"Whodunnit?"

Belmont and I are sitting here at Starbucks on a rare day off for the both of us. Happy New Year! I experimented with a few new blog backgrounds today to start a new look for a new year... do you like what I decided on? Leave comments and let me know that you're reading! :)

Speaking of the new year, we spent the last hours of 2011 with some mysterious friends of ours at a murder mystery dinner. What a funny night! Belmont and I scoped out a local thrift store to find costumes appropriate for our shady characters. I was to be "Marilyn Merlot," a Hollywood starlet and he was "Otto Von Schnapps," a German wine connoisseur. We found a dress for me and he picked up a turtle neck to wear under his suit. Here we are, looking slightly ridiculous and slightly guilty:

Were we the killers? You'll never know...

Also joining us were "Tiny Bubbles" (the suspicious fiancée of the deceased Barry Underwood, now married to his cousin and heir), "Ralph Rottingrape" (married to Tiny Bubbles and owner of the Underwood Estate), "Papa Vito" (longtime friend of the family, originally from Italy), "Hedy Shablee" (competing vineyard owner with dark secrets), "Bud Wizer" (FBI agent on the case) and "Bonny Lass" (a touring Scottish mystery novelist). Although I cannot tell you whodunnit, I can tell you that it was hilarious to sit around the table with our friends and hear each one speak in outrageous accents and accuse one another of murder. Even the murderer didn't find out until the very last page that they were guilty! Hmm... you'll have to play for yourself and solve the crime!

Last night, Belmont and I went to dinner at Olive Garden, thanks to Dusty and Will! It was delicious and a nice treat to get out of the house for a couple of hours. Later we watched Part II of John Adams and learned about the Declaration of Independence and the stubborn New York delegates. We really like the series so far, but it is hard to watch some of the daily trials that they faced.
We sat by the fire as we watched-- because our heat has been out! F.r.e.e.z.i.n.g.! We gathered up all the blankets that we could find and bundled up for a frigid sleep.

This a.m. we woke up to a 58°F house and called our landlord. He came over with an electrician and got things going, and Belmont and I made a delicious breakfast. His grandfather got us a little egg pan that makes eggs for breakfast sandwiches! Bacon-egg-&-cheese biscuits, anyone? We fried up some bacon and made fluffy biscuits for the occasion.

Isn't it tiny and cute? :)

What a good idea! The leftover bacon and flavoring will be left for tonight... baked potato soup!! We are planning to make a huge batch so that we have lots of leftovers. :)

By the way-- Our heat is fixed! Yay! We are so excited to go back home to a warm house.

In the meantime, we are going to see a matinee movie after our time at Starbucks! We were debating between Sherlock Holmes and Mission Impossible, but finally decided on MI4 since Belmont had already seen the new Sherlock caper. We also checked "Rotten Tomatoes" and saw that (even though we are not Tom Cruise fans) the new release got great ratings from the critics! We are intrigued and excited for an afternoon out!

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday! Happy 2012!