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Apple Orchard Overalls Giveaway!!!

Over the weekend, Joel and I stayed at the Whiteley Creek Bed & Breakfast in Brainerd, MN. We went up there partly for business and partly for pleasure. Since the business aspect isn’t as fun as the pleasure aspect, I’ll leave that part out. We ended up staying in the Out My Kitchen Window Cabin and it was such a nice place to stay. It was really comfortable and full of character. Adrienne, the owner, served us some fantastic breakfasts and afternoon treats. She had an amazing garden and it was so fun to eat the food that was grown right outside our front door. Our first night there, we had a zucchini crisp and it was AMAZING. I can’t wait to try the recipe for myself.

They also raise chickens at the Whiteley Creek Bed & Breakfast. It was so fun to watch the chickens roam the grounds during the day, and the eggs those chickens laid were pretty phenomenal. The yoke was such a deep orange, I ate it very slowly because I knew I’d be sad once it was all gone. It was such a nice getaway! The only unfortunate thing was that it went by too fast. Also, since we were there for business as well, it wasn’t 100% relaxing, which would have been nice. Oh well, I guess that’s the story of my life these days.

I also learned a couple of things: 1.) I’m not exactly ready to leave Rosemary for a long period of time. Two nights away and I was dying to see her. 2.) I’m not sure Rosemary is ready to leave us for a long period of time. She did fantastic at her Nana and Papa’s house, but let me tell you, she did not do well once we got back. She spent the rest of the weekend having unexplainable tantrums, acting out, and being incredibly clingy. Not fun. I am sort of expecting those 2-year molars to pop through. It would be nice to blame that on her somewhat rotten behavior as of late!

If I had any disposable income at the moment, I would quite seriously invest in some vacation real estate. My dad has a condo in Florida, and it’s seriously one of the nicest things to have in a family. A home away from home that is trustworthy and reliable.

Because I should be doing other things, I found myself perusing for-sale Florida villas on the Bardell Real Estate website, and I was so surprised at the prices. I would have expected some of the beautiful homes and condos, so close to Disney, etc. would have been so much more expensive.

I know you’re supposed to ‘Buy-Low,’ it’s just too bad I don’t have any money to do that with.

I just found an incredibly exciting new website. It’s called grosgrain and features bi-weekly give-aways.

I mean, we’re talking really, really good give-aways.

I found this website through the Lovely Sarah’s lovely new blog. Check it out.

I have the updates to the little game we played early in the growing season. There was one that definitely stumped everyone.

1. Weed

This turned into this:

The more it grew, the more sure I was it was a weed. I kept it there for a little while, just to see. It wasn’t anywhere else in my yard and I didn’t see any in the neighbors yard (which is full of weeds), so it really had me stumped. I finally decided it was pretty ugly and I was going to get rid of it.

2. Weed

It wasn’t creeping charlie; but it was something very much like creeping charlie.

3. Bee Balm

This turned into this:

4. Weed

Shortly after I made the original post, I realized it was everywhere.

5. Daylily

I forgot to take a picture of the mature version of this. But you can see it to the left of the about-to-bloom foxglove:

There is a lot going on right now. The kinds of things that I probably shouldn’t broadcast all over the internet. I feel a mixture of anxiety, excitement, stress, peace, worry, and calm. Much is up in the air right now and I would rather things be certain.

I have lots of gardening posts lingering in my head, and I will try to get to them soon. I have an update to the Weed or No Weed post, some pictures of growing tomatoes and budding fox glove. And hopefully soon I’ll have some news to share about the craziness at the Coming Up Rosemary house.

Living in Minnesota, my awareness of seafood is pretty low. I know it can be tasty and good for me, and that I should eat more. So I just started buying whatever looked good and was relatively inexpensive out of the grocery store. Then I learned I should be more aware of what I’m buying.

First of all, like most things whenever possible to buy local and fresh, do. Knowing the source is a good place to start. There are a lot of unethical seafood practices and domestic seafood sustainability is important. Secondly, mercury mercury mercury - watch out for high levels of mercury!

That said, one of my favorite seafood meals to make are shrimp kabobs. Joel and I actually ate some last night. They are so simple and tasty - last night Joel marinated them in lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, dill, and a dash of garlic salt. They were absolutely delicious mingled with peppers and vidalia onions. I tell you, that man could win the Great American Seafood cook off. I wish he would! I seriously think a cook off like this would be so fun to attend. Back when we had the Food Network, we were always getting hooked into these things.

 Our family was invited to our neighbor/friend’s 1st birthday party last weekend, and I wanted to find an inexpensive, cute, handmade gift for Baby Sofia (as Rosemary refers to her).

A simple Etsy search brought me to this store where I then bought the above adorable elephant pull toy. It looks like I bought it at the right time, because I see that all of her prices have gone up! I do have to say that I liked the previous prices better, and probably would have continued along my merry way if the elephant had not been cheaper. But now that I have had the product in my hand, I can say it is definitely worth the higher prices - and the great customer service I received.

I was quite pleased with it and I hope Baby Sofia will be too.

Does anybody have any good ideas for a gift to give my new baby nephew? I can’t believe I haven’t given him a gift, yet! But I am at a loss. He has an older brother with a lot of clothes, so I don’t want to give clothes unless it’s something fairly unique. I’ve thought about blankets but I know he already has a couple really good ones. I’d kind of like to get a unique lovey of some sort … but I can’t find anything that sticks out to me. Oh yeah, and price isn’t a huge deal. But, under $25 would be nice.

I have never played paintball and I probably never will. Don’t get me wrong, I actually think it’s an amazing sport! Aside from sounding painful, it sounds like a lot of fun - like a real, live video game (shouldn’t real life be better??). Back in the day when when he had less responsibility, Joel would play paintball with friends - and every time he talks about it, he gets this dreamy look in his eyes.

I imagine some of you enjoy paintball, or at least have spouses who do. I did not know there were stores and websites that helped you invest in your own gear, did you? You can find all sorts of necessities and accessories like a Tippmann A5 (a best-selling paintball gun), masks, barrels, air systems, and upgrades. They even have some nicely priced packages if you’re just getting started.

Really, I’m surprised by the prices and they even offer free shipping. If Joel ever gets into the sport again, I think I’ll hold onto this website for some gift ideas. When it comes to buying things for him, I am always at a loss.

This is a sponsored post.