I AM....

I am not going to lie this weekend was pretty fun. I had a pretty long week at work and was ready for some fun and relaxation on Friday. A couple of weeks ago my friend Jackie (who has her own awesome food blog The Revolving Table) texted me about an article she read in the Star Tribune's style section. They did a Q& A with Sara Edwards about this event called I AM Minneapolis. I AM Minneapolis is a fashion focused show that includes music, comedy, art and food. As I read on I learned this was its fifth year doing I AM Minneapolis and they were expanding to do an I AM St. Paul show as well. Jackie thought it sounded fun and we should go and I could not have agreed more, she had me at "fashion show." We decided to go to the St. Paul version because it was featuring one our favorite boutiques Primp. Also I enjoyed the idea of going to St. Paul because that is where I am from and have a soft place in my heart for. We don't get there much because it is relatively far from our home, but it really is a great city! The next step was to get a great outfit of course. The article said people dress in a variety of attire but we decided to dress up, because we love to! I found this amazing romper at Primp and paired it with a black blazer and ankle booties. The booties and blazer I already had and they went perfectly with the romper. Romper, necklaces( I am DYING for this Minnesota necklace): Primp Boutique Blazer: Top Shop (old, similar, similar) Shoes: Material Girl for Macy's, old (similar, similar)  It was being hosted at The Amsterdam Bar, which is on my list of places I have wanted to see. The bar itself is pretty cool. It is a moderate sized beer hall and the majority was standing room only. There were some long tables in the back by the bar and some tables set up close to the stage. There were also tables higher up against the wall. It was VIP only at the tables by the stage and along the wall so we had to stand. This was fine because it was what I suspected. The show started and kicked off with an all female (well almost all female there was one dude) named Courtney McLean and the Dirty Curls. The lead singer was dressed a bit like a country version of Katy Perry, if I am being honest I was not a fan. There was no percussion and in attempts to be clever and edgy it came off as trying too hard. I give them serious kudos for trying and being different, maybe I am the only one who though that. To each their own.

[caption id="attachment_169" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Courtney McLean and the Dirty Curls[/caption]

Then they had a drum line named Mu Dalko. It was awesome! They did amazingly choreographed moves while playing large drums. I love drums! Drum lines are always the most fun part of a band for me. They playing and movement was so creative and fun. After a few songs they added some choreographed dancing from One Dance, Co. They were ok but I still loved the drums the best.

Then it was time for the fashion show. They featured several boutiques including: Primp, Karma and Heimie's Haberdashery. I tried taking pictures during this but the lighting was difficult. The fun part was all the "models" were local people from all over St. Paul. They ranged from a worker at the Mississippi Market to an architect to brewers. This was my favorite part of the evening. Everyone got formally introduced and walked from the stage down through the crowd to strut their stuff. It felt fun, collaborative and seemed like a real community which is what I love so much about St. Paul.

[caption id="attachment_173" align="alignleft" width="300"] Michael Bjornberg. Architect specializing in historic preservation.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_174" align="alignright" width="300"] Hans Lofgren: Beer Guru[/caption]

During the fashion show we attempted to get a second drink but did not want to move because we would lose our space. We attempted to ask a waitress but she said she was only serving the tables. About 10 minutes later, Sara Edwards, the founder of I AM Minneapolis and I AM St. Paul approached us, introduced herself and said she had bough us chardonnay because she overheard we wanted a drink but could not get one. She said she really appreciated that we came out and supported the show and wanted us to have a good time. We thanked her and she excused herself. A few minutes later two glasses of chardonnay showed up. It was pretty cool. Not only did we get wine for free, hey-o, it was from the founder of the event! I thought that was incredibly kind and generous. That was outside her expectations that evening and it was not as if the waitress was even rude to us. I wanted to make a special note of that because I was really impressed by her classy behavior.  Overall, we had a really fun time. It was a unique experience and we talked about going again next year. Maybe we would spring for the VIP seats to get a table and the cool gift bag!

The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxed. My husband and I did some Christmas shopping and went to a holiday party. Oh! at the party we ate Turducken! It was legit. I highly recommend it.

What did you do this weekend? Leave a comment and let me know what you did or what you thought of my weekend!