Mother's Day

My mom, Jamie and I celebrated Mother's Day back on Sunday, April 14th on a rainy day.  With a mom in the floral business, it gets very busy with prom and Mother's Day so the weeks leading up to Mother's Day are hectic for her and she ends up working more than she normal does, therefore she's exhausted.

Anyway, we celebrated by going to Pinstripes in Edina for brunch.  We got there right at 10 am and we were the first people there but within 45 minutes, the place was packed.  The food was extremely delicious.  I think it was my favorite brunch ever.

After brunch, we had tickets for noon at Bachman's Spring Idea House.  If you don't know what the Idea House is, Bachman's has a house that they decorate in the Spring, Fall and Winter.  It's right next to the big Bachman's store on Lyndale Avenue in South Minneapolis.  You can tour the house to get ideas and you can buy everything that is available in the house at their store or one of a kind pieces can be purchased after the season of the tours end.  

The house was awesome.  I loved so many things about the way they decorated and they way they had creative uses for things.  The house isn't that big so it goes to show you what you can do with smaller spaces.  I apparently didn't take any photos of the dining room.  This was the first time they had a craft room and a home office in the house, otherwise they are usually bedrooms.  My favorite room was the master bedroom.  Instead of a traditional headboard, they took a curtain rod and hung an area rug around it and then put ceramic flowers on it.  I have a feeling we'll be back to the Idea House again.

I'm in love with the round metal shelf ($449!)

Small plants hanging in the kitchen

Downstairs bathroom

Cute "cupcakes" made of flowers

Creative way to hang your scarves

Master bedroom- My favorite room of the house

Master bedroom

Master bedroom

Home office

Upstairs bathroom

Bathroom

Wall art

Air plants/terrariums

Living room

Living room- They built that table for this season

Interesting use of fireplace

Art

Succulents

Fairy garden

Fairy Garden

I love the set of seven vases

The porch

After the house, we went to the Mall of America to go shopping. I bought one thing but I was eyeing up this pretty awesome cat shirt from Forever 21.  

The day was perfect.  We all really enjoyed ourselves.

On actual Mother's Day, I really didn't think my mom would want to stay home by herself, despite her being tired from working a lot.  I called her up and we decided to go to lunch.  Before lunch, we stopped at DealSmart and then we went to Culver's as she's been wanting to try that new burger from there.  I had no idea what she was talking about until I saw it on TV finally the night before.  They dropped off a free sundae for her for her special day.  We then went to Kirkland's and Bed, Bath and Beyond.  

After shopping, we went to the cemetery.  My aunt planted flowers at my Gramma's grave earlier in the day.

I hadn't been to my dad's grave since Christmas Day.  I guess it's pointless for me to go in the winter when it's snowy and you can't even see where he's at.  I was happy to see that the penny I dropped off for him on Christmas Day is still there, shiny as can be.  The cemetery was pretty busy that day with people remembering their moms but we still managed to see five deer.  Can you see them all in the photo?

Yummo!

I met my friend Justin for dinner at French Meadow, Wednesday, May 8th.  I only have a couple of friends that enjoy eating healthier and that join me for vegan food.  This was my fourth time there but I usually get the same thing.  This time, we both decided to split two items so we could try both.  Justin ordered the veggie burger and I ordered the grilled tempeh reuben.  Both came with a salad and both were great.  Justin ordered some type of vegan cake and it looks so appealing when it came out, I had to eat a few bites as well.  I am looking forward to going here again.

The garage in the alley behind the restaurant as our backdrop

Day Off

Monday, May 6th, the day after Alex Clare, both M and I had the day off.  We started off the day with breakfast at Neighborhood Cafe, then Menards to buy some bird seed and a feeder and then back to home.  The day was gorgeous and warm, close to 80 degrees.  M went for a motorcycle ride and I went for a walk.  I didn't know where I was going but my walk turned into a 7 mile journey from my house down and around Vadnais Lake and back home.  I think I saw a loon and I saw multiple butterflies besides your standard geese and ducks.  It was just days before this that the lake still had ice on it.

Alex Clare

M and I went to see Alex Clare for his sold out show at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis on Sunday, May 5th.  Hours leading up the show, I asked M, is Alex Clare black?  I always guess where I think artists are from and I guessed New York or New Jersey.

Wrong.


Alex Clare is white.  He's from England.  And he's a ginger.


Finding that out just hours before you see him is weird.  We've been listening to him since September 2011 and it never occurred to me that he'd be white and foreign.

Anyways, we had tickets for the reserved mezzanine for this show.  Actually it's the first time we've been up there at the Varsity.  It was pretty nice for us old folk to be able to have a seat to park our booties.

The show was amazing.  I actually have become to hate the word amazing (which is sad) because it is soooooo overused.  Sorry people, everything can't be amazing.  But really, Alex Clare, his voice and performance are pretty amazing.  I knew the show would be good but I didn't really have that high of hopes or expectations.  Mr. Clare, you've proved me wrong.

Ok, for those that don't know who Alex Clare is, maybe this 1 minute commercial and his song will ring a bell?

Here's another good one:

My video from the night: