READING: I found a nice little book for this week: The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto. Here's a link.
SWIMMING NEWS: IU swimmers start back up this week with weights and such, I think they have some of the week out of the water yet but they are gearing up for the coming season. The new freshmen are loaded onto the roster and this year's swim meet schedule here for the men and here for the women, a couple of friends/fellow CSC swimmers of Matt's have joined the ranks so that will be a little extra fun for us to see some familiar faces from the past at the meets. IU hosts the Big Ten Men's Championships this year and also the NCAA Championships are at the Nat in Indy, so travel meets for us are few and we are looking forward to being close to home for most of the meets...well, not that Austin, TX one, but the others are fairly close. 
Photo to the right is Nik, Matt, and Harrison (sitting)...the old CSC pals came to visit Matt in B-town this past weekend before they head back to BU and Princeton, each guy swimming for his college and everyone between seasons of swimming, so time for a little getting together for some fun before classes begin.
COOKING BYTES: Felt good to be back home and cooking/baking in my own kitchen. I'm always a little nervous eating out...I never know who has been touching my food and what they are doing to it. Be warned, I have found the KAF bread/rolls recipe site and there's going to be a lot of new bread/rolls featured here...all with links to the recipe, what a deal!
FAV NEW FIND: I have new running shoes. Blue and Gray. 
Very spiffy. These are not the shoes I had in mind, but Mark was shopping and I had asked him to pick up a new pair of inexpensive White Walking Shoes just for me to wear around in the house. White. Walking. Shoes. lol...he came home with electric blue and gray running shoes and proceeded to tell me how great these were going to be and how much I would love them and that all the kids at GCHS were going to think I was so cool with these shoes (like I would ever wear these shoes to GCHS...lol). Anyway, turns out, I do love the shoes...and they are staying right here at home with me.
FAV THIS PAST WEEK: Being home...I am a home body, no doubt about it...there is no place I would rather be in the evenings!
WEEK IN REVIEW: We had a nice quiet week getting back into the swing of things around here. The lawn grass was really high...Vash was a little nervous he would get lost in it, so that took a bit of catching up with mowing. Mark and I watched a couple of movies...Unknown was his pick, and we both enjoyed it, Firelight was my pick, and I loved it, but since it is definitely a sort of period piece chick flick, Mark wasn't offering any high praises but he did not make any discouraging comments about it either (which earns him great marks in the husband department). Matt, who is working very hard with college classes and swimming schedule, for some reason decided he wanted a job for some extra cash to spend however he wanted, so he got a job...I kid you not...he has a full load of classes, 5 hours of swimming a day, swim meets on weekends a couple times a month, mandatory study tables for athletes at IU, and he figures he can fit in 8 hours of being a bus boy at one of the sorority houses at IU...okay, probably figures it's a good way to meet some nice girls, as well! One of the other swimmers has done this for the past few years and an opening came up and he told Matt about it, Matt applied, and today was his first day on the job. He works Friday and Sunday night dinner service and Sunday brunch service. No moss grows under that kid's feet, that's for sure. 
Vash on The Prairie, i.e. our overgrown backyard when we returned from vacation.
LOOKING FORWARD TO: At the Eiteljorg, Northwest Coast Art: Contemporary Expression and Traditional Influence, click here for details. At the ISO: Diamond Rio, click here for details.