"He-brews"

I cannot say no to travel coffee mugs. I have a couple of pink ones, a green Starbucks one, a blue one, 2 red ones, etc., etc. This is my most favorite travel coffee mug that I got this last summer for visting a church in Okoboji. Isn't it great?! My friend, Erika, had gotten one earlier in the summer and I lusted over it everytime I saw her with it at work. We spent a weekend at her in-law's lake house and Lance managed to snag one of these for me at the end of the service - I love it!

(sorry for the flash glare!)

Same Plant - Different Looks

These are two yellow crookneck squashes that were grown from the same plant. Can you believe it? The one on the left is decidely more orange and warty, while the one on the right is yellow (like it is supposed to be!) and much more smooth. Lance thought that it might have something to do with the lower temps we've been experiencing, but I'm not sure. They look so different from each other!



This is an entire box of cucumbers. We need to start giving some away. Clearly. I cannot eat cucumber sandwiches every single day like Lance. Last week I watched Lance eat half a cucumber in one sitting. Just in sandwiches! I told him that it can't be good for his digestive system, but I have no medical proof of this. Just my own "gut" instinct (I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.)

Workplace State Fair Contest Pictures

Geeze louise, I took some lousy pictures.

This first pictures is the winning butter cow my neighbor, Jamie, made. It's a butter cow that is moon walking. This is in honor of all the controversy that went on about the Michael Jackson butter sculpture.




A close-up.



This is my entry: my weirdo yellow crookneck squash. It's orange and has warts. Not at all yellow. Second place finish to an enormous zucchini. I was a little disappointed, but I did get a ribbon and a prize.

Again with the blurry picture. I know I have a better one somewhere ...


There was also an entry for an ashtray cake. Disgusting, but entirely edible. Actually quite funny! No picture, I forgot to take one.

Also note, these pictures were taken right before I found the dead mouse. Gross, gross, gross!

Three Question Thursday

1. What’s one of your vices?

Lateness. Good gracious, I run late to everything. We have yet to make the opening song at church for the 8 am service. Usually I am running into the building I work at with two minutes to spare. I am not a morning person and it shows. Those who sit by me know that I do not converse until 10 am.

My second vice ... shopping. I cannot resist a good deal. If it's on sale, I can justify!

2. What’s one dish you ate growing up that you have fond memories of?
Stove top stuffing. I have distinct memories of my dad making a box of stuffing (and only a box of stuffing) for dinner while my mom was off doing other things. Not exactly a balanced meal, but I was as happy as a clam.

3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Five years ... I will be 31 and one year away from getting my French bulldog (side note: Lance told me that I have to be 32 before we can get a dog). Perhaps there will be a child in my life and perhaps I will either have done something fabulous with this master's degree I am slaving away at or I'll be working part-time and staying home part-time with aforementioned child. Either possibility would be nice!

Hickory Park

I <3 Hickory Park. It's a fab restaurant in Ames that I got to know and love during my ISU days. I was talking with a friend at work last week and I had made the discovery that it had been over a year since I had their food. What a travesty! So I asked our friends, Annalise and Alex, that live in Ankeny and asked if they wanted to join us and of course they did (please note: it was at their wedding when I last had Hickory Park).

It was a little after 7 pm when we got seated. I had forgotten this is about the time that parents are moving their college students back in - man, was there a crowd! But we had a short wait for a table, thank goodness. I ate enough food to make my belly hurt - a pizza burger, mashed potatoes and an Oreo shake. DELICIOUS. In my quest for food, I forgot a picture. Cardinal sin. If you are ever in the Ames or central Iowa area, check this place out. Fast bbq & burgers and fantastic ice cream and mashed potatoes. I can't wait until our next trip!

On a different note, check out Iowa Girl Eats for a yummie give away.

Dead Mouse

Ughh ... I shudder at the thought of mice - alive or dead. They are disgusting. I don't care what way you put it, mice are nasty. Gross, gross, gross. Any bad dreams I have are about mice. Mice crawling up my pant leg. I usually wake up to find myself kicking and yelling out. And I found one today underneath my co-workers desk. Nightmare. I'm still grossed out.

Iowa State Fair - Workplace Contests!

In honor of the wonderful, nationally-Martha Stewart acclaimed Iowa State Fair, my workplace is holding its own celebration. On Monday we are having a State Fair themed lunch:
pork tenderloins, corn on the cob, potato salad, cole slaw, watermelon, lemonade and a wide assortment of ice cream bars. (I was really hoping for a corn dog) Additionally, we are also holding the following contests:

A) Best two stick butter cow
B) Oddest shaped home grown garden item
C) Prettiest home grown flower
D) Ugliest cake

Being competitive, I want to enter all four contests. In reality, I'm only going to do one. I think I would have had a decent chance at winning two out of the four, but I have no idea of how I would manage a two stick butter cow and all of my flowers have died.

Exercise

I've given up convincing myself that I will ever be a runner, or someone who even enjoys running. I've always thought it would be such a nice thing to say "yeah, I ran three miles today and it was great" or "I'm training for my half-marathon." But I've given this up because no matter how hard I try, I hate running. I really do. There's no way around it. I enjoy being tricked into exercising. I love dancing and group sports (wait - does beanbag toss count?). I'm a naturally competitve person so I'm always comparing myself to the other people in my class and trying to work harder than them. When we had our YMCA membership, I took numerous classes and really enjoyed them. My workplace provides an onsite fitness center that's pretty nice - there are treadmills, elliptical machines, weight machines, etc. In addition, we also have pilates twice a week over lunch. That's fun, but I only have 45 minute lunches. By the time class gets over and I finish changing and heating up my lunch ... I'm running like a maniac to get back to my desk.

So Rachael, if you read this post, I'm never going to run a half-marathon with you. Give it up.

Restless

We have no money, but I would love to go on vacation. (If Lance reads this post, his first reaction would be "what?!" because we just got back from Michigan and went to Hawaii in April. I suppose that any reasonable person would have this same reaction. But whoever said that I was reasonable?) If I was given the option of a destination, right here, right now, I would pick Orlando, FL. Lance and I went there on our honeymoon and did the whole Disney thing. If given the option, I would go to Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure right now. Lance was disappointed when we went to Disney because it was very family-friendly and less thrill orientated. But look at this ride, who wouldn't call that thrill orientated? Fun!!

There's lots of vacations that I have in my head that I would like to go on ... California wine trip ... Vegas ... Universal Studios ... combined with the trip I will make for school next year: Spokane/Seattle and perhaps ... South Korea! Again, all dreams because I want to make these trips before we have children. There's probably 5 years worth of vacations here and we don't plan on waiting 5 years before having children!

Garden Update

Mid year garden update ...


One of my zucchini plants is still living and producing well. I've put zucchini into pasta salads and done a lot of baking. Unfortunately, the plant is in the process of dying. Go figure.





Our cucumber plant is doing exceptionally well! Lance and I have never had a successful plant! We've had tons of cucumber sandwiches, which are great snacks. Lance's brother, Andrew, his girlfriend had never had a cucumber before. Strange. Do you also see that yellow crookneck squash? I'm still struggling with what to do with him. They're a little odd. And the roma tomatoes? They're dying. This is about the most I'll get out of three plants. Stupid blight.



But my cherry tomatoes are doing really well. One of my favorite things to do is have them with cottage cheese as a mid-afternoon snack. So yum!







As always, our green beans are doing spectacularly. A little too much. We could have green beans for every meal and not eat all the ones we have in the freezer from years past. We just froze our first batch on Sunday. I need to find more recipies that call for green beans.