We Made Bagels!!

This afternoon, Nancy had the girls over to learn how to make bagels! We all brought something to eat. I made corn and black bean salsa:

Summer made fruit sushi!

Summer also made me a delicious Pink Panther.

Yumi made this roasted vegetable and goat cheese terrine! So fancy!

Suzanne made a key lime cheesecake with chocolate cookie crust. SO GOOD.

Nancy prepared two different batches of dough for the bagel event. One batch of dough rose overnight in the fridge:

The other one was made that day. Summer begins to roll the dough out into balls.

Valerie puts the bagel holes in the centers of the bagels!

The overnight dough batch, after we plopped them in boiling water, but before we baked them.

Golden and delicious, after baking!

Valerie brought that delicious salad. It had asparagus! Mmm. The bagels were FANTASTIC.

I had half of my bagel with cream cheese and salmon, and the other half with roast beef and cheddar! And horseradish, of course.

After we ate tons of bagels, we went out into the glorious sunshine to play Euchre!

So sunny and nice!

Darts with Julie and Suzanne

Ben and I went to Tony's tonight to play some darts with Suzanne and her friend Julie! It was a very close game, but Suz and Julie won. Here are their Victory Shots:

V for Victory! Hahaha.

Salad and Lamb!

Mom and Dad had us over tonight, because Pete's dad Harry was in town! The salad was so pretty, Dad suggested I take a picture! Mmm. It was an AWESOME salad.

The lamb was incredible too!

Tortuga Beat-'Em Up!

Tonight, there was a birthday party for Atira out at her place! The main event was to be a turtle piñata made by Nicole. I thought, "Cool! A piñata!" but then I SAW IT. It was the most incredible piñata EVER! It was HUGE! And so realistic! Also, there was a delicious potluck spread, and an amazing birthday cake made by Aysha. Happy birthday Atira, INDEED!



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First Cookout of the Season, A.K.A. Gina Geremia's Springtime Meatfest!

The weather this weekend was AMAZING. There was abundant sunshine and temperatures in the high seventies all weekend long. When the first batch of amazing weekend weather hits, there's no better way to celebrate by ending the weekend with a cookout. So cook out we did! Gina had a bunch of us over for some grilled meat, and we played Cornhole and also ate cake! WELCOME, SPRING! I LOVE YOU!



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Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy

I always look forward with much anticipation to the release of Leinenkugel's seasonal beers. This summer, I heard they were releasing one called "Summer Shandy," which was a LEMONADE FLAVORED Weiss beer. Weiss beer is my FAVORITE, and so is lemonade. I jumped for joy when I found it at the local BP station.

IT IS DELICOIUS!! I was not disappointed ONE bit. It was possibly MORE delicious than I had hoped for!

And as usual, the caps were adorable. Go, Leinies!

We also picked up a six of this Spring Heat Spiced Wheat, and it also was delicious. They were good together, too!

Skeletonwitch

Tonight, Ben and I went to the Blue Gator to see Skeletonwitch play. It was my first Skeletonwitch show, and it was SOOO GOOOOD!!! I have heard from a billion people that even if you're not into metal, you can't help but LOVE Skeletonwitch, and it's true!

It was also my first Kittenfister show, and they were awesome as well:

Tons of people wanted Unicorn Pegasuses! It was Kate's birthday. Happy birthday, Kate!

Cathleen!

Kate and Cat!

Rose!

Carrie!

Andrea:

SKELETONWITCH!

The End! Worship the Witch!

Crystalicious

Tonight we went to the Crystal to play cards. We hadn't been in awhile, and those Sunset Wheats sure tasted delicious! Gina got a unicorn pegasus!

And somehow this artsy, long-shaped picture of Ben ended up on the camera.

It was a Crystalicious night!

Charlie Turns Around

Charlie spends a lot of time sitting on the windowsill in the living room. I have noticed that when I go over to pet him, if he's facing the other direction and has to turn around, he does the STRANGEST thing in order to do so! You have to watch it to believe it. He truly is a weird little guy:

Happy Easter!

Yay!!! Easter!! Easter is my favorite because of the bunnies. Ben made me an easter basket for a surprise!! Look how CUTE!:

Mom and Dad had us over for dinner. We sampled this delicious beer. It was super orangey and light tasting!

Pork in mustard sauce, mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus. Yum!

Mom made chocolate vanilla angel food cake for dessert! Paired with strawberry ice cream, it was a Neopolitan delight!

Springtime Dance Party!

Ben picked me up from the airport tonight. We decided that we would celebrate my return by heading to Moss's for a springtime dance party! After all, it was Easter Eve and there is no better time to wear your bunny suit, right?



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Hahah, Marseille emailed me this picture of Ben, Vana and I in the kitchen and it made me laugh a lot so I have to add it:

Conference in Seattle!

Our NBIA conference was in Seattle this year. FUN! It was the usual routine, work our butts off all day, then go out for dinner at night! I ate a lot of fish. The best part was that after it was over, I stayed two extra nights to see friends! It was a great trip. I was super excited to come home afterwards though, a week is a long time!



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