july 4th recap

Lots o' changes happening in the M&M house. The theme of this summer has been House Madness. We're close to wrapping up our painting project. I finished painting the last side of the house on Monday and now we just have some last minute caulking & trim work to do. My eyes & ideas have been bigger than my muscles can handle. I've been nothing but a blob of soreness all summer. Still on the agenda: more mulching, more paver installation, more shelves hung in the basement... oh, and more outlets added to the basement. Oye!

We've managed to fit some fun into the madness. Mike's parents were up last week. We of course had good eats and drinks. My favorite food from the week: Crab Cakes with a Lime Aioli.

Anna & Timmy did a great job pre-washing the dishes. It was fierce competition:

We made a trip to Bayfield last Friday. Made the usual stops at Eckels Pottery, Stones Throw & got pecan & cashew turtles at the candy shop. It was a beautiful day and so we also enjoyed a beer on a deck overlooking the lake & Madeline Island (sorry, no pics). Mike's 'rents also handed down their "old" TV to us. It's quite the upgrade for us. It's a bit of a design challenge to get it to "fit" in our living room. I repurposed a dresser for the time being:


The only catch with repurposing the old dresser is that now I have a big opening in the dining room:

My vision for this little nook is a small wine bar cabinet. The one I had in mind at Crate & Barrel is no longer stocked! Bummer!

Be sure to check out the Duluth Dish blog for a nice shout out to Chester Creek Cafe.