A Little Tribute to the Diffleys!

On Saturday night Chef Paul cooked up some tasty Mexican food and his favorite bloody marys as we prepared to surprise our good friends Jim and Shelley Diffley with a little photofetti treat when they arrived for dinner at our house. Jim has always been quite intrigued by the photofetti product, confetti made out of photos (www.photofetti.com, now based nearby in Lakeville, MN), that we used at Paul's 40th Birthday as well as during our wedding festivities. It is a fun, unique way to decorate and add some fun pictures to any event! Jim and Shelley were both very surprised and we all had a few laughs at the pictures we chose to include. We had such a good time with Jim and Shelley at dinner that I forgot to take their picture, but I have included a older photo anyway (pictured Jim, Shelley, Anna and Marie)! We are also very excited to CONGRATULATE Jim and Shelley on their latest news---they are expecting their third baby this coming September!!!

Restaurant Week 2009!

Paul and I decided to partake in Restaurant Week this year and we highly recommend it to all our friends. Its a pretty simple concept...a number of the cities top restaurants come up with a special 3-course meal priced at $30/person (they do lunches as well, I think for $15/person). Some restaurants have choices and for others it is a fixed menu. First, we went to Masa last Sunday night with some of my work colleagues (pictured). A shout out thanks to Katie Sexe and Kevin Talbot for organizing the reservations. Paul and I thought the menu was very good, but both wished they had offered their yummy chocolate cake for the dessert course rather than the vanilla tres leches cake which was just "ok." Friday night we went with friends Julian and Dawn Janes to Ruth's Chris and it did not disappoint!! The menu choices were simple and pretty much flawless from my perspective. A fabulous Cesar salad to start, a main course of a petite fillet with grilled shrimp and finished off with fresh berries and chocolate mousse! Great wine pairings were also offered for each entree selection. I liked the Estancia Pino Grigio. We just may have to go back next year during restaurant week, if not before. As I write this I am unfortunately reminded that I have royally failed my 2009 New Year's resolultion to lose weight/get fit..oh well, there is always tomorrow right?

METRO's Fashion Fight Night III

On Saturday February 28th, I attended the third annual METRO Magazine Fashion Fight Night at the Upper Cut Boxing Gym in NE Minneapolis (very close to our house) with Jen Smith, a new JLM friend. Before hand, we had a great time at the W Lobby Bar sipping a cocktail and sampling the W's great small plates. At the event we ran into another friend, Laurie Dolan and the ladies from Corset Styling. The event was a lot of fun even though the fashion shows in between the fashion "fights" could have been better!