Family BBQ

A few weeks ago I had my family over for a BBQ! With such a nice patio, I have to use it right? : )

It was a nice time, it was great to see everyone, chat with my family and do fancy entertaining things, like make apps and set up my potting bench bar! : )

 

Putting the potting bench bar to good use!

 

 

 

My grandparents

 

 

Oh how I love cloth napkins, especially the fun colorful summer ones!  For app recipe click here.

 

 

My parents, the first to arrive!
 

Our outdoor wicker only seats 4, so when we have larger groups, we drag the dining chairs over to the wicker side of the patio.  Part of the thought behind the furniture placement was being able to easily add additional seating.

 

 

The bird I bought myself for my birthday....love her!

 

Bunting, how I have love buntings too!  I will make a post dedicated to buntings, but I still had to show them off here. 

For soda and beers, in the spring I grabbed 2 galvanized metal tubs on sale at Target.  They are not as great as using a cooler, since the ice melts fast, but they look fun! And it works for smaller, shorter parties.

 

My aunt, uncle and cousins

 

 

The Men! (Men love sitting under buntings)

 

 

This was the first time I iced the little bucket in the potting bench and put ice in it.  It worked well and was the perfect size for my 2 pitchers.  This potting bench as been a success and I am so glad I got it!  The left is sangria ( or course) the right is a Blue Moon Cocktail.  I haven't taken pictures when I made it yet to blog about it, but check the link and do yourself a favor and make it!

Happy Labor Day

Pesto

 

Although I am enjoying the hints of fall that have started popping up, I am trying to savor the last bits of summer...One way to savor summer...turn your basil into pesto!

 

 

 

 

 

Plus my once lush basil was looking pretty sad so I figured I better use it before I lose it!

 

I planned on sharing a pesto recipe with you, only to realized I pretty much shared the same recipe already...It just comes out better due to some tips from Erin so I didn't realize it was basically the same.  I'll re-share anyway. : )

 

 

 

Pesto

from the Joy of Cooking

 

Ingredients:

2 Cups loosely packed basil leaves

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/3 cup pine nuts (or other nut)

2 medium garlic cloves

(my last recipe called for 3, which is kind of too much! sometimes

 I even do more like 1.5 garlic cloves if they are large)

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

 

Directions:

Combine basil, parmesan, pine nuts, and garlic, salt and pepper in the food processor.  Start the machine, let it chop for a few seconds and then slowly add the olive oil.  I think this is the key to getting a better, more fine consistency, which is what I had always struggled with.  So Erin thank you for that tip, my pesto is much improved!

 

 

 

This time around I only did a half batch since I could only get about 1 cup of good leaves from my sad plant.

 

Once made, I like to portion in small tupperwares and freeze, that way I can take them out one dinner at a time. : )

 

 

The Cone Flowers are here!

Do you want to know one of the best parts of July????  The cone flower are in bloom!!!

 

 

 These pictures are from last year since they are only just about the bloom right now.  I love cone flower and I was lucky enough to move into a house where the previous owner had planted 2 of them.  I think they are so fun and they have a nice long bloom period!

 

 

 

I wante to add some white ones to the garden at some point in the future.  Enjoy!

 

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all had a good one and are savoring the little bit that is left of the long weekend! : )

 

Farmers Market Flowers

My dining room table pretty much had beautiful flowers on it all summer long, but I never got the chance to share the images. (OR the images I took weren't worth sharing! haha)  So since the season of flowers has now come and gone, I figured I would finally share. : ) 

These lovely ones are from the farmer's market

 Enjoy! I wish they were still here!

A Garden of my Own : )

These pictures are from July, but flowers pictures are pleasing year round right??? These are all from our yard! Yay!

 Granted they were all planted by the old owner, so I can't take too much credit, but I still cleaned them up, mulched them and watered them! : ) 

Yay flowers you can cut from your own yard!

 

 

Big City Summer Fun

This summer Colin and I had a fun city day with my cousin Molly and his sister Brittany.  Molly had an big city internship and I wanted to visit her when she was 2 hours away since at school she is much much further! (Molly, you are too far away!)

 

 

 

Colin's sister picked a fun place for lunch, although I did not get any photos while we were at lunch.  The place had fun outdoor seating, but sadly it was a bit too hot that day for comfortable outdoor dining! Too bad, there were party lights!!!

 

 

 

Then I dragged everyone to a architectural salvage store that wasn't all that close. (Sorry guys!)  I enjoyed the place, but it wasn't that big and wasn't really worth the drive.

But I did get some fun pictures there.

 

 

 

A whole cart of old watering cans!!!!! Yes Please!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we checked out another area of the city, and a store that had these fun metal letters.  I wanted to bring one home, but I didn't.  Perhaps another trip will require the purchase of a metal letter!

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Lime Lights! You shine even in the big city!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farmers Market!

Guess what time it is???? Farmer's Market Time!!!!  The farmer's markets finally opened around where we live.  Our new town has one within walking distance every weekend. Our old town had a really good one, so we were excited to see how our new towns's compared.

 

 

Well it doesn't quite compare, but it is still pretty good.  There weren't as many produce vendors, nor did it have the big farm that has the huge stand. But there were a number of other fun vendors, some of which were the same as our old town.  And there was a one man woman band! Which was fun!  I wonder if that is every weekend?

 

 

 

 

 

We got some fancy bread, fancy ravioli's and crumb cake for my dad and pop for fathers day.

I am glad we have one in walking distance, but I am sure at some point this summer, we will head back to our old town for their market too!

Bring on the fresh produce!!!!

 

Summer Urns

Since Mother's day is the unoffical start of summer annual season, my Dad and I took a trip to the nursery last weekend for some annuals (and a fancy watering can for me!).  I didn't know what I wanted to do in the backyard yet so I just got annuals for my cast iron urns that I got this spring.

 

 

 

I had a client that would buy hanging baskets to put in her pots so right away they look lush and full and were spilling over!  So I gave it a try this year!  I don't plan on doing this for all my pots, but I think it worked well for the front urns. 

 

I wasn't sure what type of plants and what colors I wanted, I figured I would just wander around the nursery and see what they had.  I decided on petunias and verbena in shades of yellow and purple.  Maybe not my first choice, but a nice summer combo which will hopefully look fab until fall when it is time for mums! (With tons of water since those urns, as lovely as they are, don't hold a lot of soil!)

 

 

2012 Vacation One

I am writing to you from vacation! Yay! Today was supposed to be a full beach day, but sadly it is pouring...so I think it might be a full Blog day instead! 
(Unless the sun comes back out then I am off to the beach!)

 

 

Here are some pictures of our first few days on vacation. On the long drive, Colin wanted to find a Chick-fil-a since he had never been to one, and I wanted to find, well anything but fastfood, and had dreams of finding a exit with both a Panera AND a Chick-fil-a, but I figured that would never happen.

 

But we did find one!!! It was a Vacation Road Trip Miracle! Yay!

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got here we soaked up the views and put our feet in the sand!  We haven't had too much beach time yet, so hopefully this rain doesn't last all week! 
Although I did get a few hours of my favorite past time... : )

 

 

My cute boy thought it would be a good time to shave off his beard, whoa, look at that clean face! : )  He also commented on how he was a 'real-merican' with all the red, white and blue he was wearing, then told me he felt like he was weating a bunting! ha! He makes me smile!

 

We were also anxious to use the grill, sadly no grill while we are in an apartment! Burgers, Dogs, Shrimps and Veggies! (Yes there is a burger and dog hiding under all my veggies!)

 

Ok, time to relax, watch the rain, and enjoy vacation...rain at the beach still beats sitting at work!  More blog posts to come since I have the time!  Maybe Ill post pictures of last years vacation! Ha!