Garden over the last week

I'm sure you're really bored of garden updates, but whatev... here's some more photos from the past week.


Cucumbers a week ago


Motley and the broccoli





Sunday evening


Monday evening, our first cucumber!

Saturday Morning in the Park

Bryan and I spent a recent Saturday morning in our extended backyard, Overton Park. We visited the zoo and then Bryan wanted to show me a new sculpture at the entrance of Levitt Shell.









Sometimes I can't get over how blessed we are to live in such a cool area.

Tennessee Brewery

Another amazing building tour with LuniTECTS.




My favorite graffiti












Trey attended for the first time. When he realized all we did was drink and see cool stuff he decided he kinda like LuniTECTs.

Hot Springs Trip

Bryan needed to make a trip through Little Rock and Hot Springs to see a few accounts so we decided to make a weekend of it. I took Friday off and we stayed through Sunday morning.

Here are a few pictures:

Project 365 note to self

2012 marks the second year that I've done project 365. I've done pretty well on not forgetting. So far this year I've missed two days. I think last year there was three or so.

This year I thought about doing a theme, but that quickly went away. Last night I was updating the photobook I make for the project. The quality difference between my cell phone and dslr is kind of ridiculous. See?

August 13th: cell phone photo


August 14th: taken with the Nikon

So for 2013 I'd like to attempt to take all 365 photos with my dslr. It will be tricky since it's not as easy to tote around, but I think it will help me develop photography skills and be a bit more creative.

So I'm posting this as a written record to remember look back and laugh at myself.

Motley lately

Funny sad story about Motley. We dog-sitted Bannister last weekend. Motley does not like him. Hence her judgmental stares in the guest bedroom. Well the other night we had a thunderstorm and Motley hates hates hates storms. She turns all scaredy cat on us. Bryan and Bannister were in the kitchen and Motley was hanging around Bryan's feet rubbing up against his legs. Then she rubbed up against Bannister like she used to do with Bosco. After rolling on him she realized it wasn't Bosco and lit into him with her claws.

Sadly for Bannister this happened twice. Motley misses her sister. Her cuddle buddy. Her rock.

Garden update

The plants are doing really well. I took a few pictures last night as Bryan was grilling dinner.











I planted lettuce seeds in the last empty bed this past weekend. Looking forward to some fall vegetables and salads.

Garden - nearly there

The last week of July Bryan worked really really really really hard on getting the garden ready for planting. I had started some seeds a few weeks back and it was time to start planting.

I'm so proud of Bryan for kicking some butt in the backyard. Saturday morning I was able to start planting as he put some finishing touches on it.







This was a week ago and its already amazing to see how much some of the plants have grown. Specifically the cucumbers and okra. The broccoli is thriving in their new space as well.



I also decided to move most of my herbs to the backyard. It just made sense having to water everything in one location. The only things that did not move were the lime trees and the tomatoes. Tomatoes will be planted in the garden next year.

Still left to do:
- Find a matching rock or stepping stones to fill in the rest of the pathways.
- Plant lettuce in the empty triangular bed.
- Clear the wild flowers and plant winter squash.
- Move into phase two: moving and planting new shrubs.

Cookbook Review: The New Orleans Cookbook by the Collins

Out of the handful of cookbooks I've tried this summer, this was one of my favorites. It might be because of my fondness for New Orleans and its food, or it could be that I finally succeeded in making a roux!

Here's what I made:

Creole Jambalaya - apparently if I don't make jambalaya often enough Bryan starts getting punchy. This was delicious and satisfied his jambalaya craving for a little while.

Shrimp Stew - first successfuly roux! It took a long time to cook, but Bryan liked it. I cannot remember what this was like. Oops.

Steak with New Orleans style Butter sauce - yummmmmm

Sauteed Broccoli with rosemary - delicious. I often cook broccoli steamed, it was nice to have a change.

Braised Okra - I love okra, but had never had it braised. It was delicious and super fast to make.

Cookbook Review: Centre St. Cookery

During the week that my parents and brother were at the beach, I thought it only appropriate to cook from the cookbook I got there last summer. Not that we can get the freshest of seafood in Memphis like you can on the Island, but it was a nice change of pace.

Here's what I made:

Crab Soup - My mom makes crab bisque when at the beach and its my favorite thing. This was a nice, hearty soup. I liked that it used half and half which made it a tad thicker than most bisques.

Bourbon Sweet Potatoes - Bryan insisted that I make these. There was a significant amount left over that got thrown in the trash. It was okay, just not my cup of tea. I've never been a big fan of sweet potatoes.

Amelia Island Boiled Shrimp - Good. There's nothing like fresh shrimp in the summer.

The Best Chicken Dish in the World - not appropriately named. It was fine, just not the best chicken dish in the world.


I still have a recipe marked to try, but its a cocktail. 1 can of frozen pink lemonade, 1 can pineapple juice, 1 juice can of tequila and crushed ice. What could go wrong?

Baddorf Boys... and girls

Di asked me to take some photos of all her boys while they were together a few weeks ago.









I couldn't resist on getting one of the girls too.

Bocce Ball

The family that bocces together, stays together... or something like that.

The Saturday evening after the Hope 5k we had Bryan's family over for dinner. Brett was in town and it was Genevieve's birthday. Plenty of reason to celebrate and be together.