Five Things

When the going gets tough, the tough buy convenience food.  That's how the saying goes, I think.  John and I have continued to be too busy to really cook or clean up after said cooking, and so I've been buying convenience food.  My newest discovery is this frozen rice mix from Costco.  I know rice takes no time to cook and is easy, but this tastes great after blasting it in the microwave and has no dishes.  As far as I know Uncle Ben's Minute Rice doesn't come in a red quinoa and brown rice variety anyway.

(No, Harper is not eyeing the bag because she loves rice.  She's seen here licking the frozen bag like a popsicle.)

John picked up these see-through Bodum mugs at Sur La Tabla so he could show off the crema from the Nespresso machine.  I didn't take the picture in time to see it (it dissipates pretty rapidly), but I still love these mugs.  Bodum is a great company who designs products well - both functionally and aesthetically.  This mug has a double chamber so the outside and handle don't get hot (even though it looks like they would).

I just finished The Help this week, and despite my long hours at work, I was staying up late at night reading this great book.  It's engaging and well-written, describing the life of African-American maids in the sixties in Jackson, Mississippi.  I highly recommend this book.  Thanks, Mom, for the gift!

We leave for Mendocino today.  I raided Trader Joe's for some snack food and might head there again to pick up some more.  You can never have enough sour cream and onion corn puffs, right?  

Our little girl is all grown up - and apparently very put out by this picture-taking embarrassment.  She graduated from her Advanced Training class last week and is none done with her training education for quite awhile.  Sometime I will have to take a video of all the tricks she can do (per Anika's request).