Adventures in gardening

So we did it! We started our own garden! It was a TON of initial work and now it's all about the up keep. I find it very rewarding and enjoy it very much! I cant wait to eat our own veggies!

To start with, we had to figure out a place to put the garden. We decided on a spot in the backyard. Then we had to build a raised bed! We wanted to make them out of cedar, since it's so pretty. We looked at lots of plans and priced out wood. We finally decided on cedar fence pickets. Our garden is massive. It's 6'x12'. Almost too big to get thing out of the middle of it. But we got everything planted in it- so thats cool! 

We went to a local place down the street to get the soil for it. We chose a 50/50 blend of soil- topsoil mixed with compost.Hopefully, this will make our veggies grow nicely :D We had not yet built the raised bed, but the soil place was not open on Sunday. So the weekend we did it- we went and got a load of soil, went to Home Depot (they had the least expensive cedar fence pickets), and then went and got more soil. We spent a lot more time in HD than we planned, so we were not able to build the raised bed and then go get more soil like we planned. So we unloaded the first load from the trailer- we pushed it to the backyard and dumped it on a tarp. Um. It was heavy. Like really heavy. Then John went to get more soil while I cut the grass. Cant build a raised bed on tall grass!

By the time he got back, the yard was mowed and it was time to put together this raised bed. First, John had to cut the ends off the fence pickets since they were doggy-eared. To do that, we had to set up his miter saw. To do that we had to find some wood to put in place so he had a working table on it. lol. See how everything seemed to take forever? Anyways, since they are building houses in our neighborhoods, they have these huge dumpsters and throw away a lot of wood. We found exactly what we needed in one (no shame in my game) and got started! John was super excited to use his new toy :D

Then we hauled it all to the backyard and started to put it together. We got the frame done that night and then started to fill it with soil the next day. It rained though, so we didnt get too far. We still want to put a ledge on the box, but we forgot until after the plants were planted. At that point, we decided we would do it after this season.

We didnt quite get it in the ground before it got too dark to work anymore, so we were able to do that Sunday. The rest of the week we spent a few days shoveling dirt into the raised bed. BOY that is a good workout! When we got to the second load of soil (we stored it in the garage until the first load was used up) John just drove the truck into the backyard and backed the trailer right up to the raised bed. lol it was TOO difficult the first time. and I'm pretty sure it saved a fight between us. There are few things we fight about, but moving furniture (or trailers in this case) is one of them. PIVOT! 

After we got all the soil in, we planted our plants! Most of the plants we planted were already small plants- there was a sale at lowes a few days before, so we got them all then. We also grabbed a few seed packs and planted those as well. 

We planted from plants:

-Squash

-Zucchini

-Tomatoes

-Green peppers

-Yellow peppers

-Red peppers

-Jalapenos

-Poblanos

-Cilantro

-Thyme

-Rosemary

-Chives

-Sweet Potatoes

From seeds:

-Spinach

-Carrots

-Green beans

So much stuff! :D I am so excited. We didnt mean to plant this much, but we just kept getting more and more excited about it. lol 

Here is a pictures after we planted everything!

Lots and lots of water later....here is where we are at now! They have grown SO MUCH! I am so proud of us and so excited :D

SO much bigger! Ignore the grass- 

we cant cut it because of the Bermuda seeds germinating. 

 Squash and zucchini are the big ones. The peppers are the smaller ones.

 Tomatoes and what not!

 The things from seeds are all on the right. The beans are the biggest plants down there. They are SUPER green and grew incredibly fast. The spinach is above it and the carrots next to that. Then you can also see the sweet potatoes. Cilantro and Thyme are at the bottom. So exciting!

 Our first baby squash!!!!

 Our first baby tomato!!!

It is the coolest feeling in the world knowing that John and I grew these! Maybe I dont have a brown thumb afterall! :D Cant wait to share more progress with you :D now here is to hoping for some rain...haha

Quick Catch Up!

Where does all the time go?! Ours days seem to be getting busier and busier. But I guess that's a good thing?  Anyways, here's rundown on the past few weeks. 

A few weeks ago I had Admin Team Training-without getting into too much detail about my job, because I know how much you all want to hear about it, we had a big training weekend the last full weekend in April. It was A LONG weekend. But it was awesome. and like the only weekend I have to work these days, so I really cant complain :D. I am site supervising two of our Duke TIP Summer Studies sites and got to meet the people I am going to be supervising this summer. I am site supervising UGA and Davidson. So it was nice to meet the people that had been hired, train them, and get to know the people I will be working with closely this summer. I think it went really well and it went super fast! Here are my teams:

Davidson

 UGA

The next weekend we went to Asheville! See my previous post about that :D

That Tuesday was Cinco De Mayo! Such a fun holiday. John and I were actually having bad days so we decided to go out to eat to celebrate instead of cooking at home. We ordered an appetizer of guac and they made it right in front of us- YUM!

Krystal knew I was having a bad day so she dressed the pups up and sent me 

pictures to cheer me up. haha. what are best friends for?

The next weekend John had to travel again- he left Thursday for Pinehurst. I drove down after work on Friday and we went out to eat with some of his coworkers and had a good time. Saturday morning he had to work, so I went and laid out at the pool! It was really nice and relaxing :D I love that I get to go with him sometimes! This time he stayed in a suite- it was super nice, but we didnt even end up using the living room. haha

Last week was just busy with work and such. I had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and all my health results came back very positive! I need to lose weight (tell me something I dont know) but everything else was good. :D I had to fast until Noon so I was STARVING when I got back to work. We had a food truck outside that happened to be serving Cuban food, so I totally treated myself :D It did not disappoint.

This past weekend, we decided it was time to aerate our yard and plant grass seeds! Our yard is full of weeds and looks terrible. Something needed to be done about it and it was best time of year to plant Bermuda seeds- which is what we wanted. We rented an aerator with the Kinlaws (made it a lot cheaper!) and took turns aerating our yards. We were trying to do the whole yard once over before the sun went down on Friday. We finished the second direction on Saturday and then spread everything on Sunday. We ended up spending a lot of time in Lowe's on Saturday and it was BLAZING hot. So John finished aerating and we called it a night for yard work. Now we wait. and water. lots of water. SO. MUCH. WATER. our bill is going to be cray cray. Hopefully, the seeds take and start to grow. Otherwise, I'm not gunna lie- I'm gunna be pretty disappointed. We also got stones to line our flower beds with! They were on super sale, so we figured- why not? We are making the yard look nice anyways :D. I need to get a picture of them! It really makes the yard look manicured.

John getting his aerating on. 

Other things- 

We have been doing lots of gardening over the past few weeks! There will be a separate post about that :D

-Revenge is over :( I am so sad by this. I loved that show SO much. I will miss all my "friends". What do they call it when you finish a book- a "book hangover?" I feel like that with this show. lol

-John and I started Dare Devil! It's pretty good too. It's nice to veg out and watch something mindless with him sometimes :D

-I started a new work out program too! (I know you're thinking- ANOTHER ONE?!). whelp, Krystal told me about it and I figured it couldnt hurt to try it! I like it a lot so far- it's called Daily Burn. Hopefully, this one will stick :D It's tailored to me and I was able to select 30 minute workouts- so it seems more manageable to me :D There is a 30 day free trial, so if it doesnt stick- no harm done. If it does and I like it- it's only $13 a month and well worth it.

-And lastly, last night we had a big HOA meeting and I am now vice-president! The  HOA was controlled by the builder until last night. He is about finished building our neighborhood and wanted out- so me and some of the neighbors got together and created a team to take it over and we were elected last night! :D I hope this will be a good thing. I just our neighborhood to be nice :D

Anyways, here is to the weekend! and to lots of rest! :D YAY 3 day weekends!!!

Asheville!

So I am in love with Asheville. It's such a beautiful place with TONS to do! John had to go for work a few weeks ago and I got to go with him!

Originally, I was going to work remotely but we worked the entire weekend before for our big Admin training weekend and so I took Thursday and Friday off and just enjoyed some down time. 

We drove up on a Thursday and were there through Sunday.Thursday we got up early enough so we could make it to Asheville for lunch. The drive wasnt too bad! and the mountains are so pretty. Once we got to Asheville, we stopped by the Grove Park Inn. John has a program there in June, so he wanted to set up a meeting with AV guy there to get his bearings and know what to expect. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! I cant wait to stay there in June! We ended up touring the place and decided to have lunch at the Spa. The food was bird food. lol. but it was good bird food. And honestly, it was really refreshing and we didnt feel too full afterwards. We had spring rolls- not fried and a panini. the panini was DELICIOUS. I was afraid that when we got home from our trip there would be a panini press waiting for us since John liked it so much. There wasnt. I'm only slightly disappointed. lol 

The front of the hotel

The Spa

 The backside

 The view

 I'm a beach girl, but boy these mountains sure are breathtaking

After the Grove Park Inn, we headed to our hotel to check in. We were staying downtown in the Renaissance. It was also really nice. And in walking distance to everything. I'm actually kinda sad we are not staying there in June since it's so convenient to everything, but when do you get to stay at the Grove Park Inn for free? I really cant complain. lol

The view from our room. The cars are not awesome, but the mountains are :D

When we got to the Renaissance, John had to spend some time setting up and then we went with one of his co-workers to Sierra Nevada. Really cool place. The tours were all booked up and the self-guided tour was actually closed too. We went into their big taproom and tried some of their beer and got some duck fat fries. Everything was delicious and I would love to go back next time we are there for a tour! After Sierra Nevada we went back to the hotel so John could finish setting up. Afterwards, he had a social that we needed to show our faces at. They had some hors d'oeurves and such, but it was really awkward so we didnt stay to long. haha. It was pretty late at this point, so we had to find somewhere for dinner. There werent many places still serving dinner, so someone suggested The Vault to us. It was SUPER dark in there, but the food was good. Afterwards, we headed back and went to bed since John had to be up so early.

Friday morning, John ordered room service and we split it. I got to enjoy sleeping in and I caught up on Revenge! John was done about 12:30 and a group of his coworkers were going to lunch, so we decided to join them. I was pretty hungry by this point. lol. We wanted to try out Tupelo Honey's but the wait was ridiculous. We ended up going to Jack in the Wood and it was delicious! Everyone split stuff and we had a great time. Afterwards, most people went back to the hotel to nap, but since we were already close to some of the breweries we wanted to try, we decided to do that instead. One of Johns co-workers, Jeremy, came with us. He is really nice and a lot of fun. We all decided we need to double date with him and his wife. 

I meant to take more pictures of our awesome food, but this is the only one I got. Bison Nachos and a Reuben sandwich. YUM.

Anyway, our first stop was Asheville Brewing Company. It was okay- it was more of like a pizza place that brewed their own beer. Their beer was okay. I wasnt super impressed. After we were there, Jeremy left to attend an event he was helping set up for and John and I went to The Funkatorium. Its Wicked Weed's Sour Bar. It was AWESOME! I'm not a big fan of sours, but I really liked most of the ones we tried. Our next stop was Greenman Brewery. While we were there, we ran into a bachelor party- the guys were pretty nice. The bar was SUPER small and not much of a "brewery." but it was still a cool place. Then we hit up Twin Leaf Brewery. I liked this place too. It was neat. There was a life sized game of Jenga going on, so we stayed and watched until someone lost. It was fun. 

 Greenman Brewery

 The brewery in Greenman- this was it. There was a tiny bar to the right of this picture and 2 tables behind where I took this from. lol

After all of these tours, we went to the social Jeremy went to set up for. It was a big social for everyone attending the event John was working. After the social the night before, we were not to sure about it and planned on just stopping by but it turned out to be SO MUCH FUN. It was in Packs Tavern and the place was gorgeous. They had an open bar, shrimp, pimento cheese burger sliders, mini crab cakes, and just so much fancy delicious food. The social was seriously nicer than most wedding receptions I've been to. John and I decided that if we ever have another one, it will be there. lol. They had a photobooth that we played around in and took some fun pictures and then there was a live band and dancing. My sweet hubby even danced with me! I can get him to every now and then, but hes not a fan. I was really surprised because it was in front of all of his coworkers. BUT they were dancing too. We ended up staying until the party was over. haha. 

After the big party, we ended up heading to Wicked Weed. This was the brewery John and I were most excited about. It did not disappoint. It was packed! The bar itself was really cool and they had a really nice outside seating area with a huge fire pit. We hung out there for a long time and then left to get dinner. We ended up back at the hotel later than we anticipated, but we had SO much fun! 

The next morning, poor John had to be up so early and I got to sleep in. My sweet man sent room service up to me! He is the best. I got all of our stuff packed up. When John was done with work, we went out to lunch. We ate at Wicked Weed since we didnt get food their the night before. Then we went to French Broad Chocolate and got a milkshake to split! YUM! Then we started our long journey home. It was a great time and I cant wait to go back.I'm sorta in love with Asheville. There is just so much to do!!!

Street entertainers

YUMMY!

Here's to counting down until June, when we get to go back!