The greatest place on earth!

The "John Deere-A-Saurus"
Mama and babies, just in time for mother's day (she wasn't a fan of me taking pictures of

her little girls, didn't she know I'm not Annie Leibovitz?)

Hellooooo! Think he's related to Mister Goat from India? Maybe it's his kid brother (some puns were not meant to be resisted!)

I haven't been posting as much lately (or sleeping, cooking or running as much for that matter) because I started my new job and it's a bit of a handful. I'm working for an answering service (something I didn't even know existed before I took this job) and at first it was really overwhelming because I handle several hundred accounts, each has it's own unique protocol or strange rules, and every day comes with difficult clients (I've worked at a coffee shop though where the people are cranky and caffeine deprived, that's a whole different type of difficult). While I'm finally getting a handle on things and the job is becoming more fun (it is the ultimate in vicarious living and as a life-long people watcher this is in a way my dream job) there was a really rough patch in there and there was at least one day where I really didn't want to go to work. Luckily for me, half way through my twenty minute commute there is the ultimate in pick-me-ups... Smiling Hill Farm!!

A local family run business, Smiling hill sells all types of dairy goods (my favorite cheese is the Rosemary Waltz), including flavored milk like strawberry, chocolate, blueberry, banana, vanilla and coffee. We buy all our milk, half and half, and cream from Smiling Hill (either at the store or from the grocery store) and in addition to getting to buy local the milk comes in awesome glass bottles. Returning the bottles to the store makes a great excuse to buy lots of cheese, and (here comes the best part) get a milkshake! Their ice cream is phenomenal any way you scoop it, but my favorite form is as a super thick frappe and this has been my guilty indulgence lately (I pretend to not notice that it's made with whole milk!) So on this day when the idea of work just seemed like way to much, I decided to bribe myself with a milkshake (knowing full well it probably wouldn't even last the drive) and as an extra bonus for me, the animals had come in that day. Challenging the milkshakes for the title of greatest thing ever for cheering me up, comes baby animals, and every spring and summer Smiling Hill gets an assortment of unbelievable cute goodness for a little petting zoo. So what are you waiting for? Go to Smiling Hill and check out the yummy goodies and the adorable goodies (just remember, no matter how cute the lambs are the are NOT for eating).