A lesson in cause and effect.

I love buffalo sauce.

Anyone who has eaten a meal with me knows this.

"You love buffalo sauce more than anything else,

that's what you should give up for Lent,"

says Anthony

I replied: "Great idea!"

I was thinking: This is going to suck.

But come on, how difficult could it be?

I know I sound ridiculous, but it was hard.

After drooling while friends and family ate

wings, buffalo mac-n-cheese, buffalo chicken pizza,

and actually dreaming of eating wings,

the end was in sight.

As you know, Easter was this past Sunday.

Anthony (nicely) bought me a bottle of buff sauce to celebrate.

(I realize this sounds like I'm going to drink it like champagne,

which I did not do...well...I may have considered it)

Effect of giving up buffalo sauce for 8 weeks:

Sunday Easter Brunch with family - dipped hash browns in buff sauce

(and yes, I got weird looks from the wait staff)

Sunday evening watching Blackhawks - buffalo chicken pizza

Monday dinner - buffalo mac-n-cheese with hot dogs

Tuesday dinner - buffalo chicken fajitas

Eeep. I need to chill out.

the farmer in the dell....

This weekend we spent time in South Bend

for Easter with Anthony's family.

While there, we went to one of my

(and everyone else's) favorite places.....

The South Bend Farmer's Market.

When I think of Farmer's Markets,

I usually first think of being outside in the sunshine.

This is nice and can be done frequently if you're in Cali.

But as you know in the northern midwest,

summer only peaks it's pretty little head out 3 months of the year.

(at most!)

As we took our "let's see what's here today" lap

(yes, it's in a giant square and multiple laps are necessary),

we first stumbled upon James.

He made flower pins and painted with his grandma.

This reminded me of when my family had yard sales when I was a kid.

I would sit at my yard sale table hoping/wishing/praying

that a buyer with a taste for "the finer things" would drop $.50 on art.

(House/Dog/Apple Tree, tempera on high-gloss paper plate c.1986)

...and so you know I couldn't resist James and his flowers.

I proudly wore that pretty flower with every shirt to celebrate Easter.

What can I say? It made me really happy.

~~~~~~

As a kid, this was Anthony's favorite spot.

(because the trinkets and shelves moved)

I too get excited now when we come upon it....

his amusement is fun to to watch.

And finally, like any good Farmer's Market or antique shop,

you never know what you're going to find.

By the time I found this treasure,

I was unfortunately already out of cash....

I do love squirrels though.

And although you can't see it,

I've got on a squirrel acorn necklace.

My brother Joel asked me about it this weekend.

"What's the nut necklace about?"

"Well, I'm kinda squirrelly", I happily replied....

because yes, yes I am.

:-)

Overall, the trip was a success.

We ended up with:

2 cups of coffee

Almond Extract

Rootbeer Candy

Sicilian Eggplant

Fingerling Potatoes

Large Cheese Popcorn

Szechwan Peppercorns

Apple Squares and Punchki

3 cups of freshly made herbal tea

(yes, between 3 people we had 5 caffeinated drinks in 2 hours)

Amusing almost buys:

Knives

Cupcakes

Squirrel mug

NBA Bulls Jersey

Pretty fresh flowers

$10 awesome trench (sadly too big)

Freshly made giant pretzels (my weakness)

(Somewhat scary) Cake decorated like a lamb

Fertilizer made from Wabash River Asian Carp (hahaha)

Freshly made giant pretzels (lap two, with much restraint)

Seeds...that once grown in garden, dog would pee on and kill

Cheese/Carmel Popcorn (because 1 bag just didn't seem like enough)

All in all it was a fantastic afternoon with Anthony and Kara...

and $25 (really) well spent

*No, I do not call Farmer's Markets "FM's"

I did this only because of space.

If it worked out to be "BM's" though?

The 12-year-old humorist in me would find that amusing.

All dogs (want to) go to heaven...

Being landlocked most of my life,

I never knew dog beaches existed.

But they do. And in Chicago.

For those of you who have met Jax,

you know he loves other dogs.

This place is his heaven.

This is the only photo at the beach I could get with him in it.

He spent 30 minutes sprinting back and forth

refusing to go near Ashley or I.

(for fear we would leave, I'm sure)

And when we did decide to leave,

Jax threw a fit.

A whining, bucking, barking fit.

Let's examine the evidence......

Post dog beach photo #1

Although her appears calm,

Jax realizes we're leaving.

Jax looks sadly at other dogs entering the beach.

Post dog beach photo #2

Jax spies other dogs still playing.

Thinks to himself....

"I should be in there. This is totally unfair."

Post dog beach photo #3

Jax plans his escape.

And escape he did.

Not only did he jump over Ashley and out the door,

but when I caught him,

he managed to slip out of his collar....

and proceeded to run back and forth for 15 minutes,

trying to jump the fence to return to his friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I spent the rest of the afternoon

napping happily because my pup didn't run away for good.

Jax spent the rest of the afternoon napping happily

and dreaming of his next trip to the dog beach.

Hold the fries please.....

Ever since I met her and shared my love of hot dogs,

my dear friend Ashley has been praising Byron's.

I mean, if Bama likes them, I should definitely give 'em a try, right?

While there, I did something completely out of character.

I didn't order fries.

And it was because I had also heard praises for their burgers.

"Hot dog with a side of burger, please?"

hahahahaha.

Luckily for me, Ashley didn't judge and followed suite.

Not only were both delicious,

but I really wanted to order another side of burger.

But I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Partially because of Ashley and I's plans for the rest of the afternoon.

I knew that food coma would not mix well with where we were headed next....

(and yes, that's definitely Jax in the last picture.

Looking for scraps of burger and hot dog.)

RKF

Random Kim Fact:

When Anthony goes to the studio,

I like to snuggle into my t-shirt quilt,

watch trashy reality tv (usually ANTM),

drink a white russian,

and daydream about camping in the mountains or on the beach...

(photo reblogged from That Kind of Woman, one of my favorite blogs)

doesn't that look just oh so lovely?

ehhhhh....

I'm feeling pretty melancholy today.

Maybe it's the rain.

Maybe it's the Adele I've been listening to for an hour.

I fully realize that there is no reason for these feelings.

I went to yoga today and it was fantastic.

I've got a new "springy" hairdo.

I recently quit a job that I was unbelievably unhappy in.

Wedding season starts tomorrow and I'm second shooting again.

I have a wonderfully supportive husband and family.

I need to snap out of it.

good morrnin'

Happy Saturday!

(it's the day after Friday yo.)

Jax does not like to lay on "his side" of the counch.