Friday Five

1. I met up with two HP friends (Lizzie & Peggy) of mine up in Baltimore on Saturday. We had a great time! We ate at The Cheesecake Factory where we savored decadent avocado eggrolls, noshed on delicious chicken lettuce wraps, and finished up lunch with a light and sweet lemon raspberry cake. Sooooooo good! Then we went to the aquarium and marveled at many of God’s creations, our favorites of which included the octopus, puffins, and dolphins. After that we walked around and shopped/window-shopped and finished the day at Panera for dinner. All in all, it was a wonderful day.

2. I made a yummy crab stuffed flounder this week. The smell of the crab and fish drove Gus crazy! He jumped up on the trash can – something he hasn’t done in months. I realized that I had kind of set him up to fail by putting crab scented stuff in the trash. I should have put everything into a small bag and taken it out as soon as I was done. Good thing the trash bag was mostly full anyway, so we could just take it out. Poor Gus thought he was being tortured with yummy smells!

3. Speaking of Gus, he had his first adventure outdoors this week...on a harness and leash, that is. Rusty really wants to be able to take Gus out on a leash. Tuesday evening we slipped the harness on Gus easily, since he didn’t know what it was. He did not like it and was slinking around the house at first, like the harness was weighing him down and keeping him close to the ground. I got one of his favorite feather toys out and got him to play and realize that he could still jump, but Gus still kept licking at the harness. Wednesday evening we put the harness on again (without too much trouble), attached the leash, put him in his carrying kennel, and took him outside. (We used the kennel so he could feel safe and come out at his own little pace.) It took him a minute of hesitantly taking little steps, but he came out of the kennel and walked around with curiosity mixed with nervousness. He was sniffing everything, of course. We are looking forward to the next warm day when we can take him out again.

4. I made some delicious lettuce wraps this week. I looked up a bunch of recipes and went from there. They turned out great! Recipe coming soon...

5. We had some beautiful weather this week...in the 60s and sunny! Loved it. Loved. It.