short and sweet

Happy Monday to my readers (all two of you). If you are local, I hope you are a good swimmer, as it appears we now live in Seattle where it rains for multiple days on end. Being the ardent sunshine lover I am, it is tough to cope when the skies boast gray hues day in and day out, but I press on and know if we didn't have days like these, we wouldn't fully appreciate the sunny days...

As the post's title indicates, short and sweet was the name of the game this weekend and will carry over as the theme for this post. This weekend was comprised of a quick trip to Austin for a little fousin love and general merriment in light of the fact that Sean will be Spain-bound for a year in just a few short days.

E and I headed southbound on Saturday morning only to be met by major downpours and may-juh traffic. 'Ole Andi was not feeling her best and apparently wanted to reenact the scene from 27 Dresses on numerous occasions (I'm hydroplaning! I'm hydroplaning!). Much to my chagrin, the dicey conditions required "all hands on deck" or should I say both hands on wheel (with a death grip) pretty much the entire way down. Thank goodness I had the distinct pleasure of Elisa's company for the sluggish drive down.

very pleased to have made it safe and sound

Once we made it to the Dehan casa, Elisa set to work churning out four loaves of banana bread and a double batch of puppy chow. She is a machine and doesn't dilly-dally around in the kitchen. I helped myself to copious amount of Ana's salsa using basically anything as a vehicle to get that delicious goodness in my mouth. Oh Ana, why is your salsa so darn addictive and why don't you sell your goods in Walmart (probably because you have standards, but you're killing me)?

We also took great pains to select a restaurant option worthy of hosting Sean's bon voyage dinner which, without going into too much detail, turned out to be quite a laborious affair. After much hemming and hawing (and several broken hearts), we ended up at a Tex-mex chain...oh the horror (insert sarcastic tone here)! After dinner, we enjoyed an Argetinian flight at The Grove and stuffed ourselves with rum cake, banana bread and puppy chow. The night was capped off with a viewing of Sleepless in Seattle...classic.

group shot after our exotic gourmet meal

Sunday consisted of church, grocery shopping, cooking and more driving in the rain. After church, I took the reigns on brunch and whipped up my easy garden bake (see Tasty Tuesdays for the recipe) and banana bread french toast. I'm sure it goes without saying that grapefruit mimosas accompanied said brunch. Once Elisa finished her twelve loads of laundry, baked two pans of beer bread and packed up her life in Andi's dwarf-like backseat, it was time to hit the road again.

The trip north proved to be much more manageable and we arrived in Irving at a respectable hour. In fact, we made such good time, I stayed for dinner. Her roomies cooked up a delicious feast, but I think I mostly consumed bread for my dinner. Superfluous (but delectable) amounts of beer bread and garlic bread were demolished, and I drove home in a deliriously happy carb coma.

And since I was such a slacker last week, I'll leave you with a montage of pictures that tell the story of my Labor Day with the fam. I couldn't muster a post, so these will have to suffice.

my delish homemade barbeque sauce...drool

love this pic of Haylee with her Papaw

my flaming bananas foster (I swear there was a flame)

a very alert and stoic Meredith

Until we meet again, have a blessed and abundant week!