Saying Goodbye to Summer
It's time to say goodbye to another summer and a yard filled with blooms and bouquets bursting with color.  As we head into fall, many of my flowers will become dormant, so snapdragons will be added because they're my favorite and they will thrive until next June!

I'm a real edging goober!  Can you tell?

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Three Cheers for Salmon!
If salmon isn't on the grill here at least once a week, it would only be because there wasn't one single ounce of it left in this town!  (This is not... I repeat, NOT sockeye salmon.) (Yeck!)  This is just the regular salmon found in a supermarket fresh fish case.  Mine is from Publix.  I usually buy between 1 and 1.3 lbs.  It's one of my favorites for breakfast as a cold leftover, so I buy more than I need.

Salmon is low in calories and high in protein, rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and a good source of the B-vitamins, selenium, niacin and vitamin B12. (Niacin, which is necessary for the chemical processing of fats in the body.) (Glad it's good for me!)

Wanna try it?  Here's all you do:

• Take a piece of foil and double it, then make a little pan out of it by folding up the edges.  Spray the bottom with Pam olive oil (or the regular kind if you don't have the olive oil variety.)

• Rinse your salmon and put it in the foil pan.  Sprinkle with lemon pepper.

• Spread about one tablespoon of Classico Traditional Basil Pesto (usually found in the isle with the spaghetti sauces) on top.

• Light left and right burners of a gas grill and turn to medium heat on each.  Put the foil pan with salmon on the left side and shut the lid.  This allows the heat from the right burner to circulate around and bake the salmon.

• In about 12 - 15 minutes, when the edges are bubbling and getting crispy, it should be finished.  Be sure not to overcook because this will dry it out.

Just as an added note, Classico also makes a Sundried Tomato Pesto that is almost as yummy good as the basil pesto on salmon, as well as on Tilapia!

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Favorite, Fabulous Store!
White House Black Market rocks!  Everything is either black or white and shopping is SO darn easy!  It’s not that I can’t think of something to wear that has color – it’s that I don’t have to!  All that color-deciding energy can now be put to better use!  I can also skip the usual question, "Does this go together?" and that {trick} question we all love to ask, "How does me bum look in this?" Come on, you know you ask that one even though you know you're not going to get an honest answer!  My husband is so sharp he doesn't even have to look at me to answer either of those questions!
(Yep! He's a keeper!)

Cheap Buzz!
I had plans today to finish a duvet cover I’m making for the guest room re-do.  Now, no-can-do!  My SMAC-daddy (StudMuffinArmCandy) husband, who meets me at home for lunch every day, brought me a McDonalds sugar-Free vanilla ice coffee as a treat because he knows I enjoy them on occasion – usually at the beach.  There must be a caffeine pusher working at the beverage counter today because this is all it took for me to get so caffeine buzzed that I can’t focus, can’t concentrate, have the shakes, and feel a little like Speedy Gonzales!  I think I'll go run a marathon now--in the rain!

Sometimes I feel like such a square!

July 2009 - My husband and I had been really looking forward to a Steely Dan concert a couple of weeks ago and had planned our date down to getting an extra rain poncho, and packing the bug spray.  On our way out the door, I asked, "Should I bring the camera?"  "Probably no need," he said, "The tickets say no cameras."  After we had arrived, and while getting out of the car, I picked up the cell phone to take with us, but because the tickets had stated, "No cameras allowed" I instinctively put it back and left it in the car.  We went inside, got something to eat and drink, found our seats, and anxiously awaited that Steely Dan sound.  Before long I noticed, "Hey, that guy down there has a camera."  "Wait, they have one over there, too!"  "Oh my gosh!  Look at all the cameras!"  Before long, the cell phones started lighting up like fireflies!  As usual, we were the ones that had read and followed the rules and the only people at the concert NOT taking pictures with a camera or cell phone!  Oh well, at least we had a great time--and by the way, Donald Fagen was AWESOME!

"Make tonight a won-der-ful thing....." ~ Steely Dan

Another Addiction - Sort of:
I don't know if it's an actual addiction, but there is something about the mini series Lonesome Dove, the story, those two main characters, and the musical soundtrack that I never get tired of!  My husband is very understanding when I sit there drooling over mesmerized by the character Captain Woodrow F. Call, Texas ranger (played by Tommy Lee Jones). 

Lonesome Dove Theme
(Turn up your speakers and enjoy!)

One of the tracks from this series is so beautiful that my ipod is set to that one song so that when relaxing on St. Augustine beach every weekend, and I can listen to it (sometimes three or four times in a row) while taking in my day’s first view of the ocean.  It's a great combination!  Every chime and orchestral sound comes through that little ipod so distinct and clear, and hearing that crescendo near the end of this one piece, while looking out over the crashing waves, for some reason is very beautiful to me!  Sure it was meant for the rolling scenery of this western mini-series, but a Florida girl has just got to adapt a little!  (Whether or not I'm imagining that somber, sexy cowboy in his long black duster and duds is something I'm just not going to admit tell.)

Just let life be a bowl of cherries ~ and not the pits!