A few black & white shots I took at McKee Botanical Garden.

I didn't take advantage of early voting, so I did my part this morning.

I found this in K's backpack last night, hehe (She just learned to write in cursive this week!) She voted for Obama in her school election! Surprisingly, she has been showing a lot of interest in the presidental race.

We decided to have a small election party tonight, so we made campaign posters...

...and cupcakes!
(I made my parent's the "Mc" for McCain, because I'm a good daughter. haha)
And we wait...well, I do. However, she wants me to wake her when we know the president. :)

Honestly, I can't wait until this is over. This country is in dire need of change and it's going to be a rollercoaster ride for the next four years regardless of who is elected. I just want hope for the future of my daughter's generation. I feel the man I voted for is innovative enough to provide that.

That's about as political as I'm going to get here. I have a cupcake with my...uh, Obama's...name on it. ;)

My weekend in review:

I took a long walk at Normandy and found a lot of neat things.

Then I came home to find this opossum trying to eat Charles and Ray Eames! I actually picked it up and put it outside. Yes. I really did. (Other people I know would've hit it with a broom until it ran out, but it was scared enough as it was.) He didn't bite; he was all talk.

We went to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales.

Where we fed and petted squirrels. (Do you see a repeat pattern of naive behavior with wild animals lately, or what?)

A gigantic female orb weaver.

My BFF's son looking cute!

I didn't realize I had taken a photo of the water-bearer until I got home; Aquarius is my sign!

If swans could have myspace, this would so be his default. (He kept biting our feet when we were petting the giant koi...which is another story in itself...)

Bzz.

I was so excited to get a cutting of this succulent at the gardens! It is really hard to come by!

My starfish cactus cutting and a few living rocks! I have looked for living rocks for months without luck! I was giddy when I found them in the gift shop at Bok. (Yes, I'm aware that I'm a nerd.)

I dug this little cactus up on the side of the road in Lake Wales.

We came home to watch True Blood and I finally opened my bottle of saison.

It was a pretty decent weekend. Next weekend will be better, though! :)

I found a bunch of old camera phone pictures that probably don't need to be shared. So here ya go! :)

Riley likes resting in strange spots.

This is what happens when you are trying to have a conversation with your deaf roommate at a concert...and I honestly have no idea how Texas, Jewish people and Disney are relevant to one another. There's no tellin' what we were talking about.

I never have pictures of me cuddling with Tucker, but I swear I love him too.

It was 18 degrees and I was in heaven.

I drew a fish, seagull, octopus, and a shark...that's called TALENT. ;)

Grown women finding amusement from $1 store junk.

One time, I crept up on a 4 ft. alligator, touched then tugged on his tail, and hoped he didn't confiscate my forearm in exchange for a close-up shot of him. I am not a smart cookie when it comes to wild animals.

An older woman gave me a heart-shaped rock when I was walking the beach one day.

Sometimes I actually look my age.

...but rarely do I act my age.

Sometimes I date guys who like to do impressions of Al Bundy. Sometimes those relationships don't last very long.

Photobooth.

I always stop on the highway to pick Tennessee wildflowers.

This pretty lady never, ever lets me take pictures of her. This is a rarity!

Timid puppy and dorky owner.

Apparently, ferrets are not the smartest of creatures.

Temporary tattoos with my daughter are the best!

Change in plans tonight for dinner. I made chicken nuggets (chicken breast chopped into small bits fried in the crunchy batter from yesterday), dirty rice (with fresh parsley and parmigiano-reggiano), and baby greens with spinach salad. And pumpkin parfaits for dessert! YUM!

I know, I know. Lately this seems like a cooking blog, but I've been in freakishly domestic mood lately. I made Crunchy Pork Chops and a simple salad of organic baby greens & spinach (with gorgonzola and Marzetti Organic Balsamic Vinagrette); I was also going to make Cauliflower Souffle with Brown Butter, but I forgot to pick up fresh parsley at the market. (It'll be on the menu tomorrow night instead!)

I also spent the rest of the night making Pumpkin Parfaits for tomorrow.

My laptop is my best cooking tool!

I had a ton of leftover pumpkin filling and gingersnaps, so I made my BFF a special parfait bowl since she's kind of obsessed with all things flavored pumpkin as of late.

K wanted breakfast for lunch, so I made French toast. I made the recipe on the spot since I had a lot of extra organic heavy cream and my vanilla sugar was ready to use! (I didn't take pictures because it didn't last long enough!)

Ingredients

• Four slices of whole wheat bread
• Three Eggland's Best Organic eggs
• 3/4 cup Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar (see below)
  
• 1 teaspoon natural sea salt
• a dash of cinnamon
  
• a dab of butter

Beat eggs lightly in a bowl; add cream, vanilla sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Place one slice of bread in the bowl, allow a few seconds to soak up egg mix on one side, then carefully flip the bread, and repeat.

Toss it on the skillet, flip once a golden brown is achieved.

I serve them hot off the skillet with organic white confectioner's sugar, a small pinch of cinnamon, and warm maple syrup.

Yield: Four slices of French toast

(Technically, since I made it up as I went along, I didn't measure ingredients. All my measurements were done by heaping pinches and estimation. :) The recipe above should be fairly close to what I actually made. Make it, it's delicious!)