Oh, Deer...!

We've been busy lately.  The hubs has been very busy at work, and the stress was starting to catch up with him, and I've been feeling like all I do is play catch-up.  We had another snowstorm last week, which did little to lift our spirits.  So on Saturday, with sunshine and warmer temps, we decided to have a fun day.

We had a visit from five does in the church yard behind our house, which was very neat and unexpected; I can't remember ever seeing deer behind our current house.  We stood in the house and watched them as they nervously looked up and down the road, and I was even able to step out on our back stoop and take a few pictures before they decided to clear out.  That was a great way to start the day!  I love nature (well, except for the bugs).

We decided to head up to Toledo to do some shopping.  We had both been thinking, without telling the other, that we'd wanted to go up there, specifically to the Williams-Sonoma store, so when I mentioned that I'd like to go, we had a laugh about that.  We really do think alike after nearly ten years of marriage!

We spent a pleasant day shopping, and found some great buys: candles on sale from Yankee Candle, a half-priced scarf for the hubs from Dick's, a bottle of butter-infused olive oil from a new olive oil company Bumble, and a new utensil crock that was almost half off at Pottery Barn. 

But my most prized purchase from our trip was my first piece of Le Creuset--a small grill for our stove.  It's in the color Ocean, and I absolutely love it (it's much more blue-green than the color sample in the link above).  We have a ceramic/glass cooktop stove, and I was always under the impression that cast iron could not be used on its surface, but the enamel-coated cast iron is just fine to use, it turns out!  We fixed a delicious sirloin steak on it Sunday night, and were even more pleased with our purchase.  I'd love to get more pieces for baking and cooking.

We had such a fun time just being out in the sunshine and warmer weather, and being able to spend the day together doing things that we enjoyed.  We realized that we were just worn down and needed a day to have fun and decompress, and it was a welcome opportunity to get out of the house and have fun.  And I love my new piece of cookware!  It does a great job for indoor grilling; my only complaint is that grease splatters everywhere.  But the food tastes great!