Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Happy Birthday Allie!!

There hasn’t been anything truly exciting going on in the Herndon household the past week. We took the past weekend and made it a lazy weekend. We laid in bed most of the morning, except for when we went to get azaleas, and had lunch at the Stables with Chad, Allie, Lauren C, Cole, and Megan. It’s getting to be a habit of going to the Stables for brunch and mimosas/bloody maries. It was great getting to catch up with everyone. Brian has decided to pick up painting again. He took art in school and was pretty good from what I have seen. We bought some supplies a little bit ago and he picked up the brush Saturday afternoon. He did a beautiful painting, but he didn’t feel it was worthy (in his eyes) so he painted over it. I am so proud of him getting into the paint again. After a few practice painting I know he will be back into the swing of things. Here is his painting from this weekend. I didn’t do a very good job of taking a picture of it.

Good thing we had low-key, relaxing weekend because we will be on the run this weekend! Friday night we are headed over to the Russells’ for dinner and game night. I do love a good game night, just seems like we never have time for one on a regular basis. Saturday I (we) are helping host a couple’s baby shower for Curt and Ashley. I should do a better job at managing my time at night this week and make the card for Ashley’s blanket one night instead of waiting till the last minute on Saturday morning while I’m making 2 dozen cupcakes for the shower. :)

We thought we were getting our new windows installed this week, but we miscalculated the timeline. It will be about another 2 weeks before they are installed. I cannot wait!! Funny how as you get older you get excited about different things than you did when you were younger. Who knew new windows would be so exciting.

I haven’t mentioned a new recipe in awhile. Last night I made a Spring Orzo Salad. Oh my. This is one of the best salads I have had in a long time. I cannot take credit for finding this one, Chris passed it along. I was a little leery of it based on the “dressing” but wow, this is full of flavor. Brian was a huge fan of it as well.

Spring Orzo Salad

Ingredients:

2/3 cup orzo

1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/3 cup finely chopped orange bell pepper

1/3 cup finely chopped and seeded tomatoes

1/4 cup quartered dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup chopped watercress

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons olive oil, preferably extra virgin

1/3 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Prepare the orzo according to the package directions
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the bell peppers, tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions, watercress, garlic, oil, cheese, and lemon juice.
3. Mix the orzo with the vegetable mixture until well combined. Season to taste with black pepper.

Note: I didn’t put the tomatoes in it due to the cherry tomatoes I had were no longer good. Also I’m not a fan of watercress so I left those out as well and I put green onions in place of scallions since I couldn’t find any at the store.

I leave you with a picture of what Sunni does most nights. He will sit and stare at Brian until he makes room for him to sit next to him. Regardless if there is a whole side of the couch next to me (if Brian is in the chair) or plenty of room between us on the couch instead of the small spot between Brian and the end of the couch.