Update

Update: They were double chocolate cookies with peanut butter filling. AKA: Peanut butter cup cookies. GOOD GOD I LOVE MY HUBBY!!

I would like to partake in your pecan pie

I'm watching Suze Orman-she's about to do the "Can I afford It?" section. I love this show, partly because I'm so curious about the things other people save up (or not, in some cases, but want to buy anyway). Michael is in the kitchen making cookies. What kind? I'm not sure, because he won't tell me! The suspense is killing me. I have a feeling they'll be some kind of oat based cookie, though. Penny is eating her dinner. The way she does this is by picking up a mouthful of food, then dropping it onto the living room rug (which has just been freshly vacuumed-arrrrgh!). She then eats all of the kibble except for the freeze dried carrots, which we've figured out she doesn't like. Picky girl! I guess I could avoid picking up carrot pieces every night by switching her food, but she seems to like all the other parts, and quality dog food is really important to us. So I guess I'm stuck for the time being. :P

This has been a great, relaxing weekend so far. Friday I had a completely girlie night-haven't had that in a while! Michael didn't end up going to his lab event because he had a migraine, poor guy. I picked him up from campus with some tylenol and a pepsi in the seat for him, and he went to bed as soon as we got home. So I got to spend my Friday watching When Harry Met Sally (I'll have what she's having!), painting my nails a really pretty shade of pale pink, eating a deliciously greasy hamburger and fries from 5 Guys, and playing with my new set of hair rollers I got from Target. Erm...I need to practice. But I did get the layers in front of my face to curl pretty nicely. Michael woke up around 11 feeling much better so we snuggled on the couch watching Ocean's Thirteen.

Today I slept in, cleaned the house, bought a couple of new jackets/sweaters for fall from Old Navy, played outside with Penny, and watched Contact with Michael. Gotta love Netflix instant streaming! After dinner we put up all of our fall decorations. I know it's probably too early but I can't help it...it's my favorite season. Just so much going on to be happy about...cooler weather, leaves changing, football games, cinnamon/apple/pumpkin candles and foods, Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, my dad's birthday, my brother in law's birthday, Michael's birthday, MY birthday (Oct & Nov are busy for us!), Thanksgiving...I could go on, but I won't. :)

Tomorrow will be pretty busy and exciting, but more about that tomorrow. ;)

Bad kitty mommy

Last night I had a sudden urge to go through all of my clothes. Maybe I was inspired by the cooler weather we've been having this week...who knows. But I purged the closet of a very full garbage bag's worth of pants and shirts that either no longer fit, were damaged in some way (why I even had those, who knows), or I just plain don't like anymore. Our coat closet is in my office, so I went through that as well to survey what I have that still fits and if I'll need anything for the fall. Somehow when I was doing this, my cat Pandy must have wandered into the coat closet. I accidentally shut her in and she spent the night there. Bad kitty mommy!! Michael woke me up this morning by asking if I had been in the coat closet. When I affirmed that I had, he said there had been a meowing kitty in there this morning. She's totally fine, but I still feel bad about it. Luckily she can be bribed to purr with salmon treats so I gave her a couple after Michael left for class.

I've got the house to myself tonight...Michael has an event with his lab to attend. I'm thinking take out and a chick flick!

Classes for human and puppy

Michael got his teaching assignment-he's teaching the biology lab he wanted, yay! Not sure what it's called but it will cover a lot of what he used to do when he was a research tech at UNC, so he's a lot more comfortable with teaching the subject than the organismal lab he taught last semester. Better hours, too! In the spring he taught from 6-9pm which was a bit of a bummer. This year he's teaching in the morning. Overall I think year #2 is off to a good start!

We decided tonight that Penny will be going to class as well. Specifically, the canine "good citizen" class at the Jayhawk Kennel Club. Tonight's walk reinforced that we need some help when it comes to teaching her leash manners. She just refuses to walk on a loose leash and gets way too jumpy when people come near her. Our technique of stopping until she turns towards us and praising her isn't really working. It's not that she's aggressive...far from it. She's just so friendly and happy to meet people that she thinks everyone is her best friend and of course would want a big kiss from her, which isn't always the case. Part of it is our own doing, in that this summer she did not get walked very much due to the extreme heat and my ankle break. But she's also never really had a chance to learn before, since greyhounds are kept in their kennels pretty much all the time and aren't handled as normal house dogs are until they are retired. So I hope this will be a really fun way for Michael and Penny to hang out together and teach her a few things. Really, if all we get out of this is that she walks better with the leash I will be thrilled. She's already a pretty fab dog...is 100% housebroken, sits nicely for treats, and gives great snuggles. :)

It was nice getting out tonight though-SO many people in the park! We finally caught a break from the heat and I hope it sticks around, I am so ready to be done with 90 + days.

Busker Fest 2010

Every year Lawrence hosts a Busker Fest, a 3 day event comprised of street performers of all kinds-belly dancers, jugglers, magic shows, live music, fire breathing, sword swallowing, comedy acts, and more. We think it's pretty cool that Lawrence is so willing to promote this type of event, which runs through Sunday on Mass St. The community as a whole really gets into it-we saw restaurants offering drink specials, a candy shop was making cotton candy, balloon artists were everywhere, and even though with the heat index it was 100 degrees (again!), we still had a really good time. Here's a pic of one of the acts we saw. They were fire eaters, pretty neat huh?



Our weekend has been really great so far. Michael woke me up with a sweet surprise: an iced vanilla coffee from Dunkin Donuts. My fav! What a nice boy. :) He probably had ulterior motives to get me going with caffeine so that we could start our day, but I'm okay with that if it gets me coffee.

We spent the better part of our afternoon downtown on Mass St. We decided to hit up our favorite burger place, The Burger Stand. I tried their "classic" burger which had vermont cheddar and greens. Super yummy. Michael went with the smoke burger, which we've both had before and love in part because of the smoked gouda, chipotle-pepper ketchup, and bacon. Go try them out if you're in the area, you will not be disappointed.



After watching a magic show, listening to some music, and the fire/sword act, we were in need of A/C and refreshment! Michael wanted to try a new frozen yogurt place that just opened called 3 spoons. They have replaced Yummy's, which recently closed. I was bummed about Yummy's closing but 3 Spoons is a great replacement. Michael tried 2 flavors, the double stuffed cookies and cream, and the york peppermint patty. The best thing about this place is that 1/2 cup is only 100 calories so you can indulge without feeling too guilty. And let me just say, the York peppermint patty is amazing! We highly recommend.



After Michael demolished his froyo, we were only a few stores down from bubble tea so I had to get some. We decided to get that and head home. I had banana bubble tea from Teapouro, which was tasty. Not as good as their strawberry flavor, though.



Now we are at home relaxing and waiting for the KC Chiefs to come on. Well, I am...Michael is taking a nap. :) Guess all the sunshine wore him out! It's funny, I did not care about NFL football at all until we moved here, even though the Carolina Panthers were only 3 hours away in Charlotte. The Chiefs are laughable at football but I don't care, I just like having a hometown team to root for. Go Chiefs!



Guess Tigger is more interested in an afternoon nap as well.

School's in session

KU has started classes for the 2010-2011 school year. This means year #2 for Michael in his grad school program. It's exciting because this is the last year of required classes for him. After this year, he'll probably take classes just to keep his mind alert, but won't have to take them specifically for his degree. This semester he's taking numerical analysis, biochem, his bioinformatics student seminar, and will be teaching undergrad biology labs. I asked him how his classes were today and he said insane. I laughed and reminded him that he was the one who chose these courses. He replied, "My choice in classes makes it seem like I don't like myself." Poor guy! Haha...it will be a challenge but I know he can do it.

Fun news...my cousin went wedding dress shopping in Boston today for the famous Running of the Brides at Filene's Basement. In addition to finding a beautiful gown, she was chosen out of the crowd for a makeover by Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and was filmed as a before/after makeover for the Oprah show! How cool is that...supposedly it will air in November or January. I'm sure my aunt will keep the family well informed about it. Just wish I could have been there with them!

Restaurant review-Mia's Italian Restaurant

Michael and I like to go out during the week instead of on weekends for our date nights, often because better deals can be had during the week, and it's a lot less crowded. I have limited tolerance when it comes to waiting for food so the quicker I can get seated, the better. :) We decided to try a brand new restaurant in Lawrence called Mia's, because ever since I saw Eat Pray Love last night I was dying for some pasta! Mia's is in the old Zig & Mac's location and has really transformed the decor. Instead of a sports bar with walls of tvs, Mia's has drawn upon the stereotypical "Italian Restaurant" theme, complete with red checkered tablecloths, pictures of grapes and Italian landscapes on the wall, and Frank Sinatra in the background. I guess I would really call Mia's Italian-American, in the same vein as Paisano's or Olive Garden.

The Good:

The service. Our waitress, Ashley, was outstanding, very attentive without becoming intrusive. We never had to wait for refills on our drinks and she offered recommendations when I was trying to decide between two dishes. She really went out of our way to make sure we were taken care of, and that was great.

The Not-so-Good:

The food. Sadly. I want to love Mia's, I do, but I just can't. We started with mozzarella sticks and a salad. The mozz sticks were very tasty, but how can you really screw up fried cheese? Michael says he could make the same thing at home. The cheese was gooey and it had a nice crunch factor, which I love. Mia's gives you free breadsticks, which were pretty good. I enjoyed the olive oil and vinegar blend for dipping, which was prepared tableside.

The salad, however, was awful. It was just plain iceberg lettuce with one pitiful little tomato slice and 3 olives topped with parmesan cheese. It came with their "house italian vinaigrette" which tasted like just oil...very bland with no spice or anything for flavor. I was expecting a dressing like you would get at Olive Garden and it was just not there at all. The salad could be much improved with a mix of lettuces, perhaps some romaine, more veggies, and some oomph to the dressing.


For entrees, I ordered shrimp with vodka cream sauce in shell pasta. It was decent enough, no complaints really. Michael ordered a KC strip steak, which came with a side of pasta. He chose penne with marinara sauce. He salted his steak because it was so under seasoned. I have *never* seen him do that, ever, to a piece of meat at a restaurant. I guess Mia's intent might have been to mask the lack of flavoring with the accompanying marsala mushroom sauce, but because Michael does not eat mushrooms, he didn't use the sauce. It was cooked to his temperature preference (rare) but didn't have any juices as steaks of that temp normally do, which we thought was a little strange.



Overall:

It was fine. A couple of misses, a few fairly decent things to eat. But the thing is, why settle for just 'okay' when there are restaurants here that make AMAZING Italian food? I'm speaking specifically of The Basil Leaf Cafe, and have heard really good things about 715 and Genovese too. Service was great, but we will not go out of our way to eat here again unless we hear they have revamped their food. Maybe it's growing pains as they get settled (I think they've only been open for a couple of weeks), and if that's the case, I hope it gets better soon, for their longevity's sake.