Weekend Scrapbook 7

This is pretty much how I looked for three solid days.  Well, ok, that's a lie.  By the third day, my hair was definitely more frazzled, and I probably wasn't quite so smiley.  But in the kitchen, wearing an apron, utensils scattered, and recipes hanging from everywhere is pretty accurate.

And this is the end result!  Friday was my last Sarandipity hurrah, when I did the cake and dessert table for our friends' wedding.  I made four different mini-desserts: Cheesecakes with strawberry sauce, chocolate truffle cakes, red velvet cakes, and pecan lace cups with key lime filling.

The lovely bride!

And groom :)

After putting up with my stress and chaos for three days and jumping in to save the day no fewer than six times, Bo is still smiling.  He's such a keeper.

Weekend Scrapbook 6

We pretty much stayed at home this weekend.  Which, honestly, is something I always welcome.  The more I'm home, the more I'm available to tackle all the things in my house that scream at me for my attention.  And while this blazing heat is blessing me with some time off from Sarandipity, I'm feeling more and more able to conquer my house, instead of being swallowed up by it.  So, this weekend, I scrubbed half our house.  It's utterly boring and tedious to talk about, and I'm certainly not going to post before and after photos (the horrors!), but it was more necessary than I realized.  

I was trying to explain to Bo last night why I'm feeling so averse to watching tv or movies that are anything but Girly.  I said that not only am I living in a masculine world with my 8-5 job and with my running on fumes, but that our house was in such disarray, that it didn't feel like my own.  I quickly lost his attention while I tried to explain that a sense of home is so important to feeling feminine and that I'd lost it somewhere in all the clutter and dusty baseboards.  But, as I spoke, I really took to heart the words I was saying.  I hadn't actually realized until that moment that having a home I am proud of is one more piece of the femininity puzzle.  

With my struggles with balance and a penchant for over-committing, I've noticed that my femininity is one of the first things to go out the window.  I figure it's off traipsing through our mini-forest with my patience, leaving dark eye circles in exchange.  My friends always describe me as a girly-girl, and I think it's so funny.  I was brought up to be a tomboy, and for a while my favorite pre-date screening question was to see if I owned more power tools than the boy asking me out.  (Usually?  Yes.)  So, while I do wear makeup and girly clothes and sparkly accessories, it doesn't often reflect how I feel.

But this weekend, I cleaned and I baked.  Sans ruffly apron, but still.  If you came over to my house right now, you'd find clean shiny surfaces, chocolate truffle cakes, scented candles, and most importantly - a contented me.

Weekend Scrapbook 5

I gave Bo's basil plant a huge trim and ....

... turned it into pesto!

 We had pancakes (again).

 Rory's had a special message this time:

"Bossy Betty"

Yes, BB, these are just for you! :)

Yellow chin:

Bo leveled out another section of our back yard.

And Jane is thriving in her new spot.

Hibiscus flowers are so pretty!

Weekend Scrapbook 4

I cooked with polenta for the very first time:

And then, at the encouragement of a Twitter pal, I made my own polenta from scratch:

We (all) had pancakes for breakfast:

Speaking of pancakes:

Please do rewatch her fantastic take on "Roll Over." (At the 0:19 mark.)  My old roommates taught her this trick years ago, and somehow she incorporated in her own spin and twist before flopping through a traditional roll.  Some days, it takes her 3 spins before she can get through the subsequent flop over.  She's special like that :)

Weekend Scrapbook 3

Another weekend has rudely flown on by.  When will they ever learn to stick around a little longer, to move a little more slowly?

I spent some time on Saturday in the garden center at Lowe's.  Just being among the flowers and plants brings me peace.  It helps get me back to centered, in a way.  And it doesn't hurt that the Dahlias and Daisies were blooming so bright and cheery for me.

And of course, while I was there, I became enamored with a plant that just absolutely needed to go home with us.  This time it was a half-price Hibiscus, and the only one left with red blooms.

I've since named her, "Jane."

Jane has lots more buds, just ready to open up and say hello.

For scale:  Rory meet Jane.  She will block the path you've stubbornly been using, despite our having put up hazards and blocks.  She will force you to walk around so that the grass in that patch will finally have a chance to grow.  Make nice with Jane, you hear?

Jane might possibly have been my reward for accomplishing this: On Friday, I finished up an order of 216 cake pops for a local wedding and then delivered and set up on Saturday.  The groom made the stand, and I filled it up with 5 different designs and flavors of cake pops.  Hurrah for being finished! 

(For the curious, there are more photos over on the Sarandipity blog.)

Weekend Scrapbook 2

Can you believe I took that picture with my cell phone?  Can you believe I had been carrying my phone in a ziploc, squished into the front of my sports bra, while running and getting completely soaked by sweat and humidity?  Sorry, that's a little gross.  But I strive to be open and honest, and hey, I'm certainly not perfume and roses even half the time.  Anyway, Rory and I ran twice this weekend on the Greenway - a set of forested paths about a mile from our house.

The paths mostly follow a creek and are paved except for the footbridges that cross over marsh and wetlands.  What you're staring at is a forest cloaked in 97% humidity.  Oh, yes.  That air out there was heavy.  My clothes were completely drenched, and it should be noted that running in humidity like that is exhausting.  It just saps all endurance and wears you out in no time flat.  Running a slow three miles in that feels like a fast five miles in cooler and dryer weather.  Which probably explains why we saw almost no one either day.  But I'm not complaining; it's really nice to have forested paths all to ourselves.  One of my favorite sounds is the hushed rhythm of footfalls in nature.



Rory gets tuckered out in the oppressive humidity too, so I stopped to let her take a mid-run swim break.  Actually, I had planned to stop to let her get a quick drink, but she ran and jumped right in and then swam around. 

Flowers?  Lovely.  Wet dog?  Not so much.

Bo has been dutifully tending to our back yard and patio garden, and these Zinnias are just one of the blooms thriving out there.  I haven't lifted a finger with anything regarding our backyard except to get inordinantly excited over picking out seed packets.  Which he then planted and grew for me.  Such a spoiled life I lead.

Of course, I then oblige when he asks me to make cookies. Cookies with more chocolate than usual.  Cookies made with my fancy-dancy Sarandipity melting chocolates.

I may or may not have eaten cookies for dinner last night, and nothing else.  Whoops.

Weekend Recap in Video

We took Rory on a field trip to Petsmart and randomly bumped into a couple with a mini-Rory.  He was sooo cute! I adopted Rory when she was a year old, so I never got to see the cute patootie tiny version of her. So, while we chatted with the couple, I whipped out my fancy dancy new phone, and took video of Rory being an old granny around the puppy. Rory doesn't have a whole lot of patience for puppy craziness; she'll put up with it with perfect manners, but she'll also try to remove herself from the puppy if at all possible.

Speaking of puppies, I took Rory to a few dog adoption events on Saturday, to see if we could find her a new friend to take home with us.  Obviously, we're looking at a slightly older dog, one at least 3 years old.  And one who can go running with us for exercise.  We only found one potential friend who was just incredibly sweet (certainly a great match for sweetie pie Rory!), but he was just too young :(  I'm sure he'll make someone an awesome friend, but he just wouldn't fit into our house as well.

Here's a clip of the one potential friend, but as you can see, he's just a wee little pup:

 And then we have Rory showcasing her usual bout of of crazy whenever a treat is in our hands: