Garden update

We headed out to Lowe's today to get more netting, something a little more heavy duty than what we had. Perhaps chicken wire. While there, we ran into our neighbors and found out they had a garden and the guy had built a PVC pipe cage that is easy to flip over when he needs to get in his garden. Otherwise, the squirrels were making his life nuts! So our small project turned into a large one. All in all, it took about an hour to get everything done. We had to cut all the pipe (they only came in 10' sections) and then join them all together, wrap the new mesh around and zip-tie it to the pipes. It would have taken ALOT longer had Don and Donald not ESP'd my thoughts and came over to help. The walked in literally when we were getting all the materials out.
We also purchased some tomato cages to put around the plants to offer support and give us something to tie them to when they droop. From what we hear, the tomato plants are going to just shoot up and not stop growing until the point of the year they stop making blooms. Then they just die. So my neighbors and co workers will be supplied heavily with tomatoes this year!
Today was so pretty, 75+ degrees and sunny. Great day to be outside. We were at Lowe's awhile, then ate outside at Chipotle (a.k.a. heaven) then went to see I Love You Man (good.. maybe a renter though) and then constructed this cage. Days like these I wish we had gotten a convertible when we got my Mini. Awesome day to be in the mini with the top down and Buffett telling us how to live the island life.

Saturday was made for lazy....

Yesterday we didn't do anything. Not one thing. We didn't leave the house. Barely got dressed. It was awesome!
It was cold and windy so the garage sale at Lee's parents was cancelled. Therefore, we slept in. I made breakfast, then we holed up in the living room and watched 2 movies. Milk, and Rachael Getting Married. Both good!
Lee loves his garden:I looked over and notice my puppies playing. Teddy was laying there chewing on a stick, and Lola was behing him, "wallering."Since I had so much extra time, I made pizza for dinner.

BEFORE:

AFTER:I had left over sauce from spaghetti earlier in the week, then some fresh basil and cheese, and cut up a small tomato. That's it! I made the dough from scratch and it was a little dense but it was still really tasty.
I hope everyone else had a great Saturday!
Today we are bike riding, grocery shopping, and going to see I Love You Man at the movies.

Garden @ 5 Weeks

Check it OUT!
We have 3 baby peppers on the Cayenne plant...And 4 Tomato plants, but one is kind of failing. Right after we planted it shriveled up so I think it is about a week or 2 behind in growing...

I just wanted to show the progress! It was sunny for several days so the plants really liked it. We are expecting some storms soon, so I am hoping for a good rain to soak through all that mulch.

Ode to Ice Cream

Dear Blue Bell:



Thank you.

Bre

Texas Grown...

I love that I live in Texas. I love that I was born and raised in a small Texas town. I have nothing against my state at all. In fact, some joys of Texas (some of many) are:

• Blue Bell Ice Cream
• Nice people
• Cowboy hats
• Bluebonnets
• Howdy
• Howdy M'am
• Sunshine even in the winter
• Whataburger
• Tex-Mex

But I do notice how proud Texas is. Sometimes a little too much. All the truck commercials - "Ford is the best in Texas." Really? What about Pennsylvania? Or Minnesota? Is Ford the best there? and Chevy - Did Bob Segar yell out "OOOOH like a rock!" in other states, or just here?
The slogan "Everything is bigger in Texas." Um... I don't know how to take that.
What brought this on was a package at the grocery store (a Texas only grocery store, H-E-B... it just keeps getting better!) of fresh basil. It is in a little plastic deal with the roots and some water. I get home and start to put the basil in a vase and I see the package...
"GO TEXAN."

So I am about to make chicken salad. I have been obsessing over chicken salad for about a month. I went to a bridal shower and they had the little sandwiches there. Normally, I am not a mayonnaise sandwich gal, but this chicken salad was yummy. A place here called Barnaby's has a Pesto Chicken Salad with artichokes. I love it. So i bought a rotisserie chicken and some celery and a little pesto. We will see how it goes.
I love that I got all the way home from the store, fighting the crazy bikers, and found my bread to be moldy. I guess I will have chicken salad with some lettuce in a bowl.
And maybe have that new Mocha Crunch Blue Bell Ice Cream I got at the store... and maybe lay out in my hammock in the 79 degree Texas sun.
Bye Y'all!

Herbs

I finally planted my herbs. I have had 3 plants in my window for a few weeks. Since I had 3 large planters outside, I decided to just run out there and plant them really quick so that they can grow!I have Mint, Thyme, and Rosemary. I have already had to pinch the thyme a few times while cooking, so I am really excited to see it get big. Mint I like to keep around for tea.
We have a semi-lazy weekend ahead, which is nice because of how busy last weekend was. We are about to head out for lunch, then have a party tonight out in Cypress. Tomorrow Lee is playing golf, i suppose I will go to the store, and then out to dinner with friends.
We possibly will wind up with a new tv this weekend. We'll see.
What? Is there something wrong with our current tv? Of course not.

Crime against puddies...

Call the police... a crime against puddies has been committed.
And not just any crime.
THE crime.



Bath time.

Weekend Wedding Extravaganza!

We have been in the midst of wedding things since Friday! But the wedding last night was simply gorgeous and Melissa was just so beautiful. I really want to throw away all my photos and get married again because I could not compare to her!We had our hair professionally done, as well as our makeup! I have never had makeup like this before, and my eye lashes were huge! Maybe a little - dare I say.. - porn star? HA!
Lee was the best man and just looked so handsome!!!
We are off today to a present opening luncheon thing. I still need to find time for grocery store and laundry... and work tomorrow? Oy.

Mama's Boy

Please ignore Lee's houka and wine fridge in the back... and my ironing board. This room catches all the extra stuff...

Rodeo

Last night we went to the huge Houston Rodeo.
First, we ate this:Cowboy Burrito. Made by these guys:Then we ate this, because we weren't fat enough yet....I took about 80 pictures at this shindig, so here is a link to look at the rest:

Nash's Go To The Rodeo

But I did take a photo of myself in a hat:Please don't hate me for doing this in the ladies room. Lee wasn't cooperating and he tried to take one of me by the Ferris Wheel outside but I looked like a heffer from the food and beer (yes, i drank a beer). I am not cowgirl material I don't think...

Garden Bandit

Lola has gotten increasingly interested in the new garden... Lee caught her red-pawed today!She was inside the garden! And then couldn't get out on her own... talk about guilty! HA!

We took our bikes to Memorial Park today on the bike rack - and to tell you the truth, we were not impressed. There were all these insane bikers there training for this huge ride called the MS150 - and they would yell "To the LEFT!" and all kinds of crap if you were going too slow. We were just trying to ride around for fun and some exercise! Lee's handlebars were loose and his saddlepack thing kept messing up, so we went home. We adjusted a few things and then went back out by our house for a more enjoyable ride.I did get a pretty shot of some bluebonnets, Lee's favorite!!
The time change sucks! I am not tired at all and it is 10:30pm! Tomorrow will be rough for sure.

Cake and Dishes

Last night, for Don's birthday, I made a butterscotch marble bundt cake. It was pretty good, but not very sweet. I do think the reason for this was because the only butterscotch pudding mix I could find was sugar free. yuck! But it was still moist and pretty tasty. I think I will change it up next time.(Jen, if you are reading this, yes - that is your cake plate thing. You left it a long time ago and I keep meaning to give it back but we have had a hard time seeing each other lately.)

When you have people over for dinner, and bake a cake, dishes pile up. Lee and I have this neat 2-drawer dishwasher so that we can run small loads. Last night I had to run them both!
There you have it, a super exiting photo of my full dishwasher(s). At least I have bright plates...
It's the time change. Blame this post on the time change...

More Photoshop

Oooh boy am I hooked. I still have so much to learn..
I found some from the wedding (almost 4 years ago..) I am not happy with our photographer. The color photos she took were very saturated and her digital camera caught all the yellow in the over head lighting. I only liked our black and whites.
So here is me and dad dancing:
ORANGE!
Now:At least we are close to the right color
My Niece:Can you believe these photos? Criminy...There we go. I used lots of Cool, lighten, and a color boost.
Lastly, a photo I scanned from Hawaii:
Better known as "the time I burned my legs so badly I wanted to die."
This one is hard b/c it is scanned.
Better I guess but... Lee's shirt hurts my eyes and, although he normally has dark lips, these look painted on! This poor photo...
I am really interested in learning photoshop. I wish I knew someone who lives near me that uses it. But I will have to take tutorials online I guess!

More Photoshop

Oooh boy am I hooked. I still have so much to learn..
I found some from the wedding (almost 4 years ago..) I am not happy with our photographer. The color photos she took were very saturated and her digital camera caught all the yellow in the over head lighting. I only liked our black and whites.
So here is me and dad dancing:

I am trying....

So, through the help of Pioneer Woman, I am trying to learn Photoshop...
Here is my first try, using her "actions."
I took this photo earlier (SOOC)

Then I "Boosted", "Sharpened" and "Slighty Cool"'d it. A little sharp though...
This i believe was the "Vintage" action.. i don't really remember!I will start using some on other photos...

Plants and Sleepy Pups

This is Ted. He sleeps in this spot on the couch every day. If you are in this spot, and you get up to go pee or something, you will come back to find your spot taken. And how can you move something that looks like this?
This is Lola. She burrows. But this is more the result of the "Lola Hammock." If you have your legs out with a blanket on them, Lola is on your legs. This results in a hammock. In this instance, i had to get up, so I put my legs down on the ottoman, and covered her up with the blanket. She did not see a problem with this. Nor did she see a problem when I came back and put her back on my legs.

Today I came home and watered our garden. There is something wonderful and fragrant growing on my fence, I believe it is Jasmine... so I clipped some and put it in my kitchen window.The rosemary will be planted in a pot outside this weekend, but he is happy for the minute in my window. I just want it to get as big as possible! I am also on the hunt for Mint and Basil. Then I will have many many herbs. I have chives, sage, and parsley going in my garden right now!

I also went on a slight iTunes Rampage today. I go through periods where I only listen to current stuff like Keane, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, etc. Then I revert back to when I was totally being schooled by my daddy on what is decent music. That is when you get in my car and it is Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and the likes. I find that when that mood strikes, I don't have what I need on my iPod..
I fixed that today...
If you are new to Mr. Clapton (and have been living under a rock forEVER) this is a great album to start with. Has all the ones you happened to have heard on the radio. This one I remember listening to with my dad. You can totally tell it is the 80's... I love her. LOVE her. I sing along to every song, I pretend I AM her. This is why I need extremely dark tinted windows.... Jack Johnson - I only got a few off this album. I like him but I never can get through the whole album - he gets TOO happy! I am like "curse or yell or something!!" But then I realize, man lives in Hawaii... he has every right to be happy!! I grabbed 3 songs off of here.

Now I am off to let Teddy out before he creates a doggie door on his own...

Girls shopping...

This is my mom and I at Border's for coffee...

This is me dreaming of the Tiffany Chain-link necklace... I want it bad!This is my grandmother and I. I wonder if the serious coffee drinkers were annoyed with our photos?