A visit to Lynn's Paradise Cafe

After our tailgating weekend, we drove from Lexington to Louisville to see my friend Clare. She is recently engaged (yay!) and I hadn't been able to meet her fiance yet. Well, verdict in: he's adorable. And nice. And funny. And all around wonderful. The Nolands approve of this guy!

Clare was in Louisville for a wedding, and she made a reservation for the four of us at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Have you heard of this place? Apparently it's been on the Oprah Winfrey Show, The Food Network's "Best Of," the Discovery Channel's "Christopher Lowell Show," CBS "Good Morning America," and Food Network's "Throwdown with Bobby Flay."

Needless to say, we had high expectations. And friends, they. were. met.  Aunt Ellen, these pictures are for you. 

How cool is the outside?

A view from our table

Close up of the tree

These are legs.

More legs!

So. So. cool. I wish my license plate said FLY-SWA.

Even their uncool chairs were cool.

Breakfast didn't disappoint either. Zac ordered biscuits and gravy...

and I got a mushroom scramble with a side of MAC and CHEESE. Which yes, they offer as a side at breakfast.

The monstrosity on the right is the mac and cheese. I ate almost no eggs because I was eating so much mac and cheese!

I can't go to Clare's engagement party next weekend, so I brought her a gift. I embroidered their monogram on a dish towel and used it to wrap a newlywed cookbook. Adorable, if I do say so myself!

Me and Clare

We had SUCH a good time with Clare and Chris, and it was so much to visit Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Has anyone else ever been there??

USA! USA!

I wasn't kidding when I said we had been busy --- last week Zac and I also drove up to Columbus to watch the US Men's Soccer Team play in a World Cup Qualifier against Jamaica.

It was a late night for us. I can't remember the last time I wasn't home at midnight on a weeknight, but it was worth it. Zac is a huge soccer fan, but this was my first big game.

We had GREAT seats. It was a blast - I don't think anyone in that stadium ever sat down. People were cheering and singing and jumping and just having a great time.

The US missed what felt like a hundred shots before finally scoring their first goal.

There was something extra special about cheering for the USA on the 11th anniversary of 9/11.

The US is in the red/white uniforms, and Jamaica wore yellow. The players look a bit like a "Where's Waldo" book, but I do love their jerseys.

The final score was 1-0... USA! USA!

Go Big Blue!

We have a wonderful group of college friends, and we try to get together as much as possible. Living in four different cities complicates this factor, as does the fact that some of our guy friends refuse to maintain calendars longer than a few days in advance (cough, Joe!).

This is the same group of friends that we have Friends Christmas with every year, but seeing each other once a year just isn't enough. Someone suggested a tailgate to bridge the gap between our other gatherings - and I'm so glad that we did!

Katie and I like to keep our tailgating classy. Thanks for the glasses, Lois!

My handsome hubby and I

I managed to find my friend Claire and snuggle this handsome fellow. How cute is Charlie? I love him.

Zac's dad came down to see us. It was a giant party!

Hooray for long lost friends rediscovered!

Go Cats! Even though they lost embarrassingly at the end. Bummer.

I hope you had a great weekend, too!

We've been busy!

We have had a really busy - but fun! - month. It seems like we've had fun things going on every weekend, and sometimes on weeknights in between.

Last weekend, my in-laws came to visit us. My father-in-law is a prostate cancer survivor, so when we found out the Great Prostate Cancer Challenge was coming to Cincinnati, we were quick to sign up.

Zac and I each ran the 5K (you can't see Derby, but he's off to the side! He ran with me), and my in-laws both walked the whole 3.1 miles. They're awesome!

It was pretty dreary for the first half of the day, but by the time we crossed the finish line, it was sunny and starting to warm up.

Just curious - who do you like Zac looks more like?

Naptime was a necessity after waking up early to run a 5K, but so was what happened next... Beer Fest!! We headed downtown to Fountain Square for an outdoor beer festival. They had a ton of booths, and there's absolutely no way we could have used our 25 sample tickets -- each!

My beautiful friend Tory modeling the sizes of our cups!

A view of the square

We had a blast, but man.... there's a chance we're getting too old for all this fun! I'm beat! More to come soon...

Girls Night Make up Lessons

I have three college best friends who live in different cities. We try to get together once a month-ish in one of our cities and do something fun. We've gone to a pumpkin patch, shoe shopping, spent a day at the pool... and so on.

August was my month to host, and I invited the lovely woman who did my wedding makeup to give us some lessons. Elizabeth is so patient and talented, and she also doesn't sell any makeup. That meant we got the real scoop on what you need to splurge on (anything that touches your skin) and what you can go drugstore cheap on (lipstick, blush). She also gave us great recommendations for cheapie brushes that are as nice as expensive ones.

I made these yummy gooey white chocolate cake bars, which were good but were so sweet. Borderline too sweet. But still good!

The first thing we did was dump our our makeup bags (sorry for the blurry pics. Blame the empty drinks). Elizabeth made suggestions for what we should get rid of (eyeliner I bought in college), gave some mascaras the smell test, and made recommendations for what key items we were each missing.

Elizabeth giving us makeup tips... I'm guessing she's taking about mascara!

Each of us identified a "look" we wanted to learn how to do, and then Elizabeth walked us through it, step by step. She'd do one eye, then you had to do the other. Such a great way to learn.

In addition, we had a blast! I would definitely recommend this for any kind of birthday party or girl's night -- especially if you can find someone as wonderful as Elizabeth!! She definitely understood that a lot of us don't like to wear a lot of makeup, and was way open to that.

Am I the only one who isn't talented at applying makeup? I feel like there was a secret makeup class in high school that I never got invited to. How did you learn how to apply makeup??

Beth's Graduation

My little sister Beth graduated last weekend from Ohio University. She is a rock star... she majored in fashion merchandising and started her first "big girl" job this week at Abercrombie's corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. I am so proud of her!!

Sistas

My family. Love.

Beth and our parents

I love this picture. She was so hot and kept calling this her cape.

Gramma is so cute!!

Aunt Barb, Beth, and Andrea

My sweet baby sista

Nick (Beth's boyfriend), Beth, me, Zac, Ryan (Em's boyfriend), Emily, Andrea

This is my every day.

We still count as newlyweds, right??

Andrea was jealous she didn't have a boyfriend with her... if she did, she would have kissed him like this.

Congratulations, Beth! We're so proud of you!!

A Happy Mother's Day Brunch

One of the best things about being finished with school is how much extra time I feel like I have. I'm sure it will fill up quickly, but for now, I feel like I just have extra hours in my day. And it's awesome.

Zac and I invited our families to our house for a Mother's Day Brunch. We live just about halfway between both of our parents, which is ideal for us. We love when everyone comes to our house. We don't have to travel, and I love entertaining.

We had so much fun planning this brunch, but it was a lot of work. I have a new appreciation for the graduation parties my mother threw us - which had about twenty times the amount of guests. We really wanted it to be special for our moms, so we spent a lot of time preparing.

Our menu was very Pinterest inspired, of course...

• Mini breakfast casseroles
• Mini coffee cakes - a recipe I can't give you because it's from my mom's good friend who doesn't want her to have it!
• Veggie tray
• Fruit kabobs
• Warm brie cups
• Salted white chocolate chip cookies
• Make your own fruit pizzas

I found navy blue and hot pink tablecloths at Homegoods, and I used that to set the theme for the brunch.

The drink station. We had bloody marys, mimosas, coffee, soda, and lemon water.

Check out the skewers on the fruit kabobs. I colored water with food coloring and soaked them for a few hours and voila! Hot pink to match the theme!

These mason jars belonged to my grandmother, who gave them to me last summer. I love them!! If you ever put flowers in a mason jar, use small carnations like these. They look perfect!

HOW CUTE ARE THESE?!? I made them using this pan.

I found these flower balloons on Pinterest. Do you like my take on them?

My pretty mom enjoying a mini fruit pizza.

My wonderful mother in law opening her presents.

Our moms loved their brunch, and we had a blast spending time with our families. Do you need proof of how hard we worked? This is what I found about 30 minutes after everyone had left: