So Blessed

The other day, the best surprise came.

My dearest bestest friend sent me flowers to work.

Not just any flowers - tulips!

They're now proudly displayed at home...and I smile every time I look at them.  I am so blessed to have a friend like my Holly.

THANK YOU, HOLLY WOLLY!  I love you!

Welcome Back!

My Dearest DG Farmer's Market,

And so we meet again.  You finally came back, just like you said you would.  Today was your first of many visits to come.  And, as promised, I decided to forego sleeping in just to see you again.

It was blustery and cold today, but the vendors were rejoicing because it wasn't raining on opening day (again).  Upon entering your friendly home, I spotted some random shoes lying by the newspaper stand.

I quickly stopped pondering the mystery of them once I saw it...the crepe stand.  Not just any crepe stand...a NEW crepe stand.

One with savory crepes and sweet crepes...and an "under the table special" crepe - Buffalo Chicken Crepes.  You know me so well.

One "under the table" special later, I was on my way back home.

I'm so glad you're back.

 

Garnished with a Banana

This year, Easter was held at Aunt Louise and Uncle John's house.  They certainly know how to put on a party!


We were greeted with a display of Easter-coordinated pastel barware - even the stirrers were decked out for the holiday!





And the appetizers (hold, please, while I wipe the drool from my mouth).  AHEM.  Appetizers were a little too dangerous for my own good.  Just look at that melty cheese.





The table was even decorated with with two little guests in their own cage (not real, of course!).





Not ones to be outdone, even the guests stepped it up a notch!  Stephen made some sort of banana liqueur concoction...





...and Steve and Patti made these amazing Easter basket cupcakes together.  Check out the decorating job!




Thanks, Aunt Louise, for an amazing Easter dinner!

One Year...

Believe it or not, Hubs and I got married a year ago this past Sunday.




As hard as this is for me to believe...and to accept (can't I PLEASE wear my wedding dress again?), this past year has been a total blast.  I never knew I could have such a deep love
for someone who isn't related to me by blood, and I couldn't be more thankful for him.  Any man who puts up with me and my tendency to be upset with myself for being upset, thereby getting even more upset, must really love me.  He rocks my world.


And he sure didn't disappoint when it came to planning out our anniversary.


On Friday, Hubs made reservations at an amazing restaurant in downtown Naperville called Catch 35.  Since we were running early for our reservations, we stopped at Quigley's for a hard cider and to talk about the last year of our lives.


Dinner was amazing, a fact that is proven by my lack of pictures (clearly, I was too busy eating).  I somehow managed to remember to get a picture sometime before we left.







On Saturday, he planned a romantic picnic at Morton Arboretum (all together now:  AWWWW!).




And on Sunday, we went out to breakfast at my favorite breakfast place.  Please note that I also failed to take pictures during breakfast.  Apparently me + food = too engrossed to take pictures.


Which brings us to...the cake.




Do yourself a favor...don't wait until a year later to eat it.  Trust us.

So. Tired.

Construction started a few weeks ago on my entire commute to/from work.

It. Is. Horrible.

It's so bad that I've changed my work schedule to start at 6:30AM. Anyone who knows me knows that I am NOT a morning person.

I. Am. So. Tired.

Hawaiian Honeymoon - Days 6 and 7 (Friday and Saturday)

On our last full day, we booked an ATV tour of the island.

We opted for the 2-seater Mud Buggy because, let's face it, me driving a 4-wheeler off-road through mud and trees is not a good idea.

The tour began on an abandoned sugar plantation near our hotel. They explained the whole history behind sugar production and how they had to carve a cave out of this mountain with little experience or tools.

Before lunch, we stopped off at a beautiful waterfall where we were given the opportunity to jump in. It looked like no one was going to brave the cold waters, but Stephen and I went for it.

FRIGID does not even to begin to describe the temperature. Arctic? Yes.

Luckily, once you jump in once, your body is numb enough to do it over and over again. They actually took pictures of us jumping in, but there is no way I will EVER post a picture of myself in a swimsuit, mid-air, and about to belly flop. You can thank me now.

Lunch was served after our Polar Bear Club experience and was actually pretty decent considering we were in the middle of nowhere.

There were plenty of photo ops, and we never even had to bring a camera since they take all the pictures for you.

At the end of the trip, we got together with our group for one last picture.

Hawaiian Honeymoon: Day 5 (Thursday)

From the first day we booked our trip, we heard the same thing over and over again, "You HAVE TO visit Waimea Canyon!"

They were all right.

In one word, Waimea Canyon is...breathtaking. I have never seen the Grand Canyon, but I have a hard time believing that it can beat the combination of canyon AND ocean.

The road to the canyon is long and not exactly marked well, so we found ourselves stopping to take pictures of what we thought was the canyon.

We were wrong.

Those pictures? Weren't even within the state park limits.

These were.

We haven't even gotten to the best part yet. If you keep on driving into the center of the island, there are tons of additional lookout points. Lookout points that give you this view:

Yeah, I want to be there now, too.

On the way back down, we decided to stop off at a local restaurant for lunch - the Shrimp Station.

Um, the coconut shrimp? I could have had the whole plate.

Later that night, we finally went to the long-awaited Luau. Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression. The food was pretty awesome.

But the entertainment...left something to be desired. At least in my opinion. The emcee was a white guy. He was surrounded by beautiful island women. He sang them songs of love and lust. He changed outfits every song.

Again, not bad...just not a true luau. It felt like we were sitting in the Kauai Variety Hour.

But Stephen liked it. And that's good enough for me. :)

Next up: ATV, yeah you know me!