it's getting better every day

Tonight I will finally indulge in a pumpkin spice latte as I heard through the proverbial grapevine that they are definitely officially available! Currently it is 62 degrees outside and I am loving the part where I wore a jacket to work this morning. Unfortunately a small part of my brain is screaming about how winter feels like it just ended, so that's too bad :\ Shut up brain!

Speaking of PSLs, Z just pointed out to me THIS FUN FACT:



In other words, when you google image "pumpkin spice latte", my blog banner is the sixth photo to come up?! That's devotion my friends.

Meanwhile, I made two of seven recipes for the month of Sept:

1. Enchilada Pizza (I made tomatillo salsa again to use for the sauce, and topped a wheat Boboli with black beans, a four cheese Mexican blend, guac, and green onions. If I wasn't poor I would've made some tasty shredded chicken to put on it as well.)

2. Squash and Sweet Potato Tortellini, which I will partake once again in about 20 minutes!

sweeeeet action!

Do you remember?!

I cannot believe it's already September. Thank all that is holy, because the summer should really be over soon. The weather has been ideal, especially after the winter we had, but the shenanigans have been plentiful and I need a break! I will say that this summer will go down as one of my favorite summers since Summer '98: post high school graduation, not a care in the world, also lots of shenanigans. It will also go down as one of the most tumultuous summers...full of soaring highs and devastating lows. I don't think I've ever in my life felt such an intense roller coaster of emotions over this length of time (five months straight). I look forward to what I can only hope is a much more calm autumn because at this rate, highs are great and all, but the higher you are, the harder you fall. And speaking of falling hard, I still have one more emotionally exhausting event to get through before the summer ends: my coworker's wedding, which my ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend will be attending. While I'm super excited for my coworker/friend, I cannot even describe how much I'm dreading this evening. It'll be one of the hardest things that I've ever endured. I can only hope that it'll be like running a marathon: takes a lot out of you, but makes you stronger and, um, more interesting? So on that note, wish me luck? ;)

In any case, I have a few updates, so here they are:

#5 - I'm picking away at the Q&A photo interview I mentioned awhile back. Who knew it'd be so difficult?!

#17 - I indulged in a pretty selfish decision the night of my friends Chelsea and Nick's wedding?

#18 - And on that note, I'm cheating a bit crossing this one off, but I don't think I'll get any closer to this task than I did that evening! That's all I'll say ;)

#34 - Nutcracker tickets have been purchased for Sat, Dec 13th!

#45 - I failed miserably at recipes in August. One...that's it. Pathetic. So September's going to be seven total. I wish food didn't cost so much :\

#50 - My atypical item this month will be polenta which isn't produce really, but I've always wanted to cook with it.

#51 - Guilty pleasure will be an oldie but goodie: No fried food.

#54 - I finally got my haircut last week after almost five months!

#68 - I ate like a crazy person the weekend of Chelsea and Nick's wedding: Like five helpings of taco salad at my parents Thursday night; ginormous greasy breakfast at the Pancake House Friday morning; way too much fried fish, fatty chowder soup, and piles of french fries at the rehearsal dinner; another huge greasy breakfast the wedding morning; and MORE fries and gooey Reuben the day after. I felt like I had been starving myself for weeks and I totally just let loose!

#87 - Band/artist of the month happened right at the end when a coworker recommended Love As Laughter...good stuff!

That's all I got! In really awesome news, it's about that time of year when Bucks rolls out the Pumpkin Spice Latte!!! You better believe I'll blog about it too ;)

"I hate web design"

This is what I just googled to make myself feel better after scrolling through pages and pages of forums related to the web design problems I'm having. This has been going on since 7:45 this morning, as well as like 2.5 hours last night, and several hours on Sunday night. I've spent 99.9% of my time troubleshooting and .1% on the actual design part.

In my current breakdown, I found this guy's blurb to be the most comforting:

I hate web design. I really, truly, sincerely do....For those not in the know, this is a basic breakdown of what is involved in web design:

1. Put a single object/word/picture on the page.
2. Waste an hour trying to figure out why Browser ‘X’ doesn’t like that.
3. Try to fix it.
4. Have something else stuff up
5. Fix that
6. Repeat the whole process with the next element you’re trying to put on the page.

Ain't it the truth. Last night I figured out how to place the navigation bar I made like a month and a half ago over the background, and then how to change the length of this dotted line I wanted underneath the nav bar. And yeah that took me two hours. Oh but wait. I'm an idiot, and CSS backgrounds stay fixed, while the stuff you put over them are "fluid". So basically if I change the size of my browser the nav bar will move around while the background stays still. I mean duh, right? But apparently I'm an idiot. I have to figure out how to fix the nav bar now. But even if I do that? It's like, I'm literally like one millimeter off the ground and have all of Mt. Everest above me. I don't even LIKE web design!! Using the aforementioned percentages, it's 99.9% technical and .1% design. I didn't go to school to become some coding programming geek (absolutely NO offense to the coding programming geeks out there...without you, this bitch fest you are currently reading wouldn't exist!).

In any case, I can't tell you how many times I've given up, and then got back on the bike, only to give up, back on bike, give up, you get the picture. I think about just grabbing one of the 934803412908 free CSS templates out there. But then what's the point of having someone else's design showcase my own? Then I want someone to make MY design FOR me. But then I think about the Big Scary Future that is my career and how print design will cease to exist and how I better know how to do this because only web design jobs will remain. The horror. Not to mention this LIST. Number Freaking ONE on this list is to learn how to build a website, jeez.

So I guess I'll keep scratching and stabbing at this behemoth. Guh. Worse comes to worst, I could try just doing the whole thing in Flash as I think that'd be easier. My design is seriously SO simplistic...nothing complicated at all. Although, simplistic isn't always easy. Like check out the smashing Mr. Nate Smith's portfolio site I found today! VERY similar to how I want mine, right down to the rounded-tablet-with-dropshadow. Simple, clean, beautiful...and I bet it is crazy complicated Flash. Ok maybe not CRAZY complicated, but I don't know. Maybe I'll give 'er a whirl. Try some things out in Flash and see if I can replicate it. Too bad Nate and I can't stumble into one another in a dark bar where I whisper dirty promises into his ear in exchange for his web design skills. But no...Milwaukee can contain only so many talented people in one week or the world will implode.

you'll never know how great a kiss can feel...

Updates a plenty, especially in the creative world!

#7 - TBA artistic project = Zeetles!®

#22 - Three puffs for the Wisconsin State Fair,
the most glorious place on earth!!!



I could seriously take amusement-park-at-dusk photos for a lifetime. And what a perfect night with beautiful clouds and an amazing sunset! Next year I seriously have to spend more time doing this. This year I even turned down the Bunny Building in order to make the most of the dying light. THAT is dedication. I did snap this one right outside the building though...DIES!!!


[and this just in! my bun pickie got pickied on Cute Overload!!!]

#45 & #50 - I way cheated on this first recipe of the month, but whatevs. I made Garlic Shrimp Caesar Wraps, but totally picked up pre-marinated garlic jumbo shrimp from the seafood counter, as well as Caesar dressing from the salad bar. Hey! It's summer and I'm busy ;) But I used arugula as the leafy greens so that's taken care of too.

#91 - I learned from my pal Josh that Stein's has bonsai trees!! He and his wife had one in their living room and apparently it only cost like $20 or so? Sweet ACTION!! Maybe I'll go next weekend or something!

And finally, without further ado, my new baby...

#5 - TBA artistic project = My new photoblog, focusnapop! is officially up and running! The inspiration behind starting the blog is all over there, so I won't bore you with those details here. I really hope to keep it up though! Such fun!!

just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I've lost

ed. note: added #95

August. It's a new month. You know that old saying: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? That's what this post is going to be.

Updates because I have to:

#22 - State Fair is happening Thursday, so I'll get to cross off that bad boy.

#45 - Recipes (two more):
1. While I didn't come up with them or cook them entirely on my own, I'll combine the following delicious meals we made at camp this year:
-Bourbon Chicken, Blue Cheese Burgers, and Pear Gorgonzola and Prosciutto on French Bread drizzled with a Balsamic Syrup
2. Fried Plantains (#50)

#50 - My atypical produce this month can be arugula, why not?

#95 - I finished Of Human Bondage, which most definitely made my top five books. I honestly didn't want it to end, it's such a great story! I told Mandsi that it was like an old friend who I'll really miss...

#66 - Iowa!
Mandsi and I reunited with the cornfields and rolling hills (there are hills!) and it was a blast. Road trip hilarity, best patty melt and corned beef hash ever, YeCoCo, not crashing into a plane, "leave them ducks alone boys", Sugar Shack malts, pool and hot tub sans thugs, steak and crab stuffed shrimp with wine that tasted like Heath Ledger, Steve and Jay shenanigans, Prairie Meadows Casino and "when in Rome" Bud Light, hangovers at the Farmer's Market, tooling around the Skywalk for hours and chillin in the Marriott, "what's he gonna do", $4 big beers and an abundance of hot air balloons including The Big Idea, an ecstasy rave in the streets of downtown, scuzziness of Des Moines night life, waiting an hour for food at Drake Diner, and a big soda and snick snacks at the I-80 truckstop....as well as many many more amusing memories and moments.

Ah, well reliving that trip cheered me up a touch. Good times. Well the summer is nearing an end and I'm relieved. I look forward to brighter times ahead...despite the fact that daylight is waning? Hm.

This is absolutely amazing....

Quoted from Astronomy Picture of the Day:

"What are these humans doing? Dancing. Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend political boundaries and occur in practically every human society. Above, Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, started dancing, and filmed the result. The video is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the above video without smiling."

I love the music...

looking sideways?

Things aren't necessarily looking up or down, so I'll just say they're looking sideways for now. The beginning of 28 Day Detox was like the first few days after a breakup when you feel, not quite right, but like you're on a high for all the emotion and adrenaline...or like the hangover in the morning when you're running on fumes and something about it makes you giddy. Well in both scenarios, time catches up with you and you end up feeling exhausted and shitty.

I'm totally coming to terms with the fact that I need some healing time. I put a lot of stuff on the backburner and it's all coming out now in forms of weeping and depression and anger and frustration. In the first 10 days, I tried to deal with healing on my own without really opening up about it too much. Mostly because everyone has heard quite enough about the Trials and Tribs of Katie. But yesterday I discovered that I really do need a support system in order to truly hash everything out. Only this time, I'm trying to use that support system as a way to bounce around ideas and emotions, rather than purely venting my anguish. I think it worked well because I did feel better today.

It's hard not to let the unfairnesses of life drag you down. It's hard not to dwell on that sort of thing and let it consume you until you can't breathe and you wonder if you'll ever feel normal again. But as cliche as it sounds, time heals all wounds and while I'm waiting, I've got lots of stuff to preoccupy my mind...in a HEALTHY way, as opposed to a way to postpone the inevitable explosion of ugly wrath that's bubbling under the surface! As I've said to many a person this week, my only hope is that I'll get to look back one day, with someone new and so much better for me, and say: "why the hell did I spend so much emotional energy on that OTHER situation??!" Until then!

Well, enough of that wah wah blabber, let's get our update on, sheesh!

#12 - While I continue to miss the 26 Things photography project, a different sort of photo project entitled "Q&A" is up and has no end due date, so I think I'll take a stab at that!

#45 - The two recipes I've made this month are a. apple caramel pound cake ice cream deliciousness for the 4th of July, and b. "Miss Leslie's Divine Ham Salad" or whatever it's called, from a Rachael Ray cookbook (#46).

#68 - I ate a heck of a lot at camp this past weekend and that was glorious!! But I think I worked it all off setting up/taking down camp, building camp fires, making a sand turtle and baby, and playing bags on the beach...

#80 - I am NOT rocking the budget...I don't think I have since last fall or something insane. Gotta get back there...

#83 - I've been slacking on savings too. Now that I no longer get money back from $$ I loaned out, and I have a new car payment every month, the savings train has come to a stop...except for the dollar a day, of course...but $30/mo is NOT really saving.

#87 - A coworker suggested I listen to Albert Hammond, Jr., from the Strokes, now solo. I really love! I listened to the album like six times over the last week!

#95 - I picked up Of Human Bondage to fulfill the second of the three classics.

And that's all I got! I honestly have a ton to look forward to in the coming months, so I'm hoping for my sideways glance to start heading upward way soon. Please please!

Starting Over......

This past weekend, I officially wandered waaaaay too far off the beaten path (#17 and then some...), but last night I decided many things:

1. to start a 28 day detox from the treachery that has been my mental state recently
2. to be more positive, less self indulgent, and healthier in body, mind, and spirit
3. to get going on some freaking tasks already!

And in the last 24 hours I've already accomplished two things!

#95 - I finished Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis: LOVE! If you aren't hardcore Christian, but are open to hearing about it from a more logical standpoint, this book is for you. It was very inspirational and honest about the human condition: where we come from, who we are, where we're going...that sort of thing. I wouldn't mind reading it a second time just to more fully absorb everything Jack had to say!

#1 - Ohhhh Dreamweaver. So today I decided to follow this ginormous epic tutorial on how to build a website with cascading style sheets (CSS), as opposed to your 'old school' tables. It was CRAZY complicated, but after a few hours, I really got the hang of it! Below is the ungodly ugly site they made me build using the worst design elements imaginable, but hey, I don't care! I'm super proud I was actually able to do it all!



YAY! Super stoked!! Again, not something I'd put in a portfolio if you paid me a million dollars, but hopefully one day I can figure out how to combine my swank design skills with my new CSS knowledge. In the meantime, apparently I'll be able to practice as we'll be rockin' the CSS here at work as soon as John comes back from training in Florida. And who's the first to be trained? Yours truly. Wish me luck!

And going back to my opening sentiments, I will say the following: Sometimes wandering off the beaten path actually brings you closer to the right one. See, occasionally you take the wrong path...a selfish path full of jagged rocks and deep potholes (vampires?) that hurt you, as well as the other people walking with you. Suddenly you find yourself making some INSANE decision to completely walk off the path altogether! AND you drag those people in with you! So then you're in this dark thicket of God knows what...there are thorns and Rodents of Unusual Size, cesspools, and maybe even quicksand that could trap you there indefinitely. But look here, what's this? You might see a clearing up ahead, or hear voices (real ones, not ghosts). Turns out, it's the path you were supposed to be on the whole time! The "good path"! So basically you took a short cut. It might not have been the best decision because you probably didn't make it out of the deep woods unscathed: scraps and gashes galore. But you made it, and with a much clearer head on your shoulders.

That was me this weekend for sure! So I'm rebooting, debugging, defragging, running scan disk, all that stuff to try and be a better person for myself, as well as for those around me, whether I know them now, or know them in the future.

"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around."
[Vanilla Sky]

more heart-wrenching dance...

I'm pretty much posting this for Nicole :)



But I'll post this too, because it's very true :(

Almost over

I'm hoping to make it out of these final hours of June unscathed. It has been a DOOZIE of a month. In the last week, I've earned my insomnia patch and I think even my panic attack patch. Nothing major, but I've had a couple instances of those old familiar feelings of trembling, nausea, and sense of impending doom. Not fun really. I think something's going around though, because I know a lot of people dealing with various ugly life issues, my own being the furthest from the worst. Things could ALWAYS be worse...and I have to be way thankful that they aren't right now. In the meantime though, I GOTTA make some changes...

So to conclude June,

#17 - Just under the wire, I got a txt today from someone telling me that I'm selfish, so I can knock that one off the list! Yippee. No, but I did spend $200 on clothes last Monday night to cheer myself up. Fun?

#45 - Recipes...

2 - Spicy Sweet Crab Salad (#46) in tortillas (mixed with mango, radishes, celery, onions and cilantro; dressed with this hot sauce/lime juice/vinegar/sugar/mayo situation...seems odd, but incredibly tasty!)

3 - Rhubarb (#50) Coffee Cake (made for Shannon's birthday last week...I've baked from scratch like twice in my life and these turned out really good considering!)

4 - Mango Pine Nut Salad (mango and OJ puree over greens with cannellini beans and pine nuts...I was a little drunk when I threw this together, but I think I remember that it was really good?)

Now, for July, I'm thinking about something to give up...we'll see...and my atypical produce item is plantains, THANKS Guy Fieri ;)

#49 - This past weekend Mandsi and I went to the World's Lamest Farmers Market (aka East Town Farmer's Market...jeez guys, kick it up a notch?)

#68 - A couple weekends ago, I had a fatty egg/bacon/cheese bagel sammich for breakfast, like five lbs of chocolate sweet treats at a concert intermission, BeefaRoo for dinner, and then the following morning, a Machine Shed breakfast of ginormous waffle with bacon BAKED IN, topped with eggs and maple syrup, and a side of cheesy hashbrown casserole the consistency of risotto....FAAAAT.

Sooooo this post is basically me complaining about my life stress, yet discussing all the good food I ate all month. Way to go Katie. At the end of the day, things aren't so bad. I've just gotta be way more careful. Remember the girl who was sick of being good all the time? Well, she's in some trubs and I'm not letting her out any more. I need to add a lot more to my karma bucket.....

wordclouds drifting by...

On Pop Candy today, I discovered this little gem of a site: Wordle! where you can type in some text and finagle a cute little "word cloud". Now while the site is pretty fun, being a graphic designer, I find myself a little constricted by its randomness. So I busted out my own typography skills this afternoon and created my own cloud:



The significance of this little set of lyrics comes out of my thoughts from yesterday whilst listening to this Fiona Apple tune...its uncanny relation to a certain ex bf. The words couldn't be more true.

Glass half...full?

496 days remain. Earlier this week, I should've celebrated my official halfway mark in this crazy project, but I was probably too busy doing one of the items on the list. Undoubtedly the Ninja Report (#89), which is officially complete!! For reasons I won't mention here, I had to put it into overdrive this week. Let's hope my work pays off SOON!

In any case, here's an update of where I'm at with this list:

Completed: 38
In Progress with Nearby Completion Date: 11
In Progress until List End Date: 15
Remaining: 37

YEEHAW! I've completed more than I have left!! Thank GOD or I think I'd be pretty screwed! And I can turn that 38 into a 49 real soon if I get crackin' on all of these open ended tasks. Plus I've got all those summer-y ones that I could complete this year too.

Meanwhile, we're about halfway through the year here as well. I'm kinda hoping things pick back up from here on out. Not that the year has been awful by any means, but I sense some leaf turning on the horizon and I hope it brings good things for everyone who is in their particular mess at the moment (of which there are quite a few, I've noticed!) So let's all take this time to regroup and kick ass in the next six months. SIX MONTHS!

PS I'm also hoping that the next 500.5 days are FAR different from the last 500.5. Again, not that they were awful, but the TWO breakups and various job trubs weren't really a blast. Then again, I went on some rad trips, won a mac, and did some neat creative stuff, so who am I to complain? Glass half full!

SYTYC...make my heart explode with complete awe?

The answer is a definitive YES.
The following is the reason why So You Think You Can Dance is THEEE greatest reality television show to ever exist:



Dies.

I feel lucky to have lived to see something like this.

Changing of the moods

It's yet another Rainy Days Thursdays always gettin' me down. At least it isn't 39 outside! I'm just not at my best this week. I find myself walking through this mucky daze, waiting for things to pick up. Maybe it's just the weather, but I was walking back to work at lunch like, get out of this mood, seriously!

#87 - Last night SYTYCD featured an adorable young male dancer by the name of Cooper Zamorano who danced to this gorgeous song...lyrics not on the internet, anywhere. Until this morning of course, as everyone else watching last night was enamored too. "In Your Eyes" by Craig Lyons: An artist who has been featured in dancers' auditions three times now! In fact, Cooper's performance is already up on Craig Lyons' myspace. So at this point, the guy's made in the shade, thank you SYTYCD! His music is way beautiful too. And although mellow and moody, it's just what I needed to lift my spirits. Some of the dissonance in his melodies reminds me of Seal. It's weird, but true. [addition ed. note: very Robbie Williams too]

What's funny is that I was at Barnes last night and I must've listened to a dozen newish albums that have come out, but just couldn't bring myself to buy any of them. Maybe due to sticker shock, perhaps because there are like 398420342 albums due out this summer. I do really like the new ones from Death Cab, REM, and The Futureheads and wouldn't mind owning them (and actually PAYING for them). I purchased the new Portishead through itunes, but "acquired" the new Weezer album here at work. I'm still on the fence about Aimee Mann's new album. And then My Morning Jacket and Coldplay come out in like two seconds...very excited about those two. Anyway, I digress. I'm sure I'll slink back into my cesspool of whatnot soon enough, but for now, here's to the joy that new artists, new albums, and the new season of SYTYCD brings me.

Busting out all over

It's finally June! So there are definitely some sort of official summer month feelings happening, especially now that it's finally warm. But it's never a dull moment in Wisconsin because while today the high is 80, Wednesday the high will be a crisp 58. Yeesh.

I will admit that I'm a little stressed out over here. Thoughts and feelings in regards to all KINDS of things are swirling ever more, and I wonder if and when my brain will calm down. And in other news, I actually caught myself wishing for my old life today. Something I never thought I'd do! It was brief, but it was just a general wistfulness for "Simpler Times". I quickly snapped out of it, however, when I remembered that those times were NOT simpler. I was stuck in a pretty complicated situation. And speaking of...you'll never believe the main article that popped up when I logged onto Yahoo this morning...

Men prefer being solo over a bad marriage: study

Sigh. But hey, I mean who DOESN'T prefer being solo over a bad marriage?? I certainly would! But the article says "Men are 10 times more scared of marrying the wrong person than of never getting married at all" which is pretty sad. Now no offense to my men out there, but in all honesty, women are generally the more understanding, supportive, and flexible gender (I understand that few bad apples have spoiled the bunch though). My point here is that when it comes to marriage, we're all over here really willing to make it work. We try very hard because it's genetically programmed into us. So I think what men are REALLY afraid of isn't marrying the wrong person, but rather having to work hard at something. Now of course I'm speaking from a personal standpoint having been hurt when the "love of my life" decided I wasn't really worth the work. And I also know that some women pull some wicked stunts like cheating and just generally throwing in the towel when it comes to making the marriage work. So yep, I admit all that. But let's just put the exceptions aside for a second.

The article goes on to say "It's so important to these men to get it right. My best advice to single women after bachelors is to be patient. If you're in a hurry to get married you'll be frustrated." Amen. You don't have to tell US twice. But I don't think it's our fault we're frustrated. Like I previously mentioned, we're a patient gender! How else do you think we put up with our men's occasional BS? I remember so much about my relationship with John that I had to be *patient about whether it was his general crazy antics or his job woes or his ex frustrations or even his daughter and everything that goes along with that...very very patient. And I guess asking for a marriage in return is asking for too much, I don't know. But nothing in life is foolproof. Yeah you want to try to get things right, especially if you've already been divorced once. But almost everything in life requires a bit of faith. Faith that you are making good choices from your college degree to your career path to the person you love to the way you raise your kids. I think these men must have just lost their sense of faith. Although perhaps it's simply the fact that they confuse faith and fate. I have faith in my choices, but I know that it requires hard work on my part in order to make them the right choices. If you throw yourself completely into the arms of fate, taking absolutely no responsibility for your choice, well then yeah, you might get stuck with a lemon for a marriage.

At the end of the day, if these men are perfectly happy being bachelors for the rest of their days, than so be it. No skin off my back. Until you drag me down with you! I just hope that they're honest with themselves and thus honest with the women they date before it's too late. Don't make future plans, play domestic family life, and act as though marriage is the path you're heading down if these things scare you. To conclude, the article actually ended on quite an amusing note. Turns out that researching this info scared the author straight: "I found I was looking at men 10 years older than me and it was like looking into the future. If I didn't change, nothing would." And now he's living with his girlfriend and they're talking marriage. If only it were that easy!

***

Ok sorry about the little June Blog detour there! The reason I think I was dwelling a bit on my old life is because I saw the Sex & the City movie last night. It definitely made over $50million for a reason. Women everywhere are trying to find love and perhaps those who already have like to remind themselves of how lucky they are! Those of us still looking, however, are more frustrated than not and it gets old. And perhaps that's why Yahoo put up that article! Just to torment us even more!!

Alright enough, let's get to the updates.

#1/#2 - One of my current stresses is starting up my personal portfolio website. Web design is rough work. It's like being a chemist. Would you know how to go about making that soda you're currently drinking from absolute scratch? Do you even WANT to know? At the end of the day, I'm just hoping that, like math in high school, the logic and programming will be sort of fun in a sick way. In any case, it's underway. Here's to hoping the roadblocks will be few and far between.

#45/#50 - In my last recipe for the month I used watercress, thank you very much. I made this smoked salmon watercress avocado salad with a lemon vinaigrette.

#50 - This month's atypical produce item will be rhubarb! My boss sent out an email that she grew a great crop this year and she's bringing some into work tomorrow. Not sure what I'll make, but I'm intrigued!

#51 - Soda's back in the game (I drank a sip at 12:01am on June 1st!) and out is snacking after dinner.

And done!