday morning and went to the Copper Dome which was a very good cheap breakfast with lots of pancakes choices, over 30 including sweet potato, coconut, raisin apple, cranberry nut and more.  I ordered strawberry crepes which were very delicious. 

After breakfast we went to Minnehaha Falls which would have been even better if we had gotten some rain before going.  The water was pretty low.  But it was pretty.  Then we went to Como Zoo and the Conservatory because you have to go there.  The weather was absolutely perfect Saturday, so walking outside was a lot of fun.  After the zoo we went to Grand Ave and got some coffee and Bread and Chocolate.  We then went to the St. Paul Cathedral that is absolutely beautiful. I didn't take any good pictures, but just so you can see what it is...

After that Mom and Dad had already decided that we should get my car ready for the winter.  So of course, up here you go to Menard's which is their version of Home Depot or Lowe's.  So get that picture in your head.  We walked into the huge 2-story Menard's and between the escalators for the shopping carts was this:

Yes, this lady was playing "Climb Every Mountain" while we shopped for snow shovels, windshield wiper fluid, and a car battery charger.  After we got my car all ready for the winter we went to the apartment before dinner. 

Saturday night's dinner is a dream place for most guys. It's called Manny's Steakhouse and it's in downtown Minneapolis.  They are obviously known for their ridiculously fresh, delicious, and HUGE steaks.  (warning: any vegetarian friends might not want to see the rest of this blog)

So, our waiter comes around with the menu which is a cart of raw beef wrapped in saran wrap, so you can see what you would be ordering. 

 
David and dad decided to share the "Bludgeon of Beef" that is a 50 oz bone in ribeye.  They split the steak in half for them, and here was David's half.

And this was what I ordered......

Needless to say, we had plenty of leftovers.  We ordered loaded mashed potatoes and asparagus to share.  Then we shared strawberries and whipped cream and chocolate pecan pie for dessert. 

Sunday morning we went to church, which was really fun because mom and dad got to meet some of the people we've been talking about.  We went to Cafe Latte for lunch (duh...previous post), and then David and I dropped them off at the airport.  It was less than a 48 hour trip, but it was great.  Just enough time to get to see some great things.  David and I are about to go home for Thanksgiving, so we're both very excited about that. 

 p.s. As I'm typing this, here's what's going on outside.  I'm about to go pick up Dave and another Cantus guy from the airport, so I'll get more practice driving.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!!!!!!

Oh Christmas Tree

 Last week was Halloween, so David and I left a bowl of candy in front of our door and went to a Halloween party at one of the Cantus guys' houses.  We went as Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon from 30 Rock.  I know it's not super creative, but it was late notice and we had to use what we had in our closets.  David had the day off, so he made some pumpkin salsa.  He carved the inside of a pumpkin out, roasted the seeds and added some rotel and other things.  Here's his finished product.

Here are some of the Cantus guys at the party.  The guy in the back, Chris, safety-pinned purple balloons to his clothes to be grapes.  It was pretty hilarious.


We know we're early, but I looked at the calendar and realized that David and I won't have a Saturday together until the middle of December, so we decorated our apartment for Christmas a couple Saturdays ago.  Ahh! I know it sounds ridiculous, but I didn't feel bad when I passed a house today with their xmas wreaths on the outside of their house and candy canes in the yards.  A coworker told me that they decorate early because it gets really cold so early up here that it's too cold to decorate outside.



This is my first time to decorate for Christmas without my mom or sister and with my own stuff, so David and I had fun figuring out where we wanted stuff to go.  Here's what we got.

 We decided to go retro with the lights for the balcony!  We couldn't resist when we saw them.  David was in charge of these lights....    ;)

We're ready for Christmas up here!  Mom and Dad came this weekend and we had a great time.  I'll post what we did soon!

Fall Fun with Dave's Mom

Last weekend David and I had a visitor for the weekend! Dave's mom, Lynn, flew in Friday afternoon and David and I met her at the airport.  We picked her up and went to the apartment to drop off her things.  We headed down to Grand Ave...one of our fave streets to go to...and ate at Salut.  We started the meal with what has been voted the "Best French Fries in the Twin Cities"...served with ketchup and bernaise sauce.  They were splendid.

For our entrees we enjoyed some delicious French inspired food.  I ordered gnocchi with truffles and gorgonzola cheese.  David ordered duck with carrots and potatoes cooked in an orange reduction that was sooo delicious, and Lynn ordered the shrimp fettuccine dish. 

After we ate at Salut we walked...so that we had room for dessert...to Grand Ole Creamery for an ice cream cone.  It was delicious as usual.  David had the pumpkin ice cream.  It looked uh-mazing.


Saturday morning we went to St. Clair Broiler for breakfast, and then we went to the Pine Tree Orchard close to White Bear Lake.  It was about a 30-40 minute drive to the orchard.  The weather was beautiful that day, and the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour!  There were a lot of people at the orchard.  They had a corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayrides, a store, and a restaurant for some of their apple snacks.  We walked through the pumpkin patch and the orchard.  I tried to take some pictures. 

Here's some picture of the pumpkins and apples. 

And here's some of the treats they have in the store.  We bought apple doughnuts, apple butter, apple cider, and a bag of honeycrisp apples. 

They also have the kiddos sorting the apples on the machines. 

And of course we had to have an apple rollover with a cup of apple cider. 

It was a lot of fun.  We also managed to go to two Cantus concerts that weekend too.  It was a lot of fun. We can't wait for Lynn to come back again. 

An Evening with Garrison Keillor

A couple of weeks ago, David texted me while he was at work to tell me that Prairie Home Companion had called their office to ask if they could be on PHC that Saturday night.  Thankfully, Cantus had no engagements that night, so they were able to do it.  Saturday came around and we got to downtown St. Paul to the Fitzgerald Theater where PHC is broadcast.  Because of the late notice I was not given a comp ticket, but I stood in line at 12:00 until 2:00 for the ticket office to open so that I could get a "rush" ticket (I was 5th in line).  At 2:00 the doors opened (about 30 people in line now) and I was given number 5.  The next step is to come back at 4:00 where they will sell the tickets for 15.00$ (a lot cheaper than regular tickets).  So I walked down to a coffee shop with a friend, Hannah, that I made in line (Hannah is a whole other story....if you want to hear about my detective skills, email me) and we waited until 4.  We walked back and the lady told us that the first 12 numbers are tickets that are on stage!

I walked in, bought my ticket, and they escorted me backstage.  I walked around the curtain and picked the seat on the end of a row which was closest to the front of the stage. 

The show began at 4:45.  Garrison, Cantus, and the other performers took the stage.  It was a great show.  It was fun to be there and watch how it all works.  I've listened to the show quite a bit, so it was neat to see the sound effects guy and the other voices.

That's David standing behind Garrison.

The show went on and afterwards David told me that Cantus had been invited to Garrison's house for an after-party with the cast.  Garrison lives on Summit Ave., which is just about 2 miles from our apt.  We got to his house and had some appetizers and desserts.  David introduced me to Garrison.  He was very nice, and very calm.  We also got to meet the other cast members and got to talk to them about the show.  It was a fun night.  PHC has asked Cantus back for a show in January.  So keep those radio dials tuned in!

I was going to try to put a video from PHC on here, but they wouldn't let me.  It was pretty hilarious!

We're getting ready for the cold up here!

My Job

Ok, I'll get to the main event in just a little bit.  But first, I'll update on what's been going on.  I will be starting my 4th week of work.  I'm really liking it and i'm starting to get the hang of how things are done.  It's kind of a complicated job, but this is what it is.  I am hired by Family Speech and Therapy Services that is a private practice that does Speech and Occupational Therapy.  They have a contract with Anoka-Hennepin County School District.  I work in the school district's Early Intervention Program which is the birth-3 year old program.  The department of education provides speech, occupation, physical therapy, special ed teachers services, and some other services to any children that qualify in the district.  We go out to the homes and do therapy in the homes with the families.  Part of our job is training the families on how to help their kids and some things they can do.  So (sorry J Cliff, started a sentence with "So") the district has a new schedule for the EI program.  Instead of being on a traditional "teacher" schedule our 9 months are spread across 12 months.  For example, the month September I worked at the district for 3 weeks then I am off the last week of the month.  In October I work three weeks then I'm off one week.  Because the contract employees are not technically "district" employees we aren't off on those weeks.  I'm at Family Speech the weeks I'm "off" fillin in and doing therapy there if some therapists are gone.  The best part of that is Family Speech is closed on Fridays.  So whenever we are at the clinic I get Fridays off!  I keep saying we because Family Speech hired 5 new SLPs to work at the district.  They've had lots of changes at the District including the new schedule.  But I like it so far.  And there are 3 other girls that are my age that just graduated from their master's and we are having a lot of fun and helping each other out a lot because I have a LOT of questions.


Prairie Home Companion will be the next post.  Stay Tuned!

Duluth, MN Day Trip

On Labor Day, David and I decided to take a day trip up to Duluth, MN.  It was a 2 hour drive, so we left about 8 and got to Duluth at 10.  We packed our lunch and took it down to the coast to eat at the park on the shore of the port.  It was a beautiful day.  It was actually a little chilly, but it was great. 

We sat by the coast for a while and watched some boats come into the bay and the bridge go up and down for the boats. 

After lunch we went to the maritime museum and then we walked up and down the street and looked into some of the shops.  Then we went to the aquarium and spent some time there. 

It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun.  It's a very historic port and I felt so dumb for not realizing so much trade took place on the Great Lakes.