Chicago!

This weekend, my sister in law Holly and I drove to Chicago for a girl's weekend of shopping. We had a blast! Holly is so sweet and so easy going, she made even the 10 hour (round trip) car ride fun. We shopped, ate, shopped some more, ate some more, and enjoyed every minute of it!

Here are some pictures of us enjoying Chicago at Christmastime:

Holly

The city was decorated for Christmas.... it was beautiful!

View looking down from 4th floor at Crate N Barrel

Chicago River

Me in front of the Wrigley Building

A random group of Santas walking down the street

Shopping was fun and fabulous. But let's not forget the eating! We had some delicious food.

Artichoke with Brie, and Roasted Garlic appetizer at Bistro 110. So rich and decadent!

The beginning of our brunch at Fred's at Barney's. This ultra expensive department store had a really delicious brunch. The first course was a bowl of several yummy breads and muffins.

Next was a side salad, with a Mimosa of course! A great way to start off the day!

Holly ordered the Eggs Florentine. Yum-O!

I had the Eggs al Campagne... Poached eggs smothered in a garlicky tomato sauce. It was so good!

Let's not forget dessert.... Marscapone Cheesecake. Enough said.

We had a Chicago style pizza here on Friday night. It was about 3 inches thick... so cheesy, saucy, and delish! After 2 pieces though, we were ready to go to bed! This was definitely a treat to have once a year- NYC style pizza is the way to go :-)

We stopped in to get out of the cold at a place called Pops for Champagne. Obviously it was a Champagne bar, so the choices were overwhelming! We finally settled on a nice Rose, along with a fabulous cheese plate that paired perfectly with our pink bubbly wine. So much fun!

We went to dinner at a sushi place called "Friend's Sushi". It was one of the best sushi places either one of us had ever been- so fresh and delicious! This was some of the best Edamame I've ever had. Notice how plump it is from being perfectly steamed.

Some of the BEST sushi ever. From top left corner to right: Yellow Tail Hamachi (looks like a rose), White Tuna, Summer Roll (roll with yellow tail, cilantro, and jalepeno), Tuna with Avadcado, and lastly Triple roll, which was a tuna and avacado roll, topped with tuna, yellowtail, and salmon. It was all completely divine!

All in all, we had a great time! I would highly recommend Christmas shopping there!

The Best Birthday Gift EVER

Tonight, my sister gave me my belated birthday present.... house shoes from Holland! They are shaped like wooden shoes! After we left Amsterdam this summer, I told Megan that I wished I had bought some house shoes shaped like those cute wooden shoes that we saw everywhere. Well, that sweet thing remembered me saying that, and got these for me! I absolutely love love love them! Thanks Megan!

Weekend in Columbus, Indiana

This past weekend Scott and I were asked to dinner by one of his friends from high school. Greg and his wife Donna live about an hour north of us in Columbus, IN. Coincidentally, just 10 minutes from them live some of our other friends, Jake and Danielle, so we decided to stay the weekend in Columbus and visit with both couples.

When I first walked into Greg and Donna's house, this is the first sight that caught my eye:

Homemade pasta! OMG! This is a beautiful sight to any self proclaimed "foodie". I knew right then and there that the night was going to be fabulous! As it turns out, Donna used to work as a pastry chef, so the menu for the night was full of wonderful, homemade treats!

For an appetizer, she had made us Spanakopita, which is a type of Greek pastry, filled with spinach and feta cheese. The delicate philo dough pastry was flaky and perfect, and the spinach and feta mixture inside was fluffy and creamy. I have never had a better Spanakopita in my life!

For dinner, she cooked the fresh pasta, and topped it with a delicious tomato sauce.

The pasta was light and chewy, and the sauce had a tomatoey richness that just perfectly coated the noodles. Greg helped too- he grilled some marinated steak pieces to a perfect medium rare and we had that as a side to the spaghetti, along with an antipasto plate. Talk about a fabulous meal! And as if that wasn't enough, Donna also made individual creme brulee's for each of us.

Needless to say, we were completely spoiled by this fabulous food, and had a wonderful time visiting with them. Thanks Greg and Donna, you guys are awesome!

After the fantastic meal and several glasses of wine enjoyed by the beautiful fire in their living room, we said goodbye to the happy couple and went over to Jake and Danielle's. We went to bed when we got there, but were awakened by the pitter patter of little feet running-running-running all over the house!

It's 7am on Saturday! Time to wake up and play with me!

Who could be mad at this sweet face? Of course we were glad to wake up and play with little 2 year old Zachary. He is the cutest, sweetest thing! We enjoyed the few hours we got to spend with him. Here is the happy family:

Jake, Vincent (6 months old- he's a big boy!), Zachary, and Danielle....what a beautiful family!

We played with the kids for a couple of hours, then the baby sitter came at 10 am. We left to Zachary excitedly saying "bye! bye! bye! bye!" (waving bye-bye the whole time), jumped in the car, and took a road trip up to Bloomington, Indiana.

We had reservations for brunch at a local place called "The Farm". We had been there for dinner once before, and had high expectations for brunch. We were not disappointed! This restaurant relies on local, seasonal produce for a major portion of their menu, and it is TO DIE FOR!!!

Check out our breakfast:

Homemade shoestring fries with fresh garlic, parsley, chili flakes, and a hollandaise dipping sauce. This was Heaven On A Plate!

Jake and I both had the Short Rib Stuffed Omelet with potatoes and fresh parsley. MMMMM!!

Danielle had the Bacon, Egg, and Spinach Pizza:

This ranked right up there with one of the best pizzas any of us have ever eaten. There was a wood fired oven in the restaurant, so the pizza was thin, chewy, and perfectly cooked, with 2 poached eggs on top. It was amazing.

Scott had an awesome plate as well.. fried duck eggs with crispy french toast and sweet potato mash. Yum-O!

After our unbelievably delicious brunch, we got back in the car and drove ten minutes up the road to our destination: Oliver Winery. It was a rare day in November, warm and sunny... 70 degrees! We enjoyed an outdoor wine tasting, and then sat down with a bottle of wine and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

Scott and I at the Winery, or "Mini-Stone Henge" as we called it.

Jake and Danielle... what a cute couple!

We ate some Cabriolle Goat Cheese that came wrapped in whiskey soaked chestnut leaves... it was devine!

We all had a great day at the winery. Miss you guys already- hope to see you again soon!

Thanksgiving Tree

I just can't get enough of Christmas. The month of December is never long enough; it seems as if after all the numerous hours it takes to get all my Christmas decorations out and displayed, it's time to put them all away for another year. So this year, I decided to start early.

I bought a skinny, 7 ft pre-lit tree this weekend and went ahead and put it up in my kitchen. I am going to decorate it with a "cooking" theme for Christmas- with a chef's hat as a tree topper, wooden spoons, cookie cutters, little Gingerbread men and candy canes. But for now, as it is only just the first of November, I decided to make it a Thanksgiving Tree..... for just another week. After say, November 15th, it's full on Christmas. Goodbye fall leaves and pumpkin decorations, hello snowmen and Christmas Village. Oh yes, there are more little houses coming, get ready.

Merry Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble!

My Halloween Village

This is in my Halloween room. Yes, I have a Halloween room. I know, I have way too much time on my hands.

Happy Halloween!

A Blessed Life

Sometimes it's just the simple things in life that make me stop and realize how blessed I am. A beautiful fire in the fireplace of my living room. My sweet, amazing husband by my side. Knowing that I have a wonderful family that I love and can share my life with. Loyal friends that I can count on at any time.