Something New: Weeks 32 and 33

It's been more than two weeks since I reported on this little goal, so here's a bunch of days all at once.

August 5 --  Ate the most delicious homemade pizza of my whole life. (Sorry, Dad.) Matt made deep dish pizza (BJ's style) for the first time, with my homemade pesto sauce, a delicious chicken-onion-artichoke mixture, fresh tomatoes and cheese on top. I only wish we could be sure to replicate it exactly as it was, minus some salt. I want to eat it every day. Wish I had taken a picture, but we had friends over that night, so it disappeared fast.

August 6 -- Made kettle corn for the first time. Turns out it's super easy on the stove. Just oil, kernels, sugar and salt. The reason for making this was I had some girls over again to watch the newer 2007 BBC version of Persuasion, since the last one didn't satisfy. Loved this one!

August 7 -- Started reading a book about Ronald Reagan for book group, Peggy Noonan's When Character Was King. It's pretty good so far. And it's good for me to do some smarty-pants biography reading once in a while.

August 8 -- Watched an episode (or two or three) of the first season of Prison Break. Sometimes I hate it and sometimes I'm hooked. I'm sure I'd like it more if they stopped killing people. Not exactly what I like to watch right before bedtime.

August 9 -- Made blueberry cobbler, adapted from a recipe in The Bread Bible. It was seriously amazing. Addicting. Sounds good any time of day. The perfect thing to do with all the blueberries I have in my freezer from over-picking last month. The secret is to squeeze half a lemon over the fruit before baking to make it nice and zesty. Mmm...my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Oh, also that night we cooked purple green beans that I had picked from Dow Gardens. They turn green when you cook them! How cool is that?!

August 10 -- Learned how to sew button holes on my sewing machine. This was for a couple baby gifts I was working on. Here's the dress:

August 11 -- Made donut muffins for a barbecue. They are to die for. I know I'm raving about all these new recipes this week, but seriously, we hit the jackpot! These muffins are easy to make, require just a few ingredients that I always keep on hand, and taste just like cinnamon sugar donut holes. My family would flip!

August 12 -- Got a huge zucchini from a friend at church, so I decided to try to make chocolate zucchini cake. I had heard it keeps cake really moist, but mine didn't turn out exactly as I wanted. It was still moist, but a little crumbly, and I had to whip up some caramel sauce to hold it together. I'll try again someday.

August 13 -- Made a purple baby dress for my new little cousin.

August 14 -- Finished the pink and green baby dress for my other new cousin.

August 15 -- This was the start of a quick little Utah trip. I flew out with just Jude for six days so I could attend a cousin's wedding and see family. This was my first time flying with just Jude and he was actually amazingly well behaved! I could NOT believe it. It put me in a great mood when we arrived. On the plane, I also started reading Northinger Abbey on my Kindle, and am loving it. It makes me laugh inside on every page.

Jude soaking himself at the DTW fountain

August 16 -- Saw my cousin Oakley's beautiful new house. (I have a lot of cousins.) She invited some family over for a barbecue. She is my "twin cousin" and one of my best friends growing up. I miss her like crazy! Also she made me create an Instagram account, so that was new too.

August 17 -- Met more new baby cousins at a family gathering at Brickerhaven. Seriously, all my cousins make the most beautiful babies. On this trip I got to meet so many new family members: Robbie, Doug, Fan, Noah, Paisley, Scarlett, Nico, Regi, Kaya, Christian, and a ton of people from the Clive family. I had been gone too long!

August 18 -- Shared the role of Wedding Planner for a few hours. Scrambled to arrange seating for the wedding luncheon, scrambled to rearrange seating when everything changed, and ran the bouquet to the bride before they made their grand exit from the temple. It was fun and crazy. I also saw part of the new City Creek Mall in Salt Lake.

My awesome cousin Jordan and his babe-a-licious bride Fan

More about that trip coming soon...