I adore John and his drive for community. It’s infectious! I want to surround myself with more folks like him. It doesn’t get any better than giving! John always says, “Let’s get together and dream.” LOVE that!
That said, John recommended that we meet at a favorite neighborhood restaurant of his, Cafe Ena, on 46th & Grand in Minneapolis.

Wow! What a great find! Tucked back a few blocks west of 35 W. Menu is simple and delicious. The Ower and Executive Chef is Hector Ruiz.
Run, don’t walk (but remember that the 46th exit is temporarily closed at 35W). So exit
on Diamond Lake Rd, take a right on Nicollet, head to 46th, take a left on 46th and go about 4 blocks..it’s up on your LEFT at the corner! FYI, they only serve beer & wine
but have an enormous selection. Buen Provecho!

They are HUGE into fishing and so the plan was to bring
their boat along and get some fun shots out on the water.
God had other plans for us. Despite the cutest pink
tackle box I’ve ever seen!

With the end of the day approaching, the wind gusts reached
as much as 30 MPH that evening and into the next day.
Not optimal for any kind of shoot (unless you’re
shooting a regatta!). Yea, white caps all the way to shore!

We made an executive decision to park the boat, head down
the bird sanctuary path and grab some shots there, out of
the wind…

From there, with the wind still howling, we drove around the lake
and popped into Tryg’s to get some fun atmosphere images.
It was packed. The temp reached 97 degrees that day which ended up
shattering a 100+ year old record so everyone was out!

But first we have to clear all this snow
we got last night! What happened to 1-2
inches? Looks more like 5 to me. Sven…
At least it looks clean and, dare I say,
pretty outside again.

Brenda and Jorge are coming to pick us up
at the airport tomorrow! I can’t wait to
see them, Vaughn, Judy, Alejandro and the
whole wild Mayan bunch!
When you are in Playa del Carmen, please
stop in and visit these wonderful folks at
their restaurant on 4th…1/2 block west of
the famous “5th Avenue”. And bring your
dancin’ shoes! They provide live music every
night at AJUA (pronounced ah-Hoo’-ah!)
Jorge will salsa the night away with you in
the street and their staff will entertain
you like no other restaurant in town!

My sister is coming over this morning and
we are going to hit the gym together!
I think she just wants to come and see Boo!

Had a great time at the Gopher Bar yesterday.
Gary and I were joined by Mike & John H., Mike O
and Tom R. This was Mike H. and Tom’s first
trip to the GB and I learned that first-timers pay
(apparently unless you have breasts!).

Gary and I later ran up to PUNCH PIZZA for our
“buy one-get one” and it was about a THOUSAND
degrees in there! Hadn’t been in awhile and the
pizza was still just as awesome!

Watched Gran Torino. I sobbed.
I don’t know why exactly, but I sobbed.

Well, off to the gym so I can eat at Reese’s birthday
brunch later this morning! ;P

Then it was off to the Gopher Bar to warm up
with a Coney Dog! This is a spot in which Gary
and his friends meet once a month so I thought
I’d tag along for the experience. I’m told that
the Gopher Bar is steeped in tradition and I
was able to soak it all in first hand.

It was 12:30 and packed with folks from all walks
of life. George, his wife and his staff cater to,
and supports heavily, the military, Gopher Hockey
and the Vulcans of St. Paul. This was no ordinary
“lunch spot” for sure!

It started with a shot of whiskey (to my surprise,
I had to be in on that tradition as well!).

I was told you can only place one order for coneys.
Adding to your order is frowned upon, or should I
say~not allowed…so we ordered 3 to split. It was perfect.

I was allowed all access to the bar and the grill.
George decided that I should be in a photo so I
handed my Mark III off to his wife…the result?

(me, George, John & Gary)

I think my job is safe! ;D

Now if you are offended by the “f-bomb” or
any sort of snide remarks…this is NOT your
place. However, I know that I will return
and if not before, for certain on and
upcoming Saturday in May when George will
hold “Gun Day”. On this day (ordinarily one
Saturday a month) everyone brings their guns
in and lays them all out on the bar…that
should be quite the photo op!

I look forward to going again!

Later today my entire family and some of
our friends will gather at my sister’s
to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday (which is
actually tomorrow). My sister makes a totally
KILLER lasagna and I can’t wait to get over
there! We were assigned cake & wine. HA! shocker!

Oh, say, speaking of food, I want to give a
glowing review of “Cosi”. It’s fast food, in
a cosi atmosphere. Here in Eden Prairie next
to Pei Wei is this really great sandwich place.
Like Pei Wei, you step up to the counter and
order, they give you a # to place on your table
and they bring it over to you. So basically it’s
fast food with tipping, really. But my mom and I
stopped in there yesterday for a late lunch
and I had the Sesame Ginger Chicken and my mom
had the Pulled Pork. Both really good. I had
driven by a hundred times and always wondered
about it and now I know. A little spendy but worth it.

Okay..on to the homecoming dance.
J picked out a FABulous cocktail dress.
Albeit a short one, the color looked so good on her!
All the girls looked great! When exactly did
homecoming get to be as big a deal as prom anyway?
I remember going to the football game and then
Hadder’s band, “Purple Haze”, played (loudly) in the
high school gym and everyone just kinda stood around.
NO dresses, no suits, no boutonnieres, NO corsages,
no paparazzi line of of parents trying to capture
the innocence on ANY kind of camera. Well, I was
glad to be there to get in on the action and get
some fun shots of J & her date, Scott.

Checked in around 3. I had NO idea that the
room that awaited us was A.) On the “club level”
and B.) A HUGE suite! I remember telling Gary
as we walked down the the hallway, “wouldn’t it
be so cool if our room was the double door at the
end?” AND IT WAS!!! So unexpected!

I mean, the certificate read, “romantic, whirpool
suite for 2 and breakfast” Sure, whatever, right?
Well, we never actually filled the giant hot tub
in the bedroom, why? I don’t know, just didn’t.
But we did venture out and hit every spot within
walking distanced (you must know that this hotel
is a few miles from our home and we never go
there or to the restaurants/bars that are located
in that area). We decided that if we stopped in
everywhere and had a bump and looked at menus, we’d
surely find a fab dinner location.

We selected La Fougasse at the Sofitel. AMAZING!
Why have we never gone there before?
We will definitely hit that spot again. We sat
outside and had the best dinner.

We asked Ron & Cindy to pop out and see us
so they joined us for a cocktail on the patio.

Later, after Ron & Cindy left, Gary and I
walked over to the Dairy Queen and got Blizzards!
I got the Girl Scout Mint cookie one. My brother
was right, it was pretty darn good!

Say, I don’t want to forget to give a shout out to
Anthony. He’s the Bartender at Chez Collette in the
Sofitel. He took pretty good care of us while we
were out on tour.

Napped a lot yesterday and finished up my images
to present to Danielle for Urban Ventures.

Today, the 5th annual Miracle Open golf event.
Toted as “a mature event for immature adults.”
I’ll be covering it today and then several
high school seniors this week capped off by
the wedding of Kristin & Carlos this Saturday.

Another week, bound to go quickly!

They changed something overnight on
Wednesday and now they tell me that it
is not compatible with my Leopard operating
system….WHAT!!!????

The drama will unfold soon, I can only pray.
I can access my mail remotely (thank goodness for
e-mailanywhere.com)

POP server, IMAP server, incoming, outgoing,
it’s really all Greek to me but when it works
I’m in my happy place and when it’s not,
well..I’m not.

Alright, now I know a lot of you are wondering
why all the personal stuff lately and not
so much photography…you are not alone.
That said, starting next weekend (Memorial Day
weekend) and running through into September
I am going full on into wedding season.
Every weekend (except for the Starkey Hearing
Foundation Gala the week of June 14th) I have
a wedding to shoot! I’m so excited! So watch
for some gorgeous weddings starting the week
after Memorial Day. It’s going to be a crazy
summer!

Now, one last thing today before I sign off.
I have to give a huMONGus shout out to the
Palomino in Minneapolis.

See the cute blonde in the long red dress?

Okay, this is cool…
So this group of like 15 couples took this
fabulous limo to Palomino for dinner before
the prom at International Market Square.
G’s date, Zach, accidentally spilled this girl’s
drink ALL OVER HER DRESS! OMG!!!!!!!!
Someone from the Palomino (not sure if it was
the manager or the waiter or who) asked her where
she got her dress…she said “Macy’s.” So he went
to see if they could clean it or something
Macy’s replied…”sorry, nothing we can do.”
(SHOCKER!!..i hate macy’s too!) and so he
bought her another red dress and brought it
back to the restaurant and gave it to her!!
Couldn’t get the exact same one, but he got her
another red dress, in her size…can you stand it!?
how aMAzing is that. UnHEARD of customer service!!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Palomino!

Gotta go!
2 Hilton Families today.
Sunny 77 today…GORgeous!

Nice, right?

Well, I had a full day yesterday.
Met Nicki in Excelsior for an early coffee
that turned into a lunch at Jake O’Connor’s.
It was raining but we managed to dodge the
rain a little by popping into some of our
favorite stores and a couple of new ones too!
Martin’s is back in Excelsior and Omorphia is
new to town.

Ahhhhh, a cappuccino & the molten lava bailey’s
dessert at Jake O’Connor’s….oh, just SHOOT me!

Oh, we did split the fish & chips too!

On to part 2 of my day…I went to Abbott to
photograph a full term, Trisomy 18 baby girl
that passed in utero sometime Thursday.
Her name is Lauren..perhaps spelled “Loren”,http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
in that her dad’s name is Lorenzo.

From there, I went directly to the Depot in
Minneapolis (the hotel/ice rink) for my
Christian outreach foundation-Here’s Life
Inner City.

I’m pooped.
Enjoy the snow!

I hate you Jacquie!!! This is your punishment!