The Year of Taking - Jonathan Hogue Weekend Edition

Well this has been quite a weekend of "taking" for me.  I have taken up lots of my husband's time and energy, I "took" home decor ideas from my friend Melia, and I took up part of my husband's Sunday with a home decor project.  I will go through all the "taking" I have done this weekend day by day.

Saturday
Yesterday I persuaded my husband to walk the dogs with me (not his favorite thing) which took up at least 30 minutes on Saturday. 

Also on Saturday I pointed out the front cover of Bon Appetite Magazine which has the "Best Fried Chicken" recipe on it.  I suggested that at some point we should try the recipe but I had no expectation that Jonathan would make it anytime soon.  Then I had to work most of day and all I knew was that Jonathan was going to the grocery store. When he came back he said he was going to surprise me with a special dinner. Score!! (note: Jonathan is one of the most amazing chefs in the world which is how he wooed me when we first started dating)

At around 5:30 pm when I was done working I came downstairs and Jonathan told me he was making not only the "Best Fried Chicken" recipe from the magazine but also all the other dishes that the editors/food lovers suggest be served with this chicken.  To say it was the best fried chicken I have ever had doesn't seem descriptive enough but I am from the South and grew up on fried chicken so you can believe me when I say that this meal was Heavenly.  He also made homemade macaroni and cheese and wilted escarole with proscuito (which was also amazing and way better than the name sounds).  Here is what I had for dinner:

After dinner I fell into a food coma.

Sunday
Melia posted photos on her Facebook page of some window covering stuff that she bought at Home Depot while I was visiting her.  I was less than enthusiastic about the shopping experience but when she posted photos of how great her windows looked I got very excited about getting some myself. 

Part of the reason I was so excited is that we have a long narrow window next to our front door which is ground zero for dog barking at our house.  I got so fed up with it that last Halloween (by far the worst barking day of the year at our house) that I used push pins to put up a piece of white satin cloth over the window so the dogs couldn't see outside.  It was only supposed to be for Halloween but I started to enjoy the peace and quiet and couldn't think of any other easy options so I left it there.  Classy. Very classy.  I also put a no soliciting sign up as well as one of those stickers that lets firefighters know there are pets inside in case your house catches on fire.  Don't you wish you lived next door to me and my classy front window?

Enter Melia and her classy window coverings.  After drinking my usual 24 oz of Diet Coke this morning I raced to Home Depot to purchase some of the same window covering that Melia has.  She texted me helpful tips (like measure your windows first) which was useful and allowed me to "take" some of her valuable weekend time.

I brought back the window covering and persuaded Jonathan who was quite happily relaxing, watching TV, and surfing the web in his big comfy chaise lounge to get up and help me put up the window covering. And by "help me" I mean he did 90% of the work. I took at least an hour of  his relaxation time today.  Big winner: me.

Here is our improved and much classier front window.

I love it. Next up: putting this same window covering on our kitchen windows. But not today. I have done enough taking of Jonathan's time for now. Plus I want him to save his strength for dinner...he is making steaks and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight!  I am a lucky gal and I know it. Thank you for letting me "take" so much of your time this weekend Jonathan: "best husband ever".