Garden 2011

We've had our garden planted for a month or more now, and I realized I still had not done a post on it.

This year we decided to do more herbs, and more flowers. We also went with a purple/ red and green theme, mostly through colorful foliage.

Our plants included:

In the herb garden:
Sweet Basil
Opal Basil

French Lavender

English Lavender
Rosemary
Thyme
Purple sage
Regular sage (not sure of species... we stuck a seed in the ground last summer and it survived ALL winter, including snow and ice storms, so that plant was a keeper)
Mint

Lemon Verbena

Vegetables:
- sorry about not knowing species, we planted all of this 1-2 months ago
two kinds of cherry tomatoes

one heirloom tomato
one compact patio tomato
banana peppers
2 jalapenos
anaheim peppers
green and red bell peppers
swiss chard

Onions (starters given to us by our neighbors, who are awesome at gardening)
lettuce
cucumbers

Shade garden

2 boston ferns
3 red and green coleus
2 green and white coleus
2 dark purple coleus
some kind of vining hanging plant that has both dark purple and light green foliage



Flowers:
Lantanas
Blanket flowers
Zinnias
some kind of flower I bought two years ago that was labeled as an annual that has not died despite huge neglect on my part. will try to find out what it's called because it's a super star if you have a black thumb.

Last year we grew 4 tomato plants and got 3 tomatoes. We said we wound never plant them again, but after doing some research, we re-thought it. After some research, we realized that unlike the midwest, if you want to grow tomatoes in Texas, you can't start in May. It's too dang hot. Also, we learned that if you get cherry tomatoes, the maturation time is more conducive to Texas' two short (spring and fall) growing seasons. I bought two plants on March 1, and just covered them with some Christmas lights and a sheet when it was cold overnight. They're both doing AWESOME, and I will plant them again next year. we also got a patio tomato (fruits seem to be on the smallish side of a regular tomato size) and one heirloom. It's doing okay, but not as proliferative as the other plants have been. We probably have 75-100 cherry tomatoes growing right now!

our peppers aren't doing much, but I think that's because they need heat to thrive. I expect more from them when it gets hotter during the middle of the summer.

Another key to success in our garden this year was putting up a simple fence (made from gray PVC piping and twine) to keep Reagan from stomping on things. this has helped a lot, especially in the shade garden. He could get over it if he wanted to, but it serves as a reminder to him of where he's not supposed to go, and it seems to be working pretty well.

I'm really excited about the opal basil and the idea of making purple pesto, and having our nieces and nephews over to eat it. I think most kids love weird-colored food, and it's better that it's naturally weird-colored than that you add a bunch of artificial coloring. we could make purple pesto chicken and serve it over purple potatoes! the possibilities are endless.

Easter 2011

We went to Easter services at FBC Austin, where my mom and sister are members. My sister was unfortunately sick Easter morning, but she did perk up by the afternoon and was able to have some dinner with us.

Here we are outside the church with the flowering cross:


Shannon's pretty Easter table

And the egg hunt. I could NOT get this girl to look at the camera for me! She was very intent on finding her eggs.

Birthday Party

Last weekend, I miraculously got off. In case you're not familiar with how days off go in a surgery residency, they are usually random. The only rhyme or reason is that you're required four days off for the month. That sometimes means I'll go 20+ days without a day off, if they're bunched up in the first part of one month, and in the second part of the next month. This also explains why I have time to blog on a Tuesday morning. What most people consider a regular weekend is for an intern in training labeled a "golden weekend", meaning that you actually get to leave work Friday afternoon, leave your pager behind, and you don't have to worry about coming back until Monday morning.

So anyhow, I got the weekend off, which was AWESOME because it was both Easter and my BIRTHDAY weekend. We decided to drive down to Austin to spend it with my family, since I hadn't seen them since January,

and I hadn't seen my little sister since last summer.


Saturday, we went grocery shopping for my birthday dinner, and then I got a fantastic massage from a woman named Amanda (at Massage Harmony in the 26 doors shopping center in case you're ever in Austin on a Saturday). Saturday night we went to my sister's house where we grilled steaks and ate all my favorite things- shrimp cocktail, asparagus, spinach salad, caprese salad, and of course, funfetti cake (decorated by my sister and my 3-year-old niece).

My sister set up a beautiful tablescape outdoors on the porch.


What is even more amazing? She is able to put together a gracious and artistic southern-living style table, and make me a cake, while doing MUCH of it like this:

A baby on the hip and the other on the leg!

It was so fun to spend time with the little girls



(after we'd been pushing her higher and higher on the swing and repeatedly down their mini roller-coaster... this girl is an adrenaline junkie)

And to relax on Shannon's porch swing:


Such a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon/ evening! And of course, after dinner and a few glasses of wine:








and why my mom is not in any other picture...

Things that I like

From the Pearl River Mart. When I visited my friend Alex in NYC during med school, we had a grand time. Including this one time when we got locked out of her apartment and tried to climb down via fire escape and got stuck on the roof; the people who lived on the top floor heard us being loud and let us climb out their window and down the fire escape to Alex's bedroom window:



Anyways, Alex had to work during the day, so I would go out and wander on my own, with the "City Walks of New York" cards as my guide. One of my favorite places was Chinatown. Because after being on Manhattan for only a couple of days, I really enjoyed finally finding a healthy dose of CHEAP.

That day, I think I spent about two hours wandering around the Pearl River Mart picking things up, wondering over them, and ultimately buying a large bag full of stuff (and most of my Christmas gifts for that year) for less than $100. And I still love to look at their store online to see what awesome deals can be had. here are my favorite things:

Foo Dogs



Lacquer tray



A 36 inch white rice paper lantern



Pretty Packaged soaps



Stacking lunch box



Tea in cute tins (let's be honest I don't care about the tea, but the packaging is so nice!)




Blue and White geometric bowls




I could really keep going but they DO have their own website, so there's not really a need for me to list the entire store's wares on my blog.

I cannot for the life of me remember where I read this, but I do remember this tongue-in-cheek formula for how to make a room look like you've hired an interior designer: you just need something Asian, something animal print, something red, and something metallic. Perhaps I should do a series on each so that we can all be so CHIC.

this one's for the boys

In line with the imaginary little girl's room, I thought I should do one for the imaginary boys.

I would start out with the same Fjellse Bed from Ikea


with headboards upholstered in a cowhide



(most cowhides are big enough to cover either two twin beds or a queen- possibly a king if you got a big hide)

I would use a cozy and tough-wearing blanket from Pendleton for bedding.






Each bed would have a small storage ottoman at the end, like this one:



Upholstered in this Ikea fabric:


For a bedside table, I would get a Rast chest from Ikea, and hack it like so:



They would each have an industrial-style sconce over the bed:



For reading bedtime stories, there would be a pair of club chairs:



Between which would be this little table:



I would use this rug:




And get a canvas made of this painting by Henri Rosseau



Just as cool as the girl's room, but yet totally different. And I think that both the rooms could grow with children for more than a couple of years--smart AND cost-effective.