No Can... but Muffins, Cookies, Hummus and ABBY JACKET!

Listening to "Passing Afternoon," Iron & Wine.

Article Update:
My article I was telling you about, the whole possibility of getting published? It has been officially submitted for publication. Woo-hoo! I cut it down to a final 25 pages and sent it off last night. We'll see! I'm nervous, but in the end it was good writing practice if nothing else :)

Stanley Can!
...so I didn't win.

I played two rounds, got 4th in the first round and 3rd in the second. Not good enough to get me into the final round. So I am improving! Maybe next year...

Matt played great! I knew he would... that's why I wanted to beat him. Haha! But he came in first during one of two preliminary rounds, which gave him enough points to put him in the "playoff runoff." He didn't make it out of that round alive, but it was cool to see him playing with some of the "serious croquet stars," almost in the finals!

Matt playing... you can see the
Stanley Can in the background!

Luckily, though, the hummus was a HIT! Such a hit... that it was all gone before I could take a picture. But seriously, if you haven't tried Steph Chow's hummus recipe yet, do so... everyone was gobbling it up! I got lots of praise!

Here are some Stanley Can moments
I did manage to capture:

My Mom and Abby, spectating.

My youngest sister Siobhan, who placed
1st during her first round! We were so
proud! She's literally jumping for joy...

small sidenote: today's Siobhan's birthday. She'll be 17! my
youngest sister is 17... so, of course, I feel old.

Allie (my best friend and Abby's Mom),
trying her hand at croquet!

Allie's Stanley Can Cake! It's a little
melted in this picture... but how
cool! She's very creative :)

Leah, my other best friend that came
to visit, and Abby after lunch :)

Overall it was just fun. Jason Jones, one of the members of the tourney that has been there since the beginning, ended up winning the cup (again). So next year he'll be the host!

~*~*~

Knitting Update:

The Finished Abby Jacket

All done :) I was literally still knitting the final sleeve the morning Allie and Abby were going to leave, because I really wanted Abby to try it on...

Abby, modeling her freshly finished jacket!

I really like the way it turned out! I might crochet along the edges to make it a little smoother, and then add a button... I have a little time to do that, since I'm giving her the jacket for her first birthday this July 11th!

Look at her smile! She's a very happy baby :)

It feels good to finally be finished... I can finish up my checkerboard! I'm still only on the second row of squares...

~*~*~

Cooking Update
To treat my weekend guests, Leah, Allie and Abby, I made muffins and cookies.

Smitten Kitchen's Brownie Roll-Out Cookies
(thanks for the recipe pointer, From a North London Kitchen!)
-Very yummy
-Easy, except you have to wait for the dough to chill for an hour. I'm very impatient!
-Not too sweet-- a perfect snack cookie!
-Great for cookie cutters :)

Steph Chow's Blueberry Muffins
-SO good!
-Low Calorie (unless, like me, you add a topping of butter/brown sugar... bad. I know. bad.)
-Quick to make!

These are totally all gone now...

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And now ladies and gentlemen... I am going to click on my google reader for the first time since Friday...

145 posts?!?! Holy blogger, you guys!

...I'll try to catch up. I do have to work though, you know, so give me a couple days.

~*~*~

Your cookie-eating,
sister's-birthday-celebrating,
checker-square-knitting,
New Girl Blogger