A Wonderful time in North Carolina

My amazing sister and friends bought me a ticket to Asheville, NC to visit my friend David Carmona.  David and I have been friends since Sixth Grade, and he lives on Stone Mountain in Black Mountain, NC with his beautiful wife, Ema, and three amazing children, Noah, Nimuae and Gita.  And their awesome dog Atticus.  And goats, chickens, spring water, and his brother Alex and his wife Kelcey next door.  What an experience and such a wonderful time.  Bill came with me, which was wonderful, and we honestly had such an amazing time.  We ate tons of awesome food, hiked, visited Asheville, hiked some more, fished, went to a crazy Farm House party and hung out with beautiful, skinny, like minded super nice people.  So many beautiful people.  It was awesome.

April is Alright by me!

Thus far, April has been the best month for me in 2010.  I hate to jinx anything, its only being April 7th, but so far for this month, I'm super excited to be nominated for the board chair of the student division for Women In Film Chicago.  Its such an honor and I am so excited to be on the board - I would be encouraging students from all colleges with film programs to be involved, to network, and make their film experience better for them as individuals.  And 1 million more things!

Secondly, it was my 32nd birthday.  Wow - 32.  I can't believe its already happened!  I had Friday off (for Good Friday - April 2 - and I had a wonderful day with Mackie going to JAM for breakfast, off to get our nails done, and of course a tad of Shopping!
Then we went to Resi's Bierstube.  Pictures to follow!

Third - its finally Spring time and we mulched the hell out of our yard.  It looks so awesome!

Lastly, tomorrow we are flying to visit the Mighty Carmona Family!  I can't believe it until I'm there!

Oh St. Patrick's Day. The Saturday before.

I guess Mary-Frances is the recent blog post theme, because she equats St. Patrick's Day up there with her birthday!  I love that we skip the parade, and go on to watch the river be dyed that random neon green, and start with coffee and move on to lunch.  This year we were down in physical numbers, but we had a great time.  Pictures follow after the jump!

Mary-Frances is Getting Married!!!

One of my best friends in the world is getting married on November 19, 2010.  Mary-Frances and Jeff have been together for quite a few years now, and he popped the question in December.  Mackie and I are Co-Maids-of-Honor, or as Mary's family likes to call me Matron of Honor.  I understand that I'm married, but Matron just seems OLD.  Regardless, I'm done fighting with the ladies, so I'll be the Matron of Honor.  So, these pictures are from the beautiful engagement party that Aunt Mari-Jo threw for Mary-Frances and Jeff.  They got tons of presents and there were so many people there to celebrate!

Mrs. Brady and Aunt Lu gave them Irish Crystal Toasting Glasses.

Mary-Frances, Jeff, Aunt Lu + Mrs. Brady

And Kathleen kept jumping in the photo!

The beautiful cake that was made by Mary's aunt.  It was like a mini wedding cake!

And they got to practice cutting - Mary is so cute here!

And the baker - amazing, huh?

Julie is Cooking Part Cinq

Thanks to Rachel, I made one hella a sandwich. You know when you really just need a really great sandwich?  Well - welcome to the Julie Caprese!  I went on a grocery shopping spree and the greatest grocery store ever, Caputo's  and I got lots of fresh veggies, cheese, bread and irresistible Italian Pesto.

Pictures after the jump!

This house!

Ok - this is it: I really, really want this and we can afford it! Maybe!

Julie is Cooking Part Quatre

So heading back into the kitchen, we decided to do an "International" dinner night with John + Kadima.  They were coming over for Greek, and soon we will be dining at their house for Chinese.
Somehow dinner turned into a party, but above all the food was good. I just wish I remembered to photograph all the food!  DUH! I made Hummus (my recipe is way better) - amazingly delicious -, Chicken + Beef Soulvaki, grilled veggies and Tzatziki.
Yummy photos after the jump!