Author: Christy DeSmith

The word “cute” was uttered no fewer than five times when I test-drove the Mini. This is a car that appeals to my natural fascination with rounded objects. All those buttons and knobs on its dashboard? Cute. The big, round whatchamacallit, which is a tachometer, as my driving mates reminded me, but which is also,…

Gene and Jennifer Oberpriller rolled into work the other morning at about 9:00 a.m. They pulled up in front of One on One Bicycle Studio, the downtown Minneapolis coffee shop/bike shop/art gallery they own, and hitched their tattered, old road bikes to a signpost. Gene pushed his sunglasses into his dark, curly hair as he…

There are some who would contend that women can’t—or shouldn’t—block, hit, or tackle. But one Saturday morning in late April, the players and coaches who constitute our state’s premier women’s tackle-football team, were demonstrating just how tough the gentler sex can be. For the team’s annual tryouts, the Minnesota Vixen had congregated in the lobby…

There are several ways to get a free glass of wine in this city. You can attend one of the various “ladies nights” and be ogled by drunkards like a monkey in a zoo, or you can drop by a newly completed condominium project for its opening reception. One pleasant Saturday afternoon, in search of…

My older sister and I have this vulgar habit of putting dibs on our mom’s best stuff. Pointing to the valuable Roseville vases, crystal aperitif glasses, and heirloom doilies that were hand stitched by our great-grandmother one hundred years ago, we’ll march through Mom’s home, saying things like “That’s mine someday.” This strikes me now…

"It’s the only high-fashion-slash-golf-school on the planet,” said local clothing designer Joy Teiken, standing in the doorway of the Como Avenue warehouse she shares with her husband, Craig, a professional golf instructor. Originally built in the early 1900s to manufacture tractors and other farm equipment, the front space retains a utilitarian air, despite the putting…