A happy little gift

My husband never ceases to amaze me in his ability to pay attention to the little things. Case and point:

A few weeks before my birthday, we were watching "Giada at Home." I know some people hate her, but I credit that woman for teaching me how to cook for an Italian husband. She's a godsend for those of us from Middle America with no discernible cultural heritage.

Anyway, she had the most adorable little kitchen accessory: a porcelain egg crate that was too cute for words. I casually mentioned how adorable it was to Mike, not really thinking anything of it.

A few weeks later my dreaded 27th birthday rolled around. And what do you know? My husband had managed to track down that little egg crate from Anthropologie, which is even more impressive considering he didn't even know Anthropolgie existed.

Is that not the cutest? It comes in blue or white, but the blue looks great with white eggs (which is normally what we buy).

It such a simple thing, but it makes me smile so I wanted to share it with you.

22 hours in Madison

If you've never been to Madison, WI, put it on your "must visit" list. It's a great weekend trip and there's tons to do. Earlier this summer my husband and I drove up with some friends for a quick getaway. We were only there for 22 hours, but we managed to pack quite a bit in.

We drove into town Saturday morning and went straight to the Dane County Farmer's Market -- it's unbelievable. Take your mental image of a farmer's market. Now multiply that by 20. We're talking BIG. There are all kind of local growers and producers set up in booths surrounding the courthouse.

Oh, and that whole Wisconsin loves cheese thing -- totally NOT a cliche. Everywhere you go people are serving cheese curds -- cold, fried, tempura, you name it.

A few shots from the market:

At the farmer's market we picked up some bread, meat, fruit and cheese (of course). We had brought along a cooler so we could pack everything up for a picnic.

We headed out to Prairie du Sac to Wollersheim Winery. It's only about a 20 minute drive, but it's completely worth it. The wine is great, and the people who work there are incredible.

We took a tour of the winery, bought a couple of bottles of wine and had a simple lunch sitting out on the winery grounds. It was kind of yuppie, but really fun (and pretty cheap too). It was a great afternoon, and we were allowed to just sit and chat as long as we wanted.

After the winery, we went back to Madison and got cleaned up before heading out for the night.

We went to the Great Dane Pub, which brews it own beers. I'm not a big beer fan, but even I liked it. They have a pretty overwhelming menu, but the staff is more than happy to make recommendations. After that we headed to a great little bar called The Old Fashioned. I highly recommend the Jack Horner Martini -- delicious.

The next morning we took the advice of several people and hit up Marigold Kitchen for breakfast. And seriously, doesn't this make you hungry:

All in all, it was a great weekend. Madison is such a welcoming city and the vibe is just very laid back and relaxed. The whole city is very into local ingredients and locally owned shops and restaurants. It's a great escape for anyone.

My happy place

I know, I know. It's been a while since I posted. I've been really busy between school and work and have let a few thing slides. Don't worry. I've adequately punished myself. But this week, I'm going to catch up (and keep it up).

That's because this week I'm in my true happy place: Sanibel Island, Florida. My in-laws own and place down here and it's where we go to escape. If you aren't familiar with Sanibel, it's just off the coast of Fort Myers and is quite the oasis. If you're into going out to the bars and cruising the beaches, this is NOT the place for you. It's a slower pace of life here. There are not stoplights on the island, you can bike almost anywhere, and the only chain stores are Dairy Queen and a CVS. It's awesome.

It's even better because my husband and I are here by ourselves. Usually we have friends or family with us, but not this time! Don't get me wrong, I love our friends and family, but it's nice to be able to have time to just focus on each other. This is only our second vacation alone in all the years we've been together (the first being our honeymoon) and it's wonderful.

So anticipate seeing some posts this week about thing I did much earlier this summer, but I just want to share. In the meantime, I'll leave you with just a few photos from the island.

When we took off from Indianapolis, the weather was overcast and just plain gloomy. But when we broke through the clouds we were greeted with a beautiful morning sky. Just a little reminder to myself that it's always sunny on the other side of the clouds.

These adorable birds keep hanging out by the pond near our pool. Unfortunately it seems they are illiterate and unaware their lives are at risk. That's natural selection, I suppose.

Sanibel has some of the best shelling in the world (or so I'm told). And no matter how hard I try to resist the urge, I always end up picking up these tiny aquatic homes off the beach. This is just a small selection of what we found today. So cute!

Source: www.wildflordia.com

Something not so cute. These ugly things. Florida's lovely 4-inch grasshoppers are everywhere this time of year, and a particularly giant one landed on me today. Gross. I love Florida, but the bugs are almost too much to handle.