Teaberries

Farmer's Market

I love the Farmers Market in Boone.  There is something so delightful about getting up really early and drinking a cup of coffee from from Bald Guy Brew while browsing for fresh goods. 

Flowering mustard greens.

Baby radishes.

Chives.  These are in my garden.

I love herbs.  In fact, I'm probably addicted to them.  I also got some sage for the garden. 

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Today is all about the garden!  I am so in love with my garden.  We have put so much love and work into it (and yes, we pray for it almost every night!), and we just picked our first zucchini today!  

We started months ago by ordering seeds.  I ordered from Johnny's because of recommendations from my gardening guru mentor and friend, Kay Auten.  It was hard to choose which seeds we were going to buy - looking through that Johnny's catalogue was like Christmas in March!  Not only do you have to eliminate fruits and vegetables, but then you have to decide which of the 19 carrot varieties you actually want to grow. Whew - that was a fun task.  I'm already taking notes about what I should add for next year!

Then I veered a little off course and bought the most amazing rosemary bush at the farmer's market in Columbia, SC.  I didn't have enough cash, but the lady selling it was so nice (and I think she realized the sheer desperation in my voice) that she gave it to me for all change and one dollar bills I had in my pocket.  If you're going to veer off the plan for anything, it should definitely be rosemary.  Oh man, I could do an entire blog series on rosemary and how much I love it.  

Then we started growing everything.  It is really fun to grow things from seed, but it is a little nerve-wracking as well.  I had a lot of things that didn't come up.  Also, I killed a lot of things (ie: all 36 of the sunflowers) just because I didn't follow the directions and left the dome on the seeds too long.  Whoops.  Lesson one learned.  I was so excited to get things started, that I planted almost everything - I later realized that you really are supposed to plant things like carrots and beans directly in the ground.  Whoops.  Lesson two learned. 

Unfortunately, the spot that we deemed as the best place in the garden was right in the middle of our yard.  So Matt set out clearing all of the grass.  Not only did he get the grass out of the garden plot, but he rolled it all up and transplanted it to the front yard where the yard was washing away!

Then we borrowed "The Horse" from the afore-mentioned gardening guru, and Matt tilled the garden.  I think that was probably his favorite part.  We added lots of compost and soil amendments, and laid out the plan for the garden.

So, this is mostly how our gardened ended up going in the ground.  I forgot to lay out all of the basil plants, so most of those ended up in pots.  

Check back later this weekend for an update on the garden with plants in the ground! 

New Management?

Yesterday we went to dinner at Mellow Mushroom - fully expecting the normal experience. Everyone in Boone knows that you go to Mellow Mushroom with the intention of having awful service, spending at least two hours, but eating spectacular food.  We love eating on the patio during the summer!

I was incredibly surprised last night, and I was wondering if they are under new management.  We were seated immediately, the table was already clean, and we got menus within just a few minutes of sitting down.  We ordered drinks, and when the waiter came back to tell us they were out of both the drinks we ordered, he brought us samples of similar drinks to try.  That is definitely above and beyond service.  

We almost always get a hummus plate with a gourmet white pizza, but this time we decided to try their margarita pizza.  It was the best pizza I've ever had at Mellow.  The waiter came back to check on us several times, and even asked us if we wanted to go boxes without us prompting him.  

All in all, we had a delightful experience at Mellow.  Does anyone know if they are under new management? 

Bring Back the Button Ring

This morning I discovered an old treasure!  My best friend is getting married this weekend, so I was going through all of my jewelry in anticipation of packing this afternoon.  Of course, instead of picking out certain jewelry that would go with each outfit, I just started throwing random things in a pile.  While doing this, I found an old jewelry box that I probably hadn't used in years.  I think I got it in high school when I went to China, but I'm really not sure. 

As you can see, it is full of completely random items!  I was really surprised to discover an old treasure inside - my button ring!

I think I made this when I was in college, and I had forgotten how much I love it!  It is so silly, but something about the brown button with the red flower button on top just makes me smile!  Plus, its completely unique - who else has a ring that looks like this?!

So, this summer when you're trying to figure out what the kids can do now that they're out of school, make buttons rings!  If you're like me, you've probably got thousands of random buttons floating around your house (check that miscellaneous  drawer in the kitchen - those are always a treasure site for buttons!)  Grab some of that stretchy, clear, plastic cording, and make a few rings.  Make sure the cording is the stretchy kind or else you won't be able to get it on and off your finger. 

The Reception

Ok, I promise this will be the last post of wedding pictures, but they're just so fun!  These are from our reception, which was held at Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock, NC.  

Thanks Stickboy for making an awesome cake!

The Ceremony!

You can see all of the photos and order prints at www.pictage.com/667258

Getting Ready for the Wedding!

The big day was May 16th, and we're starting to get settled into married life!  We just got some pictures from our photographer, and we wanted to share them with you.  

Matt surprised me and gave me a BEAUTIFUL ring as a wedding gift.  

The wedding bands.

Thankfully my sister helped me with my makeup!

Brad helping Matt with his bow tie. 

Writing a little letter for Matt.

Putting on the dress!

Showing off the new ring!

Ready to get married!

Check out tomorrow's blog for pictures from the ceremony!

Tomorrow I'm Marrying my Best Friend

Today is Friday.  

Tomorrow is Saturday.  

Tomorrow is May 16th.  

Tomorrow is the day we've spent the last 5 months planning for.  

Tomorrow I'm marrying my best friend. 

Now, there are a lot of things that I love and appreciate about Matt.  He cooks for me. He supports my dreams.  He is an amazing graphic designer.  He is a hard worker.  He is funny.  I mean really, laugh until your side hurts, funny.  He is dedicated.  He thinks outside of the box.  He loves Jesus.  He is my best friend. 

That is just a few of the things that I love and respect about Matt.  One thing that I've really come to respect is how smart he is!  Here is my favorite example from the other week. 

For the most part, I enjoy weeding.  Its kind of nice to sit outside in the dirt with the only objective of getting rid of annoying weeds.  Its pretty satisfying and relaxing for me. Except when I have to weed the area at the bottom of the yard near the creek - thats stressful because I can never rid of all the weeds.  There was a point last summer when I had weeds out there growing taller than me ... taller than the trees that were planted. Thats sad.  You shouldn't have weeds taller than your trees.  

Anyway, I enjoy weeding the other parts of my yard, but I hate having to pick up all of the weeds.  Usually that results in me ferociously getting out the weeds from the garden and frantically throwing them all over the grass.  I always have good intentions of going back and raking them up, but that only happens about 17% of the time.  

So the other week I was weeding while Matt was rolling up sod from our lawn to make the garden plot.  Here is how the conversation went:

Matt:  "How is the weeding going?"

Ashley: "Great, I'm getting lots done!"

Matt: "Why are there weeds all over the grass?"

Ashley: "What else am I going to do with them?"

Matt: "Get a weeding bucket."

Ashley: "Oh. Good Idea."

In comes the weeding bucket.  

Its the simplest thing in the world, but I had never thought to use a bucket to put my weeds in.  It makes perfect sense!  After I'm done, I have a convenient way of carrying my weeds to be dumped in the woods.  Its perfect!  Thanks Matt!

Since we're getting married tomorrow, I'll be offline for a few days.  We're going to the beach, and we don't allow work on vacations.  Even though this isn't work ... 

Stay tuned for updates about our vegetable garden - we're planting once we get back!

Stuffed Chicken for Dinner

Since we're getting married on Saturday, you can probably guess that Matt and I have had so much to do the past few weeks ... or is it months?!  It seems like the "to do" list has been growing instead of shrinking for a long time now ... 

Anyway, one of the things on my list was to get my nails done, so I went after work for Tina to do my nails.  When I got home, Matt had made a delicious appetizer of cheese and jam, and he was setting out to cook dinner for us.  

We did absolutely nothing wedding related, but instead enjoyed a delicious dinner and time with each other.  

Matt was the chef for the evening - he made an herb and peanut butter , stuffed chicken, salad, and steamed vegetables.  It was absolutely delicious!

This is the stuffed chicken - cream cheese, spinach, feta cheese, and spices!

The finished product!

We may not get some of those last silly details worked out for the wedding, but we sure did have a good time cooking and eating last night!

Picnic on the Parkway

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in Boone, and with all of the recent wedding planning going on lately, Matt decided that it would be the prefect day to relax and have a picnic outside.  

It was perfect timing because we had just gotten a beautiful, old picnic basket, along with re-usable birch wood plates, from our friends the Suggs for a wedding shower gift.  Matt and I loved the picnic basket, and we had been dying to use it!

So, we made some sandwiches, cut up some Brie, and drove until we got to E.B. Jeffress Park, which we had never visited.  

We relaxed and ate our lunch looking over the Blue Ridge Mountains at 3,657 feet elevation - mile marker 271.  The food and the view put restaurants to shame!

As it turns out, the park offers a self-guided hike down to the Cascades, which you might guess to be waterfalls.  It is about a 30 minute hike - longer if you stop and read all of the signs that tell about plants and trees native to this area.  The trail leading down to the Cascades is beautiful!  My camera battery died about half-way down, and I kept tell Matt that I HATE not having my camera for things like this!  He said we'd just have to go back again sometime soon!

Anyway, the park and hiking trails are really nice.  They have bathroom facilities, picnic tables, trash bins, etc.  It would be a great place to take family or out of town guests - especially if they don't like long, arduous hikes.  The waterfalls at the bottom of the trail are spectacular to look at, and they make the walk down well worth it (although the walk down is enough in and of itself!).  

Here are a few shots from the beginning of our hike down.