My Favorite Room

This post reminded me to stop and think about what I love about my home. What am I thankful for? I don't need to focus on how small my house may be, or what I don't have. Instead, I need to focus on what I've been given and be thankful for that. I love my dining room! It's bright and cheery painted in yellow and orange. It has a comfy love seat where I sit and read and drink my coffee. The buffet I started to refinish and my mom helped me to complete after our daughter was born is there. It houses two of my bookcases full of some of my favorite books and my table where so many memories are made. Oh, and I can't forget, it's where my espresso machine lives!! :)

Head on over to beauty that moves, and be inspired to be grateful.

Restaurant Week

Last week was restaurant week here in Dayton. We took advantage of two very yummy menus! The first was Cafe Boulevard. We were treated to:

• Spicy Corn Dip corn/peppers/monterey jack cheese/tortillas (Ralph)
  

• Bruschetta parmesan toasts/olive tapenade/tomato-basil relish (Amanda)
  

• Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms boursin mix/white mushrooms/balsamic glaze (me)
  

• House Salad spring greens/ cucmber/ tomatoes/ carrots & choice of dressing (Amanda)

• Café Boulevard Caesar romaine/garlic croutons/parmesan/creamy classic dressing (Ralph and I)
  

• BlackenedTilapia Cajun spiced tilapia/avocado mousse/spring chopped salad/corn rice (Ralph)
  

• Chicken Pasta free range chicken/roasted tomatoes/broccolini/feta cheese/peppers/tomato oil/penne pasta (Amanda)
  

• Portobello portobello mushroom/ piccata sauce/ whipped potatoes/ asparagus (me)
  

All in a lovely outdoor courtyard. It was so yummy and so much fun!

The next menu we were treated to was equally yummy! This was not a restaurant we would normally go to due to the menu prices. It was fun to be able to treat ourselves without going broke! :) The Flemming's menu we enjoyed was:

• Spinach Salad

• Filet Mignon
  

• Fleming’s Potatoes

• Chocolate Crème Brulee
  

We are looking forward to the fall/winter restaurant week and all the fun new menus!

I'm Blessed

I have a great job with a lot of wonderful people! The sad thing is that where I work these wonderful people routinely move on to new places and jobs. I mentioned in a previous post saying good-bye to my friend, Jill, and her husband, Doug. My boss held a terrific cookout for her the same weekend as our brunch. It was so fun to hang out and chat with those I currently work with, some who have moved on to other jobs and those who have just joined us.

Our Big Girl

Nugget has figured how fun it is to climb. So far she just pulls herself up to standing and doesn't actually pull herself up on to things. I'm just waiting for that to happen! I have a feeling she will be walking soon. Oh, dear! My little girl gets bigger every day!

A Good-bye Brunch

We had our dear friends Doug and Jill over for brunch to celebrate them moving to Italy. We will miss them but are so excited for them. Ralph and I love brunch and wanted to make this one extra special. This was an extra-special, extra-yummy menu!

• Stuffed Mushrooms
• Banana Muffins
• Spinach Salad that Stands Out at Parties
• Egg Bake
• Dark Chocolate Creme Brulee
• Fruit and dip (thanks to Doug and Jill for providing that!)
• Coffee
• OJ
  

The egg bake is a family recipe I spiced up a bit with green peppers and mushrooms. Also, I had all these egg whites left over from the creme brulee, I decided to use those in place of the whole I eggs in the bake. It turned out really well, we were very pleased. It was such a yummy meal and we had such a lovely time visiting. We sure will miss them!

Surprise Announcement!

After trying for nearly two years to have this precious girl above, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we are expecting again! Our precious babies will be 16 months apart. We are thrilled beyond words!

P.S. Please forgive the slight dyslexia in the shirt, pregnancy fog has affected my ability to iron properly. ;-p

Nugget and the Dogs

I tried to capture some video Nugget chasing the dogs around the house. Once I got the camera on, the dogs were already on the couch and she got distracted. It's still cute.

Nugget Jumping

Be forewarned this video is about 2 minutes long but she was having so much fun I couldn't stop! Hee, Hee! Enjoy!

More Friends for Nugget

Nugget and I were able to go to a baby shower for a girlfriend who is originally from here but lives about a state away now. It was a very nice shower. It was held at Central Perc European Cafe. I had never been there before but had wanted to go for at least 10 years! Crazy how you can drive by some place for so long and say, "That place looks cute, I should go there some day," and then never do it! I am so glad they held it there! I will definitely have to go back and meet a girlfriend or two for tea. Anybody want to go with me? Let me know. So yummy!


Pics of the yummy food above and Auntie Amanda playing with Nugget below!

Dinner with Friends

Recently we went over to another family's home for dinner. They have a daughter just weeks older than Nugget. The adults enjoyed a lovely evening of visiting and the babies had fun playing!

Nugget really enjoyed a version of this toy that I believe Meredith was thrifty enough to find a at a garage sale. It's a little chair with a pressure spot on the chair so it "knows" if the child is sitting on it or not. She really enjoyed the book and lamp on the side table. It was pretty cute!