What's New Around our House--Part I

Wall O' Nephews and Nieces

Window Coverings

Cute Pillows

The dust and dirt annihilate-r

Delectable Dishes

1. Blackened Shrimp with Tropical Pico from Cooking Light.
2. South Congress Seafood Parfait from South Congress Cafe: market fresh fish marinated ceviche-style in lime juice with diced chiles, jícama, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots on a bed of fresh guacamole with pepitas and crispy flour tortilla strips. DELICIOUS!

3. Yummy BBQ a la Schaefer from Cam and Keith's rehearsal dinner.
4. Shrimp Empanadas a la Nicholas. When I am out of town, Nicholas can do whatever he wants in the kitchen. I can't tell you everything that he put in them, but the leftovers I had were fabulous.
5. Seared Sesame Hawaiian Tuna from Tavern on the Rush in Chicago.

6. Egyptian Edamame Stew from EatingWell.com.

7. Black Bean Burgers with guacamole from Cooking Light. We served them on onion rolls and they were fabulous!
8. Chicken Fried Beef Ribs from Jack Allen's Kitchen. Okay, this isn't on my Delectable dishes list, but Nicholas really enjoyed it.

Not Me! Monday

It was not me who unexpectedly met one of Nicholas' ex-girlfriends while buying plants yesterday. It was definitely not awkward because at first I didn't know how he knew her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was not my husband and I who thought we picked out a "honey" tinted paint color for our upstairs hallway but found it to be more like school bus yellow when it was on the walls. We did not completely banish the idea of yellow and decide to go with a minty green color. I did not just finish painting the hallway the awful yellow color so I can then go back over it with minty green.
UPDATE--It was not my husband who walked upstairs this evening and said, "You know I kind of like the yellow now that it is all over the walls."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I was defintely not attracted to the green paint color because it had the word mint in it. I am most certainly not obsessed with mint. That is why we did not buy a mint plant at the garden store yesterday.

What have you not been doing today? Head over to MckMama's blog for more confessions.

The Windy City

The beginnings of Girl's Weekend in Chicago began when L and I announced we were moving away from Rhode Island. Our friends immediately began trying to find a way to reconnect after we were gone. Chicago was the ultimate choice because it is usually pretty easy to get there (unless you live in Maine). What originally had the potential to be a football's team worth of crazy women converging on Chi-Town ended up being 4 women from 4 different states (Minnesota, Maine, Rhode Island, and Texas). Most of the fun stories will be "staying" in Chicago, but I have lots of pretty pictures to share. I assure you that these are indeed "real" flowers and not silk like they appear to be in the picture.

I left a rainy Austin to arrive in a beautifully sunny, blooming, Spring Chicago. I scored a sweet deal on a hotel (Thank you Spring Deals!) complete with breakfast, evening reception, comfy robes, and central location to great shopping. Our BFF concierge, George, gave us lots of great food recommendations. Late Friday night, he got us a table at Quartino in 5 minutes (instead of 1.5 hours) where we enjoyed 2 free pizzas, bread, and lots and lots of cheese.

After relaxing and enjoying yummy breakfast on Saturday morning, we headed out on the town. We attacked the Magnificent Mile otherwise known as Michigan Avenue, but also referred to throughout the weekend as the Marvelous Mile, the Mag Mile, and [insert your own "M" adjective] Mile.

There was lots of walking, looking, shopping, and making fun of Dana for taking pictures.

The tulips were blooming and offered some amazing eye candy to distract us from window displays.

I showed the girls my favorite building in Chicago, The Chicago Tribune building that has stone pieces from places all over the world. Here are K and L pointing at the Minnesota stone.

We found a lovely jewelry store that we spent an exorbitant amount of time in. It is a good thing the store wasn't any bigger!

After jewelry shopping, we rested at Millenium Park.

All the trees were blooming despite the chilly temperatures.

Saturday night we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Tavern on the Rush and met up with my friend, Kristina, who was able to take a small break from being a first year lawyer to eat!

Sunday morning, A and I bid L and K farewell and headed off to the gospel brunch at the House of Blues. If you are ever able to attend any House of Blues gospel brunch, DO IT! It was amazing, and the food was heavenly.

A and I did some more walking...and shopping. We walked around the Macy's that used to be Marshall Field's. It is a pretty building.

We walked through Millenium Park, Grant Park, and along Lake Shore Drive admiring the view of Lake Michigan.

And went to bed MUCH early Sunday night in preparation for our EARLY Monday. It was a fabulous weekend filled with laughter, good food, clothes swapping, birthday celebrating, kid-free antics. I can't wait for our trip next year!

Flat Stanley Update #2

Flat Stanley will be leaving us soon. Here is what we have been up to. We celebrated my birthday.

and enjoyed lots and lots of yummy food at Easter

We have been to a few of Matt Turman's baseball games. Here Matt is pitching.

Most recently, Flat Stanley enjoyed a comfy seat on Southwest Airlines en route to Chicago Midway Airport.

He also enjoyed the really tall buildings in Chicago

and considered taking a swim in the Chicago River.

I showed FS some of the pretty tulips in a park in Chicago,

as well as the historic Chicago theater.

He also enjoyed Millenium Park, but was rather upset I wouldn't let him play in the fountain.

Fortunately, I let FS gaze at Lake Michigan for awhile, so he forgave me for forbidding the fountain play.

It was really exciting to ride the train from downtown to the airport,

but Flat Stanley was sad to leave!

Although, I haven't reminded him that his next travel adventure will be in an envelope...