just right

One of the best things about having a spouse is the ability to understand one another unlike anyone else can. Case in point... I came home last Tuesday to this:

and this:
You see, last Tuesday was July 20th. It would have been my sister Sarah's 27th birthday. Grief has a way of creeping up on me sometimes and for some reason, I felt more sadness around her birthday this year than any other. I think it's because I'm thinking more about what could have been. I imagine that at this point in her life, she would have been married and possibly had children. After being at our family reunion in Colorado and seeing all the relatives with their spouses and children, I felt very sad and robbed of experiencing some of that joy. The joy of joking around with her, the joy of seeing her in love with her husband, the joy of Mike and I having a couple our age to hang out with, and the joy of being loved so deeply. I know Sarah wanted to have children some day. When she went to Guatemala in high school, she brought back adorable dresses for a little girl she hoped to have someday! And I'm sad that I'll never get to see her be the awesome mother I know she would have been.
The flowers and wine really made my day because I realized how lucky I am to have someone who understands and cares for me so well. Mike saw my grief clearer than I did and for that I'm grateful.

. . .

I haven't posted many food pics for a while so here is what I've been up to this week.
On Friday night, I decided to make homemade ice cream sandwiches in honor of our neighbor/co-worker/dinner club pal Bruce's birthday. Mike and Bruce had to work the closing shift at work and so Nellie planned a late night get-together at their house. So, after work I got crackin' on some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and used butter pecan ice cream for the filling.
The end result:
Nellie ordered pizza for some late night chow and the ice cream sandwiches were the perfect dessert on a warm summer night.

Mike has been fishing with his family since Saturday. Meanwhile, I've been on-call and at work. So with my chef gone I've had to put together some meals on my own. My goal has been to use up many things in the fridge and pantry. With that goal, I've only spent $30 on groceries for all my meals Saturday through Wednesday. Pretty good, huh? I was proud of myself.
My favorite salad is Greek salad and so I've eaten that for dinner three times (with a little avocado for holding power):
I also made some Mandy healthified pizzas:
One of my favorite pizzas is Margarita pizza so this hit the spot. It's just a flour tortilla (80 calories) with pesto spread on it then topped with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and cracked pepper! I baked it at 500 degrees on the pizza stone for about 10 minutes.

My salads and pizzas have been good but I'm definitely looking forward to my chef returning.

The tall ships are coming to Duluth this weekend!! The city is preparing for 100,000+ visitors and so the Cafe will be busy. Mike and I hope to catch a few tall ships coming in to the harbor and also watch the usual Wednesday night sailboat races before he has to work all weekend. Ice cream cones might be on the agenda too!!