Not Fun Things

So in the anticipation of visitors MK and I are making sure that our guest room is comfy. Due to the recent purchase of some organizational furniture we have alleviated our guest room of double duty of office and bedroom. We have been able to remove both desks and desktop computer! I can't express how happy this makes me.

So in turn of getting rid of all this extra stuff that we don't need (which is another subject in itself) I am making sure we are getting all of our files off of our old desktop mainly pictures...who cares about word documents anyways?? Oh that's right MK does.....

Anywhoo,

As I make sure we have all of our pictures I am going through our Europe pictures. OH MAN I WANT TO GO BACK! I look at these pictures and fall in love with my husband, the cities, and the art all over again. I mean does anything in the world beat kissing your love in front of the Eiffel Tower?

I think not.

Also while sitting on the floor in our guest room I realize that all my girlish tendencies have been put full heartedly into this room....

Poor MK and our poor guests but I love it!

Also while sitting on our the floor of our guest room and working on my computer and music blaring (mainly Weezer) cause no one else is home reminds me of college days and apartment 1209 days.

(Artwork courtesy of Mrs. Megan Elizabeth Wiley Ciampa Baby Momma - circa 2004)

Oh well, I like nights like these sometimes. Especially after such a long work day. I like looking at old pictures and old files. They (especially the pictures) remind me of where we came from as a couple and where we are going.

And this is all I accomplished on my looonnnnngggggg To Do list for the day. There is so much more to do but oh well, I'll get to it later I suppose.

After All Tomorrow Is Another Day....

Right Scarlet?

- nostalgic lp

Water Bug

Our little bug is a water bug. She loves to be in the pool and to swim!

We went over to Mom and Dad's Saturday before Father's Day to relax and celebrate.

Grandmere of course catered to Bug's every need including a homemade smoothie in the pool. Poor little thing got so cold so she decided she needed to lay out in the sun and this is her cuddled and getting warm. So cute in her little orange bathing suit!

We love this little bug!

- Aunt lp

Summer Salad

Ok so I mentioned in my last post about a Martha Stewart's high and fancy summer salad that I had to make on a working girls/boys money...i.e. no lobster sub shrimp from Publix.

It was so good on Sunday I had to make it again for dinner tonight...for just me. I'm a little obsessed with it and was so excited I had enough of all ingredients left over except for the shrimp to make again tonight!

I like good food ok, deal with it.

Take a look though. Tell me that doesn't just look divine, refreshing and healthy (minus the bread I know...sometimes you have to have a little french baguette in your life).

Thank you Martha for the recipe. It made me feel high and fancy as I ate and watched House Hunters International and dreamed of living in Paris permanently.

So if you're interested here's what the salad consists of:

Arugula (fresh)

Cilantro (fresh)

Grilled Corn on the Cob sliced off the cob

(brushed with olive oil and salt and pepper)

Tomatoes

(grape or whatever you've got)

Avocado

Squeeze of lemon or lime whatever you've got

(Martha prefers lime I suppose)

Shrimp (or Lobster if you're so inclined) brushed with olive oil, fresh parsley and fresh chopped chives (broiled or grilled)

Sliced french baguette (my addition not Martha's)

I suppose you could add fresh shredded parmesan too but I didn't as that thought it just now occurring to me.

I couldn't tell ya how much of what was in the salad I just threw it all in there till it looked good enough. That's just how I cook, take it or leave it.

- summer salad chef lp

Suzy Q

I never ever claimed to be Suzy Q Homemaker, although the thought be of being Suzy Q appeals to me in many ways. But honestly I'm lacking in SEVERAL areas that would disqualify me for sure from obtaining the Suzy Q name.

I do have a professional job and feel quite blessed to be employed by a good company. I never thought I would be a career person but here I am, 27 with a career, and I kinda like it despite the pity that has been expressed to me by others that are not career people. They can keep their pity.

With these 2 thoughts in mind, here are my thoughts today.

I am blessed to be at home a good deal of the time due to the fact I work mostly from home (despite the occasional traveling that is becoming more frequent). This working from home allows me at the moment to have a the best of both of these worlds.

I have productive days everyday due the fact I have on going work projects that need work everyday. But I also have productive days because sitting at my dining room table and working allows me to also throw a load of laundry in the washing machine and if the dog hair has gotten out of control I can sweep at 2:00 in the afternoon instead 6:00 in the evening after a long commute.

***Now remember the beginning of this post and I claimed to not be Suzy Q....when you see throw a load of laundry in the machine - read "clothes made it into the machine and probably not to the dryer." And when you read dog hair has gotten out of control read - "a tumble weed just blew by and I can't concentrate on my work unless it is removed."***

Sometimes it's a hard balance to end work when MK is headed home and close up the computer and put my stacks of paper away because after all this is our home too not just my office. A positive though - if there is a frustrating moment with work I can walk to kitchen pull out some chicken and whack it to death, oh excuse me, tenderize it with my handy dandy Pampered Chef Tenderizer (see Suzy Q wannabe and failing at those aspirations)!

I'm working on the Suzy Q stuff though and I will say that my cooking skills have VASTLY improved since becoming a career woman too. We have moved from unhealthy casseroles and pasta laden food to crisp fresh ingredients. I'll have to attribute this to my job - working side by side with a chef and taking down his every step on paper may have some influence on me.

So while I'm sure Suzy Q I'll never be, I'll try my hardest to keep the two in balance. After all if I wasn't attempting to be Suzy Q in some manner I would miss things like this in the afternoon sun.


And trying summer salad recipes that consisted of arugula, cilantro, parsley, grilled corn, lemon, lime, tomatoes and yummy shrimp (since we can't afford the lobster the Martha Stewart suggested). For goodness sakes Martha if I'm not Suzy Q I'll never be up to your standards and cook with lobster for Sunday lunch! Sheesh! The pressure!

But I sure do like doing productive things that are not housework home related daily too.

-Suzy Q LP
Career Woman
Wannabe

Dogs, Beach, Friends, and Doggy Friends

Today we went the dog beach with a bunch of friends for "Teach Scout to Swim." Scout is our newest doggy friend. Adam and Stephanie Thompson got Scout not too long ago and he is a SWEETIE!

We also went with Luke and Allison and of course Sawyer and Kona who are beach pros. We loved watching Kona and Sawyer just dive into the water after toys! They are such good little swimmers! Ok not little....

Our pups.....

Well they have recently been introduced to pools and swimming so the gulf was another crazy adventure for this week. They did pretty well. Joey did walk all they way in by himself and swim out to me by the end but poor little Lola looked like she was having a panic attack every time she was in the water. We loved the beach with the dogs and can't wait to go again! I think we've found our new favorite thing to do on the weekends! The dogs are tired, we gave them baths there so they are clean, and we are worn out too. It's been a GREAT Saturday!

PSA: For those of you who know Winston just wanted to let y'all know we found out he had cancer this week and Mom decided to put him down. Yesterday was a tough day for our family but we're doing better today. We loved Winnie and he was the one who started all this puppy love in our family.

-lp