Day 226

My best friend Erika and her fiance Travis were in town visiting for a few days over the weekend.
They were exhausted after the long trip back home and the gobs of wedding planning they had undertaken in the past week so we did a lot of nothing. Had an amazing time though and it was so good to see them. I miss you guys already!!
While they were here Erika and Travis decided it was time I learned how to bake a pie which I was all too willing to learn. Especially seeing as how it is based on a recipe passed down from Erika's grandma.
It was delicious - I even rolled (half) of the pie crust out myself!
I was told though that it was a bit thicker than it should be......but I blame it on the pie dish. You see the Haigh house does not consist of a pie dish....instead we have a GIANT stoneware circle dish that we thought would work.....we were wrong.
I'm now left (3 days later and 6 pieces of pie consumed between 3 people) with half of a GIANT pie. Still.

Pie?

Day 225

Wow - I'm such a slacker!!! It's just been such a hectic week.
So I'm going to try to get back on track. Wish me luck.

I'm sure that many of you may not know of the following Whiskey - especially those who are not from Iowa. But, a few months ago, my mom asked us to search Chicago in hopes of finding a bottle to give as a gift to a friend.
Being in such high demand, Troy though we should get a bottle for ourselves as well. Only one problem. Neither of us actually drinks whiskey. Blek.

Luckily though, we had quite the crowd this past Sunday evening and even better Troy was able to take a few people into a little tasting.

Templeton Rye:

Day 224

The weekend is almost here! What's better than the 2 days off that come with every weekend? 2 more! Yup, I've got Monday and Tuesday off too.

Corked:

Day 223

This week has been CRAZY!!

I'm just proud of myself for finding time to actually take a shot...and one that I like nonetheless.

Does anyone else think that the art of map reading maps is going by the wayside? With all of the technology floating around there's no need to actually open up a map and figure out the best route. I remember when I was little we would take road trips and the atlas would always be on my lap. I would try to count how many miles we had left based on the tiny scale drawing in the corner. Anyways, it's just a thought....not that I don't appreciate google maps and all the glorious things it has done for me (especially the CTA stops and one way street directions).

Home:

Day 222

Riley looks how I feel. Taken on the IPhone.

Day 221

I'm on conference calls....and have been since I've been home.
BUT - I've mastered the art of multi-tasking (aside from the 30 mins I spent on the back patio with my feet up)!
I'll post a pic tomorrow.

220

Well.......it was supposed to be the perfect ending to the perfect R&R weekend.
"Someone" decided that we were due for a trip to Home Depot.
While there we decided we needed to paint our newly decluttered office.
I think you see where this is going.
Our day was spent taping, tarping, trimming and painting.
We're exhausted.
Good Night.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother. I hope you had a wonderful day, you deserve it!

Green House

Day 219

I had forgotten what a good Saturday was like. They're fantastic!!
Spent the day wandering around town browsing and shopping and the evening curled up on the couch with the husband.

Ivy:

Day 218

Friday. Happy. Home.

So I'm trying something new here so bear with me. I'm in love with the sun flare effect and the emotion that it gives to photos.
Clearly this is not a great picture, nor is there anything interesting in this shot. But all of that aside, I don't think I did too horrible on the sun flare itself. :)

Sun Flare Take #1:

Day 217

I tried to recreate something from my childhood.
Bierocks....or a "Runza" if you're from the Midwest.
It's basically a German version of a calzone with ground beef, onion, cabbage......and in my version mushroom and a little cheese.
But, I was stumped on what do do about the breading. To hedge my bet I bought frozen bread dough and a tube of crescent roles. (Yes, I could have made my own bread but when am I going to fund time for that?? Get off your high horse!)
I ended up using both. The crescent version turned out fantastic while the dough version was pretty much crap.
I had thawed out two loaves so the other I baked like normal......

Baked:

Day 216

Great day at work, albeit long, but great.
Any day that I get more than 5 items crossed of the 'ole to-do list is a huge success!
Now I'm home and trying to relax, but instead got sucked into a mini cleaning spree.

Can't believe the week is half over already! Really looking forward to this weekend. A weekend long date with the mister.....and not a shredding bin in sight!

Shiney Things:

Day 215

Had a great night out with the girls tonight. We were celebrating Becca and I's birthdays. We decided to try somewhere new tonight for dinner and drinks: Sola. It was fantastic! HIGHLY recommend. Service was great, and food was excellent. We'll definitely be going back. Thanks for dinner Anslover!!!!

Tired. Going to bed.

Wontons:

Day 214

Me: "Troy, why do we have 8 extra computer mice in here?"
Troy: "Really, I had no idea we had those"
2 minutes later
Me: "Troy, why do we have 4 computer keyboards? Does anyone even uses keyboards with wires anymore?"
Troy: "Hello, my name is Troy and I'm a hoarder"

The last step to our office clean out was a GIANT shredding project. Fortunately our shredder held out for the entire hall. Thank you to the shredding Gods.

Shredded:

Day 213

Sunday sadies.
This weekend went ridiculously fast. But, we did get a ton done. Operation de-clutter is almost done. Just need to get rid of everything now. A long awaited trip to the salvation army to donate a good deal of clothes, along with couple friendly craigslist adds should do the trick!.

Tonight is the first time all weekend we've relaxed. It feels great!

Tree Up:

Day 212

Due to our ongoing house project we were without Internet last night when I finally got around to posting. So.....two posts today.

Be back later today with another (hopefully better) photo :)

Shadow Trash: