We took a road trip with some friends to visit my girlfriend Angie in Indianapolis this past weekend. Left Wednesday evening and got back Monday evening. It was wonderful to just hang out with Angie & her family. Lots of laughs & lots of good eating. I know I gained a couple pounds. Indy is a nice city with lots of beautiful houses. I wish we could have those kinds of homes here. We did make it to the Children’s Museum which was nicer than ours, I must say. They’ve got an indoor carousel & a cool dinosaur exhibit, among other things.

Restaurants we ate at in Indy:

Journeys - Huge Asian buffet. They had everything there & a wide selection of sushi.
St. Elmo’s Steak House - Big steaks & big sides.
Steak & Shake  - Greasy, yummy burgers.
Patachou - Yummy brunch food. Broken yolk bacon sandwich & big cup of cafe au lait. Hit the spot.

On the way home, we stopped by Joy Yee Noodles in Chicago’s Chinatown for a late lunch. The menu there was HUGE. And we ended up ordering way too much food. Some things were pretty good, but some were so-so (chap chae & lemon grass chicken over rice). Four hours later, while stopped in Madison for gas, the hubby decides that he wants a brat from State Street Brats, so we drive all the way into campus & pick up some brats to go. It felt like we were never going to get home. We finally got home around midnight.

Thanks Angie & Joe for opening your home to us. We miss you guys!

Last Friday, my two girlfriends Maysee, Mitsu and I hit up Dock 86 in Little Canada. It was so much fun hanging out with them. Dock 86 was a let-down. It seems like most of their stuff you can find anywhere else. And the prices weren’t the best. Afterward, we had dinner at Ginger Hop. The appetizers were really good (fried calamari & wings), but their entrees were not good. No flavor all around. What a disappointment. At least they knocked $20 off our bill when we complained. 112 is next on our list girls.

Met with Max’s teachers for conference last week. Sounds like he’s doing well. Just needs work on his social skills. That’s what we’re most concerned with right now. That and his gross motor. He still has training wheels on his bike, but won’t let us take it off. On the other hand, he’s riding his scooter way better than last year. So overall, he’s improved, but there’s still things he needs to work on. Can’t believe he’s going to be a kindergartner next year. We’re trying to get him into the full-day program, but it’s a lottery system since it’s so crowded, so he might not get in.

Tonight, we had dinner at Loring Pasta Bar. It was ok. I’m on a fried calamari binge, so I had to try theirs. It was pretty good. The pasta was so-so. Bread was stale. Still not as good as Broders. Can’t beat their fresh pasta.

My cabinet pulls should be here tomorrow, so I will post up a picture of my kitchen soon. I really love my kitchen & how it looks. Almost my dream kitchen. A subzero fridge & gas stove would be the icing on the cake. But I have no complaints at all. I’m very lucky to have a bigger kitchen. Later!

My cousins Yanee, HouaDer, Ely & Linna came over on Saturday to have dinner with my sisters & me (minus Jaime & Kaileeh). I made a big ol’ pot of curry noodle soup & somehow we had 3 kinds of dessert, which I have no complaints about. I have a lot of first cousins, but our relation to each other is a little more unique. Our mom & their dad are siblings, and our dad & their mom are siblings. Let me know if you need me to draw it out for you. We don’t see each other very often, so it was a lot of fun to catch up. Lots of laughs & good times.

Here’s Max having lunch in our front porch (and waiting for the neighbor kids to come out so he can go play with them.) I have always wanted a front porch, so now that I have one, I don’t know how to decorate it. We definitely need some seating & plants, but what else? I want the kind of porch where you can curl up & read a book, or nap in the afternoon sun. I like our porch the best compared to our neighbors because it has more privacy.

Some random thoughts/updates:
+ Filed our taxes just in time. Whew!
+ Hoping to have our deck finished in time for the start of summer. Can’t wait to grill & chill outside for once. Never really did that at our old house because our backyard was such a jungle.
+ Going on a road trip soon to visit my girlfriend Angie in Indianapolis. Super excited to see her.
+ On the way to dinner on Sunday, I got rear-ended again by some impatient driver. Luckily, the damage wasn’t bad. Just some small scratches. Thank goodness she had a rubber bumper. Maybe it’s time to trade our car in?
+ One of best things about our house: no more critters in our house, especially centipedes. You don’t know how ridiculously happy I am about that.

I finally finished painting my foyer. [Click on picture for a larger view.] It took me five days, but I I like taking my time with a project sometimes. I think I found the perfect shade of blue. The picture below shows a more accurate color.

I also swapped out the light fixture. The original one was an oil-rubbed bronze light fixture that you see in most cookie-cutter new construction homes. While it is fine, I wanted something different & more me. I found this chandelier on Overstock.com, and it was reasonably priced. I really like it because it glams up my foyer a bit. It’s much better looking in person.

I stopped by Crafty Planet  on Saturday to find fabric for curtains. I found this cool geometric fabric, so I’m planning to use it make curtains for the mud room.

I couldn’t reach this little corner, so I’m gonna have to leave it like this until I figure out what to do. It’s above some stairs, so even if I had a taller ladder, I wouldn’t be able to paint it. Any suggestions?

Check out my plantation shutters. I love them. This one is in the den. We also had them installed in Max’s bedroom, and my office/spare bedroom. Thinking about having Mike’s office done as well.

Hope everyone had a good Easter weekend. On Saturday, I met up with my sisters for dim sum for my younger sister Jaime’s birthday. I love dim sum, but man, it can get pricey. My sister  generously offered to take Max until Sunday, so he left with them after dim sum. The hubby & I had a wonderful night to ourselves. We went to watch Mother (which was so-so) and then went to John’s house for a bbq & drinks. We didn’t get home until 2am. On Sunday, picked up Max & headed over to Mike’s parents for his brother Adam’s birthday dinner. Good food as usual.

This week, I might do more painting around the house. Finish our tax return. Figure out how to get a census report sent to us–we haven’t received one probably because our mail is being forwarded–before someone comes knocking on our door.

Happy Birthday to my little man! He turned five on Tuesday. We had his birthday party at Adventure Peak in Edina on Saturday. It was a small affair (35 guests), and on the menu was Broadway Pizza–probably one of the best pizza places in the Twin Cities, Quang’s spring rolls and fresh fruit. I kept it simple since we only had 2 hours to eat & do cake. I didn’t go all out with his cake either. Just ordered a chocolate cake from Target, and had them do a simple Pac Man design on top. Max was so excited and had lots of fun. Thanks to everyone that made it special for him and for the wonderful gifts. He keeps saying over & over, “I had a GREAT birthday party!”

His big boy bed happened to get delivered yesterday just in time. After I assembled it, and seeing Max lay in it, it made me realize how fast he is growing up. Makes me a little sad that he’s not gonna be my little boy for much longer. I’m afraid I’m going to be one of those moms who will embarrass their teenager son & hug them in public. Mike is certain of this.

Speaking of his bed, I got a great deal at Pottery Barn Kids. Got free shipping & was able to use my 10% off coupon. We got him the Catalina bed; I like how you can adjust the height of the bed & it seems to be nicely made. We’re hoping the bed lasts into Max’s teenage years, but if he’s ends up taller than his Daddy, then we can forget about that. His comforter & sham is by Tommy Hilfiger from Macy’s, and the sheets are from Target. I swear I had the hardest time finding bedding for boys that I liked. Planning to do a car/traffic signs theme in his room.

The hubby’s been working like crazy and needed a break, so we had a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant La Belle Vie tonight. We enjoyed the four course lounge tasting menu. Food & service was excellent as usual. The manager even remembered me from my birthday party and came to our table to chat.
Max had the pappardelle with rabbit bolognese and porcini. We didn’t tell him that he was eating rabbit, of course. I’ve had his dish before, and it’s really yummy. Never thought I would ever eat rabbit, but it’s a mild tasting meat.

- Bay scallops with fois gras, beets & truffle
- Sweet bread amuse bouche
- Sea trout with cuttlefish carbonara with braised butter lettuce
- Grilled lamb tenderloin with fallen camembert soufle, dried cherry & port
- Caramelized orange pound cake with apricot chantilly and cream cheese ice cream
- Petit fours

It was really nice out this week, so we hiked the trails by our house. Max is usually busy riding his bike as fast as he can, and I like to gaze at all the beautiful houses and wonder who lives there.

My dendrobium orchids are still alive! I bought them almost a month ago. So proud of myself. Instant beauty & life to our living area.

Picked up my tile today. These are crackled glazed ceramic and glass tiles by Jeffrey Court. The minute I laid eyes on the tile on the left, I fell in love. Can’t wait to see them up.
Planning to switch out the bronze cabinet knobs to these glass knobs. Can you guess which one is the $7 Home Depot knob? And which one is the $12 Restoration Hardware knob? Pretty close, I say.

Max has Spring Break next week, so I hope we can find some fun activities to do. Maybe go to the indoor swimming pool at the community center. Hit up the Children’s Science Museum. Have lunch with friends.

This weekend, I have to pick up Max’s bed (he’s graduating to a big boy bed), pick up party favor stuff, and meet with a client. Hoping the weather stays mild. Have a good one!

+ Max loves Lady Gaga, so here he is busting his moves. I dare you to challenge him to a dance-off. Lol. This is his “loco legs” move. If you ask him to show you loco legs, that’s what he’ll do. His favorite song right now is Telephone. I like the song, but I can only listen to it so many times before I get sick of it.

+ My best friend Maysee & her daughter Rylee came over on Saturday to have dinner. It was really nice to hang out & catch up since we don’t get to do that very often. I made lasagna & Maysee brought a huge chocolate cake, which we still have half left. We made a plan to get together at least once a month from now on. (Angie, you need to hurry up & move back here.)
Maysee’s Grandma passed away yesterday, so our deepest condolences to her & her family.

+ I finally painted my living room, but I don’t know. I might change it. It might be too blue. I’m trying to find the perfect balance of gray & blue, and I can’t believe how difficult it is. The color I picked looked perfect on the big swatch, but once I painted the room, it wasn’t the same. It also doesn’t help that it’s been cloudy this week, so I don’t know what it’ll look like in natural light.

+ Max’s birthday is coming up soon, and we already bought his present for him (the Lego police station– shhhh!). All I have to do now is have the food catered & make the favor bags. Gonna be an easy & fun birthday this year.

+ Plantation shutters are being installed tomorrow. Cabinets are being enameled & backsplash is being tiled next week. Can’t wait!

I <3 Anthropologie.

Been busy busy with our house. Finally got our water softener installed. Didn’t know that our city has really hard water. Couldn’t even use our dishwasher because of it. So much nicer now.
Finally picked a color for the living room. Note the paint swatches on the wall. I am getting so sick of all the brown in our house.
Found the perfect spot for my milk glass vases. Planning to paint the shelf white & the wall around it blue-gray. Even though today was beautiful, didn’t feel like digging through antique shops to find more, so I bought eight more vases online today.
Picking out wallpaper for my den. Looking forward to seeing the end result. The plantation shutters are going to be here soon, so it will look so awesome. Giddy with excitement.

The weather this weekend was really nice. Too bad I didn’t really get to enjoy it. Spent most of it inside doing housework. On Saturday, we had dinner with my sisters & bro-in-law at Donatelli’s in White Bear Lake. Donatelli’s was featured in that show Diners & Drives on the Food Network. The food was so-so. Today, just relaxed  with the boys & hung out with my sisters later.