Adventures in the Windy City

A few months ago, Steve found out one of his favorite bands, Thrice, was playing a farewell show in Chicago. He bought tickets for the show and we planned to make a weekend out of it. I had only been to Chicago once before on a short road trip (and, confession: mostly to see NKOTB/Jesse McCartney in concert), and another time for work, so I was eager to do all of the touristy stuff this past weekend. 

Things I learned about Chicago:

• Walking around for hours in flip flops leads to mysterious foot pain and an embarrassing limp for multiple days in a row.
• Navy Pier = boring tourist trap with long bathroom lines.
• Davanni's deep dish is just as good as authentic Chicago-style deep dish.
• Driving to Milwaukee at midnight and getting a hotel room > pulling an all-nighter and driving all the way home. 
• Wisconsin is just as bad to drive across as Iowa.
• They (whoever 'they' is) weren't joking when they nicknamed it the Windy City.

I also learned a lot about the Red Line; mainly:

• People will ignore the 'no soliciting' recorded announcement. I'm sure you're raising money for the YMCA, sir.
• Construction work on the track = constant stop-and-go = motion sickness.
• When it is late and people want to be home, they have no problem announcing it to the rest of the train. Repeatedly.
• Don't get on the green line to the south side when you mean to get on the orange to Midway. (I actually learned this when I was in Chi. on the business trip, but felt it needed to be included.)

Other things worth mentioning:

 Driving somewhere in Wisconsin, probably near a Culver's.

Walking along the river Friday night.

Touring Wrigley on Saturday morning.

The view from the top of the ballpark, in all its glory.

Cubs dugout.

Buckingham Fountain - shortly after a gentleman tried
to sell us a free newspaper.

Being extra touristy at The Bean.

Until the next adventure,

-Emily

40 Days

I emailed Steve this quote last September and had forgotten about it until he forwarded it to me this past week. I'm thankful for email, which serves as a sort of archive for exchanges like this one.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being 'in love' which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. My wife and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two." -St. Augustine

Top Ten

The weeks start to fly by when the weather is nice and the sun is out longer. Winter in Minnesota is long and depressing; the worst part is when the sun sets at 4:30 p.m. While I want to get married sooner, I also want to stretch out summertime. I feel as though it was Monday and I blinked and it was Friday. Here are ten of my favorite things from this past week.

1. Bonfires and wine. Few things are better than good conversation shared with your best friend over a glass of Malbec. (Wine not pictured.)

2. Fresh flowers from the Nicollet Mall Farmer's Market. I'm lucky enough to work Downtown where everything is a short walk away, including the Thursday Farmer's Market. The Farmer's Market means food trucks, fresh fruit, and a bouquet of flowers for my desk.

3. The Five Love Languages. I'm reading this book right now, and thoroughly enjoying it. It offers so much insight on how each person feels loved, and shows love, in a different way. My love languages? Quality Time and Acts of Service.

4. Ray LaMontagne. Specifically him covering Gnarls Barkley.

5. This marriage proposal:

6. All the Rapture/Apocalypse talk. Read this post from the Center for Disease Control, and this article on a 5/21/11 Doomsday crazy. Both will provide you with some entertainment. 

7. Pinterest. I am addicted. Check out my boards here and let me know if you want an invite.

8. Recipe blogs. I am blessed with a job that sometimes requires me to research blogs. This week, I came across Annie's Eats, For the Love of Cooking, and Smitten Kitchen. I'm dying to try the recipes below:

Creme Brulee French Toast from Smitten Kitchen

Banana, Strawberry and Chocolate Chip Muffins
from For the Love of Cooking

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake from Annie's Eats

9. This blog post about my mischievous niece, Lillian, trying to make herself a cup of joe.

10. Seeing old friends. Last night I had dinner with my college roommates from freshman year. Here we are in Seattle two years ago:

Have a great weekend!
Emily

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

A few weeks ago, I found this recipe on the Petunia blog, and I've been eager to make them. They were delicious and I'm happy to say that there are hardly any bars left after the weekend. The bars are pretty easy to make and this recipe is definitely a keeper. I am pretty proud of myself because I successfully separated egg yolks from the whites after never having done it before! (Thanks to Steve, who made sure I knew to pour the egg back and forth between the two shell halves; he watches a lot of Food Network.)

Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix
1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
2&1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup toffee bits, finely crushed

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and 1 whole egg until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan.

Confession: I mixed this dough with my (clean)
bare hands. Much easier than stirring.

In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over crust in pan.

Ta-da! All yolk and no white.

Oops, I forgot to let the cream cheese soften all
the way, hence the cottage cheese-like texture.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center. Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Someone wanted to do a little staging, and
couldn't resist staying in the picture.

Hope you all have had a lovely weekend,

Emily

Easter Blessings

My family and I have experienced a lot of loss in the last year and a half, and holidays are very bittersweet for us. Easter this year was no different.

I consider myself very blessed; I have a great job, amazing friends and family, and I am soon marrying my best friend. Easter this year was extremely relaxing and joyful, yet we always anticipate moments of sadness during each holiday, and we carry on knowing that while many of our thoughts remain unspoken, we are all thinking and feeling similar things.

I'd like to focus on my Easter blessings, because in spite of loss and pain, the blessings always prevail! Check out my weekend in pictures:

In our Easter best following Saturday-night service at Eaglebrook

Nellie wasn't as excited about having her picture taken.

Eager to be a little kid again and dye eggs!

Being artistic.

:)

Ta-da! I had to bury Steve's "suicide" egg (dipped in every color of dye).

On Sunday, my mom, grandma, Steve and I visited my grandpa's
memorial at the National Cemetery. It was a beautiful day outside
and we had a short little Easter service there.

Someone decorated a tree with butterflies and Easter eggs
to bring a little joy to the cemetery.

We spent the rest of the day at my aunt and uncle's house. I'll admit I
took a short red wine-induced nap and played a few hours worth
of Mario Kart with my 6-year-old cousin. Also: a game of
tag is a better work out than Jillian Michaels. Sorry, Jillian.

Houndstooth Love

I have an obsession with houndstooth. If I'm shopping with Steve and I say, "I want that!" he usually knows to follow my exclamation with, "because it's houndstooth." Something about the crisp black and white design screams "timeless" and I just can't get enough.

Steve recalls me gushing over this outfit from the Jackie O challenge on last season's Project Runway:

But he probably doesn't know that I'll be including these in our Target wedding registry:

Here are some more of my favorites:

Sara and I have been going crazy over Sally Hansen Salon Effects. I put these on last night:

A great find: I snagged this scarf from the men's section at Marshalls for $5:

A few items on my houndstooth wish list:

These shoes are from Salvatore Ferragamo, whose Fall 2011 collection has a ton of great houndstooth pieces. Not that I could ever afford them, but a girl can dream, right? 

A houndstooth coat is a wardrobe staple. This one comes from yystudio's Etsy page:

Oversized houndstooth patterns are the best:

From Kate Spade (no longer available online). 

Leighton Meester on Gossip Girl

Stalking Target's website waiting for these bad boys to go on clearance:

This summer, I'd love to find an old chair at a garage sale and reupholster it with houndstooth fabric. It's probably going to look like someone threw up houndstooth in our house (sorry, Steve).

What are some patterns, styles or colors that seem to catch your eye, again and again?

A Few Things

Let's consider this my first real blog post. It's late, and I am dropping my sister-in-law and baby niece off at the airport bright and early tomorrow morning. I am very sad to see Sara and Lilly go, but we had a great time! I'll be sure to post about their trip soon.

Out walking on a lovely spring day in Minnesota

Onto a few things I'd like to cover before bedtime:

Emily Rinde?

I feel sort of like a middle school girl by prematurely including "Emily Rinde" in my blog's link. Sort of like when I used to write Emily + Zac Hanson in the margins of my notebooks. (Come on, you know you did it, too.) Steve and my wedding is only 89 days away, so I've jumped the gun and eagerly changed my last name via blog URL.

What do you have to say, anyway?

Whenever I tell people that I want to start a blog, their first question is, "what are you going to write about?" Well, I'm not quite sure I've figured that out yet. The best answer I can come up with is that I'm going to write about my passions and hobbies. Here are a few of the topics I'm excited to cover: fashion, cooking, adventures in and around Minneapolis, wedding planning and family.

That's all for now, but stay tuned!