Mother's Day in Chicago

Have I mentioned two of my sister-in-law's are pregnant right now! Ya, double the fun! They are due two days apart. With that said I had the fabulous opportunity to spoil my own mother and mother-to-be Miss Jacki down in Chicago for mother's day :) I ordered a new print for our living room and "to save on shipping" thought it would be fun to go down to Chicago to pick it up and my mom and sister came along with me, kicking and screaming and so mad they were going of course! We shopped quite literally until we dropped! By the time we got to dinner we didn't care where we went, we hardly said a word to each other, stared at our food and all nearly fell asleep at the table!

Our real treat though was lunch at The Purple Pig- Cheese, Swine & Wine. It was a real cool concept, almost tapa's style. You all order a bunch of smaller dishes and share among everyone. The real interesting part is that you can order all at once or order as you go. As the chef makes the dishes they get brought out to the table, so everything comes in shifts. You spend as little or as much time there as you want. It was a ton of fun. Here is a sampling of our tastings. The asparagus salad was AMAZING!


Salt Roasted Beets with Whipped Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Vinaigrette


Braised baby Artichokes, Fingerling Potatoes, Asiago and Salami Toscana


Asparagus and Hazelnuts with Arugula and Treviso


Prosciutto Bread Balls


Eggplant Caponata and Goat Cheese


Milk Braised Pork Shoulder and Mashed Potatoes

A Moment in History

Where were you when.....

For our parents generation it was "Where were you when President Kennedy was shot?" or "Where were you when Princess Diana died?" Now I could answer that question for my parents because they were at home and I was asleep in bed. I can remember my mom walking me up to tell me Princess Di was in a car crash and then a short while later coming to tell me she had passed away. I was pretty young then so I didn't know much of who Princess Diana was or why we should care, but I remember.

It was a busy weekend for history...

Friday, April 29th - 2011
Princess Diana's eldest son and second heir to the thong of England married his long time girlfriend, a commoner, Kate Middleton. I think the fact she was a commoner created such overwhelming hype about the wedding. It's just like the fairy tails you read to the children. I on the other hand could give a ripe if she's a commoner or not, I'm just obsessed with weddings and this was for sure a biggy! I ask Chris all the time if I can get married again, much to my dismay, he tells me I can not. Bummer! When I was looking for my own wedding dress I had visions of Princess Grace Kelly dancing in my head. Unfortunately there were not many dresses out there that gave that look and feeling. Then of course Kate Middleton steps out of her Rolls Royce and BAM...Grace Kelly. The jealousy consumed me! Oh well.....maybe when I marry my second husband ;)

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - Prince William and Princess Catherine on their wedding day
Check out the similarities to Princess Grace's wedding dress....



So lastly....

Sunday, May 1st - 2011
Osama Bin Laden the mastermind behind the World Trade Centers attack was captured and killed by US Forces.

Where were we when the World Trade centers were attacked? I (Ashlee) was in my junior year of high school. I remember walking to physics class hearing a lot of buzz around the hallways. By the the time I got in class the teacher had the tv on and we are all watched in shock as the image below came up on the screen.



We were watching live as the second plane hit the second tower. The rest of the day was very somber and it seemed in every class the TV was on and that's all that was on the lesson plans that day, watch the news. I remember hearing reports that all major cities with prominent buildings should be on high alert and although I don't think Milwaukee was high enough on the list, it was enough to allow fear in our hearts.

Chris remembers living in his college home and getting ready for class that day. He passed through the living room and a friend told him their has been a plane crash in New York. He didn't think much of it until details started to unfold. He then remembers the fear everyone had that gas prices were going to rise over $12.00/gallon. Lines formed for blocks at every gas station. The raise in price never came, but the fear did.

President Bush declared a war on terrorism and no one will ever forget where they were and the hysteria the attacks caused. September 11th, 2001 the New York skyline was forever changed, a permanent reminder of the fear we had that day.




The man hunt and war on terrorism has continued now for 10 years. The capture and death of Osama Bin Laden has finally put to rest the soles of the over 3000 lost on 9/11 and of the many soldiers who went to war for this country to ensure that we are safe and never have to feel the fear we did that day.

Bin Laden's death is not the end of the story, but merely the end of a chapter.