The Masquerade

A couple of weekends ago we threw a personal shower for my soon-to-be-married sister, Kaitlin. And this wasn't just any personal shower. We had a grand masquerade, complete with mysterious guests and opera cake.

We had so much fun being girls, and everyone looked quite glamorous in their glitzy, glittery, feathery masks. I just wish I had taken more pictures, but it seemed that most of the time I was too busy chatting with friends or refilling plates of crostini. Such a great night!

March Madness

So it's March, and not only does that mean the start of spring, but it's also the best part of basketball season. Since I like basketball too, it wasn't hard for Bry to convince me to fill out a bracket with him and keep score on our predictions. This isn't just for fun either. We have serious prizes at stake. 

If I win, I get a back rub every day for a week. If Bry wins, he gets a homemade steak dinner with his favorite vanilla pudding for dessert. This may not seem like much of a prize on his end, but he is an unfortunate steak-lover married to someone who cooks with very little meat (and almost never with red meat). There are several reasons that I'm not crazy about meat, but I won't go into all that. 

Anyway, I am very proud to announce that I'm currently in the lead, and may not have to figure out how to properly grill a steak. This is of course annoying to Bry who actually knows the teams and put some amount of thought into it. But as you can see from all the scribbling out on his bracket (the top one), he obviously had much less confidence in his predictions. You just have to go with your heart...which in my case usually means the highest seed, unless it's Purdue of course. 

He also gave me the lucky horseshoe magnet when he put our brackets up on the fridge. Big mistake.

I'll keep you posted on the final score.

A New Favorite

I love brunch. Mostly because I love those days when you can sleep in and have a leisurely meal together without looking at the clock. I also love finding new restaurants. When the new restaurant serves brunch, it doesn't get much better. Especially if they have a whole menu dedicated to their out-of-this-world coffee.

Introducing Eggshell Bistro...

Boiled egg steeped overnight in herbal tea

My lovely brunch company: Bry and Kait 

The retro Tolix chairs, imported from a cafe in France

brown rice patty topped with jicama slaw and a pretzel bun. Yum! 

And I've already had a second visit. A girly birthday brunch with almost all of the sisters. Jenny happened to be here from FL, and I happen to share a birthday with her that happened to be on the Saturday that she was visiting. I'd say that's serendipitous.

For round two, I had the parfait (local Trader's Point organic yogurt, lemon juice, fresh berries, and housemade granola). We also tried an impressive number of their coffee drinks between the five of us. Definitely a good birthday splurge.

What Makes Us Smile

Poppy is 18 months old. This is very strange and I'm not sure how it happened. The last year and a half has been a bit of a blur. But a good blur. We love our funny little red-head (or "ginger," as some people call her), and I don't remember what we did for entertainment before she came along. You can't help but laugh...

Balancing on the rung of our bar stool when she was barely able to crawl

Poppy-in-a-box. And no, we did not put her in there. That was her idea.

Fyi: Though funny, smooshing your face against a screen door isn't exactly flattering

Already burning through the cell phone minutes at a year old

Crazy hair + grumpy face = hehe

She is actually the master of the "grumpy face"

She insisted on a drink. Don't worry, the teapot isn't hot

And last but not least...Poppy's new camera smile.