Best of Saturday Afternoons

Gavin and Brisket, his bulldog, came over for lunch today. I made roast beef sandwiches and asparagus, and they were delish. ous.

Currently, I'm reading Real Simple and enjoying an afternoon beer. We're having a lazy afternoon because we got up EARLY to go to the farmer's market on Cherry Street again. We got bread for our lunch sandwiches and tons of fresh produce. And cheese, because we love cheese.

Grant is taking a nap next to me on the couch. Every once and awhile he grins and lets out a little giggle. Someone is having some good dreams.

Whitters is getting ready to participate in a wedding this evening (Grant and I will be in attendance), and MAN IS SHE EXCITED TO BE IN IT. That's a yoke.

Best of Things in My Backyard

One of these things I like more than the other
Originally uploaded by cruark

I decided I wanted to start posting more pictures on my blog, so when I went in the backyard this morning with Grant, I noticed just how beautiful my hibiscus was getting. After Grant left, I took my camera outside to try to get a shot of it, and HENRY WOULDN'T HAVE IT.

He's been in trouble the past few days, because during the day he stays outside in the backyard and is trying to turn it into a trash heaven. He chews up paper, drags out the hose (which Grant thought Whit and I were doing everyday), makes piles of trash, and has recently begun to eat our plants. Grant and I are plant people, so this hasn't gone over well. Henry attacked some sweet potato vine and our elephant ears we got last week at the farmer's market. Then he moved on to Grant's cacti, so now he has the shits. That's called justice.

The Henry vs. plants battle in the backyard is also causing tension in the house. I won't name names or parties, but someone is mad that plants bought are getting eaten (and suggested we might as well give him $5 bills to chew on), and someone else is mad that people in the house are mad at a puppy for being a puppy. Both sides are justified-ish, and both sides are a tad-ish angry. Any solutions? I didn't think so.

But back to this morning. I kept trying to take a picture of this flower, and then a dog nose would show up in it. Or a puppy would jump on me while I tried to take the shot. Finally, I just pushed him out of the way, and he crawled over and laid down as close as he could get to the flower. I think he's trying to say he's sorry. This is the very cute result.

Best of Appropriate

After the soundtrack from the ride into work, I cannot get one line from the Bodysnatchers song out of my head.

"...I have no idea what I'm talllllllking about..."

Hmmm. How apt is that?

I feel overwhelmed this week. Like WAY TOO OVERWHELMED, just-give-me-a-break-okay-universe? type of feelings. Just ask my roommates. And anyone who talks to me on IM. Or has happened to call during the past few days.

I'm freaking worried about money. Does anyone else think we are going to end up in a Depression (with a capital D, not just the kind that I experience occasionally?) if our entire country is not careful? Not to sound all gloom and doom, but it freaks me out that I have personal experience with the crises on the news. It wasn't like this 6 months ago. The housing crisis sucked, but no one I know is getting foreclosed.

But now.

I feel the pressure from rising gas prices, from rising food prices, and from unemployment. Which just makes me all that much more worried about the fact that I have debt, not savings. It's a difficult time to have a job in politics or in the non-profit world (and I work for an organization that combines the two), because when the economy gets rough, the first thing people give up is donating to causes. I understand, but I'd also still like to work for something I believe in and also, you know, get a paycheck. Especially to help payoff that debt.

It's summer. Isn't everything supposed to be all sunshine and light?

Best of Advice

Somehow the universe knew I needed to read some of this today. Do you need it too?

Relationship advice from Sarah Brown (a Tulsa native living in NYC) via Dooce (the coolest blogger ever).

Money advice from NYT. We spend too much. But I'm trying to be better! And save! It is taking me awhile to learn this lesson in all aspects of my life, but I really am trying to focus on the long-term.

Life advice from J.K. Rowling to Harvard graduates, some of whom did not realize how lucky they were to be in the audience. If only I had gone to Harvard. And stayed in school there for 9 years.

Best of Weekends

Why couldn't mine have just one more day?

I'm at work, looking at the rain fall on downtown Tulsa, and right now all I ever wanted was to be in my own bed, under the covers, reading a book, and drinking hot mint tea. I feel like I should have called in sick. I can't lie, but I'm in desperate need of a personal day, and I have cramps. Those are two reasons enough to escape the working world for a day.

One of the reasons I wanted my weekend to continue today is that I had such a good one! Friday night, Grant and I went on a date at Local Table in Brookside. The concept is cool - only serve what is in season and use local ingredients, but it kind of sucked, especially for the amount of the bill. The company was great, though, as per usual. It was Grant's idea to make sure we go on a real date every week, even though we live together, and I must say it has been a fabulous idea.

We got up early on Saturday morning to go to the Farmer's Market in Tulsa on Cherry Street, and it was worth not sleeping in. We found tons of fresh produce, and it's now a date for every Saturday morning. We had green beans with lemon and shallots for lunch, and felt like we had the entire day to conquer. I'm glad I found a way to make the weekend last just a little bit longer.

On Sunday, the brunch committee had planned an outing, but after a surprise 10 am phone call from AUDREY, those plans got changed. The Stillwater Ruarks showed up at our house about 10 minutes later, and Grant finally got to meet them. Audrey and Andrew met Henry, she jumped on the trampoline, Marla (with the help of Why Bother) discovered the true lyrics to Smack That, and we went to eat lunch at the riverwalk. And Audrey, Whitters and I were brave enough to run through the fountain. And then hug everyone else. After they left to go to Andrew's baseball game in Glenpool, I fell asleep with Henry in the hammock reading David Sedaris. Perfect.

And then raindrops hit me, so I headed inside.

Best of Deliciousness

For once, I'm not talking completely about food. Yes, the pie turned out well and tasted pretty darn good, but it sure was confusing to the Thompson boys. Even though Grant picked up the rhubarb, it disturbed him to see me prepare it (take off the leaves - they are poisonous and look like a webbed duck foot) since it resembled red celery. Raw, it also tastes like a too-tart lemon that is not fun to chew. Cooked, he couldn't get over the fact that it looked like cooked hot dog pieces were in his pie. Garet also dared to try a piece after really questioning me about JUST WHAT IS RHUBARB?, and I couldn't really answer that, except to say it TASTES GOOD. I promise. After just eating the strawberries, he ventured out and tried a piece of rhubarb. And then he announced, "I like rhubarb." Cooper, his yellow lab, however does not. So it goes.

I guess I am talking a lot about food.

We had a really great dinner with grilled pork chops (I LOVE THE GRILL!!) and potatoes and green beans and this really great beer bread that I will be attempting to make.

The best part of the night, though, was not food. After dinner, we all went to the living room, where Grant convinced everyone to watch the NBA finals, and I sat next to him on the couch. Then I laid down a little bit, and then a little bit more, and when I got a blanket and an Abby curled up next to me... I was out. I remember thinking right before I dozed off, "This feels delicious." I think I chose that word because my subconscious was about to take over, but it still feels right today. I was with Grant, who I adore. I ate a healthy dinner, cooked a good pie, drank some wine, and left my cell phone in the car. I didn't have work to do, didn't have to check my email - I could just lay there and lazily fall asleep to the TV with a full stomach and one of my favorite dogs in the whole world. And I felt comfortable and relaxed enough at his parent's house to take a little nap. Just delicious.

When he woke me up at 10 (he had fallen asleep, too), we went home, and went directly to bed. We had the fan on, he turned on the game, and we fell asleep to it.

This night is such the opposite of what I was experiencing at the same time last summer. I worked too much, I worried too much, and at times I just felt desperate for the kind of life I'm now writing about. I'm glad I found a way to relax just a little bit, to not freaking worry so much, and that desperation only visits a couple of times a year (rather than living with me 24/7). Good riddance.

Best of MASTERING THIS PIE

I have had my eye on this Strawberry Rhubarb pie recipe for over a week, and only 2 things were going to get in my way: 1) having an occasion to put in this much work for 1 pie, and 2) finding rhubarb.

We're having dinner with Grant's parents tonight (a perfect occasion for a early-summer time pie), and Grant was successful in hunting down some (really expensive) rhubarb.

I am obsessed with the website Smitten Kitchen, where I got this recipe, because the woman who writes it is funny AND SHE TELLS YOU WHEN THE RECIPE GOES HORRIBLY WRONG. I like that kind of honesty. I think we would be friends in real life. I decided to make this pie even though she recommends making the pie dough from scratch (necessitating all the dough ingredients staying ice-cold for the whole process, and I courageously attempted this in June in Oklahoma).

As she put it, "shh, the pie can hear you," and this pie totally smelled my fear. After rolling out the dough and making a mess, it was NOT coming together. I got a pep talk from Grant, talked sternly to the dough as if it were Henry misbehaving, and it rolled out perfectly.

I have no idea what it tastes like, but it at least looks good.