Livin' the Dream in Lima

My Business Man and I had a good visit home. We spent a lot of time with my mom, had breakfast with a good friend, had lunch with my extended family, and of course, we met the new addition to my parents' household! Meet Maggie, short for Sugar Magnolia. (Yes, a Grateful Dead tribute.) She is just the cutest most adorable little ball of fur! She's about 3 months old right now, so a little squirrelly, too, but that makes it fun! We got to cuddle and go for walks and all the other fun things you do with new puppies. My Business Man even seemed to like her pretty well, and he's not the biggest dog fan. (Maybe there's still hope for a golden retriever pup someday...) The three of us. For not a big dog lover, that's a pretty big smile. While we were home, we went to Target and cashed in on a few gift cards we had from the wedding. Of all the things the Bean Town has, it does not have a Target! What a shame. We ended up purchasing a bitty baby grill and some pa...

This weekend my Business Man and I are homeward-bound back to Illinois to have a nice visit with our families. Except, his family just left on vacation to DC... so that means we'll be visiting with my family only. Poor planning on our part. This is good news for several reasons...   1. My parents got a new puppy literally 3 days after my Business Man and I got married and I moved to the Bean Town. I have been seeing puppy pictures and hearing puppy talk for the last 4 weeks and I absolutely cannot wait to meet and play and cuddle with this puppy. 2. I seem to have left a lot of things that are important to me at my parent's house. Including but not limited to the following:  several of my beloved cookbooks      my new Kitchenaid mixer (Wedding gift from my parents! And I haven't even used it in the Bean Town yet!) DVD collection (our shelves are looking mighty empty... need to fill up that DVD rack!) my cupcake decorating supplies (...because we all nee...

This past Saturday, my Business Man had to do a few things at the office, so I was on my own for the morning. I contemplated going for a run, but the temps here have been H O T . Like eggs frying on the sidewalk hot. I even had my shoes on and ran a half-block before I decided it was way too hot.  My Business Man had talked about a Farmer's Market here in the Bean Town a few times... on the town square. I love some home-grown produce, so I decided I would go find this Farmer's Market. I even looked it up online, to make sure I knew where I was going. So, I headed downtown with an iced mocha in hand to explore the bounteous Farmer's Market. My hometown has a pretty darn tootin' good one, with lots of vendors, so my expectations were high. Unfortunately, I drove past this Farmer's Market and missed it. I thought I saw a booth or two, so decided to turn around to check it out again. And so I did. And that was it. Two booths. And not one of them was selling p...

It seems that all my posts about "Life in Bean Town USA" occur outside of the Bean Town. I guess that's okay, as hopefully soon some exciting things will actually happen in the Bean Town. This past Thursday my Business Man had to take a trip over/down to Newark, OH for a dinner meeting and then a meeting the next morning. I decided to tag along, because, what else am I gonna do?? As soon as we arrived at the hotel, my Business Man had to leave right away for his dinner meeting. (At the Olive Garden, none-the-less... not fair!) I was planning on ordering room service, as I have never done that before and have dreamed of someone delivering a scrumptious meal right to my room and then devouring it in bed. But, there was one problem. Our hotel didn't have room service, or any restaurant service at all! Luckily for me, there was a Texas Roadhouse literally 1/2 block from the hotel. Probably even less than that. Now, I love me some Chicken Critters from the Texas Roadho...

As I was grocery shopping last week, I came across a huge tub of blueberries ! For only $3.99!! Usually a small tub costs $2.99. Note the container is next to an orange so you can gain some perspective. It is just a never-ending supply! You might already know that I love blueberries if you read my post about blueberry donuts. Well, recently I have been trying to use up that huge tub of blueberries . I have been eating them with yogurt, putting them in my cereal, topping salads with them, and I think I even mixed them into our burgers last weekend (j/k). I wanted to make pancakes, but my Business Man and I don't eat breakfast at home together during the week. So what can I do with the rest of the blueberries ? I did some researching on the internet, and found a recipe for Blueberry -Oatmeal Cookies ! Why not? If they have fruit and oats, then they're definitely healthy for you. Oh, by the way, now you will get to see a sneak peak of our cute little kitchen, too! Ta-da...

This past week my Business Man and I have traveled what feels like all over Ohio. Last Saturday, we went to Cincinnati. (Ikea trip... see a previous post.) Tuesday, we went to Columbus. (Again, can be documented in a previous post.) There's only one "C" city left to visit in Ohio... that would be Cleveland ! My Business Man's company had a promotion in June where he could win an overnight to Cleveland and to see an Indians' game. (The Indians are a baseball team for all of you out there who don't follow sports. Myself included. Although I do know a smidge about long-distance running.) So, because my Business Man is so awesome , he won the trip plus $200 cash! We took off for Cleveland Friday morning. It's about a 3-hour drive, so that of course required a stop at Starbuck's. Enjoying my nonfat iced cinnamon dulce latte, with whipped cream of course. I run 40 miles a week for a reason. :-P Whipped cream being one of them. Upon arriving in Clevel...