Lazy Girl: cooking

This post has nothing to do with running or biking or exercising...but it was just a great, relaxing, domestic-y weekend and I wanted to share!

First up....We had dinner Friday at a great little restaurant 3 blocks from our house. It closed a while ago, and just reopened as a cafe/diner-y place. Very good food, cheap prices, but best of all.....I discovered that I now have access to PIE 3 blocks from my house!!! Oh man. This is bad.

I did not actually get pie that night, because Joel surprised me with a fantastic suggestion...my favorite ice cream store on the other end of town that he never wants to go to! (I should note that we also have a Dairy Queen 3 blocks from us!) But this place....oh man...homemade ice cream. Delicious. And it brings back so many childhood memories, because we used to live across the street from this great little shop. As I write this, I realize I have a lifelong habit of living within walking distance of some very dangerous places!! Hmmm....

Red Box-ed The Informant...Joel fell asleep 20 minutes in....decent movie, but not as good as I expected!

Saturday

Cleaned the house....

Joel recently pulled up the ugly carpet on our back porch, on a whim, and discovered beautiful hardwood! So he spent a week sanding and staining the floor. It looks great but now we have to re-do the walls! So we went on the search for mis-tints, the best kept secret of paint stores! We got 2 gallons of beautiful paint at Sherwin Williams for a grand total of $8.46!
I saw this pillow at Target and fell in love with the color and design. This was my "inspiration piece!" The color is off in this picture, but you get the idea! Our paint is a pretty colonial blue-ish.

Grocery shopping on Saturday instead of Sunday night is MUCH better! And Joel loves his samples!

Bought a pizza from the Hy-Vee Pizza Italian place...1/2 Tomato Margherita, 1/2 Spinach and Artichoke and then grilled it! Oh my gosh....we should always grill pizza!! So good! The next step is making homemade grilled pizza!

Grill Master

Annie wants some pizza too!

Meanwhile, I was making homemade hummus with my new food processor Joel's parents got me for Christmas. It's a lot easier than trying to make it with an old blender!
I LOVE hummus, but the organic stuff I like is expensive. The non-organic stuff has so many preservatives. Solution: Make my own! And it is delicious!

After supper...nice long walk with Annie!

If we ask her "Want to go for a walk?" she begins to whine and "sing!" This is her outside the door singing at us..."Come on, you teases! Let's go!" We like to torture her for a few minutes for our pure enjoyment!

I love the blurry puppy feet and Joel feet!

Stopping to smell the tulips!

I'm obsessed with the beautiful flowering trees that are blooming so early this spring! This one is a pear tree, according to the master!

Sunday

I worked on all of my lesson plans for the week, while soaking up the sun outside! After a long winter with extreme cabin fever, I just want to be outdoors all the time!
This Natalee Dee cartoon is right on! I should print it and hang it in my classroom, so the kids will be inspired to come out of their video game comas and play outside!