Tough 'lil carrots

I worked in my yard today for the first time this spring & look what I found growing in my garden!  Tough little carrots who survived the winter!  Yes, the biggest is about the size of my thumb but they're carrots!  I thought they were duds when nothing grew from the seeds I planted last fall.  Apparently these carrots don't want to be rushed.  I can identify with that.  They'll grow when they want to grow--when they're good & ready.  I haven't eaten them yet, so hopefully they taste good.  :)  

I was feeling a bit disheartened about planting this spring since my garden hadn't been too successful last year but now I'm inspired again.  Way to go, 'lil carrots!  :)

I'm on my way to Colorado this evening for our high school ski trip.  No skiing for me, just hanging in the lodge, sipping hot chocolate & reading some good books.  Sounds like a pretty awesome week huh? I'm pumped about it!  Happy Spring Break!  

It's Spring!

This weekend I decided it was spring & so it was time to wake my yard up & give it some color!  The bushes along the front of my house had all died over the last year & a half (part my fault, part climate...) so I'd been planning to re-do the front beds this spring.   I started with some red Knockout Roses and put Gerbera Daisies in the pot on my front porch.  It makes me so happy to drive up & see my pretty yard!  I have a couple more places to put things...one is to replace a climbing vine that died.  I want something colorful, but haven't decided yet.   The weather was so pretty this weekend, and I love working outside when it's nice!  Hopefully it'll stay like this for a while---100+ temps you just stay away!

I also bought a food processor & have become a salsa making factory!  I made basic tomato salsa this weekend and also mango salsa!  I haven't perfected my ratios of ingredients yet, but I'll share my recipe when I do.   Mmm...I do love salsa!  Anyone have a good recipe they will share?  I'd love to try!  Off to water my roses!   :)  Happy end of winter!

Adventures at Home & Abroad

And by "abroad" I mean Washington, DC, where I am right now, visiting my cousin Lee!  Lee's getting married in September & so I flew in to help plan & party it up capital style!  :)  We went to J.Crew in Georgetown (where Georgetown University is--a cool trendy shopping & eating area of "The District") where they have wedding dresses in the store!  Lee had called earlier in the week & asked if they had an appointments & they had ONE at 9:15am!  The store doesn't open till 10 so it was super fun to get in & get special treatment before the store even opened!  After J.Crew we went to Anthropologie to look for bridesmaids dresses & just had a ball!  After Anthro we went to lunch, walked around Georgetown, then went to Dupont Circle to Lee's favorite museum & had a coffee & pie break before heading back to her house to rest & look at pictures of the dresses she tried on.  Very fun day!

So that's what's been going on this weekend...but LAST WEEKEND was also very fun!  My friend Venessa & I built a raised garden box in my back yard.  I've had a lot of fun planting things & taking care of my yard this spring.  I got inspired a few weeks ago to plant vegetables but didn't really want to plant in the yard (the dog likes to dig).  I started looking up raised beds online & debated making verses buying a pre-built.  My friend Venessa wanted to make one too so we agreed to help each other.  We found this website, called around & found the best lumber in town, where to get the cheapest garden soil (the Brazos Valley also has bad soil, so a raised bed is good because you can fill it with your own dirt) & went to work!  We decided to build a 4x8x12" box from cedar wood.  And we found a website that gave us a formula for how much dirt we needed.  The whole process (wood buying, dirt getting & unloading, building & filling) took about 8 hours & we were exhausted but were very pleased with the results!

The dirt--there was SO much of it!

Building the box.

The finished product!

My first tomato!

I planted zucchini, green bell peppers, cantalope, tomatoes (big & cherry), and watermelon!  The cherry tomatoes are in the small box off to the right.  I had extra dirt, so decided why not?  And two days ago I saw a very teeny tomato!!  Hopefully when I get home it'll have grown!  I'm super pleased with how the box turned out & I can't wait to see how everything turns out!