Friday, June 28, 2013

liking life in lake geneva

Easy livin' on the lake and on the shore at Lake Geneva, where Andrew's cousin and her family have a  lovely lake house (and were such wonderful hosts!). There was lake time, boat time, family time, and between the twins and the triplets, plenty of playing-with-the-kids time!




















Celebrating Andrew's parent's 40th wedding anniversary with some more Hemingway Daiquiris. If you haven't tried them you should.







Any trip to Lake Geneva needs a stop at one of the best breweries in the mid-west, the Sprecher Brewing Company.



No trip to the mid-west is complete without a spotting of the infamous Weinermobile (though with this picture as our only evidence, some might doubt our sighting).


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

beer from wisconsin hill country

An afternoon drinking amazing beer at the New Glarus Brewing Company, where we sampled beers with names like Spotted Cow (their most famous), Serendipity (fruity--almost not a beer at all) and Totally Naked (a plain, light lager--which meant that, unsurprisingly with this group, it was everyone's least favorite).




Monday, June 24, 2013

a day in the windy city: chicago

For our morning in Chicago, the family decided to go to the Brookfield Zoo, which is a gorgeous zoo!






Then we went to stay with family in Oak Park (in their beautiful house--Maggie is obsessed with their decor.)
Here, we have three Hall men enjoying Hemingway Daiquiris. Small side note: a Hall ancestor baptized Ernest Hemingway in Oak Park.

And of course, we got to hang out with another branch of the Hall family!


  



Friday, June 14, 2013

new orleans in photos

History, scenery, architecture, picturesque courtyards around every corner. (French Quarter, Cemeteries, Audubon Park)



z



Celebrations. (Mardi Gras! Book deal!)




Visitors. (Both our sets of parents!)




Friends and loved ones, new and old. (Jazz Fest, French Quarter, Book club!)




That one time we met some of the actors from our favorite TV show, The Vampire Diaries, Ian Somerholder and Nina Dobrev.



Food! (Crawfish, our favorite grocery store, where you can drink a beer while shopping, snoballs--like snow cones but a million times better.)



The wilds of NOLA. (By the Mississippi, kayaking, Swamp Tour.)



Getting around. (Streetcar, something that's supposed to be a two-way street--driving in NOLA is an adventure.)




Want to know more? See our "Day in the Life" NOLA edition


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

a day in the life: new orleans

The "Day in the Life" series gives you a glimpse into a typical Andrew-and-Maggie day wherever we are in the world. This time: New Orleans. We lived in NOLA for seven months, so we developed more of a routine than we sometimes do while traveling.

5:15 am: Maggie's alarm goes off for work at the bakery at 5:45.
5:45 am-noon: Maggie works at an adorable and delicious bakery five minutes from our house. Andrew works at home.




noon-ish: Maggie walks home with a loaf of bread under her arm, and a pastry or two in her bag, and we eat lunch. (Don't ask how much weight we gained after months of daily fresh bread and pastries...)


2-6 pm: Andrew works, Maggie works with him and/or writes.
If it's not too hot, one or both of us sit out on our front porch... 


...or Maggie goes down St Charles to our local library to work in the most beautiful reading room ever.




And then it's back to the house...
Top to bottom: Front of the building, the bathroom--which was beautiful, and half the size of the apartment--and the view from the living room into the bedroom, before all our stuff was moved in.






6 pm: We're a little tired of being cooped up in our apartment all day, so we go out and meet some friends for happy hour...






...or maybe we just wander down the road to make our own happy hour at Audobon Park. Public drinking is not only allowed in New Orleans, it's encouraged!




8 pm: Eat some dinner, watch some TV, Maggie does a little more writing, and we get ready to start all over again.