Breakfast and Dessert, not in that order.

Last week was a busy week at work.  I put in some over time, and almost wonder if there wasn't more work for me to do.

I got a massage during the week to.  I know that they masseuse always says, to let them know if the pressure is too much.  How are you supposed to do it 1 - without looking like a wimp.  And 2 - without sounding like you are dying.  I have no idea.  I would think if they paid attention to their clients breathing, they could figure out if they were massaging too aggressively.  There were a couple of times, where she was pushing through a muscle... and it was a little painful.  But I'm no wimp.  I made it through.  But here's the thing, I want to be sore the next day.  I am a freak like that.  I have had 3 massages now in my entire life, and I have never been sore.

But either way.  I had my last softball game of the summer season on Monday.  We won, barely.  Closest game ever for either of the teams I played on this year. 

On Friday Cook's Country emailed a recipe for Magic Strawberry Ice Cream.  It takes no special equipment, so I knew I wanted to give it a try.  On Friday night the Boyfriend and I went out to Tuttle's and had a pizza and a pitcher, and then went to Target.  He wanted to pick up the move Gangs of New York.  I had never seen it, and he thinks it's just great.  But when we were there, he couldn't find it, decided to pick up the Transformer's Trilogy.  And I had a light bulb moment, and picked up the stuff I needed for this 'Magic' ice cream.

When we got home the Boyfriend's dad called, and I ended up grabbing a beer, and going over to the neighbor's house, he was sitting outside.  The Boyfriend wandered over, we chatted it up for a bit, and then we headed back.  The Boyfriend could not find the remote for the DVD player, so gave up on trying to watch a movie.  He had to work the next day anyways.  So to bed we went.

On Saturday, I had lots of big plans.  I hadn't been out for a run in a week, and I have a chair reupholstering project that has been halfway completed for awhile now.  I didn't do a darn thing.  Other than the dishes, watch TV, and make the ice cream and get it into the freezer.

Making the ice cream was not hard at all.  It takes some pretty simple ingredients, and is ready to freeze in a matter of probably 10 minutes.

Get ready for magic!

The original recipe says to use a food processor, but my blender was already out.  When they say whip until foamy and then turn it up until soft peaks form.  They mean SOFT peaks.  I might not have been paying enough attention, and whipped the cream until stiff peaks formed.  I just googled it, and a blogger wrote about how to make butter.  Yes, butter.  I stopped at what he called the 'halfway' point.  So, when it says soft peaks.  They mean it.  They always do. 

Once I let it set in the freezer over night I scooped it out with a melon baller, because, well a photo with spooned ice cream isn't as pretty, and I do not own an ice cream scoop.

Magic Strawberry Ice Cream

You can find what I did here, or check out my other recipes I have tried here.  The end result wasn't bad.  But I can kind of taste/feel the buttery-ness of it.  I took the photo, ate a couple of the ice cream balls, and put them in a baggie back in to the freezer.  I am thinking I will drop them in to a glass of sprite or something - or maybe strawberry soda!

Once the Boyfriend got home from work on Saturday, he was whiney about working (he has been putting in 10 hour days, and 8 on Saturdays for the past few weeks), and tired, so we decided to make it a movie night.  He watched all 3 of the Transformer movies, had popcorn, and then went to bed. 

When I woke up this morning and started watching CBS Sunday Morning - which I absolutely love - I came across a pin to this page for a Honey Cloud Pancake on the blog by things{we}make.  I had left over strawberries, so I figured what the heck, I have eggs, milk vanilla, flour and honey.  So let's do this!

I gathered my supplies, and of course took a picture.

To make a Honey Cloud Pancake

This recipe calls for you to whip 1 egg white to peaks.  I did it by hand, it took a while, and I did take a break in between to mix the batter together. My end result didn't turn out quite like what I was trying to imitate.. but it still tasted good.


Honey Cloud Pancake

It did have an egg type texture.  I let it sit before I ate it, as I was frying up bacon, eggs and making toast for the Boyfriend.  I think that if I had patted the strawberries dry prior to putting them on the pancake, it wouldn't have been as bloody looking.  Either way, I may make it another time with raspberries or peaches.  Colorado peaches are coming into season soon - I can't wait!! (update: I just checked - it's time right NOW!)

The Boyfriend and I haven't done anytihng today, folded some clothes, washed the dishes, and now we are just being bums.  I will probably take a shower, and then paint my nails. (I might have spent $20 one morning on my way into work last week on nail polish at Walgreens).

Animation Domination starts in a couple of hours too.  Easy weekend here.  Hopefully this easy weekend set me up to start running in the mornings again the TC10Mile is coming up soon.. and.. well, I want to be able to say I ran most of it.

Do you enjoy lazy weekends?  What is your favorite thing to do on a Lazy Sunday?



Fantastic Weekend!

My weekend was great!  I hope yours was too!

Yesterday my dad came over and brought my treadmill to me, and he ate Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos with me for dinner.  They were pretty good. 

Literally just 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, a jar of salsa, and taco seasoning.  Turned the crock-pot on high for 4 hours.  Pulled the chicken out to shred, and then added some canned Jalapenos at the end, but, I really didn't notice them. 

I saved a couple cups of the shredded chicken to make Chicken Tortilla Soup later too.

After that, the Boyfriend and I went to my friend's house and had some adult beverages, and played that corn hole game.  I like it, it's that beanbag/toss in the hole cut out.  And then we came home, and I watched my CBS Sunday Morning, and my little sister sends me a text asking what I am doing in the afternoon, and perhaps she and her son would like to come over.  So I offered up dinner, and that set in motion the rest of my day!

Once the Boyfriend awoke, I let him know we would be having company for dinner, and that we would be needing to go get groceries sooner than later. Because I wanted some time for my salads I would be making to marinate. 

We ended up with Corn on the Cob, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Creamy Cucumber Salad, Broccoli Salad.



A FEAST!

It was all super good.  And then after all that, of course we needed dessert!  I had baked the 4 layers on Saturday morning.  But I needed to make the frosting and assemble this mammoth thing!

My first attempt at a gradient cake with ombre frosting.

I am not going to lie, I used 2 box white cake mixes, and added blue and violet food coloring to the Buttercream Frosting I made.  There was a lot of frosting, I made 3 batches, and used it all.

For both the cake and the frosting, I used more food coloring for the dark blue then I did for the lighter blue layers.

The frosting was Wilton's Buttercream frosting recipe.  I used a basic ombre technique I found here.

My 2 year old nephew poo'd blue the next day...  :)

Have you made a gradient cake or ombre frosting?  They are all over Pintrest - I would love to see or hear about your creation!

Softball Tournament!

One of the softball teams that I am on, season's ended on Thursday.  But we had a tournament that started Friday, and ended today(for us).

It was double elimination tournament, we lost a game Friday, and the one game we played today.

I play on D Leagues.  Which for those of you who do not know, is the just for fun league.  Perhaps the players have some skill, but it's not that good.  :)  And the teams I am on, tend to be one of the winningest teams for each of their respective leagues.  For the softball tournament we played in though, we got bumped up to the C league.  And that was a mix of C and B leagues.  A league is the most competitive/skilled teams...

The Virg Ellrich/Fireman's Tournament is kind of a big deal.  There are 157 teams that play in it, and we ended up playing against a team from Bemidiji - which is about a 4 hour drive.

On Friday night when we played, I saw people eating corn on the cob.  It looked DELICIOUS! - I knew I was going to have to get myself one of those after our game on Saturday.

So when I showed up for our game, I first went over and picked up a beer (it was hot.. I needed to stay hydrated!). 



Stay Hydrated!

And after we lost our game, I went and grabbed a cob, it was $2.  If I had been thinking I would have bought 3 for $5, and would have enjoyed them to the fullest!  But before I went to the tournament I had done some baking, and had started some crockpot chicken tacos earlier, and my dad was on his way to my place with my treadmill, so I had to get going.

Pillsbury Blueberry Muffins

I will say though, they had a pretty good set up though for the corn.  They had butter and a pastry brush to slather it all over the cob, and the salt and pepper shakers.  Super good!

What food item do you make sure you get when you go to festivals/fairs?

Trying out the Blogger App

So, when I was putting in some research on blogs, I wanted to know the best App to help with posting or editing of said blog.

Blogger got the best reviews. Don't get me wrong, it has some negative feedback. Some of the feedback made me wonder what the heck these people were trying to do. I honk they were literally trying to only update or post to their blogs via a mobile device. Which I have no problems with that idea. But I think they didn't want to set up a blog with a laptop/desktop, but instead start the new blog from scratch entirely on the mobile device.

I started my blog on a laptop, so we will see how the posts look as I use the Blogger App. Hey, I might even hate it too!

I am basically just looking for something that maintains the parameters I already set for blog posts so I can be super savvy and blog on the go.

I just added a photo, and I am pretty sure it will just add it to the end o the post. Which I guess is fine. I am pretty darn sure though, that I could just go on later and move said photo to a position in the post that I more favor.

The photo is of one of the last of the stargazer lilies that popped back up this year. The Boyfriend and I didn't plant or tend to the garden this year, and I just kind of said whatever happens, happens. So it is filled with weeds, the raspberry and blackberry bushes, a couple of rhubarb plants, about 5 satgazand and a couple of baby trees. I think once they are done blooming, I am going to dig up the garden, and lay a black piece of vinyl or tarp over it and try to kill everything.

Do you have any suggestions for a mobile blogging tool? It suggestions on how to regain control of an out of control garden? Do share!!

Torchlight 5K!

What a fun event!

I will know better for next year.  It was hot (to be expected it's July in Minnesota)!  My good friend D and I did it.  I should have pushed myself more, I would have done better(Duh).  We left my house a little late.  My fault, I wasn't paying attention really.  This run did not loop back to the beginning, which is a little different, and not really a big deal.  We dropped one car off around the finishing area, and we parked another around the start.  We barely made it in time for the starting gun.



My good friend D on the left, and me at the start!



One of the fun things about the Torchlight Run, was that we were able to personalize our bib numbers if you signed up early enough.  Mine was Slow&Steady, and my friend D's was Turtle Pace - she has a thing for Turtles, and they kind of went together, so.. it's funny - no really.  Laugh! Also what was super neat, were the shirts (you can see it a little in the upper right photo).  They were SUPER soft with that vintage-y feel to them.

The finish was just after you crossed the Stone Arch Bridge, which was nice.  I did see a couple of girls literally making out.  Now, I don't care that they were girls, I care that you are SUCKING FACE in a public place.  I hate that - so gross.  Once we finished there were some goodies at the finish, and as a runner/participant, you had a couple free drink tickets to use.

My good friend D and I didn't stick around, she wasn't feeling well, so we basically just went to her car, and she dropped me off at the parking ramp I was in.  I paid at the bottom before returning to my car (like it instructs you to do) and it says you have 15 minutes to exit the ramp.  I took the elevator to my floor, get off, and hear a marching band.  A Marching Band!?

So I went to the edge of the parking ramp and saw a the parade was going on!  Oh man... if I had known/realized that it was going to be just starting by the time I got back, I wouldn't have paid my my parking pass, and would have just gone down to watch it.  The Torchlight parade is one of, if not THE largest evening parade.  And from what I saw briefly - they had a few marching bands, most parades seem to be all about advertising, floats/cars for businesses.  I miss marching bands. 

Next year I will know better for sure!

AMAZING WEEKEND!

Let me tell you about my weekend!  On Saturday night the Boyfriend took me out to Murray's for dinner.  Home of the Butter Knife Steak.  Which we had. We both had cesear salads too - they serve them with a fancy parmesean toasted cheese thing.  It is so good!



The Boyfriend and I at dinner.

Then we went home, it was late, our reservations were for 8 o'clock.  And I had The Color Run the next day!!

It was so fun!  I met up with my work friends in a parking lot, and we car pooled down to the race.  It has been super hot in Minnesota, and today was no different.  It was like 90 degrees fahrenheit.  Too hot to run, so we walked together.  It was nice to catch up with the ladies.  We work at the same company, and we all started in the call center, but now that people have grown in different directions professionally, it makes it hard to just have lunch together.  Every one has moved to different buildings and what not too.

If The Color Run ever makes it to your town, I reccomend you participate.  Each kilo marker had a different color.  Basically what you do is jog/run through the color 'zone' and there are volunteers that hit you with some colored powder.  It was hot, and sticky so- a great deal of it stuck to your skin as well.

At the end of the race, there was a mass color toss.  They did this every 15 minutes or so.  Once you finished - you gathered in with everyone else, and at the count down, you threw the packet of color you got with your packet and threw it in the air.  It was SUPER fun.  Like I said before though - if it comes to your town, make sure you sign up FAST!  Registration filled up super fast for Minnesota, and they ended up opening up more slots.  A total of 19,000 people did The Color Run.  The Minnesota run raised money for Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless.  Quick tid bit - did you know that in Minnesota 1 in 10 families are considered 'food insecure' - meaning they are unsure of where their next meal is coming from?  That is astounding.  And kind of sad.

Color Runner Mashup

After the run, I drove to Hopkins, to watch the Raspberry Grande Day Parade.  This Parade was 2 hours long.  Literally.  And it was hot.  Once I stood up, I realized that my whole back was soaked.  So gross. 

The Hopkins Raspberry Festival is fun.  We missed the fireworks because we were out having dinner.  I had wanted to participate in the 1 Mile run, but didn't make it in time.  And probably wouldn't have been happy had I signed up anyways.  Did I mention it was HOT?!  

I have a special spot in my heart for all the POW/MIA's out there. 
My grandpa was a POW.

After the Boyfriend and I watched the parade, we went to support the Hopkins VFW and partake in the pulled pork BBQ sandwich plate.  Not a bad deal for $6.50.  We got a HUGE pulled pork sandwich, baked beans, and some potato salad.  After that we came home and both took a nap.

We woke up in time though to start watching FOX's Animation Domination.  I took a shower, and most of the color came off.. It will be fun tomorrow!

Have you participated in The Color Run - do you have any photos to share?

Do you and your mate have any long standing traditions?

Let's Learn about Running

At work, they offered what they call a 'Lunch and Learn' about common injuries related to running, and what I thought, ways to prevent them.

These happen over the lunch hour with the idea of bringing your lunch and learning.  I think it is a good idea, but the thing where they fall short, is they have it set with just chairs, and no where to put your lunch, other than your lap.

This time around - they did have tables, which was great.  Except that based on previous experience, I didn't bring my lunch.

This session was okay.  They talked about the different issues runners have, those shin splints people get, and I have now diagnosed myself with Plantar Fasciitis.  But please note, they acutally didn't offer any solutions to get rid of it.  Thanks WebMD for your help. 

I had foot surgery back in December 2011 for bunion removal where the doc removed a portion of the metatarlsal, and then removed part of my pinky toe and I had him remove some ingrown toe nails on the big toes while I was out  Mind you, this was on both feet, at the same time.  My feet are now super sexy, especially with the scars.  The foot doc mentioned the plantar faciitis on the write up for the surgery.  I honestly didn't know what it was.  But now that I have been trying to run about 3 times a week (putting in a grand total of about 6.5 miles total).  My feet have been hurting a little more than I would like.  I mean, they are sore a lot, but they hurt now.

Basically, I should wear better shoes, and stretch the calf muscles and do some toe lifts/stretches or something every morning.  I really  should do that..

I will look into buying new shoes after The Color Run - the Happiest 5K on the Planet.  I am very much looking foward to doing this!!  My good friend D didn't sign up in time, but I am doing it with some other co-workers, the evil ones that suggested I sign up for the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in October, so I did. 

Do you have any running injuries/pains that bother you?  Have you been cRaZy enough to go through with surgery to correct them?

Are there any races you look forward to participating in - or know of fun ones I should?

What a weekend!

Whew!  That was a lot for one weekend! 

On Friday night the Boyfriend took me out to the movies and we saw Snow White and the Huntsman.  I have this thing about movie theater popcorn (other than I LOVE it).  See, you get a large tub of popcorn, and they put the butter on top of it all, and then you add the popcorn salt. 

So you really only have butter and salt on say, maybe the top half of popcorn, leaving the rest to be less than super delicious. 

So, if it's not uber busy (and sometimes even when it is) I ask the clerk behind the counter to fill it half way, throw some delicious butter flavoring on it, and then top it off with more popcorn and butter!  The Boyfriend makes fun of me, but he is eating it up just as much as I am.   So I ask the kind clerk to do this for me, and not only is he happy to do it, he asks if I would like to put some of the popcorn salt on it before he adds in more popcorn.  WOULD I EVER!  So awesome! 

We grabbed our popcorn and sodas, and are walking away, and this other guy was like, you didn't do that for me.. ahaha.. I politely said you have to ask.  I am sure he was super jealous, I mean, if I were him, and he were me, I (beign him) would be jealous too!

The movie was okay - there was a lot of action in it, which was a little surprising.  The grand speech Snow White gives was a little bit of a let down, certainly not Brave Heart material. 

After the movie the Boyfriend brings me to Tuttle's near our house.  I like the place.  They have a nice bar, and the waitstaff is friendly.  And they always refill my beer in a reasonable time.  The new thing that they have been doing is live music.  When we first got there, I was quite iffy if I wanted to stay.  I have no idea what they were singing, but it wasn't good.  So the Boyfriend and I sat on the patio. 

But then a Blues Band came on.  They were really good! The name was Glass Houses: Modern Dance Rock.  I can't find them on this fancy interweb, so I can't link to them, but they were great!  Eventually the Boyfriend said we had to go, I still hadn't made my individual cheesecakes for the reunion, and it was around 11 o'clock.  So I reluctantly left.

Once we got home, I started making the cheesecakes.  You would like a picture huh?  Unfortunately due to not being completely sober, they didn't look the greatest.  They tasted just fine, but it was late, I was lazy.  Basically what I did, was I made the Jello brand no bake cheesecakes, and made them like cupcakes. 

Had I thought it out better, I probably would have made mini cupcake size.  Either way, I used a shot glass to pack in the graham crackers, and then spooned the stiff mixture on top.  Kind of mashed the filling in each cupcake wrapper, put them in the freezer, and called it night.

The next morning, I was moving kind of slow, just more of being tired I think than anything else.  We got our start for the 2.5 hour drive an hour later than I had wanted.  But we made it.

I put out the cheesecakes, and as I was waiting in the chow line, I over heard someone say, what are those things?  I didn't turn around, but another girl said, they are cheesecakes.

So, at least 1 out of 3 people knew what they were.

There were a ton of people!  My Aunt's kids showed up, she had 4 - they brought their kids, and my cousin from one of my uncles was there too.  So I knew about 15 people.  Everyone kind of stuck to themselves.  Which is fine I guess.  Pretty sure once the people my grandparent's age die off, no one will go to these things any more.

The Boyfriend and I stayed till around 9:30 or so, and then made the trek home.  All of the cousins that showed up were tenting out and spending the night, I was tired, and really just wanted to come home.

So we did.

We got home around midnight.  And woke up today in our own bed.  I do enjoy waking up knowing that I do not have to go anywhere.  Husky (my cat) was happy too, it gave him a comfy place to hang out while we watched Sunday Morning.  I really like that show, lots of different stories that they cover.  Look at my pretty kitty!



Husky on a lazy Sunday morning.

Husky is some sort of an abandoned mixed cat.  He is really pretty.  His life story - he was found with his brother in a snow fort in January (in Minnesota) with a dish of frozen milk.  So you know some parent didn't want these kittens, and the kids were trying to do whatever their little kid minds could come up with. 

I am glad someone grabbed them and they found their way to PurrsnicKitty Cat Rescue.  I found this guy on Petfinder.com the same week I had to put my GiZmO down.  Miss him still...  But either way..  I just found his adopted page - you can see him as a kitten here (his was previously known as Cema)!  I guess they have him down as a domesitc short hair-mitted siamese?  I am pretty sure he is a long haired cat though.

I should probably head out to go buy some groceries.  Our cupboards are starting to look like Old Mother Hubbard's. 

Have you adopted a pet before?  How long did you wait before getting a new pet to fill the space of one lost?

Well, Good Morning to Me!

Since July 4th fell in the middle of the week, I took the following Thursday and Friday off.  I asked the Boyfriend to do the same, but he said no.   His loss.

The Boyfriend and I spent July 4th doing nothing, and then eventually made our way to my Dad's/the neighbor boy's house.  The neighbor boy - is one of the Boyfriend's Best Friends, and the way we actually met.  The Boyfriend had to work, so he was drinking responsibly, I did not.  So yesterday I nursed my hangover by myself.

I eventually got myself together, and made it out the door to get my hair colored by my friend that I went to Beauty School with, and went back to my more natural dark hair - I love it! :)

When I woke up this morning with the boyfriend, (when I say wake up, I mean move to the couch and fall asleep again as I watch the different media/news channels) he was on his way out the door, and then he was taking forever.  I just blew it off, figured he forgot to tie his shoes or something, but then he came back upstairs, and gave me these:

How fantastic! Must have been all the complaining I did about not getting any flowers when we went to the Comedy Club. He didn't have to get me some now, but I do appreciate that he did!

The Boyfriend asked if he could take me out tonight, I said yes.  I don't even really care where we go.  We have my family reunion to go to tomorrow, so we probably won't stay out too late.  I have to go pick up the stuff to make individual cheesecakes to bring.  This family reunion is for my dad's mom's family.  I know no one there aside from my uncles and my cousin.  I wonder if my Aunt's family will show up.  This reunion only happens every other year.

Do you ever go to the reunions, even though you don't know anyone?  And do you then walk around introducing yourself?

Independence Day!

Happy July 4th!!

My little sister's son is 2 today!  We had his birthday celebration on Sunday.  My sister made him a 'special' breakfast.  

Oatmeal with M&M's and raisins.

Growing up, birthdays were special.  You see, we always got to pick what was for dinner. 

And I am sure in most people's family; you get special privileges for your birthday.  My birthday is in September, and when I was growing up, we had a wood burning stove for heat.  And I really wanted it to snow.  And it DID!  (It was flurries that didn't stick, but still...) Since it was my birthday, I didn't have to help haul wood into the house. (Score 1 for me!)

Have you ever gone to a comedy club?  Well I have!  Since the Boyfriend had today off, he agreed to take advantage of the ACME Insiders Club promotion that was going on last night.  It's a pretty good deal.  You get 2 free tickets, and they have a dinner special at Sticks Restaurant, which you don't have to do.  This time it was steak and potatoes with choice of a domestic beer or glass of wine for $10 a plate.  We added on caesar salads for $1.25 a piece or whatever.  Pretty decent.

I have only been to the ACME Comedy Co. here in Minneapolis.  I have now been there 3 times. The first time was with the Boyfriend and a couple few co-workers.  The second time was with just a couple co-workers.  And now, the most recent time with the Boyfriend.

I would like to just point out.  You may watch those TV specials where there is a stand-up act on stage and the audience 'participates' with some good natured heckling.  That is actually frowned upon.  Who knew?  Definitely not this girl.  The first time I went, the comedian's phone started ringing on stage.  He was like, oh, who is calling me.  I yelled out (when I say 'yell' I mean it was loud enough to be heard, not really a yell)something along the lines of 'tell your mom to call back later'.  Some guy came over and was like "Ma'am, there is no heckling here, if you do it again, we will ask you to leave."  Oh, well, good to know. 

First off, don't call me ma'am.  I was like 28. Gosh. 

Second off, dude, this is what I thought you did.. my bad.   If I were a stand-up comedian, I would need the audience participation.

The Boyfriend asked the guy to get him a drink.  That is where they are bad though.  The waitresses are pretty crappy.  Last night we got 1 drink after about 15 minutes of being seated.  Good thing we had a little left from dinner in hour hands when we walked in.  No mind that she never came back after she delivered our drinks.

All in all, it was a great date night.  I got dressed up, slapped on some war paint, and the Boyfriend came home from work and changed his shirt, and threw on some AXE body spray.  Wish I were a guy.  I told him next time, I will go ahead and show him how I would really like to be treated when going on a date, he's gotten lazy.  I want some flowers that will die in like 5 days, and someone to open my friggn' door.  Do a little role reversal on him.

It is hot here in the midwest, as well as everywhere else apparently.  I do not feel like going out.  The Boyfriend has no interest in going to the beach.  Let's be honest, I am not a 'beach' person really either.. but it's hot.  So we haven't left the house.  I made a couple of iced cold brewed coffee's for us - even skipping the 2 mediums for $4 at the local Caribou because I LOVE my cold brew so much.

We will see what else we do, we are going to have to eat sometime.. maybe pick up some Jimmy John's or Subway and go melt in a park somewhere.  I should probably research some fireworks displays..

Here's a photo from last night (he didn't even shave..).



Date Night!

Busy Weekend!

Did you see this post's title?

True story.

At work on Friday I was basically office less, as was my boss.  We both left around noon to work from home, which is really nice, since, at the end of the day, you are ALREADY home!

I might have stopped at Old Navy to buy a new pair of sandals.  I have a flip flop issue, well, not an issue, but more of.. and obsession.  You see, flip flops(or thongs..) are TERRIBLE for your feet.  They offer no support what so ever, and they force your toes to constantly flex or something to try to grip the sandal so that it doesn't fly off. 

Speaking of flying off, the Boyfriend bought a pair last year when we went camping, and he was walking in Walgreens and hear him coming down one of the cross aisles, and zoooooom... there goes his shoe, and then he is like hobbling after it.  It was so funny, as he was trying to be quick, but feeling odd about putting his bare foot on the floor. Probably was afraid some paparazzi was after him, and didn't want to get caught walking around barefoot like the Britney Spears incident of '04.

Oh geez, where was I? Oh, so I stopped at Old Navy for a pair of sandals, these ones now have a strap around the foot, making it a little more secure.

But, that quick stop, wasn't quick, I picked up 2 sandals, a swim suit, a blue gingham button down shirt for the Hillbilly going away party that night for a gal on my Softball teams moving to Texas, and a shirt in 2 sizes for the Boyfriend.

Ha, okay back on track, so I made it home after an hour and a half, which is fine, the Boyfriend was going to get a haircut after work anyways, so I could work a little later, and get my time in.

The mail lady came, we have one of those that walk door to door - so neat!  And so I went and checked the box, guess what came?! My LifeTime Fitness Torchlight 5K Run shirt!!

My good friend D is doing this one with me on the 18th too, and her singlet will read 'Turtle Pace'.  When in college she joined a sorority (Delta Zeta) and they have a thing about turtles.

So once he got home, I decided it would be a great time to start painting a design on my nails for July 4th.  LAME.  I was rushed, and in the end after I was done braiding my hair, I realized I had smudged most my nails anyways. 

So we went, made an appearance and left.  The girl's mom did a great job, it was at a bar, she had ordered a bunch of food, there were hay bales set up for sitting on and a photographer.  The girl is 22, and heading out of state to live with her boyfriend of 5 months.  HUGE leap of faith.  I really do wish her the best - she is a great girl.

So the next day, I wake up and take my nail polish off, and re-paint them.  We had the Boyfriend's family reunion. We headed out shortly after 1pm and made the little over the hour drive to it.  It was fun, hanging out with people.  There ended up being a water balloon fight amoung (mostly) just the kids.  Good food, and there were brownies!  They were a tasty treat.

The Boyfriend and I left there around 7 and started heading home.  He took me out to Joe's Sports Cafe in Fairbault, and we got All-U-Can eat Ribs for $10.99.  Such a great deal, my boyfriend LOVES ribs, and it was a great deal, we both ordered it, and it was pretty good.

We had to stop at the grocery store, my little sister's son's 2nd birthday celebration was Sunday - he is a July 4th baby! And I still needed to get the sugar cookies, cream cheese, marshmallow cream and the fruit for individual fruit pizzas.  Well, I still needed to get him a gift too.. but.. that was going to have to wait.

So we stopped, and decided we should pick up a Redbox, He let me get The Descendants to watch.  He figured he was just going to fall asleep since it was already past 9 by the time we picked it up.  It was such a sad/emotional story.  But it was good!  I am not one of those girls who went ga-ga over George Clooney (I LOVED George Lopez--oohhh and Mario Lopez). But George Clooney did a good job. :)

So we didn't go to bed until after midnight.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, and started baking those sugar cookies I bought last night.  I had a tub of Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, so I cooked that up too, since I had the oven going.

Basically to shorten this a little, I baked those cookies, packed them up, watched some Sunday Morning while enjoying my cold brewed iced coffee, made the cream for the fruit pizza's, took a shower, ran out the door with the Boyfriend, stopped at Target and found a super AWESOME toy for my nephew, and was only 5 minutes late to watch sir Payton so my sister could go and set up the picnic area at the park we were going to be celebrating at.

My nephew work up early from his nap, and I was still assembling the mini fruit pizzas, and I am pretty sure he gets snack when he wakes up, so I let him have a cookie and some fruit with his water that he never drank.  Got him ready, and then we were at the park by 3:50pm.  PERFECT! Party starts at 4. Or, uh, does it... yeah, it was hot as all get out today, and super humid, I think it rang in at like 98 degrees fahrenheit, with a feels like temp of 105.  Which is great, for a kid that didn't drink his water.  And the party?  It started at 4:30pm. So my sister had me bring the kid down to the river and drown him.  Just kidding, we went for a hot sweaty walk. 

It sucked.

We walked back and it was almost quarter after, and my sister asked me to take her kid for a ride in my car with the air conditioner on. I thought you would never ask!  Thank gawd. I was thankful.  Poor boyfriend, he was stuck helping my sister set up.

We ate, had cake, and sir Payton opened his presents. Not to brag (uh, yes, actually to brag) my mini fruit pizza's were a HUGE hit, sadly I forgot to take a picture. And sir Payton LOVED the gift I found for $20.  It was a Semi truck, truck/car hauler.  Pretty sweet - also - no picture.

Then we left, and came home, returned the Redbox, picked up some dish detergent, and setteled in for Animation Domination on FOX.

I am looking forward to my 2 day work week - I have the 4th off, and I took Thursday & Friday off too!! I am getting a Hot Stone Massage on Tuesday, going to a Comedy Club with the Boyfriend, AND getting my hair done this week - SO EXCITING!

Oh, and I almost forgot - here is a photo of my July 4th Nails.