Livin' the Dream in Lima

Sooooo... this week has been interesting to say the least. Hobbling around in my boot at school has been such fun.  The funniest moment of the week at school happened when we were evacuating the building on Tuesday to the bus garage about 2.5 blocks away. Quote from a student: "Mrs. A! If you're having trouble walking, I can totally carry you! You sure you don't need a lift?" And I just laughed. And one of the girls in my class got onto him... "Ewww, why would she want you  to carry her? She can walk just fine! And even if she couldn't... she'd probably make it work somehow!" So to said student - Thanks, but no thanks. I'll manage .  But other than that - the boot has been treating me well. My foot pain is almost * completely * gone, which is fabulous! I have been able to run the past few days, pain-free. I've still been icing like crazy, which helps a lot. My parents are visiting this weekend (woo hoo!), but you know what that means -...

Ehhh... I know. Lame title. But we grilled quesadillas ! Which then makes it a quesa-grilla! Ever since we got our new grill, I've been super excited to grill some non-traditional foods. Fruit, romaine, and pizza are all on the "must-try" list. Last night we thought we'd try our hands at grilled quesadillas. I found a recipe for S teak Teriyaki Quesadillas in the latest Taste of Home magazine and went with it. The steak is marinated in a teriyaki style marinade, then grilled to perfection. It's then sliced and combined with chopped green pepper, red onion, and fresh pineapple.  Then stacked onto a tortilla and topped with mozzarella cheese! (And some bacon because we had some in the fridge... mwa ha ha...) Then, it's just returned to the grill for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Oh, and get those beeeautiful grill marks. Sweet from the teriyaki, smoky from the steak, crisp on the outside, gooey cheese on the inside...

One of my favorite things about summer is grilling. It just screams summer.  Since we've been gone most of the month of June, we haven't gotten to use our grill very much yet. (And yes, we are still using the baby grill that can hold about 4 burgers. Plans to get a big boy/grill are in the very near future.) That all changed last night, with a twist on the classic burger. After seeing so many Greek-ish recipes floating around the internet, I decided to do a Greek-inspired burger. And yum-O! These were fabulous! The burger is made up of a mixture of beef, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, parsley, garlic, and breadcrumbs. Pretty nutritious, actually. It's topped with a feta aioli, which complements the burger perfectly. We topped the burgers with some spinach, more sun-dried tomatoes, and grilled onion rings. Served on pita or naan bread, it's a winner! And yes, it's all pretty lying on the pita bread like in the pictures above, but not rea...

Ahhh... finally back a sense of normalcy around here. Yes, cupcakes = normalcy in this household. I never mentioned it, but the day we got back from Disney, my parents came into town to help us finish up the last few major projects on the house. It has been a jam-packed holiday weekend, complete even with a 5km race. Yea... this definitely had to go. My parents here meant that my favorite furry friend got to visit as well. I'll get more into the house details later this week, because we've still got a couple rooms to put back together so I can snap some pics. (Gotta wait for that varnish on the floors to dry!)  So let's talk about the  4th of July  instead ! The Bean Town makes a big deal of Independence Day. Last year, my Business Man and I weren't here for the 4th (we were on our honeymoon), so we didn't really know what all was going to be happening. The morning started off with the  Freedom 5km  in the park, literally 0.4 mil...