Lunch Date

My brother Dean came over for lunch today and brought Remi with him. Isn't she cute? She is the sweetest dog, relaxed and super cuddly. When she was only a few months old, Remi stayed with me for a weekend and, thanks to Ginger, nearly lost an eye. Now that she's all grown up, Remi and Ginger have a healthy respect for each other, meaning Remi stays as far from Ginger as possible. She's smart too!

It was great having guests over. I've been working so hard the last few weeks that I feel like I haven't seen many of my friends and family. That's about to change though. I turned in a huge freelance project yesterday, so I actually had time to cook last night. I've been saving recipes that get emailed to me courtesy of Real Simple magazine. Last night I tried their chili recipe. Typically I wouldn't use a recipe when making chili, but this one had a special ingredient that grabbed my attention: dark chocolate. You add the chocolate right before serving and it's amazing what it does for the flavor. The chili was good up to that point and the chocolate made it about a billion times better. Dean even liked it, which means it must be quite excellent.

With one big freelance project turned in, one to finish up tonight, and a few weeks before the next one is due, I might actually get to spend some time making jewelry in my studio. I still have beads that I purchased at Bead and Button in 2007 that are waiting to be used in projects. Plus, the new beads that I just couldn't resist last week will hopefully arrive in my mailbox in the next few days, so I'll be able to play with those as well. I'll show you a picture when they get here. You're going to love them. I know I will!