Lazy Vegetarian: Day 10

I realized after the first few days that I hadn't used the same mug for breakfast yet, and figured I'd try to keep that going until I had to repeat one. Then today I realized that each mug (or at least the vast majority of them) have some kind of memory associated with them. So I thought I'd start sharing those.

Breakfast... toast and marmalade, latte. Today's mug is a souvenir from a trip to Bordeaux Ben and I took together during the year when I was living in Aberdeen and he was living in Michigan. We went there to visit his awesome sister Carol and her family and had a great time.

Lunch:

Picnic with lovely friends. Cheese and spinach (and mayo!) whole wheat wrap...

Plum...

Oddly shaped and flavored crackers, generously shared with me...

Frazzles, imported from home by my Mum on her most recent visit.

Later I was waiting for Ben to come home to eat dinner, but I fed the girls beforehand. I was really hungry though so when Fiona only ate half of her roll, I polished off the other half...

I made butternut squash risotto for dinner (using regular rice instead of risotto rice). It was really good, but as usual it looks like unappetizing goop!

Then later I shared a special shortbread finger with Ben (also imported by my Mum, and so yummy). I even gave him the big half.

And because I know you're just DYING to know, here's a rundown of the meanings of mugs from the last 9 days.

1.

Scottish mug, specially for me. According to the definition on the mug, a besom (biz-um) is: obstreperous girl or woman/woman of low moral standing/broomstick made from loose twigs/a comet, or its tail.

2.

Scottish mug, specially for Ben but used almost exclusively by me. According to the definition an eejit is: idiot, simpleton, one not possessed of all their mental faculties.

Charming!

3.

"Louise" mug. Also imported from Scotland because it is almost impossible to get mugs that have my name on them in this country. Sad because I LOVE mugs with my name on them!! It has a cute poem on the back about how awesome I am.

4.

Ben has not one but two lego mugs with his name on them but I have this one because although I am special, I am apparently not special enough for lego to make a mug with my name on it.

5.

That one is Ben's. I like it. He has no idea where he got it.

6.

Vegas baby!! Souvenir from our trip to Vegas to get married.

7.

Aerial lift bridge in Duluth from the trip we took up there with my parents last year.

8.

We have a lot of friends in Chicago and got this mug on a trip we took to visit them before Fiona was born. I don't remember exactly when it was but it was the trip when we first visited the bar at the top of the John Hancock building and it was awesome.

9.

I got this mug last December when I was looking for a mug to give as a gift with a mug cosy (picture right at end). I didn't use it in the end because the shape was too awkward to fit the cosy around, but I liked it so it earned a spot in the cupboard.

Now, wasn't reading all that a good use of your time?

Duluth Adventure

Ben and I moved here about 3 1/2 years ago, and in all that time, have never ventured north to Duluth. Duluth is north of Minneapolis on the shore of Lake Superior. It's a popular tourist destination (particularly in Summer), and a town full of fun things to do and see!

Fiona's Granny and Grandpa (my parents) are visiting right now, so we thought that we should finally have a day trip to Duluth. Fiona loves fish, so after we ate some lunch we visited the Great Lakes Aquarium. This is America's only all-freshwater aquarium.

One of Fiona's favourite things is turtles, so she was really excited to find a whole tank full of different kinds of turtles.

She likes to yell at them, and jumps about when they swim past...

We checked out of the rest of the fish...

We had a fun time! After the aquarium we went for a little walk round the harbour. Unfortunately it was cold and rainy, and Fiona was not super impressed. Luckily she had her hat to wear...

We walked across the Aerial Lift Bridge which spans the canal into Duluth's Harbour.

After that we were all tired, and some of us were crabby from being forced to walk around in the rain, so we went home again. It was a really fun day, we'll definitely go back again to explore some more... except maybe on a slightly warmer day :-)