Welcome back from quite a long break! As many other times in my life, the past month or so has been completely consumed with a whirlwind of school and projects in preparation for finals and the end of the school semester as we headed into summer. With this however, I am overly pleased to announce that I have officially survived quite possibly the busiest time since starting school. I am hoping that these warm summer days to come also bring with them more time to continue on this adventure of blogging and documentation.

In the mean time, let's get a little caught up.

As projects drew to a close in the wake of college finals, I was pleasantly greeted with the opportunity to pick up more hours at work to make the days off from school worth it. This has provided me with a great security while still being able to enjoy working. Each day I seem to learn something from one of my regulars and am blessed with some of the coolest coworkers around. With this however, I am also learning the patience customer service positions require as the hot summer days take a toll on the people of the community.

May 15th was a tough day that I knew was quickly approaching. On that day I was happily able to see my Aric walk across the stage and accept his college diploma. He had accomplished a solid 4 years of school studying Music Industry. 2 hours after the ceremony, him and 4 of my closest friends packed up a van and drove away, embarking on a month long tour around the country. Playing shows for 27 days straight and logging almost 8,500 miles, while I got to go about my everyday life featuring taking care of a long eared basset hound single parent style. In that short month, I learned a lot about being on my own and decided to challenge myself to take the time to expand my list of hobbies and try out new things. I joined a summer softball league, went beer taste-testing, created a room of my own that screams inspiration, started a solid 5 Netflix series (including finally Grey's Anatomy), took up reading for fun again, attended board game nights, made a cheese ball, created multiple design series, and started up a card business with the very talented Lydia. On top of this, I was able to take time for myself to reflect on feeling secure and comfortable at where I am in life. If those 27 days taught me anything, it's that time is just a thing that could be both scary and comforting. I could have spent those days worrying about the guys on the road and wallowing in my loneliness, or I could have embraced it as a gift. I chose the later.

The days are heating up and the summer is already proving to hold many surprises. We all have that ideal summer wish-list of things that we want to do and see before September comes around again. I am excited to share these experiences with you, even if it's over a web browser.

What about you fellow readers and summer enthusiasts? What's on your adventure list for the upcoming months?

With Monday comes the beginning of a new week. And with the beginning of a new week comes coffee. Spring Semester 2015 has revolved around caffeine and productivity, both of which could not exist without the friendly neighborhood coffee shop. In the Fargo/Moorhead area, this personal oasis of mine exists in the form of Moxie Java, which provides me with not only a place to study and fuel up, but as of recently a barista job as well! It has been a tradition for my friend Lydia and I to trek over here and get things done every Monday (even if it's unplanned, somehow we always end up here anyways). We call these days "Moxie Mondays" and they often help turn our Monday blues into productive & caffeinated brews.

With that, welcome to Moxie Mondays. A weekly post dedicated to those days where we all need a little pick-me-up. Whether its about my current coffee ravings or my attempts at productivity, the goal is to turn Mondays into something more welcomed. I encourage every one of you to find your own Moxie Java oasis and let's get rid of those Monday blues all together.

I am a huge advocate for small town businesses, and Fargo is full of them. Today I want to introduce you to my previously mentioned oasis of productivity: the Moorhead Moxie Java. Just recently I was offered a position on their barista crew, and I could not be more excited. So yes, now I spend even more time here, I should just start paying rent at this rate. 

Complete with wifi, multiple menus of caffeinated goodies, and a fireplace for those classic Fargo winters, I haven't changed my preference of coffee shop since I first moved up here 3 years ago. The cups are stacked higher than my head and the coffee seems to flow endlessly (sometimes in a wolf mug if you're lucky). The regulars are quite the characters and the rest of the crew hold some of the nicest personalities in the F/M area. What more could you ask for?






If you want to see the place in action, the local news crew did a little filming of my dude Paul behind the counter to advocate new medical benefits of drinking coffee (as if we needed another reason to be addicted right?). Check it out here!

So that's the inside scoop on my local coffee stoop. Have a local gem of your own? Don't be shy, brag about it below, I'm always looking to add to my list of shops to visit while on the road.

Happy Moxie Monday!

Welcome to Northern Grounds - a personal blog following the life of a Graphic Design major battling the elements of Fargo, North Dakota.

I'm Leah, the person behind the keyboard and the person hopefully you'll be checking up on every once in a while! With the help of inspiration from the world around me, and a lot of a push from my sister Laura at According to Laura Jean, I decided to give this whole blogging thing a try.

But I believe an introduction is in order first off.

1. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved up to Fargo, North Dakota (yes, like the movie. The wood chipper is in our downtown hall and everything) to pursue a BFA in Graphic Design. I have since realized that I do not believe I could live anywhere south of Minnesota. The winters might be bitter, but the north part of the country couldn't be anymore dear to me.

2. There is a large, large space in my heart for my man, Aric. Throughout almost 3 years, he has not only pushed me to become the best me possible, but he's also taught me how to capture my creativity and how to date a western North Dakotan.

3. Along with Aric, comes his basset hound Kramer. Named after the quirky Seinfeld character, he compares to no other dog out there. He takes up most of the space on my camera SD card and has recently become quite the hit on his Instagram account. No doubt you will be seeing much more of him on here.

4. The creative side of my brain completely takes over when it comes to life. I've never had much success at anything factual related, but get me in front of a computer or light-table, and things get rolling pretty quickly.

5. Coffee. And I'm not talking the casual cup every morning. I've worked at little coffee shops for over 2 years now and I can honestly say any job barista related can be one of the most rewarding part-time job opportunities out there. The people you meet and the experience of creating tasty drinks is pretty cool. Plus coffee itself is pretty cool.

6. My favorite past-time (besides re-watching episodes of Friends) is watching documentaries. Whether award winners on Netflix or even just random ones on YouTube, there's something interesting about learning more about events and the people around us in the world. I'll admit, some can be pretty dry. But you just have to get past the mono-tone narration.

7. I'm the official "band mom" of the local Fargo Band High Hopes. Although biased because Aric is the drummer and the other 4 guys are some of my best friends, their music and shows always put me in a good mood. There's nothing better than seeing the people important to you, doing something they love and have a passion for.


8. I'm an all out nerd for anything related to color schemes, typography, neo-traditional design, and mixed mediums. I will take any opportunity I can get to learn a new medium or technique that helps my art background and experience.

9. I love books, bookstores, and libraries. My only wish is that I could find more time to read for fun, but school makes that pretty difficult. But on the top of my favorites are George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, and any sort of space book (again, back to the whole documentary thing. surprise.) Fingers crossed these upcoming warmer months clear up some time to keep exploring through pages.

10. My friends and family mean the world to me. I have a hard time remembering to take time to myself just because I enjoy spending my days with the people I care about. Being surrounded by so many unique and beautiful personalities helps the stressful days seem not so terrible anymore.


Well that's it. And I'll admit, writing about yourself isn't the easiest.
I hope that through this blog I'll be able to help my fellow designers and artists with inspiration like other bloggers have done for me, share a look into what it's like constantly being on the run in Fargo, & connecting with the other wonderful people on the internet and sharing our adventures with each other.