dear november.

dear november, 

let's face it. we have a strange relationship. its kind of a push/pull thing. you're pulling me in for 4 weeks, I'm pushing you away like the plague.... i'm just really not that into you.

november is an interesting month for me, i harbor some seriously ill will towards it, as if the month itself took my dad away + i'm not really into thanksgiving, i'm all for being thankful & spending time with family but i'd rather eat sushi than turkey and mashed potatoes. so i suppose the purpose of this post is to find things about november that i love! so lets start this thing over...

dear november,

thank you for the beanie weather! october tried its hardest, but you really came through & put that extra day in-between shower days & that is something to get excited about ;)

you also brought me snow. S N O W! first snow of the year and it wasn't a meaningless dusting! arrow had the opportunity to use her new snowsuit & even attempt an olaf! 

with your arrival i have started ordering my cold weather regular; tall chestnut praline latte from starbucks. hooray! plus, the lights are officially up and on in Old Town, making my red cup holding strolls even more dreamy.

you gave me husband! he turns thirty tomorrow and is trying his hardest to sweep it under the rug, i am doing quite the opposite. anything worth celebrating is worth going completely over the top for ;) thanks baby, for making my novembers better for the past 4 years!

kieran! november also gave me my littlest baby brother who turns 18 this year! what. in. the. world. bear, you've made november more than just the month rudely separating halloween and christmas for almost 18 years now... keep up the good work, i love you.

sales at target. who doesn't love a good sale at target?

thanksgiving break! a week off of work filled with family, truckloads of muddy buddies, pumpkin bread, a fresh batch of my dad's texas trash - courtesy of chris salvaggione, ample time to decorate for christmas, put my holiday playlist on repeat, no mariah carey, you are not invited (all i want for christmas is for you to stop.) & hopefully more snow!!

this list is short and its certainly not profound, but finding the things i love about november and focusing on them has gotten me halfway to december! yay me!

my people.

everyone has got a team, a tribe, a group. a collection of people who just get it. i have an interesting tribe... starting with the people who not only share my DNA but also my level of crazy. hi family! I'm super blessed because my family is super close, like, suuuuuuper close, this includes husbands. the once a week family dinners don't even begin to cover it. we are in some form of a group text majority of the time, always checking in (& barging in) on each others lives. its great.

i am happily situated in the middle of the crazy. two older sisters who are my bestbestbestbestbest (x20) friends. they weren't always, but once they realized how awesome i am, i meeeean as i got older, they came around. we talk about everything. nothing is off limits. sometimes we talk about baby sleep schedules, date night with our husbands or what we are watching in-between loads of laundry on netflix. other times we delve a little deeper and chat about faith, plans and hopes for the future & how much we miss our dad. i feel as though they are the only people who can tell me exactly what they are thinking without having to apologize or say no offense. + our libraries of knowledge and wisdom span a broad number of subjects so we can usually help each other out of life's stickiest situations; but when we can't we call mom!

my two little (way bigger than me) brothers are next. they would probably rather not be on my team, but are kind of stuck there. i am constantly monitoring their love lives, making sure they are growing into young gentlemen and that their girlfriends are pretty enough to possibly become my sister-in-laws one day. i try my hardest to keep them in line and out of trouble even though just a few short years ago i was teaching them how to get into it (insert embarrassed monkey emoji here.) most of our conversations skim the surface of life which suits me just fine, i know that running into them or shooting them a quick text will be just that, a short catch up & an amazing hug.

my next members are probably the most interesting of the bunch, my students. although there are many years of life separating us, i am married and having babies & they are going to prom; our creativity meets in the middle and has no age. i see them regularly, like a twice a week date that is highly prioritized and can't be missed. they have seen firsthand how my creative soul responds to life's most brilliant and most destructive moments. they've loved me through dark hair, black eyeliner, breakups, makeups, love, a big belly, loss & life and i am eternally grateful for their youthful presence in my corner. squad goals!

lastly, are my friends. the small and very selective group of people who met me at all very different times in my life & yet somehow, have stuck around. these are the people who danced with me before i was actually good at dance & who put up with me being a little regina george-ish in middle school. one of them convinced me to give grant a chance (i am sooooo glad i did!) & lets face it, they all just know too much. unfortunately, these are the members i talk to the least, some have babies, fiancees, jobs, and love lives i can't keep up with ;) however, our friendships are not based on the number of times we get together for coffee, they are a quick text conversation during the week and a hangout when we can, knowing full well that at any moment we would drop our lives for eachothers emergency.

the relationships we craft throughout the years shape us as a person, they define and serve as a living example of what God created us to do, love Him and love one another! I look so forward to watching my tribe grow and change as the years pass and look even more forward to watching arrow build a tribe of her own, as of now it's got two pretty precious members already, lucy goose & super abel! take some time today to tell your people how much you love them, near and far!

happy thursday!

a whole new set of fears.

im not sure when it happens in life, but somewhere between being a wild and carefree child & adulthood, we acquire the worst emotional attribute this world has to offer.

F E A R.

I'm not talking fear of spiders or ghosts or going upside on a roller coaster. I'm talking about the invisible fears that tug on our heartstrings on gloomy mornings. the fear of being alone forever, not getting into heaven, or never looking like the girl on the cover of shape magazine. the silent fear of wanting something so badly but being too afraid to get after it; or being fearful of your own desire to let something you have, go. these are big, bad, ugly fears, deeply rooted into our minds garden like a weed with sharp thorns & they grow wildly as they please. 

As the seasons of life change, my fears do too. old fears, have now faded away with the addition of a husband & a daughter. while some still loom in the back of my mind when that season of life comes around again, but its this whole new set of fears that are making me crazy lately. 

my fears for her.

my perfect little being.

we live in a scary world people. i am absolutely positive that this is not new news to you. but completely aside from the school shootings and textersanddrivers, i almost find myself more fearful for her heart. she is growing up in a world where the word basic is thrown around freely, like it doesn't really mean "not good enough." where 8 year olds are wearing wedges and winged eyeliner to elementary school, where people of all ages get to hide behind the keys of a keyboard and tell you what they really think; and where love and sex are so disregarded and thrown into the category of something that you just, do.

i wish that there was a cure all, i wish that i could shield her from the less beautiful situations in this world. keep her in a 5point safety harness carseat until she's 30, homeschool her, choose her friends for her etc. but at some point i have to let her LIVE, just as God created us to do! so instead of locking her up in a tall, tall tower and never letting her meet a boy (or mean girls) like, ever.... i will instead do my very best to raise her to be strong, steady, kind & most of all rooted deeply in the Father. for the burning questions I cannot answer, I will send her to scripture and there she will find self-worth, purpose & learn the true definition of love and all of the wonderful weight it carries.

it doesn't help her for me to be fearful, fear breeds more fear & it isn't a fruit we were designed to bear. i can't say that i won't ever worry or try to micromanage her life because i can spot a bad idea from a mile away; but like the seasons in my own life sweep away fears, as she grows into a smart and witty little girl and then into a beautiful, young woman making wise decisions on her own, they will do the same with my fears for her.

for God does not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love & a sound mind.
2 timothy 1:7

t w o!

ladies & gentlemen, i present to you, my two year old! 

[ we made it! ] 

i say all the time that i love the stage she is in right now, but i think I've said that about every stage since she was born...except for teething, those times we could have done without! honestly, she just keeps getting better + life with her just keeps getting brighter and sillier. she is hilarious, dramatic & according to her, "so funny" & "so fast." (i tend to agree) - still a little possessive over her things, including, but not limited to: all baby dolls, every toy in the world, sip cups & anything lucy looks even remotely interested in at the time. however, her hitting has turned into trading, which is usually more effective and results in fewer time-outs, win! her blue eyes get bluer everytime she wakes & she fills my heart with so much joy + splendid happiness.

arrow's favorite things right now are her books, her babydoll, driving her mustang around the backyard & pink frosted animal crackers, not the white ones, she doesn't like those. she loves helping me in the kitchen + thursdays when birdie comes to play. you can often find her twirling in front of a mirror or putting her baby to sleep, which is followed by a whispered "be quiet mama, baby sleeping in crib." she wants all of her artwork hung up for the world to see & her nails must always be painted. her little puckered lips are the things of my dreams & when she says i love you mama my knees get weak. 

arrow june, i pray you always remember how beautiful you are, inside & out. don't take life too seriously, never forget your worth and always speak your mind. this world is so broken baby girl, but God sends little ones like you down to remind us of all of the light that comes along with living under his umbrella of grace. you were handcrafted with such care. with strength in your bones, unadulterated love in your heart & a kind and passionate soul that will help you achieve anything you set your mind to; but when you fall and fall again, daddy & i will be there, to reach down for your hand & pick you back up. i love you so much little miss, forever + ever + ever. two years old looks so great on you. love, mama.

7 new things i love about arrow

here i am, a few months later, to write about new things i love about arrow.

1. "I DID IT! high five!"

she exclaims this after completing a task, like buckling herself into her carseat, feeding the dogs or cleaning up a mess. who knew that my exact congratulations to her would become her own congratulations to herself. there is no shortage of praise or high fives in this house. high tens we are still working on though, she prefers to just slap both hands with the same hand. we'll call it the double high five.

2. arrow has started telling us what she is going to do before she does it, a trait she picked up from her sweet cousin abel.

 "arrow eat this rock" "arrow slap this ground" + "arrow eat arrows waffle allllll gone gone!"

i like this habit, it's working for me. I can stop all rock eating long before it happens, i can tell her it is okay to slap the ground, just not lucy & i can praise her when she eats things (not rocks) alllllll gone gone. (i told you, no praise shortage around here.)

3. her prayers.

before each meal, we pray. arrow is a speed pray-er, most likely because she is leaving out words that make full sentences. i tell her to repeat after me: dear God. dear God. bless this food. ress dis food. we love you jesus. yeah. amen. aaaaaaamen. 

its adorable. we have a prayer for bedtime too, but she ends up 'blessing this food' instead of 'thanking for this day' which is alright with me, God knows what she means.

4. her maternal instincts. I'm not a fan of that word, maternal, but i don't think there is a better word for what I'm describing here. we recently got arrow a baby doll (i know, i caved.) and she loves her. she has a baby stroller, a baby crib & all the baby accessories. this baby, named baby, has it all. since getting this doll though, everything has become arrow's baby, stuffed animals, shoes, baking utensils... seriously, i found a whisk under a blanket in the middle of the living room floor the other day and when i tried to put it away arrow explained (& yelled) to me that the green baby was sleeping; five minutes later she said the green baby was awake & put it away in the baking drawer, followed by an "i did it!" & of course, a high five.

5. the way she talks on the phone, i am using the term 'phone' here, loosely. it is often not a play phone and is instead a rectangle block or sometimes a fly swatter. I have countless videos of her chit-chatting away to her lucky caller of the day. 

"Hi Birdie! yeah. fine. what you doing birdie. yeah. hahahahaha. yeah. bye birdie."

*all the while strolling her baby doll around the house*

on my real phone though, she is super skilled. if i leave it unlocked for even a second she is face timing someone. she doesn't stay looking at the screen for long so her guest is usually face timing the sky or the ceiling fan while listening to arrow, but we're working on the eye contact thing.

6. she is a girl who knows what she wants. she is particular about how many graham crackers i put in the bowl, doesn't want me to take the wrapper completely off her popsicle without her help & knows when i am stingy with the syrup. she knows exactly which shoes she wants to wear & looks at me like i am a crazy person if i try to choose her cup for the day without first asking her preference. her decisive nature & her inability to be swayed are two traits that i often find myself battling, but they are what make a strong minded little girl into a powerful woman, so I'm letting her get away with being a little choosy.

and 7. her intense love for all things daddy. I have been the apple of arrows eye for nearly two years now, i was her main food source for a year so that was in my favor & i am also the one who buys the toys, but i am sensing a shift. now she is ready to play, chase & go upside down and that is what daddy is for. He is also the only person who can take her on the vroom vroom (the mini bike) & drives the big white truck (apparently my big white suv just won't cut it anymore.) She wants to hold his hand and go wherever he goes. when daddy goes bye-bye there is a nuclear meltdown that is often avoided or handled by using popsicles and/or m&ms as distraction tools. he is our main man and might i add, I fall in love with him all over again when i see him with her.

sweet summertime

summer to me is a toddler covered in sunscreen, smiling ear to ear & a popsicle in hand; sunny days spent swinging and sliding at any and every park we find, sometimes with an uncle or two. it is missed naps because we don't want the play date to end and breakfasts that turn into lunch that turn into dinner. summer is for running through the sprinklers & riding with the top down, ice cream cones + burnt hot dogs at a weekly bbq, concerts & weekend travel trips to see old friends!

this is the stuff life is made of. the memories that after ten years, still give us goosebumps, make us laugh until our sides ache, or bring tears to the brim of our eyes. the hushed late night conversations in the dark or the hilarious ones we have while sitting on kitchen counters. these are the beautiful stories that stitch our life together so we end up the most stunning tapestries, made up of the bright colors of happiness and laughter & the darker tones of rest. There is still summer left to enjoy! What has your summer looked like? what new memories have you made that are for the books?

to have & to hold.

today marks three years of being married to this handsome fella. three years of snuggling. three years of holding hands. three years of waking up next to the same person. it has been truly wonderful & i consider myself to be so blessed to have found my forever love.

s w e e t h u s b a n d of m i n e.

sheesh i love you. i love being your wife & your right hand. i truly believe i was made for loving you and you for loving me. choosing to love you each morning is so easy. i love parenting alongside you & learning every day how to love you + arrow, better. i look forward to the many years i know we have ahead of us, more babies, new experiences & best of all, more of you. lets keep doing what we're doing because it seems to be working. oh & lets hold hands and makeout later? k sounds good.

y o u r forever&ever w i f e.

fleeting moments

maybe its the arrival of arrow's full, sentence speaking vocabulary reminding me that she'll soon be two, or just the celebrations of anniversaries and birthdays passing yet again, but as i say over and over again. time needs to slow down. i heard somewhere once, that life is just a collection of beautiful fleeting moments & we must always be ready to bottle them up. now, i am a very literal person, so I'm like where can i buy the jars? lots and lots and LOTS of jars...

from the moment my eyes feel sun peeking through the small space between blackout curtain and wall, i see beauty. i can look to my right and trust that there will always be something wonderful waiting for me there, a loving husband or if I'm reeeeeally lucky, a sweet toddler who crawled into bed with us in the night. I go into the kitchen to make coffee & what am i greeted by? another beautiful, breathtaking scene. a sky painted with pinks and yellows on one end & dark blues and purples on the other. 

i could keep walking you through my entire day, explaining in great detail all the magnificent things i saw, because that was yesterday & all of those memories are so vivid still in my mind. but a month from now i will have forgotten them. instead of being able to bottle them up for storage, i will have to replace them with new sunrise imagery and a month older toddler and husband. on one hand, this is awesome because if i have a not so beautiful day, i can replace it with the next days beauty. but on the other, its seems the days i love the most will last no longer than the day i can't wait to be over. 

we can all try our hardest to capture images and video and keep little nostalgic bits, like i did with arrows first ever finger painting, but those things will never compare to the physical moment when i turned around to find her apparently bored of painting on paper with paint all over her body, stripes and swirls of red and blue and the biggest grin on her face. or the look on grants face when i walked out of the bathroom one night with 'coming soon' written across my stomach.

you see, life IS in fact a collection of beautiful, magical, fleeting moments. it moves so quickly that it is easy to get caught up in the blur. living monotonously from one day to the next. if one thing i write today sticks with you i hope its this : drink it all up, breathe it all in & keep your mental camera sharp and at the ready, today could hold the most incredible moments of your life.

enjoy your weekend!

five things i love about arrow.

when it comes to finding things i love about arrow, i do not struggle. i mean, look at her, she's adorable, brilliant & hilarious. however, it's so hard to narrow it down to just five! plus, with my favorite things about her changing all the time, i should document them every once and a while so i can one day remember them all, here we go!

O N E. 

right now she is really into putting diapers and onesies onto all of her stuffed animals. she even sometimes goes as far as clips in their hair, hats on their heads & socks on their feet. I'm hoping i can keep her satisfied with stuffed animals until its barbie doll time & we can just skip the whole baby doll phase, because lets get real, baby dolls give me the creeps.

T W O.

 i taught her how to fist bump in her carseat. i know I'm not from the jersey shore & i pray to God she never knows who snooki is, but when the time comes for a dance party and you're strapped into a safety 1st 5-point harness, a raging fist bump is really all you can do anyways. i always try to film it, but the music we're jamming to is on my phone.. oh, and I'm usually driving. chris brown: forever, is her song of the moment. circa 2007, but does it really ever get old?

T H R E E.

she is a repeater. i am pretty sure it's just a natural phase of toddler-hood, but i feel like she might have an even more serious case of the repeats. let me clarify. "done. I'm done. done. do-ne. don-e. done. rowrowDONE. done. done. mama, done. done, mama. done done."  arrow, are you done? i think you might be done. it sounds annoying; its not. its precious. sometimes, i just let her go on and on about being done or wanting to go 'wiiiing' (swing) outside because she sounds so sweet & i can't believe she's talking.

F O U R.

her ponytail, can officially be a top knot now. clips and bows be gone! i'm sure by now you have seen pictures of her infamous sprout across all my social media outlets (insert a billion heart eyes emoji) - but what you haven't seen is the aftermath. about three hours into her updo, she will realize her hair is up & want to take it out. you go girl. one second she's arrow, the next she is the villain from the incredibles. hair blown up and out in all directions. hilarious. oh, and before we get off the topic of her hair, her bed head, top notch people. top. notch.

F I V E.

she has always been independent & becomes even more so with each passing day, but my favorite, favorite thing about her right now is that in midst of all this changing and growing, she still needs her mama. she still needs me to put her to sleep every night, her heavy head on my chest until i tuck her in and say the same prayer over her that i have since the day she was born. she comes running to me when she is scared or hurt; & whether i hear it through the monitor or she has made her way into bed with grant & i during the night, her first word in the morning is always, mama. my favorite title. i am the luckiest woman in the whole world to have someone as wonderful as her need me, just as much as i need her. God certainly knew what he was doing when he put us together. 

happy monday! spend today thinking about all the reasons you love the people around you & then go and tell them! you never know whose day you could turn around by reminding them how great they are!

e a s t e r!

happy easter!
anyone else feel as if easter 2014 was like 5 days ago? it can't possibly have come and gone again, right?! sheesh. i know i say it all the time, but time is flyyyyyyying by. anyways, happy late easter everyone, the sweet anniversary of jesus conquering the grave & freeing us from our sins! a serious praise hands emoji to that one. this year, i was lucky enough to host easter! though we were missing a few characters, almost the whole family was there! we had honey baked ham, twice baked potatoes, a tasty salad, deviled eggs & of course, more desserts than we should have. homemade strawberry lemonade and iced tea were quenching our thirsts on this beautiful day & easter candy wrappers were strewn everywhere. abel and arrow participated in their very first easter egg hunt & i did more underdoggies on the swings than i can count. it was wonderful to get everyone together, laugh & celebrate this day! i hope everyone was able to spend time with your families and get out in this great weather!

^^ can we just take a moment to appreciate the bedhead going on in these photos? that girl knows how to rock bedhead. & the fact that she wants all of her new easter bows in her hair at once.

^^ loving on her new snuggly lamb.

  ^^ table setting & food! if it's not pretty, it's not worth eating!

^^ grammy love <333333 p="">

^^ daddy is the ultimate egg finder, maybe because he was also the egg hider... who knows :)

(below) on the hunt! she was so adorable & determined to find every egg our backyard had to offer (&hold her own basket.)

happy tuesday everyone!

eighteen months has never looked so good!

i can't believe its april. i can't believe today, my baby is 18 months old. it feels like, just a deep breath ago she was a wrinkly newborn, curled up in my lap; her daddy's handsome profile & my eyes. it has gone by way too fast, like, waaaaaaaay too fast. arrow is all her own now. a beautiful blend of us both; strong willed, smart, joyful, charismatic & one seriously tough cookie. we call her a little bruiser. no splinter or skinned knee can slow her down.

her hair is just long enough to tuck behind her ears or pull into a sprout ponytail & thank goodness for it, because she's been 'over' bows and clips since, well, forever. her legs are 24 months long & her eyes get bluer every time she wakes, i swear it. she fills my life with 'uh-ohs & whoas' and says 'mama' in her sleep. her vocabulary is rapidly growing. no seriously, grant + i are in trouble seeing as she tries to imitate every word we say (maybe we should try a swear jar...) she can identify, eyes, ears, hands, feet, tummy, bellybutton, booty etc. & make alllllll kinds of adorable animal noises on command. her mooooooooo is quite possibly the cutest thing you've ever seen. ever.

 we're working on our please + thank yous, being kind with our hands & sharing. I'm pretty sure she believes that strawberries are the most important food group, maybe even the only food group, well that and ice cream sandwiches. if it were up to me, she'd sleep with us every night, its terribly uncomfortable because she is a ninja in her dreams, but it is also so sweet & those days are so numbered.

she insists on going down the slide on her belly, my little wild one, and loves dance parties in the kitchen. bubble guppies & swinging are her jam, along with drinking out of big girl water bottles. what can i say, she is a girl of many interests! she can usually be found with a sidekick in hand, boo boo, the famous pomeranian* to be precise, thank you LA airport store!
*kitty or pig will suffice when he is in the washing machine.

she is my light, and a shiny bright spot in each persons life that she meets, whether it be the grandma in the grocery store, or her own birdie & grammy back at home. she has changed grant & i for the better & i hope she continues to grow and cultivate us into the perfect parents, do those exist? 

my sweet arrow, we made it! thank you for making the last 18 months of my life, the brightest + most wonderful, i have yet to encounter. every moment with you is new. thank you for forgiving me when i fail you, loving me when i need it most & challenging me to be a better mama every day. though one day you may be blessed with a little brother or sister, there will never be another you. a first. a perfect little crash test & i wouldn't have it any other way. happiest of year & a half birthdays to you, arrow! love, your mama

the women who built us

it all starts with our mothers. they took a blueprint from God & handcrafted us with care. they swoon & sing for us when we are little, teach us words and good habits as we grow. they cry with us when we deal with heartbreak & scold us when we make decisions they don't approve of. these women guide us down the twisted, crazy road of life giving us all the tools we need to choose loving friends, find a trustworthy partner, and become good mothers. they nourish our soul with everything it needs to blossom into life on our own. then the cycle repeats itself, though even now, on my own, i still call my mom as if she's my doctor , the pediatrician, a counselor & a preacher.

i heard someone say something the other day & found it quite amusing - 

"no point in fighting it, one day, we inevitably all turn into our mothers."

some might cringe at the thought. its too late for me, i already am my mom in so many ways. creative, scatterbrained, driven & wise. a project is never completely finished before i am on to the next one + my drawers are never all shut at the same time. her qualities shining brightly out of me are comforting in a way though, i know that if she were to ever go away, id have such a huge piece of her with me, coming out in my life and looking back at me in the mirror.
i have soaked up so much of my mother in law too. she has engrained in me, a need for cleaner surfaces & has shown me patience in hard times with arrow, that I'm not quite sure i would have acquired on my own.

but what about the other women who carve their ways into our frames?

they say you are what you eat & i say, you are who you hang out with. during your lifetime you are going to meet a lot of people. some people stay, some people go. some people are blood & some are so close they ought to be. older, younger, same age; these people shape us. they attach their own characteristics, like blocks onto the original beautiful shape that God & our mothers built. we take on bits of their personalities, their silly inflection, their good habits & even some of their bad. we have our human surroundings to thank for who we are, who we will become & then finally, who our children become. in the end, we all end up like wonderful collages, made up of our sister's whimsical way of of looking at things, our girlfriend's crude & silly sense of humor + our mother's eyes. what an exciting blend.

s e a t t l e : t w o

calling all whiskey drinkers! this post is for YOU!

woodinville whiskey co. is the MAIN reason i chose seattle as our weekend spot. it is a young brand of whiskey, only available in the state of washington & was rated number 3 on forbes list of top 10 whiskey distilleries in the nation to tour. it was 20 miles outside of seattle proper so we hopped in an uber & headed up the 405! it was amazing, the distillery itself had such a cool vibe. we walked right in and each had a taster flight of everything they make: a rye whiskey, a bourbon, a barrel aged honey,  a maple syrup & a vodka. grant would be the person to talk to if your interested in how the woodinville whiskey & bourbon are compared to the classics like jack, jim & crown.

the tour itself was fun too, we got to look inside fermenting tanks & see the giant copper still, learn about the process & finally see barrels upon barrels of finished product.

we went to radiator whiskey, a very swanky whiskey bar in pike place, a small room with a BIG whiskey selection. grant tasted a few new ones & the bartender mixed me up a phil collins, i have no idea what was in it besides whiskey, but it was pink & it was goooood.

the last stop on our seattle trip was to a place called '9 million in unmarked bills' -- we chose it off the name & a story grant read in a magazine about it being the last known meeting place of a chef turned bank robber! if that doesn't make you wanna go check it out, go for the truffle mac ;)

[ other great options we were unable to visit during this trip are fremont mischief whiskey & westland distillery. the locals pointed me in their direction, but they were closed on sunday! i guess there is always next time! ]