Today things returned to normal around here. Jamie is back at work, I'm working from home, Merlin is napping and Magda is guarding the castle. This is how she stands when "on guard," despite our many attempts with "no!," "off!," and the squirt gun to break the habit. But she's highest here and can see out two sides of the house to ensure that no other dogs being walked dare approach our yard. It's, apparently, a very serious responsibility.For your internet share today, this one is for all you fans of The Wire. My very favorite character on the show, hands down, was Omar Little, and this is how that actor got his big break. Because before he played one of my favorite gangsters of all time? HE WAS A BACKUP DANCER FOR MADONNA AND GEORGE MICHAEL. Yup. Amazing.
Let's make something that tastes like summer, requires zero "cooking" and takes about 15 minutes. Sound good?This caprese salad is one of my summer staples, and it never fails. It's perfect for pot lucks or cook outs and it works great on nights when it's too hot to heat up the kitchen. So here we go! 
First, you'll need:8 oz grape or cherry tomatoes cut into bite-size piecesOne container (8 oz or so) of pearl sized fresh mozzarella (or you can buy a big roll of it and cut it up -- your choice)A big handful of fresh basil2 tbsp olive oilSalt and pepper to taste 
First, chop up your tomatoes. Yum.
Second, chop up your basil and add to the tomatoes and mozzarella in a large bowl. Third, drizzle with 2-3 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let this mixture stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes so all the flavors mingle.
And then you serve it. SO DAMN EASY. Also, it's the perfect thing to make before you get on a plane and need snack food for a long trip. Or to take to the cabin. Whatever fate may have in store for you :)
For a bowl like the one above, this recipe makes 6 servings and they are about 134 calories each. No internet share today, I'm on vacation and I want to get off the computer. You should do the same. Enjoy!
Another day in paradise, kids. We woke up and it was 48, but it reached about 65 before all was said and done. We had another sleepy morning, amazing food, lots of walking and exploring, lots of reading, Magda's first ferry ride, dinner on the screened-in porch and several hands of cards. It's been bliss. I'm gonna get back to it now. Enjoy the photos!
You guys, I am having such a great birthday. Sure, I'm not in Montreal, but I am loving Bayfield, and this part of Wisconsin and the cabin we got is FANTASTIC and we have eaten amazing food and really, I am just having a damn good birthday. My only complaint is the amount of mosquitos and ticks up here in the woods, but that's to be expected.This morning, Mags woke up around 5:30 am, and we got up with her (after a bit of snuggling). After feeding the dogs and some slow-poking around the cabin, I took the car into town for provisions (which we arrived too late last night to secure). On my way into town, I was blown away by the lovely fog, so I had to stop to take a few photos of the shoreline where I could. Like the one above. And this one below.
I next hiked over to the ferry landing and the marina just to check things out. The water was so calm and peaceful!
And then I made my way to the market and to the coffee shop for THE MOST AMAZING maple and walnut scone along with some delicious coffee to bring back to the cabin for Jamie (plus the morning paper).
On my way back, I decided to call my mom. It was about 8:30 by now and we don't have great reception at the cabin, so I thought I'd get her while I could from the road. She was asking how the dogs were, and I was telling her how we needed to be sure to keep them on the leash because apparently there are a ton of bears near our cabin. And then! RIGHT THEN! Look what was in the road in front of me!
Yeah! A bear! My mom (and dad and mother-in-law) all asked if it was a "big" bear, and honestly I have no idea what the average size of a bear is. It was larger than Merlin? That's all I could really come up with.
Yup.
So then, back to the cabin for breakfast, the newspaper and a nice, long morning nap. Cute cabin, eh? You should see the amazing kitchen and fireplace! Lovely.
Later this afternoon, we both drove back into town for some books and lunch. We had fresh lake trout at Greunke's here, which was great. I loved the atmosphere of this place.
(Here is the inside.)
And then we picked up some books and walked down to the fisheries to get some smoked fish dip because that is one of my favorite treats ever. Oh, and before you all get started, yes I know pregnant ladies aren't supposed to have a lot of fish. It's why I have had ONE PIECE OF SALMON since January. But fresh lake trout (not farmed) is one of the few fish I *can* eat, and besides I think all these lists of "cans" and "can'ts" are ridiculous, so don't even get me started.
On the way to the fishery, we passed the Maritime museum and I snuck into this old ship room to take this photo for my dad. We didn't explore the rest of the museum, maybe tomorrow. I suspect if my folks ever come up this way with us, we'll do that together as my dad loves those places. Also, Dad, if you're following along, there's a Coast Guard station here! (He was in the Coast Guard.)Tonight we're gonna go eat a fancy dinner and then have a piece of delicious blueberry pie that I picked up from a road-side stand near the berry orchards. Pretty perfect day. Pretty much the opposite of yesterday.
So last night we headed down to the Entry to see Diarrhea Planet. Yes, I know that name is awful, but as I keep telling you guys, this band is phenomenal live, and I just can't miss a show. It was SO. MUCH. FUN.And then this morning we got up early and packed for my birthday trip to Montreal. I was sooooooo excited to get out of the country one last time before this kid is born and I was super eager to check out Montreal because I keep hearing how European it feels but it's so much closer. And? Did I mention? My birthday is tomorrow, so this was gonna be awesome. Oh! And the food there is supposed to be AMAZING. And that sounds just about perfect to me.We got everything packed up on time (a small miracle) and were loading up the car when Jamie checked his phone and saw he had a text from Delta that our flight had been cancelled due to weather. Yes, it had been stormy, but our flight wasn't until 1 pm and this wasn't a delay, it was a cancellation. We got in touch with the airline immediately and worked for about 2 hours on every possible option and could not make the trip work. All other flights were booked on Delta and they wouldn't put us on another airline. The best we could do was fly in Saturday and fly back out Sunday, and that wasn't really worth it.Yes, this was frustrating. There were a few tears, and lots of cussing. But whatever, the decision was out of our control and we needed to move on (See! PARENTAL TRAINING). We transferred into Extreme Vacation Planning Mode and ended up realizing that we just couldn't make a domestic trip work very well either because so many hotels, inns etc etc are booked up for the weekend in places like San Francisco, Portland etc etc. Also, there's a huge marathon in Northern Minnesota this week, so that option was out as well. I mean, it is literally the first weekend of summer, so what would you expect?Miraculously, we finally found a cabin that was available in Bayfield, Wisconsin. We have always heard great things about this part of Wisconsin, especially Madeline Island, but we've never had a chance to go. And the cabin allowed dogs. So we cancelled the dog sitter, booked the cabin, and are now packing for a weekend in the woods.It's not what I had in mind, but you guys, we are determined to roll with it and have some fun. DETERMINED, I TELL YOU.Also, I would like to share that as I type this, it is calm and sunny outside and yes I am harboring evil thoughts about Delta right now.So. Why am I blogging instead of hitting the road, you ask? Because I'm not sure if I'll have internet up north for the next few days like I was supposed to have at the hotel in Montreal (which we still have to pay for, by the way, thanks Expedia), so I wanted to give you a heads up in case things go dark on the blog for a while.OK! I think that's it! I'm hitting the road now. Please have a great weekend and please send us good travel juju. Lord knows we need it.Oh! And more photos from the Diarrhea Planet show are up 
This morning I had a shoot for a local non-profit called Prepare + Prosper. They provide tax services to all sorts of people who might need assistance with tax prep because HOLY GOD IS IT CONFUSING AND HARD (especially if you own your own business or, say, are an immigrant, or maybe English isn't your first language). Anyway! Helping people with things like math and finances is something I can 100% get behind, so I did this shoot for their new branding campaign.And while working on this project, one of my favorite parts of photographing kids arose. That is that they always, always, ALWAYS want to make a funny face. Guaranteed. And sometimes just letting them get it out of their system is the best thing you can do (and also, you make sure to give it to their parents for the wedding reception later). This little buddy was just so excited to make his faces, and even though his funny face is great, his mother's reaction is what I really love about this shot.Ok. Enough about my work day. You wanna know what happened today that is the biggest deal ever? One of my very favorite people in the entire universe had a baby girl today! That's right, 
This was another shot from this weekend's busy-ness! I loved how this mother and her son interacted with each other, and we managed to catch some good light between the storms. I also love doing baby sessions when the kids are about 4-5 months old because they are so dang smiley! Right?! And besides that, the parents maybe, just maybe, are getting back some sleep!So today I spent the morning working on processing and editing this session while my internet was out. It is stunning (and horrifying) how much more productive I am when both the internet is broken and my husband is back at work. Holy moly.My day also consisted of an amazing meeting with some amazing lady entrepreneurs and an amazing upcoming project. You'll have to wait to hear more about that later though. Sorry to be such a tease. I will give you a hint, however, and tell you that the project may or may not include huge amounts of Nutella.For your internet share of the day, I really enjoyed