Busy Weekend

We have a very busy weekend ahead of us. Tonight it's dinner w/my mom for her birthday. Tomorrow I'm running with Jaclyn, heading to the county farmers market, going to a good friends birthday cook out and then it's the annual Greek Festival with another really fun couple. Sunday, Cary has a sprint tri and a very long bike ride while I'm hanging out & cleaning house. It's a lot but I'm really excited to get it going!

Yeast Rolls

Since learning the family recipes I've tried making nut roll, well that didn't turn out so well. This morning I decided to attempt my grandmothers yeast rolls. I thought it would be nice for Cary to arrive home from his long bike ride with the house filled with the scent of baking and have some yummy rolls to make a sandwiche. I officially have 2 strikes against me. After kneeding the dough for a bit I realized it didn't feel right. So I re-read the directions and missed an ingredient. DUH!! Now I have to start all over again. Thank goodness Cary is gone for a while!

Okay, they turned out great! :) I'm so proud. One little ingredient made all the difference!!

Ta Da!!

Okay, now keep in mind that I did absolutely NOTHING to style my hair yesterday. It was up in a pony tail and the reason is evident in the photos below.

Here is the new "DO!" I had to keep it a bit conservative in an effort to appease my husband. And the "fun" styling will come when I have a chance to play with it. So for today, I just straightend my hair. I really like it!

New Hairstyle?

Should I do it? I REALLY like Jennifer Nettles hair but I'm on the fence.

Before/After

Many of you know that Cary and I have been working on flipping a house. Well it's taken about a year and we are proud to say it's officially on the market. Here is a sneak peak at the before and after pictures. I should be taking more interior pictures in the next day or so and will post them for your viewing.

MARCH 2007





MAY 2008

Oatmeal

I don't know why, but I just can not get on board with eating oatmeal. Countless times in my life I've given it a try. Yesterday I was watching one of my favorite cooking shows and Ellie had an oatmeal recipe. She was raving about how good it is for you and the fiber just keeps you feeling full for longer. But when she mentioned "this recipe tastes just like an oatmeal cookie" that's when I decided to give the glop another try.

Side note: A few weeks ago I learned the valuable lesson: when trying a new recipe, start by making 1/2 of the recipe, in case you don't like it (or mess it up) then you didn't waste a lot of money.

So last night I attempted oatmeal again. While cooking, Cary said to me "Babe, if you didn't like oatmeal before, you wont like it this time." To which I responded "Sweetie! It's supposed to taste like an oatmeal cookie!" He smiled, took one look at the pot and chuckled.

This morning I packed it up and brought it into work, hoping that I would be able to get past 5 bites. No such luck. It was okay. Definitely NOT an oatmeal cookie. Bummer. But maybe now with the other ingredients I will make cookies!

New York, New York

I am beyond excited right now. Seriously, it's taking some self control to keep me from hurling myself down the office hallways waving my hands in the air and screaming with excitement. My girlfriends and I have planned a weekend trip to New York City. It's later this fall but what a weekend it will be. Is it October yet?

Cost of fuel

This is rediculous. Last week I found a slip of paper on our front door from the propane company. My heart sunk. We have a large propane tank burried in our yard to heat our water, fireplace, and what ever else. So we pay this bill like 2 times a year but I had a sneaky suspicion this bill would upset me. Sure enough, yesterday I saw the total. $968.00. Is your jaw on the floor like mine is? That's a freaking mortgage payment for some people! What is this world coming to? Needless to say, the cost of fuel doesn't just impact our cars but also our showers!!

Birthday Celebration

Last night I took Jaclyn out for her birthday. I love her to death and she is one of my closest friends. We decided the best way to kick off a girls night would be to meet for a run through the fan. I forgot how much I missed our regular runs. Afterwards we decided for the sake of time, we would throw our fashion instinks to the side and go out to dinner in our fabulous running apparel. So we hit up a yummy Fan restaurant.

There were some college girls sitting at the table next to us who were all dolled up. For a brief moment I was self consious of our pink and yellow outfits, but then I said to myself, "hey they can see we EARNED this dinner!"

After dinner we were going to hit up another spot for dessert, but instead got caught up in the gifts.

I found these fabulous shoes while in Florida and just could not resist! We finished the night just chatting it up in the car driving around. At one point we tried to keep up with a police officer who was obviously in hot pursuit of something (along with a news crew car) but we lost them at a red light. Oh well, regardless of the short car chase we had a wonderful night and I can't wait for her birthday next year! :)

Shocking

This morning I went to our truck shop for an oil change. It just happens to be the office where my brother works. Daniel and I don't have a particularly close relationship. I do have to admit, he blew me away this morning. When I came into the office and was looking for some coffee, he went out of his way to show me where it was and the special varieties. He actually took his own coffee cup, which was full, and cleaned it out for me to use. Then when I was looking for cream and sugar he pulled out the Splenda from the cabinet, gave it and a stirring stick to me. After which he said "Here Leah, I have pulled up the internet. Have a seat at my desk and use the internet while you wait." WHAT THE HECK?! I called Cary when I left because this caring nature is very out of character for Daniel. I don't know where it came from, but I like it! I'm amazed at how much a little act like helping someone make coffee can fill my "sibling love bank." For the first time in our relationship I actually want to help Daniel and invite him over for dinner or something.

Back Home

We arrived home on Saturday evening. Cary and I visited with some neighbors for a rib cook off, which was fun but I was exhausted. Yesterday I cleaned, cooked, did lots of laundry and we just hung out together. And this morning it's back to normal life. Got up, worked out and now I'm at work looking forward to spending more time with Cary at our flip house this evening. All of the sudden I'm really tired! :)

Hey, last night we watched an interesting movie. It's called "Lars and the Real Girl" with Ryan Gosling. He did a fantastic job portraying Lars. So if your on Blockbuster.com or Netflix, check it out. I don't know what category it would fall into, not really a comedy or serious drama. It definitely has a stupid title, but since Cary and I watch a lot of movies it was refreshing to turn the TV off and say "that was good!"

Last Day

We are off tomorrow morning. I'm excited to go home. Tonight is about laundry, packing the car and getting a good nights rest for a long drive tomorrow.

The sunburn pretty much knocked me out yesterday. So we cooked some more (the nut rolls) and went shopping. I found a fabulous pair of new red heels. As I was walking up to the register I said to my mom, "I need another pair of shoes like I need another hole in my head." But they were REALLY on sale and I could not pass up the opportunity. They are FABULOUS!

Today we visited the beach one last time and had our traditional ice cream cones, one last time. It's been a fun trip. Now, I pray we make it home okay with out any bad weather and that I have long endurance so I can drive the majority (if not all) of the way home. My mom is wonderful but not the fastest driver on the highway.