By: Annie Wagner
Cinco de Mayo, Derby Day, and house projects galore!
After a long winter and very rainy April, Spring has finally arrived in Ann Arbor! We took full advantage of the sunny weekend tackling house projects while managing to sprinkle in some fun!
We were very pleased to wake up Saturday to a beautiful morning. After what felt like 54 months of winter, we could not wait to finally get outside! We started off with breakfast and coffee (one of the few meals a week that we all get to sit down and eat together). I made Trader Joes Banana Bread which I add chocolate chips and/or walnuts to – easy and delicious! And we made lattes with our favorite #treatyoself purchase – our Nespresso CitiZ & Milk Espresso Machine.
As soon as Margot was down for her nap, we got outside and worked as hard as we could for the two baby-free hours we had. Brian was a champ pulling weeds and mulching the plant beds while I refreshed our flower pots. We got our planters last year at Target, I linked some similar ones here and here. It’s always such a good feeling when the yard is green and the patio furniture is out!
Since it was so nice out that afternoon, we decided we had to stay outside. We went for a long family walk to…yep, you guessed it – the liquor store. Brian’s a bit of a cocktail connoisseur and wanted to get the perfect bourbon to make mint juleps for all 2 minutes of the Kentucky Derby (he chose Traverse City Whiskey Company’s Cherry Edition for a little Michigan twist!) On our way back, we stopped into the gas station and got $0.79 Slurpees – steal!! An extremely productive trip if I do say so.
Not amused by our frozen sugary treats 
While Brian concocted the perfect mint julep, I made one of our favorite and very complicated dinners – grilled cheese and tomato soup! I served it with sweet potato fries and a simple arugula salad and called it dinner! We proceeded to sip our ‘Michigan Juleps’ while we watched (cue Chris Harrison voice) “the most dramatic derby yet”.
Get. In. My. Belly. 
Avocado Toast 
Michigan Mint Julep
After a busy Saturday, we all slept in (until 8…woo!) on Sunday morning. We ate our avocado toast (recipe inspired by my sister cousins which includes my new Trader Joes addiction – Everything But the Bagel seasoning), Brian went to finish the rest of the yard work and I got the “lets rearrange the whole house” bug. That was slightly aggressive, so instead we just tackled our living room. Most of our furniture is hand-me-down pieces from our parents and grandparents including an acrylic & wood table and speaker cabinet handmade by Brian’s Papa Reu and paintings by my Grandpa John. We’ve been trying to figure out a way incorporate all of these pieces with our more modern furniture like my favorite tufted bench (similar benches linked here, here and here), and I’m very pleased with the outcome!
Family Inspired Living Room 
Linen Tufted Bench
After a productive weekend, we had our own Cinco de Mayo fiesta on our patio enjoying tacos with ingredients from our local farmers market, and my dad’s famous Margot-ritas (ingredient list below), while we rocked out to our new favorite song.
Fiesta Girls 
Farmers Market Tacos and Margot-ritas
Happy Spring from A2!
Matthew’s Famous Margot-ritas
- 2 ounces tequila made from 100 percent agave, preferably reposado or blanco
- 1 ounce Cointreau
- 1 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 ounce orange juice
- Salt and lime wedge for garnish
Farmers Market Tacos
- Trader Joes pre-seasoned Pollo Asada
- Trader Joes Queso dip
- Flour or Corn Tortillas
- Butter Lettuce
- Avocado
- Cilantro
- Red Onion
- Daikon Radish
- Mini-Peppers
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Shredded Mexican blend cheese