Birthday!

So today I turn 26! My parents were able to stop through on Wednesday night so I was able to celebrate my birthday with them then. Thanks for the trellis'!
All week long the weatherman kept saying that Friday was going to be blustery, cold, windy, and miserable. After expecting all that, the weather turned out to be okay and it certainly didn't stop me from enjoying the day!

I worked until noon and then met Andy and his parents for a great lunch at Taste on Melrose. As Carol mentioned, she said that you know it is a great day when you have a glass of wine and chocolate cake at noon:).

For dinner, Andy took me to a restaurant I've been wanting to try in Kalona called Tuscan Moon. The ambiance was great, food was fabulous, and we just had a nice time. They have a great outdoor patio so it may be a place to check out again in the warmer months. Here is a picture of us with a piece of caramel cheesecake. (my second birthday dessert of the day!)

Tonight Desiree, Tyler, Dana, and Lindsay Larson are coming to visit for the weekend. The fun is certain to continue!

Halloween

I was just about to go up to bed, exhausted from a long week at work when I realized "WE HAVEN"T CARVED OUR PUMPKIN YET!" Andy grabbed the newspaper and knife, I grabbed the pumpkin from the front step and within minutes we had a design and were going to work.

Andy wanted a traditional pumpkin face and I wanted a cute smiling pumpkin, so we morphed our ideas together to come up with this little guy. I think we did a pretty good job!

We are going to have a NEPHEW!

Desiree and Lou had their ultrasound this afternoon and it was clear that they will be having a little BOY! Yeah!

I hope this baby is ready for all of the smothering, cuddling, and kissing we plan to do to him!!

NYC continued...

Saturday night we met up wiwth some of Kristin's friends for a fun dinner. The weather was beautiful and there were lots of people out and about which made for fun people watching. Actually I'm sure there are tons of people who are always out and about being NYC!

Yes, we did lots of eating! After checking out a Brooklyn flea market, walking through China Town and Little Italy, we refueled. To be fair, I posted a picture of each of us with food in our mouths:)

Sunday afternoon we spent stolling down block after block of cute boutiques and shops. We found some really cute baby and maternity shops as well so Desiree picked up a few fun things for her and the baby. Sunday evening we had our farmers market dinner. Here Des and Kristin are chopping the goods.
The first course was tomatoes with avocado and fresh mozz.

Next was spinach and wheat pasta with mushrooms and grated cheese with garlic bread.

For dessert, we had fruit salad with strawberries, apples, bananas, raspberries, and pomegranate. It was SO good, but way too much food!

New York, New York!

Desiree and I had a weekend getaway to NYC this past weekend. We stayed with our good friend Kristin who has a great place right in the middle of it all! Here we are at the farmers market on Saturday morning. We decided to pick up a few things to make dinner on Sunday. Oh, and Desiree's major pregnancy cravings include apples:).

Here are the apple cider cake donuts. They were fab!
View from either Greenwich or West Village towards New Jersey.
Central Park. We have cupcakes from Magnolia's in those bags!
And we found a nice bench to rest our legs and enjoy the treat.

Farewell Dinner

Well I'm not going way for long, but Andy had the idea of making me a nice farewell dinner before I leave for New York City tomorrow. He is a great cook and I sure enjoyed the special treat!

Here is a link to the recipe if anyone is interested; http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chicken-marsala-recipe/index.html
Yum! It really was fantastic!
Desiree and I leave tomorrow for New York City. We are visiting our good family friend Kristin and are really looking forward to our girls weekend. The weather is supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny all weekend. Perfect!

October Fest

More pictures of our day at the October Fest...

Andy even picked up a piece of his favorite pie at the Ox Yolk Inn to take home! It was such a fun day to be outside and enjoy the fun fall festivities.