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!

A Visit with Geri and Baby Brody!

I am so excited that I made it out to Plymouth this Sunday to visit my friend Geri Datus-Ward and to meet her new pride and joy, baby Brody. What a cutie he is!! He was so sweet and slept almost the entire hour I held him. It was especially cute when he would fight to keep his eyes open to see what's going on. A sure sign he'll be a social butterfly like his mom! (well, maybe more masculine than a butterfly, but you get the picture) ;-) Brody is simply precious! I can't wait to see how he changes and grows.

Welcome Annaleigh Janes!

Congratulations to our friends Julian and Dawn Janes on the arrival of darling baby Annaleigh (pictured at 4 weeks)! Annaleigh joins big brothers Alex and Kyle.

Best of the Best Bash!

On Monday night we headed down to the Guthrie to the annual Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine Best of the Best Party. This is our third year to attend and it was a great event. We enjoyed it much more than last year at the Walker. We both sampled way too much food and drink and had a great time hanging out with our good friends Julian and Dawn Janes who were surprisingly ENERGETIC considering they have a 4 week old baby girl at home along with their 2 boys!! Stay tuned for debut pics of baby Annaleigh coming very soon!

No Reservation??? @(*&!*@$%

Well, what can I say, I screwed up...

Several weeks ago Paul and I decided it would be very fun to plan a mini Valentine's "getaway" to stay at the W Hotel at the Foshay in downtown Minneapolis. I embarked on the simple (so it seemed at the time) task of making a reservation online and finding a restaurant for dinner!

When V-Day arrived we dropped Ace off at Grandma and Grandpa Brown's and headed downtown...so excited!

But...when we arrived to check-in we learned that my reservation attempt apparently had not gone through... *#*%@) ...after desperately searching online for a confirmation number and my online banking/credit card accounts for some sort of a charge that had hit my account, I finally accepted the fact that the W Hotel email that I had received (and ignored, never opening it) was not a confirmation number at all, but just a reminder of upcoming W specials...

To the credit of the W Staff, they graciously brought us complimentary wine while we assessed whether to go home for the "down time" between our check-in and our dinner reservation or to wait it out--we opted for wine and food in the Library Bar which made for better good people watching and a bit of "decompression time."

Alas, we had a great dinner at Bar Abilene (perhaps a bit casual for Valentine's Day, but tasty and the only place we could find a reservation with only two weeks notice) Our yummy dessert, pictured above, may have been the thing that saved the day! ;-) Overall, it was nice to spend quality time together even if at Casa Brown rather than at a hip & swank hotel.

The moral of this story is that Paul will be making our Valentine's Day reservations next year!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

To all of our friends and family near and far, Happy Valentine's Day! - Becky and Paul
(Pictured, Paul and I celebrating Valentine's Day last year Cabo Style - February 14, 2008)

Dreaming of Cabo...

Ok, I have to admit, I am feeling a bit "wintered-out" today, I am ready for WARM WEATHER!!! As if its not depressing enough that warm weather is likely at least three months away, it just dawned on me that last year on this day Paul and I were enjoying the beautiful ocean views and strong rays from the Mexican sun in Cabo San Lucas! Note to self: remember this and plan a fun, warm weather escape again next February!

Welcome Broderick Malcomb Ward!!

Congratulations to Geri Datus-Ward and Jason Ward on the arrival of their adorable bundle of joy, Brody!! Can't wait to meet you soon, Brody!