The Name Frame

I like to think of myself as an amateur photographer, so I was thrilled when Eric bought me a Nikon COOLPIX camera for Christmas last year. I finally had a camera that had the ability to take semi-artsy photos, which I started doing immediately in our yard.

There was one photo project in particular that I had been dying to do, which I never started on (A) because I did not have a camera that allowed me to play with the focus and (B) did not want to create this photo masterpiece with the letters of my maiden name. Lucky for me, in the span on a month I got a camera and got engaged to the man whose last name I now share.

I wanted to create a photo collage of pictures of letters that spelled out our last name and put them together in a frame. Since we only have 5 letters in our last name, it was feasible because Kirkland's sells frames that have 5-4"x6" photo slots! I started on the project in January 2010 at the beach, but it got pushed to the wayside due to more pressing matters (read: WEDDING PLANNING). I found the frame again when I was cleaning out our office (putting away wedding planning stuff), and decided to finish it up. That afternoon I went outside in our yard and took the rest of the pictures and this was the finished result:

I am so excited at how it turned out. All of the letters except for the G are these items in their natural states. The C is a curl on the top of the gate to the fence around our pool; the A is a brick that was laying behind our shed (it was broken like that, no joke); the G was made out of seashells at the beach, the L is the frame to our pool umbrella, and the E is a curl on a birdcage that I have in my garden.

That's one more project down, a million more to go!

New Year, New Garden

I have mentioned before what exceptional gardeners my mom and grandmother are. I aspire to have a flower garden that is half the garden either one of them has. I was at Walmart last week and caught a glimpse of the garden section which turned into a 5 minute detour.  I resisted the urge to get several plants because I knew I would not be able to plant them until the weekend and went back Saturday morning.  I am pretty pleased with my selections and can't wait for them to really start growing!

 I have always loved coking with fresh herbs (sometimes to Eric's dismay) so I always try to keep a ready supply, partially because purchasing fresh herbs when I want to cook with them is crazy expensive and I usually end up wasting a bunch of them. My absolute favorites are basil and rosemary.  I got new plants to replace the ones I had last year that died. The only one that made it through the winter was my thyme (of course the one I use the least would be the heartiest).  There is nothing better than a margherita pizza with fresh basil.  It is one of my favorite go-to weeknight meals (I even make the crust from scratch!).

             Rosemary                              Basil                                    Thyme

I have talked about planting a salsa garden for a couple of summers. One of my friends had one a few years ago and it seemed like a great idea to me.  I have a really great salsa recipe that uses fresh jalapeños, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and some Italian dressing that I make a lot during the summer.  I have never grown tomatoes before, mainly because I do not eat fresh tomatoes for the most part, and I hate buying them because they are so expensive.  I really hope we end up with a bumper crop!

     Jalapeño Peppers and Cilantro                            Big Boy Tomato

Some very colorful flowers caught my eye while I was browsing the plants Saturday morning.  There were the petunias, the inpatients, lavender, and salvia which are very popular around here.  Then I saw a couple of plants I had never seen or heard of before: Gazania and Portulaca.  They were very bright and colorful.....just what I was looking for to go in my big pots near the pool!  I had some snap dragons and petunias in them last year, but I underestimated the effect salt water would have on flowers and placed the pots right next to the pool steps.  Bad Idea.  By mid-July I was flowerless.  This year I have decided to put them back by the fence and try these new flowers in the pots.  Both plants are supposed to like bad soil, lots of sun and are ok with very little water so they should do quite well by the pool.  I just think they are pretty!

                         Gazania                                                      Portulaca

The Other Side of the Madness

This evening I watched the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship game which featured the Michigan Tech University Lady Huskies and the State University.  My brother currently attends Michigan Tech currently so I had a clear favorite going into the game.

It was a really close 1st half, but unfortunately Clayton State proved to be too much for the Lady Huskies, who ended up losing 69-50.  After the time expired, the cameras showed Clayton State celebrating their win at center court, but then it panned over to the Michigan Tech bench.  They had to stay out on the court for the official trophy presentation so they were sitting on the bench, some crying, some just watching the other team celebrate with blank looks on their faces.  

It's the other side of March Madness that the ESPN doesn't cover.  When you have a tournament with 64 teams in the end you will have 1 winner and 63 losers.  63 teams go back home with a sour taste in their mouth.  The coaches and underclassmen start preparing for next year, but for most of the seniors who play Division I and perhaps all but a handful of those who play Division II and Division III, it will be the last time they take off their jersey.  The last time they pack up their bag and get back on the bus.  The last long road trip home.  And the next morning they will wake up and realize they are no longer NCAA athletes.  They are just regular people moving on to the next adventure in life.

I was very fortunate to play NCAA Division III basketball at Huntingdon College.  I had the time of my life for 4 years and got to play a game I love with some amazing people when I was there, but at some point it had to end and I had to move on.  I remember the end of my basketball career vividly.  The last game I played was on February 20, 2007 (coincidentally my 22nd birthday...awful I know).  I was the only senior that year so I went through that rite of passage alone.  I remember sitting in the locker room at LaGrange College by myself crying and crying. I didn't want to take my jersey off because I knew that was it.  I would never put it back on.  It's one of the worst feelings I have ever felt, but it's all part of the game.  

Me in my playing days.

It's like the NCAA commercial says, "There are over 400,000 NCAA athletes, and almost all of us are going pro in something other than sports."  I have may become something other than a professional basketball player, but I know that my four years as a Lady Hawk shaped who I am today.

Some of the Lady Hawks at our 2009 Alumni Game...Did I mention I LOVE these girls?!?!

Living Room Re-do

Since we moved into this house Eric has wanted to mount our television over the fireplace, and I have resisted his attempts fairly easily until last month. He just happened to have a job at a guy's house who mounts televisions...yay. Long story short, he talked to the guy and 2 weeks later had him scheduled to come hang it up. Much to my dismay it looks pretty good, and it actually gives us a lot more space in our living room. It is a large open room with doors on all 4 walls, which has been quite a challenge to decorate because of the massive wall space due to the vaulted ceilings. To give you an idea of how tall it is, we were able to re-hang a massive clock 3+ feet in diameter ABOVE the television which is ABOVE the mantle without it looking crowded. So off to Hobby Lobby I went to find "art" and "decorative things" to put on the walls. When I started decorating when we moved in I was trying to get away from my symmetrical tendencies that I have never seemed to be able to let go of, so I bought 1 wiry candle sconce to put on the wall with some pictures I had. It was alright on the wall but after we rearranged, I decided I needed to balance it out. Lucky for me they had ONE left, which I snatched up, along with a gorgeous mirror (both 50% off) to finish up the wall.

So here is an original/redecorated shot for you of the entire room. Eric and Hawk wanted to make a cameo in the pictures. And yes there is a deer head mounted on the wall.....that's another story for another post.

We have a lot more floor space with this layout, and now I have a lamp to read my Kindle by without having to turn on the overhead light. I am happy with the result, but don't tell Eric, I can't let him think he had a brilliant idea or anything ;-)

Bracket Buster

Sadly my bracket did not survive the 1st weekend of March Madness. My beloved Purdue Boilermakers were beaten Sunday by an 11-seed play-in team...Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). It was a pretty pathetic game by my Boilers. Yes I did pick Purdue to win the entire thing. Why? Because they are my team and they were a 3 seed coming off a great season, and if they had won the entire thing and I had not picked them I would not have forgiven myself. Silly I know but that is my logic. Plenty of 3 seeds have won the entire tournament before. I guess there is always next year. I still picked 10 out of 16 teams in the Sweet 16 and my other 3 Final Four picks are still playing: Ohio State, UConn, and BYU. Since my National Champ is out I can pick someone else to cheer for so I guess that will be VCU since they beat Purdue, (it makes a loss seem not so bad if you can say you lost to the eventual champion) and Butler since they are an Indiana team. I must say that the quality of games this year has not disappointed me. There have been lots of really close and exciting games, which is what I love most about March Madness.

Another Wonderful Weekend!

What a fabulous weekend! Great weather, great basketball and great company! My dad came in town for a visit with us/golf get-a-way for him. There was still snow on the ground in Michigan when he left and he really wanted to play some golf! We were glad to take him in. Lucky for him and us the first weekend of spring in LA (Lower Alabama) was absolutely beautiful. It was so nice on Sunday we decided we would open up the pool!

This is a "just uncovered" shot:

It has since been filled but will take a couple of days to clean up and get the chemicals balance. When we moved in to the house last year we changed the chlorine filter to a saltwater filter. This turned out to be one of the best things we did. The pool required very little maintenance and aside from a few bags of salt and some algaecide, we did not have to buy any chemicals all summer. I really liked it because you don't have that chlorine layer on your skin when you get out of the pool. There is so little salt in it that you barely tell it is in the pool. It will probably be another month before anyone over the age of 18 or with any sense will want to swim. The water stays in the 60's until it starts staying warm at night. But I am ready for it!

Side note: we had the boys outside all afternoon with us and they came up with some interesting ways to keep cool. At one point we found Peanut hiding between the AC unit and the house. We weren't sure if he was burying the bone or digging a hole to sit in, but I guess it was cool because he stayed there for a while.

Erin Go Bragh!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I hope you didn't forget your green! I've always loved St. Patrick's Day. I remember when I was growing up mom always made us green drinks and green food, but she never told us how she did it. One year she even put tiny green footprints on my window (you know the ones you make with the side of your fist). I was quite a gullible kid and this did not help. I was absolutely convinced leprechauns had been in my room, and no one was changing my mind about it =).

In honor of St. Patrick's Day we had Ruben Sandwiches for dinner! They were delicious! Of course I had a glass of green wine and Eric had a green beer in honor of the day.

A Beautiful Weekend

It is weekends like the one we just had that make me glad we live in the South. While many parts of the country still have snow and cold, spring has sprung in LA (lower Alabama), and spring flowers are starting to bloom!

I am anxious to see what comes up in my garden this year. Last year I planted a few things, but really just wanted to see what was already here since it was our first year in our house. I transplanted a few plants that mom sent (yes she mailed plants to me) so I can't wait to see how those plants look this year. My mom and grandmother are exceptional gardeners so I hope their green thumbs will rub off on me.

Snowflakes are usually the first flowers to bloom in my yard. I think they are so dainty and sweet. Please excuse the weeds in the background, they have since been pulled up.

The honeysuckle on the corners of our pool fence was there when we moved in, but I feel like it has gotten bigger this year, which is great because we only have a chain-link fence around our pool. It gives us more privacy.

The boys also enjoy the nice weather, so they played outside while I did some weeding.

This cracks me up....he does this all the time:

NCAA Tourney Time!

This has to be one of my favorite few weeks of the year. In my opinion, March Madness is the best culmination of a sports season out there (and I am not just saying that because I played basketball in college). Think about it, what could better than a 3 week do-or-die, single elimination tournament? To win it's simple, win 6 games and you are the Champions, lose just one and your season is done.

For as long as I can remember, ever March my dad and I have filled out both our men's and women's brackets on the Monday following Selection Sunday, and for the past several years my brother has gotten in on the action--mom does every blue moon, so it has become a family affair for us. The only thing the winner gets for having the highest score is bragging rights for the rest of the year.

So here it is, my men's bracket for this year:

I have Purdue winning the whole things (shocker for me, I know). I can't help it, if one of my teams has a decent seed I can't go against them. My final 4 is 3 seed heave (Purdue, BYU and UConn). I have Purdue beating Ohio State in the Championship 75-65. They played twice this season and split, each winning on their home court so it is anyone's ball game.

Here's to hoping that my bracket is better than that of my dad and brother... love you guys but you're no match for me!

Our Favorite Dog Toys

We got our dogs right after we got out of college. Even though we did not live together at the time, our 2 boys basically grew up together. Since we do not have children yet, they are our children for now and as a result they get spoiled by our mothers. This includes LOTS of TOYS. We learned very early on with Hawk that we could not give him ANYTHING that could be pulled apart. He can have the stuffing pulled out of a plush toy in less than 2 minutes--I've witnessed it myself. Peanut played fine with plush toys until he watch Hawk a couple of times, now he is a pro at chewing tiny holes in toys so he can pull all of the stuffing out. They also have a unique ability to pull the squeaker out of a squeaky toy, which usually includes chewing the toy in tiny pieces and making a huge mess.

Lucky for us my mother stumbled upon the greatest dog toys ever invented (in my humble opinion). The KONG Toy. They are really durable rubber toys that come in tons of sizes. We have a large KONG, a small KONG and a KONG bone. Both dogs absolulty love them. They have spent hours fighting over the "baby" KONG (as we call it on our house). The KONG bone is also a favorite--usually when Peanut has hidden the "baby" KONG under one of the beds and has forgotten about it.

Peanut and the KONG bone.

The KONG may be the favorite indoor toy choice for our pups, but outside it's all about fetching. Peanut is not much of a fetcher so he tends to just explore outside. But I am convinced that Hawk would fetch all day and all night if we let him. Seriously. The boy LOVES it. His favorite fetch toy is a tennis ball, so much so that we do not allow them in the house because he will do anything to get to it and we like our house intact. We tried to get him to catch a frisbee last year and he was not a fan of it, being a duck dog he does not like really hard plastic toys. Eric came across the Chuck-it Squirrel Toy last spring and it quickly became one of Hawk's favorites. It flies like a friebee but it has soft rubber edges that he can grab easily. The ones we bought him last summer got lost, so when I was out and about the other day I purchased another one (which just happened to be half price-meant to be!). Needless to say he was a happy camper!

Hawk and his Chuck-it Squirrel. Such a happy boy!

Facelift for the Kitchen

We were really lucky when we found our house. It was completely move-in ready when we bought it, and the only changes we made was painting our living room and our bedroom. Since then we have made a few changes here and there, but the house has stayed the same, for the most part.

I don't know if it's because we have been in the house a year now or what, but we have suddenly taken on several projects to "change things up" a bit. The first project was one we have talked about since we moved in here. Our kitchen (along with the rest of the house) was a bland egg shell creme color, with a vineyard-inspired border around the top that has tans, and purples and reds in it. Nice, but borders just scream 1992 to me for some reason. But because the border goes above the cabinets, all around the room I have just gotten used to it. Well the day after hunting season ended this year Eric decided he was going to take it on. He brought home some paint samples one night and we chose a rich Cabernet-hued red and I figured we might get into it that weekend. Eric apparently had other plans. I came home the next night and he had one entire wall painted, and was completely finished with it the following night. I guess I am glad I liked the color! It looks fantastic, if I say so myself, and it makes the border (which is still up)

look completely different--in a good way. I may get around to taking it down someday but for now it will stay put.