palm trees and lily pond, and summer vacation

This week is the official beginning of Ben's summer vacation, and therefore I feel like I should be on summer vacation too! Well, I'm only really jealous at 6 am...but having a month and a half of paid time off is still not enough for me to ever consider becoming a teacher!

This June is flying by, just like all the other months of this year. At the beginning of the summer it always seems like the season is endless and big enough to hold tons of bucket list activities as well as lazy weekends at home. But every year without fail, the weekends fill up before I can even finish planning everything I want to accomplish, and I spend the weekdays recovering from mini-excursions!

Last weekend Ben and I drove to Indiana for an infamous tiki party at my aunt and uncle's house. This is their backyard--my uncle used to work in construction and built this enormous tiki bar himself, using an old telephone pole, a tap from a Dutch bar, and thatch from ornamental grasses in his yard! He's also obsessed with collecting palm trees, in case you can't tell from the photos.

And he is crazy-awesome in the way that only the Dutch can achieve.

As is my dad. Guess which one he is? Luckily he was wearing his "lounge trunks" in this photo, and not his pool Speedo's.

Ahhh, paradise. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend, mostly sunny and low humidity in the mid-70's. A relaxed fun time (and lots of Heineken) was had by all!

I've spent the week so far trying to detox and regroup. I love seeing family, but hate being away from home all weekend because it's always a scramble to catch up on groceries and the boring things of life (ahem laundry)! On Monday I finally walked down to the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond, which I've been meaning to check out ever since I started my new job since I've seen it featured so often in engagement shoots by our wedding photographer Christy :) It is literally an urban oasis of calm between the zoo and Lincoln Park Conservatory. I think I've found my new summer lunch spot!

Can you spot the bunny?

Zoomed in. I love bunnies! They are everywhere in Lincoln Park, probably destroying the vegetation, but they are so cute!

I never get tired of this view!

And of course I can't leave you without a couple of zoo animals...

Our polar bear who is usually shy and hiding behind the scenes,

And sleepy sand cat! (I die.) 

I hope you are having a great week so far! 

I also hope you're staying safe if you're in the path of the crazy storms that are rolling through Illinois right now. So far we haven't gotten much besides some showers and distant lightning here in the city, and that is fine with me!

recipe time: a cocktail and a muffin

Happy Friday!! Is it just me, or did this week crawl by??? The weather has been cool here, in the 60's and low 70's and it's hard to believe it's almost summer!

As promised by my last post, I've got a couple of delicious recipes for your weekend!

One is a summer cocktail and one is another banana muffin variation. I don't recommend eating them together...unless you're having a muffin for an afternoon snack :)

First up is my new favorite summer cocktail, the Pimm's cup! I recently discovered Pimm's No. 1, the British liqueur that tastes sort of like an extra herbal-y gin. It's not that great on its own, but mix it with some fruit and ginger ale or bubbly lemonade and it makes a delicious sweet and herbal punch! There are apparently a million different ways to make a Pimm's cup, but here's my current favorite:

Pimm's Cup (Anna's version)

Ingredients for one drink:

• 1.5 oz (one shot) Pimm's No. 1
• ginger ale
• cucumber
• mint
• lemon slices
• optional: strawberries, lime, any fruit you want!

Directions: Add a shot of Pimm's to a glass with fresh ice. Toss in sliced cucumber, mint leaves, a squeeze of lemon or lime, any other fruit you have, and fill to the top with ginger ale or lemon-lime soda. Stir to combine and enjoy! Super easy. You can also muddle (aka smash) the mint and fruit together in the glass before you add the ginger ale. If you're having friends over, it would be easy to make a large batch in a pitcher or punch bowl! Just combine amounts of ingredients until it tastes good to you!

Next up, here's an easy healthy muffin recipe to make the morning after your Pimm's party!

Banana-Cranberry Oat Muffins

Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or unbleached white)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 egg
• 2 T canola oil
• 2-3 mashed bananas
• 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400*F. Line a muffin tin with liners or grease with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, rolled oats, and cranberries.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg. Add oil, mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.

Carefully combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, be careful not to over-stir.

Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Do you have any fun weekend plans? Ben and I are road-tripping to Indiana for a family get-together at my aunt and uncle's house. We have several wedding anniversaries and birthdays to celebrate, and it's always a crazy fun time when the Dutch side of the family gets together at my uncle's backyard tiki bar :) 

See you next week!

life lately

Well hellooooo! How is June treating you so far? Three days in, I'm a fan.

My blog friend Blair is hosting a weekly link-up for "life lately" posts, and since those are the type of posts I normally do anyway since I am always trying to play catch up on the blog, here's this week's re-cap!
(If you have a blog, click here to join in!)

Sidenote: I will say that FINALLY getting a smartphone has made it so much easier to take photos throughout day to day life! Most of the following snapshots are straight from my new obsession Instagram.

Sidenote 2: Also, I noticed that most of my pictures fall into five broad categories: flowers, food and drinks, zoo animals, Etsy projects, and landscapes. I guess those are some of my favorite things!

First category: flowers!

one // Gorgeous tree outside my office. What is this type of white flowering tree? There are two kinds of common trees with white flowers around here: one that smells really bad and one that smells good. This one did not smell bad. Is it a type of pear tree?

two // A huge lilac bush/tree in my neighborhood.

three // Redbuds at the zoo! One of my favorites.

four // A stunning rosebush I pass on my morning runs. Seeing and smelling flowers makes it a lot easier to get up and out first thing in the morning! I'm trying to get in a routine, and this week's fitness obsession is Tone It Up for workout inspiration and healthy recipes!

Second category: food and drink. Noms.

five // Honey Nut Cheerio snack. I can't really eat cereal in the morning because I'll be hungry again in like half an hour, but I love eating it as a snack or dessert! Ben is obsessed with Honey Nut Cheerios. He's eaten them almost every day for basically his entire life. A huge box is always a staple in our house!

six // Okay, this picture deserves its own entire post. This is a loaded Pimm's cup cocktail, and it's my new favorite drink! Remind me to share the recipe!

seven // Sangria on the patio. It's still not quite consistently warm enough for outdoor dining but Ben and I gave it a shot the other weekend.

eight // Delicious banana-cranberry-oat muffins! Again, I should do a recipe post for these. If I can get my blogging act together.

Third category: zoo animals!! Everyone's fave.

nine // Okay so our zoo has an awesome meerkat exhibit, but they are the TUBBIEST meerkats ever!!! I am certain that they're being fed a balanced diet, but still. Adorable. They're the most curious zoo animals and will always run up and stare at you. There's also always one meerkat on "sentry" duty, standing on a boulder and surveying the territory.

ten // Humans in Lincoln Park. Hey, we're animals too.

eleven // My all time favorite zoo mammal--the fennec fox!! They only weigh around 3 pounds, and are a shy, nocturnal desert dweller. I want.

twelve // One of my favorite birds, the Black-necked stilt. Their legs are longer than their entire body.

 Fourth category: an assortment of Etsy projects and scenes from work.

thirteen // My current favorite scarf in the shop.

fourteen // A gorgeous view from an event I was working on Saturday. I have to work a lot of Saturdays since the zoo is open 365 days a year, but I don't even mind since the setting is so beautiful and fun.

fifteen // Farm in the zoo! I love this picture because it combines my two homes: rural Illinois and urban Chicago. Plus flowers :)

sixteen // A gorgeous custom wedding envelope liner design I've been working on!


And that's all for now! Thanks for hosting this link-up Blair!

What have you been up to lately?