oh happy day

your eyes do not deceive you - that is bryan using the dishwasher. in *our* kitchen. because he's super man and hooked up our plumbing this weekend! we now have a fully functional kitchen. hallelujah! i'm still getting used to it, but it's pretty freakin' awesome. i never knew plumbing could be so darn sexy.
we still have some cosmetic things to do (new lights have yet to be installed, backsplash has yet to be tiled, new switch plates have yet to be switched), and we haven't ordered our john boos butcher block work table, but we can now cook AND clean in our kitchen.

bryan and i discussed our options in terms of more all natural eating, and decided now is not the time to invest in half a cow, pig, and new freezer. so saturday, we trooped over to the outpost natural foods co-op and became owners. basically, you buy in a share, and are a part owner. it's a pretty cool set up. everything in the store is "all natural", which can mean a few different things. all the produce is organic, and sourced locally wherever possible. all the meat is hormone and antibiotic free. some of the meat is from certified organic farms, though all is not. the pork and lamb are sourced locally; i cannot remember if the poultry is as well, though i think so. we had fun investigating the store, though we did not do a full shopping trip, so no reports on that yet (we didn't have plumbing at the time and didn't want to risk a fridge full of food). we picked up a few things, and we're pretty excited to continue our shopping adventures there.

this weekend, hannah, oliver, and i went to the state fair with katie and her friend megan. i was worried oliver would be overwhelmed by the crowds and noise, but he absolutely loved it. definitely his daddy's boy. katie and megan had the same agenda we did: fresh squeezed lemonade, roasted corn, the big slide, a few animal bottoms, cream puffs, fudge, salt water taffy. so we mostly ate. you aren't surprised, are you? hannah and oliver got to check out some farm animals, which they both were very impressed by (although, after the first 20 cows, hannah agreed we didn't need to see the other 80). oliver was positively enchanted by the baby chickies, possibly due to them having the same hair style as him. hannah and i braved the giant slide, which i hadn't been on in probably 20 years. it was a lot of fun and hannah was all for a second ride, though not so excited she was willing to ride down alone.
hannah was so happy to finally experience the fair, as she had missed out on it last year. oliver had such a fun time, i just had fun watching him!

he got to discover fudge, which he was extremely excited about (he had his hand pressed against the glass and was oohing and ahhing for about 5 minutes straight, much to the amusement of everyone around), although i'm a mean mommy and didn't give him any. the man who owned the fudge shop let me take a picture of oliver through the display case - priceless! i played with the color and saturation on that picture; carrie is always doing that and i love her pictures!
all in all, it was a great afternoon.

more pictures in the new august gallery.

sunday, adrianne made it into town after some very long travels from south africa into washington d.c. to cleveland, oh and finally to wisconsin. everyone was so excited to see her again! hannah, katie, adrianne, and i did a quick shopping trip at the mall to find some things for the wedding: shoes (adrianne found some; i bought a pair but i'm not thrilled with them so i'm returning them), shirts for bryan (an embroidered linen one) and oliver (a white polo), and bras for our dresses (which shannon was more than happy to sell us). we rushed back to mom and dad's house for dinner; mom made mojo pork kebabs, grilled pineapple, salad, and parsleyed potatoes, with grilled peaches filled with raspberries and brown sugar for dessert. all the veggies were from our collective gardens, and the potatoes were from the farmer's market, so that was neat.

i am happy to say... now that i have a kitchen back, i can begin the what's for dinner segment of my blog again! ahhh, normalcy.

WFD: we're having the girls over for a pre-wedding, sisters only dinner. i'm making grilled pork chops (using all natural, hormone free, antibiotic free, local pork from the outpost) with mexican bbq sauce (an idea which is still developing in my mind), grilled yellow squash and zucchini (from our garden), and pasta with olive oil, garlic, and nasturtium flowers (from the garden as well). shannon is making a fruit crisp for dessert. so happy.