quoteable | wild turtles

Daniel:  "Hey Gracie, I saw a turtle by the road on my way to work."
Gracie:  "Was it a wild turtle?"
Daniel:  "I'm not sure."
Gracie:  "Well, did it have a leash?"
Daniel:  "No."
Gracie:  "Then it was probably wild."

This week be sure to keep an eye out for those crazy wild turtles, the ones not on a leash.

delightful | the wintons

When these guys emailed several weeks ago and said they'd be close by and wanted to know if we wanted a house concert, we were a little excited.  What a silly question to ask. 

The Wintons are a father/sons bluegrass group from California (they're CA state champions in banjo & mandolin).  They really put on a great, casual concert and share the gospel wherever they go.  We opened up our home had somewhere between 50-100 people show up.  It was a great night!  We're so blessed to have them as friends, and to be a stop on their spring farewell tour.  

Besides being great musicians, their family also has been working hard on several film projects.  Check it out here http://thewintonsbluegrass.com/projects/

travels | bayfield

While at the cabin last week we made a day trip to Bayfield.  Its a lovely little town on the shores of Lake Superior.  Very far north, but it had been years since I've been here and it was a yearly stop for us growing up. 

Not everyone in the family was thrilled with spending more time in the car, so it ended up just being Mim, Lydia, Miss Grace, Dad and me.  A pretty fun group if I do say so myself.

 My heart!

Lunch at the Pickled Herring!  I'm blaming it on my German roots.  They use a 100 year old recipe and fish straight out of the lake.  Dad and I both ordered the Smokehouse Salad that had pieces of smoked trout on it.  So delicious! 

After a few hours of walking around town, shopping, buying Miss Grace a sweatshirt (hello tourist!), lunching and such, we grabbed coffee for the road.  It was some very cool, very hipster coffee shop called Big Water Roasters.  I ordered a Lavender Mocha, simply because I've never heard of one before.  Oh gracious!  It was the most unbelievably good mocha I've ever had!  The perfect dark chocolate mocha flavor, where you can taste both espresso and chocolate and then just the slightest hint of herbal lavender.  The barista said they make their own lavender syrup.  Of course they do...

I've been dreaming about that one ever since.

travels | up north in tall pines

We spent Memorial Day weekend at the cabin.  The pine trees block any and all 3G signals up there and I tend to alternate between really enjoying the iPhone fast and a mild panic because my email won't download.  Its a struggle.

This little guy didn't mind at all, he played in the dirt the WHOLE time... and loving it!

The kids cooked dinner over the campfire one night.  Mom & Dad went on a date and left us to do our thing.  Our thing just happened to be "hobo dinners" (such an un-PC name for ground beef, potatoes and carrots wrapped in foil and burned) and banana boats. 

Clearly we're all "Country Living" while away.  Tin-foil dinners, watermelon and a ketchup bottle on the table.  Photo shoot worthy.

Cabin food!  So delicious, the ketchup really rounds out the charred flavor.  And pairs perfectly with diet coke.  Health nut, what?

Daniel putting out the raft via kayak.  I see no way this could end poorly.  The water was only about -55 degrees, but he managed to get it hooked up without getting wet.  Our neighbors were out on the jet skis and some other crazy people were out water-tubing. 

The weather was perfect!  We spent a lot of time out in the sunshine, reading, friends came up to visit for several days (bringing their precious baby boy), and we celebrated a birthday.  A great start to the summer!

reads | relish | daphne oz

It's no great surprise that I love all things cooking & entertaining.  I come by it naturally, my parents are both great hosts and we love to have our friends over for meals, parties, or any excuse that we can come up with.  I'm always on the lookout for the latest cookbooks and our independent bookstore in town usually has a great selection.  That being said, I'm not sure how this new book by Daphne Oz totally flew under my radar.  Gracious!  I actually ended up seeing it at Target and Brooke was like "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about this, it's totally your kinda book".  Thanks a lot girlfriend! 

I resisted buying it for a good two weeks and finally had a weak moment one Sunday night, again, at Target (its a problem) and after leafing through it (again) decided to just do it.  Best decision I made all week!  This is the best new cookbook/entertaining guide I've seen in a long time! I'm going to predict that she is the new Martha Stewart.  The recipes are healthful (she is Dr. Oz's daughter after all) and delicious, super-fresh, beautifully designed with great photos, good tips, and a fun sense of humor throughout the whole book.  (I must also point out that she is a Lilly girl too!  Check out those pants!)

I may end up cooking my way through the whole book at some point... It's that good!