Viva Terra

I got my first Viva Terra catalog in the mail the other day. I swooned over something on practically every page. Viva Terra is a eco-friendly furniture and home accessories catalog. I saw a light fixture in another magazine and was able to track it down to Viva Terra. Now I am hooked. I am also really digging the Spring catalog from West Elm.

Orchid

This is an orchid we bought from Wild Oats last night. Isn't it pretty? I had never seen one with this color combination before; needless to say, I had to have it.

It's currently living in our bathroom. I think it will like the humidity. We'll see how it fares though; usually I'm pretty good with orchids. I have three that have been living for years now.

Porn posing as literary fiction

This is my picture from Monday. Our neighbor, Becky ("celery Becky", to clarify which one), gave us these books by Anne Rice. She said that she couldn't get through them because they were too scandalous. I thought she was being dramatic. I mean, how bad could they be? I'm hip; I've read "The Whole Lesbian Sex Book"; my parents had "The Joy of Sex" on our living room bookshelf; I've tried a few things in my day.

Well, oh my god, she was not kidding. I felt dirty even having these books in my house and returned them to her immediately. Every page is some graphic sex scene. I'm not even sure if there's a plot in any of the books. Steph and I would turn to any random page, and without fail, someone was getting raped or spanked.

I talked with Nicole about this and she said that she mistakedly purchased one of these books because it was next to the regular Anne Rice fiction in Borders. WHAT? This stuff should be shrink wrapped and placed next to Playboy where it belongs.

Sunday February 25, 2007

On Sunday we went to a tile store in the West End, but it was closed! ARGH. They are only open during the week, apparently. I want to get glass subway tile (I'm thinking a pale blue) for the backsplash in the kitchen. I have this dream that we will install it ourselves as a weekend project, but I'm not so sure that dream will ever become a reality.

This is a cool tile sample we saw from the window. The sign on the door said not to take pictures, but whatever, you can't stop people from doing things when you aren't even open. Yeah, we really stuck it to 'em.

Hat for Nicole

Steph finished knitting Nicole's hat. This was her first attempt at cables and it turned out really well. Now she is working on the matching scarf. I keep saying that I'm going to knit something, but then I get frustrated just trying to cast on.

Friday February 23, 2007

My Wii came early. I love it. I am seriously rocking the tennis. I haven't moved past Wii Sports to play any of the other games yet.

Potato Babies in a Hamper

I've taken to putting the puppies in a laundry basket while I hang out around the house. That way they can't pee on the floor or chew things up. Surprisingly, they seem to like it in there; it's like a little nest for them.

Wednesday February 23, 2007

Looking out at the family room from a plant.

Katie Boo

I love our dogs. They bring me so much joy. They each have such distinctive personalities. Katie is surly and likes to sit high up and monitor everything. Here she is in my study, perched on my chair.

Night House

While taking the puppies outside this evening, I took a picture of the house to capture its night-time glow. The moon was really cool looking tonight, but I couldn't get a good picture.

Sunday Brunch

On Sunday we had some neighbors over for brunch. It was great fun. So I'm going to post more than one picture for Sunday since I documented the entire event.


Deviled Eggs


Fruit Salad


Jan Picker Coffee Cake


Bacon & Tomatoes ready for assembly into scrumptious BLTs


BLTs


Egg, Chorizo, Onion, and Potato Scramble


After a satisfying meal, Steph takes the kids up to her art room to teach them how to do oragami!

Snow Boo!

Here is a picture of my sweet Stepi, standing in front of our house, in the snow. It's been snowing all day, but there's just a dusting that's stuck to the ground.

We are busy preparing for the brunch we are hosting tomorrow. So far I've made deviled eggs, a coffee cake, and started stuff for the frittata.

Friday February 16, 2007

I got these books yesterday in the mail. They came from Amazon.com and I was confused because I never ordered any books, but I was waiting for my Meltyblend to come from them. It turns out my Mommy sent them to me! Yay, I love presents!

Wii!!!

I have wanted the Nintendo Wii since I heard about it from Chad and Andrew. I thought I could live without having one, but then after Christmas we went over to our neighbor's house and played all the Wii Sports games with her. Since then I have been totally addicted and looking for one everywhere.

Well, GameStop FINALLY has them on pre-order. So this morning I ordered the Gamers Bundle; it includes the console, Wii Sports, 4 games (including Zelda), two controllers, 2 nunchucks, and a memory card.

It ships on the 28th and because I'm impatient I paid for next day shipping. This photo on the GameStop website is as close as I can get to the Wii right now, but soon it will be mine all mine.

Valentine's Day

Steph worked last night, so we didn't really have any grand Valentine's Day plans. Plus I still wasn't feeling very well. So I picked her up from work and we went to Bailey & Cato in East Nashville for some BBQ. It was delicious, but I was a little disappointed because Wednesday is the only day they don't serve mac & cheese.

Here is a picture of some flowers we bought at the Turnip Truck. I love having fresh flowers in the house.

Dog Toy

I apologize for my lateness in posting. I've been sick since Saturday. I thought it was a stomach bug, but now I'm thinking it's the flu. Actually, I suspected it was the flu all along; I just didn't want to admit it to myself. Every year I try to get a flu shot and every year my Dr.'s office is out of them and I can't find them anywhere. Harumph!

This photo is of a dog toy that I bought for the dogs today. I managed to drive over to Petsmart, despite feeling totally dizzy and nauseous. Good times. I think this toy is so cute though.

Monday February 12, 2007

This is a picture of the sitting room in our bedroom. Over the weekend we bought some chairs, pillows, and a rug to spruce it up. Our bedroom looks so big and empty and we really wanted it to feel more homey. We are going to get some more bedroom furniture, paint, and maybe do some stenciling on the walls in the sitting area. I'd also like to get some curtains for the windows in addition to the blinds. I think it would warm things up a bit.

H2O

This is a photo I took by putting the lens of my camera into my glass of water. I have resolved to drink 6 glasses of water a day. So far today I'm on my 4th glass. I always feel better when I drink more water. I like water too, but sometimes I just forget to drink it. Whoops. Maybe if I write about my mini-resolution on my blog, I'll be more inclined to follow through with it. We'll see!

Pizza

I had a bad allergy flare-up this afternoon, so we had a low key dinner as I'm pretty out of it. Our new favorite restaurant in Nashville is the Mellow Mushroom. They have such great pizza. They make their dough with spring water and I think that's why it's so good. This is the House Pesto pizza; it's a white pizza with pesto, tomatoes, and mushrooms. This delicious meal was made even better due to the fact that Steph won a $10 gift certificate from the MM from works, so it only cost us $8 for the pizza and salad. Sweet deal.

Friday February 9, 2007

Banana. The breakfast of champions...or those who simply need more fiber.

Thursday February 8, 2007

This is a picture of some sedum that has sprouted in my Mom's front flower bed. I love the first signs of Spring. It's so exciting to watch the bulbs and perennials start to pop up out of the ground. Yay!

Wednesday February 7, 2007

This week we took a quick trip to Baltimore to visit my Mom and my grandparents. I took this picture at the Nashville airport. Ever since security started making you take your shoes off, I've said that it's disgusting. Airports and feet are loaded with germs. I've seen people take off sandals and walk barefoot through security. It's truly foul. I've said for quite some time now that they need to provide little booties. Well, finally someone has listened to my sage advice! The airport at Nashville has the booties and we used them the other day. However, I was disgusted to note that not many people took advantage of them. Why? Because people are sick.

The Dulles airport didn't have them. I can only assume that Nashville has them because we are just dripping with Southern hospitality.

Tuesday February 6, 2007

I have loved Amy Sedaris since her "Strangers With Candy" days. I am also a big fan of her brother, David Sedaris. They both have such a deranged sense of humor.

I bought myself Amy Sedaris' new book on entertaining. It has lots of entertaining tips, recipes, and craft projects. It is also a great read-- truly original and hilarious. I read through it in one night.

Go buy it!

hiatus

We are in Baltimore until Friday afternoon. I've been taking pictures, but my access to a computer has been extremely limited. Blog will be on hiatus until tomorrow.

Good day!

Bimbo Snack

Over the weekend we went to a Mexican grocery store because I wanted to pick up some queso fresco and chorizo for a recipe. I was also lured into buying a Mexican pastry. The brand is called Bimbo (I love it!) and this snack-cake is called Bimbolette. It was tasty. The best way to describe it would be a cross between an eclair and a tastycake. Mexican junk food is so much better tasting than American junk food because it's made with actual sugar instead of corn syrup. Corn syrup is the devil!

Superbowl

Because we are quite un-hip, we didn't even realize the Super Bowl was today until Becky invited us over to watch it. Narf. Well, actually, perhaps that makes us hip...like we're too cool to be bothered with pork rinds and football. I do enjoy watching a game of football every now and again though, I must admit.

So we went over to Becky's and I grilled us up some steaks for dinner. Here is a picture of Steph and Christy on the couch. The best part of the whole evening was watching Prince perform during the half-time show. He's gotten old, but he can still rock.

Little Babies!

We are fostering these two little sweeties for the weekend. They are too small to stay at the shelter until their vaccines kick in...they could get sick too easily. They are boxer mixes named Tater Tot and French Fry. All they do is sleep and cuddle with each other.

snow!

Last night it snowed about a quarter of an inch. Everyone was freaking out over this! I seriously heard people refer to the impending snow as a "blizzard". Everyone kept talking about "black ice" and "hazardous driving conditions". Schools were closed yesterday (because snow was forecasted...never showed up though) and were also closed today. I won't be surprised if they are closed tomorrow too.

I drove Steph to work this morning at 6am and it was fine. People were driving like morons, going about 5mph, but the roads were totally clear.

I'm telling you, I live on a different planet!

Here's a picture of the snow right after it fell...from the viewpoint of our deck.

Andrew & Chad are the best

Two or three years ago I was at Andrew and Chad's apartment in Philly and they had this Japanese candy called "Melty Blend". I became totally addicted to it and wanted it all for myself, so I sent them on a goose chase to get me some. Well, apparently it is hard to find in the States and is also sold seasonally in the winter.

Today was a glorious day in my life because I received a package of Melty Blend in the mail from Andrew and Chad. They sent me two boxes! I am giddy. I've already had three pieces. Mmmm, it's so good. Thank you Andrew and Chad!

Birthday Lemon Tree

Steph got me a lemon tree for my birthday. I'm so excited; I wanted one ever since we visited Monticello. Thomas Jefferson is my gardening mentor and if I could, I'd grow everything he did. Did you know that Jefferson grew 27 varieties of green beans alone? Crazy.

Anyhoo, here is a picture of my glorious lemon tree. It came with blooms and everything.