Berries galore

Ahh, I love when berries are in season. I can get local berries at my regular grocer, and they're relatively cheap! Unlike most people, I never really enjoy the flavor of frozen berries so I have to get my fill while they're cheap, plentiful, and available. Yum!

**disclosure, that's regular ol' Cool Whip on top. I know I should whip my own, but it's fat-free and I haven't figured out how to whip skim milk.

bacardi melon commercial

Grab some melons ... I couldn't resist the new bacardi melon commercial ... it made me giggle :)

In the same vein, friendship style

A friend and I have been talking about her signing up for Facebook, which is (unfortunately) a huge part of my life. I spend far too much time on there, but I love that I actually talk to people that I went to high school with. They have kids, I have kids, we bond. I didn't find the same closeness with Myspace. I'm actually in the process of phasing out myspace if I can get a few stubborn friends to switch, but that's a whole other post.

Anyhow, so when said friend joined Myspace, a girl we knew friend-requested her, and she declined. I didn't think much of it, but when we discussed her signing up for Facebook I made the offhanded remark that I knew she was picky in accepting friend requests people from high school. To this she replied that she wasn't except for this one girl. I then realized she was continuing to harbor a grudge against this girl for something that happened in high school. Now, I'm sure that what happened to them was traumatic to a teenager, but would you hold a grudge against someone for something that happened 11 years ago?

The reason I bring up this story, it to say that I am terrible at holding grudges. I value friendships too much to let much get in the way. It also happens that I tend to get taken advantage of, but I've always been this way. My best friend and I had a falling out that happened around the time of my wedding, and we didn't talk for over a year and it was miserable for me. I still thought about her all the time, dreamed about her, and finally I crawled back to her (even though I can say with full conviction that I had nothing to do with what happened). I can't say we're anywhere near the friends that we used to be, but I also can't let her go. I'm truly glad that we've made some effort to reconcile.

What about you? Do you harbor old grudges? Do you get trampled as a friend?

Say cheese!

My cheesy child has learned how to "say cheese". Bring on the silly grins.

If you look above his left eye you'll see the road rash he got yesterday. My cousin graduated high school yesterday, and we drove 45 minutes to get there only to find out that the school moved graduation inside, so immediate family only was allowed in the auditorium. We sat outside for 2 1/2 hours waiting for all to come outside. The boy was surprisingly good, running back and forth the whole night, but about 20 minutes before everyone came out, he tripped and bounced his forehead on the concrete. I heard his head hit the ground; it was a terrible sound. He wailed a bit, but oddly there was very little swelling and all that's left today is an area about the size of a quarter that looks like road rash without the torn skin -- speckled red (I'm sure it will bruise in the next couple days). I was so proud that all his bumps had gone away, and he goes and gives himself a doozy. It could have been worse. He doesn't seem to mind it.

unplugged (sort of)

There was a time I was addicted to all social networking sites. I had my blog, MySpace, my MySpace blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube ... you name it, I was plugged in. I spent far too much time on all these sites. I have decided to pare down these obsessions, and last week I officially deleted my MS account. Hurrah! I don't miss it at all. I also turned off all my updates on Twitter. The only reason I didn't delete my account there all together is that the main use of it for me is to put pictures in my FB status updates through Twitpic. And I do.

So I'm down to Facebook and my blog. I'm not about to give either up. But I do feel freed by dropping all that excess networking weight. Now to update my FB status update to say that I'm going to bed.

Nite nite!

Summer bliss

I know that people are polarized about cilantro. To some, it is divine. To some I've heard it tastes like soap. Those poor, poor people. To me, cilantro is the freshest taste of summer - impossibly yummy.

Guacamole

• 5 soft Haas avacados


• 2 1/2 limes


• 1 tsp salt


• 3/4 cup onion, diced


• lots and lots of cilantro (maybe 1/4 cup or so)


• 3 roma tomatoes, diced


• 1 1/2 heaping tsp minced garlic


• a couple shakes of cayenne pepper

In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for at least an hour for best flavor.

*if serving with salted tortilla chips, watch the salt in the guacamole. you may want to put less in.

not much going on, but isn't this the cutest 15-month old ever?

Today is the first day in over a week that it's not raining. Last night the sun came out long enough for us to play out front of the house while the hubby mowed the lawn (yay, no more jungle!). Hopefully there will a bit of sun today -- I wouldn't mind the rain every night from 9pm to 4am. Can we work with that?
Anyhow, I haven't done much cooking this week -- Chicken chili on Friday, hubby made peanut chicken on Wednesday (anyone know of a really good Thai peanut sauce? I'm obsessed with this peanut sauce at a Thai restaurant I went to with Autumn while in NYC, but I haven't found anything to compare in the store) ... I digress; and I don't even remember what we ate earlier in the week. It obviously wasn't memorable. Anyhow, here are pictures from playing yesterday -- I know I'm biased, but my child is so freaking adorable =)