Guest Blog: Erin and Stephanie

Erin and Stephanie are also from Valpo.  They graduated from high school a year before me.  Although we had mutual friends in high school, we didn't hang out.  We reconnected at Purdue and spent two school years living in an apartment together...acting crazy, cooking, laughing, and having fun.  I don't remember what life was like before the girls were in it.  They are my best friends and they stood beside Chris and I at our wedding as our Maid and Matron of Honor.  I love these girls.  (photos by Jake Holt)

Erin...

Stephanie...

They spent this past weekend together, missing me I'm sure.  Erin sent this blog entry about their weekend:

Stephanie made the 5 hour trip from Evansville to visit Erin in Mishawaka. When Stephanie arrived, the apartment smelled of cake baking in the oven & Erin was preparing the spinach artichoke dip.

Together, they prepared Brian Botano’s Tomato & Garlic Crouton Salad, only adding the olives to Erin’s bowl.

Erin & Stephanie ate dinner while watching four wonderful episodes of the World Series of Pop Culture VH1 that Erin DVR’ed for this special occasion. After each devouring two bowls of salad, dip with crackers & raspberry lemonade, it was time to make the whip cream frosting for the chocolate cake.

This is the cake that Erin requests as her birthday cake every year, but instead of making homemade cake like mom, Erin used a Pillsbury box mix. The best part about the cake is that it also makes a delicious breakfast treat. We enjoyed our cake and coffee while watching a new show on comedy central that we found by accident, Human Giant.

We played Just Dance on the Wii, which amounted to 30-45 minutes of aerobic activity. After a shower, it was time for dinner.

While the rice was cooking, Stephanie shredded the cheese and cut the peppers and onions for our fajitas. Stephanie reminded Erin of the time at Purdue that we were having enchiladas & she was going to make rice pilaf to go with the dinner. Silly Stephanie! Erin cooked the steak & veggies in a grill pan on the stove. Topped with shredded cheese, salsa & sour cream, the fajitas were delicious! We could only eat a couple bites of the rice since we made the fajitas so large! We ate the fajitas and enjoyed the Christmas episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

The only thing missing from this fun weekend of friendship, fun & TV, was Stephanie & Erin’s dear friend Lauren. They both wish Lauren would have been there to complain about the TV shows they both enjoyed watching, laughing hysterically! Also, Lauren probably wouldn’t have gotten a piece of cake, because there was only enough for each of us to have 4 large pieces, not exactly enough to share.