My summer....

The last time I checked in here summer was just getting underway and the fourth of July was just around the corner.  Now I am speeding towards the final lap of August and looking towards fall.  While autumn is my absolute favorite time of year I am still working to soak up this last bit of summer.  A month from now both of my kids will be in school.  Avery in first grade and Jack in preschool.  For the first time in seven years I will have regularly scheduled alone time.  Granted it's only 6 hours a week but still.....what will I do?  I'm looking towards this next chapter with equal parts excitement and sadness.  Since I am still home with both kiddos I don't really have anything creative and earth shattering to share with you.  The pool, beach, mountains, and trails don't lend themselves to much crafting.  Baseball games for most would be a great time to take needles in hand and work on some small projects.  But for me baseball games are a healthy dose of family time, socializing with friends, and helping my kids with workbooks, color books, reading, and whatever projects I have managed to stuff into my bag of tricks to help us stay at least through the seventh inning stretch.  But with all the fall patterns books coming out and Halloween decorations creeping onto retail shelves I have a foot in each season and I have finally settled on my first cold weather pattern to work on.  Aidez.

I am going to rip out my swank cardigan.  It turned out just as the pattern promised and the yarn is incredibly soft and cozy but I just don't ever wear it.  Since Berroco Ultra Alpaca is pricey as well it seems a shame to have a cardigan languishing in my closet with no one to love it RIPPPP....I am going to cast on for Aidez.  A pattern I come back to again and again.  I think this one will be worn so my afternoon plans are going to be watching my kids play in the "pool" and wind yarn. 

Next my two reads this summer have not been novels but rather cookbooks.  Jamie at Home is quickly becoming a family favorite.  When I made the Guinness pie with puff pastry lid my husband nearly cried....it was that good.  Besides all of the amazing recipes from his show he also has gardening tips for all the vegetables showcased in the book.

Around my French Table.....what can I say except that everything looks delicious and the few things I have made did not disappoint.  I have made her recipe for sweet and spicy nuts multiple times this summer and have yet to have an event where I haven't given the recipe out.  I am looking forward to cooler weather when a roast chicken in my oven sounds a bit more attractive.

The one project that has taken up my time is putting together a family cookbook for us.  A girlfriend of mine started this little book for me to keep my recipes in and I am finally organizing all my clippings and notes and everything.  And my name is spelled Andrea, Andra was an inside joke at the time.  And the man at the grill is supposed to be my husband....he brings the red hair gene to our family :).
In one place will be our tried and true recipes.  A quick reference of the recipes I have stolen from cookbooks that I make again and again with my changes.  My goal is to put it all together and photograph my dishes as I make them...you know like a real cookbook :).  The next few weeks will be busy and lazy both so I'll be in and out but hopefully I'll get back in the creative swing and have more to share.  I hope you are all soaking up your summers as well!  XOXO Andrea