Painting, Birthday and Blogger Dinner!

We are forging ahead with all the home improvements before my brothers house gets put on the market.  My brother and I laughed so hard when we were left home alone painting, and then staged what it would look like on our business cards if we were actual painters.

Yes, we are both actually on the same ladder painting – but nobody even noticed when they walked in the door, which made it even funnier.  I know, you are thinking “why is that so funny?”  Again, what Tony would describe as “unseen humor!” 

Today is my niece Sarah’s 23rd birthday!!  She’s been in town all week while Hannah and Jacob were here and then her boyfriend drove in for the weekend.  It was nice meeting Jon after seeing him on Facebook and Instagram – he’s an awesome guitarist and I got to hear some of his acoustic music. 

We ended up going to a stir fry place, and I got some vegetables in my body after eating brisket and sausage!

And before she left to go back home, we celebrated with an Oreo Ice Cream Cake.  Um, in case you were wondering, it was insulin worthy!

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Since this is more of a working trip than a vacation, I’ve had several blog friends reach out to meet up, or wished that I would have let them know that I was in town so we could have planned to get together.  Next time I’ll be sure to plan some fun lunches and dinners out, but with the time crunch of getting the house on the market, every second counts.  But when my long time blog friend Katie reached out to me to meet up, I couldn’t say no.  She and I got way back to 2008!  She used to blog at Chaos in the Kitchen, and she lives in Austin and when she suggested to get together and asked what I wanted to eat, I of course said I was partial to BBQ! 

She chose Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew.   All I knew is they had brisket on the menu, so I was in!

She, like every blog friend I’ve met for the first time in real life, is just as I imagined she would be – super nice, funny, got my sense of humor and didn’t flinch when I dropped the F bomb once or twice like a do.    We ended up being able to choose from one or two meats, with sides, and as soon as I knew they had burnt brisket, that’s what we both ordered.  I may have dropped that I came “all the way” from Chicago to try their BBQ and wouldn’t you know they gave me a giant burnt end that I shared with Katie.  Yum!

My sides?  Lemon vinaigrette cole slaw and pinto beans.  Um, if you are a vinegar cole slaw person, you will LOVE this cole slaw, and I really need to figure out how to make it at home.  Next up?  Pinto beans slow cooked with brisket pieces with just a hint of sweetness and a lot of spice, but not too spicy.  Can we just look at the brisket again though?

Perfect smoke ring, just the right amount of fat and that super tasty burnt end bark?  It’s early in the morning, but my mouth is watering just thinking about this brisket.   Katie is in the process of redoing her kitchen big time, and I told her when I come back to town, I’d love to spend the day in her kitchen cooking with her.  Thanks for reaching out to me Katie to meet up!

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And because a few of you were creeped out a bit on my snapchat pic from the last post, I thought I’d leave you with this one!  It makes me laugh every time I see it!

Today we are renting a truck and moving stuff out of the house to get rid of some of the clutter to get to the staging of putting the house up for sale.  I kind of wish we were on Property Brothers and we came back and it was all done, but that is not the case.  It’s all good – I am considering it my strength workout for the day!

Hope you are having a good week!   Make it a great day