Carly

Meet Carly. I took some pictures of her sister earlier in the year and some photos of Carly today. I'm pretty sure this family was endowed with perfect skin, perfect hair and ability to just look good in high wind, rainy weather, sunny weather...whatever. These girls just look good no matter how the camera is pointed at them. Carly was super fun and ADVENTUROUS! The girl even walked through stinging nettle in her high heels to get to one of the locations. Talk about brave! Stinging nettle totally hurts (I know from painful personal experience). She just brushed her legs off and kept going. I was amazed! And we even had a close encounter with a van full of men in turbans out in the countryside who were almost leering at us. Scary at the moment...funny now that we're safely back at our own homes. Enjoy the pictures!

7 Eagles

We had a phenomenon here. We had 7 Boyscouts receive their Eagle this year at our Troop's Eagle Scout Court of Honor (only about 2-4 percent of all boyscouts receive their Eagle). I was able to attend and take pictures for part of the event. This was amazing! To see the hard work and service these young men have rendered to the community, not just here in England, but in the many states and countries which they have lived was truly inspiring. There were troop patches that spanned the globe attending this event. It was incredible! My husband is an Eagle Scout, my brother is an Eagle Scout...and I KNOW what kind of hard work goes into this achievement. I know also that this was as much a tribute to their hard work of their mothers and fathers as it was to the efforts of these young men. So happy to post your achievements here! Congratulations to all of you!

Taylor

Oh my goodness gracious, was this girl ever fun to photograph. She let me drag her all over East Anglia...and we've got the photographs to prove it. We had a ton of fun, talking about our lives, the ways her friends make her laugh, her desire to be a model someday, and what she does in her spare time. In exchange, I talked with her about how I got started with photography and my lack of "girly-ness". I'm trying to change that, by the way and become more, well...girly. Mom helped me out with a dose of some cute vintage-type clothes when she was up last...but that's a whole 'nother story. So, here's some of the MANY favorites I had of Taylor!

The Poppies

Living here in the UK, I've been most impressed by one thing. The FLOWERS! This place seems to spontaneously blossom. My garden is included in this phenomenon. I have never tended a garden less and seen more production. This morning I awoke to these blooming beauties. I only became aware about a week ago that they were poppies. (I've been hesitant to uproot anything here because I am having the hardest time telling what is a flower and what is a weed. Even the weeds have pretty blossoms here. Except the stinging nettle. I now know what THAT looks like from a painful experience in the garden about a month ago...and I've been attacking it with vigor each time I see it). I have been waiting to see them unfold. They were waving their cheerful pink heads in the breeze this morning, beckoning me to come and examine them closer. My son and I carefully tiptoed out into the dewey grass to smell them and photograph their fuzzy stems. You know, I don't think I've ever seen a poppy up close before...if at all. But, they may become one of my favorite flowers forever after!

Grilled Chicken and Summer Veggie Sandwich

OK...so I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight and OH MY HECK was it fabulous! We'll rate this one a 10 on our food scale (10, by the way, stands for "I'd eat this every day if I could"...1 being "I'd rather eat cardboard". None of the "1" recipes make it to this blog. Thank goodness. I don't think I've ever actually made a recipe like that, but I've seen a few. Ran across one once that was a mixture of cottage cheese and frozen mixed veggies. The lady who submitted it said it was good...but it LOOKED like vomit, and combining the ingredients in my head, I was pretty sure it would taste like vomit too. But, I digress...) This is a grilled chicken and summer veggie sandwich that will knock your socks off! And, if you're like me and trying to cut a couple of pounds...it's not bad for that either!

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (more if you like alot of meat on your sandwich...but the veggies really do add alot of substance to this baby...so less is more in my opinion.)

1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise (I used a vegetable peeler to slice mine)

1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and quartered

1 small red onion, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup prepared Italian dressing (divided in half)

1 loaf ciabatta bread (14 oz), halved length wise

2 tbsp olive oil (accept no substitutes...this adds some oomph to the sandwich)

1/4 cup reduced-fat mayo (or if you're throwing caution to the wind, like I did tonight, use real mayo)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp grated lemon peel

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the zucchini, pepper, mushrooms, onion and 1/4 cup salad dressing. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Drain and discard marinade.

Meanwhile, grill chicken, covered, for 7-10 minutes on each side, basting frequently with remaining 1/4 cup Italian dressing. (You can tell chicken is done when you prick it with a fork and the juices run clear). Remove chicken from grill, cut into slices, and keep warm.

Brush cut sides of bread with oil; set aside. Place vegetables on grill rack. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until crisp-tender. Remove and keep warm. Grill bread, oil side facing the heat source, over medium heat for 30-60 seconds or until toasted.

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, lemon juice, peel and garlic. Spread over bread bottom; sprinkle with cheese. Top with chicken, vegetables, and remaining bread. Cut into four slices. Yield: 4 servings.

*If you're feeling adventurous, just like to march to the beat of your own drum, hate to be told what to do, or just hate feta cheese, zucchini, or whatever else...use this as a loose guide. Hey...that's what I do! You didn't think this was actually the recipe I got from the magazine, did ya? I made it my own thing. The recipe in the magazine was an idea maker...not a strict "how to". So, take out the mushrooms, add some fresh tomatoes, forget the feta and go with cheddar, use your own funky raspberry balsamic vinagrette instead of the Italian...whatever makes you happy. After all, cooking is about the creative process. It's expressing yourself in edible form. And creativity equals joy in my book!

Happy

I keep coming back to this blog...not to update it, but to look at the blog header and smile. It makes me happy. Simple minds, simple pleasures...maybe. Or maybe I just derive joy in the everyday. Either way, I like what I see. And there is nothing more rewarding than a job well done.