Five Things: Issue 244
Bikes and pasta
Gotta get to making dinner
Ok two things:
One: I am writing as accountability: by next Five Things I want to organize the basement shelf at the bottom of the stairs. This shelf is just a hodge podge, and it doesn’t need to be.
Two: yesterday in the second service sermon only, Beth said “God doesn’t have wackadoodle ideas.” And I will be noodling on that for a long time. I think it’s true, and it’s comforting. Grateful.
I hope today is beautiful for you! If you need a pick me up, listen to 7500 OBO by Tim McGraw. I’ll see you next week. Here’s a photo of my family in matching Buc-ee’s shirts:
Number One: the bike ride from Vail Pass to Frisco
I find myself in or around Summit County Colorado once or twice a year. And for years I have wondered about the rec trail, it looks so dreamy. Last week Chris and I rented bikes through this place and rode from Vail Pass to Frisco. An absolute delight of an easy ride. The way the mountain air smelled was truly magical and not in a weed way, in a wild flower/pine/fresh way.
It was truly unbelievably easy. I love riding bikes, I also get really anxious about riding bikes; there was no need to be for this one. If you’re going with the fam or friends to Breckenridge, Copper, Frisco, wherever in there any time soon, rent bikes have a blast. If you can ride a bike two blocks, you can do this ride.
If you’re like, should I rent e-bikes in Acadia or regular bikes in Breck? I’d do Acadia over this, but I say do both.
Number Two: Carmen’s Cafe
Chris and I and I are still on a mission to try three new restaurants by Labor Day, but we really do like The Bar/Peanut/The Other Place line up for after church lunch (we really do have two local sports bars one called “the Bar” and the other “The Other Place”). It kind of feels like the pressure is on every time we go out to eat. So when my mom and sister were in town and we were looking for a dinner reservation, I logged onto Tock to see who could take four people at 6pm. Enter, Carmen’s Cafe in Brookside.
I’ve walked past Carmen’s Cafe who knows how many times and truly never wondered about it. Locals: it’s time to wonder about it. Fabulous Italian food. Delightful ambiance. Most of the dinner crowd was age 50+, which somehow feels like a stamp of approval. Great bread, great pasta. It’s not prissy, it doesn’t feel trendy, but it feels like the kind of place where you could have a three hour dinner with friends.
Number Three: Sprinkle a little water on your microwaved food
A little Lazy Genius tip from me to you: if you are going to microwave leftovers, sprinkle like three drops of water on top before popping it in the wave. Keeps your food from tasting so microwave-y.
Number Four: Dogs know not to look at solar eclipses
Forgive me if I’ve already written about this, but I’ve certainly already talked about it. Back during the solar eclipse, I wanted to take Honey with me to experience what would be for her a once-in-a-lifetime event. So I googled, and the internet’s main summation was that dogs know not to look directly at the sun and eclipses, even if they were to catch a passing glimpse, they’re not going to prolong pain.
And I keep thinking about dogs knowing their own limits, and how sweet that is. There’s something almost poetic about it.
But also Honey would run along I-35 if we let her, so who knows.
Number Five: Five Things I’ve been reaching for lately
Nasonex - who can relate? Thank you to former Five Things contributor Morgan for teaching me, “if you taste it, you waste it.”
My Birken-Crocs - still my favorite shoe.
Mane and Tail shampoo and conditioner - I’m still alternating this and my fancier shampoo, but when the fancy shampoo runs out, I might not replace. Bring on the parabens, bring on the phalates, this shampoo is just easy.
Instagram because I let myself redownload the app last week, and I hate to tell you, I love reels.
The Ninja Foodi - ok the plastic smell went away and I really do love how much more quickly and evenly it cooks things. I may be a convert. My main pickle is that I don’t have a fabulous place to store it. Right now it lives on top of all the beautiful serving trays we got as wedding presents.