Success!

I can't count the number of times I have said, "I'll be happy if I just get one veggie from this garden." Well, I am beyond happy, because I have more than one veggie! I apologize in advance for some of the pics below. Some are blurry, some are gross, and some are just boring.


This is my first squash! It is only about an inch long, but is my pride an joy. I can't wait to eat it!


This is my first tomato! I don't know how I missed it, but my tomato plants have lots of tiny green tomatoes on them! I will have to be careful the birds and bugs don't beat me to them, but I have a cheap defense system which will be discussed in greater detail below (much greater detail).


This is my first David Austin rose to bloom! This is the 'Generous Gardener' and it is so soft and lovely looking. All three bushes are full of buds, so I can't wait to make my first arrangement!


This is just an update photo on my Wal-Mart roses. They have bloomed wonderfully, but are about at the end of this round of blooms. I didn't cut any of the blooms for arrangements since we had company this weekend, but it's time to do some trimming to encourage new growth.



This is one of two Hibiscus plants Daniel and I bought this weekend at Home Depot. They are so happy and tropical looking. I need a pina colada!


My only surviving lettuce plant. I guess I will get to eat a salad or two with this guy.


This is Sweet Alyssum. It would be nice in a pot with some taller flowers. It is supposed to be 'ground cover', but it would take a lot of this stuff to cover any ground. Oh well, it's sweet to look at anyways.

Ok. Back to that cheap defense system I was telling you about. At this point, I was actually going to post a pic of a half eaten bunny rabbit, but have decided against it. It would be quite a shock to your system to go from beautiful flowers to rabbit guts. Anyways...my cat Sophie is a killer! Last night I came home from work to find the second rabbit she has killed in the last two weeks. About 30 minutes after I caught her eating the latest, she had cornered a mouse as well! We had planned to put up chicken wire and stuff to keep the 'critters' out of the beds, but apparently that isn't necessary! I feel kinda sad for the bunnies, but they've been doing fine for years without my garden and can continue to eat elsewhere! Good work 'Soapie'!

Gonna be a long one

I have been majorly falling down on my blogging duties, so today's blog will be a big one. Where to begin...

Avery's Christening

My youngest niece, Avery, was christened in Cleveland. Isn't she beautiful? Sherri and both nieces will (hopefully) be coming to stay with me the first weekend in June. Since they will be moving to Mobile next month, we need to get a visit in! Daniel has very graciously offered to babysit one night, so we can go out to dinner/have a girls night out while she is here! I can't wait to spend time with all of them! Yay!!

Double Decker
Below are just a few photos from Double Decker. The less attractive pics from later in the evening have not been included for good reason. Some junior high kids were hanging out by our car and spent the whole day buying helium balloons...not because they like balloons. Since Anna and Daniel had never sucked helium before, they bought a balloon off of them to try it out. I wish I had a recording of Daniel singing "We represent the lollipop guild" in his helium voice. It was hilarious! Being the old fuddy-duddy I am, I did warn the kids that sucking all that helium was killing brain cells...they weren't too concerned. I think a store on the square was selling the balloons a dollar a pop, so those kids easily spent $30 on helium that day.



These two are so cool...


Lisa's Birthday
The Jacksons, the Burrs, and the Martins went to Yocona for Lisa's birthday. We enjoyed a fabulous meal and too much wine. Unfortunately, the too much wine led us to the Burr's house for a 'late night' and more alcohol. As the pictures prove, we had way too good of a time. I cringe a little inside when I remember the drunken conversations and the hangover that followed the next day. Oh well, had a good time that night! Why in the world didn't we take pics when we were cute and sober though?


The Jacksons


The Burrs


The Martins (shudder)

My Garden
I finally have roses blooming and my veggie garden is coming along. Enjoy!


Herbs (Basil, Thyme, Cilantro, Italian Parsley)


Tomatoes


Zucchini and Bell Peppers


Corn


Blogger is taking forever to upload photos (and I'm sure you are bored by now), so the rest of the garden will have to wait.

Finally something new...

I know you are all sick of checking my blog and there being nothing new to read, soooo... here's the latest.

This weekend Daniel and I attended a Silent Auction to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. We won 2 of our bids, so will soon be enjoying dinner and drinks for 2 at the University Club and dinner for 2 and a nights stay at a casino in Tunica. It was nice to get a little dressed up and do something different, and I've heard we raised around $10,000.00! The rest of the weekend we spent working in the yard. Mowing, weed-eating, pulling weeds, cleaning out the garage, planting a new crape myrtle and hydrangea, and potting herbs. Though Daniel did most of the hard labor, I am pretty sore today from squatting down and bending over. Yard work is hard work! It is starting to pay off though. My Wal-Mart roses are all full of buds that are about to open, my David Austins are getting big and bushy, and most of my veggies are doing well. I hope by next weekend I'll have lots of flower pics to show you!

On another note, Daniel and I are trying to plan a trip to Europe for this year. I've been to Italy and Daniel's been to England and France, so we can't decide where to start together. We were originally planning to take a trip to Key West, but after looking at the cost, started to realize we can do Florida any time. We are young and kid free right now, so need to start marking some things off our to do list. Life is short, so instead of constantly saving and stressing, we are going to get out there and enjoy life! Currently on our horizon for trips: Nantahala the first weekend in June, Seattle the second week in July (tentatively, for work), Daniel to D.C. in August and Boston in October? (work again) and then Europe at some point....We are open to any location suggestions, money saving tips, etc.

Rachel made me do it...

Ok, so it's been two weeks since I blogged. Work has had me bogged down, and I really just haven't felt any motivation to try and be witty and funny and catch you up on my life. Where to begin?

Trip to the Coast was good. Here's a brief summary of our trip:

Thursday night: went to hole in the wall joint and ate boiled shrimp, fried catfish, snow crab legs, crawfish...they had only things that could be boiled or fried and it was YUMMY!

Friday morning: Work in Daniel's Mom's Garden/yard.

Friday afternoon: Met my sister Anna in Gulfport, took her on a tour of Ocean Springs, hit up Realizations so she could buy some Walter Anderson prints for her apartment.

Friday evening: Hit up our friend Patrick Sullivan's bar, The Government Street Grocery. Enjoyed several Lazy Magnolia beers on the patio and caught up with friends from the Coast. Secretly enjoyed getting hit on by drunken men at table you have to pass to get to the restroom. (I don't get hit on much these days)


Friday later evening: Went back to Daniel's house for homemade shrimp spaghetti...oh so YUMMY!

Friday late night: Took Anna to the Beau Rivage Casino for her FIRST EVER casino experience since she turned 21 almost 2 years ago. Beginner's luck didn't disappoint and she won $200 after about 10 minutes there. Unfortunately the black jack table took some of that, so she ended up only leaving with about $100 of that. Still, better than nothing! Thankfully, Daniel won $250, so he covered the $100 I lost. Damn casinos...


Saturday morning (butt crack of dawn): Drove to Gulfport to catch the ferry to Ship Island. A huge thank you to Daniel's Mom for packing us a cooler full of snacks, drinks, and beer! Enjoyed a full, but relaxing, hour long trip out to Ship Island. Got to see lots of seaguls, a few pelicans, and some dolphins during the trip.


Saturday All DAY: Slept, drank, ate, searched for shells, and took pictures on Ship Island. Notice you do not see the phrase 'Adequately covered bodies in sunscreen'. More on that later... Daniel and Greg got to fold the flag from Fort Massachusetts which was pretty cool.


Saturday Night: Make it back to Daniel's house and shower to remove bucket of sand in hair and begin to realize something is horribly wrong. Notice legs are fried and you can no longer bend knees or sit comfortably.

Saturday All NIGHT: Wake up every time the sheets brush your lobster legs, get up to coat your body in aloe gel and take more pain meds.

Sunday: Our one year anniversary! Hooray! Too bad I can't walk and am in excruciating pain. Man, I'm so smart! We stopped to see Boosha on the way back to O-town, but i'm certain I wasn't great company. I'm a big whiney baby. When we did finally get home, the most we could muster for our anniversary was splitting a piece of our wedding cake. It was still amazingly good! (I want to make wedding cakes now...my cookie ambitions just weren't enough)

Monday: Thankfully, we had taken off work. Spend the day working in the yard. Daniel surprises me with a dozen gorgeous white roses and we have a delayed anniversary dinner.


Now, this past weekend was double decker, but I will have to write about that later, cause I'm blogged out and I haven't downloaded my pics yet. For any of you who quit reading all the junk above half way through, I will try and do better about my blogging so they don't get so long and boring.