Entertaining

I still haven't managed to motivate myself to try out any new recipes...  But we were excited to be able to have both our parents over for dinner earlier this month - something that we never could have managed in our tiny townhouse.

It was a beautiful August day, so we kept the menu simple and summery:
cheeseburgers
tomatoes
grilled veggies

Perfect!

This tomato salad recipe isn't particularly new as I've been making it for years, but I don't think I've stared the recipe on this blog yet, and it is one of my absolute favorite late summer recipes.

Recipe:
tomatoes
olive oil
pepper
garlic salt
oregano

Cut tomatoes.  Drizzle with a good amount of olive oil.  Sprinkle with pepper, garlic salt, and oregano to taste.  Mix well.  I'm always pretty generous with the garlic salt and the oregano.  I taste a tomato several times while mixing and add as necessary.

I think I like it so much because I don't measure, and it makes me feel like a 'real' chef....  Plus it tastes amazing.  If you're patient enough, wait until August and September to make this and make with the freshest tomatoes you can possibly find.  My impatience occasionally wins, and I try and make it earlier in the summer.  It's always a disappointment.

August.  September.  Fresh.

It matters.

Enjoy what's left of this summer.... And get excited for the best season of all: fall!

Painting Progress

Wow, I really thought that I'd do better with posting in August than I did in July.

Fail.

We've been busy with little projects here and there.  Nothing major.  But boy are these little projects time suckers.  Then by the time I sit down on the couch at night, the last thing I want to do is piece together coherent thoughts and upload pictures.

But I do love the paint we have done so far, and I definitely want to share:

My laundry room.  I think it's such a happy color, and the one place I need a happy color is in a room doing a never-ending chore that I detest.  There is still a lot of work to do in there, but for now at least the washing machine and dryer are hooked up and working, so we can look presentable from time to time...

Color: Valspar Bayside

 Our bathroom.  While I still detest the green counter, the gray color on the walls is much fresher and much less sterile than the builder basic beige we had before.

Color: Sherwin Williams Online

Our bedroom.  A darker shade of gray than the bathroom.  Love it.  I almost didn't want to put our old crappy furniture in there, and I have such a vision of exactly what I want....  Someday...

Color: Valspar Winter Flannel

And we painted our dining room too, but I can't find a picture on my computer at the moment.  And my butt is parked on the couch for the night, so that will be another post for another day... ;-)