Two in One! Angry Catfish and Dunn Bros

Last night I met Cassie for our weekly accountability meeting at the Angry Catfish. I feel like there’s probably a lot to write about that place, but I don’t really know where to start. I guess a good start is that it’s a coffee/bike shop in one. Oh Minneapolis, you’re so hip. And yes, many of the people in there are hipsters. I’ve been there three times now and realized yesterday I’ve never seen another girl there (besides Cassie, of course). Weird. On the contrary, however, they do they do their coffee well. Possibly the top five in Minneapolis in my book. They take pride in it for sure….the roast, the procedures, the measurements, the art (see below)…you name it. But, you pay for what you get there, for sure.

Cassie and I had a good talk- but I kinda feel like I shortened it up maturely, as we had planned on meeting Steffen for hoagies at Davanni’s. After stuffing our faces (for free! thanks to coupons), Steffen and I headed back home. He dropped me off and kept on going down south to meet his friend Joe for beer. While at home, I played housewife for a bit, and then settled down on here to research cameras some more. Low and behold, I found something I wasn’t looking for! The Civil Wars. New favorite. Their first song I listened to was Barton Hollow, of which I immediately fell in love with. As I looked more into their music I found out that the female singer is Joy Williams! Yes, CCM’s Joy Williams! I about fell off my chair. I’ve been listening to them all day.

Today is a super long day for Steffen. He’s got work at 7:30am and will keep going going until 9ish tonight when worship practice is finished. Tonight I’ll be joining my life long (seemingly) friend at her house once choir practice is over. So naturally, I take this time to head to another coffee shop. Until then, I decided to take the MetroTransit downtown and park myself at Dunn Bros. I love this location because 1) it’s right off the light rail 2) it’s downtown, duh! 3) it’s in an old building and the coffee shop has two floors 4) and possibly my favorite part is it’s individual seating right here where I am. I get my very own lamp! Today I got a chai latte and it’s scrumptious. Not as good as Corner Coffee’s, but it’s reasonable. Overall, I’m not a huge fan of Dunn Bros. Not really any decent reason; I just am not as drawn to chain coffee shops.

The girl next to me here looks like she’s about to pull out her hair as she shuffles the seemingly millions of papers in front of her. Assuming she’s studying for school, I’m reminded of how thankful I am that I’m done! So nice to just relax and chill out here. Coffee shops, hot drinks, soft lighting, tunes streaming through my headphones, and books/computers may, in fact, be one of the best ways for me to relax.

So, goodbye for now. Off to my book.

Corner Coffee

So I decided to blog about the coffee shops here in Minneapolis. My original idea is really to blog about them with each of the posts to include a picture that I snapped while sipping on java. What does this have to do with worship? Glad you asked. God says every good thing comes from him. Coffee is definitely a good thing, and I get this excited feeling every time I’m on my way to one. Also, I’d like to remember all of these wonderful memories of Minneapolis. So here it goes!

Disclaimer: In no way am I a coffee connoisseur. I’ve never been a barista, never read any books, and can’t really wrap my mind around the whole art of it. Really, I like coffee, but I don’t LOVE it. I would say that I LOVE the atmosphere and the community that the shops beg to create. Again, I’m just deciding to blog about my experiences at the different shops that I get to go to in this progressive city.

Tonight, in lieu of Steffen securing an internship in the Warehouse district of downtown, I decided to trek down to Corner Coffee, which is right around the... corner from Sound Logic. Walking in here flashed a few memories through my head. When attending North Central, Steffen and I would often walk down to CC for church and/or music. Yes, that’s right, we attended church here for a while. We were not really ever committal, it just worked fairly well for our schedules and was a good excuse to get out of the NCU bubble. We eventually got to know the staff better, and Steffen ended up booking a few shows here. Ha, and by a few I mean two. The first one he played here was fairly early in the semester- and I wasn’t really a part of his life at that time. All I remember is that my roommate was drooling over him and wouldn’t stop talking about his voice. Ha. The second one, yes, I was much a part of his life. It was here where my good friend Cassie Stoa was introduced to his music along with the wonderful tunes from John Davey. My aunt and uncle also came that night, which was pretty cool.

After that show we didn’t really come back here very often. Probably because we didn’t live here. Good excuse, right? One random fact is after 6 months of knowing her, I found out that my friend from church, Kate Peterson works here!

New Music

I love music. I'm not super talented, but hey, that doesn't mean I can appreciate it, right? I've been searching for some new music- trying to find artists that put time and effort into their music. I'm specifically looking for music that intertwines God into the picture as well, but not necessarily main stream CCM. Here are a few that I've come across. Click the link to get to the tunes. Here's hoping I'll have more soon!

Jetty Rae

Jon Foreman

Christa Black

Wonderful Weekend.

I had such a wonderful weekend. Steffen surprised me with a few things in celebration of Valentine’s day! We went to a super super nice restaurant downtown called the Woodfire Lake Grill. Or at least that’s what I think it was called. And you guessed it! They cooked all of their food over a woodfire. We had the most amazing, smoky burgers. Next it was off to the hotel. He booked a night for us downtown at the HILTON! I felt like a queen. Really, like I told him, I felt like I was on the Titanic. It was such a gorgeous place, with extravagant decorations, really tall ceilings, and gorgeous chandeliers. Heck, the pool was even stainless steel! We got a room on the 20^th floor which was again, breathtaking. Before heading for bed, we went downstairs and bought ourselves a slice of cheesecake. On Saturday morning we woke up and watched cartoons. Scooby doo and Garfield to be exact. Cartoons just aren’t the same. But even so, it was so wonderful to just be super lazy and lay in bed watching cartoons for an hour or two.

After checking out, we went to the Bad Waitress, a hip coffee shop/café. No, we’re not so hip. But nonetheless, it was relaxing and enjoyable. The light was coming in through the large windows that we sat next to, and the tea I was sipping on was just more relaxing than ever! Next we went home for a few hours and took a nap (shocker!). Well, the truth is, yes, sleeping that much may be a bit sluggish, but A) I can B) he can, but truthfully, C) I really wasn’t feeling so well.

Later we went downtown again to enjoy yet another surprise Steffen had planned. A theater performance! We planned to go to Theater in the Round, but as we were about a mile away, we realized it would have cost us twice as much as he was planning on spending. So we just walked around downtown for a while and made a stop at the Guthrie to chill for a bit. On our way home we stopped to get dairy queen blizzards and the Dark Night. Ha, not so much a romance, right? Around 1am we crawled into bed, knowing we wouldn’t be singing the hymns the next morning in church.
Sunday was just as much as wonderful as the previous two. We both woke up a noon. I no longer had a sore throat, which started my morning out all the better. Steffen made French toast and some wonderful coffee.

After lounging for an hour or so, we cleaned up the apartment which was in disaster. Next we decided to go on a walk, seeing as it was 45 degrees out. Yes, 45! Just last week it was in the negatives most of the time, which made this change so exciting. We threw on our tennies and headed for the lake. Walked around half of it and ended up at a coffee shop. Sat outside and drank an Arnold Palmer while steffen sipped on an Iced Americano. The air was fresh, sky was blue, and you could just tell everyone had a sense of, once again, conquering a Minnesota winter. As we sat there, we started to talk about future, as we so often do in these settings. Steffen is almost finished with his semester, and is still on the hunt to secure an internship here in the cities. He’s got a few leads, but nothing concrete yet. We’re still praying that God will open up a door, and quite frankly, I have 100% faith that He will. I got a bit emotional as we got deeper into the conversation. My heart is being pulled in 3 different directions, which is difficult to manage at times. I just love people so much!

We ended the most wonderful weekend with some broccoli-cheesy-rice-casserole and a movie. I’m so thankful for weekends like these- quality time with my best friend and a chance to relax to the max. Really, it makes me so thankful to God for all His blessings to us. I hurt to think of the marriages that are struggling to hold on, to think that so many people out there are looking for love in all the wrong places. I don’t really understand why God has blessed me with such a wonderful husband. Many times I feel undeserving. But yes, quite possibly, this is just another way that I can experience Christ’s love. To see His love for me through the indescribable love I have for my husband.

Van!

Yes, today the van is running smoothly. The mechanic shop that we've been to a few times graciously went to jump Steffen on 494. Shirley let me borrow her car to go pick Steffen up from the shop and take him to work. Steffen's boss gave him a ride from work to the shop. We had hardly anything left in savings, but GOD came through! The total amount we owed to the shop was $1 less than what we had in savings! ONE DOLLAR! God knows are need. He knows the outcome. Trusting Him is normally the hardest part, but He wants our trust.
God, all glory to You, once again!

Bad timing and Good timing

This morning our van broke down on the side of the road. Just one week ago we paid $850 to fix it. As I type the mechanics are on their way to hopefully jump the van so steffen can drive it to the shop.

Even under such annoying circumstances, I can already see God at work. My dear friend and co-worker offered for me to take her vehicle to get Steffen to work. It's so wonderful to have people that care for me. Thank you, Lord. And please, please, let the jump work so he can get it to the shop without a tow truck!

God is Good!

I don't want to ever forget the goodness of my Lord. He continually blesses Steffen and I over and over again!

Today.....

• I get to look forward to fellowship with my church family
• I experienced God during communion
• We got to relax at The Bad Waitress. Good talks and good coffee are possibly the most delightful pair
• I woke up and found out I've lost 4 lbs in the last 9 days
• I talked on the phone with my loving mother. I don't ever want to take her for granted!

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift comes from God!