Sunday Night

Last week was rough. 

So many sources of stress...work, school, landlord from hell. 

I hope this week is better and I can cope with the stress better. 

One other note...as fantastic as a social community is that I have and as awesome as being single can be, slogging through the challenges of life by yourself can be exhausting. 

I'm so tired of being single. 

My personal life misery index is indicating that I might be approaching a major life event - perhaps a big move. 

Stay tuned. Have a great week friends.

San Francisco!

Two blog posts in one week....wait, what???!? 

Current status: Flying back to Minneapolis from San Francisco - on board wifi is the best thing.

Just a quick post regarding my little vacation in San Francisco - three incredibly busy days filled with sightseeing, food and coffee. 

The city is truly incredible - my favorite places that we visited were Muir Woods, the Ferry Building and the Golden Gate Bridge look-out. 

The city feels like a sunnier and brighter New York City. So many incredible neighborhoods - I felt safe every minute and could definitely see myself living there. 

Definitely want to put it on the short list of places that I would like to spend more time in. 

Cheers! 

P.S. For some strange reason, I have been missing Nebraska guy like crazy lately, but what to do about that? 

February Funk

I have decided that I am fairly horrible at this blog writing thing.
I just realized that I haven't blogged since December so apparently nothing interesting has happened since then? Or I've been too busy to blog - little bit of both I suppose.

I've thought of a number of things I wanted to blog about and then promptly forgot them and onto other things.
Part of it is that I am notoriously in a funk with the majority of the rest of MN at least for a good chunk of Jan and especially Feb - this is the point in winter where no one remembers what it feels like to be warm and its freezing and mostly miserable outside and Spring isn't quite visible yet.

Well, I think we've made it past that point - and as I write this, I'm on a plane to visit the San Francisco area for the first time which I'm quite excited about so hopefully when I get back to MN next week, the worst of the winter funk will be behind me and I can be energized thinking of the renewing properties of Spring.

One thing that I keep thinking about recently is what is my passion, what do I like doing, and how can I turn that into a career. I like my job most days and it pays the bills but sort of fell into it and I'm not sure its what I want to do for the rest of my life. Throughout my entire career, I have been very fortunate in the opportunities that have been afforded to me and that I have been able to take advantage of. I am in my core, an ambitious person but I am getting to that point in my career where I need to decide what the end game looks like and I don't know that I want to do what I'm doing, even at a higher level for the next 20-30 years. I need to explore this more. I need to decide what risks that I am willing to take and how to I make things happen.

Relationship status: Meh. Not much more to say than that. Some flirtations and some dates but nothing to write home about. I think I am still working out what happened with Nebraska guy and can't say that I'm not still bummed that didn't work out. I don't know what's next but what I do know is that I'm not going to waste energy worrying about it. What will be will be.

As I say with each blog post, I will try to blog more. There is some catharsis in blogging that I enjoy.

Cheers to Spring and Warm Weather ahead!

Catching Up

I just realized its been more than 2 weeks since I posted!

Time flies in general but especially this time of year - its almost Christmas, eek!
I suppose I should probably start Christmas shopping sometime soon - honestly I feel like everyone already has too much stuff so the idea of buying more stuff kind of makes me cringe.

Relationship Status: Friend Zone - and its not great, actually fairly miserable but more about that later.

So......let's see. What have I been up to? Its been a busy few weeks.

Visited the Italian Art exhibit at Minneapolis Institute of Arts.....twice.
Its a really beautiful exhibit and I would definitely recommend even if you aren't particularly into fashion. What struck me is how styles are recycled and recycled - you can really see that in the progression from the 1940's to current day. No pictures are allowed sadly but it is worth the value to go and there have also a LivingSocial deal for half off the price of admission.  

I've been to several shows since the last post: Wet with Bae Tigre, Har Mar Superstar with Pizza Underground, and Shakey Graves with Sean Rowe. All the shows were awesome. Har Mar Superstar was definitely a super fun dance party but I was really blown away at the Sean Rowe and Shakey Graves show - the other opener was Esme Patterson and she was fantastic too. Barr Brothers was definitely my favorite show of the year but this show was certainly in the Top 5.

Thanksgiving! So much to be thankful for this year. Spent the holiday in Nebraska with the family and had a wonderful time. My niece and nephews are growing up so fast - its sort of incredible actually...and makes me feel a little old!

Visited the Minneapolis Holiday Market last weekend. There have definitely been many mixed reviews on the holiday market. Here is my take: Yes, it is a bit crowded and the set-up could have probably been done better to allow for better flow. Yes, it is challenging to access for anyone with any type of physical disability. Yes, you do have to pay $6 to get in when the Holidazzle Parade was free. All that being said, it was really enjoyable and helped me get into the holiday spirit. There are lots of good eats and drink and wares to be had. If you keep your expectations in check, I think its an enjoyable experience.

Circling back to relationship status.....so yeah, during the Thanksgiving trip, I saw special someone from Nebraska and we ended up deciding that we were best off just being in the friend zone. He can't see past the distance to what could be which is too bad. So.....friend zone but also going on some Tinder dates to get back into the groove here locally. Hopefully Prince Charming will show up sooner or later.

This week I'm in town all week! Looking forward to getting life maintenance stuff done and Third Thursday at MIA and then seeing Jeremy Messersmith on Friday.

Cheers to a great week!

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter under: Rachel_651

First Aid Kit

So much good music this week. 

By the time I got around to seeing First Aid Kit on Thursday night, I was almost a little burnt out of going to shows but this was the show that I was most looking for and it did not disappoint. 

The way I would describe the show is magical and ethereal. There were moments of humor and also one instance of an ugly cry from me when they sang "Ghost Town" completely unplugged. 

In the end, it was a really beautiful show. 

My favorite song that was performed was: Master Pretender 

Just have to add was that the Bleachers and Stars shows were really fun also - great songs, great energy, had an awesome time. 

Cheers to Sunday Funday! 

My Junk

What do you do at 1am when you can't sleep because of you old friend insomnia? I suppose in the absence of anything else to do, one blogs. 

I keep thinking about this one particular quote from Mad Men where Faye says to Don Draper "I hope she knows you only like the beginnings of things." 

For some reason that quote really resonated with me at the time I first heard it on the show and for some reason, it has come back around. 

This week has not been the easiest. 

I don't necessarily want to get into all the ugly details but suffice to say, my heart took a little bit of a beating this week. 

But I am learning things about myself, which is perhaps the purpose in all this. 

I need to work on my communication skills. 

I don't react well when things do not go the way that I want them to go. 

I can be in a relationship or involvement where there is distance involved but this is not workable for others. 

I need to make sure I am putting effort into someone that is worthy and stop putting effort into relationships (romantic or otherwise) where the effort is not reciprocal. 

Some day it will be my turn to be in the happy couple photos that I see all over social media - its not my turn right now and I need to be ok with that. 

I always wonder about those photos - especially when I see them used on Tinder. What happened between happy family photo and Tinder? You can't love everything about a person all the time, so maybe the percentage between what the person can stand and can't stand became off balance. 

So, that's some of my junk. We all have junk - some just hide it better than others. 

The End. 

Random Thoughts

Good Morning lovelies.

Writing this post from my bed, snuggled with my cat Zoey, drinking coffee and looking out the window at the already winter wonderland of Minneapolis and listening to the Barr Brothers. 

I went to see the Barr Brothers last night at the Cedar and honestly, it was one of the most soul feeding shows that I've been to in quite some time. The musicianship was incredible. The music was just beautiful, the lyrics, the sound filled up the space and I think everyone in the crowd was completely wow'ed. I won't hesitate to see them again anytime that I can. 
Favorite Song from the entire set was: How the Heroine Dies 

Oh! I do have to mention that I saw the New Pornographers earlier in the week which was also an inspired show but in a different way. Neko Case and the set was perfection. Super high energy show, fun crowd, great time. Favorite Song from the Set: Adventures in Solitude. 

Winter arrived in Minnesota in a hurry this past week. Its so easy to forget the magnificent Autumn that we had when the snow and cold temps come. There was so little transition time this year between the seasons. I can't deny that I was a bit crabby this week - I feel like it always takes me a week or two to embrace the cold. Hopefully I am nearing the tipping point between crabby and embracing - feels like it is close. 

Not much else new - lots of shows this week: Bleachers with Wild Cub, Stars, First Aid Kit. Looking most forward to First Aid Kit in the mainroom at First Avenue. Will try to remember to post a review. 

Relationship status: Disappointed. Winter weather meant no visit from Nebraska special someone this weekend. Hopeful for a visit next weekend but he hasn't committed to that yet and I'm not going to beg for a visit. Logistics of living 6 hours away are causing a strain I think. Not seeing each other for weeks is causing a strain. That being said, I have no interest in dating at the moment - just no energy for it. We will see what happens - the best course of action is to let the universe dictate what happens next. 

All that being said, after all the annoyances and gripes, Life is ultimately good and I am blessed and I need to make sure I focus on that fact on a daily basis. 

Cheers to a new week! Lets make it a fabulous one!