Livin' the Dream in Lima

My Business Man and I had quite the relaxing weekend. Running, good eats, and QT with my best friend... what more could a girl ask for? Saturday night we got a lil' crazy and lit a fire in our fire pit. We didn't have any hot dogs, but threw together a fabulous snacky dinner. ( Love snacky dinners. What is it that makes appetizers so much fun?) We had some fabulous Spinach, Kale, & Greek yogurt dip from Trader Joe's, pita chips, cheddar cheese, nuts, and grapes.  [ Side note : The grapes looked so  good at the grocery store this weekend. Without thinking, I picked up a bag, threw it in the cart. Turns out, I must have picked the biggest bag because it was $8.13 worth of grapes! But so totally worth it. Heh.] We bought the stuff for s'mores, too, but the fire died out before we remembered to roast the marshmallows. Duh. So I ended up with a microwave s'mores. (With Reese's instead of Hershey's chocolate. Best idea ever.) We also played...

One of the things I really missed when we lived in our apartment was entertaining. I missed planning parties, having people over, and cooking lots of yummy food. Back in college, we would plan fun 'parties' for the girls (and sometimes the guys) on the cross country/track team all the time. The Thanksgiving Extravaganza, Valentine's Brunch, NCAA Championship combined with an Easter egg hunt. Whenever there was a major holiday, we had a party. And I got to plan it. :-P And I loved it. So, when we moved into our new house, I got so excited to have people over! And they actually would be able to sit down somewhere! Heh.  Last night, we invited my Business Man's team along with their families over for dinner. We had great intentions of grilling, relaxing outside on our rockin' new patio, and playing some corn hole. Unfortunately the weather had different thoughts.  We were definitely cooped up inside with the A/C. But that didn't stop us   my Business Ma...

ICE CREAM!  July is National Ice Cream Month and yesterday was National Ice Cream Day! That's my kind of holiday. We celebrated with a trip to the ice cream shoppe for some Triple Chocolate Confusion and Raspberry Fudge. Yum. But sometimes you want an ice cream treat but don't want to leave your house. Like when it's 90*F outside with a heat index of 99. Because you will be sweating buckets just getting into your car. And by the time you get your ice cream cone and attempt to eat it, it will become a big puddle of ice cream soup on the ground. No bueno. That's why you should make a batch of these Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches, and keep them in the freezer for those days when it's too hot to do anything but sit on the couch and watch HGTV. Or nap all afternoon. Or solve critical thinking math problems from your students' textbooks. Not that I do that or anything.  The cookie base is essentially the clone of an Oreo. But a bigger, badder, more cho...

It's official. It's summer and HOT. And humid. I stepped outside yesterday morning to run at 5:30am and it was already 78*F. With 98% humidity. Fun, right? Triple fisting it at breakfast yesterday morning with a smoothie, iced coffee, and ice water. One of the beautiful things about the heat of summer is that I can go to the pool to cool off. A few friends and I have discovered the gem of the Wapakoneta Waterpark , which is only about 15 miles south of the Bean Town. And it's only $5 to get in! Megan, Amber, myself. Yesterday was our second visit, and it was glorious. There's two pools, two water slides, and two diving boards. One of the pools is a zero depth pool, so it's nice to sit with just your legs in the water. You just have to try not to get mauled by the tens of dozens of small children splashing around. Pretty sure I was kicked and/or smacked (not on purpose) at least 23 times yesterday. The best thing? At every 0:45 on the hour, the lif...

... are the best. Yesterday was such a relaxing day. I spent the morning sitting outside by the pond, sipping iced coffee, reading a book. Then we were off to church. On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store for a few items. And  where they were giving out free (!) brats. So a nice free lunch. The afternoon was spent baking bread, and napping while the bread was rising. There's nothing more beautiful than rising bread dough. I don't know if I've ever talked about how I got into baking. My mom baked a lot when I was growing up. I got started in the kitchen with her. But then I got my first job. When I turned 16, I got a job at the infamous Katie's Cafe  in my hometown. Sadly, it's no longer open. :( They were well-known for their ginormous cookies, fresh salads, homemade soups, and the bread. Ohhh, the fresh herb bread. Which came with just about everything you ordered. My job description was "baker". How fun! I worked after s...