Hodgepodge

My hubby dearest was busy last week working on the last portion of the flooring - the dining room.
If you click on the next photo to enlarge you can see how much of the flooring is done now - only about 4 feet left and then ALL the downstairs floor will be finished! Please ignore the mess everywhere else. :)
We also tore out the trim around the windows since they are the next ones that we will replace... Welcome in spiders/bees/anything else that will fit through the open cracks now! :)
I'm loving the way this picture looks on the green wall...
My sweet tooth acted up last weekend so I whipped up a huge batch of sugar cookies. I'm pretty sure I ate half of it by myself!
I also finally finished the decorating on the wall above the stove last week. It turned out really cute (I think!).
Yesterday we hopped in the car and headed to Cumberland, Maryland, about 2 hours North East of us. P.'s niece lives there now & just had a sweet little baby (G.) that we (I) wanted to hold! :) It was a beautiful day for a drive with the top down.
I wasn't planning on putting this photo up since I'm bound to get the obligatory comments about how "good you look with a baby"... Maybe someday, but for now I'm happy to hold and love and cuddle others! :)
Garret and Natalie took us downtown Cumberland and we walked down the canal. These little fishes must be used to being fed! They congregated around the shore each time we stopped.
Neat old building~
G. on his first roller coaster ride. :)
Looking West up the Potomac River~
I thought this was adorable ~ The sun was a bit in his eyes. :)
The next eight photos are of downtown Cumberland ~


Neat mural.

I loved this old refurbished building!
Wouldn't it be fun to see a movie here?
Another awesome piece of architecture... It's a Bank!
Sweet little G.
:) A little bit of sunshine.
P., Natalie & Garrett
Whew - there we are! All caught up. :) Hope you've had a lovely week and weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

(a day late)
28 Years... Love you both dearly!!

3rd & 4th of July

We had a busy, fun, GREAT long weekend! Hope you did too!! Here's a photo journal of Saturday & Sunday. :)
Red, white & blue baking ~ makes...
...patriotic cupcakes!
Mini bundt cakes ~
Final product!
I also whipped up some caramelized walnuts for a cranberry salad... However, I may have eaten more than the amount that went on the salad! :)
Red Quinoa - if you haven't had this, I would definitely recommend it! It's SO filling, and very good for you. You can use it as a substitute for rice or pasta. Mind you, it doesn't TASTE like rice or pasta, but fills that starchy base that some dishes need. My good friend Liesl makes it into a cold salad, (recipe here), which is AMAZING.
I can't post without a cute one of kitty ~
We saw this place on Saturday, and it was instant inspiration for the color on our house! I LOVE that green!! I hadn't thought we'd go that dark before, but now I'm considering it. :) Thoughts?
We spent Saturday at some friends, Carol & James. They had croquet set up, frisbee, horseshoes - you know, good ole' 4th (or 3rd!) of July stuff!
Watch out for Bert!
James' mom (on the far left), Carol and I. :)
I was doing SO good... until I rounded the first pole. There I sat & everyone passed me up! :( Bah!
Carol~
Cold food - SO much! SO good!
Hubbs n' I. I kinda love this guy.
James' mom Diane and a delish fruit tart someone brought.
Bert grilling on his tailgate. :)
After dinner we piled into the back of Bert's truck & headed down to the park to play volleyball - much fun!
Please take a moment to closely look at each face in the next three photos - they crack me up! (click to enlarge)


Sunday K&L came over after K finished work and we celebrated again. :)
I made some patriotic strawberries. So much for healthy eating!
Cajun marinated shrimp skewers. Recipe here. VERY good. VERY easy!
Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs (P. really liked these - they were quite tasty!), vegetable kabobs with an oriental marinade and bacon wrapped corn on the cob. YUM.
L's adorable rice krispy treats - made with her homemade marshmallows!
Bar-B-Que'd up and ready to chow!
Mmm...
Later we jumped on the bikes and rode down to the Town of Herndon to watch fireworks... Lizzy came too!
We tried to convince Dozer to come also, but he just wasn't having anything to do with the leash. I don't understand! :)
Monday we slept in, lazed around then played racquetball at the rec center - swam a bit - practiced for our scuba certification that we'll be doing in a few months (!!!) and came home to bar-b-que brats. EXCELLENT weekend if I must say so myself!! :)
What did you do?!