(102) TGIF

No rest for the weary this Friday.  Up and at ‘em  early as usual.  Was pretty excited to come home for lunch (I love getting out earlier on Fridays!) because the cauliflower pasta leftovers from last night were waiting for me in the fridge.  Pinot & I set out to meet Melanie & Snowball at the Wheaton Dog Park this afternoon.  It was Snowy’s first time, and she handled herself pretty well, but there was definitely a point when you could just see her thinking ‘I’m too old for these young pups to be running around at me’ and began hiding under the table/on-in Melanie’s purse.  At that point, we decided to go for a walk.

Pinot & Snowball eagerly await Melanie's return from el bano

It was a nice afternoon for a walk, and hopefully the pups were very tired out as we all had a big evening planned, courtesy of Doug, beginning with Korean BBQ in Annandale at Honey Pig!  Yes, you will notice that this is a big steaming plate of meat.  I did not eat it all by myself, I promise.  Melanie stuck to her guns, but my lack of officially declaring to be veg and Nick’s convincing argument that I didn’t order it and it just would go to waste (Ok I admit it – with 23 people at dinner, I was lazy and didn’t want to make a big deal out of ordering noodles) – alas, yummy food.  (In a random side note, there were a couple articles – one and two -today that got me to thinking about the food stuff.  It’s enough to make your brain explode if you think about it too much.)

After dinner, we all packed up and moved over a few blocks to a private room for kareoke!  Never had a private kareoke room before, and the experience was a lot more fun and less nerve wracking than my last kareoke experience with Kamy in Alabama all those years ago.  Crooning out hits considered oldies, to show tunes, to today’s top 40 – the hours flew by and we rolled back into the house a bit before 3AM.  Great night!

(101). What? Leaving again?

These are the inquisitive faces that I have to answer to if I come home from work and then, oh, need to run some errands.  Tonight, it was Trader Joes for groceries for the week, and in my defense, I had been home for a good few hours before venturing out again.  But still, always the guilt trip.  Best buds, sitting next to each other, staring at me – but we’ve been alone almost all day long, and now you are leaving without me again?  Well – Cashew is starting to look distracted with something else, but still – sitting together like that with the original look, I wished that I had the good camera handy and around my neck but didn’t want to jinx it because the second I’d move to get it is the second that the pose would be gone.

Nothing big today.  Glad that it’s Thursday, which means that tomorrow is Friday!  Actually, today I found that the metropolitan cooking show is going on this weekend, and I really want to go, but I’m not sure how it’s going to fit in just yet.  It’s Nick’s last weekend at home before SC 2009, so I think we both were hoping for some down time, but alas, we’ve got a busy (and fun!) weekend ahead.

(99). Exciting day (ha)

Cashew certainly has the right idea today- what I wouldn’t give to have taken a cat nap on my computer this afternoon!

 

Instead, Pinot and I had an exciting run around the neighborhood and close to home. Actually started online window shopping for the holidays while dinner was in the oven- twice baked potatoes take awhile! These pictured are Nicks- mine are sans pepperoni; both have a mixture of white and sweet potatoes with random veggies (celery, onion, garlic, carrot, parsnip, and spinach).

On that note- I for one am going to try to get to sleep early tonight!

 

 

(98). Productive Monday

Today was a great day for tying up loose ends.  Not in terms of housework unfortunately, but in terms of other stuff.  For example:

• Pinot had her follow up vet exam yet again, and the ear infection is *finally* gone!  Woo hoo!  She got the first dose of the doggie flu shot too.
• Got the remaining original picture files from the Munich trip today.  Keyword tagged people, approximate geo-tagged, and rolled in to existing folders.  Created a webpage for ALL of the original prints that will be unveiled later this week….to those in the circle.
• Booked a hotel for New Orleans – this was the cheapest, best rated, close to the French Quarter AND close to the start line giving a discount for people signed up for one of the races, and I wanted to book it early to make sure there were rooms available.  done!
• Figured out our plans for Thanksgiving/weekend.  Now I just need to convince Nick that he wants to do a Turkey Trot with me on Thanksgiving morning.
• Confirmed the Christmas plans with all the key players and everyone is on board.
• Finished and ordered a fun surprise.  Stay tuned.

The housework did live to see another day, but at least we had a really yummy dinner to go along with the season finale of Greek tonight courtesy of this  Onion Custard Pie Recipe.  I have no idea what the difference between this “custard pie” and a “quiche” is, but I do know that this recipe was pretty darned good.  I’ve started making a batch of pie crusts and freezing the dough so it’s ready to go at a moments notice on nights like this, when the urge for something with a crust arises.  I’d like to think that I made the recipe a bit lighter by skipping the 1/2 and 1/2 and subbing skim milk, but the butter probably counteracted any of that.  This took a bit to make, between the parallel (onions cooking/pre-baking crust) followed by the actual oven time, but the result was quite tasty and filling.  Considering how much Nick was wandering around the house before dinner complaining that he had to tighten his belt to forget the hunger pains, one serving and the boy was filled.

Bonus points to those of you that got the Troll 2 reference. 

(95). Getting my Minges Fix & Halloween Baking

I’m very all or nothing when it comes to a lot of things.  Exercise is one of those things, and with the ramping up of the running, I’ve been back to working out 6 or 7 days a week.  Which is great – overall I fell a lot better when I’m doing that (somehow I lose all motivation with moderation of 3-4 workouts a week) – but I’m finding that it’s taking a bit to adjust and I’m really tired in the mornings.  To the point where yet again today, I slept in till 6:30.  Must start getting up a bit earlier once again.  Maybe that can be the goal for next week.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to getting out of work today because Melanie and I had plans for lunch and a dog walk in Bethesda this afternoon.  The rain held out this week (we’ve had to postpone twice now due to the rain and Snowy’s stitches which can’t get wet), so this was the first time since we got back from our trip that Mel & I had a chance to just hang out.  It was a great afternoon!  Even with the chill in the air, the walk was all festively autumn, and lunch at Cosi never disappoints.

Got home, power nap – and baking for tomorrow nights festivities.  Wasn’t really sure what to make, but then I saw this post and thought these Ghost Cupcakes were adorable – and was thus inspired to make them at home.  (Added bonus – I’ve never made fondant before, and with the hot tip that marshmallow fondant is much better than regular, found a recipe and was able to try that at home!)  My cupcakes turned out pretty cute – I couldn’t find gumdrops as the ghost base so I used Halloween Peeps which worked out pretty well.  I think I probably should have made the ghost eyes a bit bigger, but all in all, no complaints – AND I’m really excited to try out the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake!

Tonight, Nick and I are rocking the scary movies for Halloween  – starting with Killer Klowns from Outer Space, which I’ve actually never seen before.  Totally excited

(92). Dreary Tuesday – With a Twist

Started out as the same ol’ Tuesday.  Dreary, drizzly.  I slept in till 6:30 (gasp!) which meant that it took a good hour to get to work, and it took a good 1.5 hours to get home.  Lots of dreary time on the road today.   Pinot is not big on going outside for walks when it’s more than dribbling, so we didn’t go to far this afternoon, and she turns into a gremlin when wet.  You’d never know it by this picture, but right after this docile dog photo shoot, she was running around the living room wrestling with the towel.

Typical Tuesday run, indoors – I have to say that I’m really enjoying re-watching Buffy episodes while on the treadmill.  I have to wonder – with the current vampire ‘thing’ going on, would Buffy be more popular if it was airing now for the first time?

Food find for the week – Trader Joe’s sausage-less Italian soy sausage.  (Woot, veg 9 days and counting!)  Tonight, I crumbled that into a pasta sauce mixture with carrots, green onions, a purple bell pepper, garlic (lots of garlic!), basil, walnuts and organic tomato sauce.  A douse of Riesling in the pan too.  All in all, turned out pretty well – we topped it with goat cheese and served it with whole wheat penne.  Once again, I’m looking forward to lunch tomorrow!

The highlight – highlight – of the evening was watching the movie Zombie Strippers with Nick.  This movie had it all.  Humor.  Strippers.  Gore.  Moments where I turned from the screen only to watch Nick make a face and then say “yeah you wouldn’t have wanted to have seen that part.”  (He always looks slightly amused during the really gory parts.  Gotta love that sense of humor!)  Usually I get caught up in the goriness of Halloween movies, but this one, set in Nebraska (who wouldn’t love a zombie stripper movie set in Nebraska?!) – had me chuckling to the end, and watching the commentary.

(91) What a beautiful fall day

Today, well – getting up was a case of the Mondays, but once I was actually out of bed, I managed to get all of last nights dishes loaded up into the dishwasher and the dining room re-assembled and back to normal.  I love, love, love coming home to a clean house rather than coming home and knowing a lot of chores await.  I was excited for Nick to wake up and find all of that stuff done too!

After work today, Pinot and I set off to Lake Needwood for a bit of a fall hike.  She didn’t get too long of a walk yesterday, with Nick’s and my run in the morning and all her playtime with CJ last night, so getting her something out of the normal routine (i.e. walks around the neighborhood) was in order.  Nick and I ran the hiker/biker trail that begins up by Lake Needwood yesterday, and today I knew to go armed with the camera for some great fall foliage shots, today with the intent of heading around the lake.

Lake Needwood is one of those places around DC that we didn’t discover right away, but now that we know it’s there – (a) it’s amazing how far away from the city you can feel walking around and (b) hooray to it being actually really close to our house!  It pays to live in the boondocks.  Ha ha ha.  Actually, I’m starting to think that I wouldn’t mind owning a house over that way, if we end up here for good.  Providing that I can start telecommuting a couple a times a week, I’m getting too old for the Gaithersburg-Fairfax commute.

And so, today we bring you a selection of 5 photos – your choice on which one is the picture of the day.    With the exception of the photo of Pinot and I, these are all iPhone shots!  It’s not saying much for your point and shoot camera if the iPhone is taking better pictures on a day like today.  (Nope, I didn’t bring the good camera.  Maybe there is another leaf peeping excursion in my future?!)

As a side note on fall foliage, isn’t this xkcd comic the best?

Got home and started on dinner.  I think I was chopping for a good hour or so, but it was well worth it because I think this may be the best soup that I’ve ever made from scratch.  (Gingered Squash Soup ) If you have a lot of veggies laying around the house, this soup – with my modifications anyway – comes highly recommended!

(86) Pinot’s Entry to the Dogtopia Pet Halloween Costume Contest

Right up until the deadline to pull out the camera and get some pictures this year – this is Pinot the Pumpkin’s entry into the contest. (Voting starts on Friday – and she’d love your vote )

Cashew is not sad that she can’t go to dog daycare, but she is a bit upset that she wasn’t allowed to enter the contest. Alas, she’s taking her anger and frustration out on the grass she got for her birthday this year.

(81). Friday at home?!

Awash, I have missed this.

(80). Clean puppy

Used running outside in the rain today and getting soaked as an excuse to give Pinot a bath. Aaah, what a difference!

We ended the evening with a lovely visit, great conversation and some excellent Mexican Butternut Soup! Thanks M&L:)

Other things geting me thru the gloom of cold wet weather already? The Glee soundtrack. I have the best husband ever:)