Monday March Madness

It's the end of March and I'm going on record to say the first quarter of this year has positively flown.  I feel like that's something old people say, except all the young people I know are saying it too. 

Is it because the world's in chaos? Is it because we're regularly checking the very full calendars we now hold in our hands, and as a result our lives are marked by 'what's next'? Is there some scientific explanation for it? Whatever the reason I want to remember each day is a gift and to keep a grateful heart. 

Let's chat about our weekends with Holly (Pink Lady Blog) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books) who host the Hello Monday hop.  

We were at home this weekend which was nice. I've either had a houseful or been in the car going hither and yon the last four weekends, and then I was at my daughter's all last week which also meant a road trip, so I'm glad to be livin' local for a few days. 

I drove home from Tennessee Friday morning, arriving back at the lake around 1. Hubs and I had a light lunch, I did three loads of laundry, caught up on some paperwork, then got ready for some Friday night fun. 

A really great night out with friends. Those aren't them -ha! We went to a local venue that's part farm-part Airbnb-part cooking class locale. 

We signed up with friends for this month's pizza class. There were twelve of us in total, and the set up is really nice. We started with a simple but super delicious appetizer-baked brie made in ramekins. We put cubed brie, raspberries, blackberries, chopped pistachios, a little bit of a spicy seasoning, and a drizzle of honey and balsamic glaze in ramekins, then baked. 

This picture is pre-bake, but once they came out of the oven the cheese had melted into the berries and the combination was so good! They were served with grilled crostini and I'll definitely be making this at home. I've done baked brie before but I liked the individual servings and the way the melted cheese was contained in a bowl, so more like a dip. 

I wore my pizza sauce colored shirt because I know myself, but they did provide aprons so all's good. The host had made the pizza dough ahead of time so it could proof, but she shared the recipe and the particular flour and yeast she likes to use. We worked the dough and added our toppings, and then they were baked in a pizza oven on the deck that overlooks the farm. 

note to self-purchase a pizza oven 

This isn't my pizza, but I forgot to take a picture of mine before we ate it. Everyone shared their pizzas so we got to taste a variety. We've done pizzas on the Green Egg at home, but we struggle with getting the cook just right. The class used two different ovens but she recommended the Solo brand and I currently have one sitting in my cart on Amazon. 

There was a super creamy homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert with a small chocolate brownie and I want to try the ice cream recipe at home too. Melt in your mouth good! 

It was a fun evening with a nice group of people, lots of chatting, eating, and learning a few helpful tips for our future pizza cooking too. Bonus we were home in time to watch our Vols beat Iowa State to move on to the Elite Eight playoffs in college basketball. 

Course the game started after 10 PM so I snoozed through it and hubs watched and told me they won. Worked for me as I was pooped. 

Saturday we had things to do in the morning. Hubs worked on finishing up some painting in the lower garage that he started while I was away. We have a wall of wooden storage drawers we got when we built the house, and we've wanted to paint them ever since. We didn't pick these out, but our builder knew of another home build where they were not going to use them after all, and asked if we wanted them. 

The drawers hold a lot and are really practical for the space, but while we do love our wood here we have never loved the tone of this particular piece. Plus we already had a gray-ish countertop to use and it clashed with the wood. It's a garage so not a huge deal, but we wanted to make the change. I didn't get a before pic, but you can see the color here- 

 

Hubs used chalk paint and he's meticulous when it comes to painting. He won't like me posting this 'not quite done' picture, but the paint looks great-

Yes those are cassette tapes on top of that counter. They're relegated to the garage though. 

The drawers are now black and look so much better.  They need a clear top coat which will happen this week, and the drawer pulls need to be reattached, but otherwise a project completed. 

While he was busy with that I ran to the library to return a book, the post office to mail a package, and the market to pick up a few things to get us through the weekend and the beginning of the new week. I came home and made an appetizer to take to a neighborhood party that evening. It was tricky and I forgot to snap a photo. 

Basically it was a Caprese tulip garden...here's a link to the picture I'd seen and was inspired by. You x the top of a cherry tomato then stuff the mozzarella pearl inside, pop it on a toothpick, add basil for the leaves and then stick the whole thing in a cucumber slice. It looks like a tulip and when you make thirty of them you have yourself an edible garden. I added a drizzle of olive oil to mine at the end. A couple of tulips tipped over in the transport, but they were all eaten so calling it a win. 

My daughter1 dropped by with her little ones before we left for the party, and we visited with them for a bit before heading up to our clubhouse. It was sunny and I snapped a picture of this 'flock' of turtles on our neigbhor's jet ski dock. This is the local turtle hangout-

Also, a grouping of turtles is called a bale. Who knew? 

Our neighborhood had a casino night in the clubhouse and everyone brought appetizers to share. It's not Vegas so no real gambling, just a fun night with friends. There was roulette, black jack, and bingo and they had the room decorated for the occasion too. 

Sunday morning we went to church and had plans to go to lunch afterwards with my daughter and her kiddos. Her hubs was on call this weekend so was busy doing surgery and didn't make it to church. Anyway, we got in our car after the service to drive to the restaurant and the tire light came on. Yes! Again! Ugh! And yes, it was just last Sunday we had a flat on the way to church. 

Thankfully this one wasn't flat, but it was low so we pulled in to a gas station and hubs discovered a nail in the tire. Not the new tire but still, super annoying. We decided we better go straight home just in case it deflates before we can get a plug put in it tomorrow, so that's what we did. 

We had lunch at home, and watched the Vols sadly get clobbered by Michigan. I worked on my blog a little, but probably not enough. The A-Z challenge starts this week and looks like it will be a blog as you go proposition. Time to sit and blog or just time to think about what to blog has been in short supply this month, so while I have a theme I haven't actually written any of the posts ahead of time. I think most people do, but sometimes I do better with a little pressure. 

That's what I'm telling myself anyway. 

Sunday evening our church had a special night of worship to begin this Holy Week and we were tired, but got ourselves together to go and were so glad we didn't miss this really wonderful service. 

Have a wonderful week everyone!