family, friends, and fun

Hey All! It's me again. You know, the blogger you tend to hear from a little more often. At least you used to hear from me more often. Brenda has been picking up the slack lately and doing a fantastic job of it. Her blog help has allowed me to focus on my homework. Or at least that's what I've told her. She didn't volunteer to write the blog entry this week so maybe she's realizing that law school isn't all that hard after all, and I've just been trying to get out of my blog duties. Or maybe she'd rather take full advantage of her time in Minnesota with Drew. If you ask me, twin time trumps homework any day of the week.

After our very relaxing and very wintery spring break, Brenda and I returned to Appleton for a couple of days to spend time with her parents. We had a wonderful time with them, as we always do. We played Bananagrams, Brenda and her mom went dress shopping, Jim and I hung out at a coffee shop, and we all went for a hike in the woods.

 Brenda and her dad walking in the forest.

After leaving her parents' house, Brenda and I headed up to Minnesota to see her twin. We had a great time - it's a well known fact that Drew is awesome - but unfortunately I had to leave after two nights. However, Brenda got to stay a few days longer. A particular highlight from our weekend was getting to see our friends, Dan and Whitney. Whitney moved to Japan last summer to teach English as a part of the JET program, and this is her first trip back to the US since then. She seems to be enjoying her time over there, and both she and Dan are looking forward to him going over for around six months beginning this summer.

Happy twins. 

 Drew playing pinball at a retro arcade.

 Drew and I facing off in a game of Joust. Apparently I take retro gaming seriously.

 A bag of delicious Japanese KitKats that Whitney brought back for us. Yum!

That pretty much sums up last week. This week will involve a change of scenery for Brenda. She's off to Ann Arbor tomorrow to begin rehearsals for a performance she has next week. I'll tell you all about it next time. Until then, have a great week!

Spring (or is it Winter?) break!

Hi everybody! It's SPRING BREAK!!!! Instead of retreating somewhere with copious amounts of sunshine and warmth, we embraced winter's lingering grip on the Midwest and headed up to Door County, WI. There was a beautiful blanket of snow on the ground, and we got even more snow while we were up there! It was easy to stay warm and cozy in our beautiful bed and breakfast, the Blacksmith Inn. We took lots of pictures, and figured a picture is worth a thousand words, so get ready for the photo tour. 

A view of our room for 4 nights. To the left of the fireplace is our big balcony which has a great view of the harbor. 

In Potawatomi State Park, about to go hiking through the snowy woods! 

Up at the top of the hill on our first hike. It used to be a ski hill, and there were Boy Scouts sledding down the very steep hill.

We went to a glass blower's studio, where he gave us a little demonstration and tour, as well as this little souvenir piggy! The pig then helped us enjoy a beautiful sunset.

The biggest snowman we have ever seen. It was seriously at least 12 feet tall. At least they made it a friendly snow giant!

A typical breakfast at the inn, which always includes different freshly baked muffins!

We started a snowshoeing outing at Peninsula State Park by their nature center, and were greeted by lots of very friendly birds!

More birds! So cute!

One of the many amazing views in Peninsula State Park.

We embraced our inner child and went sledding with sleds provided by the inn. It was harder than we remembered!

So far so good...

But all the runs ended like this!

Rolling to a stop seemed easiest...

Getting up in style, despite a most spectacular tumble!

Snowshoeing out onto the lake after a fresh snowfall. We were trailblazers!

Chad's favorite event: walking up to the top of the Eagle Tower. We almost didn't do it, but it's not a trip to Door County unless I make Chad cry.

The view at sunset from our balcony in the inn. 

So there you have it! It was a truly wonderful vacation, full of fun and relaxation. Oh, and food. I suppose I didn't mention the food, but there sure was a lot of it. Really tasty food. Time to return to reality and calorie counting! Have a great week! 

the new status quo

Uh oh, how many times do they say you have to do something before it becomes a habit? Let me ask the internet. Hmm, some say that it takes three weeks! Well, it's the third week in a row that I've written the blog, so I guess I've formed a new habit! Don't worry, I'll let Chad take over blog duties someday. Probably next week, since he'll be on spring break! We're heading to Door County for four nights of relaxation, meaning no studying or practicing music allowed! Just eating lots of Swedish pancakes. 

This past week was pretty much like the week before, except we went to Chad's parents' home for the weekend. It was wonderful to see them as always! We went to a very fun zombie movie called Warm Bodies. It's a humorous take on the typical zombie movie, but it's so well done that it actually ended up being touching as well! Oh, and that reminds me. Here's a little grammar lesson for you all, since Chad talks about this subject often since starting law school. Apparently using passive voice in law papers is the worst thing you can do, and I just learned a neat trick how to identify passive voice. If you can add "by zombies" after the sentence, it's the dreaded passive voice! Example: My brains were eaten (by zombies). OR: Zombies ate my brains (by zombies -- nope!). Isn't learning fun?

On Sunday Chad and I sang a duet at his parents' church. It was great to sing together again! Afterwards we went out to lunch with his brother and our nephews. The eldest nephew kept making jokes about how old Chad is, which I enjoyed probably more than Chad did. I mean, he IS really old. Like, way older than me. 

Sunday was also our sixth anniversary! We went back to Iowa City that night and enjoyed a delicious meal at Devotay, a tapas restaurant and bar. We have also been watching the HBO show Game of Thrones that Chad bought me for Christmas, so we watched a couple episodes of that. Pretty quiet day, but awesome. The nice about being married to Chad is that every day with him is awesome. 

Us on our anniversary at Chad's parents' home!

The beginning of the week has been pretty standard, with Chad studying and me practicing Milhaud, but because we went on a longer run today at the gym, we treated ourselves to a new restaurant experience! The restaurant is called The Trumpet Blossom Cafe, and it's completely vegan! Normally we don't eat vegan (this Wisconsin girl loves her cheese!), but to go to a restaurant in which I can eat everything on the menu is a pretty amazing thing! This restaurant is the new version of The Red Avocado, a vegetarian restaurant that closed over a year ago due to the demolition of their building (mean landlord!!) and we are thrilled that they opened a new restaurant! The food was soo tasty and they have a great selection of beers as well! We will definitely be going back to this place!

Well, Chad has finished his homework, and it's time to watch the last episode of Game of Thrones, so I'll end it there! Have a wonderful week!

domestic goddess

Hi everybody! Whoa, a Brenda Blog two weeks in a row? Chad must have a law school presentation coming up! I've been in Iowa for almost a week, enjoying what was supposed to be a vacation, but has turned into a music learning frenzy. Well, frenzy is too strong of a word. I still have time to do normal things, like go to the University's fitness center (I even got to go for a swim in their wonderful pool!), cook, clean, and we even went to a movie on Sunday! Chad and I felt very young at the theater, since we were the only ones watching without white hair. We saw the movie Quartet (we're huge suckers for Maggie Smith), and enjoyed seeing what my retirement will apparently look like.
I mentioned a music learning frenzy earlier. Let me explain. I thought I would have some time off now until a concert in mid-April, but a friend of mine called me last week and asked if I might be interested in taking her place for a concert/recording gig. I suppose I like to stress myself out, so I said yes! The piece is by Darius Milhaud, a French composer who was active in the early to mid 20th century. I had sung some songs by him during my time at Juilliard, so I figured I knew what I was getting into. However, this piece is way harder than those songs I sang! Perhaps there's a reason it's never been performed in its entirety. I love a good challenge, and I actually find the music to be really interesting, so I'm excited for this opportunity! Plus, the concert is in the Midwest! I'll be heading back to Ann Arbor, MI at the end of March to start rehearsals. We'll keep you updated on the recording!

The music that keeps me busy for hours while Chad's in class!

I've been doing a little cooking, and experimented with kale the other night. The result was fantastic! I know my parents have been into kale lately, but Chad's parents OD'ed on kale last summer and never found a tasty way to eat it, so I think I'll have to try and recreate this dish for them! I sautéed it with olive oil and slices of garlic, then mixed it with lentils, sautéed onions, carrots and red peppers, and finished it with goat cheese crumbles. Delicious and oh so healthy!! A glass or two of red wine certainly didn't hurt as well...

The kale yumminess! 

Of course, when you cook, you make a big ol' mess. Chad and I normally have a great system (I cook, he cleans, or he cooks, he cleans! Ha!) but because it's a busy week in school for him, I took one for the team and cooked AND cleaned this time. Boy, do I miss our dishwasher in Frankfurt!

The pile of clean dishes! And a large container of raw cane sugar. Don't ask. 

Well, I think Chad is ready to stop studying for the night, so I shall bid you all good night! Have a wonderful week!