My commute

I don't really like to drive. I don't think that surprises anyone. For the past few months I've loved taking the bus the 2 miles to my new job and then taking the train and bus to pick up Penelope. I get home earlier doing all of that then when I had to drive 11 miles in traffic. But now the weather is getting nice, I've started riding my bike. It is a straight shot from our house to my work using one of the best bike paths in the city.

This is the first thing I see when I cross the tracks and get on the trail. For about a mile there are a bunch of benches with very realistic shoes. There's a sign that says "where are you going" or something like that.

This is the bridge I take to cross over the highway. Pretty nice bridge for a bikepath, huh?

My view from the bridge. Laughing at all those people stuck in traffic.

The many streets I travel under during my ride. I know it looks empty, but there are a lot of people who ride on the path year round. I waited until all the spandex was out of view before snapping my shots.

And there's my building! It was an old sears building that was going to be torn down, but instead they turned it into offices, condos and an amazing food court called the Midtown Global Market. They have a bike locker room for employees who ride to work!

At the end of the day I get to see this happy face! Before she gives me a hug she asks "Bike or bus?" If it is car she decides she doesn't want to go home with me. A few of the other parents have commented how all they hear their two year olds talking about at the end of the day is how Penelope gets to ride the bus or go on a bike. Today when we were riding home she yelled "Muy rapido! Arriba, mommy" It was like having a personal trainer!

The blogs unite

My cousin Amy finally started a blog this year. I knew she'd be a great blogger. She did a really great post about our Easter trip so without further adieu I ask you to visit Life Makes Me Laff: Easter Special.

By the way, a HUGE thanks to Amy to helping me figure out I'm using blogger from years ago. I updated it to the new editor and now it won't take me a ridiculous amount of time to post 6 photos.

First Tricycle

I bought Penelope a tricycle for Christmas, but realized that doesn't make sense. She wouldn't get to ride it for months due to the snow. So we hid it in the garage until Grandmama's visit.

She was so excited. She couldn't even wait until I got it out of the garage.

Not quite tall enough to really push the pedals, but she'll be there soon.

Can you believe we are this bundled up in April? Spring, where are you?

A real violin

Penelope was so excited for grandmama to bring her a violin. She was playing with her makeshift violin (knitting needle and remote control) for a couple of weeks. Well, she got her wish:

That's a 28 year old violin. So funny to think I was that little when I played it.
Playing Twinkle Twinkle...she moved the bow and my mom did all the fingering.
Playing with Mommy.
And who doesn't want a pink practice violin? This is so she can practice carrying it the right way.

My mom has taught around 6 or 7 toddlers to play violin and Penelope is the first to be this enthusiastic. Goes to show Sesame Street can be a good thing! She loves that Elmo and his violin episode. By Sunday night Chris was threatening Penelope that if she didn't go to sleep she couldn't practice her violin the next day. She got right into bed. Wonder how long that will last? We've been practicing 5-10 mins a day, and I've started playing my violin again, which she seems to like too. I got a book of kids songs so maybe I'll play at Penelope's daycare since Chris won't take Luigi.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: the grandmama

We had a blast! More to come!!!

Published photos

Who says you need a good camera to get your photos published? Just have a brother who works at a premier architecture website, and voila, photos for the world to see! Christopher did a Minneapolis City Guide tour on Archdaily.com. He was amazed by the amount of star architects, or starchitects, that have designed buildings in Minneapolis. We really have a lot considering the size of our city.

So if you go here, you can check out his article:

http://www.archdaily.com/127516/architecture-city-guide-minneapolis/

My photos are of the U of M children's amplatz hospital and the Rarig Performing Arts Center (I thought that was kind of an ugly 1970's building, but what do I know).

Balancing

It seems like technology is moving too fast for us. I recently read the book Microtrends: The Small Forces Between Tomorrow's Big Changes. If you liked Freakanomics, you'll like this. It is all about how small groups of people can make big differences since they can connect through technology. There's a whole chapter about the knitting renaissance. The faster technology comes, the more we turn to old ways to balance it. Anyone see the New York Times article last week about typewriters making a come back? In Brooklyn they even have type-ins where people lug their typewriters to a coffee shop and click away. These typewriters aren't technology adverse as you'd expect. Many actually take pictures of their typewriters on their iphones and have typewriter facebook pages. Another example is the huge amount of cooking blogs, craft/sewing blogs, and DIY home blogs. All things that force you to slow down...but then you can use technology to talk about them and connect with others.

Well, Chris and I are like spokespeople for this technology vs "slower pace of life" trend.

Let's talk about the knitting habit for instance.
The bunnies are cute, but not close to perfect by any means. They took a lot of time, yet they probably won't stand up to much toddler love before falling apart. After finishing them on Saturday, I passed a whole rack of stuffed bunnies at Walgreens for $5. I'm not sure Penelope or Molly would care if it was store bought or handmade in their baskets. It's okay though. I still felt it was a good use of my time.
Penelope didn't understand why bunnies got photos without her so here's one with Penelope and the bunnies.
And a bunny blanket for Miss Charlotte. I'm telling myself the extra handmade look is chic.
Chris has become a baker. He is making his way through Artisan Bread in 5 mins a day. This weekend he made bagels. Now there's a Brueggers about a mile from our house so was it worth it to make the dough the night before, shape the bagels, boil them, make different types and then bake them?

I'm going to say yes! I'm not a big bagel fan. These were amazing. The right amount of softness and crunch, and he made a cinnamon sugar one for me.

So there's my blog post about us trying to slow down life a little bit.

BALZAC!!!

Many of you know my obsession with this book. I'm addicted to lists. In high school my local community library had various "top 100 books" lists from a multitude of sources. I compiled them in a 3 ring binder and started a meticulous and organized method of reading through the list. Being an English major also helped me tackle a good chunk.

Fast forward to 2005...I was walking through Rye and saw this book in the little bookstore window. I went right in, plunked down $35, and spent a weekend pouring through the book. In 2005 I read 73 books. What can I say? We had no cable, no internet, no car, very little money...but I had this big 1001 book and a library card. This book has introduced me to writers I would never have heard of who I love and sometimes not so well known books by writers I love.

And guess what? I'm not the only nerdy literature odd ball out there. Online groups are dedicated to this list. There was hair pulling and frenzy when new editions of the book came out. Now it is close to 1300 books to read. The first edition got lots of flack about too many dead white guys and some authors being over-represented. I love Dickens, but 10 books? Really? Rather than buy every new edition, I'm indebted to this guy who created a nifty spreadsheet which sorts all 3 in many ways. Now I can easily track my progress on the 714 books that made the cut in all the editions! The spreadsheet even tallies up my books to date and tells me how many books I need to read if I die at 75 (based on age expectancy by country)...this guy has a lot of time on his hands and I thank him for it!

So my reading goal for 2011 had 2 criteria (can you tell I like creating frivolous rules in my life? It gives me a sense of control without added stress) All my "1001 list" books this year had to be in all 3 editions AND by an author I've never read.

I've met my match with Honore de Balzac's Lost Illusions. He has 2 other books on the list and to think of picking him up again makes my stomach turn over. My only knowledge of Balzac is from the musical The Music Man where the townladies are very upset a pool table is coming into town. Next thing you know the youth of the town would be reading "BALZAC!" In my opinion they must have been afraid of their teenagers falling asleep from boredom. There's french literature I LOVE. Give me Emile Zola or Victor Hugo any day, but this was torture. Unless you know minutia about French politics, society, and industrial history of the 19th century you'll be lost. Unlike other books I didn't feel a need to go look it up either. Skim skim skim...read Pioneer Woman book...skim skim skim...read young adult lit book...skim some more and 2 months later I'm FINALLY checking it off the list.

Now I'm onto Russian author Mikhail Bugalov's The Master and the Margarita. The first 2 chapters have me hooked so hopefully Balzac was just a bad start to the year.

The violin

"Yeah, my mom made me. I wish I had continued playing" I can't tell you how many people say this about music lessons, including me. My mom started us in violin lessons at 2. It was the one activity we were not allowed to quit. Believe me, I was enrolled in every activity under the sun before the 6th grade and when I stopped it was okay because I tried it. Not with the violin. Quitting the violin was not allowed. Music was the one thing my mom wanted to make sure we experienced. We could stamp our feet, cry huge tears, yell out of frustration...but we practiced. I did find out the hard way that throwing your violin was not acceptable and had very severe consequences.

It wasn't torture. Most of the time I'd say I enjoyed it, especially in a good practice session. Plus, my mom took us to senior citizen homes to play fiddle music and we performed in the local talent shows. One year for Halloween when we were about 5, Mom dressed us as hobos and we played really squeaky beginner tunes instead of saying Trick or Treat. I'll just say it's a good thing my mom wasn't into girly things...we'd have ended up on Toddlers and Tiaras! Although I did want to be in Girl Scouts and pageants and my mom said no way. I'm grateful for that.

The inspiring part is my mom took lessons and learned to play the violin at the same time. There were many times I'd wake up near 11 pm and wander into her study to lie on the couch and listen to her practice. If I hear any of the songs she practiced over and over, they will always take me right back to those nights.

I did continue playing longer than my brother and sister. I was pretty good, but my practicing got spotty by middle school. Those pesky adults were right that practice made a difference. My teacher and I found the lessons frustrating since I wasn't improving. The summer before ninth grade I started an argument with my mom about why I should skip my lesson and hang out with my friends. It was a weekly argument. Right there and then she told me if I didn't go, that was it. I told her I was done and got to flip through Glamour magazines with my friends. Geez...youth is wasted on the young and all that cliche.

Now I get it. Music teaches discipline, encourages creativity, develops the brain like learning other languages so on and so forth. I was so fortunate to be pushed at it. When we first moved to Minneapolis, I started violin lessons again. I loved every minute of it. I haven't picked it up since I was pregnant with Penelope...time, money, all the normal excuses. I've halfheartedly looked into lessons for kids, but thought that I'd wait a few more years.

Then a couple of months ago we got a "Elmo Plays Music" DVD. It features 3 15-minute segments--drums, bells and violin. Penelope calls it her "biolin mobie," and she would watch it 6 times a day if we'd let her. Then last week she was using my knitting needles to pretend "biolin." At that point I decided it might be time to show her what mommy had sitting in the closet:

Well, it looks like she might be interested. And maybe Mommy will start playing again too. Off to google "mommy and me violin lessons in Minneapolis."

Reading and Singing

I've gotten requests from family for more videos...and plus, Penelope is so much more interesting in videos now than when she was baby.

Here she is "reading" So Big to me:

And a video of her singing Twinkle Twinkle