The perfect toast

I'm sitting here at 6:47 this morning feeling incredibly accomplished. I peed alone this morning- that in itself is a serious treat! I did all of the dishes in the sink that have been screaming at me for well over a week. I made a pot of coffee and poured all of its dark deliciousness into my favorite mug.

Side note on my mug- I recently purchased this mug on our trip across America. If you've read my previous blog you will note that I visited a little diner in Fort Collins by the name of Silver Grill. Again I will remind you of how much you are missing out on by not eating their cinnamon rolls- spend the 1,000 dollars it takes to get out there just to eat one. You will not be disappointed. You may never come back home. You may decide that that is the only cinnamon roll you'll ever eat again. And you know what? Not one person would blame you. You're family may throw you a giant party because of it!

Okay- back to the mug. Have you ever been to one of these "older" diners and had a mug that just keeps and keeps your coffee warm? It's this perfect thickness, it's a solid mug. Much unlike the free, yard sale, or clearance mugs that currently inhabit my cabinets. It's a dream come true mug. It's a mug that makes me think I'm living a real life novel. I am sitting at my kitchen table, though I should be showering,  and I'm drinking this amazing coffee out of a mug that will keep it warm until next tuesday!

Before I got to drinking my delicious coffee this morning I had to eat. I'm not one of those people that can just nurse a beverage in the morning and "feel full". I need food. I need food as soon as I wake up. I try and tell myself that it is because I'm still nursing and requiring the extra 500 calories a day. Who am I kidding? As long as I can remember I have always been all about food. My day is planned around when my next meal is. I have long been in love with food. So I make toast this morning.

Sunday morning at The Coffee Pot

For 24 years, I've been doing it wrong. A few months ago- with the help of our great friends AJ and Sam, we found The Coffee Pot. It is another local place that makes me feel like I'm living the dream. The place is tiny. I mean tiny. It's run by a mother and daughter and a cook. Period. That's it. No more, no less. The dining area consists of a little bar butted up against the coffee station, four tables, and three booths. The walls are a Thomas Kincaid green and everything looks lived in. You feel at home when you walk in. We go there mostly for the home fries because they sprinkle magic into them. MAGIC. I don't know what it is they do that make them crispy and soft at the same time. I don't know what kind of onion they use that gives it this amazing flavor.  But they do it, and they do it all with finesse. We occasionally order toast, and thanks to Jason I now know the secret.

How many of you just toss that toast in on a medium setting, eagerly await that terrible pop that sends you through the roof, spread on your solid of choice and go on with your day? All of you? I thought so. I too used to be a one pop kind of girl. And then I ate toast at The Coffee Pot. You'll smack yourself for not knowing this. Crank that toaster to a lower setting- let's say a two or light depending on your toaster. Push that lever down and let her rip, but when it pops- TURN THE TOAST AND DO IT AGAIN!

That's it?!?!?! That is the BIG secret that all of these diners have been doing to make their toast better than mine??! You better believe it.

Now- go forth and make toast. I've got a trip to IKEA calling my name.

What America Taught Us

The Rockies and My Family

I'm alive!! Believe it or not! And two teeth later I'm finding the few precious moments in the day to write a post. We recently got back from our trip across america- Yes thats right. Trip across America. We drove our little selves from Cleveland to Denver. Six days total of driving.

I think we all learned a little something about ourselves this trip. 

Harvey learned that he reaches his breaking point at 12 hours in a vehicle. He also learned that no matter what mommy and daddy are trying to do- he always wins. We thought that going to visit the wildlife park would be an excellent idea. A one mile walkway with nothing on it- you just get to enjoy the animals from above. I don't think Harvey enjoyed much of it at all. We made it about 100 ft in when he started whimpering. Around the half mile mark we had gone from soft screams to a full on breakdown. You'd have thought Jason and myself were escaping from one of the animals. Our legs moved so quickly that I'm almost positive they were a blur beneath our feet. We bobbed and weaved through the crowds with such fluidity- I felt like a super hero. Here we are, zooming past these animals at light speed- and do you know what? Jason still has the where with all to snap some pictures! JOB WELL DONE!

Jason learned about the glories of IKEA. I'm not sure how great or terrible this is. It's opened up our wallets to another one of those "but it's so fairly priced" splurges. We spent a total of four glorious hours roaming the gargantuan building. As my aunt says "I"m almost positive their parking garage is bigger than the airports". Harvey was in baby heaven, I wore him in the moby and he slept blissfully for almost the entirety. We filled our cart to the max almost as soon as we walked in- of course we did? Have you been to an IKEA? Have you had your eyeballs just overloaded and you automatically think you need everything you see???? WE SURE DID! Thank goodness we always re-evaluate our cart before we head to the checkout. What was I going to do with a decorative salad bowl? How many dinner parties do I really have? Do I really need 5 tea light lanterns? In the first three hours you need everything, the fourth hour you try and convince yourself whether or not these are things you NEED or things you just WANT SO BADLY YOU COULD DIE?

It was tough- but we even left under budget. We're going to the one in Pittsburgh sometime this week to get more things.

Silver Grill Cafe in Fort Collins, CO

And lastly- myself. What did I learn while on vacation? I learned that I love to feel at home wherever I am. I'm not one of those people that like to go to all of the swanky restaurants while vacationing. I like to find the diner that has been rocking out since the 1930's and sit down with the locals. Stick me where no one else thinks to go. That is where I'm happiest. I want to talk to people. I met so many people, heard so many stories. I also got to hear stories from Jason. We spent nearly 90 hours on the road the past week- and the majority of that time we got to talk to one another. When was the last time you sat down with your spouse and just enjoyed one another? Not the television, not the radio, just one another. It was glorious. I got to fall in love with him all over again. Lucky lucky me.  

I'm normally not one to boast- but I will be boastful about my boys. I have such beautiful men in my life! How did I ever get this lucky? 

So all in all- I learned I love to feel like I've always been someplace. Harvey learned that his parents love him more than anything they ever thought they'd do. Jason learned that IKEA really is what it's all about.








PS: One thing we all learned- Silver Grill has the most amazing cinnamon rolls on earth.

You will never find another one like it.