Weekends in Minneapolis

One of the great things about living in Windom is that it is very easy to make a weekend trip to Minneapolis. The ease of a Minneapolis weekend is increased by our incredibly generous friends, who host us and Sogn and are always happy to accommodate us into their weekend schedule. One of the hardest things about facing this new move is that even though I am so happy about this job I could cry (in fact, I have cried - tears of JOY), it is really far away from the Twin Cities and all of our friends and family who live there. I'm afraid weekends trips to the cities aren't going to happen as often and they're going to require planning. Planning? Eek.

Anyways - one of the new summer events we have enjoyed the past few years is the Lawn Game Olympics. No - there's no link, this isn't an even that's sponsored by a local brewery (although that's a great idea) - instead it's a fabulous event that is put together by a friend.

Basically, it's as amazing as it sounds. We arrive at a super secret location (well not really, but I'm not going to tell you where!), haul the coolers and grills, set up hammocks and lawn games, let the dogs off leash and enjoy the day. Although all of those things are great, it's wonderful just to stand around in the shade and chat with friends we don't get to see regularly anymore. It's amazing the things that happen when you're away for a few weeks - nieces are able to walk around the Patagonia store, people have moved and moved in together, and new jobs abound.

I will miss our weekend trips to the Twin Cities, but we will still visit and once we get settled in Crookston we willl extend some invites to return the generous hosting!

p.s. If you're reading this to procrastinate for the 2012 Bar Exam I wish you good luck. You will pass.

Feeling Like a Kid

I work really hard in my professional and personal life to be a responsible adult - because according to my age and the letters behind my name I am. But sometimes I just feel like a kid, and when that feeling strikes I love it. It feels carefree and fun and it's great.

It's been crazy hot. You know that, you live here too. I generally manage the heat well since I work in an air conditioned space and when I'm outside I walk slowly so I don't mess up my new "professional" hair cut. On the whole, I manage the heat in a very adult way.

But Sogn could care less if I'm an adult. He is a hairy animal, who has a lot of energy to burn, and it means that we play like kids! The other day I threw on some shorts and my favorite pair of sandals and Sogn and I walked down to Island Park to do kid things.

I played with shells on the dirty beach shore and snapped a few pictures while Sogn wallowed in the mud, chewed on some sticks, and got real stinky.

I missed this animal when he was gone. He really does make my life better. 

On our way home from the park we stopped by River City Eatery and got a waffle cone with rainbow sherbet. I even let Sogn have a few licks after I was done (don't tell Calhoun).

The Des Moines River in Windom

We were stinky and sweaty and had a great time just playing, and not caring about how our hair looked. 

The Bergen Bar and Grill

My co-workers seem to be very focused on my food. I feel like we are always talking about food which is strange because we rarely eat together because someone needs to be available to help at the counter all the time. Sometimes I feel self-conscious when this interest results in someone peering into my lunch bowl that's filled with poultry bones, but mostly this Minnesota-nice interest in your food ends up in some fun recommendations that I wouldn't know about otherwise.

When we moved here way back in October we would get restaurant recommendations all the time, and one of the places that was repeatedly recommended by everyone we've met in the area is The Bergen Bar and Grill in Bergen, Minnesota. Everyone said it was the best place around for steaks - but I personally think Calhoun cooks the best steaks so we've been putting off the Bergen Bar. 

But this past week we got some news that means that we needed to check some things off of our southwest Minnesota bucket list, so we decided to go to the Bergen Bar!

The most important thing to know about the Bergen Bar is that it is SMALL and has a serious reputation around here for being a place that's hard to get in to...if you eat dinner at 5 o'clock sharp. When the Bergen Bar was first recommended to me it was December, and we were warned that we needed to be there at 5 o'clock sharp or we needed to be prepared to wait in our car for them to call us because the restaurant wasn't big enough to wait inside.

But no one knew what would happen if you went for a later dinner. Who in this town eats after 5? Apparently just us!

So we went for "late" dinner at the Bergen Bar and didn't have steak. I'm afraid we missed the epic story of waiting in our car for an hour for a seat and ordering a hugs slab of meat, but we had a great time anyways.

First, we drove into Bergen seemingly without warning to find a bunch of trucks parked outside of what appeared to be a house. We figured it was the spot and it was. No wait (dinner about 8 seems to be the key) and some great burgers, each has a beer and spend under $20!

Second, this mural was on the old Bergen Store. Love.

Third, I got a new job and we're moving! It is crazy to be checking things off a bucket list.

Jason D. Smith over at the Flensburg Files does Bergen much more justice than I have, check it out. 

Fetch

Sogn came home this Friday! It has been so great having him back I can't even put it into words!

We've been taking him around the neighborhood on walks but after 8 weeks away I wanted to see some fetching to see what all of this training was about! So, Saturday night when it started to cool off a little we went out Sun Valley Gun Club to see what all the fuss was about.

I more than "kinda" like this sign.  

We took a stroll around to burn of some energy and found thistles in full bloom.

Then the boys fetched. Awesome.

Then Sogn rested. I think he's happy to be home and we are happy to have him back where he belongs! 

My Preferred Mode of Transportation

Last year when I was desperately looking for clerking jobs I applied to a few jobs that were in the middle of nowhere Alaska. Calhoun and I thought it would be a great legal job opportunity but also figured it would be super adventurous. In the process we would hypothesize about the kinds of vehicles we might "need" to purchase were we to end up in an Alaskan town accessible only by float plane and boat. Calhoun, of course, decided he would need a truck and a chainsaw, I decided an ATV would be my preferred mode of transportation. 

I have never actually ridden on an ATV but one summer during college I worked on campus and we occasionally got to drive the John Deere Gator to haul things around campus. The thing is, before we got to drive the Gator we had to go to "training" which involved sitting in a room with a bunch of other campus summer staff while the guy told us driving stories. I don't remember any of them except that when it came to Gator training he said: "A Gator is NOT an ATV. I repeat, a Gator is NOT an ATV."

Therefore, ATVs sound awesome. I want one. But, instead of landing a job in bush Alaska I got this one in Southwest Minnesota and I figured driving an ATV around on a paved street was something that would be frowned upon here in civilization.

But I guess not - I saw this today when I ran across the street for lunch! I have seen many vehicles on the streets around here used for transportation that are not really for transportation (riding lawn mowers, tractors) but I have never seen one parked in the parallel parking spot before! I thought it was awesome and has renewed my desire to randomly drive an ATV around town.

Rhythm of the River 2012 - Jackson, MN

Since my relatively recent arrival here in Windom I have been loving all of the community celebrations. This is partly due to all of the community information I receive via 94.3 KDOM Radio and partly because there isn't a whole lot else going one. One thing I have figured out about Windom is that it seems like a great place to raise kids, so without kids I have to find my own entertainment...

So....

I heard about two excellent events this weekend.


The first intriguing event was Jeffer's Outlaw Days  which promised a kiddie tractor pull, mobile zoo, and a street dance. But since Calhoun is in the middle of his summer teaching schedule and I can't book his whole weekend I had to be selective in choosing our weekend activities so...


I went with intriguing event number two: Rhythm of the River Music Festival. I'm a little ashamed of myself to say that, given the calendar of events, the Rhythm of the River was definitely more up my alley and therefore not such a stretch in the "personal adventure" category but I loved it anyways.


We had a leisurely dinner at home and tried to avoid the insane heat and headed over to the Festival just in time to hear the Pre-Apocalyptic Junkyard Orchestra.

THEY WERE AMAZING! 

  


OK - number one, they had an accordion, a fiddle, a guitar, a bass, and a banjo!


Number two - they could all SING! Incredible three part harmony sans instruments late night Saturday. You have to love that.


Number three - they played an incredible variety of songs. They played some great fiddle pieces and even some piece in German that was really slow, but well done. And, before we were chased out by the bugs, they played a song of their own. I can't remember the name by my favorite lyric went like this:

"Moonshine you're the devil

I'll never trust again

I'll just stick to my old friends

Whiskey, wine, and gin"

We were incredibly impressed and there seemed to be a healthy turnout. The Rhythm of the River Music Festival is trying to do something unique, in that they are exposing their festival go-ers here in southwest Minnesota to a variety of music and offering a kind of outdoor festival that may be new to people around here but is totally taken for granted in the Twin Cities. I thought it was great and although I was sad to miss the Outlaw Days I was really happy with our decision to go to the Festival. Yay for new adventures!

Mountain Lake Pow Wow Grand Parade

DISCLAIMER: I did not name "Pow Wow"


Tonight I attended the Mountain Lake Pow Wow Grand Parade. It was awesome. I'm pretty sure every fire truck in the county was there, I think all of the candidates for state and local office, and all of the area princesses were in attendance.

There were a lot of trucks

Cottonwood County Dairy Princesses

Jubilee Fruits and Vegetables (the local CSA)

Representative Rod Hamilton

Mountain Lake Royalty

I have no idea what this is, but it's an advertisement for "lumber hardware plumbing auto repair fertilizer propane"

I also don't know exactly what Midway Mt. Movers is, but their float was pulled by a tractor and had a lot of horse saddles so I love it

 MN soy bean growers

Fairmont High School Marching Band 

Heritage Village 

Again, not sure what this is. But that label says "Minnesota Manure Specialists." I don't think I want to know what that container is for.

 The Monster Band

 State Champions 

 Watermelon Days

Windom Fire Department 

I had a great time at Pow Wow

Fulda Wood Duck Days Street Dance

Sadly, we did not make it to any tractor shows this weekend. But Saturday evening Calhoun and I did venture straight west to Fulda to attend the Fulda Wood Duck Days Street Dance!

catching up

We really had no idea what to expect and were a little nervous, given how thin the schedule was for activities. But, the event was packed! Lots of the community festivals around here are also the primary fundraising opportunity for local businesses and clubs and also are timed to coincide with class reunions. So, even though the schedule looked thin to us, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the beer garden felt pretty much like a big reunion, with people greeting each other catching up on old times.

W stayed clear of the rides on the midway but did support the local Lions Club, 4H, and VFW by consuming a pork burger, hot dog, and a few beers.

This is the BINGO booth. It was pretty serious business. 

There wasn't a live band or a lot of dancing by the time we left. But the DJ was rocking, playing some polka along with Taylor Swift and I'm sure that the party got pretty crazy after we left.

Nine Days in June

Nine Days in June, hosted by the Minnesota State Bar Association

Although I say it to Calhoun all the time, I'm not sure I've said it here because I like the blog to be a positive place. But, to put it mildly, being a new attorney here isolating. There just aren't many attorneys around and there aren't any other new attorneys to grab a happy hour with. Like I've said before, I loved going to school and working in Minneapolis - there were always people around to talk shop over a cocktail. 

Sometimes it's salt in a wound when event emails arrive in my inbox inviting me to the New Lawyer's Section Happy Hour on a Thursday afternoon or a Minnesota Women Lawyer's lunch on a Wednesday. I have attended a few Continuing Legal Education ("CLE") sessions remotely, but you just don't get the same experience or conversation when sitting alone in your office after hours. 

So, I was thrilled when I heard about "Nine Days in June," the Minnesota State Bar Association's traveling statewide convention. It's actually kinda cool - they bring a full day of CLE sessions to each district, ending with a statewide day in St. Paul. I think it's great that they travel to the districts, even though I still had to drive for an hour and a half to get to Mankato, the location made it possible to attend a CLE I might otherwise have had to miss. And I will say that one incredible thing about my job is that not only am I encouraged to attend CLEs and given time to do so. 

I was pumped to go (I kinda love CLEs and terrible lawyer jokes) and was even more happy that once I arrived I saw a bunch of people I knew! Yay for social interaction! Yay for peers who do what I do! YAY!!!

If Nine Days in June has yet to come to your district you really should try your best to attend.

I had a great time. I enjoyed every cheesy lawyer joke and I learned some great stuff. It is undoubtedly isolating to be a new attorney in outstate Minnesota but I'm coping and attending every CLE I can! Is it wrong that I'm already excited about the next one?

p.s. I met Chief Justice Gildea today. She's pretty awesome.

The Weekend Itinerary

This last weekend when we were at Mille Lacs we missed the annual Windom Riverfest Celebration. There was street food, exhibitions, and parades and I was so bummed to miss the small town celebration.

But all is not lost. Two of our neighboring towns are hosting summer celebrations this weekend and I am so excited to go! Calhoun's only requirement is that he wants to attend at least three tractor shows. I have no idea what to expect but these schedules are pretty exciting! In anticipation I've been planning our itinerary and I wanted to share the planning materials with you, dear reader, in case you want to join in the fun!

Maybe we'll see you there?

Community Pride Day

Yesterday was Community Pride Day here in Windom.

As with most things in town, I'm a little behind the curve. I'm slowly learning the importance of the local paper, the Cottonwood County Citizen and the school calendars as they obviously report and set most of the major events around here.

So, yesterday was the last day of school in town. When I was in high school - oh so many years ago in my suburban jungle - I remember watching videos and signing yearbooks on the last day of school. But not here in Windom. The kids were farmed out to sites around the city to do general clean up duties, the locations and challenges of the sites varied depending on the age of the student, along with the degree of independence they had in executing their activity and their lunch time.

I figured this out at about 10 am when I noticed that picnic tables were being set up on the Courthouse lawn. Then, about noon the dull roar of a few hundred high schoolers drifted up through my open window as they sat down to enjoy their bagged lunches and fresh carnival popcorn.

Calhoun also happened to be across the street at our new favorite place, The River City Eatery, and I decided to run across the street and meet him there for lunch. The place was packed, filled with people of all ages enjoying their lunches, complete with high schoolers indulging in ice cream and cupcakes during the Community Pride Day free-time.

And even though I'm not in high school anymore, and even when I was in high school there was not a local restaurant that served up pesto pastas along side delicious cupcakes, I still eat like a higschooler. And lucky for me, Calhoun does to. After enjoying our healthy lunches we were so tempted by the sweets around us we indulged in a turtle pecan chocolate deliciousness cupcake.

Not only was it great to run across the street to meet Calhoun for lunch, and support our new favorite local restaurant, it was really incredible to look around our new small town home. Windom's population is a little more than 4,600 people, which might be just about right. While we were in River City we saw the community connections that exist between the people here - high school kids greeting what I can only assume are older church ladies who are out for lunch is something I'm not used to seeing.

One of the things I loved about Minneapolis was that we could go to places filled with people like us, young folks who like craft beers. In Minneapolis, I never had to see anyone who didn't fit in well with my demographic, I could even select my grocery stores and modes of public transportation to further refine my urban experience. In Minneapolis, I never knew when the last day of school was because that seasonal change didn't affect me, and if I did notice a change I was sure to steer clear of any sign of highschool students. But not so much here. People like each other. People like people of other ages. People like people who are different from them.

This is going to be great.

Maybe next year I'll have my act together enough to be someone helping out with Community Pride Day, this year I was just happy to get to see a small part of it.

Welcome to Windom

It's been a solid two months since my last post. I guess it's time to get back on the train!

We've moved to Windom! Long story short, but we had rented the house on Little Spirit Lake for only six months and as we approached the end of the lease various factors made it apparent that it was time to move to town. We loaded up the truck last Thursday and Calhoun and I managed to move the whole house in one day. The one piece of sadness is that our couch doesn't fit in the house! It's temporarily housed in the garage, possibly to be lent to my brother (eek!) for the short-run.

I love it. I am so excited to be in town, a mere two and a half block walk to work and surrounded by the happenings here in Windom-town. And, Calhoun is getting more and more excited about being here as the days go by, constantly discovering the town I've been working in for six months! For example, the courthouse bells are used quite regularly throughout the week, and on the weekend - including 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings, tolling out patriotic songs to ensure that there is no sleeping in.

The only downside of being here in Windom is that, with each progressive move, Sogn gets less and less freedom which I feel bad about. When we were in Minneapolis we had a fenced backyard and he was left to his own devices to dig holes and cause whatever other havoc he could imagine. On Little Spirit Lake he had a little less freedome since there was no fence, but there was a trail close to the house we would walk on and he could be let out on the deck and kept there. But here, Sogn has lost even the freedom of an enclosed deck and has been relegated to sitting on the porch on the sideyard, watching the world go by. We absolutely can't leave him out there by himself because we're sure his sniffer would get the best of him and lead him astray, and Calhoun is fundamentally against him being staked out in the yard so we're going to have to be creative about how dog-in-small-town works, but I'm sure we'll figure it out and he will get much better at walking on a leash.

For now, we're happy to be getting settled in and starting this new chapter in out continuing adventure in southwest Minnesota!

The Most Important Import of All - Surly Furious

Calhouh spends a few days in the Twin Cities every week. I miss him a lot when he's gone and Sogn is unbearably sad when he packs up and drives away. But, when he comes back and he is usually stocked up on goodies from the Twin Cities. He stops at our favorite places - Everett's Food and Meats, Chuck and Don's Pet Food Outlet, Seward Co-op, and Zipp's Liquors where he picks up some Surly Furious.

Furious is my favorite beer of all time. It is hopped to the max, smooth, and has the best flavors. I love it. You cannot buy it anywhere down here and it is my favorite import to Southwest Minnesota.

Also - It's important to note that Surly is brewed very near my old high school stomping grounds. What up northwest burbs!

First Ski of 2012

I did not grow up in a family that skied. We took a few winter trips to the bunny hills of Telemark Resort in Hayward, Wisconsin but that was pretty much it. The fact that my downhill ski experience was at Telemark is is funny because Hayward, Wisconsin is ground zero for the American Birkebeiner ski race - which hosts a 54 km classic and 50 km skate ski races from Cable to Hayward.

The American Birkebeiner was held this weekend and we have three friends who raced, two in the skate and one in the classic, and all finished! We haven't heard the stories yet so we're not sure how they fared but I think it's probably pretty safe to say that after skiing a little over 30 miles you're probably a bit tired.

In honor of their epic skis this weekend I took my skis out for the first time this season! Calhoun helped me buy some classic skis a few years ago and, while I enjoy skiing once I'm out there it's the getting out there that's a little hard for me.

We slept in and had a leisurely morning filled with coffee and quality time with National Geographic. We finally decided we needed to eat a little more before heading out for our afternoon ski and sat down to some amazing smoked canadian bacon from Everett's Foods and Meats, smoked gruyere and crackers. 

Then it was time to get ready! We layered on the long underwear and warm socks while Sogn waited - not so patiently - for us to get ready to hit the big outdoors.

Then we did! And it was AWESOME! It was just me, Calhoun and Sogn on the lake. We cut our own  trail around the shore of the lake and were mostly able to stay out of the wind. The major complication in our route came when we hit some big open water. The geese down here are either the smartest or the dumbest geese you've ever met. They don't fly south for the winter. Instead, they use their body heat (gross) to keep an area of water open all season long....so although the rest of the lake is frozen solid there's a lot of open water around these silly geese. Skiing was going great until we came to the open water which came much closer to the shore than we had thought it would and we had to take off the skis and tromp through someone's backyard to make it around to complete our loop. Thankfully, we made it without anyone ending up in the water!

It was a great first ski of 2012. And I'm so glad that we went out yesterday because there is NO CHANCE we are going out today. We're currently under a wind advisory, with winds at 30 mph, gusting to 38! The house is rattling and the snow has been blown off the trees and we are staying inside!

True Joys

It has been a strange, snowless winter in Minnesota. It seems as though mother nature is offering an apology for last year, but I didn't need an apology! I love Minnesota and I love the snow!

I'm always happy when it falls (I'm also not primarily responsible for shoveling). I was even a little disappointed after our area didn't get hit with the massive snow fall that was predicted Wednesday into Thursday morning. I made it to work just fine this morning but was happy to see light snow fall in the afternoon and was thrilled to see that the snow has stuck farther south where we life.

 This was the view from the deck over the lake when I came home after work today. Beautiful!

Sogn likes the snow as well, but he may love this stick more.

Breakfast at Eight

Our new neighborhood is filled with deer.

Our house sits on the lakeshore side of the drive, but on the other side of the drive to our house is a large oak grove filled with deer! They are EVERYWHERE. Every time of day you can see their white tails as they hop out of the yard or away from Sogn on one of our walks.

One of the neighbors down the drive feeds them breakfast at eight a.m. every day. When there's a large tray of corn they aren't so keen to flee back into the woods and I get an incredible deer sighting almost every day on my way to work.

The Road Home on Valentines Day

County Road 4

Valentines Day 2012

Valentines Day 2011
Even though I took a creeper picture, after almost two years of posting this 2011 post is still my favorite. 

Hoarfrost Monday

Hoarfrost: a deposit of needlelike crystals coating a surface. 

 Made for a pretty awesome drive to work this morning

Cooking is Going to be Different Down Here

I'm on Pinterest now. I'm a little obsessed. My email is now full of recipes from Pinterest and from wherever on the web pinterest has led me, but cooking is going to be different down here.

Snelling's recipe for Kielbasa Stew was not on Pinterest, but I was thinking about food and it led me to her blog as a standby for food I know has been vetted by a friend, tasty and healthy. So, in anticipation of Calhoun's return home I planned on making Kielbasa Stew!

Unfortunately, the grocery stores had a different plan. I stopped at two, the HyVee and Sunshine Foods, and neither had kale! No where. Nada. I also wanted to surprise Calhoun and make this incredible looking mug cake (courtesy of Pinterest, aren't these pictures awesome?) and couldn't find espresso powder either, and no one in the grocery store knew what it was. It's clear that I can't just pick a recipe out of the sky and expect to find the ingredients. Clearly, more thought and planning is going to have to go into meals if while we live down here.

So, adaptation was required. Although one of the main reason's I wanted to make Snelling's Kielbasa Stew was because of the kale in it, I love Kielbasa and rice so I decided to go with it anyways. And, since I also love mushrooms I figured there was no way I could go wrong. And I didn't! Although the final dining result was a far cry from Snelling's beautifully green stew, it was still delicious. And, as usual for our household, I doubled her recipe. So, we had:

Kielbasa and Mushroom Stew

2 lbs. Kielbasa

A bunch of carrots

2  eight ounce packages of baby bell mushrooms

1 c. rice, uncooked

2 white onions, chopped

4 cans chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

Brown onions and kielbasa, then toss in chicken stock and rice to cook rice, add mushrooms and carrots until done!

So, the next night we had a different strategy for dinner. We had a lot of food we needed cooked, so we cooked it! We love sweet potatoes in this house and usually use them in a standby mashed sweet potato recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I will not post this recipe because it is a strong belief of mine that you should own their cooking book, "The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook " - well worth the $30. Anyways, we love sweet potatoes and had a few of those and some chicken thighs that needed to be cooked soon. Calhoun set about finding a recipe and we ended up taking inspiration from a variety of recipes and made amazing

Roasted Chicken and Sweet Potatoes with Honey Glaze

Three chicken thighs, skin on

Two sweet potatoes, skin on, cut in 1/2 in. chunks

aprox. 2 tbs butter

Roasted in 400 degree over for 80 minutes. Cover with tin foil, remove after about 50 minutes.

Make glaze:

Butter

Honey

Apple Cider Vinegar

Parsley

Oregano

Poultry Seasoning

(according to Calhoun, "until it tastes good")

Both cooking adventures were successful! Even though the local grocery stores don't carry all of the variety of the metro area, we will still be eating well down here, even though the cooking will be different!

...A Few Details

Now that we finally have internet at the house I can spend some tim with the blog! And, I've been reviewing and realize that I've given precious few details about what's actually happening with us now and what I'm doing! So, if you're curious...here's the story...

I've wanted to work as a law clerk to a judge for a long time. Nokomis actually worked as a clerk right after graduating from law school and had great things to say about the job and about the opportunity to watch and be a part of court every day. Not only did Nokomis speak highly of working for the Minnesota Judicial Branch, but throughout law school I got to know a handful of other clerks and they all had great things to say about the job.

One of the interesting things about having a clerkship is that while it's essentially the same job for all clerks (research and writing), the content of the work and the work environment can vary greatly depending on your assignment and your physical location. I knew early on that I wasn't ready to commit myself to a specialty docket, such as family, civil, or criminal. I wanted to see everything! Again, based on some of Nokomis's excellent advice, I knew that a more rural county would be a great fit for my interests - which are pretty much all over the board. Naturally, if you're in a county with fewer judges you see more of a variety in your courtroom.

An extra bonus in regards to my desire to work in a small courthouse was that Calhoun and I were a little eager to venture away from the metro area. The reality is that we'll end up in a moderately sized town some day, not somewhere rural, so we wanted to take a chance to do something really different for a while. Not to mention, we have some friends who just picked up last winter and went off to do the Peace Corps in Mali.  So, we figured, if they can move to an African country for twenty seven months we can live in rural Minnesota for a while.

It's worked out better than I could have imagined. Calhoun and I put thousands of miles on the little hatchback driving across the state to interviews and seeing small county courthouses. Ultimately, we've ended up in southwestern Minnesota. I'm hesitant to say exactly where because I'm working as a clerk in a one judge county, and well, there's just not a lot of anonymity if I just come right out and say where I am. So you'll just have to guess.

The view out of my office window at the courthouse

But anyways, it's going great - I see EVERYTHING and I'm getting to work on matters that are new and challenging every day. In a pretty dismal legal market, I feel really lucky to have landed the dream job.

But - I will let you know that we're living in rural Jackson County, and are shopping and eating in the Spirit Lake/Okoboji area of IOWA! That's right, we're right here on the border and it's....well...very different from Minneapolis.

Those are the details, well, as much of them as you're going to get :)