Keeping it local and soaking up Minneapolis summer

Minneapolis has a spell on me. I know, if you’re not from the midwest, you wouldn’t understand. It’s just the midwest way of life to forget how cursed a place is once the temperature hits 60 degrees and you get .01% vitamin D on a spring day. Minneapolis has been working overtime to win me back this year from all my trips to bigger cities, I guess?

Is there anything more Minnesotan than talking about the weather all day? It’s currently flooding here from excess rainfall, and we have the lushest greenery we’ve seen in probably 7 years. Every day I tell myself I need to return to blogging, and every day instead I find myself walking around our many lakes, searching for muskrats and mushrooms.

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I usually try my hardest to escape Minnesota year-round, but the summers here are so special, that I can’t imagine them anywhere else. It’s no secret– I’m a summer lover. It’s the best season for me, but it’s only because I like to wear the least clothing possible. I know that sounds risque, but I swear it’s wholesome.

I’m a simple woman with an affinity for throwing on tank tops and jean shorts. The only apparent pops in my outfits have been footwear and accessories like bags and hair clips. In a way, I feel basic, but compared to my listless twenties, I feel effortless. It’s an odd feeling to pin down, but my thirties have brought me so much peace, and my simple self-assured summer wardrobe accentuates that.

Grieving Foxy and my writing hiatus due to it

I haven’t written since January, and that wasn’t intentional, but unlike my past brief hiatus’ caused by things such as covid, burnout, and perfectionism, I had no clue why this hiatus happened really. There was no perfectionism or writer’s block. In fact, I have almost too many ideas for the things I want to talk about here.

We’ve had a lot of personal family stuff going on this year, but the initial hit was the loss of our family pet, Foxy the Dog. My mom saved her at 2 years old. She was found in a Kmart parking lot, and this dog lived the good life until the end. She was a brat, so she would have loved this summer’s theme. I miss her a lot, and her death was sudden but peaceful. She was a dog with a presence, and she made my mom very happy. Sometimes healing and acceptance involve shifting time from passion projects to other things, and the blog had to take the backburner for me to focus on my family and friends. It was too difficult to write about anything for months, and I put that energy into other creative projects instead.

But don’t worry! I feel much better, and I had so many ideas I left hanging, and so many drafts unpolished. Some about fashion and style, others about pop culture, media consumption, and movie marathons for things I’ve never watched before… The recent stained glass class I took? The trip I took to New York back in January I forgot to post?!?!?!

I wouldn’t say I spent this entire time sulking, but this year, life suddenly got very real and stressful. I took my time to heal and grow, and I feel so much better now than I did in the spring, and I’m happy to be back.

On a happier note? Camping!

I finally went on a little trip to the North Shore, which was my first trip since January when I flew to New York for my friend’s flirty thirtyyy~

For the reason you read above, I wasn’t planning trips. I had thrown myself into work, and it wasn’t even fun cute workaholism– It was just disgruntled monotony. I work at a bookstore, and it’s usually just as cute as you’d imagine a bookselling job to be, but even I have my limits on endearing places of employment. I was despondently shelving books, and getting bitter when I found things out of place. It was simply time. One day my brain just told me, “We need to go to the woods and hear nothing but nature sounds” and my brain was right.

We camped near Grand Marais, and with all this rain and flooding, the waterfalls on the north shore were roaring proudly. Mineral-scented river water misted strongly and the water floated up, surrounding me with a cold hug. I was refreshed and renewed. It was necessary and overdue, and it healed my heart enough to get me back to blogging, not even two weeks later. Thank you nature! No thanks, mosquitos.

Music saved my life~ xoxo hehe

Okay I am not about to tear anyone down for the sake of lifting my favorite musicians up, but I am so so so sooooo glad that sad girl indie music vibes are receding to make way for the good stuff. People always say that when the economy is bad, the music is good, and oh my god, pop music is out of this world right now, so I should probably get a second job right? Heh heh… joking, I hope. For anyone who doesn’t know this about me, I’m a Pop Girlie. I have always been a ride-or-die pop music fan since day ZERO– aka when I was three and my mom would play Mariah Carey while cleaning the house.

I should also say, I am a music lover generally. There’s nothing off-limits to me. I was once emo, scene, indie sleaze tumblr-core, and I grew up with parents who listened to everything from punk rock to country to Dave Matthews Band. Like I am the definition of “I’ll listen to anything.” (I even went through a 1-year prog rock era at 18, so you know I’m being dead ass). So just know, I’m saying the pop girlies are feeding us well right now, I mean it.

This year my saving grace is pop music. Ariana has a new album, Beyonce has a country album, Kacey Musgraves has a new album, and Olivia Rodrigo is currently on tour as well. Sabrina Carpenter is also having a little up-and-coming moment which is so cheeky and cute, and oh… you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned a couple artists? Oh, I didn’t forget, because that’s impossible.

Chappell and Charli XCX, WHEW, girl where do I even begin?!

I saw Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan when they came through Minnesota, and I knew for about a year before that concert that Chappell Roan was the next big pop star. She reminded me of early Gaga’s Fame and Fame Monster.

The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is so good, and now she’s gotten so big, that they are moving her from tents to main stages at music festivals. I’m just so glad I was on the wave before it crested, and that I had that chance to see her live in an arena before she got big. It will never happen again unless I want to drop 400 dollars for nosebleeds, I can tell you that!

Charli XCX just dropped her new album (brat), and I’ve been screaming from the mountain tops for over a decade that Charli is THAT GIRL. I’m so glad to see her finally get her flowers.

I saw her live at Skyway Theater in 2013. She opened for Marina and the Diamonds, and yes, I know that dates me… I was either 21 or 22 at the time. Even then I knew she was an it girl. I saw her again for Charli self titled at First Avenue, and I was one of the only people singing along to all of Vroom Vroom which is nearly impossible now, since that song went viral years later on tiktok. Here we finally are… It’s brat summer! Now you all finally caught up, so I’m glad we’re all finally on the same page. I ride for you Charli!