Hibernation

Jameson and I have been in hibernation mode lately: sleep, work, school, dinner, dishes, basketball, American Idol, sleep, work...repeat, repeat. We are quite lame.... I know.
But I think we're finally ready to burrow out of our boring, yet really comfortable shell.

-This past weekend, we took a quick trip to McMinnville to visit Jameson's family. We spent the entire day Saturday outside doing 'farm chores' (which mainly entailed them working and me taking pictures), feeding baby calves (love doing that), riding around on the gator enjoying the scenery, soaking up hours of sunshine, and then visiting with family and friends at church on Sunday. It was much needed.
-Major League Baseball is finally in full swing, (uhh thank you) which means countless hours of entertainment for me and the hubbs. GO Braves!!
-We're continuing to research plant options and gardening tips, and have finally set a date to begin landscaping our barren yard. Bring it on Spring!!
- AND.....we got INTERNET!! Wahoo! Yahoo! Yippee! Hooray! Yay! we are excited.

So be on the lookout for long overdue recounts of what we've been up for the last few months, and updates on our post-hibernation happenings!


image

I need you Martha Stewart

The hubby and are looking forward to enjoying our first Spring together as a married couple. Wahoo!!
We plan to dive head first into the land (no pun intended) of landscaping and gardening! For Jameson, much of this will be old hat; growing up on a farm, he's well-schooled in the ins and outs of vegetable gardening. Me?? Not so much. He's also helped with much of the beautiful landscaping that his Mother orchestrates every year. Me?? I'm clueless.
But now that I'm married, I feel it is a rite of passage for me to have homegrown vegetables and an aesthetically pleasing flower garden. However, the trick is learning how to accomplish this seemingly lofty goal.
Jameson has agreed to counsel me on growing a vegetable garden, and I plan to follow his every instruction and soak up as much knowledge as possible.  But we are both a little green (pun intended) in the landscaping department. In years past he has helped his Mom with the manual labor aspect of landscaping, i.e. "dig a hole here, or put some mulch there", but hasn't been involved with any schematics. So needless to say, despite our combined desire to have a beautiful exterior, we are a little lost as to where to start.

Our little front porch

We aren't looking for a re-make of Cheekwood gardens, just a low-key, eye-catching selection to brighten up our entry way. This area will receive morning sun, and a mix of sun and shade for the remainder of the day. I'm hoping to find some flowering perennials that will have color for most of the season (if that even exists). We don't mind high-maintenance plants because we are prepared (and excited) to devote time to love and nurture our little garden.
So, I'm turning to the blogging world for comments, ideas, etc. I've poured through gardening books and did some online research, but I want first-hand stories. What has worked for you? What are your tried and true favorites that you rely on every year? What hasn't worked? What should a novice gardener stay clear of?? Do you have Martha Stewart's number, and do you know if she does house-calls?
Pretty much....we'll take any help and suggestions!


p/s....these photos were taken with my point-and-shoot....we are still working on our technical difficulties. :)

Where I've been

As you might have noticed, the frequency of my blog posts has slowly decreased over the last few weeks, but sadly it's not from a lack of things I want to share, it's due to some frustrating (and yet exciting at the same time) technical difficulties.
Let me fill you in:

First, and fabulously, Uncle Sam (i.e. the government, not my real Uncle Sam) blessed us with a tax return; a lovely pat on the back for our year of hard work! So after savings and other important uses, we decided to purchase a camera. I was previously using my mother's old Canon 35mm, and began to learn about the basics of photography. But unfortunately I'm a child of the "instant gratification" generation; waiting till the film was developed to learn from my mistakes was too much for me. Call me spoiled, but I'm so accustomed to immediate feedback that it was difficult to hone my skills on such antiquated equipment.
Soooo, after much research and deliberation we settled on a Canon EOS 50D that I found on eBay. Jameson and I were quite the site to see during the eBay auction; we huddled around the computer, waiting with baited breath till midnight, increasing our bid and crossing our fingers that we would win, and squealing with excitement when we won. (well I squealed, not Jameson) It was great!
Getting the camera from eBay was really the way to go; it allowed us to get a nice camera, but not pay the outrageous prices of a brand new model. This camera is gently used, and a few years old, digital, and perfect for me!!

But sharing the pictures I've taken with this camera is where the technical difficulties lie.
I knew I didn't want to bog down Jameson's computer with the Canon software and tons of picture files, not to mention the countless hours I'll probably spend editing and uploading photos. So I decided to use/borrow a Mac laptop from my Mom (thanks Mom, you truly are the best!!)
However, the Mac is older and a little slow, so we decided to get it cleaned up and add RAM. (Which by the way, RAM is such a funny computer term, I mean think about it, RAM?? Really?). Anyways, after some researching on what it needed, I sent it off to be worked on.
Over a week later, I got it back; it was cleaned up and much faster- Yay! I thought I was ready to upload all the pictures I'd taken over the last month and finally share our adventures with the world!!!
But, of course, I wasn't so lucky.
You see, Jameson and I are really frugal; we LOVE to save money, and are actually quite good at it. Instead of spending money each month on internet service, we mooch off my parent's internet signal. (thanks Neighbors!!) It's money-saving perfection!
BUT, this little old Mac doesn't have the power to pick up the wayfaring internet signal. So unless I hike over to my parent's house, or maybe sit in the yard, there's no internet connection for me. Which means No way to upload and share pictures!!!
AAAHHHHHH!!!
Despite the massive amount of things I'm dying to blog about, I (and the blogging world) will have to wait a little bit longer. Jameson and I are going to put our heads together and come up with a solution as soon as possible- cause I'm about to burst!!!
So hopefully very soon I'll be able to share with you pictures of our adventure to meet Pioneer Woman, Laura with Marlboro Man, Jameson cooking, plenty of Sadie shots, a trip to Knoxville, bacon cheeseburgers, a hamburger helper make-over, and much more!!
Stay tuned!

Happy, Happy, Happy!!!

This beautiful, sun-shiny day has awakened me from my rainy rut and reminded me that I have a few "Happys" to send out!
First, and embarrassingly, I need to wish my Step-dad Gary a belated Happy Birthday!!!!

We celebrated with him on Sunday, and had a great time! He spent the week leading up to his birthday under the weather, so I hope he enjoys this sunshine-filled weekend!! Happy belated Birthday old man!! :)

Also, Happy Birthday to my dear friend Kassie!! The two of us have kindred hippie hearts.....we are kinda like soul-mates. Kassie may your weekend be filled with flowwy skirts, being barefoot, The Band, and worm-burning!!! ;)

"You say it's your birthday. . . . . .  Happy Birthday to you!"

And lastly, Happy Anniversary to my parents!! Tomorrow they will celebrate 23 years of marriage- what a wonderful feat! I hope you guys have a great weekend and do something special for just the two of you!!

March 12, 1988

Love you all!!!
Happy Weekend!!

I. Love. Cheese.

To me cheese could be it's own food group. I love it.
I was once asked what food item I would take with me to a deserted island, my answer: Cheese. I'm not sure there is any dish that can't be enhanced with cheese, and red pepper, and probably bacon. But my main focus today is cheese. I love it.
This afternoon I'm finally getting to try a trendy lunch spot that I've been keeping my eye on for weeks: The Grilled Cheeserie. It's a cute little mobile truck that posts up around various Nashville locations daily and serves tasty grilled cheese concoctions.
My co-worker and I are beside ourselves with excitement. Yum. Yum. Yum!!
My only concern....how to prevent myself from ordering everything on the menu. I mean their main focus is cheese, how am I to choose just one???

I need a filter...

Today, this afternoon, I'm embarking on an adventure; an adventure unlike any other that I've embarked on before. Today....I'm going to see to a lady that I think is pretty darn neat, a lady that I admire (not in a creepy way of course), yet a lady whom I've never met. Today I'm going to meet Pioneer Woman!!

Yay!!! Yippee!!!! I've been looking forward to this day ever since she released her book tour dates. My excitement has been hard to contain. But lately, especially within the last few days, my excitement has been replaced with nervousness.
I've never been to an event like this, what should I expect?! Even more important, what should I say to her?! The more I think about it, the more nervous I become. I'd imagine that I'll only have a few moments to visit with her; just as long as it takes her to sign my book. Should I tell her exactly how I feel???

Hi Ree! Is it OK if I call you Ree? I mean, I feel like we are already friends!!

Maybe not.

Hi there! Nice to meet you...did I mention that I want to BE you?!

Scratch that....waay too creepy.

Hi Ree, we have so much in common! You married a cowboy and I married a farmer, and we both knew nothing about ranchlife/farmlife before we got married!! I too had never been around cattle in my life...and when I'm at his farm, I'm surrounded by all these people who know EVERYTHING about cows....you should come to McMinnville with me!!.....we could hang around all the cow people and talk about nail polish and cooking and Anthropologie. You could give me lessons on how to get manure stains out of clothes, I'm sure I'll need that knowledge someday soon.

That might be too much information too.

Hi Ree! Guess what?! You have four kids and I want four kids. We are truly meant to be friends!
And when you talk about your ovaries aching because you want more children...I'm right there with ya girl!!

OK that is definitely too much.

I'm so nervous. What if I suddenly lose my filter and blurt out all those embarrassing conversation topics? What if I'm trying so hard to not creep her out that I just stand there, silent and awkward. What if I get so worried about what I should say or might say, that my brain gives up and I pass out, fall over, hit my head on her table, and get a concussion.

I'm thinking that last option might be the best.
Then maybe she will ride with me in the ambulance to the hospital.
And we can talk the whole time about when and where to get our friendship bracelets.

I think I'm losing it.

image from here

I AM pretty super

My niece Sadie is a continual source of entertainment, and occasionally, a source of confidence too. My sister told me of a conversation she and Sadie has this morning, and I couldn't help but feel pretty special...

Sadie: Hey Mom, will you play Super Girl with me?
Laura: Sure Sadie
Sadie: OK Mom, I will be Super Girl and you can be Aunt Meme, and we will save people!!!

I've always known she thought I was a pretty cool aunt...but this has reached a new level.
And I like it!

Image from google images.