chicago p.1

So, my sister soul-mate moved to Chicago at the first of 2012.  

I'm still adjusting to her not being four blocks from me.

& one of my dearest friends moved to Minnesota in October.

I spent almost 365 days straight with her and now shes gone too!

This called for me to get the girls together for a fun fun 

quickity-quick trip to Chicago.

Thankfully, Kristina, Kellie's roommate & friend from college 

was gracious enough to let us invade 

and actually liked us enough 

to spend time tromping around in the cold with us all weekend.

They have the most adorable place in the coolest neighborhood.

The trip was short, cold, windy (duh) but loads of fun!

hugs

comfort

vino

joking

food

shopping

laughing

(& lots of math calculations) 

 

tools

Okay so yesterday I cooked and used a kitchenaid mixer for the first time.

wtf

this thing is heaven!

possibly the best machine ive ever used.

one day, hopefully sooner rather than later,

i'll have a nice sized kitchen full of dreamy cooking things...

till then ill keep dreaming

still snowing.

its not all bad

ok i complain about winter a lot

but it really is beautiful

& i love to get out an see parts of the state

few weeks ago my friends matt, em, koa & i 

went to a spot ive camped before to snowshoe.

 

 

 

 

snowday

its been snowing for over 26 hours.

about 14inches of snow.

a lot less than a lot of CO but still...STOP SNOWING!

koa, my adopvite pup (his mom, Em is in the DR right now...?!) and i 

are hanging out cooking and watching lots of cable tv.

poor koa doesnt even want to go outside

i've shoveled once and you cant even tell

got my car suck and had to shovel it out.

you know thats bad since i have an SUV....

YIKES!

this is about 18 hours in...

my friends and i have this thing where we are pretty sure koa has a french accent 

and only says nasty things to everyone.  

well, except Em.

she has his heart.  

so....koa hates me but desperate times 

call for desperate measures and ...

...he deals...

(photo shoot out of boredom)

 

3 months.  3 months.  3 months. 

summer forever!

Lazy Sunday

 I've been sick so today I just hung at home ... cooked, cleaned and watched tv.  

God the BEST Christmas gift this year (among other great gifts) but my mother found some recipes hand written by my grandmother and had them laminated.  

When I opened them I balled and balled and balled.

I have them sitting right behind my plates so I see them daily.

Put one in a frame to see how it looks.  

Tad crooked but I like it!

 

Still practicing with my camera and thought I would take pics of what I cooked.

I have an awful sweet tooth so I made peanut butter, chocolate chip & banana stuffed croissants...

the PB is natural & it has bananas....

it's healthy...ish.

ok fine.

The soup I made is full of healthy yumminess!

 kale (SUPER FOOD!)

chicken sausage

organic veggie broth

leeks

No pics of the soup.  

I think I'm mad at it. 

See...I opened the Thyme and thought it was a shaker.  

NOPE! 

Dumped half the Thyme into the soup.  

Got most of it out.  

We will see how it tastes tomorrow.....