Present for Becky & Scott

This is my first time posting on my blog from my Macbook! Yay! Tomorrow I am driving to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to visit my friend, Becky, and her fiance, Scott. Becky and I have been friends since 4th grade. She's an architect and I can't wait to see her house, meet her cat, and check out all the cool projects she has going on.

I wanted to get them a little gift that had something to do with Tennessee, so I got them a bottle of Jack Daniels Single Barrel Whiskey. I also included my delicious recipe for fresh whiskey sours.

Anyway, this is a photo of the gift, all wrapped up. I bought this wrapping paper at Bluehouse in Baltimore and I absolutely LOVE it.

New Watch

I've been wanting a watch for a while, but I haven't been able to find one that I liked. I am drawn to men's watches, but most of the time the face is too big. I finally found a watch that I like yesterday, so I bought it. It's been years since I've worn a watch and it feels kind of weird to have something on my wrist, but I suppose I'll get used to it in time.

(Wednesday July 25, 2007)

Confucius says...

We went out for Chinese on Tuesday night and this was my "fortune". How exactly it's a fortune, I do not know.

(Tuesday July 24, 2007)

My Precious

My Macbook came today. It is so beautiful. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to connect it to our wireless network. Narf. So I have to wait for Steph to come home and figure it out. I am trying to get used to the new operating system; I guess it will take some time.

In the meantime, I am starting dinner before I go pick Steph up from work. I wish I could play with my new toy instead!

R.I.P: Harry Potter

When my book came yesterday afternoon in the mail, I started it immediately. I took a break later in the evening though because we went over to Christy & Jerry's to hang out and have a bonfire. Then I stayed up until about 2am reading. This morning I woke up at 8:30am and read until I finished the book, at about 2pm. I'm so sad that there won't be any more Harry Potter books! At least I can look forward to getting my HP fix from the movies. This book is going to make an incredible movie. It was thoroughly satisfying, especially because my epiphany that I had last week about a certain character turned out to be true. I'm telling you, it came to me in a flash of light...it was weird.

Now that I've finished, Steph will read it. I can't wait for her to finish so we can discuss.

Wild Oats

This morning we woke up early to go to the Farmer's Market and then run some other errands. On the way home, we stopped at Wild Oats to pick up a few things we couldn't find at the market and to have lunch. We had never been to the Wild Oats in Cool Springs before; it is sooo much bigger and better than the one in Green Hills. It took forever for them to make our sandwiches, so I took a picture while we were waiting.

(Saturday July 21, 2007)

Okra

Here is some okra roasting in the oven. Last week at the farmer's market we saw one of Steph's colleagues and she told us we had to buy okra. I said that was fine, but I didn't know how to cook it. She told us to roast it and I must say that we enjoyed it very much. We had that, along with a salad and grilled tenderloin, for dinner this evening. I can't wait to go to the farmer's market again tomorrow; I've been waiting all week and I have a long list of all the fruits and veggies I want to buy! I'm very proud that we ate EVERYTHING that we bought last week.

Funny sign

I highly enjoy the signs churches place outside of their church to try to lure you in. I could do an entire photographic essay about them. I've been seeing this particular one on the way home for a few weeks now, and I've been meaning to take a picture of it. I finally got around to it. Ah, it amuses me.

(Thursday July 19, 2007)

J & J's Market

This store is very close to Vanderbilt, on 21st Ave. I like going here because they are the only store in town that sells the Fruit & Nut Five Star chocolate bars. Those things are addictive. Also, they have an interesting selection of beers. In addition to the grocery section, they also have a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi and sandwiches. I can't wait to go there with my new laptop and hang out!

(Wednesday July 18, 2007)

yay for reproduction

In May, I posted a photo of my precious ginger plant suffering at my grandparents' house. Well, I was unable to retrieve said plant, but I did manage to take a cutting home on the plane with me. I popped it in a pot and it recently sprouted. Even if I never am able to save the original plant (and I suspect that will be the case), at least its progeny is able to live on.

Ignore the painter's tape in the background...we're getting ready to paint the kitchen. I also got a quote on recycled glass tiles for the backsplash and I'm excited to try to do that as well.

(Tuesday July 17, 2007)

Mediterranean feast

Tonight I made feta and lamb burgers, grilled eggplant with grilled haloumi cheese, and a salad for dinner. I took a glorious picture, but of course, my SD card reader on the computer is being a loser (again).

I'm not too annoyed though because the future is bright. This morning I ordered our new Macbook, which should arrive Wednesday or Thursday. I took Andrew's advice and upgraded the memory to 2GB and also upgraded the hard drive to 200GB. I can't wait! Alex got an iPhone today and I am super jealous, but not jealous enough to go out and switch to ATT. I am going to wait it out until they become available on T-Mobile. At least, that's what I'm saying this week. I reserve the right to change my mind based upon whatever fancy I may have for fun electronic items.

Who buys this crap?

These are some pictures I took with my camera phone at Home Goods. Sometimes you can find really great deals there; if you don't know what Home Goods is, it's a discount store sort of like Tuesday Morning. It can really be hit or miss. They always have good sheets and towels though and I wanted to stock up on those and also buy some more pillows.

However, I also came across this hideous cat lamp, truly disturbing monkey doll, and some weird hand thing that I can only assume is supposed to be some form of art. I was tempted to buy some of this crap and send it to people for laughs, but it didn't seem worth the effort. But really, wouldn't it brighten your day and amuse you if you received one of these precious items in your mailbox?

(Sunday July 15, 2007)

Franklin Farmer's Market

This morning we woke up early to go to the Franklin Farmer's Market. It was INCREDIBLE-- even better than the one in Baltimore. It is a producers only market and most of the stuff was organic is well. Here is a photo of our spread. We bought so much stuff! I can't wait to experiment with it all. From left to right, this is what we purchased:

Flowers: lots of zinnias, some celosia (BRAIN!), sunflowers, other stuff I don't know
Cream, rainbow chard, blackberries, carrots, whole wheat sourdough bread, eggplant, squash blossoms, carrots, milk, fresh lavender, cantaloupe, sweet cream butter, green beans, arugala, and green leaf lettuce. We also got picked out the best watermelon I've had this summer, which is not pictured here.

Tonight I'm going to make squash blossom quesadillas for dinner. Check out my Flickr page later for more pictures from the market.

Brownies

I wasn't feeling well tonight, so Booie made me brownies. The chocolate soothes my soul. It's good for what ails you. I'll post the picture tomorrow, or whenever I feel like booting up the laptop, because my computer is retarded. I've bought this Sony VAIO last year (and let me tell you, it was not cheap); I should never have let Steph talk me out of buying a MAC. Already the USBs are acting up...I put in a memory card and it just doesn't read it. I am seriously considering ditching this loser ass computer on ebay and getting a MAC. But I am scared to switch operating systems and I also don't know if I should get a laptop or a desktop. All I know for certain is that I all PCs are the DEVIL. I also know that brownies work better than Advil.

It's 1:22am and I should really go to sleep. Every time I try though I just feel antsy. Blah.

(post for Friday July 13, 2007)

Car Wash

Beazer tore out the pavement on a street in our neighborhood and so our cars have been filthy from the dust. However, I didn't want to spend the time or money to wash them because I knew I would drive home and they would just get icky again. Beazer FINALLY, after week, finished re-paving the street and so I washed Steph's car yesterday after I filled up the gas tank.

I love car washes. They are just so much fun for some reason. It's like some big treat for me to sit in the car and watch it get washed.

(Thursday July 12, 2007)

Harry Potter

So, of course we HAD to see Harry Potter the day it came out. So we went to the theater for the 10:45 showing. It was nice because it was almost empty. However, there were some annoying teenagers there, but luckily they shut up when the movie started.

Steph thought this was the best HP movie yet, but I still liked the 4th one better. I thought this one was too short and suffered from a lack of action. I did like the wand battle in the end though.

I can't wait for the final book to come out next weekend. I pre-ordered it about 6 months months ago. I'm such a dork.

(Wednesday July 11, 2007)

Doggie Training

We had a dog trainer come out to the house today because the puppies are out of control. We've never had real issues in the past, but getting two young dogs to listen to you is beyond our capabilities. The trainer was very nice and knowledgeable. We worked with each puppy for about a half hour and already they are so much better. The trainer uses "clicker training" which is basically positive reinforcement and when the dog does something good you click so they understand which behavior you are rewarding.

She's going to come out and help us once a week for the next six weeks. Her rates are pretty reasonable and it is totally worth it to have well-behaved dogs that don't run amock and jump all over small children.

Pick your own

Today we drove to a Pick-Your-Own farm near our house. Well, it wasn't so much pick-your-own produce and it was take what you want from this tent on the honor system. We got some tomatoes and some fresh eggs. It was pretty cool. Anyway, they had this sign up that made me sad. Over the weekend we are going to check out a farmer's market in Franklin and another farm out that way as well.

July issue Bon Appetit Recipe

I made this recipe, Grilled Clams with Linguine, from the August issue of Bon Appetit. I had never cooked clams before, but it was very easy. Steph and I both enjoyed the meal. She thought there was too much crushed red pepper in it, but she's very sensitive about spicy foods. Still, she liked it...next time I'll just go easier on the pepper.

(Sunday July 8, 2007)

Crazy roadside store

This is a little shack on the side of the road that sells vaccums. Sadly, this is only located a few miles from our house. Everything is nice and suburban and then all the sudden there are these kinds of quack stores.

(Saturday July 7, 2007)

Sleepy kitty

Steph has bronchitis and so our weekend wasn't too extravagant. We had planned to go away, but we had to cancel our mini vacation because she just wasn't feeling well enough. It's probably for the best though-- she would never have made it through the airport. I was really quite worried about her for a while. She seems to be feeling much more energetic now though and hasn't been coughing nearly as much.

Since we stayed home, we were able to spend lots of time with the kitty though.

(Friday July 6, 2007)

Pastry Competition Goodies

Here are some goodies my Mom brought me from the pastry show. She was in Nashville for 10 days for the conference and competition. She also brought over some really interesting truffles and some leftover pie crust doughs. I think I am going to use the dough to make a peach pie.

(Thursday July 5, 2007)

Oh Starbucks, why?

Why does Starbucks sell DVDs? I was ok with the CDs, after all, Starbucks does have their own XM radio station, but the DVDs are too much. Also, their summer drinks are sucking this year. Bring back the coconut!

(Wednesday July 4, 2007)

Winston playing

Winston is adorable. Steph and I just love watching him. He's so funny. I took a bunch of pictures while we were playing with his birdie. This toy and his special purple sequined mouse are his favorites.

(Tuesday July 3, 2007)

Blueberry Pie

I made a tasty blueberry pie. I love fruit pies; they are my favorite dessert. I've been on the lookout for sour cherry everywhere, but so far no luck. The produce this summer has been somewhat lacking because of that late frost we had in the Spring.

(Monday July 2, 2007)

Magnolia blooms

Our magnolia tree has been blooming. The blossoms don't last very long, but they smell divine. I wish I could find some way to use them as cut flowers and have them last longer. Overall, our front garden is thriving, despite the lack of time we put towards it. The constant rain over the past week has helped.

Check out my Flickr page for more pictures from the garden taken over the weekend.

(Sunday July 1, 2007)

Painting, Day 2

Yay! We finished all the painting we had planned for the weekend. These are pictures of our bedroom. The color is a muted green and it is so soothing. I tried to take a picture of the powder room as well, but it didn't come out very well as the room is so small. Oh well. Maybe in a few more weeks we'll be inspired to finish painting the downstairs rooms; only the dining room, butler's pantry, family room, and kitchen are left.