Wednesday blessings

I woke up this morning at my regular time and thought, I have an hour until I talk to my parents on Skype. I made a mental list of everything we needed to talk about and the errands I have to run. Then I dozed off. I woke up about 40 mins later when Tom's phone rang, and I heard him say, "Yes, I'll be there". Who would call him that early? Soccer friends? Are they trying to set up a scrimmage game for today? Tom came back to bed and I asked who it was. He said his dentist, trying to confirm his appointment for today. The following conversation ensued:
K: "Why are you going to the dentist on Sunday?"
T: "Whaaatt? Dear, what day is it?"
K: "Sunday"
T: "Oh sorry honey, it's Wednesday."
K: expletives

I managed to be late by only 10 minutes. But I count my blessings - I have a fabulous job where my boss doesn't care at what time I come in and my co-workers don't say judgmental  things (at least to my face) about my attire or hair. And I live 5 minutes away from work.

K to the lab: "everyone brought their lunch today?"
Lab: "Yes, did you?"
K: "No, I don't pack lunch on Sundays!"

ps. Sunday mornings are Skype mornings with the island folks and Sunday is usually soccer day for T.

Weekend in review

This weekend was different, the past week was different. I got pulled in several directions at work: I taught aspiring medical students on Tuesday and I really enjoyed it. Then I had to do bench work, which hadn't happened in a while this year. I am also helping a faculty understand some of the computer work that we do. Plus we had a few deadlines from our collaborators.
On Wednesday, I hosted craft night and managed to finish all of Nitin's (my sister's future husband) 24 boutonnieres.On Thursday, I made coconut macaroons for Tom to take to his lab meeting on Friday. We had book club on Friday night, I think of it book club with reading optional (since this was my second attendance and I hadn't the book again). We had fun, ate yummy food, drank adult beverages, and chatted the night away. I think Tom might have enjoyed having the house to himself after a stressful week at work.
Saturday was weird, I put in a full day of work - I haven't worked a Saturday since I started this position. I managed to sneak in a workout in between experiments and after work, I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby to get the flowers for Payal's 24 boutonnieres. I'm hoping that hers won't take too long to make. Saturday night we went to a going away party for one of Tom's soccer friends. It was a late fun night. Sunday was an easy going day. I managed to drag Tom to Pelham to pick up a gift for my sister, then we went to Party City looking for costumes for an upcoming party, and finally landed at Cajun Steamer's. I was craving crawfish and this is a decent place for Cajun food. The plan was to then walk to the theater and catch a movie but with an hour in between finishing dinner and the movie starting, we decided to just go home and be lazy. Or somewhat lazy. I tackled a few loads of laundry, and made banana nut bread. Tom doesn't usually ask specifically for food but he had requested banana bread. I also cooked some asparagus and mushrooms to go with our lunch pork chop wraps. 
I think my goal as far as cooking for the next four weeks is to use up everything (almost) in the fridge/freezer. I'm also switching us to a low(-er) carb household minus the bread I just made ;) So plenty of proteins and veggies.
I'm finding it really hard to not show how excited I am about going home! My last trip was in 2009, time flies!

Fourth of July, or the anatomy of a great time

We had a fabulous fourth of July. Amidst fears of torrential downpours (it sprinkled on and off all day), we hosted our annual 4th of July party, complete with yummy food, the Independence Day movie, beautiful fireworks and great company. We initially wanted a small group because we can't fit that many people in the apartment, should it be really yucky outside. Then Tom met up with his soccer buddies on Tuesday, and suddenly we were expecting 16 people. In the end, we had a few no shows, but still a great time. I think this turned out to be our best 4th of July Party.
I woke up relatively early for a holiday, 8 am and started cooking at 8:30 am. First, the corn were shucked and put in the Crock Pot for 4 hours on low. I love our big Crock Pot.

The buffalo chicken dip went in the smaller Crock Pot (this one is a huge hit at parties), on low until all melted and combined. Then on warm until people get here.

Then I prepped the coleslaw. Publix had a sale, buy the dressing, get the bagged cabbage/coleslaw mix for free.

Finally I started to work on the cake. I had baked an Angel Food cake the night before but instead of using a tube pan, I used three round pans. I didn't expect the cake to be that much smaller than my trifle stand, but I think it still worked. I made a cheesecake dip to use as frosting (heavy whipping cream, sour cream, Neufchatel cheese (1/3 fat free cream cheese), sugar and vanilla. 
I brushed the cake with a mixture of pineapple juice and coconut rum. Layer cake, frosting, and berries. At the end of the night, there was less than half of the cake left.

I got to use this heavy baby, a wedding present from my former labmate Paula, to make the frosting.

I also had some of the cheesecake dip and made these strawberries as a gluten free dessert.

I was done in the kitchen by 10:30 and started to clean the house. Tom woke up and helped too. We were done by 2, with plenty of time for showers and relaxing before our friends came over at 4 pm. Tom grilled brats and his friend Chris brought ribs. Our friends also brought baked beans, potato salad, and Touchdown Taco dip.
One tip that I took to heart this time was to start the party with an empty dishwasher. And it made such a difference. Throughout the night I would just put dishes in the washer, and at the end of the night, I was done with clean up in less than 30 minutes. We also used disposable cups left over from the wedding, which also helped. Now for firework pictures.
Tom's:

Vulcan's: