Easter + a week on the road

I love Easter! We celebrated Easter this year with friends from our church, and I brought deviled eggs.

I love deviled eggs, though I always feel a little weird bringing something with the word “devil” right in the name to a celebration about Jesus. 😉

We tried to go easy on the Easter candy at home, but there is a seemingly unlimited supply of seasonal candy at the PT clinic. Oh, gummy candy… I burned off all that gummy candy with a super windy and hilly nine miles with Lydia on the Wau-king trail. We refueled with beer at Chain Bar, and I headed home to pack for a crazy week.I had such a busy day- when Brian got home, we headed up to Wausau for a ballroom dance lesson with our first dance teachers, Missy and Jeff! We hadn’t seen them since they taught us to dance before our wedding. Eight years was too long! Of course, I was too excited to see them and I forgot to take a picture, but after our lesson, we headed over to the election headquarters for our alderman Mike Wiza, and we were present when they called the vote, making Mike our new Stevens Point mayor! Congratulations, Mike. 🙂Brian and I spent the week in the Valley, while he was at a training for work. It was pretty cool for me- since most of my work is portable, I can work from anywhere. I was able to catch up on some photo work, make all the games for Amy’s upcoming bridal shower, and shoot a gorgeous pastry (with the cutest edible orchid!) from SAP Brunch in Appleton.On our last morning at the hotel, we went out for breakfast at this fabulous cafe- Molly’s. They had sweet potato hash browns! Made. My. Day. I loved the treadmill at the hotel, so I headed back to our room, changed, and logged a few miles in the hotel gym. After a quick shower, we packed up and headed down to Chicago to celebrate my great aunt Eileen’s 75th anniversary of being an active member of the ancient order of Hibernians. It was a beautiful party where I got to see a lot of my family, including my brother and his family. Happy National Sibling Day! We caught up with everyone and danced until we dropped! It’s fun to visit my Hoffman side, because I’m the short one among those cousins, and I’m 5’8″! 🙂

We spent the night at my aunt Maureen’s house and took care of Percy. I think she was upset that she wasn’t invited to the party. She wouldn’t smile for me! 🙂 We left very early on Saturday morning to head up to Wausau for Amy’s bridal shower! My car celebrated a little palindrome milestone of her own somewhere in northern Illinois…We stopped at home for a whirlwind half hour- showered, changed, styled my hair, brewed some iced tea, boxed up the shortbreads, made simple syrup, then packed it all up in a cooler and took it to the Hirn home for Amy’s bridal shower. Becky, Brooke, and I planned this adorable tea-themed shower, and it turned out beautifully!