God's Country

Here's a shot to make your mouth water... wish you were here!



(View from Keystone's Outback lift- Lake Dillon in the foreground. February 26, 2007)

Two true inspiring women

Kyle and I got married May 19th, 2007. Not only did that Day In May mark the beginning of the rest of our lives, but it was also the day I made a wonderful friend. Jen Kroll and I met via the web when I was searching for a wedding photographer. After endless hours of web surfing I came across her site and was immediately taken. You could tell by looking at examples of her work that she was an amazingly strong, loving and faith driven women. And her photos...they were simply breathtaking. At that moment I knew that she was the one who was going to create the most lasting and precious memories of our wedding.

Jen, her husband and two adorable boys Ethan and Carter live in Grand Rapids, about two hours south of Traverse City and this past January my mom and I ventured down to her studio to look at our wedding album. Since that day in May was so chaotic my mom and I didn't really spend time with one another a whole lot. After looking through our photos we did not have a single "portrait" of the two of us! (I know, how could a daughter do that to the one who gave her life? It wasn't intentional and neither of us really thought about it at the time.) When we got to Jen's studio she graciously took a couple pictures of us to add to the wedding album! Here are samples of the pictures and a link to Jen's blog where they were originally posted.

Thank you Mom for being such a good sport! And thanks to you Jen for being such a kind friend and for these lasting memories!

Go west young man, haven't you been told...

...Colorado has the best snow in North America! Yes my friends Kyle and I are leaving town this coming weekend for cleaner air, bigger skies and hundreds of inches of perfect powder! Not only are we totally excited to hit the slopes but we are traveling with two dear friends Chris and Christina Mazzola... I hope I see more of her alter-ego "Tina" over the week! And to top it off, like a cherry on top, we'll visit with a few of our other best friends in Denver- Melissa and Nick (the newly engaged couple) and Karla, aka: Charla, from Austin, Texas.

This is me, Kyle, Chris and Tina (yep, she was there!) in downtown Traverse City at Amical this past Christmas.

Just picture this same crowd huddled around a small bistro table at the base of a 14,000 ft mountain draped in the Rockies' sun sipping some fine CO Avery beer! Can you vision it? Me too!! Maybe I'll post from Colorado but no promises. If the snow's that great we may never come home!

Ice Storm

Here are a few pictures I took this afternoon at our home. I woke up to rain this morning and thought for sure all our snow would be gone, and it would be 40 degrees outside- that's happened twice already this winter. Much to my dismay it was 28 degrees and Traverse City was a giant popsicle! Even though this made travel virtually impossible at speeds over 10 mph the scenery was breathtaking. Enjoy the pictures and Happy Sunday!

These little blooms are from one of our birch trees. They are encapsulated in ice, like a caterpillar in a cocoon.


The rhododendron plant buds out early getting ready for spring. I think the resemble tiny dancers (not Tony Danza's)!


Finally one of our white pines was dressed to the nines with Mother Nature's tinsel! The temperature was warming when I took this picture and the heavier pieces of ice had started to fall sounding like breaking glass.

Happy Valentine's Day

For women everywhere this day marks the celebration of everything we love... chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate! I'm not your typical Valentine. I enjoy sending cards to people I love with special touches but I don't understand all the fuss. Yes, that's right, you heard it... fuss. In elementary school Valentine's day was about getting lots of candy, having a party and hoping that your classroom crush would give you a valentine. Not much has changed since those days, we replace the candy with jewelry and the party with a nice romantic dinner but the crush stays the same. I wish instead of gifts we'd remember to tell people how much they mean to us and how much we love them.

I'll admit, I love presents but what makes Valentine's day so great is that our love is our gift! Sure, I'll gladly accept a box of Godiva truffles and a night on the town but it's expected on Valentine's day. Save the gifts for a "just because" day and shower your loved ones with verbal praise! (That sounded a bit like an infomercial!) Kyle and I didn't shop for treasures this year. We spent all day together watching movies and relaxing. His gift to me was making my favorite breakfast food, waffles. And my gift to him was splurging at our favorite burger joint, Don's Drive-In for lunch... a great $22.00 well spent!

Now I don't want to be pegged as a hypocrite, I never said anything negative about dining out for the holiday. Just remember, burgers and shakes are just as exciting as filet mignon and tiramisu. And as Christina said, "it's a day we don't have to do the dishes!"

I hope your Valentine's Day was everything you imagined and remember to tell everyone in your life how important they are! xoxoxoxo...

We love cake!

Happy 28 candles to Kyle! As exciting as his actual day of birth is we were all slightly more excited after biting into this monstrous cake from Celebrations Cake Design in Traverse City to cap off the celebration. The chocolate butter cream cake filled with fresh raspberry mousse was delectable. Lisa made our wedding cupcakes and cake and once we had a bite at our tasting we knew we would be developing a great relationship centered around celebrations and her wonderful confectionery treats. Happy Birthday Kyle and thanks Lisa for the yummy dessert!

22 pounds of meat

As a newlywed I am learning new things all the time about my husband, as I am sure he would say the same thing about me. My routine phone call home to him after work on Thursday was a learning experience unlike any other. Attention all Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, vacuum and knife salesman... MU HUSBAND WILL BY ANYTHING IF YOU COME TO HIM! Apparently our neighbors buy meat from a company similar to Omaha Steaks. After the salesman visited their house he decided to swing through the rest of the neighborhood and to try and sell the rest of his meat. His first stop... our house. After a brief exchange my push-over of a husband Kyle bought $144 worth of meat! This also equates to 22 lbs of beef! Granted he did get a good deal and he saved gas money by not driving to the store but now our freezer looks like a meat locker.

Moral of the story: Wives, never leave your red-meat deprived husband home along with a check book!

Shorty in Chicago

This past holiday season two of my best friends got engaged to their boyfriends within 24 hours of each other. Melissa and her fiance' Nick were celebrating their dating anniversary in Denver while looking for houses (they've recently relocated west from Madison) and Nick surprised her after dinner on a romantic walk in front of the capital building. Meanwhile, Lindsey and her fiance' Nick (funny huh!) were getting ready to head to Chicago for some Christmas shopping and relaxing weekend away from the chaos of Ann Arbor. Melissa called with the big news Friday around 10:30pm and Lindsey called Saturday around 3:15pm.

What's the point of this story aside from the excitement? I was going through pictures on my computer from Christina's wedding (yep- the waffle maker Christina) and found an hilarious picture of why bachelorette parties are so much more than a right of passage... they are a life changing event... well for this guy it was!



This is Melissa and our friend "Shorty." During Christina's bachelorette party in Chicago we were at a bar called the Hangge Upp on Rush & Division. We were all having a good time, dancing and embarassing Christina then Shorty showed up in the middle of us. Melissa and I are taller than average and love wearing heels, so not only was Shorty short, but he was extremely vertically challenged next to us! Mel, being the good spirit she is, opted to take a picture with Shorty who about jumped out of his skin when he heard the news... hence the captions. All part of the bachelorette party experience!

Melissa and Lindsey, here's to you and your wild parties! And to Shorty, we're eternally great full for the wonderful memory!

Breakfast shmeakfast

Recent commercials and advertisements have stressed what our parents have told us since day one... well really not day one but at least since we were old enough to eat solid food. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I'll be the first to admit it, I love breakfast food. I could have eggs, pancakes, waffles, omelettes, hash browns any time, many times, through out the day. When Kyle and I were completing our wedding registry I had lots of fun finding great gadgets and gizmos for this particular meal. Our greatest find (gift we recieved) was from my dearest Christina. One whom I've spent many a Saturday and Sunday mornings with eating one of life's simplest and sweetest indulgences... WAFFLES! Our wonderful Cuisinart Belgian 4-slice Waffle Iron does everything except for putting on the butter and the syrup. To our dismay, they have since discontinued the model however if you visit the Cuisinart Web Store they still have a few left!


Waffles date back to Medieval times where thin wafers were cooked between two irons connected by a hinge and each having a wooden arm. These irons were decorated with a family crest or a rural landscape. The modern waffle iron was not invented until the 20th century and they certainly do not have the pizazz of the ancient irons! There is extensive history for the waffle and lots of internet experts on the delicious breakfast treat. Try googling "waffles" and you'll see what I mean!

For an interesting take on "street vendor food" visit this link and watch the video! Red Rooster Waffles has taken the waffle to a whole new level! They could be popping up in a city near you!

What's the purpose of this post? To inspire all you children at heart to break out those waffle irons, whip up some batter, heat the up griddle and ladle on the syrup! I wanted to share the joy of one of my favorite breakfast foods and pay a small, yet well deserved tribute to the waffle.

Herbal remedy

My nightly ritual involves relaxing with my sweetie, American Idol or Grey's Anatomy, a cuddly blanket and a soothing glass of hot tea. Thanks to my mom I found Yogi Tea. I know, isn't the name great! The coolest part about the tea is the paper tag at the end of the string attached to the tea bag... there is a daily mantra. I was so inspired by them I took a few pictures to share with you.

Here are few of my favorite messages! Happy Steeping!

This is my favorite tea mug with a great message.


Here's another great message with one of our wedding pictures.