Rob and I had a weekend full of good food, cocktails, apartment decorating, IKEA, lots of episodes of House of Cards and a few skits from Portlandia, farmers' market wanderings, and an amazing Saturday evening spent on our patio with Thai takeout.

Now that there's a definitive date set for me to move in, this visit to the Twin Cities felt even more special than the other two. I packed a suitcase full of things and left almost all of them hanging in the closet or nestled in a newly-claimed drawer. I felt less like a tourist and more like I belonged, with a list of favorite places already. (Hint: one of them is the patio.)

This place is pretty amazing in the summer.

 

 

  

Summer is coming, and it's beautiful.

[One of my favorite photos, which I took in November of 2011 in Richmond and used originally in this post (another favorite).]

I was thinking about love the other day--the non-glamorous, difficult side of things that is so far removed from the weddings we love and re-post photos from on Pinterest. 

I thought about how simple, good communication is worth its weight in gold, and I thought about the nights that you will cry about bathroom rugs or furniture, or maybe go to bed angry but hold hands anyway because you love each other even when one of you is being an asshole, and the promise that's there even when the passion maybe won't be. 

And it's this--navigating the hard stuff and making it through not-so-glamorous times--that actually feels more magical to me than a bouquet of peach roses with baby's breath poking out, or mason jars wrapped in lace.