Yesterday morning, when I realized that Ben truly had organized my shoes while I was sleeping, I didn't take a picture. This morning, when I saw the results of another night of him organizing my closet, I had to present you all with evidence. I don't doubt at all that I have the best husband in the world.

first day in the supertech classroom i'm teaching in for the summer. soon after, those chairs all got pushed to the back. rows are not for me.

on our drive to the climbing gym in newburyport (which we haven't been to in a year, probably), we saw that there seemed to be a huge wind turbine that we had never seen before, so we figured it must be new. when we got there, it turned out it actually lives basically in the parking lot of the climbing gym. who knew?

our contingent at the big family reunion in rhode island. (wait! didn't i just see these people at my party in new hampshire last night? i love my family.)

p.s. ben was told that he was expected to wear a bow tie. turned out: not so much. but doesn't he look cute?

my lovely step-sister in law, K, standing on the nonmechanical bull.

pre-afterparty. our feet hurt!

ben saying goodbye to his mom at the afterparty.

coffee in a Newport bar before driving home.

Today was my birthday! Went to the podiatrist, where I found out that I have a ganglion, which basically means nothing's wrong with me. Then cooked and cleaned, picked up food at farm share, cooked and cleaned, then guests arrived. FABULOUS party with AMAZING people. Thanks all for making it a great one! Here's the spread:

and

Mostly everything was made from scratch. hummus, pita (yes! we made pita!!! how cool is that?), bruschetta, meringue cookies with almonds, Hawaiian pizza (turkey bacon style), BBQ veggie pizza, margarita pizza, pesto tomato pizza, (not featured in this picture) massive cheese and veggie pizza, green tea ice cream, coffee ice cream, banana ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and strawberry rhubarb apple compote . Somehow, the food ended up being the perfect amount and we had no leftovers (I wish I could say the same for the drinks and the desserts).

p.s. I wish I was better at taking pictures while people are at our house!!!

Just after Ben walked out the door this morning, he called our landline. I thought it was a little odd, since he knew I was in the middle of washing lettuce, but soon found out why. He very quietly told me to walk onto the porch quickly and quietly with my camera. I did, and saw this cute little guy. I've seen him before, but never when I had my camera handy. Thanks, Ben, for pointing him out to me and for waiting to walk over to your car and scare him away until I was done picture taking! Also, happy birthday eve day to me!

It's "how many things can Janine cook at once?" day again! From left to right -- slow cooker is on the edge of the shot, making strawberry rhubarb apple compote, bowl of custardy part for coffee ice cream is cooling, batch of green tea ice cream is in the ice cream maker, meringue is mixing in the mixer (what else do you do with egg whites when you make ice cream?), bread is being baked in the breadmaker (which will later turn into bruschetta), dishwasher is being unloaded so I can reload it and get rid of the evidence of this crazy kitchen scene.

Our family on our 6th date-iversary!

All of my shoes are wet.

But BEN, I don't WANNA fold the clean laundry before I go to sleep!!!!!

Our fridge filled with farm share stuff. The stuff in bags belongs to our co-sharers. Our refrigerator will be more manageable after they pick it up... I hope....

This is what I've looked like for most of the mornings this week. It's been truly lovely.

Went to Mendum's this morning to clean up before it opens on Saturday. Met a new little friend.

When I went to my yoga class on Sunday, I found that my hair was fairly unmanageable. It had gotten long enough that I can put it in a ponytail. So I had done that, but then we were doing work on our backs, and I couldn't lay down with the ponytail where it was, so every time my hands were free, I'd be trying to do something to get my hair to be out of my way, and not painful. When it was down, it was totally all over and in my face, and when it was up -- either it wouldn't all stay up or it would be situated in a way so that I couldn't put my head down. I must have redone my hair more than 10 times during class. It was distracting, if not embarrassing. So today, I thought about it before I went. I was going to grab a headband, but they have a tendency to fall out sometimes when there's a lot of head movement, especially when I lean my head back. I settled on trying pigtails, which I haven't done for a while. They were perfect. Totally cute and comfy. I would say that they'll be my new stand-by, but I'm on my way to get my hair cut, and even though I really just want it to be a little trim, these pigtails are so little that it might take a little while for me to get them back... At least they served me well today!

After lounging on the couch for a good chunk of the day, trying to get some work done, I decided it was time for a serious physical challenge. I've been going to yoga lately, and to the gym for some reading/biking or reading/treadmill, but not a lot of running. So I decided I would run to campus, which is about 6 miles. (I usually do about half that distance, since we were training for a 5k...) When I say run, I really mean run/jog/walk, since I can't yet make myself run for more than about 5 minutes without a little walking in between... So I got all dressed and ready to go, and then realized that my sneakers were in Ben's car, which was not even on campus, but at Mendum's Pond with him.... I started frantically looking for my other pair of sneakers, which fit badly and I was a little wary of wearing (that sounds funny), but were better than nothing. Anyway, I couldn't find them, and I really wanted to do it, so I went online and checked out the hours for the running store in town. Since its website said it was open, I decided to drive over and buy a new pair of running shoes, since I really need some new ones anyway. But when I got there, it was closed! (Ben says they don't really have any regular hours as far as he can tell.) So I drove home and didn't know what to do. I thought maybe I would just walk there in sandals, but that wouldn't be as much fun or challenging for me. So I decided I'd look around the house on some off chance that I could find the other sneakers or my usual sneakers had made it into the house from Ben's car. Well, they had. The bag that held them was right in the bedroom in plain view. So I put them on, and after a couple more false starts involving forgotten heart rate monitors and watches and trying to figure out where to put my keys while I ran, I was off. Lovely day. Lovely run. Burned over 1000 calories. Good day. Thanks, sneakers, for being where I was sure you weren't.

strange and probably harmless bump on my foot. made an appointment with a podiatrist in any case. better safe than sorry:)

ben is really against kitchen unitaskers (see alton brown), but after our first pick up from the farm share, we decided we really do need a salad spinner. also, he's been wanting a banana hanger for a while. so we took a field trip to bed bath and beyond with the last of our gift cards from the wedding and got a couple of unitaskers (though i've been told a couple times in the course of the day that a salad spinner wouldn't be considered a unitasker). then, we went a step further and ordered a pressure canner and an ice cream maker... hmmm... i can justify the first, but not sure about the second...

full day of "intro to meditation" with my friend at my local buddhist center, then dinner with her and her family. here's the littlest of them. she's been featured on the blog a couple times before. her cuteness couldn't be contained in just one picture, so here are two!!

what a good musician!!
(further proof that ben loves toddlers)

first pick up at our farm share. we walked around and visited some friends. friend and cosharer, M, is featured in the doorway.

i'll leave this one to your imagination.

Went to a conference-y thing in Manchester today. Ate good food there. Came home to get some work done, and got a video chat request from two of my favorite people: V and her little man R. After I took this picture, I brought it up on the camera screen and held it up so that V could see it on our video chat. Funny. 

Cold and rainy day. Got a lot done. Internship contract signed, schedule established, fingers printed, picture taken for ID, summer faculty/staff parking pass acquired. Needed soup for dinner. GOOD DINNER. Made broccoli soup and caesar salad (first one I've ever made) and bought sourdough bread and a triple creme cheese.

Bought this wine at the Bottle King during the rehearsal dinner bus stop, solely because of the name. Episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on the screen. Good times.

checking to make sure all cabins are cleaned and swept out

summer staff arrives today. gotta get rid of all signs of partying!

(after having done the heavy lifting tasks that were assigned to them) the boys played frisbee golf while the girls helped with plates and table cloths and whatnot.

we rappelled off the dam. Ben and A are featured here waiting for it to be time for them to spot so we can go canooooooeing!

gorgeous ceremony. we got to sit in the shade. didn't realize till later how hot the wedding party must have been over there in the sun!

will they leave in a tractor or in a helicopter?

decidedly in a helicopter (causing the horses in the next field to FREAK OUT and all the babies at the wedding to stop crying)

cornhole during cocktail hour.

pbc past and present staff picture.  

ben carried his new little friend away from the party and into the kitchen for a little while so F's parents could eat their dinner.

lots and lots of dancing.

bride and groom on the school bus.

we took a stop for everyone to get out at Bottle King before we went to hibachi.

he actually dropped this egg because i scared him with my camera's flash. whoops!

ooooh! fire!!! (no more flash for me)

one round of irish car bombs at the BTI (mostly for old time's sake)

time for bed!

Friends, tapas, sangria, beer.... 

and Harrison Ford (no, I've been corrected -- Han Solo) to protect me while I slept.

What a fabulous day!

So, when I arrived at my mom's house on Sunday, this bowl of wasabi peas was almost completely full. By the end of that day, it was somewhat depleted. By the end of Monday, since the bowl was right at the table where I was trying to get work done, it was more depleted. When I woke up on Tuesday, it had changed tables, but was still in the same room, so I continued to enjoy, though a little more slowly. When I woke up today, it had moved to a different room. I thought to myself, "Do these peas really think that just by changing rooms they're going to keep me from eating them?" Well, it turned out to work pretty well if that was their goal. I went out of my way to eat them in the next room over once or twice, but definitely not at the same rate I had been. I somehow didn't feel as if it was within my power to move the bowl back where it had been before. I've been outsmarted by a bowl of wasabi peas!!!!

i attempted to get a good mirror picture of me in this shirt that i love. oh well.