Date Weekend

Brad and I didn't just have a Date Night. We had a Date Weekend! Somehow, it worked out that Brad didn't have to work, at all, and he was home with me for the long Labor Day weekend! What a blessing!

 Our wonderful Date Weekend involved:

 - A romantic dinner for two at Red Lobster (where I'm always begging to go, but he's always rolling his eyes at, and I was able to finally talk him into by using the gift card his parents gave us for Valentine's Day. Seven months, people. It's time to use that free money!)

- Followed by a trip to the movie theater. We even semi-dressed up for our little date. You can't tell it by our self-portraits, but I'm actually wearing a dress! (And these pictures are at two different locations, if you can't tell that, either.)

- The most beautiful weather ever, allowing us to live the weekend with all the windows open in the house. There's nothing better than sleeping in, waking up next to your love, and feeling the fresh air breeze all around you.

- A seven-mile hike, with endless hours of undivided time with only my soulmate and my Savior,  that took us to the top of cliffs, overlooking miles and miles of His Creation, and provided uninterrupted opportunities for many great discussions. (A separate blog post and many more pictures to come.)

- Many notes belted out alongside Taylor Swift (2 different albums) every single time we were in the car to go anywhere.

- A couple rented Redbox movies that were a perfect excuse to cuddle with my honey on the couch.

- Frozen pizza dinner. And I'm not talking the little Totinos Party Pizzas, which are great, but not noteworthy, since they're so commonplace around our house. We splurged and baked a Freschetta with the rising crust! (Which, if you know me, definitely belongs on a list of pros for the weekend.)

- Lots of lovin from my other baby, and time to spend "as a family" playing doggy tag and puppy wrestling around the house.

- Mornings sitting out on the front porch in our rocking chairs, enjoying the nice weather and reading individually, but together.

 - Loving some more on Layla, whom Kris and Emily brought home on Saturday.

- A cookout that involved Nathan's brand hot dogs. (Most definitely always a treat, regardless of how often I get to eat them.) Followed by gooey, warm-from-the-oven brownies.

- Waking up to the smell of homemade pancakes by my hubby.

- Baking with my husband as we put some over-ripe bananas to use by adventuring out to follow an online Banana Bread Recipe to a T. The results were wonderful, and the experience was priceless.

- A dice game in which I totally dominated, and during Brad's last ditch effort to beat me, he risked too much and lost all of his points. In your face.

- An hour-long card game of War, where I came back from waaaay behind to kick Brad's butt. Again. (And I appropriately gloated about it for more hours to come.)

- Listening to Brad play the guitar and wonderfully sing songs on multiple occasions.

Overall, it was the best weekend ever. After living with our work schedules for however long, and barely crossing paths with each other, Brad and I so needed some time to reconnect and just spend together, enjoying each other's company. It's nice to be reminded of why we're best friends; why we chose each other in the first place.

The incredible weather throughout the weekend was a constant reminder of God's presence and blessings. All good things come from Him, for He alone is good. Mehaffey Labor Day weekend, 2010 was definitely from Him, because it was good. Very good. Many praises and thanks to my loving and wonderful Lord!

Grilled Pizza

There is little food that Brad and I enjoy more than pizza. Any pizza, really: delivery, cardboard-frozen, frozen that doesn't taste like frozen, eat-in, buffet, Totino's party pizza, deep-dish, thin-crust, hand-tossed, plain, the works, etc, etc.

A long time ago, my older brother, TJ, told us about how he and his family like to grill pizza. Well, it's no secret that Brad loves to dominate his Weber, so it wasn't long until he mastered the grilled pizza recipe.

Recently, there was no better way to celebrate Labor Day than joining friends and gathering around a grill and a pizza pie! Brad and I crashed Charles and Emily's house along with Chris, our friend from church, and their next door neighbor.

So, let me tell you how it's done. (You know it has to be so easy, or we wouldn't do it so often.) Buy some of that pre-made pizza crust. (Like I said, easy.) Use a basting brush and cover the topping-side with olive oil. Cook it top-down on the grill for a few minutes until it's toasty. If you're using a gas grill, it doesn't really matter how you do that. If you're using a charcoal grill, you don't want the crust directly over the flames. Oh, and be careful how many hickory chips you add to the fire. They're a great idea, but one time, we used so much that our pizzas tasted like straight-up wood smoke.

Next, turn it over, spread olive oil over the bottom and then set it on something that can get greasy so that you can put the toppings on the already-toasted side. Of course, you'll need some pizza sauce, but let me tell you, a little goes a long way. One can easily spreads over two crusts with plenty left over.

Then, add your first layer of mozzarella cheese, followed by any toppings you desire. Get creative! We always have pepperoni, like to add diced tomatoes, do pineapples when I get my way, and have even done a "supreme" with peppers and onions before. You can also add a few Italian seasonings to the top for some good taste and pretty pizza. When you're done with the toppings, cover it a second time with cheese to keep it all in. Brad is very strict about not "center loading" the pizza, so be sure to get the toppings and cheese all the way out to the crust!

When you're pleased with the creation, just stick it on the grill, close the lid, and wait. The cheese will melt perfectly. Be careful not to make the toppings so thick that the crust burns before your toppings are warm, though. Periodically, open the lid, check the meltiness and the bottom of the crust to see how golden it's getting. When it all feels warm enough to be good to eat, take it off, slice it up, and enjoy!

See? I told you it was so easy. And it's fun, too. We don't have any kids, but I'm sure they would love piling those pepperonis high! For an appetizer, you can do like we did and have some great garlic cheese bread. We did not make this on the grill, as well, but it can be done. However, we did add the cheese ourselves, so we still felt pretty culinary about it.

What's your favorite pizza? What's your favorite recipe for the grill? Is it easy enough for even me to handle??

Surprise Concert

A couple of months ago, as Brad and I were talking about nothing in particular, I mentioned that I generally prefer the anticipation of an event over the surprise of it. His immediate response was, "Oh, then I guess I should tell you now that we're doing something January 29th." Huh? That came out of no where. Would he have ever told me that if I hadn't made my comment? He refused to give any details away, regardless of my attempts to convince him that that was still a surprise. He claimed I could enjoy the anticipation of a surprise - the best of both worlds. He won on a technicality.

The months passed, and I nearly forgot about my little surprise. (If I had known what to look forward to, maybe I would have remembered it...) But once the week of the 29th came along, he admitted that we were going to The Exit/In, a local music venue, to watch one of our favorite obscure artists, Brett Dennen, in concert. I was super excited, and really surprised. Brett was the reason that Brad and I went to the Brendan James concert a few months back, and we loved it. I knew this would be just as great.

Brad's best friend from forever, Alex, and his girlfriend, Amber, joined us for the evening. Before the show began, all of us went to Mellow Mushroom for some delicious pizza and calzones. When it was time, we walked across the street to the Exit/In and waited in line to enter the venue. We were a little nervous I wouldn't pass the ID test since I don't look anything like "Bride Mindy" anymore, and I haven't had a new license made since the week after our wedding. Luckily, they aren't too worried about terrorist activity, because I got right through.

The concert was really great. But, Brett Dennen is kind of weird. He's 6'5" with bright red wild hair. He reminded me very much of Shrek, and he danced really silly-like; just lifting his shoulders up and down a lot. We laughed the whole time. It was so much fun. Sadly, however, the batteries of my camera died after I had taken a picture of the venue sign, so I don't have a single picture of the actual concert. Sad Day. But anyway, if you've never heard him before, I recommend giving Brett Dennen a chance. He has a very distinct and unique style, though, so you will most likely either really like him, or really not like him. Here are the few pictures I was able to capture of the evening before the death of the batteries.