Trip to MI for work and friends

Many of you know that the reason I was able to be out in the Midwest so long in March is because I had to work at a conference in MI for work the following weekend.  I drove up there early Thursday morning, did some recruiting at Kuiper College and then arrived at a cute little house in GR and was happily reuinited with my wonderful friend Caitlin!

It was so fun to catch up and hang out in their hood.  On Thursday, Cait made some yummy pot pie and then we went out for a beer at a sweet pub/restaurant called The Winchester.

I was browing the specialty beers when I came up a brew from a certain Stone Brewing Co. of Escondido, CA! Little did I know, even in snowy MI, I couldn't escape home!



One of my favorite couples!





I browsed the menu just for fun and was so impressed with the selection, I just had to try these pierogies



They did not disappoint, and as you can see, they didn't hurt the wallet either!
I've been so desensitized to high costs, I was shocked to see how affordable MI menus are priced.



oh yummy.

I have no pictures to document the rest of the weekend...but it involved me working two 13 hours days, antique book shopping for my studious husband, lots of Biggby coffees, meeting up for lunch with Gary, Christie and Fam, meeting up for a beer with AJ, and a really great conference on Revelation.

But after 11 days away, I was ready to be home!

Spring Break

Or as Eric, and most of his classmates called it, "Paper Writing Break"

So while eric spent at least 30/40 hours his spring break week in the library doing school work, we also took a little time to relax.  On Monday (the Mon. before Easter), we went to the Wild Animal Park with our annual passes (purchased when Grammy and Gramps were out visiting) and enjoyed the afternoon sun.

There was a brand new elephant calf that was a little shy:





"You don't get this kind of view in Chicago" -Eric



We nearly ran into this little guy on our way to the Tour of Africa tram



Just lion around

Happy Resurrection Day!

from Casa Chappell

ps. this was taken after we attended a very, very early Easter service, hence the tired eyes.

Kelsey's personal shower

March brought on wedding season! I planned Kelsey's bachelorette party which was more of a personal shower. We stayed in, ate, played games, opened gifts and watched sappy wedding movies and had a great time!

some sloppy petit fours with baked brie and cheese in the background









mad props to Anna and Kait who did almost all of the set up while I worked on food.  Thank you girls!






toilet paper wedding couture







opened gifts....



sorry this is where it ends. The rest were for Josh's eyes only!!

We also set up a photo booth, but ended up using another camera, because my battery died.
All in all it was a fun low key night for Kels and her friends, and a fun way to kick off the wedding weekend!

February/March food post

Because I'm a little lazy.
Because I love cooking.
and because I have a bunch of food photos :-)

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta



Variation on Waldorf goat cheese salad



Pan grilled chicken on cheesy polenta



4 cheese ravioli tossed with olive oil, parsley and fresh parmesan



with side salad



Pad Thai (from scratch)



Asian Lettuce Wraps





Fancy Macaroni





Wanna come over for dinner sometime?
:-)