Dinner with the girls

I went out with four friends from church last night for margaritas and dinner. Part of the celebration was our friend Leslie's birthday. They brought her ice cream, a huge sombrero and a shot of tequila. Cheers!

Return to spring

After our lousy, snowy Saturday, the sun came out and warmed things up Sunday. Since L was working all afternoon, Andy and I decided to drive downtown to see a couple of exhibits we've been wanting to see at the Field Museum. When we go for the member events, we don't usually get to visit whatever exhibit we want as they have the night all scheduled. We first went into the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit which was incredible. Couldn't take any pictures in there.

The second exhibit we've been waiting to see was the first ever Chicago Brewseum exhibit. It told the history of beer in Chicago. I think the plan is to have the first beer museum built in Chicago.

This sign shows off all the streets in the city that are named after brewers/breweries.

This is an actual cloth blue ribbon that used to be put on bottles of Pabst.

Andy and I created our own beer label at a kiosk in the exhibit. We went for Blue Line Fancy Amber. We got to pick the name, the color, the style of label and what to put the label on (bottle, can, truck or barrel). Pretty fun. Then the machine texted the design to my phone.

Overview of Sunday at the museum. Nice that it wasn't terribly crowded.

Open and Affirming

Cindy left this morning, L went to work and Andy and I went to church to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the congregation's decision to become Open and Affirming. Notice there's still a bit of snow but it's going to be about 50 degrees today so it has to melt soon.

We celebrated with a light lunch after service ...

where members watched a video of our minister at the time recalling the process.

A big hit at the luncheon was my friend Leslie's rainbow cake. Lots of people posted pictures of it. I was too slow to the dessert table and didn’t get a slice.

Shopping, show & snow (!)

Andy was at church cleaning yesterday the kitchen for the upcoming doughnut season so L, Cindy and I did a little local shopping. L found this adorable dress she plans to wear for Cousin D's wedding in October. I had to bribe her with $1 to even try a dress on, but once she did, she liked it and tried on a couple more. Money well spent.

By the time we were done shopping the snow was here. Snow on April 27? And it wasn't just a dusting. I found a lot of things for Cindy to buy at Kohl's that she didn't know she wanted. Here's Cindy enjoying spring in Chicago.

The big event of the weekend was to see "Rock of Ages." I've been wanting to see the stage show since I first saw the movie almost seven years ago when I was nursing my cut thumb.

We all enjoyed the show - '80s music, big hair, lots of dancing, and it was funny too. What's not to like?

For dinner we had reservations at La Cantina at Italian Village. Andy had a bloody Mary as an appetizer.

Cindy ordered the chicken marsala.

After dinner Cindy and I waited at the restaurant for Andy to retrieve the car because it was snowing (still)! There were some kids in prom dresses in the restaurant - no coats. Not the best night for prom. The lobby got a little crowded so I told Cindy we should go outside and I'll get a picture of her under the restaurant sign. She stood in the snow and then you can't even see her in the picture.

By time we got home, this much snow accumulated in our yard. L was home while we were downtown. She took the car to a couple stores and ended up with her friend, A and T, at our house. She knows how to entertain herself.

Three years

Cindy's here

I suggested Cindy arrive before 2 p.m. to beat the Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic and she got here right at 2. What timing!

We picked L up from school and she suggested we go Target and look for Easter clearance. She insisted she drive to show off her driving skills. I found rabbit salt and pepper shakers for less than $2 and this Dove white chocolate and carrot cake candy for $1.19. It doesn't taste very good.

L decided to take Cindy to the bakery to get some goodies (and use her employee discount).

New cups

I came across these on the internet and figured they'd be worth a try - plastic cups that are dishwasher safe but won't crack or get cloudy. We'll see about that!

L in the bakery

I snapped this picture of L the other day when I dropped the car keys off at work for her. She was even wearing the bakery's shirt. So many goodies!

Lots of practice

I bought a wave curler to give my hair a little more volume and after lots of practice, I think I finally got it to look OK. Whether I can ever do it again remains to be seen. It's not an easy piece of equipment to use.

Porch project

Andy's project this weekend (after planting perennial bulbs in the back yard) was to rebuild the front stairs. This was the view from our front door Saturday night.

Weather was beautiful after church yesterday so he got to work cutting the boards ...

... and screwing them in place.

Completed project in one day!

Time for a relaxing margarita ...

... and the first fire of the season in our new chiminea.

Easter

L outdid herself and made two quiches for the church's Easter brunch - one is bacon and cheese and the other is veggies (mushrooms, peppers, broccoli and cheese). I tried the meat one and it was good. She thinks she could use a crust-crimpling lesson though.

I made an enchilada breakfast casserole that I had been wanting to make for a while. I just needed an excuse. It was delicious if I say so myself.

1 pound breakfast sausage
1/2 c. diced onion
3/4 c. red or green pepper, chopped
4 oz. green chilies
12 eggs
1 T. butter
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 1/2 c. enchilada sauce (red or green or a combo)
Flour tortillas cut into wedges - I used 7
4 c. cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook sausage with onions and peppers. Add green chilies. Set aside in a big bowl. Beat eggs lightly and scramble with pepper, salt and garlic powder. Eggs are done when they're still a little runny. Stir into sausage mixture. Pour enchilada sauce on bottom of 9-by-13-inch dish, cover with tortilla wedges, half the sausage/egg mixture, 1 c. cheese. Add more tortilla wedges, the rest of the sausage/egg mixture, another cup of cheese. Use remaining tortilla wedges, pour on remaining enchilada sauce and 2 c. cheese. Bake 30 minutes until cheese browns. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Andy was at church making little pancakes while I was home cooking.

Time to eat!

Sanctuary is ready for worship.

L participates in the Easter egg hunt. She gave her eggs to the little kids.

L and her friend, R.

Damn squirrel

I hung my teapot bird feeder outside and haven't seen any birds in it but then I saw a squirrel climb up the metal rod (can they do that?), sit on top and proceed to get at the food.

He's quite flexible.

Building a nest?

We're pretty sure this robin is building a nest just outside our front door. We've seen it there several times now and the front stairs are covered with nest-building materials. Not the best place for a nest though.

Evening at the museum

Andy and I went downtown tonight for another of the Field Museum's educational nights. Here he is enjoying a pre-talk Red Stripe, wishing he was in Jamaica.

The event was supposed to start at 5:30 p.m. and we were actually there on time but the staff told us they'd check us in closer to 6. Hmmm. The bar wasn't open and there was no food in sight. Eventually, things got moving and we thought our dinner for the night was stale crackers, cheese cubes and grapes. We spent the night with our friend, S and B, from church and they were as confused about the itinerary as we were.

We were led to a talk about global warming. We had a choice of three and this one seemed the most interesting to us. Andy was pretty excited to be in a room we'd never been in before. Yes, the portrait is of Marshall Field. We had to check before we left the room and took a little time to look at the other things that were on display. The chandelier was stunning.

After the talk, we thought we were leaving but they had food tables set up.

We finally got our dinner - some salads and little burgers.