Good Day, Sunshine.

Lots of things happening to put me in my happy place, but no pictures to share today.

First of all, we stopped at McNamara's sale this past weekend.  (McNamara's rates right up there with Pottery Barn in my book.)  They're closing their original Broad Ripple location and have now opened a new store at the Glendale Mall.  Don't get me started how sad I am to see the original, vintage store no more. But I did get a candle just the size I needed for my fall decorations, and a beautiful 10" purple mum for $5! Score.  Speaking of fall decorations, I actually put a few out this year.  Another win.

The hubs also put up new blinds in the kitchen.  Sadly, I don't think they'll work since they don't really allow enough privacy at night.  But they look cool for now.   So we're on the look for just the right blinds once again, but at least I think we're on the right track.

The weather is so beautiful outside today.  I just want to soak in each of these last, beautiful fall days.  I trimmed all of the dried flower heads off of the zinnias today.  Stocking up on seeds for next year. ;)

While outside, I was extremely happy to see that we actually have a watermelon!  Only two plants came up this season out of the packet of 12 seeds that we planted.  Plus about half way through the summer, I noticed that they weren't faring too well and thought possibly it was from lack of all day sun.  Since they were dying anyway, I moved them to the center of the garden.  Hence, though this poor beautiful fruit won't get enough heat or sun to actually be edible, I'm still so happy to see it.  Lesson learned, and maybe we'll get to enjoy this delicious treat from our garden next year!... if I grow a garden.  We'll see.

Happy Anniversary!

It's hard to believe that it's already been three years since saying, "I do" to my love.  I am not one for change, and yet, I don't regret any of the many changes I've experienced since meeting my best friend.  I'm so thankful for each day we have together.

Happy Anniversary, Love.

Blah to Bravo!

July, August and September, where did you go?  So, I may have been lacking a bit in my posting for the past several months.  That's probably because of two reasons: 1. Our computer died a slow, painful death. And we finally bit the bullet about a month ago and got a new one. 2. Those months equal just about the same time as my first trimester.  :)

The good news is that I have been working on projects and taking pictures and hope to share more moving forward.  And I just finished something today that I can't wait to show.

We painted our fireplace, and I think it looks smashing!

BEFORE 

The rest of the kitchen is yellow with white cabinets.  

The fireplace was a blah brownish color that was too close to the clay-colored tile floor.

AFTER

The brick is yellow, matching the rest of the walls and making the area feel larger.

The mantle is white and the hearth and step are a slate gray.  We are so pleased with 

how this turned out that we're wondering why it took us a year to do it!

Make my garden grow.

Growing up, my parents always had a garden.  And us childrens were the labor.  So I thought.  We'd help with some of the work like picking and snapping beans.  But really, we didn't know how good we had it.  Fresh vegetables and parents that did much more work than we realized.

From my childhood experience and my deep love for a fresh, ripe from the vine tomatoes, I had this wonderful idea of starting our own vegetable garden this year.

We had this awful patch of weeds all along our fence row that seemed the perfect spot for such a garden.  So, this past spring, my husband's father came over to help us clear it out and prepare the ground. 

It looked so amazing all cleared out.  I couldn't wait to get started planting.  I was afraid we were behind on  getting started for the season and was relieved to find out we still had to wait about a month before it was warm enough.

Once we were able to get out in the yard and plant our first seeds, we quickly learned our "perfect spot" was the lowest part of our yard.  And when it rained so hard that there was no where for the rain to go, not only did our entire yard flood, the garden sat under water for more than a couple of days.   But we prevailed, not giving up on our new endeavor.




Sadly, although some of the cucumber plants did grow, they never did fare well after the "flood."  And our spinach and lettuce seeds washed away never to be seen again, too.

Amazingly, the weeds seeds, did NOT wash away.  I can't tell you how many times I was out there weeding.  They just about got the best of me.  This picture (above) is after a day of weeding and watering.  I marked my rows with sticks so I could find my plants later.

By the beginning of June, our plants were really starting to grow.  Aren't they so cute? :)  After another round of weeding, you can tell where I stopped the day I took this picture.  With just half of the garden weeded, I needed a break from standing on my head for so long in the heat.  I also quickly realized that I needed an expert to help me distinguish the weeds from the plants as they began to grow and were the same size and looked the same to me.  

Closest in this picture are the flowers of the garden. ... Lillies from my parents' yard, sunflowers, some other tall pink flower (was supposed to come up red, but still pretty in pink) and zinnias from my father-in-law's stash of seeds.

This is probably the best picture of the garden. It was mid to late June at this point.  This side of the garden is where our vegetables came to be... cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes (big boy and cherry) and watermelon.

And now for our final products...

zucchini...

the supposed to be red but still pretty in pink flowers....

cherry tomatoes...

sunflower...

yummy, ripe from the vine, tomato

and zinnias.

It's amazing how a blog can make everything appear so perfect, easy and wonderful.  I could leave this post at this and anyone reading this would envy my green thumb!  But I must share the other side of the coin, if for no other reason than when I read this next year, I will remember what was so hard about being a  garden-owner.

All spring and summer, I dreamed of sharing an amazing success story of our first vegetable garden.  I just knew that with my hard work and drive, nothing could go wrong and I would have an immaculate garden like I have seen in other blogs and people's yards.

First, I was wrong as a child.  (Don't tell my parents I wrote this in case they don't read this.)  But my parents had to have put in WAY more work than we realized as kids.  My dad tilled, got the seeds, and looked over the garden way more often than we ever dreamed.  We were only out there when forced (sorry, but it's true.  I never went out there of my own will except to eat a tomato).  My mom did all of the freezing corn, canning green beans and tomatoes, etc. in the hot summer.

Second, growing a garden where weeds have lived (for probably YEARS) may have been a bad idea.  Sadly, the weeds do not forget that they were there first.  Very stubborn (and shall I say EVIL) plants!

Finally, a "flood" then drought, evil bugs that killed our plants, larger animals (like maybe a deer) knocking over our sunflowers, and working on two landscaping projects while starting a garden all made for a difficult time (and not doing well in the heat).

I'm not sure what the moral of the story is yet.  I think I would still like to have a vegetable garden, but I now have different expectations.