Yesterday was a lot of work…and little play!
But it was productive in every sense of the word and left us feeling very accomplished by the time we crashed on the couch at 9pm.
My original plan was to go through the office and purge/donate unnecessary items. And boy, did I ever! We parted with probably 75-80% of our books and DVDs that have just been collecting dust. The library is going to be happy to see me today!
Bye, bye psychology, statistics, and computer science books. We won’t miss you at all!
I also came across my WEDDING binder! This was the binder that held all of my wedding ideas, clippings, wedding dress pics, and collages. Too funny!
Oddly enough, our wedding ended up looking NOTHING like the clippings I pulled out. Originally, I wanted to go with a soft pink theme, but in the end we went for classic red, ivory, and black.
Clippings:
Actual:
Once I get on a organizing and purging spree, I can’t stop. It’s like some kind of high! After the office I did our bathroom and the bedrooms upstairs. There were a lot of things left in the house when we moved in, so it was great to get rid of unused furniture and odd items that were weighing us down.
Mid-afternoon, I stole Eric away from the deck work to replenish our energy stores!
Eric has been gushing about this smoothie that he had at Fresh restaurant the other week (he works near one of their locations and pops in sometimes for take out), so I took matters into my own hands and made my own version to surprise him. :)
The seasonal smoothie at Fresh is called a ‘Pink Flamingo’ and it’s made up of Watermelon, Banana, and Strawberries!
My Pink Flamingo Smoothie:
- 3 cups watermelon
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (or fresh)
- 1 large frozen banana (not the one in the picture)
Oh man, this was good!! There was also leftover smoothie after filling the glasses and I quickly chugged it before Eric saw!
I don’t like to point fingers, but the messy smoothie leads to Eric. ;)
We worked late and opted to skip our planned picnic for a less busy night. I whipped up a maple cinnamon split pea and spelt berry salad. It was delish, but I’d like to make a few tweaks to this next time!
Served it with fresh garden kale, sautéed in extra virgin olive oil and Herbamare.
I can’t get over how quickly the kale replenishes itself. I’ve been picking a big bunch each day and it just grows back overnight. If any of you new gardeners are looking for a fool-proof veggie to grow, kale is it. Actually, I’ve heard that most garden greens grow very easily!
Enjoyed with more beer. :)
Sunset is our favourite time to be in the backyard because everything just glows as the sunlight beams through the forest.
For dessert, we shared a bowl of organic cherries. Nothing better.
It’s back to the grind for us Canucks today, but it’s a holiday for our friends South of us. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July if you are celebrating today!
I doubt their smoothies actually LOOK as cute as yours! I love those glasses
The smoothies look delicious! And I love the colours in that salad, even if it does need a little tweaking. I also have a ton of my university textbooks sitting in my basement, and I haven’t a clue why I haven’t taken them to the library as donations earlier! Thanks for the idea Ange! Sounds like you had a super productive Sunday!
I am so making that smoothie tonight! I work today even though its our Independence Day and I was looking for a simple thing to make to celebrate. You’re a genius!
My son just asked if I could make a smoothie this morning and this is the perfect one! Heading out to pick up a watermelon pronto. Thanks Angela :)
UPDATE – my kids LOVED this smoothie! Thanks again
haha nice!! Thanks for letting me know :)
Beautiful. Pink flamingoes in people’s yards are suuuper classy, so that makes this smoothie queen’s level! Wooooo college books are gone! Now you have room for MORE cookbooks and scrapbooks :)
haha notice that I didnt give away one cookbook? I dont think I could part with any!
Enjoy Shari and Jenny!
That drink looks delicious, we have some watermelon to use up so I think it will be on tonights agenda!
My Pink Flamingo Smoothie:
3 cups watermelon
1/2 cup frozen strawberries (or fresh)
1 large frozen banana (not the one in the picture)
I’m getting married this weekend and I totally agree, my wedding is looking nothing like what I had originally thought. It’s funny how ideas develop and change over the course of your engagement! It’s almost as if your original ideas evolve to fit the couple’s personalities!
aww goodluck! I’m sure it will be beautiful :)
The drink looks so delicious and refreshing!
That smoothie sounds perfect on this (already!) hot day :)
Ah well… We got our Fridays off, and it was a relaxing long weekend! I’ll just try to ignore the fact that all my American buddies are still chilling… And speaking of the “grind”: I’m doing the Grouse Grind up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver today, whee~ (Love that hike. If you come to Vancouver, give it a go if you haven’t already!)
That drink looks SO refreshing! Great way to kick off the week, I bet. :) Good to hear that kale is easy to grow, too. I tried growing some spinach, but it didn’t really work out… My basil plants are huge though, and if you want a fast-growing plant, definitely try tomatoes! Mine grew from being about 10 inches tall to a little over 7 feet in just under a month!
Even though it didn’t turn out according to your pre-wedding plans, it looks like it was an absolutely gorgeous wedding!
My spinach didn’t work either…it bolted after 2 weeks!
That smoothie looks amazing! I love watermelon in the summer but I’ve never tried it in a bevie — other than a watermelon martini of course ;-)
We had a somewhat similar day yesterday. We put together our restaurant chrome shelves and purged the stuff we didn’t want and ran it over to Goodwill. I’m amazed at how much a few inches more of shelf space lets me stack more things! That smoothie looks AWESOME! Right up my hubby’s alley! Gotta say I’m partial to the colors you went with for your wedding because they’re the same I used for mine! :D
What a lovely meal! I am drooling over that split pea salad… if I make that pink flamingo I would def puree the watermelon, strain, & then blend. I bet this would make for an awesome sorbet if you puree and freeze into cubes then blend. Mimmmm
oohh everything looks so yummy and festive :)
You are awesome for doing that major clean out. I must but have no idea when ;(
These pink flamingo drinks look like the perfect summer treat – especially with that bowl of cherries :) xo
we need to go back through our wedding photos and make a professional album in a very bad way…and i love the colors you went with! i like pink, but i have seen entire weddings of pink and it’s just not as striking (personal opinion). i love when you do wedding posts…you guys had such a beautiful day!
I love getting organized! :) That smoothie sounds so refreshing!
The smoothie sounds delicious and the name is so cute!
I love getting rid of stuff — at first I was scared to get rid of my college textbooks but I don’t miss them at all actually! :)
I have such a problem getting rid of books, I like to hoard them! :) Thats smoothie and salad and smoothie look great, so fresh and yummy!