an absurdly long post on an absurdly packed weekend

In my first weekend here, I've managed to end up at Tao Natural Foods twice, and here I am again, sipping fresh juice (apple, pear, parsley, and lemon) and scarfing down the most delicious black bean burger I've ever had. The restaurant, though not all that close to my apartment, is absolutely adorable, with beautiful outdoor seating and an unbelievable vegetarian menu. Yesterday, Mama Mahoney and I tried the sweet potato burrito and the chevre quesadilla, both also top notch. The cafe stretches back into a tiny health food store, with an upstairs lined with shelf after shelf of herbs, spices, and loose leaf teas. My inner hippie is in paradise.

If this weekend is any indication of what the next ten weeks here will be like, I'm in for an incredible summer. Mama Mahoney and I managed to get tickets to one of the last performances of Pippi Longstocking at CTC. The production value, of course, was incredibly high. The set (or really, all four sets: Villa Villekula, the carnival, the school, and the boat yard) may have been one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen - I stole a photo of Villa Villekula off of CTC's Facebook page, since I would never be able to accurately describe it in words. 

The use of puppetry was also incredible, and if this and last January's production of Babe say anything at all, it's that CTC really gets physical storytelling. But I wonder how challenging Pippi was for its audiences. 

I was also incredibly impressed with the show's program. It featured two full color pages of activities for audience members (I assume they were for the first graders in the audience, but I had fun with them too). I thought for a minute that CTC had combined their program and study guide for the show, but no! There's a more in-depth study guide here available for download. This was just a fun page for kids (and me) to enjoy while sitting in the house during intermission.

After Mama Mahoney and I parted ways, I went with my two roommates to The MOVING COMPANY's production of The War Within/All's Fair. I don't claim to know how to talk about this piece - it was a devised, absurd commentary on political polarization (or at least that's what the program note told me). I do, however, know that I had an incredible ninety minutes trying to figure out what was happening on stage, between unbelievable gay sex jokes and a ten-minute long nonsensical rant atop a Genie. Between this and Pippi, I think I got a pretty good sense of what Minneapolis theatre has to offer.

The night ended with a bike ride around the city between 11 and 2am with one of my roommates and her friends. Last night was the Northern Spark festival, a nighttime art festival all over Minneapolis. Most of the art galleries and museums around town stayed open until 6am, but we stayed outside, where there were hundreds of installation art and performance art projects. I'm not entirely sure what I saw, but there were cardboard trees, Christmas lights, shadow puppets, projections, bike-powered dance parties, and, mostly, thousands of bearded hipsters out with their bikes. 

The only proper way to decompress after a day like that was an hour-long meditation class followed by my first yoga class in two years. It was incredible to be back, and it turns out I didn't lose as much as I thought I would have. I even managed to hold crow for a few seconds, which is something I've never been able to do. My body simultaneously loves and hates me after that class, but I'll be back tomorrow. The goal is at least six days a week, but this week is free, so I think I'll make it seven.

Camps start tomorrow, and a storm is raging outside (there's a hurricane watch not too far from here!). This organic iced latte will get me through planning tomorrow's lunchtime activities, and then I'll crash to hopefully be prepared for day one!