10 Things About Our Weekend

1.  I ran in the opposite direction than I normally do at the Riverwalk and found the Riverwalk splashpad/fountain I'd never found before.  I'd heard a few people mention it but never knew where it was, and now I do, and my kids will find it this summer and think it's the best.

2.  I've gone back to my photography roots of loving bokeh and sun flare.  See above picture for sun flare.

3.  I bought some carrots at the farmer's market.  Seeing actual vegetables as they come from the ground made me wonder what they do to the ones they sell at the store?  The carrots were much smaller and more delicate (maybe just a different kind), but the green onions were ginormous and made store-bought ones look so puny.  I'm going to try to make a Saturday morning trip out through the summer.

4.  I found two mysteries at the library that take place in France.  British mysteries are the bread and butter of books I enjoy reading, so during a season where I'm trying to ignore my inner-Anglophile and immerse myself in all things French, you can imagine my excitement to find a book entitled, The Marseille Caper.  It was the second in a series, and I was really glad to find the first book, too, because I hate reading books out of order.

5.  I read the first book, The Vintage Caper, in about 4 hours Saturday.  Caper was a really good word to describe the little adventure that took place in Hollywood, Paris, Burgundy, and Marseilles. 

6.  We finished painting Ella's room and bought a mattress for her new bed.  Before and after pictures will be coming soon.  She loves everything about her new room, though it is still a work in progress.  She spent her first night there Saturday night.

7.  Falling between all of the small things of our weekend, we received the news of the death of a dear man in our church.  My heart grieves for the wife he left behind, and I remembered all of the "small" things and seemingly small ways he served our family personally and all the ways he used his gifts and abilities to serve our church family, and I realized that all of the good things we do for others are so important.  Even when they seem small, they aren't small to the people they help and benefit, especially when we are gone from this world.  The memory of all those acts of service and love serve as evidences of the faith this man had in Christ, and they are a blessing to us to remember now.  Everything we do, and how we do it, matters.

8.  We had neighbors and friends over for dinner last night.  We had such a good time, and I hope we'll do it more often.  They have a little boy who is 10 months older than James, and they played together so sweetly and so well.  We made the mistake of sitting them at opposite ends of the dinner table, though, and that resulted in a lot of shouted conversations that were pretty hilarious.  "I've got some toys."  "What?!?!  Toys?"  "My favorite game is Link!" 

9.  I tried a recipe I found on Pinterest.  It was Skinny Chicken Cordon Bleu, and it was pretty good.  I think I would go ahead and add an entire piece of ham, though, and maybe a little more cheese?  Or maybe skip the reduced fat cheese for a creamier texture?  It was pretty easy and not much of a mess to make, though, so that was a plus.  Splitting the chicken breasts in half was also much easier than I envisioned, and it was very satisfying to flatten them out with a good pounding.

10.  I really enjoyed working with KJ on so many projects.  We painted, put together a bed, cleaned, hung pictures, and it was nice to work together.