Happy New Year!

Happy 2013!

I know 2013 is going to be a fantastic year.  The calendar is already filling up with some pretty exciting things, including Ryan's graduation! I can't wait for all the excitement that is to come.

We went downtown for New Years Eve to watch the fireworks and have dinner.  We checked out a new ping pong bar that opened up called Ace. Mason loved going around picking up all the balls for everyone. For dinner we walked next door to one of our favorite places to gorge ourselves, Steuben's.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year! Best wishes to all in 2013!

Colorado Springs

Over the Christmas break we were all getting a little cabin fever.  We escaped town for a couple of days and went south to Co Springs. Co Springs has its pros and cons.  It is way to small of a city to live there but they have some beautiful sites and Rudy's BBQ. We visited Garden of the Gods the first day.  I have driven through the garden many times before but never in the winter.  The red rocks were beautiful dusted with fresh snow.

We also visited the Air Force Academy. This was a first for both Ryan and I. The most impressive part of our visit was touring their chapel on campus.  It was awesome! I had seen the spikes off the freeway and never really knew what they were. The Cadet Chapel was designed by architect Walter A. Netsch Jr. in the late 50s.

 Lobster Buffet at Cheyenne Mountain Resort

A perfect way to escape cabin fever. 

Christmas Festivities

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. 

This year we had Christmas with the Meadors. We decorated cookies, watched the traditional Christmas Vacation, played many games,  read The Night Before Christmas and more.

Santa came and payed us a special visit from the North Pole. 

Christmas morning

422: Deck the Halls

Here is a peek at what Christmas looked like at the Kimballs.  I tried to use as much live evergreen wherever possible. I love the smell of pine around the holidays. I made the pine wreath again this year with my tree trimmings. Only this year I had a wreath frame which helped tremendously!

I made the pom pom garland following See Jane's tutorial. 

Where do you hang stockings if you don't have a fireplace? I guess the banister will do. 

2011, 2010

Turkey Day

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

We spent Thanksgiving in California with the Kimballs.

We are thankful for the people we get to share our lives with and all the love that comes with them!

Chicago

A few weekends back we took a trip to Chicago.  Chicago has been on our "must go" list for awhile, plus we had some airline miles that were burning a hole in our pocket. So we booked it. If you follow me on instagram you know that I had a timeline for our weekend. Simply because I wanted to see as many sites as possible and Ryan wanted to try as many restaurants as possible. There had to be some organization to it all!

When we first arrived we took the 40min subway ride to our hotel downtown, dropped our bags and headed out for our first Chicago dog. We ate at Portillos. Meh. It was nothing spectacular, pretty "chain-y."

After Portillos we headed over to the Museum of Contemporary Art. The highlight was seeing the  works of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. They also had a large collection of modern furniture which I love, love, loved. Later that night we had drinks on the 95th floor of the John Handock building.  This is the place to go to see the spectacular views of the city. For dinner we went to one of Chicago's famous steakhouse, Gibsons. Gibsons was awesome! Their steak and chocolate mouse cake are so good.  Look at the size of the that cake "slice." 

Day two of our trip we headed out to the suburbs, the Oak Park neighborhood. We took a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio. He designed several homes, like the one below, in the area. I was pretty excited to see the works of such a famous architect.  After we walked around checking out all the homes we grabbed lunch at Giradano's, an iconic Chicago pizza place.

When we were finished with lunch we headed back into the city.  We walked down to Navy Pier, and I talked Ryan into riding the ferris wheel.  Luckily they had a Garrett Popcorn location at the pier. Below is what they call the Chicago mix, carmel and cheese. It sounds like a gross combo but it is seriously so good. Some friends of ours brought us back some on their recent trip to Chicago and I had been craving it ever since.

Later that night we went to a popular nightlife place called the Aviary for a small bite. For dinner we ate at Le Colonial, a French Vietnamese restaurant.  Yes, we did a lot of eating.

The next morning I snicked out, and brought us back some pastries from a little neighborhood bakery called, Floriole Cafe and Bakery. Like most of the places we went, I had read that they were the best in town. It was pretty delicious. I picked an assortment of pastries and at the last minute order a loaf of their sourdough. I am so glad I did! It rivals San Fransisco bread for sure.

We had a few hours left before we had to head to the airport. We walked over to the famous shiny "bean" also know as the Cloud Gate. From there we toured the Chicago Art Institute. I might venture to say this is one of my favorite art museums that I have been to. The museum was filled with world famous artist and some of their more popular works. They also had an entire section dedicated to Architecture and design, so much inspiration in one place!

Our last meal in Chicago was one more Chicago dog from Gene And Judes. This is exactly how I had imagined it to be. Cash only, three things on the menu, and a bunch of Italians with thick accents running the place. Not only was the hotdog delicious, they cut their fries right there. I am craving one now.