What I Did On My Summer Vacation, er, I mean Life

  This summer has been a busy one for Eric and me. It was the first full summer in our new house and that left us with plenty of outdoor projects to tackle. The garden ended up being enormously successful - almost too much so, as we had to fashion extra tomato cages and twine and stakes to keep the plants standing upright. As a result, we've been gorging ourselves on several different varieties of fresh heirloom tomatoes - they just might be my favorite food. That and cheese.

  We were also able to finally get our first gas grill, thanks to my parents chipping in on it for Eric's birthday. It is probably my favorite thing ever. Next to my iPhone. I expect to start grilling pretty much everything we eat now - can you grill spaghetti? :) 

   Also this summer I was able to spend a weekend in Memphis, where my parents now live as well my sister, her husband and their four children. Three of my siblings and I flew in to Memphis as a birthday surprise for my Mother - and the look on her face as she encountered us in the middle of Costco was priceless.

   We also took an amazing 3,500 mile trip out to Utah and back for my youngest sister's wedding, managing to stop through many state and national parks on the way to and fro. Although the intent was to camp each night, the weather had other plans and we were only able to camp one night of the trip - although the gorgeousness of the Tetons more than made up for that.

    But our camping desires would not be vanquished, so for Eric's birthday we went up north to Minnesota's border with Canada over Labor Day weekend for a few gloriously perfect days of solitude. I say solitude because we were practically the only ones at Zippel Bay State Park. But we didn't mind that one bit.

    Other summer adventures included concerts (Patty Griffin, Amos Lee and Brandi Carlile), many trips to the Farmer's Market, bike rides, making jam and pickles, and celebrating Spain's World Cup Victory with Eric and my parents for my 28th!!! birthday.

    Over the last week, the weather has started to cool off a bit, which means the imminent undertaking of an extensive (and expensive!) furnace replacement project. It seems after 61 years of chugging along it's time to have it replaced. But hopefully the Fall will also bring with it more campfires, more tomatoes, more family adventures and especially more grilling.


P.S. Check out my latest contribution to Finance and Commerce HERE.
P.P.S. And for my latest experiment chronicling my life in daily photos, check out The Day-ly View.