Sideshow or Slideshow?

Either way, it's done!

 

Hopeful

We threw some old watermelon seeds into the raised bed garden a few weeks ago - I think they were the yellow watermelon variety - and soon we had a monster vine growing onto the rocks on the East side of the pool.

Pretty leaves on a pretty vine.

Bolted

Back in mid-May, my beautiful cilantro bolted.

Still smelled so good!

Playing Catch Up

Last night I finally finished creating our 2014 slideshow. I almost punted doing it, but I really do enjoy reflecting on the year and I think it's important. It's a pain sorting through a whole year of photos, then editing them and the transitions for maximum viewing pleasure, and then adding in the music, but I am always happy with the final product. #laboroflove


Next up, 2015. I hope to be done with that one before I need to get started on 2016.

P.S. My kids are so photogenic! Love to see how much they've grown through the years.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I probably mentioned this before, but I am slogging my way through Atlas, Shrugged this summer. 50 freakin' CDs! I know, it's not like I'm wearing my eyes out reading it or something, but OMG! My normal audio books are in the 2-10 disc range normally. I finished up CD 35 a couple of weeks ago, but the next CDs weren't quite available yet. For a while I was distracted with my reunion and things, but after things quieted down last week, I felt I was having withdrawals of listening to Scott Brick reading to me. I was very happy to check the last set of these CDs out from the library this past weekend so I can try to finish this book by the end of the month.

Comforting Food

So last night Aubri and I headed over to the best place in Norman to get special cheeses and delights - Forward Foods - and proceeded to pick out delicious items to nosh during our Girls Night In. We wanted to get some good soda and Horseradish Cheddar (which they sadly didn't have) so we had to drop by the house to put away the goods and head to the East side Homeland. Emi joined us for this leg of the trip and promptly shanghai'd our night of delicate delight noshing and instead led us down the "Cheeseburger and Ice Cream" road. We happily followed her down this road as we were starving by this point.  But hey, no regrets!

While "Burger Night" was a very successful endeavor, we still had our assortment of cheeses and smoked pepperoni on hand to enjoy. And truffle salt, but that is for another time. And we'd been to Walmart getting school supplies and suffered through the self checkout lane. #firstworldproblems We needed something a little comforting to make things right in the world again.

July Recap - Part 3 (Reuniting and It Feels So Good)

My 30 year high school reunion took place at the end of July and what a crazy weekend that was! I was caught between the excitement of seeing old friends and the reality that I hadn’t quite gotten into the shape I was planning on when the reunion weekend started. I decided to chill, not to worry, because we are all just humans, right? The planning committee met up a few times the week before the reunion to make decorations, update the cool sign we got for the 20 and determine award categories and prizes. Those were fun meetings!

Ooh Mami!

July Recap - Part 2 (Speakeasy and Boca)

We also got some good eats while on vacation. Whether it was home with my mom, or at my brother-in-law's new restaurant, or at a cool speakeasy in Tampa. We were a bit spoiled.

I made shrimp and grits at my mom's house because someone put a bug in my ear about it...

Shrimp and Grits (and Nolita Pinot Grigio which was just eh)

Inspiralized

Ok, so the zucchini noodles weren't spiralized - I don't have a spiralizer - but they were good. I used a box grater to make the noodles and then I cooked them in olive oil for a minute or two. Then I added them to the sauce (You like-a the sauce-a?). The tomato sauce was flavored with ground beef, portabello mushrooms, garlic, thyme, oregano and basil.

Even my big, baby girl liked this zucchini dish.

#6yearsago #notsomuch #notafanofthez

July Recap - Part 1 (Getting Down)

Getting There

July Recap (It's Coming!)

What. A. Month. I am still trying to remember it all and do it justice with my recaps.

We started off by driving down to Florida in our small commuter car. All 5 of us. Yep, we were as close as a family could be, even closer than when we drove down last summer because the kids are growing like weeds. We should probably have a t-shirt or something for the surviving that trip.



Speaking of t-shirts, I probably need one for making it to/through my 30. Year. Reunion! We ended the month with that.

More to follow soon...