My weekend of bbq's went very well, thank you! On Saturday a bunch of friends came by to help celebrate my birthday and all had a good time, as far as I can tell. :) We had mojitos and wine and beers and coolers and maybe some other drinks, besides! Anyway, it was fun. :)

On Sunday family came by and the weather just barely held long enough for us to enjoy the evening out on the patio. Lucky, that, since I don't have a large enough dining room to hold everybody!

Today the clouds finally opened up and it's been drizzling steadily since 2pm or so. The garden loves it. I don't mind it. It's a nice break from the dreadfully boring sunshine. *rolls eyes* But the rain honestly is nice.

Now I'm a bit tired and tomorrow is a big day. I can't believe it's Wednesday already?!

Unfortunately, my subject line for this post is very true. I was trying to be cheeky, but I came off as an ass. Bad Elli! God, I hate that feeling of having offended people who I was intending to be laughing with, not at. :(

Trying to get the wind back into my sails to finish off my emails before I make fajitas for dinner tonight, or as I like to call them, "Fa-geye-taz." I put extra jalapeno in the salsa, so I hope it's still edible by the time we get to it. Maybe I should dig some back out. Hm...

I did have a very healthy lunch today, you see! I cooked up a shrimp stir fry with a friend and it was lovely! I made two batches of pumpkin muffins, one with raisins and walnuts, one with carob chips and walnuts, but I already gave away 6 mini muffins and 7 regular sized muffins to family and friends. Elli's Family & Friends Program is in full effect! :) So after a low-key dinner of tuna buns and roasted red pepper soup, I think Elli deserves a bit of ice cream. Maybe with some Marzipan RitterSport crumbled on top. Maybe. We shall see what the dessert gods provide.

Happy noms!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I had a wonderful visit with a friend this afternoon. She's in town for a few months and it was good to be able to catch up. She might be coming on this weekend's hike, if it happens.

We managed to make a very sexy toy video for the site today! It should be ready for online consumption at the beginning of next week. Just in time for Valentine's!

I made a wonderful chicken penne tonight with artichoke hearts and tomatoes and feta cheese. I had a bit of a panicky moment when I realized we had just purged the fridge of all our (expired) salad dressings, and there was nothing to put on the salad. I did a quick search on AllRecipes.com though, and turned up a lovely honey mustard dressing. I eyeballed the amounts and it turned out great!

mayo
dijon mustard
honey
spot of lemon juice

mix and taste! Then add to salad at will!

We're having friends over for dinner tomorrow night! Julia from ffstockings.com is coming! I've decided to make my proscuitto wrapped chicken thighs with portobella mushrooms. Not sure what to do for side dishes yet. Also going to make some more banana muffins.

Today I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom. Gosh the ledge above the fridge was yucky! Blech! It looks much the same now, but just a little more sparkly and I feel better, which is the important thing.

Here's to a great weekend!

Huzzah! Is the world coming to an end? Is judgment day nigh? Perhaps. I don't feel like cooking tonight. Maybe once I start I'll get into it. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal, but we've already invited people over for dinner. Meaning we've invited people over for an Elli-made dinner.

I still have no idea what to make. The weather is so nice and I've been cleaning house for what feels like the majority of my waking hours.

I'm leaning towards chicken makhani with some curried chickpeas as a side.

One of the girls at sushi night last weekend had a head cold. She promised not to give it to me, but lo and behold, yesterday I got knocked flat on my back by this beastie! I didn't like it much, either! (Sometimes I don't mind being laid out on my back...)

So I took a Contac Complete after driving my mom to the airport yesterday morning. Vancouver traffic was AWFUL, btw. I'm so very glad that I don't commute on a regular basis. The Contac pill, even though it was a "daytime" version, knocked me out and I slept on the couch until 1pm. I had a fajita for lunch, then fell right back asleep for a while. My computer didn't get turned on ONCE yesterday!

Today I woke up feeling somewhat better. At least the fever was gone for the most part. I'm still feeling drained, but at least I've been able to spend some time at my computer. I can't believe the week is almost gone already! Where does the time go??

August's Mania is nearly done! We've fulfilled almost all of our engagements for the month (just barely) although we never did manage to go camping again.

I painted half the living room, which is a good motivator to get the rest finished! We just have to move the entertainment center, which is a bit worrisome. The tv weighs the maximum that the cabinet can bear, so we're afraid that once we take the tv off the top, the whole thing might collapse! Never mind putting everything back into and on top of it once the room is done! Eeks!

I trimmed up my garden and dead headed a bunch of my flowers. Amazingly enough, the cosmo I had given up for lost to the aphids has recovered and is full of buds to be. The coleus underneath the blue salvia, though, has rotted from overwatering. The coleus under the fushchia is thriving. Both pots got around the same watering, so I'm guessing the fuschia is a thirsty beastie.

My "Oregon Spring" tomatoes are ribbed (for my pleasure?) and huge! I picked two and I think I will cut into one tomorrow for a sammich. The "Golden Nugget" heirloom tomatoes started off gangbusters, but now the top of the plant is giving strange, hard, wee tomatoes that aren't juicy at all, just hard and dry. My cucumber gave two and has stopped producing. I suspect black pots were a bad idea, since this summer was so hot and dry.

Tonight it is raining like the end of summer. I went for a walk and came back with my jeans and hat drenched after only 20 minutes! It's a steady, light rain that's already backing up the storm drains. I'm so glad our house has no leaking problems. If it did, tonight would be a wet one!

Aye aye and goodbye, as the good Captain says!

Well, not super duper, but it's still a good day. Even though it's a cloudy one, we're going to visit friends for dinner tonight (From ffstockings.com!) After dinner we'll take in the Vancouver Symphony of Fire. Canada is opening the contest tonight. Last year we managed to catch a glimpse of Italy's night (I think it was Italy, at least.) But our view was from the Burrard St. Bridge and it was crowded and I couldn't see much. Tonight should be much better!

The sun is shining and my garden is growing! My golden nuggest tomatoes are turning yellow! And my Oregon Spring tomato is hiding a monster inside its closely packed leaves, I discovered! I'm pretty stoked about it!

For lunch I made a sammich on Silver Hills Squirrelly bread with cucumber slices, red pepper, cheddar cheese, and a bit of the adobo sauce from dinner a few nights ago. I ate it in the backyard, sitting in the grass in the sunshine.

Sunny the cat left a dead rat on the patio the other day to welcome us home from camping, but it's cleaned up now, thank goodness.

Tonight we're heading to a friend's for bbq and to share our camping photos! What are you up to?