Today

This morning was a peaceful, easy start to a beautiful day. I woke up to a bright, sun-shiny day. Little did I know there would be so many wonderous images to find!

See this little guy - the rabbit? Out my office window. When I sat down at the computer to do the deadline projects, he just nibbled at the grass then mosied across the road to a much larger field with better grass, I'm sure. He stopped to play with a red-winged blackbird on the way.



The time for some cleaning work. I needed to get my trash and a few other items to the dump. So I called my mom for a ride in exchange for garden labor. I felt like an avatar in FarmTown - I helped harvest some veggies. Of which, we ate a couple green tomatoes - fried, of course - and some corn-on-the-cob with cucumbers for lunch. Topped off with a peppermint patty for dessert.

It was good spending time with mom and catching up with all our personal drama and how the world should be ran conversations. She showed off her flower gardens and plans for the rest of the yard. She has stargazer lillies in the midst of other kinds and it brings such a fragrant blessing to the whole area.

And what would a visit to mom's be without loving on the "puppies!"

Katie, the black & tan, and Preacher followed us everywhere we went. Tammy, the 16-yr old (that would be 112 in dog years), decided she had better things to do and found a nice cool spot in the hostas. Actually, she has made a bed in the hostas - complete with a mound for a pillow.

Preacher is the one who LOVES fireworks. Katie is the guard dog pretty much. These dogs used to live a life chained to a dog box. That's the life of a coonhound - a hunter. But when mom & stepdad got a divorce, these three got a new life OFF the chain. They lay wherever they want - run whenever they want - eat whatever they want. They're spoiled rotten that's fo sure. They are not "inside" dogs, but they get to sleep in the garage whenever they want. Ahh, the life of a dog!

I've enjoyed my day off. I got a few things done around the house and now to play!

What a Night!

Last night was set-aside to help my dear friend Stephanie find a new laptop computer. Stephanie and I are like these old girlfriends that never skip a beat even when we don't get to talk for months. So after work and a couple of errands, I pick her up to go eat then to Best Buy.

Her and her family are just so wonderful. Five kids - all different personalities - her and her hubby are full of energy - and one of her passions is organic everything. Shoot, she grinds her own wheat flour to make her own dough to make breads, crusts, etc. And for those of you that have tried her bread, you know it's just fabulous. Well, Stephanie is setting up a home recording "studio." With a laptop and microphone, she can go into a closet and have a ready-made recording studio. So our mission was to get her a reasonable laptop at a reasonable price.

But first, dinner. She took me to this amazing place I had not been exposed to: Shiraz Mediterranean Grill. It was great! We had this grain salad - Quinoa (which was fascinating to try!), and shish kabobs. They make everything fresh, handmade and beyond delicious. They make their own yogurt every day. And the atmosphere was very metro & laid-back. The owner was so gracious, and Stephanie has been there so many times she's like family!

We talked and talked and talked and talked (shouldn't surprise anyone), then we finally looked at the time - not sure if we would make it before Best Buy closed!

So off we go - and get to Best Buy as they have the doors wide open waiting for the lingering customers to finish their purchases. We run up to the door and ask if they'd like to sell us a laptop - SURE! Less than 10 minutes later we were walking back out with a brand new laptop. And what's even better - it was a Dell for about $150 less than I had priced last week!

Awesome refreshing girl's night!