I'm in Heaven. With My Boyfriend. My Laughing Boyfriend.

Last night was one of those quiet evenings at home that I have had way too few of lately. I came home to find even MORE lilies had bloomed. These are my day lilies and I really love their color.
 

I really needed the nice mellow evening. I got home and read my book on the porch. Then John came out and we had a cocktail. I made dinner after that. John helped me some. He is one of those people who needs to strictly follow a recipe and I am the type that looks at a recipe and then changes it all up. It makes John roll  his eyes, but a lot of things I do have that effect on him.He seems to like to have something to roll his eyes about, so I feel like I'm doing him a favor.

Archie asking for whatever he can get at the cupboard of love.

 With John's help, I made a cheesy shitake mushroom and zucchini quinoa bake and a spinach salad with red raspberries, walnuts and feta cheese. I even made the dressing with red wine vinegar, olive oil, honey and salt and pepper. It was a lovely Summer meal.

Tonight we are headed to Maquoketa, Iowa in order for me to do an adventure race with my brother, who is a canoe racer. If the river isn't too high, we will do an 8 mile canoe, then hop on our bikes and do a 14 mile time trial. Drop off our bikes at the lime kilns and finish with a 5K run. We did this race in 2012 and I didn't realize how long an 8 mile canoe would take (1.5 hours) and didn't fuel or drink any water. By the end of the race, I was completely bonking and dehydrated. This year, I plan to make sure I have  Gu and Shot Blocks that I'll take on the canoe, and a BIG bottle of water. Of course, I was at least 10 lbs thinner the last time I did this race, so who knows how I'll do this time. I think I'll have more fun, because I'm not as worried about my time as I was the last time...Which is most important.

I'm sure the cats will miss us while we're gone...Yeah. Who am I kidding, they'll get their dry food and attention from Stinky and her boyfriend. They won't even care that we're not there.

Have a great weekend, and may you also have fun playing outside.