An Excellent Low-Fat Way to Use Up Some Garden Veggies AND...

***UPDATE BELOW*** A WEDDING! :) But first - the veggies. ;) Last Monday I wrote an article on FoodieView regarding more recipes using fresh from the garden or farmer's market produce. I highlighted some amazing recipes, so go check it out and click on the links - you won't be disappointed. :) I also made mention of this Antipasto Salsa that I made from a Cooking Light recipe. I subbed our garden cucumbers for the zucchini as Hubbs won't eat raw zucchini (such a wus!) and hearts of palm for the artichokes.. but the rest of the recipe I stayed true. It was fabulous and I've made it 3 times since, each time it's eaten quickly. The last time I made it, I added some corn that I bought from a roadside stand and roasted on the grill - it was a terrific addition to the recipe. I urge ya'll to try this - even if you aren't a big salsa fan, this recipe could be used as a chop salad side dish as it's not very liquid-y as many salsas are. Speaking of vegetables.. I'm getting married! squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D (okay so my getting married has nothing to do with vegetables but I couldn't think of a good segue.) :P After almost 9 years, and my belief of why fix what's not broken? Hubbs and I have decided to make it legal. :) Why now? Because, yeah, after all this time he and I ARE married.. we don't have a piece of paper saying it's legit, but I can guarantee this is a marriage for sure. We're an old married couple actually. The honeymoon has been over for YEARS. hahahahaaa! I guess the best answer I can give is that when I hit 40 - which I had always believed was just a number and nothing else - things did change for me, to my surprise. My way of thinking, mainly. Lots of "life's too short" popping into my thoughts these days. When he asked me to marry him 3 years ago, I happily accepted, but we didn't push the issue.. we had already made a commitment to each other and we're happy so that's all that mattered, yes? Yeah, 40. Wow.. So I've been thinking about it and decided that HOLY SHIT I DO want to get married. I want that band around my finger.. I want our commitment to each other to be shared by God and the rest of the world. Damn.. I want a big party afterwards too. heeee! He was at his brother's cabin a couple Sundays ago.. their mother had just passed so they were spending a quiet weekend together reminiscing and working through their grief. You know, the way men grieve.. by fishing and drinking beer? :) However they go about dealing with it doesn't matter, what mattered is that they WERE dealing with it and I was proud of him for it.. sometimes he bottles things up and I don't like that. He's not a screamer like I am. :P That same day my mom came over and we sat and talked for hours - something we haven't done in a long time, it felt great. Somehow the subject of marriage came up and she says to me, "Lisa, why don't you two just do it for crissakes?? I know he loves you. I know you love him. You've been together for years and will be together for the rest of your years, so why don't you just do it??" I told her I'd think about it. I do love him, very much. I can't imagine life without him next to me - he truly is my best friend - so yeah, I'd definitely think about it (as if I hadn't been already). Mom left about 30 minutes later. It took me about 5 minutes after she left for me to call him and say, "So.. I've been thinking.. wanna get married?" hahahahaaaaaa! He didn't miss a beat when he said, "Yeah, for 3 years now" So how is that for romantic? I'm sittin' on our sofa in my pajamas, he's got a fishing pole in one hand and his cell phone in the other hand as we decide to finally get married. :) Nope, no one can accuse me of being a traditional kinda gal! November 7th and 8th are the days. Days? 'kay well, neither of us are very religious so a church wedding isn't a priority for us. We want to get married by the Justice of the Peace and then throw a huge bash afterwards in celebration. We're all about the party, yanno! ;) The original plan was to get married the morning of the 8th and then throw the reception that evening (which, btw, I will be catering myself - well with the help of some very special friends that is).. but as fate would have it - our J of P is taking classes this semester and is UNAVAILABLE on Saturday! HAHAHAHAHAAAA! So he asked if we minded having the ceremony Friday night instead. My first reaction was, "Screw you butthead. We'll find someone else." but then I got to thinking and realized that by actually getting married Friday night, I'd have all day Saturday to put this bash on, instead of getting up early and getting all prettied up for the ceremony, then dashing home afterwards to get unpretty and start cooking.. now I can even sleep in a bit on Saturday (as if my dogs would let me) and not have to worry about anything other than crankin' this thing out. Ahhh yes.. fate. Sometimes you just have to love it. :D So a nice ceremony Friday evening, followed by a nice dinner out. This will be attended by some of the most important people in my life. Although we are going to have the ceremony performed by the J of P, I am still having a bridal party.. not so much because I wanted a lil tradition in my marriage, but because I wanted these people to be standing next to me when I say "I do!" I've been blessed to have my mom with me and both a Matron of Honor (one of my oldest and dearest friends, Kim), a Maid of Honor (my sister, Sam) and two bridesmaids (well, one of them doesn't know yet as she's off galavanting in the old country, so shhhh) Ivonne is back from Italy, so I finally got to ask her and she has agreed to be my bridesmaid! YAY!! Hubbs has asked his brother to stand up with him, and that just tickles me pink - I love him as if he were my own brother. Oh and that first bridesmaid I mentioned.. you might be familiar with.. she writes a lil blog about her phenomenal baking but much more importantly she is MY baking guru. :) Helene of Tartelette. AND if that wasn't blessing enough.. Helene is also going to bake and design our wedding cake!! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! How fakkin lucky am I?? :D And if all of that wasn't amazing enough, the hall will be decorated by two incredibly special men in my life. They've both got impeccable taste and I know the hall will be stunning. I CANNOT wait! So that's my news, kids - as if I needed another excuse to neglect this here lil blog o'mine.. I can guarantee you won't be hearing much from me for another 3 months as I've 12 fakkin short weeks to make a party for 100 or so guests come together. Leave it to me, to wait 9 years to finally make the leap, and then schedule said leap RIGHT NOW. har! xoxo

Tartelette's Traveling Eggs Meme!

HAR! Eggs.. that travel! These eggs are special.. and crocheted. Yes, you heard me correctly!! I am the proud recipient of Helene's Traveling Eggs! You can read about them here, but I shall attempt to explain the situation quickly here.. Helene saw these cute lil eggs on Hannah's Bittersweet blog and knew she had to have them - course when they finally arrived and after she and her hubby had marveled over the extreme cuteness of them, they both wondered what the hell to do with them. Sure she could set them on a counter somewhere, but would that really do them justice? I mean c'mon.. look how cute!! And so in a flash of brilliance, she decided that it'd be fun to package these lil babies up and start a traveling meme. I am the lucky gal who got them first and I shall be sending them along to some unsuspecting, yet gorgeous! blogging friend. The only rules of the meme are to sign the carton with your name and blog name (I added a short message because, hello? I couldn't keep anything short and sweet to save my freakin' life.), enjoy them for a few days and then pass them along - but always keep the secret of who you passed them along to. After you've done that, blog about it with a photo (or two) of the eggs with something that represents you or your blog.. I chose Nigel. :D That photo of him on my desktop was actually taken by Helene when she was here and it's one of my most favorite photos of him.. could he be any cuter? I think not! So be checking your mailboxes.. you might just be the next lucky recipient of a 1/2 dozen adorable traveling eggs! :D

It's All Done With Mirrors...

Dear Sweet Baby Jebus. Yet ANOTHER Daring Baker conquest. Wait! Hold on.. I gotta go look up "conquest"... 1: the act or process of conquering Mmmm hmmm.. okay that's a good word. Yes this was a conquest because it involved several highly scary steps, especially to a novice baker like myself. But! Because I AM a Daring Baker, I knew I could rise to this challenge and come out the other side hootin' and hollerin' VICTORY!!! But.. uhh.. just to play it safe, I asked a Tartelette to come help me. squeeeeeeeee! As most of you are aware by now (and if you aren't - where the freeg have you been?), Helene came to visit me for 5 glorious days of shopping, eating, baking, eating, cooking, exercising and eating. And during two of those days, we made this month's Daring Baker challenge recipe, a strawberry "mirror" cake, chosen by my favorite Queen of All That Is Fattening and Sugary - Gracie. Or some of you might know her as Peabody. Yes, my Gracie was this month's hostess with the mostess and the Strawberry Mirror Cake recipe she chose came from "Cakes and Pastries At The Academy by the California Culinary Academy 1993". When I first saw this, I instantly remembered a cake recipe I'd seen on either allrecipes.com or recipezaar.com which was a raspberry mirror cake and although I didn't save that recipe (way to scary for me) it stayed with me. So I guess I had mixed feelings when I read Gracie's choice. On one hand I was tickled pink as there were no fakkin crepes to mess with, but on the other hand, sponge cake? bavarian cream? strawberry gelatin? God. I kinda eyed my fancy, still pretty much brand spankin' new, French crepe pan with a new appreciation for it. :P Soooooo.. what did I think about this cake, eh? I thought about maybe playing it off as a not so bad of an experience because I didn't want to hurt Gracie's feelings.. but I think I've made it pretty damn clear by now - my most dreadful experiences are usually my most favorite. And besides, this would have nothing to do with Gracie and her wondefulness.. this would have to do with how one single person can still f*ck up a cake even with a French Pastry Chef standing 2 inches to her right. GOD. Okay to be truthful, I don't remember much as this was the longest cake baking session of ALL TIME. Not that that's a bad thing - it was a great thing! Helene and I did more chatting (and sauce & ball making) than anything else that first day and I remember it with great fondness. Uhh aside from my barking footsies. You know, other than my bladder (which is thimble sized apparently), my feet are the smallest things about me.. and let me tell you, my friends, once they start feeling "unhappy" well, they don't let you forget it for a fakkin second. Although, to be fair we did accomplish a lot that day.. kinda. I remember wine? Anyhoo.. there are several steps to a mirror cake, I've learned. The first is the sponge cake. Now from hearing from my fellow Daring Baker chicas and chicos, this cake wasn't easy for some. For me (us) it wasn't a problem. I believe it was due to that French gal and her egg beating abilities. My (our) cakes came out nice and fluffy, although slightly over done. HEY we were chatting!! Those set aside, I (we) started on the bavarian cream. Here's where the nightmare started. Okay well.. the actual making of the bavarian cream was not a problem. We (I) had no problems with the gelatin setting too quickly over the strawberry puree. I (we) might have given it a lil stir, I can't recall. But I have no recollection of any one part of this bavarian cream making going wrong. It poured nicely over the slightly dry (shutit!) sponge cake and was just enough to cover the cake completely yet still leaving enough room on the top for the "mirror". I (we) put it in the fridge to set up over night because well.. did I mention my barkin footsies? Sauce? Meatballs? W.I.N.E.? Yeah it was time to pack it in for the night, have a lil din-din and get some sleep. Oh, I should probably mention, (now keep in mind we still had the final step to finish) we started this challenge around 1:30 in the afternoon and we didn't finish it until 10 pm that night. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA! I TOLD YOU it was the longest cake making session EVER. Next morning we were up and at it early (NOT) - 'kay once we (I) dragged our (my) dead arses out of the office and into the shower it was probably already 10ish. We still needed to run up to the store because we ran out of gelatin when making the bavarian cream and couldn't finish the "mirror" part without it. Suffice to say, that the actual mirror layer was a breeze to make (I think some French gal did it?) and I was already focused on macarons. Dudes! She taught me macarons!! WOOO!! Our (my) challenge cake was set back into the fridge to set up and we had planned on cutting into it that night after dinner. Blah blah macarons blah blah deee blah blah buttercream blah blah blah dee blah blah crunchedy light and fluffy shells blah blah blah lemon-ginger dee blah blah later.. the dinner dishes were done and it was time to cut the cake!!! We were all quite excited at the prospect of this.. as my sis and mom were there and had heard so much about the cake. heeeeeeee. So I (we) took it out and warmed up the ring on the springform before gently removing it.. it left some "scars" on the sides, but we chose to ignore this.. what we couldn't ignore was, uhmm.. the color. At least I couldn't quite get past it and I did a quick search for my sunglasses. Mmmm hmmm what was a gorgeous shade of light pink when put into the refrigerator the night before had turned both dark and yet bright over night. I'd say.. somewhere between magenta and Pepto Bismol. Certainly not the light "strawberry kissed" shade of pink that the cake in the photo looked like. But that's okay - after all I was born and raised under the motto of "Who cares what it looks like as long as it tastes good!" And so slicing commenced. As I passed a plate of hot pink cake to each family member I thought to myself, "Hmmm.. this bavarian cream feels as if I'm slicing through Jell-o". So I gave the platter a lil shimmie shake and the whole cake kinda bloobled and wiggled. Not really knowing what that would mean as far a texture goes, we all grabbed forks and took ourselves a great big bite of hot pink... melted erasers? I was sitting across the table from my mom.. and the look on her face, really was priceless. My sister politely put down her fork and dabbed at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. I kinda poked at it a bit and went in for another forkful hoping I'd just hit up on a spot where maybe the gelatin didn't dissolve completely. Nope, not so lucky. The texture of my (our) cake was rather spongey but yet also quite rubbery. The cake layers themselves, were about as dry as the Mojave, but they were light and fluffy. So that's good, right? Now the mirror part.. well that part I scraped off the rest of my slice and ate it by itself. It was the best strawberry jello I've ever had. The party broke up soon after and I tried my hardest to pack up a few slices (and by a few slices I mean half the cake) for my mom but she ran out of the house with her arms clamped firmly to her sides. I eyed both Nigel and Chloe who were looking at me with this glint of hope in their eyes, but I just could not give them any. I love my dogs. So what the hell went wrong? I don't know.. I originally thought it was because we let the bavarian cream set up too long by keeping it in the fridge over night and most of the next day. But, from reading comments left by other Daring Bakers, others had left their cakes in the fridge for that long - or longer - and they didn't seem to get the rubber sponge effect. And then I though, "Oh No. The gelatin measurement was a typo. It wasn't suppose to be 4 (FOUR) 2 1/2 (Why the hell I wrote FOUR TBS is a mystery. Sorry, I must have lost my mind for a brief moment. hee) tablespoons!!" So I wrote to Gracie and asked if that was a possibility. Bless her cotton socks, she went back to the book to check but it was the correct measurement. She made good sense by saying that the bavarian cream needed to be stiff to hold the mirror. I'm convinced that my (our) bavarian cream rose above and beyond the stiff factor. And let's not forget that spongey texture too (not the actual sponge cake, but the cream was spongey).. what the hell happened there, I have no idea. The good news is.. this can't be an all bad recipe, because it's sounding like my bad experience wasn't the experience of many of the others. Hell one gal (you're going to have to go read to find out who!) won 3rd place in a bake-off contest with her Strawberry Mirror Cake! I'm so damn proud of her. =) Do you think I'd be nominated for a "Most Outstanding Use of Photoshop" award? :P But all in all, this was a fantabulous experience for me. I learned how to make a sponge cake - and seriously, if we hadn't been chit chatting and not paying attention, we would have taken it out on time and it would have been superb. It had a really good flavor - although if there ever was another time I'd make this I would pour the soaking liquid on it after poking holes all through the layers. That might have helped with the dryness of over baking it. And really? What more could I ask for.. I had one of my closest and dearest friends with me the whole time, making me forget about my barkin' feet, causing my face to be in constant smile mode, and just generally feeling damn happy that I started this blogging hobby of mine 16 months ago. =) Okay.. so here's the deal, kids.. we no longer have individual Daring Baker blogrolls on our personal blogs. We've decided to create a blog to specifically house the "official" Daring Baker blogroll that we can update constantly. So will still point to my right sidebar, which will direct you to a link which will bring you to the list of our active and gorgeous members. Woot! Whatcha waiting for?? Go read! :D xoxo

Oh great, I have to eat the chicken..

I've been neglecting my preshus bloggie. =( You'd think with all of the extra time of relaxation and leisure that I've enjoyed this past week while on vaykay that I'd be posting every day! Nope.. didn't quite work out that way - I had a Tartelette to keep me company for FIVE days!! And then the weather was gorgeous for the rest of the week so I spent most of my time putzin' around in the yard and playing with the dogs as well as catching up on some reading while lounging on our swing by our pond. Heaven. Absolute Heaven. *happy sigh* So what does one do with their very own Tartelette for five days? Well there's a lot of giggling that goes on.. and some huge belly laughs too. Of course there is cooking and baking - lots of cooking and baking. Some wine drinking, and by some I mean 7 dead soldiers laying in our recycle bin. You know, why the hell do they make the wine glasses SO BIG if they aren't going to Econo-size the fakkin bottles?? WTF? *ahem* Hubbs and I picked Helene up at the airport Thursday night and let me tell you, from the second I saw her standing on the curb I knew we were going to have a great time. Any nerves I had completely disappeared. Wanna know why? Because right from that moment I started laughing. Ohhh the look on her face when she saw our vehicle and me, most likely, with a huge slap-happy grin on my face pointing at her as if she was some cool animal on display at the zoo. "Look honey! Right there! Right there! There she is!!" She had this not-quite comprehending look on her face, as I'm jumping up and down in my car seat, as well as this half-wave, half uhhh-is-that-you? jesture going. Priceless. Simply priceless. Then she had to deal with him hitting the brakes and me jumping outta the car at her like some crazy woman. Had I been her, I probably would have dropped a load in my pants and started to cry for my mommie. I grabbed her and gave her a hug and Hubbs grabbed her bags and put them in the back, then we hopped back into the car and from that minute we started chirping. Dear Lord, if he wanted to get a word in he would have been highly disappointed. heee! I don't even remember what the hell we talked about on the way home, other than Paula Deen. Bless her, ya'll. =) Helene brought me Paula's magazine, which I had no idea existed! Me! Paula's number one fan and the woman that would like to take her out for a glass of butter! Course I flipped through the pages but didn't really comprehend much as I had HELENE in the back seat. Holy cow! We got home and she got a very quick introduction to Nigel and Chloe.. if I remember correctly, I don't think she even got in the door before they were all over her. So her first impression of my house was ca-razzeeee dogs (just like their mama) and me screaming at Chloe to "GET DOWN. FOR CHRISSAKES CHLOE GET DOWN!!" Yeah, we're an impressive bunch alright. Things are kinda blurry here too.. I don't know exactly what went on next.. I think there was wine involved. I know we went out to the back by the pond and sat on the swing for a bit.. and then it was like 9:30 already and we were hungry, so we took her to a lil grille and had a fabulous dinner of sauteed perch on their patio. For which half of it I had to stand as my lower back was screaming. That was the only suck thing about the whole time.. my back. Ugh. I still don't know how I hurt it, I was probably going one way and my flab went the other way causing my back to wrench. God. Anyhoo... home we went where Hubbs promptly went to bed (he had to work the next day - MUAHAHAHAHAHAA!!) and she and I stayed up until 1ish just chit chatting. Again, there might have been wine involved? Friday we putzed around and slowly got ready then off we went to the Trader Joe's. I was so focused on getting her there, because that was the one thing she wanted to do while up here, that I completely forgot right next to the TJ's was a Sur La Table.. I so forgot about it that I was kinda startled when she squealed and pointed to it. heheeee Luckily we found some good bargains - well some better than others as I spent $30.00 on a salad spinner that I probably could have got at Linens-N-Things for $20.00, but I was caught up in the awe and wonderment. So's we're browsing around the store looking high and low for good buys when I come to a display of KICK ASS glass tumblers (horrible picture of them) and margarita glasses.. hand blown glass, complete with the lil air bubbles that I love in glassware, as well as a ribbon of different colors blown in around the middle - gorgeous.. and so begging to feed my glassware addiction. I fondled a few of them - wanting very much to bring one up to my cheek for a cuddle, when the sales lady comes over and starts telling me how I "need" these glasses. Helene came over to see what I was drooling over and when I said, with eyes as big as saucers, "I covet these glasses", she joins in with the sales lady and tells me that I need them.. "Maybe I'll just buy two", I say. The whole time I'm wonderin' which method Hubbs will use when he kills me if I buy any more glassware.. but they were gorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrjusssssss. So the next thing I hear is Helene telling me that two wasn't enough and that I "needed" four - as she was putting them into our basket! It was like she knew I'd die a slow and painful death if I did not purchase those that I covet, so she made the decision for me. Bless her cotton socks. Not to mention, she was now my scapegoat when Hubbs saw them - "She MADE me do it!!!" heeee! She checks out first and she puts the glasses up on the counter and I'm like, "those are mine!" to the cashier, when Helene says, "Ohhh noooo I'm buying these for you!" and then this look comes across her face and she says, "What? Did you think I was actually forcing you to buy 4 glasses?" HAHAHAHAAA! Well no, I didn't really think she was forcing me, I really thought she just read my mind and new how sad I'd be if I didn't buy them so she just gave me that lil push I needed and dammit, I'd do that for a friend too! So's I try to explain that to her, trying not to sound like an asshole and make her think I thought she was forcing me.. and well.. I shut up and she bought me four TO DIE FOR glass tumblers that I covet (as well as fondle each day). Was that toooo sweet, or what?? Thank you Helene and B! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new glasses. =) xoxo Next we went to the TJ's and had a blast in there.. she got some items that she could take back with her and I bought way too much, as per usual. We spent a good hour in there, I'd say, and once we finally left we decided we were hungry, so we drove over to a nearby Italian chain (Bravo!) for a nice lunch of fried calamari and chop salads. I was then going to take her to The West Side Market, but we were pretty much all shopped out so we went home.. Friday night was steaks on the grill with my sister joining us and I think there were potatoes and salad and uhh, definitely wine. After dinner we all retired to the back by the pond where Hubbs made a fire. My sis said she had a hankerin' for something sweet, so I told her I had caved the week before and bought the fixin's for s'mores. Ingredients were brought out and she and Helene started roasting their marshmallows. This might not sound very exciting, but it was Helene's first s'more ever!!! I was quite delighted to watch her eat her first s'more. And then her second s'more. Ohh there goes the third s'more! hahaha I guess I can say that she thoroughly enjoyed them. :D I didn't participate in s'more eating because my week of frantic cleaning and house project finishing finally caught up to me - as well as the back thing screaming, so I went to bed early. But from the look of my kitchen table the next morning (beer cans! shot glasses! wine glasses! a half bottle of Yukon Jack! My preshus Grand Marnier left OPEN!) I'd say they all had fun without me. :D Saturday we got to bakin'.. well.. I guess you could call it that. What normally would have taken 3 hours, tops, to complete the Daring Baker's challenge recipe, started around 1 pm (we had gossip to share! showers to take! e-mails to check! blogs to drool over!) and ended around 9:30ish. God. My feet were SCREAMING in protest. hahahaaa! I also taught her how to make my family's marinara and meatballs (ancient Italian secret - and no one had better tell my mom that I gave it to her! hahahaaa) in between making batter and baking, so it wasn't like just the one recipe was made in those 8.5 hours. *grin* Oh we had way too much fun - much more than 2 silly girls in a kitchen should have. =) Helene also gave me a present that afternoon. One of those band exerciser thingies? You know.. like a giant rubber band with handles on each end? Then she taught me several exercises with it, as well as how many I should do and for how long. Considering the very long road I've got ahead of me, this was the perfect choice in how to start out my exercise routine. The exercises are low impact and focus on working on the muscles, they get my heart beating and I can feel the burn - but not to the extent where I feel I'm going to have a heart attack. hahaha! Paired with walking each day (slowly but surely I am walking a little longer each afternoon), I am feeling really good about these new routines. :D From here on out she's going to send me new exercises and work out plans and hopefully by the time we make it to South Carolina, I'll be in, at least, a lil better shape! Thank you, SO MUCH, sweetie. =) Course dinner that night was spags & balls and uhhh, wine. I think we made it to around 1 am that night as well. Hubbs had left us girls the house (he ran away to his brother's, I think he was scared of being with the girls all weekend) so it was nice to just lounge in the living room, after a very long day in the kitchen, watching Anthony Bourdain (sexxxxy thing) eat cow snout. Sometimes Nigella will have this effect on you... Sunday we resumed our baking and finished the challenge recipe.. oh, I said our time in the kitchen ended around 9:30 the night before but I didn't exactly say we finished the challenge. ha! So we finished that, then we made the sorbet (see below) and she taught me how to make a gorgeous rose out of a pear of all things! Finally we got to what I had been dying to do.. the macarons. Oh yeah baby!! That was the coolest thing I've been taught in I can't tell ya how long.. we made 3 different flavors, (and by "we" I mean, SHE did most of the work - let's just say my piping skills are about as good as my frosting technique. har!) all of which were heavenly. I'm going to guest blog about them on her blog sometime next week - so be looking for it! :D Finally, we made dinner, which consisted of sesame seed encrusted teriyaki tuna steaks, Alanna's green bean salad and Helene's ratatouille (she'll be guest blogging right here about it next week as well! Yay!). Holy crap, I'd never had ratatouille before and OMG it was so good. SO GOOD! My mom and sister joined us and they both agreed how fakkin good it was. =) After everyone left and Hubbs went to bed (he had to work the next day MUAHAHAHAHAHAA) Helene and I stayed up until 3 a.m. working on lil projects - but I gotta tell you, I don't know how she was feeling, but I think I helped stretch out the night so long because I knew she'd be leaving the next day and I DIDN'T WANT HER TO GO. =( Two major dorks. :D So yeah, Monday came.. and we spent the morning drinking coffee and chatting until it was time for her to start packing and getting ready for the airport. Once we got there, I helped her get her bags out and gave her a great big hug and told her how much I loved her.. then I hadda get my vehicle outta the way, so I left. =( I was sad, but not as sad as I thought I'd be because seriously, the way we clicked from the minute I saw her throughout the rest of her stay, I knew we'd only grow stronger in our friendship and that this would not be the only time we'd spend together. Hubbs and I are planning a trip to South Carolina (hopefully this winter!) so we can also meet Helene's husband (who, btw, is HOTTT) and do some damage in her kitchen. :D The rest of my week was pretty much spent as I stated above, but every morning I wake up I wish she was still here. xoxo