Here is to 3 years of wedded bliss!

Dear Daniel,
I can't believe it's been 3 years since our wedding day! Time flies when you are having fun! You make marriage so easy and something wonderful to experience! You are so kind, compassionate, supportive, romantic, helpful, handy and handsome! I'm so glad I get to come home to you every night. I'm so glad that I have you to go through this life with. And I'm so glad you are my baby daddy! If you are half as good a father as you are a husband, our child is already the luckiest kid in the world. Here's to the last 3 years and to many more to come! I love you.

My Romantic Husband

If you will recall, a few weeks ago, Daniel went on a hiking trip and I went to Mobile to visit family. Daniel beat me back to Oxford and took it upon himself to clean the house and plan a little surprise for me. Flowers all over the house!

There were flowers by the t.v.


flowers in the guest bathroom


flowers in our bathroom


flowers in our bedroom


flowers in the kitchen



and flowers in the living room



Now, alot of women might get worried if their husband had been gone for a weekend with the guys and she came home to a house full of flowers. But not me. First of all, I'm married to the most romantic and wonderful man in the world. Secondly, about two hours before he left on his trip

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We found out we are having a baby!

We went for our first appointment and sonogram yesterday. Baby Martin is due November 28!

New Trellis

Daniel whipped together another trellis this weekend. This trellis will house our yellow and pink jasmine and maybe my clematis vine as well. The yellow jasmine, which is currently trying to take over our satellite dish and a corner of the house, has been needing a new place to 'branch out'. The pink jasmine is a new purchase. It smelled so absolutely heavenly in Home Depot, that I couldn't resist it! The clematis was purchased last year, but wasn't happy in it's original location. Let's hope it likes this new home better. Daniel really is going to have to start taking orders for trellises?/trellii? and bottletrees cause our yard can't hold much more! He needs to get back to the adirondack chairs as well! Feel free to harass him for what you want. :)

Our new trellis:


Here is the original trellis:

Just try and be in a bad mood!

I don't know if anyone else out there is having one of those days, but I've got a little something to help cheer you up! Just try and be in a bad mood after listening to the song below. I'm ready for Dance Party USA! I'll have a real post for you soon! Enjoy!

*you can also download it for free from www.shinytoyguns.com *

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW0_kTYvARc

Nekkid Kitty

For those of you who aren't familiar with our pets, let me take a moment to tell you about Gracie. Gracie is a beautiful Himalayan cat that people love to ooohhhhh and ahhhh over. Unfortunately, beauty is only skin deep. Gracie has always been skittish, but when I lived alone she would sleep on the bed with me and interact with me. When Daniel moved in, that all changed. She pretty much wanted nothing to do with us after that. When we moved to our new house, we decided there would be no more litter box, so both cats got das boot! They didn't mind at all! They are both hard core killers and love having lots of yard and woods to play and hunt in. The side affect of this is that Gracie's long hair became incredibly matted. We even made a point to catch her (not an easy feat mind you) and try and brush and cut out the matts, but we couldn't do any damage to them. They got so bad that she started pulling them out and was bald in spots. It was time to take aggressive action, so yesterday I had Gracie shaved. They weighed her before her shave and she was 11 + pounds. Guarantee she's not 11 pounds now.

Before:


After:




Can't blame her for being a little camera shy at this point. In the long run she'll be much happier without all those matts and she'll be much cooler this summer! I'm going to endeavor to capture her once a week to give her a good brushing to try and prevent this from happening again.

Before I forget, I hope you all have a Happy Easter! I have to work tomorrow, so we'll be staying in Oxford for the first time ever in my whole life! A big group of friends and all their kids are getting together for Easter dinner after church Sunday, so we still celebrate the season with 'family'.

Projects, visits, and misc.

Well I didn't find the motivation I was searching for to post this weekend. Considering it's a cold and dreary Monday morning now, you can guess how motivated I feel today as well. Alas, I promised you a post, so here goes!

Daniel has been his usual ultra handy self lately and has completed two major projects that have been on the agenda for a while.

First, he used the skills he's been honing in his welding class to make us a bottle tree. I think it's lovely and much more attractive than the typically stick straight varieties. Now we just have to get some bottles to add to it!


His next project was a new raised bed to house our veggie garden this year. As much good dirt, hummus, and manure compost as he put in this thing, we should definitely get some good veggies this year. You will also noticed we've learned a thing or two, and have added some 'fencing' to keep the deer out. On this note though, the putrescent egg solids stuff that we've been spraying around the yard seems to be keeping the deer away! HOORAY!


Mom came for a visit during her spring break before we headed down to Mobile together and she and I picked out some curtains for the big window in my dining room. I've been putting off this purchase since we moved into the house, mainly because I couldn't ever make up my mind about what to get. Mom helped me quickly nip that in the bud with the purchase of these curtains. I need to take a picture during the day with them open to give you a better idea of how they look, but I just happened to remember to snap a quick pic before going to bed last night to at least give the idea.


Here is a close up of the fabric. It's a dupioni silk pattern called Cutesy. Ordered them from Material Girls in Oxford.


I was unusually un- picture happy during our trip to Mobile. I only took these pics of the girls on the day we were leaving. Both girls and my Mom had a great time playing my violin. Sadly, they sound about as good as I do and they haven't been taking lessons. blah. We did have a great time in Mobile though! Gigi caught a ride down with Mom and I, so it was a girls weekend extraordinaire! We ate lots of good food and hit up an arts festival in Fairhope. Good times!



Last week our friend Lee came for a visit. We haven't seen Lee since our wedding, so it was very nice to catch up. Once again, the camera didn't really make much of an appearance. Thanks for my handmade pen Lee!



I leave you today with a few pics of blooming things in our yard. It's nice to see signs of Spring even though the weather is a balmy 43 outside.

azaleas

pink jasmine (smells divine!)

blooming rosemary

gerbera daisies


more azaleas



*Note*: when speaking of household projects that involve Daniel and I use the term 'WE'...I use that term very loosely. so when you see 'we', read 'Daniel'. I'm very lucky to have such a handy and hard working husband.

In case you didn't know...

plumbers are expensive. I suppose all I have to do is think back on our 16+ days without hot water to remind myself that having hot water at home is worth any expense.

I promise a proper post soon. I have lots of pictures to post and updates to give, but just haven't felt the motivation to do so yet. Maybe this weekend.

Earth Hour

http://www.earthhour.org/

Tomorrow night (Saturday March 28) from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm turn off your lights to show your support for addressing climate change.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

So the food and beverage industry took a double hit last week with the closing of Jubilee and the burning down of Yocona River Inn. Both of these places hold alot of memories for me, so it's been a sad week. Yocona plans to rebuild, so there is hope on that front at least. I've spent every birthday but one for the last few years at Yocona, so I'm hoping they will be open again by my birthday. fingers crossed!

This weekend Daniel is going on another men's hiking trip and I'm going on a girl's trip to Mobile. Daniel and 3 friends are just going to Sipsey in Alabama for 2 days of hiking. Mom, Frances, and I are heading down to Mobile early Friday morning to visit with Sherri, Chris, Madeline, and Avery! Fairhope, AL is having an arts fair on Saturday, so if the weather cooperates, we'll be hitting that up! I'm also hoping we can squeeze in cocktails and apps on the causeway since we missed that last trip!

I didn't have a violin lesson last week, so today will be my first lesson in a while. I definitely haven't been practicing as much as I should, but I guess there is no point in crying over spilt milk. I did get a little practice in on Friday night when Lisa came for dinner. We made her play since she took lessons for 7 years as a kid. Needless to say, she was 23048234234 times better than me! We actually took candid videos of Lisa, Daniel, and me playing, but after reviewing them, I have decided not to post them. They don't represent our finest playing from that night, and I'd hate for you to judge based on what we have on camera. Next time we have an impromptu 'jam' session, I'll make presentable videos.

Vicksburg and snow

Well, the Rotary conference was good. I'm exhausted from a mix of the time change and not having had a day to just relax at home. After the conference Saturday, we met Chip and Lisa for lunch at Anchuca,then went to the Military Park, shopping downtown, happy hour at The Ware House, back to Clinton for dinner at a new Lebanese restaurant, then back to casa de Burr for the evening. Sunday morning Lisa treated us to wonderful homemade french toast, yogurt with fresh fruit, and Chip's amazing lattes! After recovering from such a decadent brunch, we all went to a nearby park to play 9 holes of disc golf. All in all, a wonderful visit! A huge thanks to the Burrs for once again being wonderful hosts!

I didn't take many pictures, but enjoy the few I have below. I'm also throwing in a few from our snow the weekend before!

OOO!

Daniel and I are heading to Vicksburg VERY early tomorrow morning for a Rotary conference! We'll spend all day tomorrow and half of Saturday at the conference, but will then be joining up with Chip and Lisa for some fun! I think we plan to hit up Anchuca for lunch and then the military park and some other interesting site seeing! No idea what our evening plans are, but knowing those two, it will involved good food, good drinks, good conversation! I hope you all have a good weekend!

**Shout out to Anna who had her wisdom teeth removed today! I hope you are recovering nicely, and I'm sure Rick is taking good care of you!

more violin videos and weekend update

I've posted two new violin videos in this post. Progress is slow and frustrating, but I am determined to improve! I've got lots of practicing to do tonight! I'm supposed to be working on a new song for tomorrow's lesson, and I haven't played it once yet!
Had a wonderful, but very tiring weekend. A slew of sorority sisters came to town for a wedding shower. After the shower Saturday, we shopped, went to dinner at City Grocery, danced at The Library, and then Daniel and I went to a late night. It was so much fun, but even after being lazy all day yesterday, I am still absolutely exhausted! Oh! We also got snow Saturday night/early Sunday morning, so after an extremely slow drive home in what seemed like a blizzard, Daniel and I spent about 30 minutes sledding down our driveway and the hills in our front yard! It was so much fun! We figured it would be melted the next day, so we were determined to get some sledding in for once in our new house! Bailey had a blast as well!

Pay It Forward

Several of my friends are doing this, so I'm giving in. :)

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top Three Comments on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!SO, REMEMBER... Pay it forward

Happy Mardi Gras!

I hope some of you are getting to enjoy mardi gras parades today! I had really planned to make it down to the Coast for Mardi Gras this year, but when our water heater died, that plan died with it. :( I'm making up for it by having a Mardi Gras party in my department at work today. We are having a potluck lunch of red beans and rice, shrimp etoufee, jambalaya, gumbo, and king cake! YUMMY! My stomach is growling just thinking about it!

I'll just close my eyes and wish I was here instead:

been a while

I finally pulled some pics off my camera, so this post will be a random assortment!

First of all, we have hot water again. It is wonderful to have hot water again! Unfortunately, the insurance estimates came in about $50 under our deductible and wouldn't cover the water heater at all, so we are footing the entire bill. Oh well. The joys of home ownership! I will say our new tankless water heater is bigger and better than our old one and there are actually people who can service it in Oxford! It also has sensors that detect when the temp drops below 30, so that heaters can automatically come on to keep the thing warm. Woohoo!

The pics below are from our Valentine's day dinner. We grilled some lamb, and had spinach/parmesan risotto and asparagus on the side. Daniel set up a nice romantic picnic in the living room for us. It was a low key night which suited me just fine.

The lamb was marinated in blackstrap molasses, rosemary, garlic


Rich and creamy spinach, parmesan risotto is muy delicioso, but not very healthy!


Daniel likes to plate the food. This reminds me of a skull and crossbones for some reason. :) Oh, and we overcooked the lamb a little, but it was our first time grilling and the lamb was still very tasty and tender.


Our candlelit picnic set by Daniel.


On the weekends Sophie and Bailey enjoy doing many of the same things. Below is one of their favorites! Find a sunny spot and take a nap!


So, I'm way behind on my violin videos. I actually have a valid excuse though (other than the hot water crap). My last set of strings I bought apparently came with a bad A string, so everything I play on that string (which is everything) sounds terrible. I bought some new strings today, so I'll restring tonight and see if I can't make a video for you all. If not tonight, then definitely tomorrow night after my next lesson. The progress is very slow!

where to begin?

I don't have another violin video for you yet, but I have been practicing! The songs I'm currently working on: Ode to Joy, Largo, Yankee Doodle, a Russian Dance Tune, and Dixie. I can definitely tell I'm improving, but since I'm now playing songs that use all four strings, things have gotten MUCH harder! I'll try to remember to make a video tonight when I practice.

On the hot water battle: we are still without hot water. That's right. We've not had hot water since February 5th. An insurance adjuster will be coming to the house this afternoon, but has already told us they won't cover the cost of replacing our P.O.S. tankless water heater. We have currently ordered and replaced two parts on that thing and have had numerous plumbers out here to try and get this thing working...to no avail. I'm tired of bathing at work and friends' houses and tired of boiling pots of water on the stove to wash dishes. If I have to shell out every penny of the $2000 or so it takes to replace that piece in the attic with a decent one with freeze protection, I'M DOING IT! THIS WEEK! Can you tell I really can't take it anymore?

On the gardening front: I received my March Southern Living magazine in the mail this weekend, and have found my dream vegetable garden. There is no way the new one I hope to build will compare, but a girl can dream. Could someone from the Delta please bring me a truck load of decent dirt. The sand and clay (aka concrete) aren't cutting it. If the water heater and taxes don't totally wipe us out, I really do hope to start working on the soil for our new garden and building a compost bin next weekend.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! Sorry for the not up beat at all post today.

violin video 2

First, a disclaimer. I have only had two 30 minute lessons. I only practiced twice this week. I was told to work on my form rather than my sound. why in the world did i say I would post videos of my progress?


I have my third lesson this evening, so hopefully I'll move on from variations of Twinkle Twinkle this week.

A tankless water heater update: Today is day 6 with no hot water. We received the replacement part yesterday afternoon, but the plumber who originally came out to the house is no longer returning our phone calls. We have switched to a new plumber who is sending someone out at noon today. Fingers crossed that we will have hot water tonight!

when it rains...

It pours. Literally. Through my kitchen ceiling.

I know I promised a violin video, but since I woke up to water dripping through my kitchen ceiling, I've been a little distracted. Our @$^#$@W(!!$(*@%# Bosch tankless water heater sprung a leak and dripped from the attic down through insulation, the kitchen ceiling, and down part of one wall. Anyone considering getting a tankless water heater, let me give you some advice. Don't put it in your attic. I can only assume because it is on the north side of the attic near the eaves, that cold north wind keeps causing our problems, but I'm really fed up. Since we've lived in our house, we've had to deal with our hot water freezing anytime the temperature gets near the 20 degree mark. Daniel has added more insulation and wrapped pipes, but it apparently hasn't solved our problems. I suppose we are lucky that the part that has to be replaced wasn't very expensive, but we still have had to deal with no hot water since Tuesday night, and will now have to replace the insulation that got wet, repaint the ceiling and wall, and figure out some other way to prevent this POS from freezing or bursting again. We are open to any suggestions. Our very helpful plumber had this suggestion for us: "the builder should never have put it in the attic". Really?! You think we didn't figure that out about 2 years ago? Unfortunately, since the thing has both water and gas piped to it, moving it to another location will not be cheap or easy. If we can just get through this winter, maybe this summer we can look into more permanent fixes for this problem. The picture below shows the water spot on our kitchen ceiling. Thankfully we have wonderful friends in the neighborhood who have graciously allowed us to shower at their houses for the last week. Please let the part arrive today, so I can take a shower at my house (and wash dishes, and do laundry).


On a more positive note, the weather has been phenomenal! I've really gotten the garden bug after such a warm weekend! I have big plans for composting, rain barrels, and a bigger and better veggie garden! I'm thinking about moving my tea roses to another location as well, but haven't quite decided on that yet. I'll keep you posted!

violin lesson 2

I had my second violin lesson last night, and it went fairly well. This week I'm to focus on my form more than my sound or hitting the right notes. Because of that, I was a little shy about making a video last night. Let me at least get my latest theme sounding slightly better before I share a video with you all. I'll make it tonight and post it tomorrow, I promise. I have unrealistic expectations and really need to slow down and accept that I'm gonna sound terrible for quite a while. My teacher tells me it's much more important for me to get my form correct, so I don't get used to bad habits (like resting the violin on my wrist, pushing down to hard with the bow, etc).

After my lesson last night, I went straight to the gym. I ended up doing 8 miles on the bike and 2 miles on the elliptical! It felt wonderful! If only every night at the gym felt so good! Of course I didn't bring my clothes with me today, so I guess I'll be skipping until Friday night. Why not go thursday you might ask?

Thursday is 'girls night'. We are going to dinner and a movie. Most of the crew is going to the AMP to see Marley and Me. I'm gonna branch off and head over to the first night of the Oxford Film Festival. They have a lot of great movies I'm excited to see over the weekend. Let me know if you want to see my schedule or join me for any of the films. Daniel will most likely be in Holly Springs at a disc golf tournament Saturday and Sunday, so I'm on my own.

If anyone is interested in a young, female black lab mix puppy or an 8 month old, male yellow lab mix, let me know. they need forever homes and my husband is a meany and won't let me get either one. :) I don't have a picture of the male yet, but Heidi is below. How can you say no to that adorable face?