Food+love+time=memories made and never forgotten

 I just want to take a moment to reflect on another side of my love for food in life.

To me....food is this common denominator that brings people together. So much can be shared over simply coming together over a cup of coffee. It is something that gives us an excuse to meet someplace and love on one another for a little bit before we have to head back into the real world of working 40+ hours a week, volunteering, heading to meetings, paying bills, cleaning the house (or not) and everything else in life that screams for our attention!

My friends all know that I love to celebrate. I love life. I love to celebrate it! That means I enjoy going big on people's birthdays. Which doesn't mean that I intend to break the bank. To me that means taking the time to plan, to be intentional, and to make sure that there is no doubt, in their mind, that they are loved! It could be walking around Lake Calhoun and then heading to Punch Pizza to share a pizza before heading to a semi-awesome water park to pretend like we're all 10 years old again! (Even though you're 27!) Or buying a few six packs of beer and hiding them around a farm and making someone find them with a compass in the middle of a blizzard! It could simply mean taking the time to pick them up, taking them to grab a drink and some appetizers, and just loving on them for an hour or two! Whatever the celebration, for whatever the circumstance, for whomever you're with I encourage you to take the time to live in that moment. Don't worry about what comes next, if your plans will work out, what errands you have to run the next day, just be with those people. Enjoy the taste of that food or laugh over how horrible it tastes! It doesn't matter! But the memories you will make do.

So I want to thank every person in my life who has allowed me to (ridiculously at times) make memories with you! Thank you for knowing how much it means to me to celebrate life with you. For every meal I've ever shared with all of you whether it's up north after snowshoeing for hours, downtown for drinks at Bar Louie, brunch at my place to catch up, out in Wisconsin at restaurants featuring goats, packaging food for starving children in other countries, or scavenger hunts in the middle of blizzards.......every memory to me is incredibly precious. To the food I love and the people that I love even more deeply.
-Cheers