Pleasant Friday and Saturday

I have two domestic diva loves in life: my mixer and my sewing machine.


We had a really wonderful lunch at King Estates (see below.) This burger was only $10!


Jim wouldn't pose with me. The scenery at the winery.

I think and hope that Jim had a very nice birthday. We received some very yummy Portillo's Italian Beef from family back home in Illinois. A good present for me too! When Jim came home from school on Friday, we drove out to King Estates. It's about 45 minutes away but a very scenic drive. We were so hungry when we got there! It was pretty quiet and we had a great lunch. Jim was even able to get a beer he enjoyed. They are a neat place because their grapes are organic and they grow most of their produce they serve on site, bake their breads there, and whatever they can't grow or raise on site they buy locally. I had a glass of wine and a burger. In my opinion, a good cheeseburger has all of the components of a perfect meal: melted cheese, beef, and bread. Yum! The fries were really good too. Jim had a pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato chips. We decided not to take the winery tour again even though they were starting to make wine. Hopefully they'll still be making wine when Jim's mom comes to visit in November. We came back home and Jim and Trooper took a very long nap. It was much needed and deserved! We were too full from lunch to do much but leftovers for dinner. We did take Trooper on a walk in the park. Our friends Jason and Sasha met us out at the bar for some drinks. We found out that the Eugene City Brewery gives you a free (giant) beer of choice and a free t-shirt on your birthday! A good treat but may have sent Jim over the edge! He even got the hiccups, which I've never witnessed in our six plus years together. Needless to say he was in bed a bit late this morning. I woke up, went on a nice jog, ate breakfast and then rode my bike to the library, bank, and farmer's market (all while the thirty year old slept). It's a bit crazy around our apartment because of the football game. The phone lines get busy too and you can't text or make a call easily. I made some Italian Beefs for lunch (YUM!) and we went down to our neighbors' BBQ for a bit. We have really nice neighbors in the building next to us who have the cutest kids. Their kids came up and invited us (and Trooper!) down. Then we put Trooper's UO bandana on and walked around the stadium a bit. Trooper LOVED all of the people. He got a lot of, "Aww, what a cute dog!" Which he loves. We rode our bikes to a bar and grill to watch the game with some of Jim's classmates and their spouses. (PS I had at least five people tell me or call out to me as I rode by that my bike is nice. I heart the Manhattan Smoothie.) I realized I may be crazy dog park lady as a wife of Jim's classmate recognized me from talking to her and her dog at the dog park one day! She was really nice though and we exchanged numbers for a puppy play date. I had a beer and rode home at half time. Half of a football game is more than enough for me. I also don't have a bike light. It's a $99 ticket for riding with no light. I bought Jim one for part of his birthday gift so that he'll be covered. And as usual I wanted to get home to our doggie. It's really loud at home from the game and I didn't want him to be crazy in the crate. So I'm home in my jammies with my pup curled up next to me and it feels really good. Hopefully Jim will have a safe bike ride home. Dodging the drunk football fans is similar to playing some sort of version of Frogger.