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!

roommate turns twenty-seven

Happy Birthday, Nicole! We have now known each other for nine of your birthdays - can you believe it? It feels like not too long ago that we were a couple of eighteen-year-olds hanging out in the dorms having ice-cream fights.

Here's to a blessed, happy, adventurous, and love-filled year for you. Really wishing I could be there to celebrate with you. Miss you, and love you, my beautiful friend.

P.S. One day late with this post, but I mean it just as much as I did yesterday!

reasons to celebrate

Life is so good! It is such a wonderful, delightful, beautiful thing to see the people one loves experience abundant joy in their lives.

Congratulations to Molly and Patrick, who were married on 10.4.08! May your lifetime together be filled with with "puddles of purple passion" (it's the message that came with the gift that my favorite great-uncle gave Kevin and I for our wedding), family, love, celebrations, and joy. We love you guys.

And, we welcome with love and exictement, Olivia Ann Putnam! Born on 10.9.08 at 12:55 pm, weighing a healthy 8 lbs. 8 oz., to our dear friends Jon and Alyson. Congratulations, Putnams! We are over-the-moon-happy for you two and can't wait to meet your beautiful little girl. Our love and hugs to the three of you.

Life is so so good.

wisconsin dells

My belated summer updates continue. Here are some pictures from our trip to the Wisconsin Dells at the end of June. We met up with some good friends from our Cornell days, the Burkholders and the Koslowskis, for what I hope becomes a yearly reunion. We rented a giant 2-bedroom suite at a resort complete with waters slides, indoor and outdoor pools, and a view of the empty pit where a big lake used to be (before torrential rains blew out one side of the lake and sent it rushing into a river). It was a fun weekend - water slides with the kids by day, and beer and card games once the kids went to bed at night. We always have a great time when the six of us (and the three kiddos) get together, as there is no end of goofiness and laughter. See for yourself:

for nicole and sarah

Clearly, as you can see from the HIDEOUS couch and the groovy wood-panelled walls in the background, this picture dates back to my college apartment days. What I'm really asking you to look at, however, are the two kick-ass women sitting on the clown-throw-up futon with me. Aren't they amazing? Can you see all of the times we've cracked up together over nothing at all? Can you see each time one of us has cried like a baby and left a trail of snotty tears on the others' shirts? Can you see all the college crushes, the parties, the DDR (that's Dance Dance Revolution, for the less nerdy among you) marathons, the giant Brad Pitt poster in the living room, the late-night snacks, the laugh-so-hard-you-snort stories? And, can you see the magic of finding two other people with whom you can be your absolute truest self? I sure can.

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

- C.S. Lewis