Weekend recap

No pictures today.
We had an eventful weekend - on Saturday morning, I received my first massage at Massage Envy. It was so worth it and I can't wait to go back. I managed a quick nap before hurrying to noon commencement at the Alys Stephens Center to see the doctoral hooding of our friend Colm.
Tom and I decided to celebrate (one-day early) the first anniversary of our second wedding with a late lunch at J. Clyde. Then we met up with Colm at Rojo to hang out with his parents and friends. We got home just in time to check the Brewer's score (yes, Kelly, we won this series against your Cubs) before we headed out to TCBY (cravings + I had never been) and to the movies - Captain America was great. We both really enjoyed it.
Sunday morning saw my usual ritual of talking to my parents on Skype. I managed to get myself to the mall before the bad weather came in. By the time I was done there, the visibility was horrible and decided to stop my errands and come home. When the rain stopped, I went to Publix to get ingredients for the week (yay for meal planning). I took care of chores at home and made kale chips in our dehydrator. They were so good. This is for us, the best way to make them. Tom ate almost the entire batch (the equivalent of ~ 1 lb of fresh leaves). I think this is a winner and I'll have to make it.
So happy 1st 2nd anniversary. Now for the real anniversary in May, the 2nd 1st anniversary. I think they say it's cotton - I'll have to come up with a good idea.
But first, we better buckle down for the rough night ahead with the storms. Hope everyone stays safe. 

Happy happy birthday

My mom and sister share a birthday; It gets harder every year to not be able to celebrate with them but last year we did, right before the second wedding.Wishing you both a very happy birthday!

found at http://smalldailymotivationquotes.blogspot.com/2013/08/found-this-on-inspirational-blog-with.html

Easter weekend recap

To continue with my previous post of being inspired in the kitchen, I made fish tacos last week - simple but delicious and somewhat healthy.

The week before Easter I made Easter yarn eggs for my lab and Tom's lab.

Onto Easter weekend.
Saturday was book club night, I was so proud of myself for reading the book. To be fair, I didn't have a valid excuse not to: my friend Kellet was kind enough to drop off her book at my place, and it was a very quick read (The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman). Next month's book is Poisonous Science by HJ Forman, which I started yesterday and is just wonderful. Science, grants, and 'humorous mystery", a sure combination to get me to finish this one too.
Sunday was a relaxing day, spent at home. I had made a new flower arrangement (yes, I am now enjoying having <$10 bouquets on holidays) and of course, Easter candy. We had a lovely brunch: Tom had picked out ham steaks, I made morel mushroom cheesy scrambled eggs and we finally open our gigantic bottle of champagne. I had saved it for hair and makeup appointments for the day of the second wedding but we didn't use it then. The garden also yielded some delicious mint, which I used to make champagne mojitos.

We watched Brewer baseball and I spend some time sitting outside on the balcony. Got to enjoy these days before it gets to be scorching.

Photo dump recap

Weekend of March 30th - Tom's birthday weekend was a blast, at least I think so.
On Friday night we went to Satterfield in Cahaba Heights and were able to sit at the Chef's counter. You get to see all the chefs and sous-chefs working, and it's truly a magical scene. Think of it as dinner and entertainment. Tom looked really handsome. I had the beef tip and Tom had the New York strips. Tom told me to put down the camera and take mental pictures, so I obliged the birthday boy.

 On Saturday, I had a very bad experience driving in the rain but no one was hurt even though I ended up 90 degrees to the direction of traffic. I still managed to run my errands and meet up with Kelly for lunch. She has been very supportive and helpful of my crochet ideas. I will post pictures of the completed project later.
That weekend, I visited about a dozen stores.
What do I have to show for it? A clean, somewhat on a smaller scale, balcony garden.

I wanted to plant more but with the threat of freezing temps, I haven't started my seeds yet.

I have been rather inspired in the kitchen lately, probably because I'm surrounded by great cookbooks. I have been meal planning on the weekend and getting all the ingredients I need. I made Crock-pot BBQ chicken (improvised recipe of chicken thighs covered with BBQ sauce in the Crock-pot for 8 hours) and two recipes from Anne and Brian's wedding gift, Bon Appetit: Thai beef curry with asparagus and chicken smothered with mushroom gravy. Tom also got rhubarb crumble, his favorite dessert for his birthday.

 Last night I made some surf and turf, with creamed spinach and roasted garlic couscous. Tom was working late (again), so it was dinner for one. I haven't been drinking much lately but last night, I indulged in a glass or two of this very decent red.

This past weekend, we were able to get away for a short while. We left the house on Saturday morning and made it to the trail head (Sipsey, in Bankhead National Forest) by noon. We hiked a good three miles with our gear before we found a perfect camping spot with our own private beach. We saw some alien looking flowers and also the damage that wild boars are doing to the forest. The next morning we hiked back out and made it back to town. It was nice to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature.

Tom enjoying one of his favorite wedding gifts, the hammock; now you see him

...now you don't

of course we had a fire