My Dream Come True Birthday

Ok friends, so here's the situation, I just got the best birthday present ever. Remember the Napsack by Poler? From this post? Well, some awesome friends of mine (Kathryn and Kristin Elliott, Katie Maslow, Karen Coleman, Anne Varevice, Anna Hagens, and Cara Vermett) pooled their money and got me one for my birthday! This post is a month late because James realized I'd need a longer size when he got it in the mail, and had to go through the whole exchange process. I got it in the mail yesterday. And except for when I went to work, I haven't taken it off. Comfiest sleep ever, by the way. So here's a pictorial guide of the Napsack's finest features.

 Ok, so on both sides, there's a side zipper, making it easy to switch from sleeveless sleeping bag to normal sleeping bag with ease.

 You just upzip it annddd.........

 Ta-Da! Arms! Easy, and fun!

 The bottom is normally left open, but there's a drawstring in case you want to close it up and sleep and or hop about like you'd do in a normal sleeping bag.

 Oh no! It's miserably cold! Oh! But I have a hood, and it has these nice little tie things.

Ta-Da! Warmth! Look how warm it can be. Eh? Eh?

Also, the front zipper goes down a log ways, making it easy to climb in and out, and, as my friend Dan pointed out on twitter, it's reversible!
A couple of other fun facts about the Napsack:

It is a little difficult to frolic in. Apparently the process of trying is "not as good looking as it probably feels" to quote my husband (the guy behind the camera).

 So, yeah, he's right. It looks downright uncomfortable, but it felt awesome, so I really don't care.

 Here's me trying to jump. So, very useful for a lot of things, just not always very elegant looking.

 But come on, it's so cozy. I slept in it last night. It was amazing. I'm bringing it to the women's retreat, and for all you out there who will be at said retreat, I will be wearing the Napsack. Probably not to talks or meals, but definitely in my free time and in and around my cabin. So much comfort!

Last pic. So happy. So yes, a special thanks to all my girls who allowed my birthday wish to come true. I am so excited and I hope someday everyone can feel the excitement of the Napsack.

Fun With Avocados

Ok, so avocados are in season right now so they are super cheap, and that's awesome because they are delicious and so good for you. Here's some of the fun stuff I've done with avocados so far:

1. Black Beans and Avocados: Ok, so I don't have a picture of this one because it doesn't photograph well, but it is delicious. First: cook a chopped onion and some garlic (pressed) in a little olive oil. add a can of rinsed black beans. take off heat and set aside to let cool. Take an avocado (or two if you want the ratio to be more avocado than bean) and cut it into small cubes. Add to mixture with sime finely chopped cilantro and you have yourself a party. Put it in a wrap, serve with tortilla chips, or just eat it straight up. I got this recipe from myself, in that I made it up.

2. Avocado with cottage cheese and bacon:

Do I really need to explain how to make this? Cut an avocado in half, take out the pit, add cottage cheese, sprinkle bacon on top. I got this recipe from my friend Jack. Such a good combo.

3. Avocado Chicken:

Cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts. let cool. cut up an 1/2 onion, finely chop some cilantro, cube 2 avocados and squeeze some lime juice all into the same bowl. Add chicken. Stir. I think I found this recipe online, but I probably changed some stuff. OH, and add some sea salt. That's almost always a good call.

Ok, happy cooking!

Easter 2013: South Bend Edition

Well friends, I'm very late on my blog post about. Lucky for me, none of you expected it on time. Okay, so here's Easter with the McShanes:

 First things first: Mary Kate can fit in Lady's kennel. I find this rather impressive. James can't and I can a little, but she is full-on in there. That's amazing.

 Ok, so Friday night when we got into town, James had his fantasy baseball draft, so I hung out with Martee, MK, and Sarah. James was in the same room, but not 100% there. We had snackies. It was nice.

 Lunch on Saturday this happened. Isn't that nice? James is learning the guitar and wanted to show his hot new skills to Kevin, who already has skills. I want to frame this and hang it above the hearth. I like it that much.

 Here's James, Kevin, James' dad, Martee, Mary Kate, and Sarah having dinner on Easter Vigil. Here's a question: Why is it called Easter Vigil and Christmas Eve? Why not Christmas Vigil and Easter Eve? These are the things I wonder about when I'm trying to fall asleep.

 Here's me and James on Easter morning in our Easter clothes. I was going to say "in our Easter bonnets", but of course, James made us take our splendid Easter bonnets off for this picture. Something about not wanting the internet to know how much we as a couple love wearing bonnets on holidays. I can't remember the full reason. Anyway...moving on...

 Here's the girls on the couch with their Easter baskets/bags. Sarah's roommate joined us for Easter breakfast.

Here's the organization of the Easter picture that I don't actually have a copy of. I'm sure it looks great. I just like this picture, so I wanted to include it.

The mass we went to on Easter was surprisingly somber. I mean, they technically picked "Easter" type songs to sing, but I was totally unconvinced that the music ministry really actually was happy that Christ is risen. It felt like they kind of regretted having to celebrate. But we saw a lot of friends and we sat with family, so it was still a nice mass.

We also got to play some croquet with Joe and Sarah, the betrothed couple we are friends with. I had an early lead, but I ended up coming in dead last in the end, which just means James and I need to practice playing lots of yard games before we go head to head with those two again. They came in first and second. But yeah, other than getting owned in croquet, we had a really nice time and drank some delicious beers. Fun was had by all.

We also got to have breakfast at some friends' house, and that was made even more exciting because James is going to be the godfather of their new wee babe! That's right, James is Marlon Brando. It's awesome. So that's exciting.

Ok, I promise to blog sooner next time, ok? ok. Bye!

Smells

Hi friends. So last Friday I was walking to work and I smelt some crazy smells. Yes, that's right, this blog post is actually about smelling things. Ok, so first I'm walking around, looking at houses that I think look nice, minding my own sweet business and all of a sudden, I smell something.

 This is what I look like when I'm smelling things. Anyway, all of a sudden, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, it smells just like this shipping area I used to bike through on my way to the trucking company I worked for some time back in 2007. Now, that place smells like tons of cardboard because they're shipping things all over the place, so of course there's a plethora of cardboard. So anyhow, this smell lasts for about 2 blocks and then it's gone. So that was weird. I mean, it's not like there should be tons-o-cardboard there. But oh well, it's gone.

But then, in another 3 or so blocks, it starts smelling like older lady perfume from the early 1990s, which also makes no sense at all, because of course the area I was walking couldn't be that full of older ladies of the early 1990s without me seeing them all grouped around together. And of course I know this particular smell from being around in the early 1990s and from my constant thrift store shopping. And that's what gets me thinking this next thought: Why do all thrift stores smell like that? Let's take this to a new paragraph.

Why do all thrift stores have that same smell? Is that the smell of all thrift stores' soaps and employees, or is that thriftish smell the culmination of all human smells. I mean, sometimes you get something with a specific perfume or odor, but usually, it's just that one kinda "oh, someone's worn this, I should wash it before I do, or at least tell people I did" smell. It's just interesting to me that EVERY thrift store seems to smell the same way. I can only assume that that's what people as a whole smell like if we all put our smells into a big pot and just stirred it around a little.

Ok, that's really all I wanted to talk about. Bye!