Week 11 - Gardening

Ever since I was a little girl I have always loved to garden. I remember going over to my grandparents house and helping my Papa in his garden. My parents have pictures of me in my little overalls, with my hair in pigtails, smiling as I helped harvest vegetables. Truly a southern girl moment. :) That enjoyment has only continued through the years. When I was a teenager I attempted to have my own garden in the backyard at home. Unfortunately the only thing that really grew for me was a few blossoms of cotton! (For some reason I thought that would be cool to grow) As I grew older I either didn't have the time or space to garden.

So this year I determined to have something planted - whether it was in a planter or a raised bed. I stumbled upon a website called "Squarefoot Gardening" last year and thought it might be a good idea to try. So this weekend I built my 3X3 foot raised garden bed. I'm sooo excited about it! Stay tuned for pictures updates of the veggie's!

Week 10 - ARGH!!!

Ok, there is really not a nice word I can use for this week. Granted most of the week has been quite lovely, but "Not today Zurg!" But first, let me back up a few weeks. Jack, my 15 pound little dog, is crate trained and does well with it, but since I have such odd work hours I don't like to leave him for hours at a time. So I started leaving him out in the house (uncrated) a few hours at a time the past few weeks. He seems to enjoy it, doesn't bother anything, and up until Wednesday of this week, has done very well.

However, when I got home Wednesday evening my house didn't quite look like it had when I left. Apparently the dog is part Jackrabbit and somehow managed to jump about four feet in the air to pull blankets OFF of my bed. While that may not seem unusual, my bed is actually a low loft bed and is a good four feet off the ground. After removing the blankets for some reason, he then proceeded to nip at the top sheet that was apparently hanging over the side just low enough for him to grab. Needless to say, when I got home, the entire corner of my top sheet was in pieces... on the floor. Blankets were in a pile on the ground, clothes that were neatly piled on the bed had fallen off with all of his tugging, and even my comforter had a ripped section that he bit off.

After the initial shock of seeing my FAVORITE set of sheets in pieces on the floor, and of course, snapping a few pictures, poochy learned really quick that momma wasn't happy. Dog's definitely know when they have done something wrong, and seem to try to apologize in their own way. The entire evening Jack was very quite, remorseful looking, and obedient with his little tail tucked down. So, back to the crate he goes - for a few weeks at least, just so he knows he did something wrong! :)

Blankets on the floor, the "string" is actually part of the border at the top of the sheet. 

The rest of the ruffle border is on the left, and of course the pieces of sheet he ripped off are on the floor. Clothes on the right. Ugh

And the little stinker is in the background... grrrrr

Week 9 - Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me! Yes, my birthday was this week... on the first actually. I love having my birthday on the 1st of the month. It's always made me feel kind of special - you know, being #1! :) But I will admit, having a birthday on the first does include a downside - most of the time your birthday cards arrive in the mail late. Of course, that does tend to prolong the sense of birthday joy! Regardless, my birthday week was quite enjoyable. My family took me out for a lovely steak dinner at The Village Cafe. It was quite delightful - and very tasty! My "goody bag" birthday present had all sorts of fun things PLUS a gift card to get my car windows tinted! Woo hoo!!

The next evening my friend Jennie took me out for my FAVORITE food - Lebanese! A restaurant called "The BeiRut" opened up in PTC last fall and it is fabulous! No more having to trek to the other side of Atlanta to find my fav food. (If you even THINK you might like Mediterranean food - please go try it! It's amazing and I guarantee you will love it.)

Because my birthday was in the middle of the week, and my friends and I were all working the most random hours, we decided to have my "party" on Sunday. Several of my dear friends gathered and cooked me a delicious, southern style dinner on Sunday evening. It was a treat! Such an enjoyable and full week for me as I turned the big ******* yeah right, like I'm going to tell you how old I am! ;)

Delicious Birthday "Cake"!

Week 8 - Celebrations

Nothing very interesting in MY life this week, but it was a fun week nonetheless. One of my best friends celebrated his 29th birthday on Thursday. His family had a small party for close friends and family members and we celebrated his last year in the twenties. Since I'm a few years older than him I GREATLY enjoy the fact that he will be joining me in the thirties decade next year! :) The "after" party consisted of a few of us going back to his house and playing his new Wii game - Disney Sing It. We took turns belting out the songs from our favorite Disney movies. It was both hilarious and fun! We ended the evening with a sing off between four of us singing "Can't wait to be King" from the Lion King. The birthday boy won of course! The next night a small group of us went to Atlanta for an evening of music and dancing. It was tons of fun, and lots of memories were made for sure!

In addition, my grandparents celebrated their sixty first anniversary this week. The whole family gathered on Sunday for lunch in their honor. All the kids, grandkids and even the lil great-grandchild were there to help celebrate. Congratulations Granny & Papa!

Week 7 - Clarity

"Don't surrender your loneliness so quickly. Let it cut more deep. Let it ferment and season you as few human or even divine ingredients can. Something missing in my heart tonight has made my eyes so soft, my voice so tender, my need of God absolutely clear."

by Shams al-din Hafiz


No words of my own, no pictures... just a learning heart.