What do you get when you combine strawberries and wine? A fabulous weekend excursion! On Saturday, Jill and I met Lauren (also known as X…don’t ask) and Kelli in the ‘burbs for the Long Grove Strawberry Festival. You may recall a very similar trip involving apples back in October. The event was just as exciting […]
Dessert
A Wicked Awesome Weekend
I’m back…from Beantown! This past weekend, Jill and I traveled to Boston to participate in Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle conference. We arrived on Thursday and stayed through Sunday, with a lot of exploring along the way. For more details on our conference experience, you can check out my Pursuing Our Passion or DreamChamps blog. […]
Birthday Bonanza!
Hello from the 25th year! The idea of celebrating the “year” rather than the “age” comes from a longstanding joke in my family. When my mom turned 49, Papa Bender gave my brother and me the idea to congratulate her on celebrating her 50th year. I am sure you can imagine how well that one […]
Food, Fashion, Fancy
Thank you to all who contributed to the very lively discussion on name change. I loved hearing everyone’s perspectives and since there is no right or wrong answer, was interested to see how sometimes our family history and how we were raised plays a role in our decisions. I’m very glad that Heather brought this […]
Baby {Girl} Fever!
I am about to be surrounded by four new females in my family – and I could not be more excited! No, the bear does not count as one of said females. She is just a bonus. 🙂 Both of my new sisters-in-law are pregnant with girls (one is having twins!) who are due in […]
Better Late Than Never: October 16, 2010 {Reception}
Holy bananas this post is overdue. But the good news is that now I get to relive one of the best nights of my life, five months later. Now where did we last leave off…? Oh yes. Paradise. Following the ceremony and the pictures, we made our way to the reception venue at the Cochise-Geronimo […]
Al Forno
Al forno is an Italian phrase that describes something that is at or from the oven. I think Presidents’ Day banana bread fits that description quite nicely. 🙂 Bobby has been requesting that our overripe bananas be put to good use for weeks now. In honor of his day off yesterday, I whipped up a […]
Traveling Pans, Healthy Hearts
My good “blend” Mara first initiated me into the Sisterhood of Traveling Pans way back in June of last year. Since then, the Sisterhood has met several more times, but with the wedding, honeymoon and holidays, I have regrettably not been there. That all changed on Sunday night in the city. The theme? Heart healthy, […]