Erica and Dan's Wedding!

We were fortunate to attend 4 weddings this summer! Erica and Dan (above) had a huge, traditional church wedding, followed by a lovely reception with all the bells and whistles.  Erica has a huge family, and I think they were all there!  Dan is the brother of Matt, who is my daughter, Emily's, boyfriend. Dan and Matt have a very small family, and because of that, we were treated like family all day.  We sat in the second row in the church, right behind Dan and Matt's dad and uncles.

Matt was Dan's best man, and did a great job.  Emily looked stunning her her deep teal lacy dress - and I can't believe it but I helped her do her hair! The wedding planner at the church said she got the "best dressed" award for the day. Incidentally, they are both beautiful inside, too. :)

Not a great picture, I know, but this was Matt delivering his Best Man speech.  He spent a lot of time writing it - it was really personal and meaningful.  You can see how lovely the room was, too.  And as "family members", we were right by the head table, too!

Emily and Scott, looking cute!

Matt and me, right after we shared a special dance.
It was a great day!

Beautiful Wedding...on a Budget, and in a few weeks!

It CAN be done! The groom, Stuart, is the son of dear friends, and he is also a former piano student of mine.  Stu met his love, Tatjana, while they were both working on a cruise ship on the Mediterrean Sea.  A long-distance romance continued after the cruise job was over, they got engaged, and were married in just a few weeks' time! Tatjana is from Croatia, so there were immigration issues, and time was a factor. Bottom line is - you CAN throw a perfectly lovely backyard wedding, on a budget, on short notice.  Love their sweet flower girl, throwing rose petals, leading in the bride and groom.

The happy couple, coming down the aisle to get married.  They had white chairs and white tents set up, which was a good thing - it was a slightly cool, drizzly day, but no one seemed to mind.  It was such a happy day!

They exchanged their vows under another white tent, complete with the candle lighting ceremony.  A couple things you could not see:  the wedding was being skyped to her family in Croatia (there's a laptop on a table just to the right in the picture), and there was beautiful, live jazz music being played throughout the day, by a jazz combo just inside the house.  Stu is a professional jazz musician, so we were treated to great music.
A friend/neighbor catered the event with delicious food, the wine was flowing, smiles all around.  Congratulations Stu and Tatjana!

Fall recital, fall color, comfort food

Look at that concentration! I tried something new with my students - a piano trio! The girls played "Agent 003", as in secret agents...get it? Left to right, Katherine, Emery, and Ella.

We thought it would be fun if the girls dressed the part - they looked awesome, and sounded even better! So proud of them, and all of my students!

The colors this past week have been just spectacular, especially the reds.  I grabbed some of our maple leaves on the way to work, to enjoy during the day. 

Scott tried a new recipe the other day for pork tenderloin with apples (find the recipe here). It looked beautiful, and it turned out really juicy and delicious. I would definitely try this recipe again - but next time, we'll have the mustard-y sauce on the side.   

Open House Chicago 2013 part 2

Chicago is a beautiful city! Look at that gorgeous skyline, from Lake Shore Drive! Lake Michigan, our "ocean", is just to the left of the road (past the beach). 

We chose to visit the historic Green Mill Lounge, in the Uptown area.  It is still used as one of the premier jazz performance venues in the city - and it popular with many of the mob figures back in the 1930s. 

Even though they will use this night club, it still looks much the same as it did 80 years ago.  

There are now modern townhouses in the Prairie Avenue neighborhood, but they are built in period style.  It was a beautiful, sunny day - perfect to appreciate the autumn colors.

Next, we were excited to visit the Prairie Avenue district, which is just south of The Loop (downtown Chicago).  Above is the Wheeler Mansion, one of the oldest homes in all of Chicago. It is now a boutique hotel.

You would certainly have sweet dreams in a room like this! The down comforter was so fluffy soft and thick, and every bedroom had a fireplace.  So peaceful and lovely!

Open House Chicago 2013

Scott and I had a great weekend exploring different neighborhoods of Chicago as part of Open House Chicago. Over 150 locations were open to visit, free of charge, so of course we said "let's go!"  Our first stop was the KAM Israel synagogue in the Hyde Park neighborhood.  And right across the street - is the family home of Barack Obama!  It would have been even more exciting if we could actually see it!  It is heavily landscaped, and - of course - had lots of security. (no picture taking allowed, for example)

Then we headed further south to the Pullman neighborhood.  This was a planned community from the 1800s, for the employees of the Pullman train car factory.  Those homes are now attractive townhomes. 

Also in the Pullman neighborhood - the Greenstone Methodist church. 

We resumed our touring on Sunday, in the Uptown area, at the Broadway Bank.  It had the most amazing, elegant lobby.  Look at the detail on those lamps!

And look at the size of that safe! You have to go inside to access your safe deposit box.  And - this safe was used in the 2009 movie "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp.

Although touring Chicago was fun, the real highlight of the weekend was having Emily and Matt home (from Boston) for the weekend! They came home not just to see us, but also to attend the Notre Dame football game (Matt is an alum).  Love those cuties!

Hexies can be fun?

I don't do handwork.  Oh, I know how to do handwork...I can hand piece, hand quilt, embroider, I can do all of that.  But - for the most part, I don't do any of that anymore.

So why now, am I paper-piecing hexagons?

Well - we took a looong (did I say, long? about 1200 miles!) car trip this month - and I needed a car project!
I didn't have any quilts needing binding, nothing ready to hand quilt (I DO know how to do that!) - so I gathered some scraps, assembled a quick sewing kit, printed out some sheets of hexagons (thank you google) - and voila, instant car sewing project!

Simple, really...cut a squarish scrap, trim to a hex shape leaving about 1/4" margins.  Fold edges around the hexie paper, and thread baste the edges around, folding the corners neatly as you go. 

What will I use them for? A pillow? Small quilt? Or something else? Truth is, I have no idea.  But, it's fun!

Autumn on the farm!

Autumn on the farm! Just took a quick trip home to Minnesota, and stopped at the family farm (my grandparents used to live there, and now my aunt and uncle live there) in Wisconsin on the way home.  How picturesque is this? The sky was so blue and clear, and the air smelled so good!

My aunt Marilyn is an excellent cook, and she made us a scrumptious lunch - all homemade:  pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, tuna macaroni salad, sliced tomatoes from the garden, and...

...the world's best apple pie for dessert.  I make pies, so I am picky - and this was tremendous!  She used apples from their tree (see above, aren't they beautiful?), and a new recipe to me - you can find it here.  You make it in a skillet, and it has a caramel-like layer under this heavenly pie.  Yummmm!

Nobody uses the farm buildings anymore, except for storage.  They rent out the pastures to other farmers in the area.

Hard to see here, but we enjoyed seeing a variety of songbirds eating at their bird feeder.  Gordy had to repair the feeder a couple of times, due to damage from the bears!  This is the view from their window, so beautiful.

So glad we were able to stop for a visit:  Gordy (my dad's brother), Marilyn, and me.   Autumn in Wisconsin is beautiful!