It's been a lovely last few weeks in many ways. Although it's still warm, the summer is already showing signs of wearing down and letting fall start taking the stage. We've been lucky to not have to run the air conditioning hardly at all this summer.
We also just returned from a business trip in Vegas, Baby! We went a little early and took advantage of being there, having a great time. Tommy and I signed up for a zip line tour that was phenomenal! We were both a little nervous, but ended up having such a great time. Tommy was feeling pretty impressed with himself after making it across one of the lines:
What's funny is that he doesn't look so macho tough when you look at this view:
Bawhahahaha! This picture makes me laugh every single time I look at it! Poor Tommy.
Anyhow, we both had a great time and are glad we did it. The guides were great and the view was spectacular. We also visited the Hoover Dam, which is also well worth seeing if you have the time to do it.
As I post this, it just seems like I should mention that today is the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 events. There are many TV specials that have been on all week. The stories are just so sad, but so touching, amazing and heroic, too, on many fronts. I finally watched the movie "Flight 93." I didn't watch it sooner, just knowing that it would be an emotionally difficult movie to watch. That's an understatement. To me, that movie demonstrated both the worst and best that people have the potential to be. It is an amazing story, for sure. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.
Here on the homefront, we've been motivated to get a few things done here. Mostly just regular ol' chores that lack glitz and glam. When the weather is nice, Bender gets more frequent baths, much to his absolute horror. I don't fully understand his disdain for them, since he displays such an enthusiastic interest in water and mud when it is outside. He can look pretty pitiful, though, when he puts his mind to it.
So while Tommy was on dog wash duty, I was busy doing what I do best... Baking! I have a dear friend that mentioned to me how much she loves, loves, loves apricots. I don't know about other people, but when I hear someone say something along those lines, I instantly see it as a challenge of how to make something that particular person will just love. Well, there I went, looking online for recipe ideas. I stumbled across a recipe that sounded fabulous on about.com and thought I'd give it a try. Blame it on being distracted or just flat out not paying attention, but I pulled a total rookie move and messed up the recipe significantly by putting the glaze ingredients into the cake mix! The good news is, it turned out GREAT!
I am pretty sure that my errors ended up making the cake even more moist and flavorful than it would have otherwise been. Too bad it was accidental and not the result of intended brilliance on my part! Duh'oh! If you're interested in this beautiful, mouth-watering cake, here's the link:
Apricot Bundt Cake And my friend, along with the rest of my co-workers, loved the cake. It was declared her new favorite! Yay for the occasional succesful oops!
Also, you may have noticed by now that my recipe links zip you over to the Just A Pinch site. It is one of my favorite recipe sites out there, so I hope that while you're visiting my recipe links, you'll poke around and check things out.
Enjoy!
