Ann Arbor out, Iowa in

I was supposed to head to Ann Arbor over the 4th to spend some time with Mel, but a minor set back of strep throat sent me packing to my parents house to spend some time at the Lens ranch.

Bummed not to be having a girls weekend, but rest is what I knew I needed. It was also exciting that my brother was going to be there as well. One of the first things we did Friday morning was make a list of meals to eat for the weekend...yay, cooking!

Friday for lunch we had burrito in a bowl. Easy and delicious. Inspired by Chipotle/Pancheros. Friday for supper we made our own pizzas on the grill with homemade pizza crusts. They were really good. I used bbq sauce for the sauce with onions, grape tomatoes, broccoli, zucchini and olives with just a little cheese. It was so good! I had the leftovers for lunch today. While they were grilling my brother pulled out our old ball gloves and we played some catch.

Friday night we went as a family and saw The Hangover. Hilarious. It was my first time seeing it, but everyone else in my family was seeing it for the second time. I got really excited when the preview for I Love You Beth Cooper came on and there was Paul Rust's face on the big screen. I pretty much shouted, "IT'S PAUL RUST!" My brother Shhhhed me and then I had to explain who Paul was. I will go to see I Love You Beth Cooper just to support Paul and you should, too.

Saturday for lunch I made a spinach, broccoli, tomato and feta quiche. I thought it was ok. Saturday night we grilled out shish kabobs. Yummm. While they were grilling we played frisbee. Perfect 4th of July. After dinner we played a little asshole and I taught my family how to play farkel.

That pretty much wrapped up my 4th weekend. Today I traveled back to the city to get back into the swing of things.

roll. chop.

Meet my newest kitchen gadget.

It is the rolling garlic chopper.

I HATE mincing and chopping garlic, so I felt that this little friend might be very helpful. I have not used him yet, but I am very excited to put him to use. Isn't he just adorable? I really need to name him, too. Anyway, this is just a post to get excited about all the fun things I will be doing with my new gadget(providing it works as well as it says it does). I feel like he might make fun noises as he rolls and chops, much like R2D2. Officially geeked out over him.

Fun, Sun, Wedding, Done

After Aaron claimed his luggage, we set off on a 2.5 hour road trip to Provincetown(affectionately called Ptown) for Jen and Haven's beach wedding. It was by far the most relaxed and laid back wedding I had ever attended, which made it extremely enjoyable. It was also the first day of sunshine in 3 weeks, then it started raining again the next day. Coincidence, no?

Jen and Haven:

After the ceremony Aaron patrolled to beach to make sure everyone was safe and we didn't lose anyone in the tide:

They rented a massive beach house to stay in for the week and had the reception there. We dined on clams, lobster, chicken, potatoes, veggies and wedding cake, of course.

It started to rain right after dinner. While giving the toasts and cake cutting, there was a rainbow...

The next morning they chartered a 73-foot boat for everyone to go out sailing. It was a cool and misty morning but we still had a blast.

More of the cruel Northeastern weather playing games with Aaron's umbrella.

Detours, detours, detours

Last weekend I headed to Boston to attend Haven and Jen's wedding in Provincetown with Aaron. Upon landing in Boston and "powering up" my "cellular device" I discovered 9 texts from Aaron ranging from his flight was diverted to cancelled to he was now on first class and would be getting into Boston around 11pm. My grand plan was to hang out in the airport bar and wait for him, until I debarked my plane and realized what a crap hole of an airport Boston Logan happens to be.

So, Plan B. James had already landed and I knew he was out and about in Boston from his Twitter updates that day. So I called up the socialite and met up with him at his friend Monica's(awesome girl)...who happens to live across the street from Tom and Giselle(fun fact). From there we hit up two Boston bars and waited for Aaron's arrival.

James, Mon and myself enjoying a Brubaker:

Aaron arrive and we had to toast the Irish by doing a car bomb:We had to spend the night in Boston because Aaron's luggage was still in New York(thanks again for the place to stay, Mon) and we went to a great brunch place the next morning but not before James acquired some sort of pedal injury. Thank goodness he didn't get any blood in the rental car.