Pressed Lilacs, a Super Easy Craft

Several weeks ago my small lilac bush started to bloom. I decided to be a little crafty and make a pressed lilac. I love all pressed plants; leaves, flowers, any other plant you can flatten.

Pressing flowers is really easy. Pick your plant. Place it between two pieces of wax paper (generic brand works just fine). Then place in a book. Shut. Then place a large amount of other books on top to create a heavy tower of flower-pressing power. -(see what I did there?)

 I believe my flowers stayed in the book for about four weeks and that was good enough. I emptied my frame filled with pressed leaved from last fall and used that for my lilac.

Ta-Dah! Super easy, and pretty. I'm really glad I decided to do it when I did because a few days later it got cold enough to destroy all my lilac blossoms. My flattened lilac is the only one I'll have this season. 

Vegetarian What I Ate Wednesday

This week I've decided to link up with What I Ate Wednesday with Jen over at Peas and Crayons.

This summer I've decided to challenge myself by eating vegetarian. I'm 5 weeks in and going strong. I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with, so it's a pretty easy transition. I figured doing a weekly what I ate would be a fun way to document the new recipes I'm trying.

Breakfast: A variation of this recipe only mine doesn't have shallots, salt or olive oil, but it does have some feta cheese on top. On the side are giant strawberries, a mango and Naked Green Machine juice.

Lunch: A pretty low-key lunch of baby spinach, black beans, mushrooms, cherry tomaotes, onion, feta and avocado! Yum. Black beans on a salad is my new favorite thing.

Dinner: Ok, I've got to say dinner was pretty amazing even if it doesn't look it. I found the recipe here, don't walk, run to this recipe! It's a sweet potato burger with white beans. Yum. With a beet and its greens on the side. I put spinach, horseradish mustard and avocado on it. It was sooo good.

I have a whole bowl of sweet potato burger mix in the fridge, so I'll be eating those patties for a few days. I think I have one bun-less for lunch tomorrow.

Eating vegetarian is pretty easy, except for the summer part. On warm days I can smell the grills start up in the evening and it makes my mouth water for grilled chicken and I think about caving. It goes away pretty quickly when I think of all the yummy meals I've been making.

Carriage Hill Metropark and oh, Duck-Apocalypse

Hey! Long time, no write. I have been doing a whole lot of nothing lately. I've been struggling with the weather. We had several weeks of amazing high 60s and I spent every day outside pulling weeds and working on the yard. Then, it got cold, cloudy and windy. Well, it started to act like Spring.

Today, it was finally sunny and not too windy so I took Dakota on a walk at Carriage Hill Metropark. I love this part of Ohio, there are several metroparks around with horseback and walking trails for free! This particular one also has a visitor center that I've never been in. I like this park because the trails go through meadows and trees. Before you're tired of the scenery, it changes. There's also a fishing pond and a bunch of picnik tables.

I've been doing a 4.5 mile loop at Carriage Hill once a week for a few weeks and this is the first time I brought my camera. It's kind of a pain to hold onto a dog like Dakota and worry about my camera.

 After we were done, we went to the car and grabbed our lunch bag and headed back to the pond to sit and enjoy a snack.

 My snack (Dakota had a bowl of water) couldn't be enjoyed because as soon as we sat down two geese came over and started berating us. I gave them a few minutes to calm down and swim off, but they wouldn't stop honking. Mind you, this is a fishing pond and there were families and old men sitting in lawn chairs with their line in the water and tackle box open. These geese were disturbing the peace, and I was the cause. So, I moved.

I figured we were close to their nest, since this pond is surrounded by marshy areas. So I moved about 40-50 feet back away from the water. Next thing you know, the geese are out of the water and three ducks start hurrying over quacking at us.

At this point, Dakota can't control himself. He sat there, whining, wanting so bad to go lose himself in a haze of duck feathers I just decided to pack up and head home.

Over all, we had a pretty good time up until Duck-Apocalypse and Attack of the Geese. Carriage Hill is pretty cool and a very reasonable 20 minute drive from home. It's nice to be able to get in a long walk every week.