Steppin’ Out Sunday!

We had an awesome weekend here at Casa de Gould.

I should actually say awesome long weekend since the fun really started on Thursday afternoon at the county fair with my mom.  More on that later…

Friday night we had really tasty shepherd’s pie for dinner which felt comforting and cozy after a rainy and gloomy day.  I made up the recipe as I went along since the version I used to make calls for canned veggies (salt!) and packaged gravy (more salt and MSG!).

I was worried it might not turn out, but it ended up being really good.  I didn’t take pictures and I want to tweak the recipe a bit, so I’m hoping to try again in the Fall and then I’ll share the details :)

Saturday morning we had a big breakfast all together.  This is honestly one of the best parts of the whole week!

Later, while Andy studied, Grace and I played inside and then took a bike ride to the playground.  During her nap I went to the mall to use a birthday gift card in preparation for my big trip to the Big Apple.  Spending a couple hours alone at the mall was bliss.  I can’t remember the last time I shopped by myself, so I really savored the time and I scored some great deals.

Saturday evening we checked out the Downtown Detroit Days put on by Somerset Mall and, although it was a really small event, it was the perfect thing for us.  Great parking, no crowds, $2 margaritas (for Andy), $1 popsicles for Grace and booths of cute local goods.  We picked up a bag of locally roasted El Salvador coffee & a funny Detroit t-shirt for Andy along with a Boblo Island magnet & package of sinfully delicious cookies for me.  They are called 3 ‘n’ 1 cookies by Soul Seasonings and I can’t even tell you all that’s in them but each of the three cookies she combined for this one confection were already a combo on their own.  So it was really like a 6 ‘n’ 1  We’re talking a mix of dried cherries, coconut, oatmeal, chocolate, pecans, etc, etc, etc.  They are awesome and probably enough motivation for me to haul myself to the Birmingham Farmer’s Market for more!

We finished the night with pizza at Nikki’s and a movie (Sherlock Holmes) for Andy and me after Grace went to bed.

This morning we went to church and enjoyed a lazy day around the house.  My sister came over and we sat in the sun talking about a mile a minute since we haven’t seen each other for what feels like eons.  I’m gonna have to arm wrestle her friends to get any time with her :)

After my shopping trip yesterday, I was feeling inspired to be bold with color.  On a wing and a prayer, I put this outfit together for church and I hoped that I wouldn’t look like a Crayola Crayon.  I liked it which I guess is all that matters, but it was comfy to boot :)

Perhaps I should have started this post with a PG-13 rating, as the flash from our camera made my shirt a little, ahem, transparent.  I’m working to plan ahead better for these pictures and get them outside in natural light to prevent having to use the flash, but I’m still learning.

I could have skipped this post this week, but I’ve really had fun linking up with Mandy and getting to know other people who are as shameless bold as I am to post an outfit each week.

Cut me a break this week, mmkay?