~ New and Exciting! Well, It’s Pretty, At Least ~

I saw this template pop up when I was adding a button to my sidebar {button pending – I can’t get it to work} and I decided to use it. I like it because it looks sort of like one of my journal pages {though this is more put together}.

So, since my last philosophical post {haha!}, here’s what I’ve been up to:

The boy absolutely loves the dentist – can’t you tell by his body language?

I took the boy to the dentist before he left for Ohio with his dad for two weeks and he wasn’t excited about it. Not many people are excited about the dentist, so I completely understand. It’s a necessary evil. Thankfully, he got a kick out of the fun house mirrors they have on the wall. Observe.

I can’t get over how blonde he is – he was born with a full head of black hair and now he’s blonde. And will likely stay that way. What?!?!?

Directly following, we traveled a bit to meet up with his dad and what did we see in the Target parking lot, but this gem of a sky.

The things you see if you only open your eyes and look around a bit.

On Memorial Day, I went down to Big Sur with a few friends for food and drinks and ring buying {for them, not me} at Nepenthe. Two of my dearest friends are getting married in September and they bought his wedding band over the weekend at The Phoenix. I just went along for the ride and the fabulous company. I only took a handful of pictures and this one was the one that turned out the best. You can’t even tell it’s Big Sur, so you’ll just have to trust me on that one :-}

The view from the back seat – I really like the perspective on this shot.

The weather was beautiful, the water was a gorgeous aquamarine color, the sun was shining, the food was delicious {one of the best burgers ever, I kid you not}, the conversation was flowing. It was good :-}

And now, on Wednesday, it’s back to the grindstone. It’s not a bad grindstone, by any stretch of the imagination. I won’t lie, though, getting off the Peninsula for a bit and seeing some different country was really nice.

Next on the agenda: cook supper on Saturday for more of my dear friends.

**Side note: I am completely blessed and oh-so-fortunate to have the amount of friends that I do. Life would be pretty lonely without them. And boring. Let’s not dwell on that so much, okay? I love my people and they love me. That is a good thing. **

~ Philosophical Thoughts…or, Texting My Full of Bologna Thoughts Too Late at Night ~

I think the good and the bad bits of memories are always there in the back, waiting to be picked up and brought forward to be dwelled upon, rolled around and mulled over. Sometimes they pop forward without warning, taking a person by surprise. Other times, a situation brings one to the surface. Sometimes it’s a choice to bring them up and roll them around and talk about one, saying things like “Remember when….” And lastly, it’s the ones that have been buried so far in the recesses of our conscious that we think it’s impossible to remember them – it’s those that we want to never think of again.

Why I should sleep and not text at nearly one in the morning. I think I can write when I’m tired.

Hahaha.

~ Weekend of Baking ~

This weekend we had the pleasure of hanging out with a gorgeous German Shepherd. The boy had a great time with her. I think they got along rather well.

Zeta waiting for the boy to get his shoes tied so they can go play outside.

She’s a funny one – she likes to put little squeak toys at the top of the treadmill while I’m walking four miles an hour  and watch them go down to the bottom while she trots down to catch them. And then repeat the process. I got a kick out of it, as long as she didn’t use anything larger than a tennis ball :-}

geranium blooms in the garden

We went to have lunch at Toro Place Cafe, which I had heard was really good. After eating there, yes, it is good. I had the club sandwich and the boy had a plain bacon cheeseburger and a bowl of clam chowder and half of my fries. We sat outside and it was lovely. And I took pictures of the geraniums. Like I do.

mint swirls full of chocolatey and minty goodness

I also made these cookies. I got the recipe from my friend, Heather, but you can find the recipe all over the internet {in quite a few variations too}. I first had them at her house and they are delicious. You can’t stop at just one, either, especially if you have a glass of milk to go along with them. Trust me. I’ve tried it.

Want the recipe? You know you do. Here you go.

Andés Mint Cookies {or Mint Swirls, which is what I call them}
3/4 c butter
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 T water
2 c semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1 t vanilla {the recipe I have doesn’t call for it, but I thought it would make a nice addition. And I was right, it did.}
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
13.5 oz bag of Andés mints {or more, because you’ll eat a few when you’re unwrapping them anyway}

** When I was shopping for the ingredients, I could only find chopped pieces of Andés mints, so that’s what I bought. Don’t do that. Drive around until you find the whole mints. It is a PITA {pain in the patootie} to try to get the little chopped up bits of mint to stay on top of the cookie to melt before spreading with the back of the spoon. Buy the whole mints. Find them, stock up on them, whatever you have to do. Just don’t buy the chopped up bits of mint.

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time. {Add the vanilla here, if you want.} Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour {do not skip this step – it will be detrimental to your cookies. I even put the dough back in the ice box to keep it cold in between batches}.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute. When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer. For smaller cookies, break mints in half.
5. Eat them with a glass of cold milk. Share them with your neighbors. Share them with your friends, the kid down the street, the mail man, and anyone you like. Or even anyone you don’t like. Share the mint swirl cookie love.

~ Favorite Breakfast ~

This is my favorite breakfast.

egg & crumpet

Doesn’t it look yummy? It’s the simplest thing. I like my crumpet lightly toasted and my egg extremely over easy. So that when you cut into it with a fork, it looks like this:

blurry fork, runny yolk

That way, all the little holes in the crumpet soak up all the yolk.

Yum.

What’s your favorite breakfast?

~ Phone Dump ~

It’s time for a phone dump – the part where I dump my most recent photos into WordPress in lieu of writing something profound.

Let’s begin.

slow but sure progress

I recently wrote about my next crochet project and it’s been going along rather nicely. Some of the stitches have proven to be a challenge, but I’m pleased with the result thus far. Right now, I’m on row 14 of 147, so this could take me awhile. I’m hoping to have it completed by Thanksgiving.

The boy and the McLaren

A friend of mine gave me tickets to the American LeMans races out at Laguna Seca. The boy drooled over many cars. I drooled over this one. Not really – we would have politely been asked to leave had any drool come into contact with any car.

I actually made it into a picture so I can prove that I really was there. See! I was there!!!

It’s about time I was on the other side of the camera, don’t you think?

100 mph, no big deal.

I’m kind of proud of this picture. Or rather, I’m proud of my iPhone for taking it. I pushed the button, but the timing was just right to capture this car speeding by at 100 mph. My iPhone has rather brilliant shutter speed, considering it’s a phone. And…to top that off, this was the first picture I tried to take like this. The other 15-20 after it were flops. Beginner’s luck, I guess :-}

Now, the next picture may be slightly disturbing, but never fear: I will explain.

Roland the Headless Easter Bunny

If you know who Warren Zevon is and have listened to any of his music at all, you’ll get it. If you don’t, watch this video:

Does it make more sense now? The boy ate the head off his Easter bunny and I had a moment of brilliance. I quickly found the rifle from his Chewbacca figurine and assembled Roland the Headless Easter Bunny with his “tommy gun”. It made me laugh {no, it doesn’t take much}.

my creative outlet as of late – not so creative, but an outlet just the same

I’ve been writing less and gluing cards, sticky notes and things I find online into my journal instead. You can see evidence of this change on the above pages. None of this is original art – but then, is anything really original? It’s a creative outlet and it gives me a place to store stuff that I like. The end.

So, thus concludes my iPhone dump. What have you been up to?

~ For Your Saturday Ears ~

Go – enjoy the sun – dance around – be just a little silly {or a lot silly}.

~ Project Recipe Box ~

My recipe box has been bothering me for a long time. I had piles of recipes that needed to be filed sitting on top of the box {see photo below}. The dividers weren’t quite big enough and there was too much space so the recipes went flopping all over {see second photo}. It just wasn’t cutting it.

So, I went on a hunt for printable recipe dividers, preferably free. And I found them over at Wild Olive {click here for the dividers – they’re awesome and they can be customized – and she has them available in two different sizes}.

the mess that was my recipe box.

the innards before reorganization.

And here is the finished product. Well, almost. It needs a bit of work and I really must stop printing recipes on full pages of paper. Henceforth, I shall use the 4×6″ option when printing. And, I will try to work though the full page recipes and get them onto a 4×6″ card at some point {I found cute printables here}. If we had long wintry nights, I would say I would do it then. Alas, we have no long wintry nights.

the completed project – so much better, if still a bit messy, but I have a plan for that.

I’m happy with it – and I am so very glad that I can see the dividers. That should make it easier to find my recipes!