Date

Tonight David and I hit up Cheap Date Night at one of the many venues that make Mpls so awesome: the restaurant/bar/theater/bowling alley Bryant Lake Bowl. We were actually doubling with one of my good friends and her new man-friend, so it was especially exciting. We all had fabulous squash ravioli in tomato sauce (there are two menu options for the cheap date, vegetarian and carnivorous, and even though they are carnivores, they went for the ravioli over the chicken something-or-other). My friend credited me with being the reason for her choosing the squash! This makes me unreasonably happy.

After our carrot cake (for David and me) and flourless chocolate torte (for them), we bowled--part of the date night deal. David is an excellent bowler. I am a terrible bowler, but make up for what I lack in style (and points) with enthusiasm!

But now it is late. I teach tomorrow (only three meetings left!), and am not prepared, so it should be a good time. Thankfully I'll have several hours in the morning and early afternoon to get myself ready.

Oh, also! Here are my words of wisdom for the day: if you are in doubt, at all, ask the bus driver. Otherwise, like me, afraid to look dumb/convinced that the campus connector must stop at the student union, you might, like me, end up on a bus ride to Saint Paul and back, miss your 8:00 appointment, and lose an hour of your morning. And THEN won't you look dumb, when you get off the bus at the same place you got on, an hour ago. Seriously. Five years on this campus, and a little (massive) road construction (and complete restructuring of the shuttle routes) totally threw me off. Sigh.

Montréal

So I'm in Montréal this week, where tomorrow, if all goes as planned, I'll get to experience the two artworks I've been trying to see for more than a year! I got here Monday evening, and took today to explore part of the city.

I did a 15-mile training run on Saturday, and rode Urban Assault the next day, so I was already pretty sore before I decided to hoof it around town. I started out (after a walk to the studio where I have my appointment tomorrow) with a climb up Mont Royal, the highest point in the city and conveniently located in its own massive park across from my hotel. If I'd been smart enough to stay on the nicely graveled trails, it would have been a slightly longer, but certainly less strenuous hike; instead, I somehow ended up scrambling straight up a good chunk of the wooded hillside, on "trails" that petered out into nothing but rocks and mud. I was both a sweaty mess, and terribly relieved, when I hit the proper path again near the summit, and stayed on it for the rest of my time in the park.

I ended up going down the opposite side of the mountain, heading through downtown and touring the Musée des Beaux-Arts on my way back to my hotel. I have lots of pictures that I'll try to share here (though sadly I can't get them to upload on David's little lappy). I also have lots of Urban Assault pix, which those of you on Facebook may already have discovered, but at the moment I am thoroughly exhausted. I don't know how many miles I walked and hiked today, but it felt considerable on my sore legs and feet.

Tomorrow's the big day for seeing the artwork, so I'm off to bed!

Vegetarian American

After our run yesterday, my running buddy and I met our menfolk for brunch at Maria's, which I love for its delicious and inexpensive food, but to which I hadn't been in many months. My chocolate chip pancake was so stunningly good that my fellow brunchers couldn't stop sneaking bites (which I gladly shared, as the pancake was the size of the plate). So delicious.

While there, we saw this comic,* which made me laugh out loud, repeatedly--the first time I'd done so at a newspaper funny of any sort in a long time.
"Weed Eater": so classic.

This morning I did 90 minutes of hot yoga. Between that and yesterday's run, pretty much all I feel like doing is eating. Back to it!

*Apparently the local paper runs Sunday comics on Saturday?

Spring

Ohhhh, I am tired. Like, random moaning tired.

Tonight, I signed up for my free trial week at Core Power Yoga and went to two classes with my friend the black belt: a C1 and Yoga Sculpt. The C1 was a nice warm up. The Sculpt kicked my butt and--in 95° plus humidity--made me sweat more than I have ever sweat in my life. Like, sweat puddling above my clavicles and rolling down my shins. I spent part of the class just sitting, or lying on my back, while the rest of the class continued their squats with weights and insane crunches, but the rest of the time I tried to keep up. It was an amazing workout. Tomorrow, we do Hot Power Fusion. Woo!

Yesterday, David and I machine-washed, line-dried, ironed, and reinstalled the couch cushion covers. I feel like I have a new couch! I also scrubbed the tub so that I could hand-wash my electric blanket and then dry it on the line with the cushion covers.

And there are leaves--tiny leaves!--on the trees. We didn't have any snow in March, generally one of our snowier months, for the first time since records have been kept. I'm not ruling out the possibility of an April snowstorm, but I think that spring may actually be here.