monday mash up, July 16

1. Rainy Saturday. | 2. & 3. Doggies scared of rainy Saturday. | 4. Farmer's Market Bounty. | 5. Perfect Sunday. | 6. Gray coral fabric. | 7. Lawn man. | 8. Guest Bath Sneak Peek. | 9. The Best Salad Dressing Ever. | 10. Grooming. | 11. Pathway to my happy place. | 12. Salad for said salad dressing. | 13. Linen closet clean out. | 14. SnugglePups. | 15. Dinner with friends.

Clearly, the Monday Mash Up photo thing is getting out of hand. Too many? We had a good weekend, but I've been fighting a nagging weekend all day so I'm having trouble mustering much enthusiasm about it. The new farmer's market we tried turned up pretty trumps, might pull off a post about that in the next bit. Those beans are green on the inside which is super cool, and the blackberries didn't last an hour! We lost Cal to an intense neighborhood Nerf-gun war once we got home, but Neel and I started work on my studio and Cal's room (massive clean-out needed there). The dogs helped by sitting on my lap every time I sat down. All three of them. At once. Especially when it thundered.

Moral of the story: my studio is still pretty much a wreck. But at least we made a path from Cal's door to the bed.

We had a great dinner with our neighbors Saturday night. Homemade pizzas, cucumber margaritas, and the best salad dressing ever on our salad. If you've ever eaten at my house, you've likely had this dressing. I used to make it all the time, and I really should make it more. Intrigued? Maybe I'll do a post about that too.

Sunday we kick-started a tradition I'd like to keep up for the rest of the summer: early morning trip to the beach. Perfect waves, perfect sea, sun and sand. Neel and Callum boogie boarded for hours while I read and swam and watched the dolphins. We see dolphins every time we go to the ocean. Usually just the fins slicing through the water as they move their way up and down the coast, but on Sunday they really put on a show for us. Tail slaps, jumping full-on out of the water and leaping in the wake of speeding boats. We're so lucky. On the way home we swung into Lowe's so Neel could get some concrete and took a quick detour through the bath section. Not surprised, but still good to know that Neel and I are on the same page about stuff. My dad comes in August, and after that the real work will begin.

When we got home, Cal mowed the lawn! We'd put off handing this task over to him because he has pretty miserable allergies, but it's time. He did great. It's all his now. I wonder when he'll stop being thrilled?

So what's everyone's week looking like? I have some shooting to finish up (pictures, people, not guns!), and Cal is NOT going to camp. He didn't want to. We found a potential alternative later in the summer, so everyone is happy. I'll probably finish clearing out the studio (yawn, I'm boring myself now), and try to wind up a few other things too. Life's like that, isn't it. Doing a few things here and there. Some inspiring and some not so. It's all good.

Oh, and did you know I shave Neel's head every week?