miss alyssa goes to college!

on our way up to door county last weekend, we stopped in de pere, wisconsin to see my beautiful niece, alyssa, who just started her first year at st. norbert's college. it's hard to believe she's all grown up and a green bay packers cheerleader! she is an amazing person and i'm happy to see her so happy! click to see larger:

Grandma's Famous Nut Cake!

It is famous and it is good: my Grandma's nut cake, that is. I thought it would be fun to photograph my sweet Grandma while making her famous nut cake. It is one of her signature recipes and was given to her by her sister, Babe. So, on a lovely Fall afternoon, my Mom, Grandma and I all rolled up our sleeves and got messy. They were both shocked to hear I didn't have an electric mixer! This whole time I pictured my hearty, German Grandma to be stirring the batter by hand the way they used to in the "olden days"; guess I've got to get with the times! Anyway, it was a great way to spend an afternoon and an even better way to enjoy a cup of coffee...click to see larger.

fall: i love you!

i've decided that instead of being sad that summer has come and gone, i would embrace fall and i actually realized yesterday that i love fall! what have i been thinking all these years? it is crisp, warm, sunny and the beautiful blue sky is filled with puffy, white clouds. what's not to like? to make things even better, we went to the portage park farmer's market this afternoon and got some lovely mums and ornamental cabbage for the front porch, along with some delicious honey crisp apples. i am slowly harvesting the rest of my tomatoes and bringing them indoors to ripen; we'll see what happens!