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 ;-)