on top of a rock

while we were biking at gouldsboro state park on sunday, ryan found a really large rock that intrigued him.  that adventurous husband of mine decided to climb up there . . . with his bike.  (i think he sometimes forgets that he isn't a professional mountain biker.)

perhaps i should get him a job modeling for mountain bike ads . . .

after he had his fun, yours truly decided to climb up there too.
but, you know me and nature . . . 

look husband, i can do tricks too . . .

love, laurie

gouldsboro state park

on sunday, we decided to take a trip to gouldsboro state park.  the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was the perfect spring day to be outside enjoying nature.  since there weren't many people there, we felt like we had the park to ourselves.  it was so quite and peaceful.

while we were riding our bikes on one of the trails, we came across a hawk's nest.  later in the afternoon, we took some time to walk around the lake too.  we really enjoyed the park, and we can't wait to go back again in the summer when all of the plants/flowers are in bloom.

hope everyone had a great weekend!
love, laurie

my inner 12-year-old self got a good giggle from this commercial . . .

have a great weekend! love, laurie

the world's smallest pine cone?

i found this tiny gem in our yard on saturday when ryan was setting up our new lawn mower.  isn't it just the cutest little thing?  i'm convinced it has to be one of the world's smallest pine cones. 

love, laurie

ryan's new toy

when we bought our house a few years ago, we were thrilled to inherit a lawn mower that came with the house.  it was old, but it ran great, and we have been using it to cut the grass ever since.

over the weekend, we pulled our trusty lawn mower out of hibernation in order to mow the grass for the first time this season, but much to our disappointment, it finally died.  since our grass was embarrassingly tall, we decided that we better get a new lawn mower stat.

of course, ryan was in his glory because lawn mower shopping meant that we had to go to several different hardware stores.  (i'll tell you, there is something about men and hardware stores . . . it's just like kids in candy stores.  i swear ryan would stay in there all day if i let him.)

we shopped around and we finally settled on this lawn mower, which we bought at lowe's.  after a few clever tricks and coupons, we got the mower at an absolute steal.

we brought it home right away, and within a few minutes ryan had it set up and ready to go.  it's pretty neat because it bags, mulches, and has a side discharge too.  it's also shinny red.  needless to say, ryan is trilled with his new toy.

 ^old versus new^

^portrait of a very happy husband^

love, laurie

simple basil pesto

we had a bunch of fresh basil left over from a sandwich recipe that we made recently, so i decided to make pesto over the weekend.

i absolutely love traditional pesto, and it is so incredibly easy to make.

pesto can be made with just 5 simple ingredients in less than 5 minutes.  how can you beat that?

i often like to add toasted pine nuts to my homemade pesto too, but since i didn't have any on hand i left them out of this batch of pesto.  (it was just as good without them.)

just throw all of the ingredients together in a food processor and let the food processor do all of the work for you.

it doesn't get much easier than that!

blend away!

just look at that bright green color.

you could spread this pesto on just about anything . . . pasta, pizza, sandwiches, salads, veggies, fish, grilled meats . . . toasted bread?  oh yeah.  pita bread/pita chips?  absolutely.

another great thing about pesto is that it freezes well.  so, you can make some whenever you have basil available, and then you can freeze it to use at another time.  pretty handy!

simple basil pesto
total time: 5 minutes
yields: approximately 2/3 cup

ingredients:
4 cups fresh basil leaves
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

directions:
in a food processor, blend all ingredients together until smooth.

enjoy!

love, laurie

take me out to the ball game . . .

i've mentioned before that we're really not sports fans . . . but, when we found out that the university where we work was offering discounted tickets to a local minor-league baseball game, we thought we would make a date night out of it.

over the past year, the baseball stadium has undergone a complete renovation, so we were really curious to see what the new stadium looked like.  the new and improved stadium was absolutely gorgeous.  it was easy to navigate, and really well designed too.  we loved everything about it.

ryan's ticket came with a meal voucher.  there's just something about a hot dog at a baseball game.  our seats turned out to be in the bleacher section, but since there were so many empty seats, we were able to move to better seats a few sections over.  we were happy for the upgrade (and for the cup holders)!

although the sun was shining all day on sunday, it was super windy and chilly.  we had to stay bundled up in order to stay warm, but we still had a really great time!

the scranton/wilkes-barre railriders played the syracuse chiefs, and the railriders won (5-1)!

love, laurie

silly kitten

each morning, as we get ready for work, ryan lays out his dress clothes on the bed.  leko loves to jump up on the bed to "help" out.  he plays with ryan's belt buckles, he hides inside the waste bands of ryan's pants, and he flattens himself out across ryan's shirts and ties.  ryan has to wiggle his clothes out from under leko's furry belly, and it has become a cute little routine that we look forward to each morning now.

yesterday morning, leko decided that he was going to hold ryan's tie hostage.  the early morning sunlight was streaming in through the bedroom windows, and leko was fascinated by the dust particles floating around in the air.  (without a doubt, one his top 10 favorite things.)  leko's eyes followed the dust particles all over the room as they floated through the air, while still keeping his paw firmly planted on ryan's tie.  it took a while, but eventually ryan was able to get full dressed for work.

what a silly kitten.  he keeps us entertained for sure!  :-)

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

a little trim

when i was running my hands through my hair this past weekend i realized that my ends have become really split/dry lately.  yikes.  i also realized that it has been almost a year since i last got my hair cut/trimmed.  umm, oops!  so, yesterday after work i took a trip to my trusted hair stylist for some much needed hair care.  i don't get my hair cut/trimmed often, but when it do it's like my stylist has the ability to press a reset button for my hair each time i see her.  she trimmed a little off to get rid of the split/dry ends, and now it feels so much healthier.  it's amazing how much of a difference a simple trim can make.

love, laurie