Midwest Specifics

North Dakota has entirely bypassed spring in favor of chug-a-luggin' right into summer.

Just last week the city pool was filled. And every child in sight was on his or her way to the park. 

Fargo is now the welcome host of pollen swarms and picnic dinners (served with icy beer). 

Hallelujah.

Weekend Throwback

Breaking Hibernation

A couple of weeks ago Preston and I braved the icy winds to visit Fargo's Unglued crafts fair. The event took place at Fargo's sadly named Plains Art Museum. I mean come on Fargo, is plain really the word you want to use for your fine arts museum? I think prairie would have been a suitable synonym, but anyway...

Families with strollers and hipsters in ray-bans buzzed throughout the three-tried festival. Blue grass harmonies backstroked above booths presenting fresh-roasted coffee, tables selling soy candles and artisan crafted lighting displays.

Preston unexpectedly fell in love with hand-made soaps. He purchased the Tipsy Hippy, a bar composed of hemp and beer, and a soap ball made from Fargo Brewing Company's Wood Chipper beer. He also slurped down a home-made salted caramel push-pop. Needless to say, he was a happy camper.

After being tempted by instagram landscapes, "fresh-cut grass" scented candles and several bear adorned canvases, I made it home with a gluten-free peanut butter cupcake, beeswax hand lotion and a reusable shopping tote. We ended the afternoon with a trip to Wasabi, our favorite Midwest sushi spot. The rest of the weekend was spent snuggled away inside our warm and happy apartment.

A Winter Weekend (because winter is still happening)

This weekend Preston and I chowed down on dessert pizza*, binge-watched a season of Games of Thrones** and attended a symphony birthday party***.

*an invention so sinisterly sugary, it could only be found in North Dakota

**binge-watching is a necessity to hibernation

***Happy 200 Verdi and Wagner!!

Winter Wins

After a long day of cappuccino creating and panini pressing I am nestling in. Frosted Flakes-sized snowflakes are fluttering about Broadway, 13th and Main. A fresh white layer is carpeting over lane lines and sidewalk cracks.

Hibernation had led me to Gilmore Girls, beers on snow and possibly a pizza or two. Happy Winter!

PS 

MIDWEST POINTS

Going Without Gloves = 7 MIDWEST POINTS

Our little place in the Midwest PROLOGUE

The Year in Review

Over the last year my bedroom has stretched around the globe. Since saying goodbye to college, California and my favorite friend in May 2012, each season has brought a new home.

Summer 

My first place (EVER!) was a rundown motel in a abandoned town, on Highway 75, 14 miles from Stanley, ID. Mice scurried as I tried to sleep and the floorboards were one termite from utter destruction, but there were mountain top views beyond my bed. Outside a hammock balanced lanky limbs and a copy of War & Peace until the sunset.

My front yard, seriously. 

Fall/Southern Hemisphere Spring

Preston and I rented the balcony bedroom of a historic Sydney terrace home. The house sat above a brick laid park, with sidewalks were roads would be. Within twenty steps north or south was a pub, library, church and park. The house was furnished with an Ozzy man, an Irish lass, a South African dude and a very fat something-or-other cat. While living in Ultimo, we battled coach roaches, celebrated a summertime Christmas and wandered down the way to watch Sydney's Harbor fireworks.

Sydneysiders

Winter/Southern Hemisphere Summer

In the spirit of the bedtime classic Town Mouse, Country Mouse we booked one way tickets to the WA, to WOOF on a southern forest cattle farm. A campervan of our very own dwelled between pasture land and gum tree dells.  Morning, noon and night were met with cups of black tea and accented conversation. Between cuppas Preston served as a cow midwife and taught ukelele lessons, while I drove the family tractor. Kangaroo was ate, hay was hauled and the southern cross was bright.

The Farm

Winterish Spring/The Heat of Southern Hemisphere Summer/Between Here and There

Mid-February we moved to Manjimup Hostel, to live with our own kind, backpackers. The kitchen was dirty. The techno were ceaseless. And the goon, though very very expensive, was plentiful. Every morning we picked grapes with real-life Italians, harvested Apples with Belgians and worked in the fields with Taiwanese girls. The friendships were easy and the days were long.

Manji Nightlife

Before leaving the little bit of England and little bit of rough-n-tumble known as the land down under, we visited Perth.  Free black and white movies, bushels of Subway cookies and a terrible church service whiled away our city days. We never made it to Freo or the park across the city. But we lived in old barracks and slept in a thirty person room reminiscent of a Cambodian orphanage. The capitol city, and home of Heath Ledger, also marked the meeting of our final Australian friend, Seemoo.

Spring/The Hot Season(because that is a season in Thailand)

We had never planned to go to Thailand. It just seemed like the obvious next step, a quick escape route to beaches and Pad Thai. We went without plans.

Bankok's Cheapest/Most Interesting Hostel

Thailand is a place for being lost. We never quite knew what we were eating, where we were going or what we were seeing. Our feet led us down whichever way we hadn't been before. Bangkok was hot in way that my California sensibilities had never known. Two (hot, cold water does not exist) showers a day was the bare-minimum. We lived in a rundown building-turned hostel across from the outer suburb's brothel while learning Bangkok bus routes. Meals were a buffet of fresh pineapple, fried bananas and a few mystery pieces. We made home in an island hut, an old colonial city and above a Muy Thai arena. South East Asia was like nothing I had ever known before.

Summer

After a lunch stop in Tokyo we made it back to California just in time for my sister's graduation. June was a time for sandy toes and home-spun parties. Streamers were tapped up once a week in celebration of birthdays, graduations and a Christmas Fiesta. Trips to Trader Joe's and Target were a constant. Preston and I tromped around the paved paradises of Disneyland and Legoland. Once again I drove the familiar canyon roads that lead to my Pacific. And I as I prepared for my Midwest migration I started a blog.

The Welcome Home/Happy Graduation/Bon Voyage/Fish Funeral Party

Fall

For the first time since high school I will be residing in a single residence for an entire year. The lease has been signed and the pictures hung. Fargo is our first year-round home. We've witnessed the leaves the change and the first snow fall. I eat pasta salad and drink micro-brews. I haven been to Wal-Mart an ungodly amount of times. The people are kind the roads are wide. We own a couch; this is home. 

Cozy Sunday

Midwest Specifics

 Preston's ideal beer, a punny IPA, is crafted at our very own Fargo Beer Company.

Midwest Specifics

A Day at the Lake