Stock Photos of Food I Really Did Make... [*Sigh]

There are a few things that help me unwind at any given point in the week, and one of those is cooking. It's rare in its own sense for me to have the time to do it the way I'd like to, but on those rare instances, I get to pace myself, get lost in stirring whatever is in front of me and just... let everything else go for a little bit.

Soccer. Knitting. Reading. Writing. Photography. Cooking.

I'll only have gotten to two of those in depth today, but it's okay.

First thing up on the plates: Honey roasted chickpeas!

stock photo, thanks Google...

^ I have got to get better at taking pictures of food before it's eaten. Seriously. That stock photo looks identical to ours, but for the basis of copyright stuff, that's not my batch. HOWEVER, you'd better believe we'll be making ours again, and there will be pictures! [Nom Nom NOM]

Also on the unchartered menu tonight: Turky chili! I call this one garbage can chili; I rooted through the cabinets and started dumping in beans, spices and whatever veggies I had in the fridge to put this guy together. I threw in some ketchup and tomato paste at the end, and, well... call it a win.

You know what's not a win, though? That I have to use a stock photo on this one, too, because for some reason I gave up photographing my food. I'm serious; redemption is on the horizon.

My goal: Next time I'll get to at least three of those things that settle me down.
For now, I've got a lot of dishes to do... I'm... OUT!

xo | cmd

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION!!

STOP IT.

Sydni graduated Kindergarten.. today. STOP IT. STOP IT. STAAAAAHP.

Already?!

syd & her class!

When I woke up and got ready this morning, it was hard for me to believe that I would have a first grader by the time the afternoon started. Rob and I met up with my parents at Sydni's school, followed eventually by Joe, his mom and Nikea.

We followed the crowd of parents and family outside [Sydni clearly had the biggest fan club], where Syd and her class had prepared this little number for us:


I mean... get outta here with all that cuteness!

action shots :) 

The celebrating continued, family style:

her dad's side

my parents! [aka nana & pappy]

my world! 

group shot

Syd's dad and mamaw had to leave, so that left us with my parents to enjoy the rest of family day and explore what Sydni's day looked like.

r: "what do you wanna do this summer?"
s: "um..... boat. and swim. and play in the park!" 

^^ Those two :) :) :).

making a tye dyed shirt! 

playing on the playground

Pappy, the patient observer: 

this guy... hahaha...

bubbles!! 

The playground time came to an end, so we headed inside to show Syd's classroom to Nana, Pappy & Rob:  

the book cover syd duplicated

the "clip" system - i love this! 

My heart was so happy today, watching Syd accept her certificate of kindergarten completion. As much as her dad and I have our differences, and likely always will, she looked so completed, and so content to have all of her close family there.. and that, really, is all I could've asked: for her to be this genuinely happy:

my heart. 

After the celebration, we grabbed lunch with my parents, then headed off on our own to return to our day at work, while my parents spent a few more hours with Syd. They eventually dropped her back off at her dad's before heading back north themselves, completing their daytrip. I am so thankful for them and for their willingness to make that journey.

Work finished with a big meeting, which was a great thing [I'll fill those blanks in later; it's a lot], before I finally made my roundtrip back to Rob, rendezvousing with him at the gym.

AND, we wrestled a Pinterest recipe into submission for dinner tonight, and it was pretty daggone good:

turkey & sweet potato skillet! 

nom nom nom!!! 

Whewwwwww! What a day! Life is good. Life. IS. GOOD.

xo | cmd

[First] SSSSSSSSNOOWW!

Ohhhh, Sydni you lucky bug!

Here's one of those "old folk" moments where I get to say,

"When I was your age..... "

She had her first official snow day today, which did and didn't surprise me:
I wasn't surprised because it seems like it takes a lot less these days to warrant closing down, but a bit surprised, even offended in that joking-way as I thought back to the days when the drift would be halfway up our front door in the morning and we were still expected at our seats when the class bell rang.

Aaaaaanywho - it's our first snow of the year!

my backyard (: 

^^ (See? Noooot really that much snow)... Gorgeous, nonetheless!

Here's some shots I stole from my sister, back home at her property:

gorgeous work, sis! 

^^ She's up by my parents, which is North a few hours; their snowfall is usually a bit heavier than ours, and she's the lucky one of us who had time today to get out with a lens to capture it all. ♥ them!

Needless to say, it was a slow day at work, but I made up time afterwards on a couple of knitting projects that are kicking off the winter season. [Rob also warmed this place up with his signature turkey burgers; remind me next time to share that recipe!]

blueberry trinity infinity ["raspberry" stitch]
for elisa :) 

orange lorne infinity
for rebecca :) 

There will be plenty more knitting to come in the next several weeks as we prepare for Christmas. It's the perfect snowy day escape. Back to it!

STAY WARM & STAY SAFE, FRIENDS! 

xo | cmd

Productive Day? Not So Much..

Okayokayokay.

I've had a few more days in my time that were more productive than this. I'm neither ashamed nor proud to say that I spent a lot of my day parked in bed, burning daylight and ignoring housework.

There, I said it. Haha. Today was definitely a lazy day. In my defense, these days happen about once every... 18 months for me, and I compensate on the others by doing ridiculous things like climbing trees - or walls, playing in and on the water, etc. I'm not a sloth, I promise ;)

Ironically, as I sat doing all of nothing today, I stumbled across the footage of Kacy Catanzaro dominating at the ANW finals in Dallas. As a spectator, I'm always torn between ANW and the Crossfit Games, but I think it goes without saying that this chick deserves a huge round of applause.
 

Amiright?! She's a beast, and certainly a reference point of inspiration the next time I check in for a solid workout.

 

The upside here is that we didn't burn the entire day; Rob eventually went into boat-selling mode for some prospective buyers, and spent a few hours detailing the thing before they showed up. I took that time to do some meal prep for this upcoming week, for which I'm preeettty excited.

meal prep, let's go!



& lunch is ready for the week!

We just took taking it easy to a whole new level today, but hey - we'll make up for it this week!

 

Have a great week, friends!

 

xo | cmd