Five Pluses and a Minus

The past couple of weeks have left me Busy! The temperatures are cooling off(?), although we have had a few rather warm days this past weekend. Speaking of this weekend (and last week), I suppose I have a few things to share. Most positive, and one rather bittersweet. So which would you like first-- the good news or the bad news? Let's just get the bad bittersweet out of the way by ripping the band-aid off.

Bittersweet Saturday

Last Saturday, Kipp went to live with his new family. They picked him up around 1:30. He was his normal shy self, so I had to make like I was walking out the door with them before closing it behind him. Luckily, J was there to make the sad occasion better, and served as an excellent comforter. Gigi, Melissa's cat, had known something was about to go down for the past few weeks, so naturally, she sauntered out of Melissa's room as I was gathering myself. In an attempt to lighten the mood a little, I tossed Kipp's remaining tennis ball to her and said, "Fetch." Lo and behold, she started batting it around, which was a good way to stop the tears momentarily.

As sad as I am to have had to say goodbye to little Kippernicus (and 2 days before his first birthday!), I'm extremely grateful for the family that reached out and agreed to rehome him. I couldn't ask for a more loving, welcoming family for him, so I know he will be in good hands. I've already received two update emails from the wife, and it brings tears of joy to my eyes to hear that he's having the time of his life while not being cooped up in his crate for 9+ hours a day.

Goodbye sweetie! You won't be forgotten <3

Goodbyes are hard, but sometimes it's just the right thing to do.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's bring a little more light and life to this post.

Recipe Wins
J and I have been making more of an effort to try new recipes at home. Over the course of the past week and a half, we have made Alton Brown's soft pretzels, subbing whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour that was called for.

Eat. Me.

Then there was an amazing chicken sausage and kale saute with white beans. By far the favorite, we have plans to make that tomorrow night for dinner as well.

Another notable creation: pumpkin & pecan baked oatmeal. Drool!

I really need to start taking better food pics.

iPhone 6
This new toy will be awaiting my return from work this afternoon. Enough said.

Junior League
Last week marked my first GMM as a Provisional, and the atmosphere was fantastic! It's so great to see so many women gathered based on similar interests of volunteerism. I applied about a month ago for a leadership role for our provisional class event, Kids in the Kitchen, and I am happy to announce that I was selected to co-chair the Active Healthy Lifestyles committee! Tonight is the first of several meetings to take place as the leadership council for this event, and I am super pumped!

Yard Work
You read that right. J and I have been clearing behind his house-- he has a lakefront property, but unfortunately for him, the previous owners did nothing to tame the jungle that was growing back there. It's been an ongoing project for him, but now he has an extra set of hands to help. I keep telling him that he's lucky he found me, because not many girls would voluntarily get scratched up by thorns and vines to help. Most would probably voluntarily give him a number for a professional yard service to call... These past two weekends we have made some great progress! We've burned two piles, and have 3 more that just keep growing. We thinned out some trees to the left of the lake and cut up some fallen trees that were creating a catchall for the dead leaves. So much done already, but so much left to do!

Huge strides of improvement from this already!

I may have to admit that I'm partially in it for the short-term end goal: a fire pit to hopefully be in use this Fall!

Enjoying Fall
What better way to enjoy the lovely weather than with good friends and wine (and nachos). Emily and I went to a local vineyard, King's Family Vineyard, to meet up with some JLC gals the other weekend. Unfortunately, the crowd gets pretty large and we were unable to find our (small) group. Fortunately, we didn't let the wine get warm and found a spot to relax and watch the polo match.

Kicking off the shoes and relaxing.

We may have indulged a bit too much, which resulted in the fabulous(?) idea of ordering nachos at Beer Run.

Nacho game face!

I mean, a plate of nachos requires extreme preparation...

Don't worry, between bike rides around town with J and all that daunting yard work (and gym time each morning), I've offset my Fall appetite... I hope!