Not from around here

Wow.  It’s been a busy few weeks! Last Sunday was my first bridal shower, which was eons of fun.  Two of my best friends (also bridesmaids) were in from Boston so the weekend was filled with fun times with them and driving all over the state.  Family was in from New York as well so I saw them, and we had to figure out some mini-tuxedo issues (for the little ring bearers).  But I digress.

At the shower, we acquired a great gift - a Magic Bullet.  I heart this thing, don’t ask me why.  Anyway, lots of recipes call for cloves of garlic and we were all out.  So at Meijer I planned on doing what any normal person would do when he/she is out of garlic: buy some more. Here comes the problem, though: there is a severe short of garlic in Monroe.  Why? I don’t know, but I genuinely hope there’s not a plethora of vampires planning on invading the area because I’ll be the only one underprepared.  I found two cloves of organic garlic that were 1/2 grown and that was seriously the last of the fresh garlic I could find anywhere.  Honestly.  And today when I went to the nearby Kroger, I couldn’t find any there, either. So either people are afraid of vampires (if so, sorry I took the last garlic) or this was a huge weekend for the fruit/vegetable/herb/spice/whatever it is. 

Which is better to assume - the impending vampire invasion or a stinky area invaded by garlic breath? Hmmmm….

Sorry.  My students are really into doing that, guess it’s spilled over into my life.

I had a pretty cruddy day yesterday, and then I had to go to get my shots for Ecuador right after work.  The day didn’t seem to have any promise of getting better.  But I went to Beaner’s on the way and got a great drink and an extra stamp, just ’cause. Then I got lost but actually managed to find the clinic.  The doctor was awesome, I’m so dissapointed he’s an allergeist and a pediatrician and I’m too old to go to him for that.  Dr. Shah on Macomb is really awesome though.  I got my 2 shots and was on my way. Then, I stopped at the Ciolini Fruit Market (by Lowe’s) to get some stuff for a fruit salad for work tomorrow.

I think I got like 10lbs of fruit for $4 or $5 bucks.  It was really amazing.  They have fantastic prices, it’s very clean, and an amazing assortment.  There were cactus leaves, fresh plantains, starfruit, and more.  Yum. I will definitely be back to that place, that’s for sure!

This is our first house, and though we loved the design of it from the get-go, there were some home improvement projects we were looking forward to.  Before even moving in we tore up the pink carpet (yes, it was genuinely pink, almost magenta!) and put in hardwood floors. Now that we’ve been here a few months, Ryan’s started to do more and more projects around the house beyond the basic customizations of new light fixtures and hardware: he’s re-doing the deck, re-grading the backyard, and eventually replacing our chainlink fence with a wooden privacy fence.

Ryan has never done these things before, so we really lucked out that our neighbor across the street does his own construction for a living.  He’s always giving Ryan great tips and helping him out buy taking him to buy big stuff at the home construction stores.  We couldn’t ask for better neighbors, and couldn’t be luckier that there’s someone who really knows how to do home improvements right across the street. 

It’s cute to see him hanging out with the boys, talking building stuff. But don’t tell him I said it was “cute”!