Groom's Dinner

On Friday morning after the bachelorette party, I helped my sister get ready to go up north to prepare for the big event. We stopped at the Duluth mall to purchase a few odds and ends, like a purse, shoes and a garter belt for her. Yikes, nothing like waiting til the day before the wedding! ;) It was a little bit stressful so thankfully we had manicures and massages waiting for us in Virginia (MN). I got Laura this package for a shower gift and she insisted on getting me the same for being her maid of honor. So, we treated each other and it was fabulous!

Laura and Ethan had their groom's dinner at the Whistling Bird--a Jamaican restaurant in the middle of Gilbert, MN a town of only about 3,000 people. We all really love the place. They have excellent food and a wonderful owner who always comes around to make sure everyone is having a good experience.

Troy and I shared the coconut shrimp and the jerked pork tenderloin which was wrapped in bacon. Yum. There were plenty of sweet potato fries to go around too. What a treat it was! Many thanks to Ethan's parents--the Coles!

Me and Troy

My brother Patrick and his girlfriend Sam

The Coles

Laura and Ethan

My mom and stepdad with Troy, Patrick and Sam.

It was a wonderful time but a little bit of an interesting negotiation. My mom and dad have hardly spoken in the last 27 + years that they have been divorced so I was worried about how things would go. I was pretty nervous and tense. At one point when Troy was taking a picture of me, Laura and our dad, my mom popped her head into the frame at the very last moment (we all had no idea until everyone started laughing hysterically behind us). Thanks for breaking the ice mom! We all had a really good laugh about this one and this is a priceless photo.

Later that evening my aunt and godmother Barb and her husband Hank joined us at the bar for a drink. They are really a lot of fun to hang out with. Do you see a slight resemblance between my mom and her sister?

Bachelorette Party!

Troy and I were very suspicious as we waited to board our very small plane last Thursday with a flight from Detroit to Duluth when a large group of people pre-boarded without an announcement. They all had ear pieces but weren't wearing the usual secret service agent suit and tie. They looked like they were trying to emulate northern Minnesotans, with flannel shirts and Carhart pants--one was sporting a McCalin/Palin ball cap (though the area largely supports the DFL). After landing in Duluth, we found out that seated two rows in front of us was none other than Todd Palin! Apparently he was doing a northern MN tour, trying to appeal to hunters and such. Crazy. I never knew what he looked like, but when I saw his picture in the local paper the next day I recognized him.

We were met at the airport by Troy's brother Casey and his wife Cassie--thanks to them for picking us up! We immediately headed for our favorite brewery--the Brewhouse for some beer and grub. I had some yummy wild rice soup and a pretty tasty apple beer.

Then Troy headed up north and I was left to spend some time with my good friend Courtney. Eventually Laura picked us up, we got dolled up, and headed out on the town for her bachelorette party.

We had a great crowd for the party. Our cousin Angel joined us, and Laura's friend Jen drove all the way down from Virginia. I provided a crown and sash that said "bachelorette." Those didn't last long, but Laura really enjoyed the large, blinking, "diamond" ring.


Two of Laura's colleagues in her social work program went all out, dressing up as "Pink Ladies." They got the party started at Carmody's Irish pub.

Then we moved to the Red Star martini bar, where we danced all night.

Me and my sista--looking a little bit buzzed up.

Laura really loved the Madonna glove that Tamara (one of the Pink Ladies) provided her with. She ended the night with a bang, crawling on the ground outside and singing "Like a Virgin" as loud as she could.
What an amazingly fun girls' party!!!

Wedding Blog

No time to really post right now, but here's the photographer's blog for a preview of pictures from my sister's wedding. http://kristi-blackbirdphotography.blogspot.com/

Anticipation

I've been excited and nervous over the past few days because we're leaving tomorrow to go home to MN for my sister's wedding. Travel always does this to me and so do big events. I always end up kind of depressed after they are done because inevitably they go by so fast! But the anticipation has been hard to take. We have a huge family and they really go all out at weddings so it should be a wonderful time. The final count for catering was 215 people but more will probably show up for the dance portion. The Maki's like to dance. We even have a family song that we all literally get down to. More on that later. Anyway, I'm going to really try to savor every moment.

The events start tomorrow night with a bachelorette party for Laura in Duluth that her friend Tamara and me have planned. No strippers, just a fun girls' night out with drinking and dancing. Friday my sister and I will head up north to get manicures and massages in Virginia. Then there will be the rehearsal and groom's dinner, and Saturday is the wedding. Troy and I fly back early Monday, so it will be a whirlwind but a really fun one.

Here are a couple of their engagement pictures. What a gorgeous couple!

It may be a while before I post again, so while I have a few minutes I'll post a couple of random pictures from last weekend.

I came up with a new recipe recently. It's a Spanish-style tortilla (kind of like a frittata) with potatoes layered on the bottom and then pesto, eggs, tomato, red pepper and Parmesan. The key ingredient to the flavor of the dish is an amazing, fresh, smoked mozzarella. Mmmmmm.... This picture doesn't really do it justice, I'll have to get some tips from our friend Vilde on taking close-ups with difficult lighting.

And here's a picture of Kyma waking from a nap in the sun. Oh to have a cat's life!

Surprising Seeds

A year or maybe two ago I got a handful of seeds from my friend Bekah. I swear she told me they were black-eyed Susans, which I love. Here's what I thought they would turn into.


Boy was I in for a surprise! I planted the seeds and they grew pretty quickly into voracious vines that twisted and turned and latched on to everything nearby. Thankfully, some of them happened to be planted next to our railing so that they had something to climb. Pretty soon they developed buds and then beautiful, purple flowers. They continue to grow and produce what look like purple peas and they are attracting all kinds of butterflies and even hummingbirds. Every so often though, I'm having to clear the vines from in front of the door because they keep threatening to take over. I guess they are some sort of ornamental pea but I'm still not sure if they are edible.

The positive thing is that everyone seems to like them. Our neighbor asked if she could have some of the pods for the seeds. I gave some seeds back to Bekah yesterday because she really liked them too, but she had been just as surprised as me at what her original seeds produced. In any case, I have plenty more seeds if anyone is interested.

Adorable Babies

It's been so much fun to see babies growing and learning. We have friends near and far with baby blogs that I love to follow to see what they are up to. I am really looking forward to seeing my stepsister Shelly's beautiful baby Amelia when we go home for my sister Laura's wedding in a couple of weeks.

We have some friends with adorable babies in Charlottesville and we've been doing some babysitting for them lately. We babysat one night last weekend for Peter and Jaimee so they could go out to dinner for their birthdays but it wasn't too eventful because Ian was already asleep when we got there. :( I was a little disappointed because he's such a cutie and he's at such a fun age--walking and talking. He's really amazing because now he can remember everyone's names too.

Today we watched Elsa (who just turned one) for a couple of hours. She loves music and bopping her head to the beat. And she's saying a number of words now--some over and over. One thing in particular that she loves to do is look up at you very cutely and shyly and quietly say "hi" over and over. We had a lot of fun playing with her, trying to teach her how to say "robot" and watching her eat a whole bunch of solid foods.

Here are a few adorable moments I captured while playing. I love the scrunched up face.

Remnants of Summer

Look what I found growing this week! Our two strawberry plants hardly produced all summer and all of a sudden they are starting to flourish. Yum! What a nice surprise!

Although this weekend is rainy and cooler, summer seems to have been hanging on in Virginia the past couple of weeks. Last weekend we met up with our good friend from MN Aaron and his girlfriend Angel (who happens to be a MN Rollergirl). They were staying at a condo in Williamsburg for the week so we met them on Friday night.

It's amazing to be able to pick up right where you left off with certain good, old friends. Time and distance evaporate for a while when you get back together. The distance part makes me kind of sad, but the visits are always spectacular.

Aaron brought a delicious blueberry mead to share with us. Here are Aaron, Angel and Troy tasting it.

We had a great time catching up--I hadn't seen Aaron since he visited us in Oregon 5 years ago so we had lots of catching up to do. Plus Troy and I wanted to hear all about roller derby from Angel. Finally, we all snuck into the hot tub and pool for a midnight swim. It was a lovely evening.

On Saturday we headed to First Landing State Park to camp for the night. We took a long walk on the beach and Aaron and Troy went swimming. Troy brought a growler of the beer we brewed especially for Aaron's visit. Mmmmmm....beer and beach.


I always love discovering interesting things in the sand. Here are a few pics from the walk.


Later we spent some time in Virginia Beach, walking on the boardwalk and feasting on seafood. And later still, we had a wonderful bonfire and drank some more beer.

We had probably an hour-long conversation about bacon--which was hilarious. Aaron and Angel are invited to a party next month where everyone has to bring a dish that involves bacon. We invented a huge number of interesting combinations--one that we would try after dinner on Sunday night--bourbon-pecan pie with a side of bacon. It was surprisingly tasty because the very sweet is balanced by the very salty.

The next morning our plan was to get up and go for a swim, drink some coffee on the beach and then go. But we soon learned that Troy had other plans, beginning with--big surprise here--beer drinking...


and eventually leading to bacon and eggs--which he combined with our leftover crab cake and hush puppy leftovers from the night before. I know, I know, it sounds totally disgusting, but somehow it worked!



It was such a nice day that we ended up staying most of it. We did eventually go swimming but the day also involved kite flying, sand sculpture-making and relaxing.