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I’m getting so lazy with these blog entries lately, I know.  Sorry.  I don’t even have any good excuses.

Had a lovely time at Standing Stone State Park.  We got there on Wednesday, around 4:30 (after taking an hour detour — an hour because as it turned out, the bridge leading to the cabins was closed and we had to find our way via trial and error to the north entrance….it was a very interesting drive in).  For dinner Stephen made filet mignon, haricot vert with toasted almonds, and roasted potatoes (with garlic, etc) — while I started Rebecca.  Which I decided to read instead of a new book, because I just love it so much.  Had some red wine – maybe a Cabernet Sav? – with dinner, which paired just beautifully with the steak and beans and potatoes.  Man it was good.

I had anticipated that the weather would be precipitous the whole time we were away – but Thursday ended up being dry and intermittently sunny, even.  It was a pleasant surprise, even though I was going to enjoy whatever weather we ended up having.  The cabin had a gas fireplace and I brought plenty of candles – so we were well prepared for rainy days.

Thursday breakfast was the only meal that we forgot to photograph, unfortunately.  I made biscuits, gravy, eggs with neufchatel, and sausage patties.  Obviously it was delicious, even though I had forgotten to bring a gravy recipe and ended up just pretending that I knew how to make it.  (Turns out, I do.)  After breakfast, we both spent time sitting outside on the partly-sunny patio, reading or writing.  Made potato soup with grilled cheese (and I did go a bit overboard on the cheese in this meal, as soup had yellow cheddar and grilled cheese had white cheddar and brie), which was delicious even though we weren’t completely hungry yet.  Breakfast was hearty.

After lunch, we went out to this tiny little town to get some s’mores supplies, then when we got back took a little trek down to the lake and over to the dam.  Was a lovely little trail, and an adorable dam.  Stephen took pictures of the dam but I don’t feel like uploading everything, so if you want to see feel free to google.  I still need to google it actually, because it was so quaint and vintage-looking that we were both really curious as to when it was built…..

Got back from hiking, read some more, took showers, and ended up eating dinner pretty late.  I made fried chicken, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, and deviled eggs.  Meant to make more green beans but completely forgot all about them.

Which was just as well, as it was SO MUCH FOOD OMG.  All delicious, but after eating one piece of chicken, a few bites of potatoes, and a couple deviled eggs, I couldn’t even fit anything else in my stomach at all.  So much for getting s’mores.

Breakfast on Friday was pancakes a la Stephen, with neufchatel and berries, and bacon.

Man.  It was good.  I forgot to take any pictures of the cabin, and Stephen only took one, but it was really the cutest little cabin ever.  Three rooms plus a bathroom, and the living room/bedroom were floor to ceiling wood paneling, with lots of windows looking into the woods.  The kitchen and bathroom were white plaster but still very cute.  I just loved it.  Would not at all mind living in a cabin like that, although it would mean downsizing a whole hell of a lot.

Much to my surprise, Saturday was pie day (3.14), so I made a berry pie, and calzones (er, pizza pies) for dinner.  So much good food last week.

We did a few other things this weekend….like going to the symphony, putting together Stephen’s grill, walking to a Mexican restaurant for margaritas, grocery shopping, sleeping in, going to Fido on Sunday morning, watching Tina Fey’s new Netflix show, etc.  Overall it was a really great 5-day weekend (for me), though I haven’t quite finished Rebecca yet.  Soon!

I’m thinking that I might made a pit stop to Beaman Park after work today, since the sun is setting around seven now.  This weather is so fleeting that I fear I’ll regret not getting out and enjoying it as much as I can.

I decided that I’m feeling awake enough to skip the nap.  Plus I got kinda busy, so that helps.

Also discussed meal stuff with Stephen some so here is the current plan.  For breakfast, I’m doing eggs, sausage patties, gravy, and biscuits.  Might throw in some fruit for good measure.  I mean, you know.  For lunch I’m thinking grilled cheese (will likely get some delicious bread and stuff like brie and cheddar) and potato soup.  This means we should have pancakes and bacon on Thursday morning so that we can fry extra bacon for the potato soup.  So sausage and biscuits on Friday.  Anyway.  For dinner I’m doing fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, mac and cheese maybe, green beans maybe, corn on the cob (or not), maybe.  I’m sorry, but I adore mac and cheese from a box.  Buuut maybe could do something homemade.  Hm.

OK, fine.  I’ll make the mac and cheese from scratch.  Hmph.  And if I’m doing that, I’ll do green beans to go with it.  Don’t want the plate to be ONLY yellow and brown.

There’s going to be a lot of cheese and butter in this cabin.  Yuuuum.  Now I want to do deviled eggs too, but Stephen doesn’t like them.  That DOES mean more for me, though.  Will have to think about this…..

seriously, this coffee is NOT kicking in.  and I’ve had at least a good cup so far.  don’t really want to go make any more either because it doesn’t exactly taste great.  I keep taking my jacket off because I’m too warm, then putting it back on in 5 minutes because I’m too cold.  gah.

going to have to actually mail those boots back, dammit.  well, whatever.  there are worse things.

I’m trying to decide what books to bring with me this week.  I need a good novel to immerse myself in, and my first instinct is to bring either Jane Eyre or Rebecca.  But I’m also thinking that I should perhaps read a book I haven’t already read multiple times, too.  Like Master and Margarita, or some Nabokov novel.  Will probably bring that book of Nabokov short stories though, and also the Bill Nye book I still haven’t finished.  I also recently bought a Vonnegut book I’ve never read (Jailbird I think is what it’s called), so could bring that.  I may go study my library later today.

Also need to plan some meals.  I suggested that we each take one meal, so I have one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner to figure out.  the cabin has a kitchen and an outside grill, so my options are pretty wide.  I have a lunch idea already – grilled cheese and soup.  Ooh, looks like it’s supposed to rain later this week – which would make for perfect cabin/reading/soup weather.  Must add candles to my packing list.

What do I want to do for breakfast?  Eggs, sausage, gravy, biscuits?  French toast?  Pancakes?

What about dinner?  Steaks?  Chicken and dumplins?  Burgers?  Pork tenderloin?  Fried chicken?  Any of these would be delicious, dammit.  How am I supposed to pick?  Also, all I had for breakfast was a packet of instant oatmeal so now I’m practically starving.

also my feet are super cold.  and I’m thinking about going home on my lunch break to take a nap.  I might actually do that.  a nap sounds so lovely…..

ok so tentatively, assuming Stephen doesn’t come up with the same ideas.  breakfast of eggs, sausage, gravy, and biscuits.  (plan b is french toast.)  lunch of grilled cheese and tomato caprese spinach soup.  dinner of steak, asparagus, potatoes, maybe something else.  (plan b for dinner is fried chicken, potatoes, maybe some fried apples, maybe asparagus or some other green)

ok, right.  damn I’m cold.  jacket is currently on, too.

It was a good weekend, and I am still sore.

Stephen’s birthday was yesterday, so we sort of celebrated all weekend.  On Friday evening, we watched Tree of Life – which I hadn’t seen, but thought was gorgeous.  I think I need to see it a few more times to really be able to understand everything that’s going on in the movie, but even still it was beautiful and tragic.

Saturday was a lazy morning, and in the afternoon we went to Old Navy for a few things….then Books A Million (because I wanted to get the latest National Geographic, and also why not?)….then to my house to pick up a package.  I had ordered some new boots (old ones are having fairly serious issues), and when I opened the box and tried them on I discovered that I could only get the left boot onto my foot.  Right boot was having nothing to do with it.  *sigh*  Soooo am going to have to return those and see if I can swap them out for a larger size.  Hoping that I can do that here in town without having to mail them back.

For dinner, we met Stephen’s friend Roger for sushi.  Roger’s the one who plays in the symphony and gets us free tickets (er, well, I suppose he gets STEPHEN free tickets, to be more precise) — and actually volunteered to get us tickets for this Friday as well.  I really like this guy – he is so likable and genuine.  Had a good time with him at dinner.  After, we went to the bowling alley where we waited about an hour for a lane (Saturday night and all, and they don’t take reservations).  I will definitely admit that I was dreading this part of the evening, as it’d been forever since I bowled last, and never once have I enjoyed bowling.  But I was going to try to be a trooper and bowl at least one game.  Well, ended up bowling five (which is why I am still sore), and I ACTUALLY WON TWO GAMES.  I know, right??  What?!  How??  I don’t know.  I can’t explain it.  But here’s proof of at least one of the games.

(The “M” is for “MILHO” which is a Simpsons reference……..which I doubt anyone reading this will get, come to think of it.)

No idea I was even capable of bowling over 100.  Huh.  So weird.  Stephen’s friend Andy showed up during our 3rd game, which was about when they turned on the black lights and disco balls, and I think Stephen won both of those games.  But still.  Nevertheless.

So then yesterday, we went to Fido in the morning, where I read the cover story of that National Geographic (recommend btw).  Then we moseyed over to Village Pub for happy hour on the patio, which was lovely.  They have the best herbed-chicken-with-goat-cheese stuffed pretzels.  OMG.  So good.  Since the weather was so nice (grey, but comparatively warm, and after all the ice and snow we’ve had, 50’s feels like magic) – so we went to Shelby Bottoms and walked around a bit before going back to Stephen’s for about an hour, then heading over for a jazz show in the Gulch.

Anyway.

It was a good weekend, like I said, but I am still sore.  I can blame several factors for being so tired this morning, but mostly I just want to go to bed early tonight.  Like, 9pm.  That sounds lovely.

I’m feeling better about this Monday than most, though, because I only have a two-day work week; I’m taking off Wednesday through Friday and we’ve rented a cabin in Standing Stone park…somewhere north of Cookeville.  Oh, I think I may have mentioned this already.  But it’s two days away and I’m excited about being in the middle of nowhere for a few days.  It’s going to be lovely, regardless of the weather.  🙂

Well!  It’s been an interesting weekend/week so far.  The actual WEEKEND was great; we went to see Grand Budapest Hotel at the Belcourt on Friday, then went to the ballet on Saturday, and had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (because we were at TPAC and I had a sudden craving for spaghetti and meatballs).  Sunday we went to Fido in the morning, then to the Belcourt to see Wild (which made me want to immediately go backpacking), and then we went to a choral concert that afternoon.  So pretty full and very good weekend.  Stephen came over to my house on Sunday evening, and work ended up being closed on Monday because of all the ice we got, so we basically hung out at home.  He read, I made this (top) Moleskine cover for myself, after being jealous of Stephen’s cover (bottom) the last couple of months.

Since I made that one for myself but liked it so much, decided to make another one for Etsy —

So pretty.  I just love this golden ratio graph.  Mm.

Speaking of Etsy, things are going quite well.  I’ve made 4 sales total, and have another person waiting on me to finish another apothecary’s satchel.  They also asked if I can make other leather things, like wrist guards.  Will have to think about the answer to that question………….

Anyway, so yes.  Very gratifying to be paid to make things.

Yesterday for dinner, I made this squash carbonara —-

Sorry, picture isn’t the best.  It was dark in the room but i didn’t want to use the flash.  Anyway – I had never made a carbonara before, and it turned out pretty well!  Instead of pancetta I used bacon, and instead of lemon zest I used grapefruit zest.  Both worked perfectly.

The sunset last night was really gorgeous.

I know this is kind of a disorganized blog entry……..since I’m back at work today for the first time since last Friday, I keep getting distracted by phone calls.  Just wanted to document my weekend somewhat, though.

Another day at work!  I’m not sure why, but I’m feeling better and more alert than I was yesterday, which is always nice.  Less nice is the fact that I keep thinking today is Wednesday, but I’ll get over that.

Last night we made breakfast for dinner (biscuits, sausage, and scrambled eggs w/ shallots and spinach and cream cheese) and ate while watching Groundhog Day (what else?).  Was a good evening.  We were both wiped out for God knows why, but I think I’m the only one who got any sleep.  I do still have bags under my eyes this morning, though.  Will continue ignoring the mirror.  Alternatively, could start wearing makeup.  Hm.

I’m ALMOST done with Cold Mountain.  I was one page before the epilogue last night when Stephen walked in the door, and had to put it down.  I’m nervous about finishing it though; I very much suspect that it’s not going to end the way I want it to end.  Such is life, I suppose.  And I appreciate books that don’t allow you to foster naive expectations of reality.  But on the other hand, is it too much to ask for Inman and Ada and Ruby to all be happy together, tending their gardens and orchard and chickens and goats and the like?  Grumble.

Just ordered some veg tan that’s cheaper than Tandy Leather’s – but it’s from an online company and I’m slightly nervous about not being able to actually touch and feel the leather before buying it.  Oh well….how bad can it be?  I’ll let you know.  I have been wanting to make more projects using this thick type of leather (as opposed to the stuff that’s more upholstery/garment weight) but was running out.  Not that you care.  But.

Stephen has to do some final edits on an essay tonight, and I’m not sure if he’ll be finished when I get off work (doubt it), which means that when I get home I’ll need to really try hard not to play too much Skyrim instead of cleaning the kitchen or starting a new project.  I mean, if I just paid over $100 for a side of leather, I need to be able to make that back at least.  Have made back the money I spent on that whole cow I bought a few weeks ago, but not really much more, so I do need to buckle down.  Could probably churn out some small projects pretty quickly, actually.  Hm, maybe I’ll draw up some templates for that stuff today — like the clutch I gave Rosa for Christmas, for example.  Yeah, good idea.

OK, another blog entry successfully helps me direct my plans for the day — yay for writing!

So I’m doing this custom camera bag for someone, and I ordered a tool to use for burnishing leather edges last week which STILL hasn’t gotten here.  I’m kind of wishing I’d just gone to Tandy Leather even though it’s not super convenient.  Eh, oh well.

Am getting excited about the camera bag nevertheless, and already want to make more.  I think I undercharged for this one and if I make additional bags for Etsy or something, will charge more.  Still getting the feel for how much to charge on things!

Last night, instead of doing anything productive, I played Skyrim and then sort of worked on some oak leaves while watching Seinfeld.  Mostly I watched Seinfeld though.  It was a relaxing evening.  Tonight I’ll actually be piecing stuff together though, which does count as being productive.  I thought about taking pictures of the process of making this camera bag and posting a bit of a tutorial, but that seems like a whole lot of work and I’m liable to forget to stop for pictures which would result in incomplete instructions.  Hm, that might actually not be bad.

Stupid Skyrim.  I wasn’t even thinking about it, until I mentioned it above and remembered where I stopped last night.  I’m doing the Dragonborn quest in Solstheim with ol’ Herma Mora.  This character (Bjean) is at level 40 or 41 or something, and I’ve been in Solstheim before (in fact, Talvas Fathryon – Neloth’s student – was my follower for a long time and is now my Steward back in Skyrim) but just hadn’t ever started the Miraak quest.  I like having a decent bow before I go into the Apocrypha…..  Last save was right after entering Apocrypha; I even have a handful of Black Books but haven’t even used them yet.  Blast.

But anyway.  Can totally save that for some other time when I don’t need to be productive.