Musings
- He always has an opinion.
- He's usually trying to break himself or something else.
- He loves to cuddle with soft objects.
- He also loves putting soft objects in his mouth and walking around with them for long periods of time.
- He's a jokester, giggler, a comedian at heart.
- He likes it loud.
- He's delighted by cats and dogs.
- He can't get enough of Goldfish crackers, toast and Amy's Mac-n-Cheese.
- He doesn't take no for an answer.
- Tyler lives life full-speed-ahead!
Sun Street Breads
My new favorite spot for breakfast or lunch is Sun Street Breads. It’s owned and run by Solveig Tofte who baked for Turtle Bread for many years and was a sensation at the Kingfield Farmer’s Market last summer.
The menu is simple, made up of biscuit sandwiches, a few pastries, these awesome fried potato balls called Gordas (not sure of spelling), a couple of breakfast staples and a smattering of sandwiches. The food is simple as well, nothing fancy or highfalutin, but everything made with high-quality ingredients and with the hand of a talented baker. The result is delicious, every-day food. My three favorites so far are the gordas, the biscuit sandwich with scrambled eggs, cheese and sausage, and the raspberry cream scone.
The space is light, bright and airy. They serve dogwood coffee and I guess they have a full liquor license and intend to open for dinner some time in the future. For now they are open from 6:30an-2:30pm daily. They are on the corner of 46th and Nicollet in South Minneapolis. Check them out if you have a chance.
The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side
I walk Mazie to and from school most days. It’s a short walk, not more than five blocks, and we both really enjoy it. When we moved to Minneapolis a little over a year ago from the suburbs, I thought of Minneapolis as a more eco-conscious city than any of the suburbs. My experience is that that’s not necessarily the case.
My latest complaint is the number of houses we pass on our walk to school that have those small signs in the yard to keep kids and pets off the lawn until the chemicals dry. I had always thought that only people in the suburbs used these types of lawn services. My experience walking to and from school has shown me otherwise.
Why do people put nasty chemicals on their yard? I have a hard time understanding the thought process. It costs money and smells bad. A sign is placed in your yard warning pets and kids to stay away. This nasty crap runs off of our lawns and into our waterways and sinks into the soil and is one of the millions of chemicals that are making our world not safe. We all know that there are chemicals everywhere and that can’t be a good thing. But so much of it seems like things out of our control, done to us. But the lawn thing is a conscious choice and it’s a choice that requires money.
If you want your lawn to be all pretty and you can’t see not having a lawn service, please consider a natural lawn service. We used NaturaLawn when we lived in the suburbs, but since we’ve moved I’ve convinced Jamie that our small city lot requires no weed control that we can’t handle with a couple of gardening tools. There are lots of companies out there that offer more natural types of lawn care and they don’t cost much more than the traditional pesticide route. It’s such a small and easy thing to change, why not do it!
FORTY
That’s right, I’m forty now. Here’s how I think and feel at forty. First off, I feel forty. In my twenties and my early thirties, I felt like I was in college. My mental state was very much that of someone who was young and not in charge. I don’t know, don’t ask me, I’m just a kid. Sure I had opinions and I thought things, but I saw the world as being run by other, older people. At some point in the past few years, I caught up to myself and here I am.
Some days I sit back and smell the roses. I take in the sights, smells and sounds of our world and how immensely enjoyable they are…the pleasure derived from a good book, the joy of bringing about a smile, the aroma of a tasty meal, a sweaty run, chocolate, a comfy bed, a spring breeze, there are so many things to relish. I think how fortunate I am to have a really great husband and two healthy kids. We enjoy a very priviledged life; we live in the developed world and Jamie makes a good living. I get along well with my family and I feel loved by both them and my friends. Life is good.
Other days life doesn’t seem so lemonadey, it’s more lemon. The world is falling apart at the seams and it’s partly my job to try and fix it. Sitting back and merely observing the chaos isn’t really good enough anymore. That seems like a lot of responsibility.
My days can be mundane; my kids can drive me nuts. I can be petty and mean. I spend time each day wishing it was a different part of the day or a different day. I often find myself struggling to connect and communicate with others, especially acquaintances that I’d like to turn into friends. My butt is large, my fat rolls have grown. My skin doesn’t look fresh and new. The scar on my arm isn’t going away. My teeth aren’t white. I have a hard time living in the moment. I could keep going, but that’s probably good enough.
But I think forty has left me more accepting of myself and my flaws, while being more inspired to work on those things that I can change. I feel like forty is a good time to sit back at the top of the hill and take in the view. I have been assessing and I think I’m ready for action. Watch out world, here comes the FORTY year old Tammy!
Rustica And The Best Eclair
For as long as I can remember I’ve been a fan of sweet things that aren’t too sweet, have chocolate, but not too much chocolate, and have some sort of custard or cream.
Enter the eclair. It fits the bill perfectly. Back in the olden days when I was a kid, I loved eclairs. I’m not sure if eclairs have changed or if I have changed, but the older I’ve gotten, the less I’ve liked eclairs. The chocolate is more frosting than chocolate, the filling can be a let down and the body of the eclair can be dry and uninspiring.
A few months ago, Jamie came home with eclairs from Rustica Bakery and an old flame was rekindled. If you like eclairs, get one and give it a try. I think I’ve eaten more eclairs in the last few months than I’ve eaten in my entire life. I was showing up to the bakery more than once a week and feeling embarrassed as I recognized the people behind the counter and wondered if they were beginning to ponder how a single person could consume so many eclairs. It was like I had an eclair monster on my shoulder reminding me of their goodness all day, every day. I had to quiet the beast every few days or his incessant eclair chatter would overwhelm more pertinent thoughts like “It’s time to make dinner” or “I should shower now”.
I give you the Rustica Eclair…The chocolate is rich, dark and melted to the top. The body of the eclair is delicious: tender, chewy, moist, hard to sum up. And the ooey-gooey center. Yum. It’s the best part. It seems halfway between custard and whipped cream and it’s finger-licking good.
When I like a game or a food excessively, I tend to overdo it, satiate, and then rarely eat the food or play the game again. Chess, Cribbage, sourdough bread, various iphone games, Luna Bars, Genisoy Bars, all of these food/games have met a similar fate. They were once prominent in my day-to-day life, sometimes obsessively so, and then at some point I filled up on them and they are no more for me. That’s where I am now with the Rustica Eclair. I still love their eclairs and think they are the best, but I don’t think I’ll be eating another one anytime soon. But to the rest of you, go have yourself an eclair. They are delicious!
Larger Than An Uh-Oh
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Tyler is now 14 months old. He walks, points, grunts and says three words: uh-oh, hi and yay. At this point in her life Mazie spoke at least 40 different words. I remember listing them out on a piece of paper, because I was eager to see just how many different things she could say. I can count Tyler’s words on one hand. But, I digress. I’m here today to talk about what makes Tyler, Tyler. What differentiates him from all of the other 14 month old babies out there in the big, wide world.
I give you ten Tyler truisms (at least for now):
Small Is An Empire, But Not An Empire Builder - The Final Small In A Short Lineage Of Small
Etsy is small gone big. A crap-load of small businesses use Etsy’s platform to sell their wares. I love Etsy. I first went there several years ago when my extremely tech savvy husband told me about the site. I wasn’t impressed. It seemed like a giant craft sale, where all of the crafts were of the variety that my grandma used to make. No disrespect to grandma, she made nice stuff, but it wasn’t the type of thing I would shop for online. There wasn’t much in the way of edgy, cool or up-and-coming. As the site matured and more people added stores, the cool factor elevated significantly. Now if I’m looking for a purse, t-shirt, jewelry, furniture, art or most anything else, my first stop is Etsy. I can get lost on Etsy the way other people get lost on Facebook. I love me some serious Etsy. If you’ve never checked it out, go now and peruse. Even if you are a dude, there is something for you.
I love the stuff on Etsy and the feeling of Etsy. When you buy something from Etsy, you make a connection with a real person somewhere in the real world. You feel special because you get this special thing and the crafter feels special because someone chose their thing out of the millions of things available for sale. It’s a beautiful relationship. It adds something positive back into the world. So much of our society today isolates and alienates people, but Etsy brings people together. It makes a connection where none existed before and bridges a gap that had no reason to be bridged before. That might sound all high and mighty for a commerce website, but I find it to be true.
Okay, so here’s where the story gets a little less warm and fuzzy and a little more brown and muddy. It seems the business model that Etsy is built on doesn’t work so great for the individuals selling the stuff. It’s great for Etsy itself, they make money on each listing and a percent of sales, but for the small business it’s hard to eek out a living making everything by hand, charging basement-bottom prices (considering the time put into each item), and crossing your fingers hoping that someone will buy your stuff. People are used to paying for things that have been mass-produced and the cost of making things by hand is much greater. The industrial revolution didn’t happen without reason; we all want more stuff for fewer bucks.
The CEO of Etsy is a dreamer and artist at heart. He wants the small businesses on his site to bloom and grow and he’s even started a non-profit to try to help some of the Etsy sellers develop their businesses, but ultimately the thing that makes Etsy so great is the very thing that keeps its sellers from making a living. Handmade = more time = higher price to make a livable wage. The other thing that makes Etsy great is the mass volume of things to choose from. A great thing for Etsy itself and for the consumer, but a tough thing for each individual seller. That’s not to say that there aren’t people on Etsy making enough money to live on, and even some making a pretty penny, but the vast majority find themselves not able to get by on Etsy money alone. As a supplement to income or a hobby it’s a great vehicle to get your stuff out there and have your creative voice heard. But, as a small business generator, it seems the generator is broken. People are willing to pay more for hand-crafted things, but not that much more. So, you end up selling for less or you end up not selling much.
I think to make Etsy a full-time gig you need a few things going for you. First, what you make has to be interesting and cool or different, and second, it needs to be something that a person can’t get at Target, Macy’s or the local mall. It has to be the kind of thing that would garner a comment from a passerby. You need to find a niche market and rock it hard. I think then a person can charge more, collect a following, and make a living.
I’m rooting for Etsy and for all of the people schlepping things on the site. I guess maybe the focus needs to shift from “hey, you can make a living here”, to “hey, you can have a portal to sell your creative wares, but you aren’t going to make much doing it”.
My husband, the same tech savvy husband from the beginning of this post, sent me this article about Etsy a few days ago. The article was what got me thinking about Etsy and the whole idea of small. If you are interested, read it and then let me know what you think. Or, just let me know what you think!
Small Can Build An Empire - The Third Installment Of Small
In my continuing homage to small, we take a look next at Scot Pampuch. The man is a small force to be reckoned with. He owns a small restaurant, The Corner Table, and has for several years.
He’s a local food guru who’s always shouting it out to whomever will listen. I’ve usually got my ears tuned to the local food scene and my head on a swivel and I’ve never seen or heard another foodie shout so often and from so many vantage points. Wherever you turn, there he is. It would be creepy if he was creepy, but he’s not, so it’s cool.
This will be his third summer heading up Tour De Farm, a fully sanctioned copy-cat version of Outstanding in the Field, where dinners are held at local farms, out in the field with local chefs and local food.
I just discovered his latest project, the Corner Table Community Supported Kitchen and it’s sheer genius. It’s like a CSA, but from a restaurant. If you don’t know what a CSA is, it’s short for Community Supported Agriculture and it’s basically a box of veggies, fruits, herbs and other random things that you get from a farm. Shares are available to purchase from many local farms and you pick a farm, buy a share, and pick up your box from a pre-determined location each week. The shares can last all year if you are located somewhere South of here, but in our frozen tundra most shares run 18 weeks or so. The CSK or Community Supported Kitchen that The Corner Table has started is a box that you pick up from their restaurant full of local meats, cheeses and the like, all prepped and ready to cook. He is also offering cooking classes bi-weekly at the restaurant in conjunction with the boxes and interesting, but gross classes where you can break down a whole hog with him. Ick, but probably a good thing to do if you eat meat. According to his website there is also talk of a CSK box for vegetarians. The dude is awesome and is living large the small way.
Three cheers for Scot Pampuch!
The Special Of Small - The Second In A Small Series Of Small
New Glarus makes great beer. At least that’s what people who like beer tell me. If you are in Wisconsin, check it out. New Glarus Brewing Company is following the Small Is Cute mantra and keeping things small and manageable, so the only place you can buy their beer is the state where it’s brewed and bottled.
I think it’s nice that certain things are only available in certain places. It used to be that when a person took a trip they could bring things back from their destination and they would be special things, only available from where they had been. More and more that’s not the case anymore. I’m divided about this, because I love that you can find anything from anywhere on the internet, but I also like the specialness of unique places and things.
Jamie and I were in Switzerland several years ago and we came across Sigg water bottles. They were super lightweight, made of aluminum and looked cool. We brought a few back for family members and within a year they were everywhere. It’s great that the bottles are everywhere, the bottles are a much better product than plastic water bottles and Sigg Bottles ended up inspiring a whole industry, but I was sad as well. Our special find wasn’t special anymore.
What’s your take?
Small Is The New Cute
I’ve always liked small. Small is cute. Baby animals, babies, small bottles of shampoo, miniature whatever, it’s all good. Small business is cute too.
My dad and his brother owned a honey packing plant during my childhood and early adulthood and at the time I didn’t see it as all that great, but looking back now at how the company was run, I respect and admire how they did things. They never expanded product sales beyond the five state region, they bought all of their product from the region, they paid their workers well and my dad and his brother worked like dogs. They had a passion for what they did and weren’t willing to compromise that vision for growth.
I’m not saying that growth is bad, and in certain businesses large-scale, fast-paced growth is fundamental and necessary. But, I think there are lots of circumstances when a business grows faster than it should and the business and those associated with it suffer.
So, all of you small business people out there, listen up. Slow down, grow naturally and enjoy the process. If you are doing what you love, keep doing it. I’ll keep spending my dollars with you and your kind as often as I can. Other people might love the Walmart, but I’m loving you. Thanks for keeping it small and personal; you are all so cute : ).
Of course, I’m in no position to say anything about business large or small, but I’m saying it anyway. I don’t think the six people that read my blog will mind.
Larger Than An American Idol Dream
I’ve never been a Jennifer Lopez person. I know who she is, I don’t live under a rock, but I couldn’t tell you the name of any of her songs, if she’s married, single, dating or really anything about her. She’s pretty and she’s a singer/actress, that’s all I know. However, I am a fan of American Idol even though it shames me to admit it.
Ever since I saw the first show, I was hooked. I many times hate the performances, but watching each week gives me satisfaction. The ritual of every January starting with all of the hopefuls, culling them down to a group of 24, then 12 and then a winner is fun for me. I like a lot of the singers that they have on the show, but I’ve never liked a single song that any one of them have released. They talk on the show about being unique and having your own take and spin on a song, but when the music comes out after the show is over, it’s always the same. Over produced ick, or at least to my tender ears it sounds like over produced ick.
But, none of this is the point. The point of all of this is an introduction into why my daughter knows who Jennifer Lopez is. This is Mazie’s first year watching American Idol. She doesn’t really care about the show and spends most of her time playing while the show is on, but this is the first show we have watched as a “family” and I’m grooving on the idea.
The one thing Mazie does love about American Idol is Jennifer Lopez. From the first moment she saw the show, she has been captivated by her. She refers to her as Ms. Jennifer Lopez. It’s freaking cute and I can’t help but to like Jennifer Lopez myself. I’m never going to be a fan of her music, but as she is my daughter’s first celebrity “crush”, I heart Jennifer Lopez.
Mazie is also in the process of learning to read and write. She’s not had much interest in either activity, but in the last month or two, she’s started to see the light. She now writes phonetically and that’s another freaking cute thing. I’m sure everybody’s kid does it, but it’s my first exposure and I’m digging the experience.
All of this back story is finally going to pay off: Here is the picture that she drew of Jennifer Lopez with included name at the top. I don’t often say these words, but you can quote me…it’s precious!
