Summer Send Off

Last night a few friends joined us in celebrating the end of summer, as well as the gainful employment of a friend (she was laid off earlier this summer), and the start of Jon's new career venture. We decided breakfast for dinner, dubbed 'binner', was the best way to go. I mean after all, who doesn't like breakfast in the Southern tradition of carbs and artery clogging goodness?

Homemade biscuits. That's right, from scratch folks. Thank you Alton Brown, and flour, for making this all possible. Oh and butter, butter, is important in making biscuits.

When there is meat and butter, or cooking of any form, there will be a dog nearby hoping against all hope that something will drop on the floor. Louie loves anything carbon based. Which means he never leaves the kitchen when anything is being cooked.

Mmmmm..... bacon.

Strawberries so sweet they didn't require any doctoring up whatsoever. It can't get more summery than perfectly ripened strawberries.

Can we say yum?

Of course, if your going Southern, and you have homemade biscuits, there must, absolutely MUST, be gravy. Preferably, sausage gravy with cream involved. Oh yeah... we went all out on this 'binner'.

And who doesn't like pigs in a blanket? Especially when they involved Havarti cheese and gourmet sausage. How could we refuse this non-traditional addition?

Mimosas. Made with real orange juice, which come to find out, means I will absolutely love drinking them. Sorry about the wine glasses, we don't have any champagne flutes around here, so, a little improv was required.

-

We ate until we nearly exploded and drank through two bottles of champagne. All while watching a bootleg recording of the Book of Mormon. Not as good as seeing the show live (which if they come into town or we go to NYC I will SO pay to see it!), but, we didn't care as it still was brilliant. Such a fantastic evening and a perfect way to say adieu to summer.

-

On a side note, I will say I'm sad to see summer go. Tomorrow I begin working back at the school I did last year. I'm looking forward to the kids, of course, and Leo will love being back. However, I wish summer was a little longer. I've gained so much perspective these past three months. Jon and I've talked a lot, begun planning things, figuring stuff out.... I can't help but worry that work will get in the way of all of that again and I'll end up like I was last year- just going, going, going never stopping and being worn out and miserable because of it. It's hard though. I don't make a whole lot of money at the school, but, I do need the insurance, and teaching piano lessons is smart financially, but, going between the two is a lot of work. I just wish I had more time to put things in order before I begin working full time again. Just so I could have some peace of mind that stuff is done, just in case I get too caught up in the work to survive mode. I hope I'm worrying over nothing. I guess we will see soon enough!

-

Well, I'm going to end this on a happy note. Hope your summer is winding down nicely!