fireflies

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies, 
That though they never equal stars in size, 
(And they were never really stars at heart) 
Achieve at times a very star-like start. 
Only, of course, they can't sustain the part. 

-Robert Frost

I came across this little poem by Mr. Frost, called "Fireflies in the Garden."

Isn't is charming?

Fireflies are wonderful. They're kind of magical, and bring about a lot of sweet feelings and memories.

I can remember going to Missouri for our family reunions and catching fireflies by the jar full! 

Sometimes we'd forget about them or fill the jar too full or forget to let them breathe, and they would die...further proof that young children shouldn't really have pets of any kind. 

But nevertheless, we loved and respected the little flickering bugs. They're the stars of the earth. 

The appearance of the first firefly this year honestly startled me. I hadn't even thought about seeing fireflies out here. This will be our first summer out here, and we keep getting more and more pleasant surprises!

The weather has been rainy and beautiful, the grasses and trees are glittered with lightning bugs, and we're surrounded by friends and snow cones and fun times. 

This was last night:

Last night was lovely. I went for a run, Dusty made chicken for dinner (lemon and dill, sooo yummy), and I had the whole night to work on my to-do list!

We MAY or may not have gone and gotten frozen yogurt and then impulse-bought food from Taco Bell AND McDonald's, but we neither confirm or deny those events.

The truth is, if you get something sweet, you've gotta get something salty to follow it up.

Don't blame me, blame the human body. And science. And maybe American obesity.

TWO DAYS from now, I'll be sitting here at work counting down the hours until I can leave for the airport :)

We have a fun night planned tonight with friends, to have a relaxing dinner and a game or two.

Then it'll be cleaning and packing, full-throttle!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite parts from The Princess and The Frog:

Let the fireflies lead the way!

See you soon!

In love,

Cait

fire up the grill

This summer has already been incredible.

When Dusty picks me up at work, he always has his sunglasses on, the windows down and the sunroof open, and some music blasting.
We've gotten in a habit of yelling, "Summertiiiiiime!" while we pull out of the parking lot.

We go to Caribbean Snow about once a day, on average.
Not really...more like 3-4 times a week. Is that better? No. No, it's not.

It's our new summer spot. It's a little shaved ice hut in the parking lot of our grocery store, and lemme tell you, as soon as you pull in and hear that festive Caribbean Bahama-Rama Music coming from the hut's speakers, you can't help but be in a good mood.

Good moods.

Kiwi and White Coconut are by far the best flavors. Throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center, and you might as well call yourself Gilligan because you've found yourself right in the middle of paradise.

In other news, the warmer weather has allowed us to break out our grill! My dad got us a fantastic Cuisinart grill, and it made its debut on Memorial Day. :)

I'm letting Dusty take the credit for these little burger baskets and festive napkins -- he was pretty excited when he saw them at Michael's :)

All the fixins for a good time! Burgers, brats, "hint of jalapeno" chips, corn on the cob, little medallion potatoes, baked beans, and homemade mint Oreo ice cream and American cookie pie for dessert!

The boys were outside during the prep time, enjoying the hot, sticky weather and watching the hamburgers and brats roast away. :)

Corn on the cob is pretty much the best thing ever.
Slathered in butter, with chili powder and garlic salt is how I like it best.

That little strip of buttery burn is the best part of all.

After our feast, we got to enjoy some super creamy mint Oreo ice cream.
I'm excited to really get the hang of this ice cream maker, and experiment with flavors and textures!
The weather is hot and the taste-buds are a-callin for some freezer foods.

Yum!

Apart from having friends over and eating a lot of sugary cold substances, we've also been doing a lot of renovations to our little apartment!
Why?
BECAUSE I'M A WIZARD at collecting whosie-whatsits for the home.

Exhibit A:

This wooden fiend grabbed my attention before I could even recoil at the pile of old sheets behind it.
Good Will is sometimes a home owner's small apartment renter's best friend.
$15 later, I couldn't wait to get it home and have Dusty sing my praises.
Hopefully with "You're So Beautiful" by Joe Cocker or the theme to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Not sure why, but I think if he sang that when I came in the door it'd somehow translate into a stellar compliment.

 Luna's version of approval:

Voila:

We love it! We're finally getting to the point where our apartment feels complete.
We've thrown around the idea of moving to a bigger place, and it's still a slight possibility, but I think things have really begun to click with us and this little home of ours.

The next BIG change all took place within about 20 minutes yesterday afternoon.
As I was getting ready to get off work, I was trolling around Craigslist. I've been hoping to find a tall and skinny dresser-type unit to replace my giant plastic bin of fabric in the craft room.
(That's the saddest, most sporadically decorated room in the house).
Instead, I came across 2 most intriguing listings.
In this case, "intriguing" means "cheap".
Now, I know. Thomas Jefferson advised never to buy something just because it's cheap.
But if someone offered you prime rib for 50 cents, wouldn't you take it?
No, scratch that. That's gross, and you might die. What about...what if someone offered you a bouquet of red roses for $1? That's better, and far less dangerous. The moral of the story is, don't buy 50 cent meat from anyone. Ok, kids?

This listing said TWO wooden chairs for $5.
The next listing said a dining room table for $2!
Surely I was hallucinating.
It didn't occur to me until later that this person could be luring strangers to their home with evil intentions, but by then, Dusty was already on his way there and I was in the Chiropractor's chair.

While we still aren't sure about the details, the owners of this fantastic furniture were obviously moving in a hurry, and just needed to get the furniture out of their home. They seemed to be a nice family; the husband was from Africa, and they had several cute (according to Dusty) little kids.
Dusty gave them $10, and somehow managed to get the table and chairs in our little car.

I'm absolutely kicking myself that I didn't get any pictures of it. I had to wedge myself underneath the table in the back seat, while both front seats were lying flat, and Dusty was sitting up with his side squished up against the door by the table.
We drove very carefully, and very slowly. We also said "I love you" a lot in case we died on the way home.
Worth it? Absolutely.
If we had actually died on the way home, well...then no. No, it wasn't worth it. Lesson learned.

But I'm still pretty amazed at how nice these are!! We updated our apartment furniture this week for $25!
Beat that, Martha Stewart!

It was perfect timing too, because we were having some friends over for dessert and games that night!
We now have a table fit for any game. It can comfortably sit more than 3 1/2 people, and still works perfectly with the space we have.

I cut up some fresh mangoes for homemade mango ice cream this week
(See below for how to easily cut a mango!)

And Dusty fired up the grill once more, and made some kick-tush Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs.
He's a pro.

YUMMO.

I can't wait to get home, have some mango ice cream, and enjoy our apartment.
Next on the list is that craft room...

Wish me luck!

In love,
Cait

our first snow

Weathermen can't be trusted.

That's why when it started to SNOW on Sunday, we were all shocked! AND excited!
There had been some rumors spreading around that it was supposed to snow last weekend. But, we weren't particularly bothered -- there had been many-a-snow-rumor since we moved here, so we went about our days like normal. All it took was one facebook status to bring us off our tushes, and out the door. And sure enough, snow!! Pouring down upon us!
Our yard (a.k.a. apartment complex, yard just sounds cozier) was quickly transformed:

Now, before you make fun of us, remember: we're desert people.

Through and through.

So this was a MIRACLE of the Lord.

Even Luna was really confused. Poor little thing was born in the summer! She was as baffled as we were!

We decided to take immediate emergency action, and get ourselves bundled up and to a coffee shop PRONTO.

Although we did take a moment or two to dance around :)

After realizing that our key coffee shop choices were closed on Sundays, we decided to head to the nearest Starbucks. We were a little too giddy, I have to tell you. We were singing, and all kinds of excited all the way down the road. I even took a little video, to capture the pure bliss.

It's kind of hysterical how terrible I am with a video camera.

*Video interpretation: Starbucks + Snow = Paradise

           












We're such posers. We ended up staying at Starbucks for maybe 20 minutes or so, because it was crowded and we got bored. Oh well. At least I got my cappuccino, and Dusty got absolutely no homework done.

Procrastination complete!   

It snowed all night long, and we opened all the blinds in our apartment so we could sit in bed and watch the snow fall while we watched movies on Netflix :) the only thing left was to pray for a snow day.

I wish you could have seen Dusty's reaction to the possibility.

"A SNOW DAY? I've been dreaming of one for my WHOLE LIFE."

He's pretty cute.

Did we get a snow day? Stay tuned to find out. :)

In love,

Cait

i'm still here!

Hello!

It's been a little while. :) It has been several weeks since my last post, so I am going to whisk by some highlights of the last month. I have been working full time, and I have also been very busy with my side business! I s

hould probably introduce it to you. It is very dear to my heart, and I have been a busy little bee, working on orders! My little shop is on the empty side at the moment, because I am on the cusp of several brand new items and projects, and am working hard towards making 100 sales!

So say hello to my shop, Posies by Cait.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PosiesbyCait

AND for specials: http://www.facebook.com/posiesbycait



Moving on to some other highlights -- food (of course), and the so you think you can dance tour.

As you've already seen on this blog, I enjoy experimenting with food, and trying new restaurants. I looked in my freezer a few weeks ago, and realized we were down to the bare minimum. Frozen chicken breasts and frozen blueberries. So I became determined -- I am going to make blueberry chicken. I was not exactly encouraged to pursue this whim. My husband made a classic face, that I believe was a manifestation of the thought, "uhhhhh....please don't".

I flipped through google recipes, but couldn't find one that fit my ingredients list. So, I made it up! My blueberry chicken was made using a blueberry sauce (which was frozen blueberries and sugar boiled and thickened), and thawed and skillet crisped chicken breasts. I put the chicken and blueberry sauce in a casserole dish, and baked it at 350 for about half an hour. While it was all baking, I roasted some walnuts in my skillet.

Once it was all baked and ready, I poured the sauce back into the saucepan and brought it to a boil once more, and served the chicken over brown rice. I then poured the sauce over the chicken and rice, and added the roasted walnuts and dried coriander! It turned out so delicious, and I think I surprised both Dusty and myself!



The next (and more substantial) highlight was going to the So You Think You Can Dance tour. Dusty and I watched the show for the first time this season, and had a blast watching it together. We were so excited to go to their tour show, and we had great seats! The show was INCREDIBLE, and we stayed afterward and fought through the masses to get all of their autographs. It was quite the trip! What a great memory!





COMING UP to a blog post near you: Birthday Week :)

Talk to you all soon! In love,

Cait