Taking it Outside

I love our balcony. If I'd known how much we would use it and love it, I might have foregone finishing the bedrooms or some other project in lieu of building the balcony our first year here. It's like having an entire extra room for the house. There's room to play, room to read, room to sprawl out and relax. It's high enough off the ground that mosquitoes aren't much of a problem (although James has a citronella plant in a pot that he hauls to wherever we'll be eating, just in case). The view is gorgeous, and thanks to the zealous over-engineering of my awesome crew, this thing could hold up a three-ring circus without fear of giving out. Or, you know, a family. (It's a fine line...)

As soon as the evenings or mornings lose their bitter winter bite, we start meandering out there for meals. For some reason, it's as much fun as a picnic, without the traditional picnic drawbacks. Plenty of fun.

On a side-note, we're on day 24 of the Whole 30, a 30-day food challenge. It's been fun. It's been fantastic, actually. I can write more about it, if anyone is interested (although there are far better, more diligent bloggers out there who have documented every single day of it - we had a week without power, and a Mother's Day campout thrown in there during our project, both of which shot the blogging to pieces.) And I can attest that we've experienced definite improvement in many areas because of it. But anyway, this is an example of how we've been eating, and it's. been. delightful.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy