For those of you who pay close attention to the sidebar, you may think (and you’d be right) we have been watching movies constantly. We joined Blockbuster online about a month ago now that all of our shows are on hiatus. Even during the regular season, we don’t like reality shows and this summer’s crop is certainly not impressing me. (Sidenote: Curse Time Warner for not including Bravo on expanded basic in our area! I want Project Runway! Wah!)

Ahem.

We find ourselves adding a good mix of films to our queue of varying age and genre but I feel as if our rating scale is very non-descript. As somewhat of an explanation for all our ‘B’ ratings: We enjoy movies. Therefore, we usually find something to like in almost everything we see. For example: Bride and Prejudice, was completely silly and overly sing-y, but still charming and entertaining; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington really dragged in places, but Jean Arthur and James Stewart were fantastic; while I found Syriana meandering and long, Eric had no trouble following it. Perhaps I need to be a harsher critic? Demand more from my movie experiences?

Next on our queue… the first season of Coupling (the British version, of course)!

Eric provided a photo of the finished product yesterday, but here’s a few prep shots of my first attempt at roasting chicken on the grill. I used hickory chips to smoke the chicken over low heat. The last shot is the homemade focaccia bread in the oven. All was delicious!

Leandra will post more pics later, but here is what she’s been working on this afternoon:

Hickory Roasted Chicken

My stomach has been rumbling for about an hour with the wonderful smells…

Braving the mosquitos, I got these two shots of a Diogmites species of robber fly (aka Hanging-thieves) and a Spined micrathena spider (a type of Orb Weaver) yesterday in our backyard.

(of course)

We are now completely approved to adopt a mini schnauzer from the local rescue group. I will probably spend the next few weeks repeatedly checking their website to see what dogs are available. :)

Vacation photos are here!

Last week, a company in Baltimore e-mailed us to ask if they could use our photo of the UNC bell tower in a brochure they were putting together. We usually allow free use of our photos to non-profit groups and in some other cases with credit, but this was for their promotional purposes, so we requested (and received) a small fee. It’s always nice to earn a little unexpected money for something you do just for fun.

This shot was taken by me (a rarity on this site) when we were visiting Chapel Hill in February of 2004. Eric was participating in interviews all day for the fellowship that would eventually lead us to move here; I was left to wander around campus and explore.

We just got back from Jacksonville, FL after spending a wonderful weekend with friends of ours, their 2-year-old daughter and other various pets. :)

It took us about 15 hours of driving round trip, so here are a few photos from the road, more to come later in the week…

Every spring I look forward to planting basil seeds so I can replenish my supply of frozen pesto. I make a ton, freeze portions into ice cube trays, then pop the cubes into a freezer bag. Voilà! Tasty pesto all year round!

“I Pinch” (Honda)
“The Birds and the Bees” (Volkswagen)