What's for Dinner?

I'm making this for dinner tonight. Just wanted to share this blog again... seriously everything I make from it has been delicious!

photo from www.skinnytaste.com

Happy cooking :)

Bachelorette Fun!

What a fun weekend we had celebrating our bride-to-be this weekend! We packed two cars full of girls, wine, food and Rico.

Rico welcomed Monica at O'hare... he was well received by all except Terminal 3.

We drove up to Door County, Wisconsin where we spent two days celebrating non-stop! We arrived late Friday night to Annie's house where the girls poured some wine (while I poured some lemonade) and we talked and talked till the wee hours of the morning -- yes even me!

Saturday was spent at the beach, frolicking around Door County and searching for the perfect cherry pie to bring home for dessert!

Upon returning to the house, we all changed into our comfy clothes, poured some more drinks and made our way to the patio where we sang to some music, showered Adrienne with some intimate apparel and gave her a scrapbook to remind her of how much she is loved!

And, of course, a party hasn't really started until there's some Catch Phrase!

Later that night, we all gathered in the kitchen to cook up a feast! It was pretty amazing how seven of us fit into the little kitchen and each took over a job. Our dinner was delicious, but the most fun part was the labor of love that went into cooking our meal together.

And, finally... the big night out. We rallied and took Rico out for a night on the town. And, what a night it was! Rico was a celebrity at the bar. I think we all laughed so hard that night, our stomachs hurt.

No idea who this guy is... but Rico seems to like him! 

All in all, it was such a fun weekend filled with good friends, tons of laughs and a whole lot of love! Can't wait for October when we get to watch the little bride become a wifey!

**pictures edited for appropriateness** :)

Up North

Rick and I made a last minute decision to visit his parents up north this weekend. We realized that our ability to go up north will soon be much more of a challenge once this summer is over, and we wanted to take advantage of spending some quality time with the grandparents-to-be (though technically they already have two fantastic grandsons!) We arrived at the cabin on Saturday afternoon and spent most of the weekend relaxing outside, watching the dogs play, reading books and catching up on our time apart from each other for the past several months. Because I can't take my insane cocktail of allergy and asthma medications, I stayed out of the cabin for the weekend enjoying the sunshine. It was truly a fantastic weekend spent with family.

To celebrate the Fourth, Rick and I picked up some fireworks in Indiana on our drive up to the cabin. Rick was like a kid in a candy store.

All the goodies we bought!

We waited for the sun to set by building a fire and making smores. Rick even got to use his boy scout skills and widdled down sticks for us to use! (I was quite impressed... the closest experience I have had, or would like to have, to Girl Scouts is going to summer camp which hardly qualifies as roughing it considering I managed to straighten my hair there each day!)

When the sun started to go down on the lake, Rick fired up his magic.

 

 

Impressive, right?

We will definitely remember this Fourth of July for a long time, and look forward to many more to come Up North!

Lots of celebrating!

This weekend was full of celebrations! I started off the weekend tipping my hat off (literally!) to one of my best friends -- Adrienne. It was her bridal shower, and what a shower it was! I don't have the pictures yet to post but imagine a Royal Wedding theme with big hats and fascinators, tea and scones and ladies lunching. We toasted our bride and watched her open presents that she will soon fill her new home with. It was such a beautiful afternoon spent with friends celebrating a beautiful woman! To give you an idea of what we looked like...

Then, later that afternoon we celebrated the return home of a dear friend who moved to Guatemala and came home for the summer.

Rick also got to break in his anniversary present -- a new grill. Our old grill was not holding up to all the demands we've been making of it lately. Rick did a great job as usual grilling up some good food for good friends.

And, then on Sunday Rick and I celebrated two years of marital bliss. (Well, okay, mostly bliss and sometimes chaos).  Thanks to Gena and her new fabulous celebrity life in LA, we received a free night at one of Chicago's posh hotels The Elysian. And, thanks to Adrienne and her sister, we were able to spend the whole afternoon and night out while Maizey played with Owen and had a sleepover with her favorite auntie.


We arrived at the hotel and Rick immediately checked out the bed. (He gave it a thumbs up!)

We then did lots of shopping on Michigan Ave. and pooped ourselves out. We came back and relaxed in our suite.

 Then, we got ready for dinner at Table 52 (Art Smith's restaurant -- he's Oprah's personal chef!) We got dressed up, and I even pulled out my wedding earrings to wear. I don't get to wear them often, but when I put them on, they remind me of the happiest day I can remember.

 We ate ourselves silly and talked about how quickly time has flown by. We recounted the events of the last two years and toasted to many more. Upon our return to the hotel, Rick continued the celebration by lighting up a cigar he'd received as a gift from a friend. We stepped out onto our very tiny balcony and enjoyed the lights of the city and cool breeze of the evening.

The hotel entrance: view from our balcony.

 I continued the celebrations by indulging in some room service. Brownie a la mode!

 And today, two years to the date that we said our vows, we woke up early (because we are Mathewses). We took our time waking up and turned on the morning news shows. Rick read his paper, and I enjoyed the company of Matt Lauer and Ann Curry.

We enjoyed some breakfast in bed, and then we were off to get started with our day.

It's hard to believe it's been two whole years. Life truly seems to be flying by, and I wish sometimes I could hit a pause button. Taking time to celebrate each other and reflect on our blessings is something we try hard to do often, though it can be a challenge in the craziness that our lives have become. And the craziness won't be winding down any time soon. We both couldn't help but think about how our lives are about to change, and how next year's anniversary will probably look quite different than the celebrations we were able to indulge in this year. Nevertheless, we can't wait to begin the adventure. (Okay, we can wait a tad longer... sleeping in was really nice!)

Happy anniversary, Rick!

Father's Day

For Rick.

Though technically, you're not a dad yet, it seems only natural to wish you a happy father's day. I get so excited thinking about you as a dad. I have so many fears and doubts about parenthood, but the minute I start to panic, I picture you with our little peanut and instantly, a smile appears on my face.

I know what an amazing dad you're going to be for so many reasons. You don't have one selfish bone in your body. The sparkle in your eye when you come home to your little family. The excitement and energy that bursts out of your pores when you're around Elliott, Reid and Izzy. The love you are not afraid of to show to everyone around you...all the time. Honestly, I'm still not sure what I did to deserve you as my partner in life, but I am so grateful and excited to share this journey with you. I can't wait to watch you fall in love with our little turkey.

Cheers to you, Daddy-to-be!

And to our own dads and grandads -- Happy, happy father's day to you. Thank you all for setting examples of what it means to be great dads. We're so lucky to have you as role models and teachers.

Happy Birthday, Izzy!

Izzy turned one this week and what a celebration we had! The whole Voticky/Friedman/Passman clan arrived in Chicago ready to party. We had a Friday night cook out at our place to kick off the weekend. No one could put Izzy down the whole night...we all just wanted to love on her non stop!

 And, Izzy was pretty happy to partake in the love fest!

On Saturday, Allie put together an over-the-top, heck-of-a-bash! It was an Izzy-fest full of food and love and tons of hugs and kisses.

 

It was such a fun weekend and we all had a blast celebrating our favorite little girl. Happy first birthday to the cutest little girl we know!

Summer Cookin'

One of the things I love most about summer (and there are too many to list!) is the energy and enthusiasm for cooking great meals that emerges from within. Something about the fresh summer produce, the smell of barbecues in the 'hood, and the sun staying out past 5 pm makes me itch to get in the kitchen.

While I generally try to cook at least three nights a week during the school year, I try my hardest to cook 5 nights a week during the summer. I have more time to plan meals and go to the grocery store. I am home and have more time to actually cook instead of spending my evenings in meetings or grading papers. Generally, it's just easier and way more fun to pretend I'm Betty Crocker from June-August.

Recently I came across this blog Gina's Skinny Recipes and have bookmarked at least twenty of her recipes. They all look so delicious and she even calculates the Weight Watchers points for those of you who are counting! Tonight, I attempted to make these and they turned out delicious. I used Vodka sauce instead of marinara because that's all I had on hand, but these will definitely make it on the Mathews rotation! Hope you find some recipes to try out this summer, too!

Oh,  and if you're looking at the time stamp on this post -- no judgment. School's not out for 4 more days, so I'm allowed to eat the early bird special until Saturday. After that, you may judge away!