Girls Night, a Fort-Building necessity & a Moscow Mule

It was Girls Night in our house tonight.  Reese and I went to a new library near our house.  The library is part of The Streets at SouthGlenn, a new shopping area that once was a small mall.  It is now a beautiful outdoor shopping and dining district.  We were there in the late afternoon and there were tons of people sitting outside, eating and drinking, walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather here in Colorado.  It is supposed be 78 degrees tomorrow and Sunday we could break a record...I love it, but I am ready for a cold & snowy day!

We checked out some movies and some books from the library, enjoyed some frozen yogurt (pumpkin spice for me & chocolate for Miss Reese) and walked down to Whole Foods to buy some popcorn, macaroni & cheese (Reese) and Reed's Ginger Beer & some limes for me.  I wanted to try Oprah's favorite drink, a Moscow Mule. She made them on a recent show and I thought that they sounded delicious.

After dinner, Reese and I built a fort in her room and if I must say, it was the best one yet.  Why?  We used a bunch of these:

{an old-school wonder}

Why I haven't thought about using them before is a good question. They really are a fort-building necessity!  Fort-building with kids is something that you should do & often. (My friend Maria & her husband are Pro Fort Builders & build them frequently). We put our portable DVD player in the fort and watched The Black Cauldron while we ate Newman's Own popcorn and I enjoyed a Moscow Mule...we had a great time & it was fun to spend some special time with just me & my little girl.

As if I needed another reason to totally love Oprah, she now has me digging a new drink.  I recommend pouring it all over ice, adding the ginger beer last.  Also, I didn't have any simple syrup, so I didn't use any. Here is the recipe:

Moscow Mule Recipe

Servings: Serves 1

1 ounce vodka

1 tsp. sugar syrup
Fresh lime juice
1/2 cup ginger beer
1 sprig fresh mint
1 slice of lime


Directions:

In a copper mug, pour vodka over ice. Add sugar syrup and lime juice. Top with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with mint sprig and lime slice.

{image from here}