3.26.11

Shari and I made plans to get together at Panera for breakfast and to talk about her wedding this summer. I came armed with my laptop, prepared to talk about invitations and centerpieces.  Instead, we walked in and I saw Lindsey and said to Shari, "oh hey look!  Lindsey's here...wait, so is Lindsay....and Dizzy?"  When I saw Diz (who lives 1.5 hours away and had never met Lindsay or Lindsey), it became clear that this breakfast was not planned to talk about wedding stuff...it was for my birthday!  It was the best.

Later in the day, things just got better.  My mom, Gina and I started off our evening at the spa - massages for them, facial for me....and then we met up with the men and went to PF Changs for dinner.  Love that honey shrimp.

12.31.10

It's the end of the year, so might as well do a photo dump post instead of just one picture.  This one deserves lots of images anyway.  So here goes...

Lindsey, Nancy and I hosted what we dubbed a "Fabulous New Year's Eve Baby Shower" for Tim and El.  (Here we are!)



And I must say, it was quite fab. Let me take you around for a tour of some of the highlights of what we had to offer. Most fab I think was the crostini bar. We got this idea from the gals over at Haute Apple Pie. What a fantastic idea it is - you can spend a lot or a little, takes very little preparation, and looks really impressive. I think the tags in front of each item adds to the fabulosity

and check out this tiny little play on grilled cheese and tomato soup!  They were as delicious as they are adorable too...courtesy of the always reliable, Ina Garten and Ree Drummond.  Here is the recipe for the roasted tomato soup (which I have always had available in the freezer since I made it first a couple months ago.  so good.), and here is the cheese puff recipe...but we (Nancy) sort of made them cheese toasts instead of puffs.



And then to not let the baby shower theme get lost among the new year's revelry, I froze some plastic babies in ice, which everyone had fun with once they thawed out.





We also had a baby pool.  Not a completely new idea, but I think it was a good one for a co-ed shower.  We split the days in 2 (am and pm) and sold each spot for $2.  And now we all just wait to collect our winnings!



Here are the guests of honor with some headwear we bought for them at the party store.  There was a plethora of tiny hats available at the party store. It was odd.



And I think this picture pretty much sums up the good times that were had this new year's eve!  On our end, this is the first year in many many years that we actually did something.  We have spent at least the last 3 years with each other, going to dinner and catching a movie.  We always had a great time doing that, but I think this was the most fun new year's eve I have had in a long time...possibly ever.

(as a side, this is the second year in a row that there has been a "fabulous" party thrown by members of our group. Last year, Nancy had a "Fabulous Holiday Party". We are hoping to make this a tradition and have different fabulous parties every year.)

10.31.10

Confession: for the past 5ish years, Halloween was not my favorite holiday. Actually, it was probably my least favorite holiday. I used to work at a place that planned for Halloween celebrations and activities for children for about two months, culminated by a 4 day event. We were also required to work all 4 long days, while dressed in costume. Needless to say, I was pretty much "over" halloween by the time October 25th rolled around.

Finally this year, I turned a corner and decided to embrace the holiday. I even crafted our gnome costumes from top to bottom! Here are a few of my other faves from the party:

and the winner of the costume contest, Ghandi.

9.18.10

We headed to our first Badger tailgate of the year a few weeks ago. The weather was perfect. I mistakenly brought a fleece with me that was unneeded for most of the day. I think I ended up wearing it around my waist, early 90s style for a while. We had a fantastic day - hoping to make it to at least 1 more tailgate before the season ends!

In unrelated news, my hair is a little unruly in this picture. Don't worry, I remedied that situation this week and got a much needed cut and color.

9.6.10

Labor day afternoon/evening was spent at our pals' house for a bbq. There was bags and bocce ball and a dip contest. We made our own rules for bocce and had to throw it different in each round. I'm sure El will love this angle. And the dip contest? Well, everyone was instructed to bring a dip and we all sampled and picked a winner. Our artichoke dip tied for second place. First place went to Lindsey's pretzel mustard dip...which I didn't even try because mustard makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

6.18.10

Woops. I skipped a day. The Friday before the race/fancy beers, I had the day off work. It also happened to be that every one of my girl friends (except 1) also had the day off. A total coincidence that never happens, so we decided to take full advantage and planned a full day of activities. We started the day off having breakfast at Marigold Kitchen, then headed down to State Street Brats for the World Cup game (where this picture was taken), and finished the day off lounging at our pool. A fantastic summer day! It had that no worries, summer vacation from college type feel to it. Good to know that feeling can still exist being so far removed from that time in my life!