Lazy Vegetarian: Day 23

Breakfast: Fiona asked for pancakes so that's what we had today! I made them with whole wheat flour and they were yummy!

Today's mug is from the trip to Scotland we took in 2007. I won round trip flights for two to Dublin in a competition at the Fineline on St. Patrick's Day (just by putting my name in the jar, I didn't have to embarrass myself in any way!) so we flew to Dublin for a few days then to Scotland for the family holiday, then back to Dublin for a day before heading home.

Mum and I being statues...

Edinburgh

We stayed in a beautiful house way out in the country. This is the hill behind the house. You had to climb it to get cell phone reception... a bunch of us climbed it one day, which involved trudging though a stream raging river, climbing over some fences and staring down a number of sheep.

These little girls are not little any more. And that makes us OLD.

Catriona has never been more impressed with an activity...

We made it!! Who got text messages?

We stayed in a B&B near Dublin for a night on our way back but I don't remember where it was... pretty though!

It was a fun trip!

Lunch: We hadn't been to the mall for a while so we went there this morning. We had pita pit for lunch... YUM!! I had falafel and hummus and veggies and we all shared some fries.

Fiona chose the Blues Clues ride to go on.

Adele doesn;t like to go on the rides, but does like to watch her sister!

This afternoon we walked (and Fiona tricycled) over to the park for a while. She's getting really fast and is pretty good at steering now. It took a lot of practice - I think she got my coordination genes!

Adele went on a big girl swing for the first time and LOVED it. I have a cute video but it's upside down and it's going to take some time to right-side-up it, so I'll have to post that another day.

Dinner... leftover soup and bread and some frozen taquitos (well, they weren't frozen after I cooked them).

This evening I put my mediocre sewing skills to the test and worked on Fiona's halloween costume. She has a party tomorrow and I'll reveal the finished product tomorrow. Prepare to be underwhelmed with the effort on my part ;-)

Lazy Vegetarian: Day 16

Saturday... latte, toast and... wait... what is that?! Eggs? Yes! Spinach, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, cheese?! YES!! Most exciting breakfast this month? By far!

Today's mug is also from our trip to Bordeaux. We went to visit the Dune de Pyla, which is the tallest sand dune in Europe.

Lunch: After so many days of eating almost nothing but fat and carbs, it was salad time.

Then a palate cleansing chocolate mint candy...

The salad was gigantic! We went to Cathy and Erik's for game night with them and Lori and David and for dinner I had...

Cheetos...

Piece of cheese bread...

Cookie...

Bread with peanut butter.

All those things are, of course, super healthy! Yay me!

Maybe tomorrow I'll do better. But don't count on it :-/

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?

Photo Challenge Day 10

When I was little I loved to watch Bagpuss. According to my Mum I called it "Puss" and it was my favourite.

I tried to introduce it to Fiona but she thinks it's boring. I think it's wonderful. I may or may not get a bit emotional watching this...

It's well known among my Scottish friends and family that I love Bagpuss and one year I was given one as a Christmas gift. I brought him out today to photograph and Fiona really liked him.

That other thing she's holding is Floppy Bunny. My Mum knitted him for me when I was a baby. The tips of his ears are red (the story goes) because she ran out of white wool. I think he used to be fat, but his stuffing got all packed down and now he's floppy. Fiona only got to hold him briefly in case she stopped protecting him adequately and allowed Brodie to get him.

She quickly found that if you squeeze Bagpuss' head he yawns and says "it's rather nice to have a cuddle!". She liked that!

So that's day 10!

30 Day Photo Challenge Day 10: A childhood memory

Photo Challenge: Day 7

When I lived in Aberdeen my Mum was, at one time, searching for a giant fruit bowl. It took a long time to find exactly what she wanted and during that time whenever we'd spot a nice large bowl one of us would say to the other "that would make a good fruit bowl". It became a tradition and I still say it whenever I spot a nice large bowl.

When they visited last year we had a day trip to Stillwater where I spotted a bowl. We'd seen a lot of pottery that day and had exchanged many "that would make a good fruit bowl"s but although they were all beautiful and special, they were also way too expensive to live in a house with two rambunctious children. But this bowl was different. It was hand made and lovely, but also under $30! It was going to make a really good fruit bowl.

I bought it, and it came to live in our kitchen where it holds our fruit.

Today it's empty because I used all the old bananas that were in there yesterday to make banana bread. Banana bread is, without a doubt, my second favorite way to get my USDA recommended daily servings of fruit. My number one choice is, of course, wine.

Look, it's even got raisins in it. That's double fruit!

30 Day Photo Challenge Day 7: Fruit

The snow that's coming, and snow from the past...

We've had some snow and ice and dangerous driving conditions already, but I'm getting nervous for tomorrow. The forecast is nasty, I need snow tires for my car, and I have places to go. I'm trying to cheer myself up by remembering the good things about snow... but other than how pretty it looks though a window when you're in a warm house, I'm not really a fan.

Ali came to visit us in Michigan in 2005, and we all drove up to Minnesota together to visit Ben's family for Christmas.

Two things stand out in my memory from that trip. The first is that we wanted to give her an awesome Chicago style deep dish pizza experience and stopped on the way home to get one near Chicago, not realizing that they sell them half baked for takeaway and you are meant to cook them at home... we knew it was risky trying to eat it in the car anyway (we couldn't stop because we had Brodie with us and couldn't leave him in the car) but trying to eat it half cooked was quite the challenge. We thought that the restaurant messed it up, but we learned later that everyone knows you're meant to finish baking it at home! Not a good experience!

The other thing that stands out is this... further proof that snow is a dangerous playmate.

My favorite part of this video, after the spectacular wipeout, is the small child (Ryan?) hurrying over to make sure she's ok!

I hope tomorrow's snow related experiences will be less unpleasant!

7/4

For Americans, July 4th, or Independence Day is a day where they celebrate independence from Britain. The celebration usually takes the form of gathering with friends and family, eating delicious foods, and blowing things up. Mostly fireworks, but pretty much anything goes today. A nice part of this holiday is the day off work that comes with it...

For Ben and I July 4th will always have a special memory associated with it. July 4th, 2003 (yep, 7 whole years ago) was the day we first met. And to commemorate that, here's a stroll down memory lane... Most of you have probably heard this story before, but I'm telling it anyway!

I was hired for the summer as a research assistant in a lab in the psychology department at the University of Michigan. I needed somewhere to stay while I was there, and began researching apartment sublets. There were a few that I found that seemed reasonable, and I settled on one in particular. Due to a variety of things (none very interesting) the one I planned on fell through and I finally got hold of my number 2 choice and agreed to stay there. The person I was subletting from gave me the information of the person who'd be staying in the other room, and after a couple of phone conversations and a few emails I was confident that this person was not only not a psychopath, but seemed like a really nice guy. I'm talking about you, Jim!

I arrived on July 2nd, though my luggage did not. I'm not sure if it turned up on the 3rd or 4th, but I was very relieved when it did because my new roommate and I were going to have going to hang out and go to a fireworks display with his cousin and some people for the 4th of July, and I don't think they'd have appreciated my new "Scotland never gets this hot and I only have one spare shirt and it's already pretty nasty" scent.

We were picked up on the evening of the 4th and piled into the car. In the front was Jim's cousin Ben, and his friend Peter, and in the back was a girl, who was the girlfriend of one of them, but I wasn't sure which one exactly. I remember thinking "I hope she's not the cute one's girlfriend, because that would be just my luck" but at no point on the drive over did it become clear, and I felt too awkward and shy to ask.

Once we arrived at the location of the fireworks I figured out that the girl was with the "other one" which was good news, and not only that but the cute one spent the duration of the evening standing with his back to the fireworks chatting with me. He seemed very nice and friendly and funny, and let's not forget about the cuteness, and I had a very pleasant evening.

Of course, all good things come to an end. But not before we all stopped for a snack on the way home and I discovered that the big scoop of ice cream on my french toast that I took a bite of was, in fact, butter (first of many exciting discoveries about American food customs). A few days later I told Jim I thought his cousin was cute, and shortly after that we had a group outing where he decided I was cute too, and then asked me out for real on a real date where he paid for my beers and made me laugh and smooched me on the doorstep (sorry, Dad), and the rest is history.

And now, if you made it through all that, are some pictures for your enjoyment!

There are very few pictures of us together from that summer, but here's a really bad one...

And here's one from a few months later when he visited me at Christmas. Wow, we were young!

And because that day led to big things, here is a picture of the girls from today, ready to party!

Happy 4th of July everyone!