Free Ride

Today, Andy found out that he was chosen to receive the HRSA scholarship - which means, a FREE RIDE for nursing school!!  We are so so so excited and I am so proud of him for winning this scholarship. YAY!! I'm off to celebrate :)

Scenes From A Summer

Brunch, the weekend before Andy's school started. We stayed at a cabin north of Duluth. It was serene.

My usual day waiting for my job to start, menu-planning, kitty-snuggling, internet-shopping, and fashion-blogging.

Enjoying a swim and some Rioja on my parent's land.

Andy's radical mowhawk.

My favorite accessory for the beach: barefoot wine sippers.

We had a great summer, though I experienced some crazy allergies.

Date Night!

AMAZING mussels in a garlic white wine sauce

Hat: Electric fetus; Purse: Fun Sisters

The Italian plate of cheeses and olives. I am officially no longer a vegan.

Andy and I had a date night at the restaurant Midi during their happy hour when their apps are 1/2 off! Yum. After we went swimming in the lake. It was a perfect date.

Bota Box

Every Friday night is Movie In The Park here. I thought it wise to try some boxed wine for MITP, and purchased Bota Box.  It's not very big, as I remember from when my momma drank boxed wine when I was a kiddo and she stored that huge box in the fridge. I have been hearing a lot about how boxed wine is actually quite good, and because of how it is packed it stores well for much longer than a bottle.  it was hard to do a tasting since I was at the park and I was drinking out of the case...but it was pretty bad. I didn't even drink much of it to be blasphemous honest.  There are lots of other boxed wines, so I'm thinking I'll try again some other time. But for now, it's bottle only.

Kitty Say WHA???!!!

At the risk of sounding like a cwazy cat lady....
Here are some of Gus's nicknames:
Sir licks a lot
Swacky Robinson
Licky Li
Lick-um-sticks
Goose
Goosey
Goosey Goo
Chubby
Chubby Bubbie

OK...I've said too much.

Pesto Yumminess

While it's hot outside we love making a simple pesto dish. I have never loved anything as much as I love garlic. Well...maybe Gus the kitty...but it's probably a tie.

Pesto Pasta:

Cook pasta

In a blender or (our favorite) a magic bullet:

combine a handful of basil (sometimes we add some spinach as well if we're making lots of pasta), hella garlic, some pine nuts or walnuts if you're broke like we are, toss in some olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Blend!  Don't worry about proportions, it's pretty difficult to mess this up. I never measure with pesto.

Toss the pasta with the pesto, and add chopped tomatoes.  Eat with some Pinot Grigio!

Magic Summer

We have felt so lucky moving to Duluth this summer to have such amazing weather.  When it's been hot we've been able to jump into the Lake. When it's night time and we're ready to sleep it cools down. It's been mostly summy, and when it rains it's really vivacious and exciting.  This photo is from a night we went biking down to the lake walk and sat with a friend and drank some delicious red wine while staring at the moon reflecting over the late.