Guacamole Green!

I haven't done Kelly's Show Us Your Life Fridays in a long time, but here's one that I'm prepared to participate in!  One of the only rooms in our house that is close to being finished is our dining room.  Are you ever really finished with a room?  By the time you have everything in place, you're sick of the look and ready for something else.  But our dining room has probably my favorite look in our whole house and is a little more "out there" than the rest of our decor because of the bright color - Guacamole Green.

I love this table.  For some reason I just couldn't get over the big square table when we looked at dining room furniture.  It was go square or go home. 

We ate at Oceanaire on our first anniversary and they gave us a special menu.  I had it framed at Hobby Lobby.  I love personal art. 

The knife, spoon, and fork prints really helped complete the room.  I ordered these off art.com and framed them myself by cutting them down a little to fit into a standard sized frame.  So much cheaper than having someone else do it. 

We don't use our china all that much, but boy it looks good in the china cabinet. 

The last thing to do, okay, last TWO things to do, are replace the chandelier with this:

and add a wine tower in this corner:

Thanks for visiting our dining room! 

What's Your Point? Wednesday

This Wednesday really crept up on me.  I wanted to post about our visit to the Westie Walk this weekend, but for the sake of time I'm going to do a quick post and run to keep the WYPW tradition alive.  And today, I really and truly have no point.

1. The Gals Who Run the Coffee Shop in My Building...
...are rock stars.  They know my order by heart (Grande Skinny Hazelnut Latte) and sometimes start it when they see me get in line.  Since I'm a loser who doesn't normally tip them, I'm either going to do something nice for them at Christmas or put a bigger bill in once or twice.  I'm curious - do any of you give little Christmas gifts to the auxilliary people in your life whose work behind the scenes makes you the successful, gorgeous, overachiever that your adoring fans see everyday?  The mailman, UPS driver, hair stylist, dry cleaner, etc.  If so, please state your token gift ideas in the comments.  Please and thanks.

2. Wide Calf Boots
If one of you can point me in the direction of a pair of brown riding boots that fit over my beefy athletic calves and cost less than $350, I'll send one of those Christmas gifts your way this year.  J. Crew carries the Extended Calf size in a boot that I love, but I'm not quite desperate enough to pull the trigger yet.  I think I'll need about 16 inches to pull it off...measured very unscientifically with a piece of string, so give or take an inch.

Sorry, my WYPW items are really self-serving this week...

Do You Have 10 Minutes?

That's all the time it takes to become a registered member of the National Marrow Donor Program.  The registration fee has been waived through the end of the month and all you'll need to do for now is send a cheek swab kit back to the foundation through the mail. 

Take some time and read about the risks, costs, obligation, etc.  I thought about it all week and decided to go for it.  You could be a perfect match for someone and might save their life with very minimal risk to your own. 

Make sure you register by 9/30 if you're interested - the standard $100 fee for the kit will return on 10/1.

Thanks for the link, Ashley!

What's Your Point? Wednesday

Just Wednesday, huh?  It must be a long week for lots of you, because it seems the "How is it only Wednesday?!" status is blowin' up Facebook today.

Here are my Wednesday observations, in no order at all...

1. The Spider Above My Front Door...
scares the daylights out of me.  Yet, I am comforted by his consistency.  Every night when I go outside with Bonnie, I hurl my body quickly step through the front doorway because I know he's hanging right above it.  I don't mind him being there and catching the bugs at my front door, but I really just don't want him to decide to let go at the precise moment I'm walking through the door and land in my hair.  Talk about bad timing. 

2. "Drama" and "Epic"
I'm sick of these words.  Put them on the list with "amazing".  Drama here, drama there.  If you find yourself saying "drama" a lot, it's probably because you're the one creating it.  And onto "epic"...a little of it goes a long way.  Not every weekend night of your life is epic.  When I heard Lea Michelle (Rachel on Glee, if you're not a Gleek) say it last night, I knew that epic is on its way to epidemic.  I, for one, am headed out to get the vaccine right now.

3. Time to Kick Up Some Grass...
Dog owners, do your dogs make a big production over going to the bathroom and kick up dirt and grass with their back legs like they're super proud of themselves?  Mine does, and I think it's hilarious.  It's usually with such force that chunks of dirt and clumps of grass pelt against my shins...and by using the word "pelt", I'm being a little dramatic. 

Notice I am against drama, not dramaticizing.  Totally different concepts. 

     

Another Perfect Weekend

I don't know what it is, but the last two weekends have just been the best!  This is going to be quick because I only have 12 minutes before the new episode of Glee starts (WOOT!), but I have some fun recipes to post for you.

On Friday night Lisa came over to help me make Soft Pretzels, Jalapeno Popper Thingies, and Oatmeal Cookies for tailgating the next day.

The rolling of the pretzels.  I recently discovered the Annie's Eats blog, which has tons of great recipes and is of special interest because Annie is an Indy girl.  She's actually a resident that Lisa's worked with some...and her cooking blog is right up there with PW.

  The removal of the pretzels from the boiling pot was somewhat tricky.  Good thing Dr. Lisa was there to surgically reconstruct those pretzels!

Ours weren't as great as Annie's, but I will be practicing on them again sometime until they're presentable enough to serve.  The taste was great!

I also highly recommend the Jalapeno snacks.  Step #1 - put on latex gloves - is very important, and I read that after it was too late.  My hands were on fire that whole night and the next day from the pepper seeds no matter how many times I washed them.  I didn't use jalapenos...but a hotter type of pepper.  Taking out my contacts that night wasn't pleasant.

This was our first home game we could attend this year - Purdue vs. Ball State.  We moved seats this year - here's my view of the field.  There's one in every section, and he/she's always in front of me. 


The good news is that the basketball players sit in our section, so I can stare at the back of Robbie Hummel's head and dream of basketball season.  If only Chris Kramer hadn't graduated I would be staring at him...le sigh.

Glee's on!  No time for proofing - please forgive!

What's Your Point? Wednesday

Ever seen a blog that participates in Wordless Wednesday?  Welcome to What's Your Point? Wednesday.  I just made it up.  I know, pretty clever, huh?  Feel free to follow my lead and spew a bunch of random things bouncing around in your mind next Hump Day.  Don't leave me hangin'! 

1. Naked Qdoba Burritos
Christi recently turned my onto a build-your-own type of naked burrito.  Here's how you build it:

Rice

Pinto Beans

Black Beans

Two Types of Salsa (my fancy would be the Salsa Verde and Roasted Corn Chile)

A pinch of cheese

Lettuce

Chips on the side for dipping

It is probably the healthiest thing you can order at Qdoba (even with the chips) and is still so, so good.

2. Get on Board

I've wanted to find a not-for-profit board for a long time.  Something I was passionate about, someone who needed my talents, something I could do to share some of these blessings in my life and really live.  I feel like I've prayed and prayed that God would show me what I'm supposed to be doing, and I never feel like I get any answers.  This might be an answer, and it might not be, but today I ran across this event called Get on Board that is sponsored by the Lacy Leadership Alliance.  It's a career fair of sorts - not-for-profits set up booths and share their missions, and potential board members (enter moi) try to match themselves up with the right organization.

It's October 11 from 4:00 - 6:30 at Conseco.  Read more here if you're interested in attending...I'll definitely be there!

3. Corn

I love corn.  I really do.  It's one of those perfect veggies that's not really a veggie but makes you feel like you're eating something halfway decent. 

I love pulling a bag of corn out of the freezer in February to put in a crockpot of tortilla soup or corn sausage chowder.

I waited until the last possible weekend and just barely was able to do freezer corn this year, but 26 bags were pulled together from the 5 dozen I bought on Saturday.  It's a big job to do yourself...and much more fun if you have helpers to sing and make up songs while you cut!

4. Doggie Daycare

I'm now one of those people who takes their dog to daycare.  Yup, I did it, and I'll do it again too.  Bonnie went to Lucky Dog Retreat on Friday to play with her friends (about 40 of them, apparently...yikes).  They gave me a little report card and I thought it was adorable.  Not only am I one of those people who takes their dog to daycare, but I'm also one of those people who hangs up the daycare report on the fridge.

5. You Know You've Taken It Too Far When...

You wear a hydration belt/fanny pack when you run, and you like it.

Since I just admitted all that business with doggie daycare, and since I have no shame, here's what going over the running edge looks like:

Yeah, about this picture...I know.  It's spandex, mmm-kay?  I'd like to see your butt in spandex on the internet...triple dog dare you! 

I ran 15 miles on Sunday morning - my longest run ever.  We ran the whole thing, except for the occasional water stop, potty break, and the time it took to dig the snacks from our awesome fanny packs.  I still don't know how I'm going to manage 26.2, but I guess we still have seven weeks to get to that point.  My legs hurt. 

 

Labor Day Weekend 2010

This past weekend was packed with fun plans with friends...just how we like it.  On Saturday, I dropped Bonnie off at the Good Dog Hotel and Spa while Brent ran a mini marathon and then headed to South Bend for the Purdue game.  I had the Book Babes "Bring Your Daughter/Sister/Mother to Book Club" day in Kendallville later that afternoon.  I've known the women in my mom's book club forever and really don't see much of them anymore, so I was really looking forward to catching up.  No pictures to be had, unfortunately.

On Sunday morning, Dad, Brent and I headed to Noble Hawk for a round of golf.  I found that you don't lose all your skills after not playing for 2+ years, but it's not exactly like riding a bike.  There was a lot of "Crap, where's my ball?!" followed by "Just drop one in the fairway" from all three of us.

Brent and I went to Chicago on Sunday evening where we met Jonathan, Megan and Jonathan's brother for dinner at the original Morton's Steakhouse.  Pretty nice!  Great meal, great convo, great time.  They just moved to Schaumburg and we hope to see them later in October (as well as maybe hit the IKEA, please?).   

We stayed at the Hilton Suites on Michigan that night and had a very relaxed Monday morning - breakfast at the Original Pancake House and shopping at The North Face.  Remember that fleece I lost on the wine trail?  Taken care of.  I wanted to wait until Christmas, but there's just too much tailgating between now and then.

Onto the main event - rooftop tickets to the Cubs' game!  These tickets have been a Groupon deal on the Chicago email several times, and a few months ago I pulled the trigger.  Along with our ticket came an all you can eat, all you can drink afternoon.  Laura and Dave met us for the afternoon game and drove us up to Wrigleyville.  What a great way to spend a perfect Labor Day!  The weather was absolutely perfect and the rooftop experience was definitely one that I think we'll do again.