Cobb Salad

Returned home from "heaven on earth" on tuesday morning!

A 2.5 hour trip that turned into a 5 hour trip brought about by  two car accidents, one famous 4 lanes to 2 lanes construction sign and Boston traffic, not to mention the added bonus of Colby pee in the back seat for the entire duration of the trip. On a normal Tuesday this may have simply been an adventurous ride home from New Hampshire- but this particular Tuesday was a little different. Jon needed to be in at work by 10:00, Captains orders. It was a race against the GPS clock that kept adding on minutes to the already unpleasant news of "arrival time 10:45 am".

"Why leave on Tuesday morning, when you have to be at work on Tuesday morning? Why the added stress?" you might ask.

We could have left on Monday afternoon.

Ben and Maryam, my brother and sister in law, only arrived to the lake house on Monday afternoon.

Aunt Andrea and Uncle Dave were staying for one more day.

And Grandma and Grandad Doskocil were not able to have anyone up to the cottage this summer so we had not seen them very much.

So the choices were to head back to Newport (with our move to Quantico, 8 hours away from family, on sept 27) or take a leap of faith, call Captain, and ask if there was any way to report into work at 10 o'clock the next day allowing us one more night to spend quality time with family.

Jon did it! He got the ok from Captain! We had one more night to make toast-tites and eat frozen yogurt, play scrabble, cranium and pinnocle with the family! Jon was so glad he asked. He kept whispering in my ear, "family is so important to me, i'm so happy we decided to stay." 

During one of my internships at a retirement home, I remember being so impressed with the detailed charts each patient had. Topics such as employment, income, number of children, marital status, hobbies, medications etc. were covered so caretakers would know more about each resident. With loss of independence and decreased health status, the residents were not living the same lifestyle as they used to- but they still had their memories and their legacies.

As a young 23 year old girl, my "chart pages" are yet to be written.

But I always wonder... What do I want them to say? What will they say?

Life can definitely throw you curve balls, and you certainly can't plan everything out! But I think there is much to be said about making decisions to make you happy in this life. What that happiness is, is for each to discover.

Just wanted to leave you with this serenity prayer that my Grandma always had hanging up at our Ocean Park cottage.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Maybe Jon's gesture was a small one this weekend, but in the grand scheme of things, it is small decisions like the one he made that will make him into the hard working family man he wants to become.

Tonight's quick meal is Cobb salad! Yum!

Cobb SaladWhat you will need:

• lettuce
• 1 avocado
• 5 hard boiled eggs
• 3 chicken breasts
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/3 C feta cheese
• 1/2 can of corn
• 2 tomatoes
• ranch dressing

1. Boil enough water to cover 5 eggs. Drop eggs in. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove and place eggs in cold water.
2. Cut up chicken breast into pieces. Place olive oil in fry pan. Cook chicken pieces until no longer pink.
3. Chop up lettuce, avocado, pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs. Mix in bowl.
4. Add corn, chicken and feta cheese.
5. Serve with ranch dressing.

Make healthy choices!

- Kimmie