747

We booked our winter vacation to Costa Rica this week and Jake's immersed himself in hotel research. The Hotel Costa Verde features a guest room in an old 747 fuselage! Pretty cool stuff. It's a little pricey or we'd totally be booking it!

Book It

I fully admit I'm a total nut bag. I made a photo book containing only photos of my dog. Shutterfly and TripAdvisor sent me a code for a free 8 x 8 hardcover book the other day. Not related to my blog - just for being a TripAdvisor member!

I'd made a few photo books before with Picaboo and wasn't thrilled with the quality. Granted, we have a better digital camera than before but the quality of the Shutterfly book is really great! The paper is nice and thick and the book assembly is just like the real thing. I'd order again.

Cooking Fail

I busted out the dough hook and fired up the old Kitchenaid over the weekend to try RR's recipe for bavarian pretzels. It started with so much hope, so much promise. I assembled all my ingredients and preheated the oven. All went well until I needed to shape the dough into long ropes. I dug the dough out of the bowl and it was like glue. There was no way it was going to roll into nice, smooth ropes. I formed it the best I could and then dunked it in a bath of water and baking soda, per the recipe. Ugh - they got even gloopier and less easy to handle. Into the over they went, shaped more like breast cancer awareness ribbons than a pretzel.

Sorry, no after photos. Too embarrassing. I will attempt again, once the trauma of this yeast-related disaster passes.

Fair

A few scenes from last night's visit to the North Carolina state fair. Yup - you read that right, chicken fried bacon. Gotta love a southern fair. I showed restraint and only ate a gyro and 1/2 a giant cinnamon roll. And a bite of a fried oreo, but that was pretty repulsive.

Man Shops Globe

The Sundance Channel show Man Shops Globe about the buyer for Anthropologie is really engaging. I thought it would be more uptight and stuffy but Keith's suprisringly down to earth. Although it's quite funny how he is so price-consious! When I was in the Durham store last, I spied a cabinet from England for $20k! I wonder what he paid...

Options

Trying hard not to make a mistake picking paint colors for the kitchen. As you can see, I'm keeping my options open. A butttery creamy yellow is sounding good today.

Also - is Lowe's not carrying Martha Stewart paint anymore? The store I was in today wasn't carrying her chips?!

Booked

Just scored a free 8 x 8 photo book from Shutterfly and TripAdvisor, just for being a TripAdvisor member. Whee. Of course, I had to make a Burt Reynolds photobook. (Burt my dog, not the aging actor). I'll post results when it comes in the mail.

During our weekend jaunt down to Charlotte, we headed back through Asheboro and stopped at the North Carolina Zoo. It was a little chilly (hence my wearing of Jake's blue hoodie) but a nice day overall for some walkin'. The zoo's spread out over 5 miles of pathways so we clocked some miles checking out the Africa and North America exhibits. My favorites are the elephants and apes and monkeys. It's also a kick to see all the little kids and their amazement at even the least-exotic animals! Look,mom, a SQUIRREEELLL!

Gifted

image

Sorry for the radio silence. A busy week slipped by with no posts! I turned 30 this week and picked out my gifts. Jake takes direction well and picked up this vest for me in baby blue. I am a big fan of vests for fall when it's not warm enough for a coat but too chilly without outerwear of some kind.