melissa is married!

well, yesterday we went over to bmayes' house to play while she was at training. it was a beautiful morning! i had gotten a text earlier from shea (one of the bridesmaids), but it didn't say anything, so i text back: happy saturday! and didn't hear back from her. so i laid on the trampoline and relaxed while the dogs wandered and explored. then after awhile i went to the back of the yard and there was a familiar sight.

laying on the tramp is one of the most relaxing things

bmayes has a mulberry tree! i picked a few and left them in a bowl for her to try. i remember when we lived in wisconsin, there was a tree in our backyard separating our property from the apt behind us. i remember running through there barefoot and the berries that had fallen on the ground would squish on our feet, leaving them stained purple.

well, then we went back to the hotel to take a nap and prepare for the wedding. we got to the church and got seated. we waited and looked around to see who all we knew. the wedding party filed out the men were handsome the bridesmaids were gorgeous (you may think that i am being slightly partial b/c they are all friends of mine...but no, it's just the simple truth, i have beautiful friends! deal wid it.) then of course there was the ring-bearer and flower girl, which can never happen without a hitch, and sure enough, the flower girl was having some difficulty because she was trying to pick just the right petals to drop, so nika (bridesmaid) took it upon herself to go back down the aisle to prompt the little girl to keep walking (she pushed her all the way down...and we were all grateful). then melissa finally got to make her grand entrance, and she was a beautiful bride!

then we made our way to the reception...what? no, we did not stop at a mexican place for chips and queso first...but it sure was good! and we made it into the reception just in time for the introductions of the wedding party-very witty. and then the dancing, watching-of-the-dancing and posing-like-i'm dancing pics.

they had a great little routine!

the wedding party dance-off was quite a show!

photo booth-best idea ever!

 then we saw them off with bird seed-visions of alfred hitchcock's the birds danced through my head momentarily. it was a beautiful night.

i got up early this morning and prepared for the trip home, and it was more difficult and much longer coming back than it was going.

time to prepare for the week!
julie

thank you watermelon, you are a superstar

i would like to begin this post by giving a special shout out to the watermelon!  your performance today has been spectacular!

pulled out the dehydrator again last night! raisins in the making (i didn't realize that raisins take 36 hours until after i bought the grapes...apples and watermelon. so, i find myself longing to eat more and more of the dehydrated watermelon, but what if it reconstituted in my body after i drink a lot of water? i also threw in some tomatoes, and they are like watermelon's right hand man, they are delicious as well! if they could be a superhero duo of the world of dehydration, they would be unstoppable!!

i spent a lot of time today in the wanna-be kitchen of mine. i decided that i wanted to make pupusas and tortilla chips. so i had to go to the store to buy tortillas, masa and mexican cheese. somehow i got lured into purchasing 5 lbs of top round-so when i got home i portioned it out and i now have 15 steaks. (the reason i got the bulk size is because it was priced at $23.00 and $10.00 off-you can beat that! that's 15 steaks for less than a buck a piece. yep...grill baby grill!

i know, raw meat gross-don't worry, i washed my hands

i also finished portioning out the soup and vac-sealing it. then i decided to try to make powdered eggs. so i scrambled them all up and now i have to put them in the oven tonight after the game because they have to cook for 10 hours. then i'll grind them into powder (i want to see if it really works or not).

does anyone else do this? i like my eggs to be balanced, so whenever i take one from one side, i balance it out...so they don't fall? idk

i also took the pulled pork and added my bbq and a bit of ken's honey mustard (the secret!) best honey mustard EVER! the first time i was introduced to honey mustard was in college at applebee's i was a-ddicted to fries w/ hm!
anyway, i took the bbq pork and froze it in muffin tins (found the tip on the internet) and then i portioned them and sealed them-perfect portions for sandwiches! thanks lady on the internet!!

bbq muffins!check out THOSE muffin tops, jenna!

and then i cut up the tortillas and fried them into chips for the game! i didn't get around to the pupusas-tomorrow's a new day!

ready!

obviously i was watching master chef last night. 

and as i came in to sit down, i let the boys out onto the balcony, and bruno paws at the glass to get back in. chaco licks it (which is a little harder to hear). good thing he's got bruno!!

if you go to visit someone, either knock on the door, or ring the doorbell, don't lick the door-you don't know where it's been!
julies