Getting Carrie-ed Away in the Twin Cities

Last Thursday (July 16th), my friend Carrie flew in from Chicago. I spent the morning setting up the guest room (aka Tomkin's dressing room) and preparing for our Third Thursdays party that night. I picked up Carrie at the airport about 2:30, and we came home to drop off her stuff and let her settle in a bit. She brought some lovely hostess gifts--very sweet! Although it was a bit chilly out, we walked down to Grand Ave. and hit the happy hour at Salut. It was fun to relax, chat, and catch up on everything that's been happening in our lives. We headed home, and then Becca and Omar dropped off six types of Surly beer about 6:30, including some delicious (and highly sought-after) Darkness. They went to grab some dinner, and we got the beer all iced up and ready to go. Our party that night was really fun--our biggest Third Thursdays crowd yet. People eventually spilled out onto the patio and front steps, in addition to gathering in the usual living room, dining room, and kitchen areas. (Note Becca's and my matching "Surly Girl" T-shirts and Tomkin and Omar's matching Surly workshirts.)The Surly was a big hit, and the party eventually wrapped up about 12:30.
Friday morning we all ate breakfast at home, and then Tomkin went to work, and Carrie and I met up with Jill and baby Christopher at Tillie's Bean in Minneapolis. (Carrie, Jill, and I all knew each other from Holy Covenant in Chicago.) We hung out and talked for a couple hours--Christopher is such a good baby! From there, Carrie and I headed to the nearby Midtown Global Market, where we ate lunch at the Holy Land and did some shopping. We returned home to rest for a bit, and then Tomkin went to lead a wedding rehearsal while Carrie and I headed to the Surly Brewery for a tour. We hung out and had a couple sample glasses of beer, checked out the gift shop, then followed Omar into the main room to hear all about the history of the brewery and how they make the beer. (His dad put in an appearance, too.) The whole thing was a lot of fun. Carrie and I went back home, and then we and Tomkin walked over to Pizza Luce for a late dinner. It's hard to beat a weekend of friends, beer, and pizza.
Saturday morning Tomkin fixed us breakfast again, and then Carrie and I headed to Uptown in Minneapolis. Our first stop was the awesome shop Go Home, and next we got coffee at Lucia's To Go. Then we just browsed around a bunch of different shops, including Paper Source, where I got invitations for Chloe's upcoming birthday party; Twin Cities Green, where I got a couple beautiful recycled glass pieces; and Via's Vintage, where we ogled over the awesome retro duds. From there, we made our way to the Como area, where we wandered through the Japanese garden, the conservatory, and the Blooming Butterflies exhibit. By this point we were pretty hungry, so we went to W.A. Frost to get dinner on the patio. On our way from the car to the restaurant, we saw Garrison Keillor walking down the street! He must have just left Common Good Books, which he owns. Tomkin (who had spend the day working on house projects and taking Chloe to the park) called when he finished the wedding he officiated, and then he met up with us at the restaurant. We had a delicious dinner, then headed over to the outdoor bar area, where we enjoyed a drink in the comfy chairs and watched a mama sparrow feeding her babies in one of the patio's birdhouses. Tomkin headed home, and Carrie and I went across the street to Common Good Books. Then we capped off our day by getting ice cream cones at Grand Ole Creamery.
After a few days of unseasonably cool temperatures, Sunday was sunny and beautiful. So Carrie and I went to the Happy Gnome to get brunch out on their patio. I had a mimosa and THE most ridiculously good french toast. Mmmm! We went home and picked up Tomkin and Chloe, then we all headed to the Minnehaha dog park. The water was so low, I was able to wade out a ways and get Chloe to follow me. Couldn't quite get to her swim, though. We had a lovely walk and saw three other Rhodesian Ridgebacks! Then we had to take Carrie to the airport to return her to the Windy City. Tomkin and I went home and took a nap, read on the front porch, walked to the Dairy Queen with Chloe, and watched "So You Think You Can Dance." It was a very fun (and full) weekend!