True friends

Recipe.

Yep. That's right. I'm sharing a recipe. Because every time I eat this meal I feel like Bob in "What About Bob" when he's making love to his corn on the cob. It's that good.

And the best part- it's healthy.

Strawberry Spinach Salad
(I'm sure there are other varieties of this recipe, but this is the one I used. So there.)


Dressing:
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/4 C white or red wine vinegar
1/2 C sugar
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
(mix all of it together)

Salad:
1-2 bunches of spinach
2-4 C sliced strawberries (I just add however many I want. I never measure. Sorry.)
1/2 C sliced almonds

Brown almonds with about 3 tbsp sugar in a frying pan on med-lo heat until melted and brown. Spread them out on a plate to cool. yum.

Combine spinach, strawberries and almonds in a salad bowl. Top with dressing.

It is like heaven in my mouth.

A few things

My brother and his family were in town last weekend. They are now gone and I miss them. A lot. Boo.

Before they arrived, since we knew they were going to sleep downstairs, we figured it was time to fix the shower...which involved busting a huge hole through the wall.

We will probably end up patching the hole about a week before we decide to sell the house. Because that's how we roll.

Luckily they weren't bothered by the massive hole and were just thankful that the shower worked.

Later, since the weather was actually warmer than 50 degrees, we carpe diem-ed and went to the Gateway.

The girls played in the fountains.

And got really wet.

We forced Brandon to try on some new clothes, which was a bit out of his comfort zone.

But he looked awesome.

(He got the shirt. But he ended up getting a different pair of pants, which look equally as studly.)

I have more pictures, but I will have to upload them later. I like to keep you in suspense. I'm mean like that.

Do you know why else I'm mean? Because I show you pictures like this:

You're welcome.

March.

March.

It's the time where the weather gets a bit warmer and sweet little flowers start showing their darling, colorful, smiling blossoms.

It's the time of "March Madness" where everybody pretends to know a lot about basketball and bet money on the bracket they fill out with the team(s) they think is going to win and are completely shocked that their team wasn't the reigning champion. And the 10 year old who really knows nothing about basketball wins the tournament because she picked the winning team based on the fact that they sported her favorite color(s).

It's the month where you make sure to wear green so you don't get pinched.

It's my mom's birthday month. And my Aunt Kathy's. And my mom's besty Michelle. Among others. (Happy birthday)

But there is also a negative side to this month.

Something the men have decided to call "Mustache March", which can turn a sexy modern day man into a 70's porn star.

'Nuff said.

Aaaannnd we're back.

Ok. Sorry for the delay. I tend to get sidetracked. You are so surprised.

So who's ready for more Costa Rica? Hopefully you said "ME!", because if not, you'll be sorely disappointed in this post.

Day 5 ended with driving back down that CRAZY bumpy road, if you can even call it a road, from Monteverde, to my bro's house. The next morning, we said goodbye to my mom at the airport. Goodbye mom! :*(

Then we were on the road for a 2-3 hour drive (I think) to the beautiful beach of Manuel Antonio! On the way we stopped off at a "crocodile bridge" to see the crocs. They were pretty fascinating. Although though they didn't move. Even when we spat on them.


Also on the drive down, we were lucky enough to see four Scarlet Macaws at Jaco Beach. Which, we were told, is one of the only places you can see these birds in the wild in Costa Rica.


Freaking cool, huh? I love how rainbow-y they are.

Ok, so we finally arrived at our hotel, which was basically right on the beach. Awesome.

And, because we were basically on the beach, we did not delay in changing into our swimwear and heading right out to the ocean for some boogie boarding and sand-playing.


Since I'm only mildly obsessed with the beach, I will post just a few pictures.


Or a whole bunch of them.





The rest of that day was spent hanging out, spending money at the local shops, and swimming in the hotel pool. Then we took a few pictures of the gorgeous sunset.




To end the night, we watched the girls so that Brandon and Jen could go on a romantic moonlit beach walk. Then they did the same for us. It was great- I mean, how often is it that you get to take a moonlight stroll with your significant other on a warm beach in Costa Rica? Not very often, I tell you. Not very often.

Next up: Day 7. More beach and some crazy wild monkeys.

Did I mention that I love the beach?...

For Justin.

I was starting to feel bad that I dedicated an entire post to Ryan and his marvelous abs, and I didn't even think of doing anything for my husband.

So honey, here's some eye candy for you, too:




Now don't say I never did anything for you.