cats

This weekend can pretty much be broken down into what was fun and what was not fun. Luckily the fun stuff outweighed the not fun stuff and I enjoyed one of my very few free weekends this summer.

What was not fun:

Taking two cats on a 30-minute bus ride to the vet. It was time for Olaf to get his one-year wellness check-up and update his vaccinations and since Dot hadn’t been to the vet since before we moved to Chicago we decided to take her too. Bad choices all around. Since we don’t have our car we had to ride the bus to the vet. Neither cat was pleased with the loud bus and Olaf yowled as loud as possible for the first 15 or so minutes. Cue me freaking out that we’re bothering all the passengers and would get thrown off the bus. When we finally did get to the vet it was time for Dot to freak out. She would not sit on the table, would NOT let the vet tech take her temperature, hid under the chair in the room, and growled/hissed/scratched at everyone that came near her. The vet did manage to give her the vaccinations and Adam has a nice big scratch to prove show for it. Olaf was just fine and barely even noticed that he was getting an exam. As an extra special bonus, the bus ride back home was packed to the brim with Cubs fans because of course we chose a game day to go to the vet. One bright spot of this whole ordeal was that the bus driver on the way back was super nice to us and made sure that our cats were comfortable and safe. Overall, I never want to do that again and I’m pretty sure Dot is still angry at us for subjecting her to all of that.

Olaf has forgiven all and wants to be held. Now

Poor girl is pooped from her trauma

Trying to get good food pictures with minimal space and light. We have two windows in our apartment and because of the way our apartment is situated, we get very little natural light. This makes taking pictures for my blog slightly difficult. At first I thought it was impossible but I’ve gotten creative and learned how to make what I do have work for me. It does lead to some interesting positions though. Good thing I do yoga!

What was fun:

Going to the farmers market. We finally got to go to our favorite farmers market. Because we have been busy pretty much every weekend since the Green City Market opened up, we haven’t gotten a chance to go. This weekend though we finally made it and it was of course awesome. All the fresh fruit and vegetables make me happy and I could wander around the market all morning if I could. Adam was happy to get his first Donut Vault donut of the season and even more excited that they had his favorite, lemon poppyseed. It’s the only way I can get him to come with me!

He’s trying not to stuff the whole thing in his mouth

Purple asparagus. I’ve seen green asparagus and I’ve seen white asparagus, but I had never seen purple asparagus. While we were at the market we saw these and of course I had to get them because they were purple. Best. Decision. Ever. They were so delicious and simple to prepare. All I did was drizzle them with a little olive oil, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, squeeze a little lemon juice over it all and roast at 400 for 15 minutes. They were a little sweeter than green asparagus and I could have eaten like 5 more bunches. Too bad I discovered them at the end of asapargus season.

I’ll try any purple fruit/vegetable

Fruit crisp. The farmers market pretty much just led to all sorts of good things this weekend. This fruit crisp is proof that you should go to the market more often! I made Adam a strawberry rhubarb crisp with fruit we got from the market. He deemed it delicious and probably would have eaten the whole thing in one sitting. Which is quite the compliment.

Overall, it was a great weekend and I really loved having the free time to do some fun things and spend time with Adam. Here’s to another great week!

What did you do this weekend?

Hello! I hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas and were able to enjoy time with friends and family. I know that the Monday after a holiday can be a little bit of a bummer, so I thought that I would share pictures with you of my Christmas celebration to cheer you up. There are even pictures of cats, so they are automatically better!

Adam and I have started a little tradition by celebrating our own Christmas after actual Christmas. We spend the day in our pj’s watching Christmas movies, opening presents, and making delicious food. This was our third year doing this and it was one of the best!

Our Christmas tree and the stockings hung by the (faux) chimney with care. Plus the first of many pictures of Olaf. It was his first Christmas and I think he loves it just as much as I do. Our other cat Dot wanted nothing to do with the festivities and slept in the bedroom all day long.

Speaking of cats, of course they have their own stocking and we fill it with new toys for them. Olaf actually managed to get all of the stuff out of the stocking all on his own. He liked the laser pointer and this yellow stuffed dog the best.

He’s pretty adorable. Us humans open our presents over the course of the day. Every time we start a new Christmas movie we open another present. I would say that this year was a good year for both of us. Adam got a new beard trimmer, a t-shirt, books, and candy. I got a new teapot, oven mitts, and books/cookbook. Apparently we both think alike because our big gifts to each other were new bags. I got Adam a new leather messenger bag for work so he could look all fancy and professional and he got me an awesome new black purse that is much better than the bright orange paisley tote bag that I have been using for the past few months.

This is his happy face. Back off ladies he’s mine

Super excited about this book. And you can see my fancy new teapot down in the corner

The other fun part of our Christmas is making a bunch of food that we don’t normally make. This year we made pretzels, which were really easy and fun to make. I also made some fried plantains and egg nog, devoured before I could take pictures. For an appetizer I made spinach/artichoke dip without any dairy (so good, I’ll share the recipe soon!), and we had some pumpkin chips to dip. Then for Adam’s dinner I made slow cooker italian beef and he made homemade buns. I had some delicious butternut squash seasoned with some new seasonings I got from Adam’s side of the family. It was an awesome feast! There were also a variety of cookies and treats for dessert!

Pretzel maker extraordinaire!

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and I really love that Adam and I have been able to start some of our own traditions. On actual Christmas this year we were able to spend the day with both sides of our family. We started the day with my parents and my sister and her fiance and then headed over to Adam’s grandparents for Christmas dinner and were able to see his (many) aunts, uncles, cousins, as well as his mom and his stepdad.

Overall it was a fabulous holiday. We were able to spend time with so many family members and shared and made plenty of new memories. My heart is full and I can’t wait to see what the new year brings! Have a great rest of the week and Happy New Year!