Lady Nine

Ah...Venice.  I have had the pleasure of visiting this floating city three times in my life now. I consider to be very lucky to have experienced it so many times.  The canals, the gondoliers, and St. Mark's square are all part of what makes this city so lovely to see.  A major downfall with the city however is the tourism.  It is an extremely touristic city which means it's difficult to find authentic food and local people.  We arrived to Venice on a Monday and stayed until Wednesday which gave us enough time to walk around and show my family the famous sites to see. The only bummer was that the Peggy Guggenheim Museum was closed on Tuesday so we were unable make a stop. However, I was really excited that we were able to find an incredible restaurant with the most amazing food. If I ever make it to Venice a fourth time, we will definitely be eating there again. The thing I love most about Venice is the nighttime. Since there are no cars in the city (the on...

A view of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo So if you have been checking my blog recently, you may have wondered if I just decided to stay in Europe, buy a olive farm, and drink the local wine day in and day out.  As appealing as that sounds (I would like to own my own olive trees someday) I just have been really bad at keeping up with my posts.  I am now home from our dream wedding and vacation. It could not have been more perfect, and I have plenty of pictures to share and stories to tell. I can't wait to tell you about all of our fun memories, so thanks for your patience as I get back to reality and catch up with life.  In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures that just can't wait. A gondolier doing sudoku A beautiful rose flower wall in Florence I miss the caprese so much!

A leisurely stroll through the empty streets The last few days have been absolute heaven. Jon and I started our wedding trip with a visit to his parents in Switzerland. We arrived on Friday happy and ready for relaxation. We have had a wonderful time strolling around small Swiss towns and enjoying delicious meals with my in-laws-to-be. They are such great company and I am sad to leave them so soon. However, it helps knowing that we will see them again in just a few days for our wedding. Our few days spent here have been exactly what I needed, rest, relaxation, and Swiss cheese.     Lake Zug     Water fountain in Lucerne     Champagne and amazing sunset at Theater Casino in Zug     Beautiful flower shop in the old town     Amazing lunch at Brasserie Bodu . Our wedding song played while we ate and life was perfect.

Today we leave for our wedding and honeymoon.  Even as I type it, it's hard to believe the day is actually here. I have a range of mixed emotions for today;  happy, excited, anxious, hungry, and that feeling of wondering what I'm forgetting to pack. As I was looking through photos for this post, I paged through so many photo albums of when I lived there and when Jon and I went back to visit.  These photos put an instant smile on my face and my heart began to dance.  Italy is my happy place, and I cannot wait to be marrying the man I love at a place that means so much to us. To be totally honest (and I know many of you brides out there may give me the stink eye for this), wedding planning was so much easier than I expected, and I have truly enjoyed every minute of it.  Life has many ups and downs, and the next few weeks will be filled with many ups. I am sure traveling with the entire family will be challenging at times. However, for the next two weeks I am ...

Glimpse of sunshine For those of you who don't live in Minnesota, small chat about the weather is always a valid topic of conversation.  I have lived in Minnesota most of my life, and I have to stay this is the longest winter I can possibly remember.  Today is Earth Day, and we got a couple of inches of snow.  Looking back on my childhood, I remember planting trees or cleaning a park on Earth Day.  Mother Nature, I think we need to have (as my mother would call it) an "attitude adjustment." I've been pretty good not to complain about it though.  There have been plenty of distractions for me lately as our wedding is 4 weeks away.  My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts. I have a long list of things I have been meaning to post about, but my free hours seem to be spent with work and wedding stuff.  Thanks for sticking around to see me through this crazy time.  Even though I will be sad when the wedding is over, I will be happy to go back ...

Grass fed New York cut steak There are some days I think I could be a vegetarian.  And then there are days where all I can think about is eating a perfectly cooked steak.  I have grown to love steak more and more over the years and really appreciate going to a nice steakhouse for a good cut and amazing sides.  When a new restaurant opens in Uptown, you can be sure I have a reservation within their first few weeks of opening. Burch opened their doors last month and I was so excited to read reviews and try out their new menu.  With a Steakhouse on the main level and a Pizza Bar down below, I was very intrigued to see what kind of atmosphere could combine those two concepts. I have now been to Burch twice, and both visits were remarkable.  The food was fantastic and there was a refined aura to the restaurant.  On the main floor, they kept the original tile flooring of the old Burch Pharmacy which adds a touch of history to a modern steakhouse.  Th...

1 year ago today, I picked a name, created a site, and wrote my first blog post on Lady Nine.  It has been so much fun for me to share my creative thoughts, inspirations, and daily life with you all.  I have big plans for Lady Nine this year, I hope you become a "regular" and visit often. Lady Nine (the name) was inspired by the song, Lady Day by Billie Holiday . One of my favorite songs to this day.  My first post was on a beautiful Minnesota spring day.  It was 60 degrees that day.  Today, the high is 36 and we are supposed to get snow tomorrow.  Minnesota weather is unpredictable.  According to my statistics, I am averaging about 2.6 posts a month.  That seems ridiculous since my social/cooking/baking/shopping calendar is way more packed than that.  While I work to get that number up, feel free to follow me on  Twitter as I like to post random thoughts and pictures daily.  Thanks for celebrating Lady Nine's birthd...