Instagram: driving through Montana

http://instagr.am/p/E0LEb/


Here is a photo of one of our views along the way.

Safe in Seattle :)

On the road

Here we go!

I probably won't be posting much while we are gone, but I promise to share lots of stories and photos when we get back!

WHOOP!

Around town

Bored one afternoon we decided to take a trip to Dairy Queen and then travel around to local parks. 

A few things we learned along the way... 

Monkey bars were a lot easier when you weighed 60lbs

Tire swings are okay, until Ben spins you.

Chocolate shakes are good, until Ben spins you.

And lastly...Jumping pictures provide at least 30 minutes of entertainment. 

See below for a visual. 

my favorite.

Tomorrow Tomorrow

The Motto for our road trip...

P.S. still not packed.

A packing list of sorts

TWO DAYS.

and I still need to pack (gulp)

I will, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night. Not Thursday morning. I promise. I don't pack well in the morning.

I have my bag sitting out on my bed. It's emptiness mocks me when I walk by it. So I closed our bedroom door.

There are a few other things calling my name before I begin you see...

reading my book.

blogging.

job applications.

coffee/thrifting with Ellie.

folding that last load of laundry.

taking a nap.

haha. I'm pathetic.

At least I have one of my books picked out for the trip. 

Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis

I read it a few years ago,

 but it is the kind of book that you can pick up and learn something new from it every time. 

I am still trying to decide what novel I want to read on the trip...

Any ideas?

Oh and my lovely summer shoes will of course be packed....

they are so comfortable, and I usually convince myself that they work with most things I wear day to day.

I already picked up two bags of this stuff...



(I might share)

Oh and all of these things will be packed in my large weekender bag pictures below. 

Oh and P.S.
Ben is done packing. I would like to say I packed right along side him...but no. It looked more like me reading my book on the couch drinking coffee while he packed. He would come out to the living room to ask me a question every minute, so I think the attempt to read was fruitless.
It was lovely to have a morning to spend together, usually one or both of us is working. He also woke me up to a delicious breakfast :)

I'll pack tonight.
promise. 

Dark Chocolate Grahams

DARK CHOCOLATE GRAHAMS

yum.

What you need:

**I kind of made my own double boiler by putting a couple of inches of water in the lower pan and then placing a bowl on top. This way the chocolate doesn't burn. If you don't have anything that works like this you can always just melt the chocolate in the saucepan, but don't leave it on the heat while you dip...it may burn.

Now watch the magic happen...

Note: I used a silicone mat, but you could use wax paper underneath. When the sheet is full place it in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

This added drizzle isn't necessary, but I wanted to give the tops a little more texture. Make sure you chill them before you do the drizzle, otherwise it will just melt flat. 

Place back in the fridge or freezer for about 30 minutes. They will be easy to handle then for storage or wrapping up. I keep them in the fridge either way because our apartment gets pretty warm.

Love Will Hold Us Together

Happy Friday Friends!

Porch Citrus

Oh sweet summer...

Fresh citrus tastes the best while outside on a porch (at least in my opinion).

I had a lovely morning bagel & coffee date with a friend this morning. We had been planning this bagel date ever since we discovered that we both have a love of bagels and cream cheese. (healthy, right?) So we knew we had to meet up and share in the delights of our delicious weakness. I had a cinnamon burst bagel with regular cream cheese, and she had a blueberry one with some type of fruity cream cheese. Apparently I was too absorbed in eating mine to pay attention to what she was eating.

Speaking of delicious things though I am going to attempt to make a simple little treat when I am done with this post. I will share more with you tomorrow. Don't get your hopes up though, it truly is not that creative. 

I also picked up a new tomato plant at a little grocery store nursery nearby because sadly to say one of my plants seems to not have handled the transition to outdoors. Oh well, what can you do? I am determined to have some fresh produce at my fingertips this summer.

Homemade salsa anyone?

Okay I need to get back to my list of chores, because..

WE LEAVE FOR SEATTLE IN A WEEK!

Eeek! It came up so fast, and I need to have clean laundry to pack. 

Hope the sun is shining where you are! Happy Thursday!

I'll take a lazy few days...

We had a great weekend.

It was nice to get away for a few days and not have anything that needs to be done around the apartment in my constant view. (laundry, cleaning, organizing, job applications, etc.)

Ben and I managed to sneak out of town on Thursday afternoon since he happened to have Friday off. AND being the flexible substitute teacher that I am, I simply didn't pick up a job for the day.

Before heading out of town we stopped at one our favorite burrito places for a quick lunch, and then drove through Starbucks for a coffee. I couldn't have asked for a better start to our weekend.

We had a lovely evening making homemade pizza and reading on the couch. We also happened to take a three hour nap in the late afternoon. (I'm not sure if you can even call three hours a nap anymore) It did manage to disrupt our sleeping schedule a bit, but we managed to get to bed around one in the morning. Naps are wonderful. I always despised them when my mom made me take them as a child. (Now I realize however that it was more due to the fact that she wanted to take a nap...)

My parents and little brother (who is taller than me) showed up on Friday and we proceeded to have a weekend full of card games, delicious food and a little Xbox Kinect (my arms are still sore).

 my cinnamon dolce latte

 my new favorite pair of shoes.

 bud.

 crepes for breakfast. my favorite.

 My pup of 11 or so years. Chaz.

Our quiet lake.

Now that the week is almost halfway done it has been nice to look back at these photos...

My last two days have been spent teaching elementary Phy-ed... First grade through 5th grade. It was a fun couple of days spent outside playing wiffle ball/tee ball. Even with sunscreen my face has developed a nice all around red hue. I also have a burnt neck except for a white line where my neck lanyard was attached to my name badge. Here's to an odd summer tan so far :)