Apothica carries today’s premier lifestyle beauty products, like Smash Box Cosmetics at lovely prices.
I've update my apt tour with a few new photos.
I hope you have a restful, wonderful weekend. I'm looking forward to making a very unhealthy (but delicious) casserole, tea with Joy and the start of a sewing project.
Oh yes, and happy Black History month.
I feel grateful to be surrounded by such incredible women, to call such accomplished people friends. Among my closest circle there are: two masters degree level teachers, a registered dietitian, a student of marine biology applying to challenging graduate programs, a speech pathologist, a pastor-to-be, a writer with dreams of becoming a librarian, one attending graduate school at Queen's university in Belfast, advertising aficionados, stay at home moms and some good quality Target people thrown in for good measure. To say the least I find them inspiring.
Each has faced her share of trials and difficulties as we together navigate this era of making life-changing decisions. My friend Emma has been through her own midnight moments and has always maintained grace and stayed savvy throughout. I am so proud of her (and all of my friends, really), but especially because I've been privilege to see her almost weekly for Sunday dinners. I'm so glad I had Emma there for me as I went through more than a few bad recipes.
Four years of Sunday dinners has witnessed it all: boyfriends (four total), friend falling outs and falling ins, moves and new kitchens (six between us), two volumes of Food Everyday, crafts projects, endless episodes of Sex and the City, summer grilling and cancellations due to icy roads or blizzards.
But, like many good things, Sunday Dinners has arrived at an ending. I like to think of it as temporary, as I imagine being an old widow along with Emma living in a fabulous beach home cooking up more gossip and farfalle. For now I'm feeling bittersweet.
I'm not sure if Chicago deserves such a vibrant woman, but I am here to cheer her on. Minneapolis will never be the same without Emma.
Vintage Sunday dinner, circa 2009
photo taken by a stylist at a shoot I did last week :) I always wear chucks on big shoot days.
I went through a phase this summer where I lacked passion. Basically I shot images well but wasn't truly feeling the often painstaking process. Something in the fall shifted and things got better. I thought I had plateaued for a bit: I would always love what I do, and still feel challenged by it. But today I find myself truly loving what I do in- a new way. I am newly challenged and newly pleased with my results as of late. The craft is always good. I think it's normal to go through periods lacking in inspiration. I'm glad I'm out of the desert now. All is well.
Where I am finding inspiration: industrial buildings of northeast and downtown
When is my favorite light: surprisingly, nighttime right after sunset
Dreaming about shooting with: a 5D Mark II
Preferring: a warmer black and white conversion. I hate stark shadows
I will probably always excel at: food photography with portraits being my most challenging area
I would love to: get into newborn photography and do some still-life inspired family portraits
I have a darling friend named Erin. We don't get to see each other very often, but when we do we always have a nice time. Another thing we are sure to do is meet up at Punch Pizza. I love the taste of wood fired, thin crust pizza. Punch makes an incredible four cheese that is to die for.
After a great lunch Erin gave me a tour of her beautiful Cape Cod style home. As you know, I love to see other people's homes. It always amazes me how much a person's invididual style comes out in their decor choices. Erin and her husband Bradley's home is so very them and beautiful!
Erin fed me an incredible amount of chocolate and we sat and chatted for an hour or so with Bradley. They are just awesome people and I'm grateful to Bradley for taking the above photo of Erin and I. Happy times and a perfect start to what turned out to be a nice, but bittersweet (more on that later) weekend.
I love this quote. My mom has it on her desk at home and when I read it for the first time I had to pause and take it in. I think we can all attest to being in situations where we've made the mistake of making a person a priority when to us they aren't. Thank you Maya Angelou.
This is long friends, I'm sorry. But I promise that it's good :)
One of my goals for this year was to write openly and honestly about my faith journey. I was afraid to for several reasons. I worried people might judge me. I worried that if I had a change of heart I’d appear to be a crazy person who can’t make a decision. I felt like so many of the spiritual experiences I’d had over the past months were so sacred to me that I didn’t want to air them. I have said so many things, many online, and I knew having a change of heart on a public forum might get sticky. I worried I wouldn’t be able to explain myself. Then, while in Texas I spoke to Jen and she encouraged me to blog about my experience. She reminded me that many people read my blog because of my faith story and that it would be a good thing to do. I felt courageous and so here we go.
In September of 2008 after I stopped attending the LDS church I went on with my life and never looked back. Things were fine for the most part and life was good. I had a hard first year out of college, which I think is pretty normal and found a good spiritual home back in the Catholic faith. If you’d asked me one thing I regretted I would tell you joining the Mormon faith, if you’d asked me one place you’d never find me ever again I would answer confidently, the Mormon church.
I was very angry for a long period of time. I commented on blogs, wrote entries, emailed way too much, commented on newspaper articles and so on and so on about my experiences. I was completely embittered and while my reactions weren’t appropriate I still believe after what I experienced mostly in Utah entitled me to being upset. The funny thing about anger though is that it is always a secondary emotion. Anger for me is usually the result of sadness. Instead of allowing myself to just be sad, which I feel is perfectly fine to be, I got angry and lashed out at perfectly nice people who genuinely loved their faith. I’ve made peace with many of the people who I got personal with and I’m grateful for the ability to apologize, forgive and move forward. I’m glad for the people who had the guts to call me out and remind me when I was crossing a line. At the same time I learned to forgive the people who had wronged me.
About a year ago I was speaking on the phone to my friend Lindsay. Until then we basically edited faith out of our conversations because we just had to agree to disagree. Lindsay is a strong, LDS woman who served a mission. One afternoon while talking I said to her, “you know, I’m not happy about it, but I’m not angry anymore.” I don’t know exactly what happened, but over time I stopped being angry and I just let it be. I made a sort of peace with it and moved on. It was nothing short of a miracle.
In April I had a very spiritual dream. I’m not going into details but it woke me suddenly and surprised me. The first thing I do when I wake up is check my phone. A friend who I wasn’t particularly close to but was still facebook friends with had e-mailed me an invitation to attend a LDS Easter concert. Still shaken from the dream but letting everything just be I accepted the invitation. The concert was lovely. I hadn’t stepped foot in a Church building in three years. People who I knew didn’t glare or whisper, they came up with smiles on their faces and asked me genuine questions and complemented me.
Sunday started out with an incredible crepe breakfast. Aren't Lindsay's Anthropologie bowls great? I'm so glad she got them :)
Then we went to church where it was a challenge for me to stay away after such a filling breakfast and then spent the night playing games with some of Lindsay and Jay's friends and laying around talking.
Monday morning Lindsay and I headed up to Austin while Jay went to work (he's a dentist.) The drive was great and the weather perfect: sunny and high 60s. We shopped a little bit on South Congress and then met Jen and her daughter J for lunch at Freddie's, the craziest restaurant (watch this youbute video) in Austin. 
I love, love, love Austin. I felt like it was the Texas version of Minneapolis if that makes any sense. Obviously very crunchy, liberal and full of incredible places to eat and shop. I also heard more southern accents in Austin than in San Antonio.
I think what I loved the most about Austin the fantastic signage everywhere. I loved the airstream trailer food trucks and all the bright colors. So cool.
See what I mean? We stopped at the most incredible shop, Uncommon Goods, which is Austin's sister store of Hunt and Gather here in Minneapolis. It was uncanny, really. I walked in and kind of felt like I was home. Then Jen took us to the most darling, old fashioned candy shop!
We ended our day with a trip to Amy's ice cream. It was so delicious. I had the coconut tres leches with real cake chunks in it. Perfect flavor if you ask me. Then we spent some time with Jen at her place and headed out on 35 south to go home- yes, the same 35 that runs up here to MN :)
If you recall, I took a very similar photo when visiting Lindsay in Utah the fall of 2007. I love doing stuff like this. Same subject, different location and different time.
The next morning Lindsay and Jay woke up at the crack of dawn with me and drove me to the airport. It was hard to say good bye. I am really hoping to plan another visit in the future after Lindsay has her baby. Life just goes so fast, and I'm not going to wait four years to see her again! Thank you Texas for a great trip!
For several months my dear friend Lindsay and I had been talking about a little visit. I'm all about taking a break from the tundra winter and couldn't wait to see her and her wonderful husband Jay. The last time I saw Lindsay was in the summer of 2008, when she and Jay got married in St. George, Utah. Time flies and I'm grateful for modern technology like iphones, gchat and blogs that have kept our friendship up to date. At the end of the day Lindsay is more like a big sister to me than a good friend. I have been so blessed with good people and she's been a constant force for good in my life since I was 17. I'm grateful for her.
We started the trip with a vitamin D sun bath outside of Hobby Lobby (double win) and then lunch at the wonderful Panera. I just cannot get over Lindsay's adorable baby belly, there's a little girl cooking in there and I cannot wait to meet her!
From there we spent the afternoon catching up and talking. Lindsay and Jay just purchased a 5D and I am so excited for them... and I cannot wait to get one of my own. We were such bloggers and photography nerds carting around our huge DSLRs and chatting lenses :)
Driving around San Antonio blew my mind- those overpasses! The big stars! We just don't build highways that tall in Minnesota. Jay and Lindsay were nice enough to take me to a Spurs game. Everything is certainly bigger in Texas, the auditorium is just gigantic and has a parking lot to match.
Jay is a wonderful guy. I have few friends who are married but I can safely say that "your'e the company you keep" is a true virtue. Jay is as wonderful as Lindsay and they compliment each other perfectly. And he smiles all the time. While waiting to eat at the elusive and delectable Magnolia Pancake Haus I treated Lindsay and Jay to some Starbucks... would you believe Jay has never been there!?!
This is what I devoured for breakfast on Saturday... this amazing German apple pancake with a side of bacon (naturally.) Good times, good times.
To burn the above off we visited the famous River Walk, Alamo and Mission San Jose. I love the Missions, what incredible works of art and pieces of history they are. I am so glad I also got to see where Davey Crockett died, haha. The world is small and I ran into a few people from my mom's small hometown in Pennsylvania and of course they knew my family. I love when that happens.
At the Mission San Jose I took some great shots of Lindsay and Jay. I love how these contrast with some of the wedding photos I took of them four years ago- so much has changed and there is so much excitement on the horizon. Isn't Lindsay adorable?
I couldn't of asked for a betting setting that this Mission. I love the look of the church, that perfect "tree of life" tree and the grounds. It's places like this that I find completely rejuvenating to my eyes. I love to see different stuff and this was a complete creative feast.
Stay tuned for the rest of my San Antonio adventures, and our little Austin day-trip...
I used to lean heavily towards shabby chic in high school and early college, I was unnaturally obsessed with toile, but these days I would define my style as modern vintage. Okay, modern vintage with a little bit of prairie and romantic (which is basically shabby chic) thrown in. Where does that leave me? These are a few ideas that are very inspirational to me:
How would you define your style? Has it evolved? Are there any styles you hate? I for one cannot stand too many antiques or knick knacks!
My name is Katie. I live in and love Minneapolis.
I blog mostly about my current life as a twenty-something. I like being organized, dinner parties and dresses with tights. I shoot photographs for a local magazine and I love to be creative.
