Life is a picnic!

Yes, I do know that this is like the 5th post I've written tonight (and all of them complete with pictures! Take that! And take me off the slacker list!), I promise it's my last post of the night. Look on the bright side - at least when you are bored at work on Monday, you will have plenty to read!

So anyway, the last couple of weeks I have been super stressed out about money (who isn't, right?). Like, on-the-verge-of-a-meltdown, I need-a-new-job-before-I-go-off-the-deep-end kind of stressed. It all came to a head last Wednesday, and I could feel myself slipping into zombieland (it's what I do when I get really down...I can't help it...I don't want to eat, talk, move, cook...I basically just want to sit and stare, or sleep for days). Of course, this made Steve ultra worried. I think when I said that I didn't care what we had for dinner because I didn't feel like eating anyway, he panicked. I always care what we have for dinner. And I always want to eat! Always. So he did the only thing he knew would get me back into reality long enough for us to talk things through and come up with a plan to work things out...he brought me to my favorite restaurant in town, The Scenic Cafe, set a bottle of Chablis in my lap, and started force-feeding me artichoke slather (it's like artichoke dip but with lots of Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes - YUM it's my favorite). I cheered up long enough to see reason and realize that I wasn't going to go off the deep end, and (as usual) his calm and positive attitude pulled me off the edge. It's just one of the reasons why I love him.

So the next night, I wanted to do something nice for him...but he really isn't super enamored with fancy restaurants and gourmet food (he says he prefers my cooking...weird, right?!!! Plus, like I said before - I am totally poor)...so I took him on a picnic! We both love to hike and be outside, appreciate a beautiful day, the sparkling water of Lake Superior, and fighting off hungry mosquitoes, so it was perfect! I packed some shrimp with cocktail sauce*, artichoke tortellini salad, fresh strawberries, pita chips, hummus, kalamata olives, feta cheese...and an individual turtle cheesecake (cheesecake is his favorite) for dessert. Oh - and a bottle of wine, of course! We packed some blankets and Kempton in the car, and headed out to our secret picnic spot up the north shore. Check it out:

Hello handsome!

Pretty water...and Kempton's head...
He's handsome too!

The food!
* Here's a tip to spice up your bottled store bought cocktail sauce: mix it with equal parts bottled store bought chili sauce! Trust me - it really gives it something extra. I think my parents taught me that one...try it next time!

Yay! Much better. And yes, we really did have to fight a few mosquitoes off...one little bloodsucker bit me on the neck!
Thank you Steve - for always making me feel better, and for being you. I don't know what I would do without you. And with that...I bid you all a good night!