Emily's Nursery

David and I have some sweet friends named Emily and Conrad. They live far away, but we get to see them pretty often. Back in January, I was hanging out with Emily and she told me a secret.

Wanna know what it was?

She is gonna have a little tiny baby.

For realzies.

It's not a secret any more, though. Little Baby is making herself known to the world.

Friends, meet Emily and Betsy.

I can't even handle all the cuteness.

Notice that big buggy beside Betsy (random: Do you call that a buggy or a shopping cart? Is "buggy" a weird thing to say? I need answers.) is full of Ikea goodness. Emily and I recently made a pilgrimage to Ikea so that I could be her nursery shopping wing man...to offer comfort and assurance...to keep her focused...to push the buggy...to buy cinnamon rolls and combat low blood sugar funks.

There may have been two overflowing buggies involved as we neared the checkout lines. They may have both been full of nursery gear. I only bought a clock. Lame.

Emily took care of business like a champ. I think I would have cracked under the shopping pressure and gone home with nothing, as is my tendency.

Emily made some great purchases and her nursery was already shaping up nicely, pending approximately 40 man hours of tiny-Ikea-wrench-labor from Conrad, who is responsible for putting all of the furniture together. (Just be glad that's the only labor you'll have to go through, Conrad.)

When we had done all the damage we could do at Ikea, Emily and I headed over to a very lovely fabric store in Mid-Town Atlanta, called Whipstitch.

We proceeded to spend the next hour pulling our hair out over fabric combinations. Why, you ask?

Because I'm making the all of Baby Betsy's nursery bedding!! Holy Moley!

I'm so excited. I've been commissioned. I have a new found sense of purpose. Betsy needs a blankie and I'm gonna stitch one up, by golly.

Anyway. We spent a LONG time looking at the large and overwhelming fabric selection at Whipstitch. It was a tough choice, but in the end Emily decided that this combination of lovely Anna Griffin fabrics was what really screamed "Betsy" to her.

I couldn't agree more.

I can't wait to show you more of Betsy's nursery as it comes together. It's going to be cute.as.pie.

Thanks, Emily and Conrad, for letting me make something so sweet.

T'will be stitched with love, I assure you.

Mel

Dill Pickle Double Take

Guess what paint color makes an appearance in the new May Issue of Country Living?

Dill Pickle!!

That's right Country Living...I'm glad you caught on.

Dill Pickle is awesome.

Look who's ahead of the curve, yall.

(For once...)

By the way, if you haven't picked up a Country Living Magazine in a while, you should check it out. It's very cool and cottage-y. It has bargains and DIY galore. And they pick awesome paint colors.

 Duh.

Mel

The Help

Friends.
You must make haste and read this book...

Because **GUESS WHAT!**
The movie is coming out in August!



I wish we could all pack up and go see it together.
Please read it. You'll be so sad if you don't.
AND it's out in paper back...saw it yesterd'y at The Barnes and Nobles.

I have to go now because Dave and I are listening to THIS while we boogie around the kitchen and cook THIS.

Oh, lawsy it's a good Friday Night!
mel

The Further Adventures of Paper Dave

I don't have a lot to say about these pictures.
Except...
Don't be like us.
We are not nice.
Only not nice people would do this to their dogs.

You see, the other day when we were using Paper Dave as a Scare Crow/ Measuring Device the dogs began to act strange...even more so than normal.



Jack and Lady were not so sure they liked Paper Dave. They were bewildered.
 I tried to explain the he was simply a middle schooler's homage to their Dad, real Dave.
No dice.
The dogs no likey.

As soon as we realized their unease about Paper Dave, Real Dave started terrorizing the pups with moves like this:



And this:

Not to mention this:



Lady was thoroughly petrified and has started applying to be on the Dr. Phil show so she can tell the world about her inadequate parents.



Jack decided to fight back! He doesn't take crap off of two dimensional losers!

 

After a solid bite from Jack, Paper Dave decided to lay off.

...Until next time.

Word to Your Mother

Just wanted to give a Mother's Day shout out to my sweet Mama.
She is the best.
Anything that I do on this blog that you may be impressed with...
Well, those skills came from her.


Thanks for all you've taught me and how much you love me, even when I am a far cry from lovely.

(PS- We need to take some pictures together. We have exactly zero. I guess that's what happens when you're always the ones holding the camera.)

And a shout out to David's mom, my dear Sue Anne.
She's pretty awesome, too.


Thank you for raising my handsome husband.

I hope you both had a very Happy Mother's Day.
We love you.
Mel and David

Tour de Garden

Do you remember my teeny tiny little seeds that were started in a mini-greenhouse?

Yeah, those little guys.

Well, they grew and now they are out in the big garden. Last year, we had so much fun with our one little raised vegetable bed that this year we decided to expand to 3 beds. We needed more room for all of the plants that we wanted to grow!

In the first bed we have cucumbers growing on these little DIY trellises. I got the idea from Southern Living a few months ago-- upside down tomato cages tied with bamboo stakes. (Black dog optional.)

In that same bed, we're growing bell peppers and jalapeno peppers.
Oh, the salsa that I'm going to make with those jalapenos...so mucho salsa.

We're also growing broccoli...

and lettuce! Yum.

In the next bed, we have two variety of tomatoes, squash, and zucchini.

Hello, little baby.

The third bed, is where things get really interesting. Here we are growing onions and potatoes.The onions are not doing so great. Of all the things in the garden, these look the worst. I hope that we will be able to eat one little lone onion from our garden, though. Cross your fingers.

And here's the reason why the onions are so sad:

Somehow we have managed to grow freakishly large potato plants.

They are huge-mungus.

They are taking over the garden.

We had  to tie them up with stakes, which is oh-so-not-normal for taters.

Take a gander at these.

To give you a point of reference, Paper Dave hopped into the garden. He's such a good sport.

Paper Dave is concerned about their growth rate.
I'm optimistic that I'll have prize winning potatoes.
I'm blue ribbon bound, baby.

All of these plants are really easy to grow, even for first time gardeners. You could even plant one tomato or squash plant in a container on your deck, if that's all the room you have. Good soil, sunshine, and lots of water is all you need for a happy, healthy plant that you'll enjoy eating from all season.

The only hard part is being patient and waiting for your tomatoes to ripen.
mel