best. husband. ever.

Seriously.

Ladies, this is what I came home to this afternoon:

The Dyson DC 41 Animal that I’ve been drooling over since it came out last year. It even comes with a giant bag of tools! I let out a gasp and immediately went searching for my phone (to snap this photo, of course!), when Andrew popped out from the dining room.

And it gets better–this is my card:

How did I land this guy, anyway?? Seriously! Andrew’s ‘presents for no reason’ just get better and better… Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first Dyson Andrew has given me; he got me the ‘baby Dyson’ (the DC 24) a few years back after we put all hardwood in our house in Ohio. He knows his cleaning-obsessed wife well. (The truth is, baby Dyson really isn’t a ‘whole house vacuum’ and our ancient Dyson is on its last legs. It was time.)

So, that was the highlight of my year so far. Needless to say, I’ve already vacuumed the whole house…

cows are huge (and other observations)

So I went to the Wyoming County Fair with the Nyes and their son, Adam, this past week. It’s fair week here in Western New York, and I’ve never been. We happen to live in Erie County, which apparently boasts one of the largest–if not the largest–county fairs in the county. Our neighbor county to the east, Wyoming, hosts a much smaller fair, and one in which the livestock play a much larger role.

People, I have never felt like such a city girl in my whole life.

The animals and their pint-sized handlers ( kiddos from 4-H and FFA) were definitely the stars of the show. We walked through barn after barn full of animals:

In addition to the myriad animals we saw being shown, we also walked through barns of other entries, including produce, baked goods and art:

And of course, there was the fair food:

I had a great time at the fair with my dearest of friends, and it was extra special knowing that Mr. and Mrs. Nye grew up around here. In fact, Mrs. Nye used to enter the pie contests and win–hence, ‘Mrs. Nyes’ Pies.’

Now, I’ll just have to get to the Erie County Fair one of these years to be able to see the difference, and what a difference there will be (I’ve been told).

a lunch fit for a queen

That was the title of this blog post BEFORE Regina said it herself, thankyouverymuch.

For Regina’s birthday, I had her over for a nice, quiet lunch. She’s in the throes of moving her four-person family into her gram’s house, as well as serving as maid of honor in her sister’s upcoming wedding. Oh, and she had to prep their old house for renters in the same weekend as the wedding shower. So, she’s been a bit stressed.

We started with a dry rose from the Finger Lakes (‘Is 11 too early for wine?’ I asked. Multiple sources gave a resounding, ‘No!’) and veggies with hummus.

We chatted on the porch for at least an hour, enjoying the sunny day, our wine, soft music in the background and (uninterrupted) conversation. It was beautiful.

It was so peaceful, it didn’t even feel like my own house. Oh, that’s right–the dog was outside. No wonder.

We headed to the dining room–flowers courtesy of Andrew–for lunch.

I served a zucchini and ginger velouté soup (fantastic) as well as sides of creamy mustard beets, caprese salad, pickled radishes and apricot nut bread.

Afterward, we headed to the new froyo place in East Aurora, Yotality, for some dessert! It was one of the most wonderful days I’ve had all summer. In the words of Andrew, last night: “Aren’t you glad I was friends with Regina in high school?”

Yes. Yes I am.