9th floor of the guthrie theater

Whenever we have out of town guests, Kev and I like to take them to the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis to show them the amazing view from the cantilever bridge. Standing out on that beautiful bridge you can take in the Stone Arch Bridge, the new 35W bridge, the old mill ruins, the Gold Medal Flour sign, and some of downtown.

Last month, when our good friend, Germán, was here from Portland, OR for business, we discovered that there is another amazing view to take in at the Guthrie - from the observation room on the 9th floor. The room has wall-to-wall yellow-tinted windows and offers a really spectacular panorama of the city. It also offers an opportunity to take some pretty cool silhouette photos. Case in point:

That's Kevin and me doing some mock-fighting. Awesome, yes? Here's one of Germán and me (notice that I am always the one kicking butt?). 

Germán with some pretty impressive gymnastics moves.

Germán and me on the cantilever bridge.

Kevin, me, and Germán on the Stone Arch Bridge.

It was so good to see Germán, and Kevin and I are super excited about seeing him and Sarah in Portland this summer (yep - we're planning a super duper "Travels with Charley" style summer road trip!), and then again in Orlando in November for Nicole and Ryan's wedding. What a great year this is shaping up to be! Also, how prolific I am turning out to be today (I even posted on the book blog I am part of). Yeah, baby, I am BACK!

when in rome...

In the spirit of a true Minnesota winter, we went cross-country skiing today with friends. Despite the cold, the initial technical difficulties due to uncooperative boots and skis, the copious amounts of sweat produced, the multiple wipe-outs (yes, it is possible, and even likely, that one will fall when first learning to CC ski), and the vigorous physical effort required to power one's self through snowy trails (we are going to have some sore muscles tomorrow), it was AWESOME.

We were out for about 2 hours and it was a gorgeous sunny day with the perfect temperature (about 20 degrees), and Theodore Wirth Park was stunning with all the sparkling snow and the bare trees. I think we're hooked. They say that in order to enjoy life in a place like Minnesota you really have to take up a winter sport, and I agree. Just when I start to wonder again exactly why Kevin and I aren't living on the West Coast, Minnesota goes and surprises the heck out of me with an amazing experience like the one today. It's pretty great to live in a place where these types of activities are just around the corner - I mean, really, only 15 minutes from our house and I got to ski across a lake today! Looks like I'm becoming quite the Minnesotan, what with the skiing, the broomball playing, and plans in place for a hotdish party.

exploring mill city

Kevin and I got a good taste of historic Minneapolis when we checked out the Mill City Museum, the Stone Arch bridge, and the old mill ruins. The museum, "chronicles the flour milling industry that dominated world flour production for roughly a half-century and fueled the growth of Minneapolis, recognized across the nation and around the world as 'Mill City'.”

The museum is built within the ruins of an old mill, and it's really a great place to go and learn about the history of the area. I especially appreciated the experience as a relatively new resident of the Twin Cities. During the museum's 19-minute video on the history of Minneapolis, I experienced a strange and unexpected surge of pride for this city I now call home.

Mill ruins.

Stone Arch Bridge

Old grain silos.

Guthrie Theater (right next to the Mill City Musuem and ruins).

Kevin at one of the childrens' exhibits, demonstrating how the St. Anthony Falls were used to power the mills.

View from the top.

spring in the city

Whoa! I must be woefully behind on posting pictures, because what I am about to post are pictures from way back when a person still needed a sweatshirt to go outside and play. My blog has suffered this spring and summer, but here I am at last.

Spring this year was more like a dragged out winter than an actual spring. It was pretty chilly up until about the end of May (and even a bit in early June) and then it went right into hot summer weather. No easing into hot weather this year.

Cheering our friends on at a bonspiel (curling tournament).

Business by day, rock star by night.

Picnic and reading in the park.

Spring hike.

Mole enchiladas night.

Relaxing in the park.

Kevin loves this picture.

Lake of the Isles (a few blocks from our apartment).

city walk

We took a walk a few days ago on a crisp, lovely, beginning-of-spring afternoon. We admit it - our city definitely has it moments. Enjoy.

A parody of his grumpy wife. Haha.

The famous cherry & spoon sculpture.

Bridge between Downtown and Uptown (sort of).

baby, it's cold outside

Just how cold, you ask? Well, today was the warmest out of the past few days and it was a balmy ZERO DEGREES. On Friday night, on our way home from the movies at around 11pm, it was 9 below zero! This is serious, people. This week's arctic freeze has left me wondering whether a person who is 3/4's Mexican is really meant to live in a place that is currently experiencing weather colder than that of Moscow, and a place called North Pole, Alaska. Are my hearty 1/4th worth of Latvian genes enough to get me through a Minnesota winter? I sure hope so because holy walleye, it’s cold out there!

What I would really love to do is crawl into bed tonight, wrap myself up in a pile of snuggly blankets, and go to sleep until it's oh, June. I could blissfully sleep away the cold months and emerge only once the snow had melted and I no longer needed 45 minutes to put on all of my winter clothes just to go down to the basement to do a load of laundry. I could hibernate and happily live up to Kevin’s nickname for me of “bear” (derived from my deep physiological need to sleep at least 10 hours per night, and Kevin's wise observation that you do not, in fact, poke a sleeping bear).

Lucky for you, my faithful blog readers, I cannot actually sleep the winter away. And so, assuming that the 18 units I'm taking this semester don't keep me holed up in a coffee shop reading until the cows (Minnesota dairy heifers) come home, then I should be fairly consistent in keeping you updated with riveting accounts of the Shevlin family happenings. I know there’s been a bit of an uncharacteristic long waiting period between blog posts of late, but I was busy recovering from a very stressful fall semester by doing absolutely nothing. It was glorious but now it is over and since I’ve vowed to be super organized and incredibly in-tune with the rhythm of my life this semester, I should be posting fairly regularly from now on. On the off chance (right) that my tendency to over-commit myself gets in the way of my being able to blog with any measure of consistency - don’t get your long-johns in a bunch...I’ll come back to it eventually!

Me, on 6-8 hours of sleep.