Summer Fruits & Veggies

A couple of months ago, I got an email from Harris inquiring as to whether or not I would be interested in a summer fruit and veggies program going on in his office. Basically, every week from May to August, we would be getting one basket of fresh fruits, and one basket of fresh veggies, all from local farms. I enthusiastically said "yes!", and have been waiting for our first baskets ever since.

Luckily, the week of the baskets has arrived! I was so excited that I almost forgot to take a picture, but, luckily for you, I dragged everything back out and displayed it nicely!

This week we received: strawberries, and two varieties of apples (although I couldn't tell you which!), spinach, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, collard greens, beets, bok choy, green (spring?) onions, and flat Italian parsley!

I have already put the strawberries, spinach, and swiss chard to good use in smoothies, and romaine and spinach in a salad. I have never cooked a beet before, so I am not sure what I will do there, but I think I might try adding it to a smoothie - I have heard good things, will report back! I am going to cook down the collards later this week, hopefully, but I did use up the bok choy last night in my yummy spicy Asian noodles! I was already planning to cook that this week, and the bok choy was a nice surprise addition!

I am really excited to see what we continue to get throughout the summer, and excited to try some things I wouldn't normally buy (looking at you, beets!).

Where Has the Time Gone

Okay, so for the sake of being redundant, I know I said the same thing last month, but holy wow! How in the world is it September?! You remember being a kid, and feeling like time virtually stood still? And remember how our parents would tell us that time went by faster the older you got? Yeah, I never believed my Mom either, but good freaking grief they weren't lying! On a related note, isn't it funny how many things our parents didn't lie to us about? Like, huh, maybe brussels sprouts really are edible (also, how did I go the majority of my life not knowing there was a silent "s" in that word? Probably because I didn't start eating them til about a year ago).

As always, the month of August, particularly the latter part, was fraught with travel and work for the Ligon clan. Unfortunately, aforementioned travel was not of the fun and leisurely kind, but, we made it through, and are happily chugging along in September. I spent a week in Texas followed by a week in the Northeast (NYC, Jersey, Rhode Island, and Boston to be exact) followed by a week in Chicago (I say Chicago very loosely because I only saw the actual city of Chicago from a distance whilst driving around all the suburbs. Sounds cool, but it really wasn't so much, and I am just so glad to be home this week! While gone, Harris as always worked a ton of hours and was on Lucy duty, which is totally a full-time job in and of itself sometimes. I swear this dog is a little person, and a very demanding one at that.

Since getting home last Thursday evening, I have been on full-on wife mode! I got to have several dates with the hubby this weekend, have cleaned and scrubbed the house, gone grocerying and Targeting, and enjoyed the last drops of summer (although, I would much prefer my last drops of summer in the 80s versus 90s, but beggars can't be choosers, right?). I cannot believe it is almost fall! I do love fall, though. The smells and the colors and the crisp morning air! I really hope we get a decent fall this year - you know the kind that lasts longer than a hot minute. I would like to postpone old man Winter as long as possible, but bring on the 50-60 degrees, I say!

Well, this little post has just turned into quite the ramble - bless you all for taking a meandering walk through my brain with me this morning. Happy Monday that is really a Tuesday! I love short weeks!

All Quiet on the Ligon Front

Y'all. Last week was bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. So please forgive us for the lack of post. We rounded out the birthday celebrations last Monday with a birthday dinner with some friends at 80/20 burger bar, which was, in short, pretty amazing. The place uses only local, grass-fed beef, and has some unique takes on classic and original burger creations. All in all, I would deem Harris' birthdaykkah a success! I hope hubby agrees (I think he does!).

Tuesday morning, I had a 7am flight to Dallas, afternoon meetings in Dallas, and then a 7pm flight to Newark. This is the life of a jetsetta (please to rap in the voice of Young Jeezy). I ended up leaving my Kindle on my flight from DFW to EWR, and I have to give a shout out to American Airlines for helping me get it back the next day (via Twitter)! I was in New Jersey Wednesday and Thursday, and then finally came home Thursday evening to a Tropical Storm Warning! Harris worked all last week (and was on full-time Lucy duty!), so when we had the whole weekend off this past weekend, we definitely took advantage of it!

This past weekend was the Norfolk 37th Annual Harborfest. I don't know about you, but I love a good festival - I think summer was made for festivals! Luckily for us, Norfolk is pretty much the mecca for festivals. There always seems to be some sort of festival going on. Harborfest was really pretty cool - there were a lot of booths set up, tours of tall ships (one of which looked exactly like a real pirate ship, in my opinion), yummy food booths, great music, and, most importantly, sunshine! Saturday was a little weird, just because the weather could not figure out what it wanted to do post-"tropical storm" (weakest tropical storm, of my life!). We hunkered down indoors for the first half of the day, and then, finally, finally, finally, the sun appeared from behind the clouds, and stayed out, so we ventured over and got the lay of the land. and drank fresh squeezed lemonade, of course. There was a cornhole tournament, Virginia wine, and popcorn, and peanuts. A James Bond-esque jet pack party in the water. Music, music, and more music. Everything a festival should be, and more! After getting our feet wet on Saturday, yesterday was just glorious! We headed over early, got a couple gyros (mmm Greek food!), and found just a perfect spot of grass for catching a ZZ Ward performance. We basked in the sunshine (I have the cool tan lines to prove it), and really enjoyed our day. All in all, a wonderful weekend! And now, a few pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Pirate Ship!

Is Captain Jack on board?!

Looking down

A ferris wheel!

ZZ Ward on the MainStage

Also, I know I mentioned that Harris would get his main birthday present sometime next month, but we just couldn't wait, so, ta-da:

We are so excited! We are previous Macbook users (like 1st gen). Mine was stolen when I lived in Dallas, and Harris' is just so, so old, so it was definitely time for an upgrade! Plus with the hubby becoming my cute little grad student next month, we knew we definitely needed something that could get him through the long arduous hours of paper writing that are sure to come! Hubs, I am so, so proud of you, but I do not envy you one little bit! Hopefully you will find this present to be handy as you start your new classes!