Let’s get the obvious out of the way, yes this is a new blog theme! But what’s up with the weird post title? It’s not New Year’s. In fact, it’s not even close. Let me explain.
Recently, I turned 27. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish in my life. So rather than keep putting them off, and saying I’ll work on it later, I have officially started working to achieve these goals. Two of these goals are: have a successful blog (hence the theme update) and travel as much as I possibly can. I already have some bigger trips planned in the near future, including a week long Caribbean cruise and a family trip to Phoenix. I’m also playing around with some travel ideas for next year, and meticulously calculating just how long it’ll take for the needed paid time off to acquire. So I think I’ve got the traveling part under control!

“Take me places” — My passport
With these upcoming trips, and some other ideas I have for this blog, I am now working on regularly maintaining the blog and working on a posting schedule to stick to. This new blog theme has a better layout with some of the things I’d like to do with my blog and it allows me to showcase my photography front and center (see the top image).
Beyond the blog, and back to my birthday
Now that we got the blog stuff out of the way, let me tell you about my birthday adventure.
For my 27th birthday, Aaron and I went to Moscow on the Hill, a Russian restaurant in the Cathedral Hill area of St. Paul. I had heard of this restaurant before and was interested to try it out. On the day of my birthday it was raining but by the time we got to St. Paul, the clouds had cleared up so we were able to sit out on the patio for dinner. The patio at Moscow on the Hill is a really nice space. Tucked in between two buildings, on a wooden deck, it is very cozy feeling. I’m excited to visit again on a nice summer evening.
The food there was delicious. I think they could have served me anything and I would have loved it. My only complaint was my Moscow mule wasn’t served in a copper mug. What’s up with that?! I obviously had to get birthday dessert, tiramisu with blackberries and a berry sauce.

tiramisu with blackberries on top
After dinner, we went for a walk in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood. Of all of the places I have found and explored during my nearly two years of living in the Twin Cities, this neighborhood is my absolute favorite. The buildings are mostly old Victorian style and have been well maintained and the neighborhood hasn’t been overrun by luxury condos.
Final thoughts
I got the new iPhone 6S this weekend and have been inspired to go exploring and test out the new camera on it. I haven’t been posting as many photos on here as I’d like so, keep an eye out for more photos and updates to come to the blog. Let me know what you think of the new theme!
As always, thanks for reading.
-Amber
Bonus photo. I made myself a skirt. It was clumsily sewn together and took me way longer to make than it should have, but I made it.

Birthday Skirt!