Weekend and Winning

All last week Brian was gone at Studentz Camp for work and this was the first year I was unable to go! This year it was held in Harrisonburg, Virginia at James Madison University, so almost 2 hours away from us, instead of at Liberty University in Lynchburg. It was sad to not be able to work camp but also very quiet and boring at home alone. He came home very tired but he had lots of awesome stories to share.

As soon as he came home, we got back into the car and drove out to Richmond to visit our families. It was a blast, as usual, but also exhausting, as usual.

Friday evening was spent with my family, gardening and playing with my 2 year old niece. Check out all the green veggies we harvested!

We got all of this on Friday evening. I even strapped on a headlamp to finish getting all those green beans because it got dark too quick!

The watermelon had some claw marks...we're guessing from a squirrel. Otherwise it was fine! Very heavy and perfectly shaped!

What a good harvest!

But that's not all!

Saturday morning we got back out to the garden because we knew we didn't get everything. It must be the Year of the Cucumber because we are up to our eyeballs in cukes! Yet tomatoes aren't ripening and when they do, they either rot or get eaten. Anyone else having these issues?

Those are some huge cucumbers! We're trying to give them away to friends and neighbors but everyone seems to have cucumbers out the wazoo!

I also helped out in my in-laws' garden on Saturday evening but I didn't get any pictures. My mother-in-law had just picked all the goodies before we arrived. Although we did get plenty of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and regular tomatoes.

All in all, a fantastic weekend of gardening, catching up with friends, and spending quality time with family. The way it should be!

Oh right...you're probably wondering where the "winning" part of the post title comes in. Well I entered a contest to win one pound of red wiggler worms for my worm farm and I won!!! I never win anything! The contest was put on by Swan's Organics. They're a company out in California that has all things gardening and composting! I'm excited to get my new worms and put them in with their new little family. "Little" may be the wrong word as they double their population every 3 months. I started with 500 worms in April and it's now almost August. You do the math! Because I suck at math, that's why.

What's your garden producing this week? How was your weekend?

Till next time,
Catherine

Spontaneous Weekend Visits

Can you believe it's July 1st? How in the world did June slip by so fast? 

That's ok...bring on the fall weather!!

This past weekend my mother-in-law and brother-in-law decided to come down for a spontaneous trip! We love having friends and family visit so we were super excited that they decided to come over!

(via)

When we got official word they were on their way and after a trip to the grocery store, my husband and I went into a cleaning frenzy. He helped, though, really. Now I don't see this as a fault and I know my in-laws and friends won't think less of me if the house isn't spotless (who has time to keep a house 'spotless'?), but when people come over, it is a perfect excuse to clean the house in record time! Works like a charm. I'm a pretty organized and clean person, but the house always looks great seconds before guests arrive! 

They arrived late Friday evening and so we mostly talked and played games. I had to work Saturday morning so everyone else stayed up and hung out when I went to bed early like the old lady I am. Saturday afternoon we all went down to the Farmer's Market to sample and buy local, delicious goodies. We bought eggs and potatoes for a super late breakfast and even bought the most delicious goat cheese from Spring Mill Farm. Sun dried tomato goat cheese is my guilty pleasure...it is to die for!

After the Market and a delicious homemade breakfast (at 2pm?!) we relaxed for a bit but then decided we should go out and enjoy the day. The hot, hot day. We drove down to Peaks View Park and walked the trails and got some sun. It was really nice, but quite hot. We were ready for some AC after a few miles!

Even Kito got to come along! He had a blast!

Don't tell but we even stopped by DQ on the way back for smore's blizzards! 

Sunday we made poppyseed chicken (delicious...recipe post in the works!) and butter! Yes, we made our own butter! It's incredibly easy but I won't give it all away now. I'll try and have that in a post for you all this week! 

All in all in was a wonderful weekend. Can't wait to have them out again!

And to top it off, now that it's July...it's officially my birthday month! This is the first birthday in about 5 years now that the camp we always work isn't happening during my birthday! Not that we don't love working camp, but I'm so excited to actually get to celebrate my birthday this year! It's also my "quarter of a century" birthday as my husband likes to remind me, so we're thinking an awesome celebration is in order! I can hardly wait!

How was your weekend? Do anything fun or productive? What are some awesome birthday ideas? I'm up for cliche´ or unique ideas! 

Till next time,

Catherine

Williamsburg Anniversary Trip

So as you may know from last week's posts, my husband and I went to Williamsburg this past weekend to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary! We had a great time and can't wait to go back! 

When we arrived we walked down through Colonial Williamsburg. Here's my husband Brian photo bombing the Colonial Garden. They had all kinds of plants for sale...I wanted one of each! 

Garden photo! 

I love this little cottage and the way the front yard is landscaped! The houses are absolutely gorgeous there!

We ate at The Cheese Shop for a late lunch on Saturday and it was SO GOOD! I definitely recommend it. 

I had a turkey and provolone sandwich on wheat with house dressing and it was fabulous! They also have many cheeses for sale and unique treats as well as a huge wine cellar full of wines and beers. 

We breezed through The Candy Shop that's next door to The Cheese Shop but it was really crowded so we didn't stop and buy anything. Blessings in disguise! 

Here Brian decided to give T.J. a few pointers on a document he was working on. I think he's taking them into consideration. 

While we did see a lot of "Made in the USA" signs and stickers, I also saw way too much of this. There were so many things for sale that were supposed to look authentic and really colonial, yet they were made in China, India or other countries. Sad. 

I freaked out like a little girl when I saw these two horses! Brian practically had to pry me away from them! Since living in Lynchburg, I haven't gotten to ride or be around horses hardly at all. I miss it so badly! 

We also walked around The Pottery which I had heard a lot about. Let me tell you...the name is deceiving! I was thinking The Pottery was a cool place where they made pottery in front of you, sold freshly made pottery of all shapes and sizes and maybe you can even paint some pottery. Far, far from the truth. If you haven't been, it's basically one huge store divided into three buildings. One for kitchen wares and food, one for home decor, and one for outdoor items. I was disappointed because even though it was kind of a neat place, the prices were expensive. They had a large natural/organic/unique section of food and a huge wine section if you're into those sort of things. I even happened to see wine from a vineyard in Louisa County, Virginia which is where my extended family is from! If you don't know where Louisa is, just remember it's where the epicenter of the 2011 East Coast Earthquake was. 

After a disappointing dinner on Friday at a place called Daddyo's (Yelp reviewers had given it great reviews!), we stopped by Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt. 

Brian got a chocolate milkshake and I got cookie dough ice cream in a waffle cone. They don't play around! Look at that sucker! It was delicious too!

The Governor's Palace

Beautiful skies framing a brick house. 

I loved this side yard too with the stream running through the middle. 

If only we had somewhere to put it! These bird bottles are so cute! 

I loved hearing the clip-clop of the horses' hooves as they walked on by. We didn't take a horse drawn carriage ride, though. It's $20 a person for 15 minutes! Trust me, I know horses are expensive pets but holy moly that is so expensive. That's $40 for 15 minutes for two people. Rip off. 

And we also made a huge mistake by buying a pound and a half of homemade fudge!! As we walked out the door I said to Brian, "What...have...we...done??" The flavors are so amazing, though! In the box on the left it's blueberry cheesecake then Oreo. The top left in the other box is chocolate, caramel, and peanuts, and the one on the right is the Williamsburg Special which is caramel, chocolate chips, white chocolate fudge, then regular chocolate fudge. Bottom row is peanut buter chocolate and then peanut butter. 

Each morning we drove just into Yorktown (our hotel was in Newport News which enabled us to have dinner with some of our close friends who live in the Portsmouth area. We were SOO thrilled to see them and we had a blast talking and laughing over dinner.) and ate at this breakfast/lunch place called Food Craft. We ordered breakfast both times and it was so incredibly delicious! The fried potatoes weren't greasy and they were so tasty! The biscuits and gravy were incredible too. It was so good that we're already trying to find excuses to go down there again! 

And finally, we came home to about 4-5" of snow! Fortunately we beat some of the snow but did end up driving in it for about an hour. It wasn't too bad, though. Glad it's all about melted now! Bring on Spring time!! But Summer...you take your time.

Thank you to everyone who recommended Williamsburg adventures! We want to go back soon and see/do it all!

Have you been to Williamsburg? What's your favorite thing to do/see?

Till next time,

Catherine

Anniversary Trip!

So this week is exciting for me...my 1 year wedding anniversary is coming up on Sunday!!! It's hard to believe it's almost been an entire year already! We've loved each and every second of it!

Except the bills...bills suck.

I'm super excited because we're going to Williamsburg, Virginia for a little anniversary weekend getaway! Any suggestions for places to go or things to do? I'd love to hear your suggestions! I haven't been since I was a kid in school so I don't hardly remember it! I'm really hoping for good weather so we can get out and see it all.

Also, what's your take on the anniversary year gifts? For 1 year the traditional gift is paper and the modern ones are clocks, plastic, and gold jewelry. Even if it's kind of silly I think it might be fun to do. Except what in the world can I give as a gift that's paper?? Help!

Guess I should have thought of this when I had more than a week to plan! Oops!

Send me your best-kept Williamsburg secrets! I want to hear your favorite things to do on an anniversary and don't forget the paper gift suggestions!

Till next time,
Catherine

Scary Roads and Weekend Fun

I don't know how it is where you're from but here in Lynchburg it is COLD and WET! Yuck! Areas near Richmond got snow but we just got rain and ice.

On our way home from Richmond last night it began to rain a little, but nothing bad. The temperature was above freezing so we cruised as usual. All of a sudden, maybe 20 minutes from home, we saw about 6-7 sets of tail-lights going every which way on either side of the road. There was one car in front of us and they began to hit the brakes and fortunately we *carefully* followed suit. Just in the nick of time because we began to slide back and forth a bit but we were able to slow down safely without ending up like the other cars. It was a panicked 15 seconds for sure!

The odd part was that it was only that small few hundred foot section of road that was iced over but nowhere else was. I'm just so thankful we saw it in time! One car was facing down into a ditch but up on a hill on the other side so they were facing the road! No idea how they managed that but I hope everyone is OK!

Other than that we had a wonderful visit in Richmond. We got to spend time with family, including my precious niece and see some friends too. It didn't work out for me to have a girl's night like I had planned but that's ok...we'll be back soon and we can hopefully do it then!

My husband and his friends even made a bow out of PVC (for about $10) from this tutorial video I found! Man oh man did they have fun doing that! Unfortunately they didn't get pictures for a tutorial but the'll be making more and next time I'll be sure they get pictures! Maybe even a video too! So be on the lookout for that!

As for today, it's a snuggle under the covers and watch a movie kind of day! It's too cold for anything else!

How was your weekend? Are you as ready for spring as I am? 

Till next time,
Catherine

Christmas is almost here!

Are you ready? There's only a couple of days to go!

Got your suitcase packed for a week of family?
Meals planned?
Presents bought?
Presents wrapped?
Car loaded? Or plane tickets purchased?
Gassed up?
Pet sitter lined up?

Phew! We're getting there! As I may have mentioned before, I have to work for a few hours on Christmas Eve morning but after that it's time to hit the road for Richmond! Hm, as far as that list is concerned for us...we've got a ways to go. Haha. It'll get done this weekend!

My current To-Do list for Saturday and Sunday includes:

• Wash/Dry/Fold/Put away all clothes
• Wash/Dry/Put back our bed sheets
• Pick up around the house
• Take the trash out
• Clean the cat pan
• Bathe the dogs
• Pack our stuff for a week
• Pack dog supplies, food to bring, and anything else that needs to go back to Richmond
• Pack presents into the car
• Fill the car with gas

Oh boy...now that I typed all that out...yikes. I think I'd better get my butt in gear! Not to mention there are two little crafty projects I've been wanting to finish also! Looks like a call to Domino's may be in order for dinner ;)

What's on your last minute Christmas To-Do list? Even if it's a lot...don't stress...just breathe! You've got this!

Till next time,

Catherine

Potential Weekend Adventures

Today, I'm thankful to be saved by God's grace. I grew up in a Christian home and we went to church but I didn't really get it. One day, in a different church, the pieces fell into place. That was about 8 years ago and my life has never been the same. It's been a difficult but wonderful journey. 

By the way, these "I'm thankful for" posts are not going to be in any order of importance. I'm just writing them as I think of them.

I am so looking forward to this weekend! I don't have to work and neither does my husband! It's finally a weekend where we can do whatever we want to do! He tends to go out of town a lot for work so it's nice when he has a whole weekend home! That's not to say something can't come up last minute, but for now we're just going to enjoy it. Tomorrow in downtown Lynchburg there is an event called Bargain Mart 2012. That sounds right up my alley! It says that it's Lynchburg's largest indoor yard sale. I can hardly wait! I'm telling myself we're just going to go and "window shop" but I've got a little bit of cash in my wallet just in case we find something good! I'm going to keep my "crafty glasses" on while looking in hopes of finding a good project just waiting for us. Hopefully I'll have something awesome to share with you all tomorrow.

I'm really looking forward to finding a cheap dresser set (a highboy and a long dresser) that we can paint white and add new hardware to for our bedroom. Yessss...we've been married for over 6 months and I still don't have my own dresser! It's ok...I've got the big closet and a bunch of plastic drawers (classy!), so it's bearable.

Wish me luck in some bargain hunting at Bargain Mart 2012!

Do you enjoy yard sale-ing? Do you go with something in mind or do you just look around until you find that perfect deal?

Till next time,
Catherine