Around here

I took an updated picture of our house last week.  The last time we took pictures it was still early spring and it wasn't nearly as pretty outside. Since then we've had TONS of rain which has made everything so much greener and it even seems as if the sky is bluer.

I did not edit this picture at all - it was really that pretty outside!

Dining room chairs

I honestly expected the dining room chair situation to be a disaster. First, have you looked at dining room chairs anywhere lately? Um, the ones I loved at Pottery Barn ran a whopping $200 for the side chairs and $279 for the arm chairs. With our table requiring 8 chairs, this would have been a TON of money. The husband and I have been looking at chairs since we purchased our table (far before it was delivered) and I was aware that we didn't agree on much except those PB chairs. We were slowly preparing ourselves for that large purchase when we ran into World Market a few weekends ago.

And what did we find? Yes, we found chairs that we both like, that are actually comfortable, and that didn't cost a fortune. Yay!

We were really hoping for something rustic, warm, and inviting and I think the table and chairs fit those requirements wonderfully.

Better...and worse

I'm talking about our gardening this summer. In so many ways its been better and in just as many ways, its been far worse than before. It's getting to be the end of our spring/summer season here so it's time to do a bit of a recap of our triumphs and whatever you want to call the bad stuff.

Triumphs:

• Lots and lots of tomatoes and this time the heirlooms grew pretty well
• The pepper plants all grew well and we actually saw almost grocery size peppers (see the caveat below)
• The bird netting worked
• We planted the herb garden and its doing really well

Sage from the garden

The herb garden

Bad stuff:

• BUGS, namely the stupid (insert whatever curse word you prefer - I surely have used ALL of them describing these guys) leaf-footed bugs
• Having to fight the leaf-footed bugs DAILY and NEVER winning
• Thinking we won one time, only to find the stupid bugs on our pepper plants
• Ants built two HUGE hills in our second garden bed
• Cucumbers - I don't know what to say here folks but it just wasn't happening despite the cucumber plants doing their best to take over the whole garden
• The peppers were burned by the sun and eaten by birds so we didn't get a single one despite the plants producing a ton
• The red peppers crossed with the jalapenos resulting in jalapenos that had no heat - a jalapeno isn't worth its salt without some heat (but at least they were edible)

As a result of the time of year and all the issues we're having with bugs, we are demolishing the garden over the next few days. The process started this weekend with the husband putting ant killer around the two hills. Sometime this week or this weekend we will go in and remove everything in the smaller bed and cut back the tomatoes to almost nothing. This year we're going to experiment with the tomatoes and see if they will grow back and produce for the fall season.

It was really hard staying on top of the garden this year because of all of our traveling. That is a huge challenge we knew we would face but it was much more difficult than we expected. Here's to a better fall season!

Europe Part 2: Around Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the capitol of Tyrol and is rich in history. It was used as a retreat for many of the Austrian monarchy and as a result has a great number of beautiful churches and castles. We toured several of these while we were in Innsbruck including the Ambras Castle and the Court Church (Hofkirche). We also visited the Olympic Ski Jump and the Swarovski museum (terrible but funny). As a warning this post has a ton of pictures!

Ambras Castle

Hofkirche

Our hotel room balcony

The Swarovski museum

The Olympic Ski Jump

Pictures of us from Innsbruck

Other random pictures!

Becoming adults

Why is it that when you get a dining room table you feel like you're one step closer to being an adult?

 

Regardless, we are making one step toward adulthood with the recent purchase of a dining room table. Yay! It was quite the ordeal to find a table the husband liked but we finally did! We ordered the table from Crate and Barrel several months ago, had a defective one delivered and returned and finally received our new table a few weekends ago. 

We have a lot of decorating left to do in the room so please disregard the similar look of the table and flooring!

We had the table one day before we traveled to North Carolina so our first chance to use it came this past Sunday. You can see a glimpse of the chairs we bought for it. I'll update with those later!

Dinner was grilled mahi mahi and tomatoes atop whole wheat orzo with pesto.

Europe Part 2 - Innsbruck Mountains

Yep, I didn't forget about our trip.  Here is Part 2! Innsbruck, Austria is the capitol of one of Austria's states and is located at the base of the mountains in the Alps. The city hosted the winter Olympics twice because of its location. We didn't know much about Innsbruck when we chose to visit but it turned out to be one of my favorite stops, primarily because of the breathtaking views that were literally every where you turned. This post is only pictures of the mountains, I'll follow up with pictures of other things from Innsbruck in a later post!

View from our hotel room balcony.

A great loss

As most people know, we were in North Carolina last week. My wonderful grandfather passed away Monday July 9th at 9:50pm at the age of 92. My heart and mind are still making sense of all of it but I wanted to tell you a little about him. My mom started and has continued a caringbridge site for him if you want to read more about what happened over the last few weeks.

Our little family of four made the decision to leave last Sunday to drive back to NC. I was fortunate to arrive Monday around lunch time and spend time with Pa that afternoon and evening. I'm so very thankful for that time with him and for happier memories of him over the years.

My grandparents, Honey and Pa, lived in Winston, my home town. No matter where in Winston my family moved they were no further away than a short 10-15 minute drive. We celebrated every holiday and birthday with them, had sleepovers until we were too old and 'cool,' and generally enjoyed having our grandparents so close.

It was my grandfather who, along with my uncles taught me how to play poker and the importance of football, but only my grandfather who taught me that homemade cornbread crumbled in a glass of milk is one of the simplest and best dinners ever.

Most importantly though, my grandfather had a way of seeing you for you and in his matter-of-fact way, supporting you. I will always remember the day he asked me if I would major in engineering at NC State. He saw my abilities and knew I could do it if I wanted to. When I told him my plans to major in psychology he was just as pleased because it was what I wanted.

As the years have passed, my grandfather's unfaltering love of his family remains one of the things - the feelings - that outshines all the others. He was a quiet man who despite this, made you always feel loved and respected. He epitomized unconditional love. For that and many other reasons, he will be so dearly missed.

KENNEDY, WINSTON-SALEM Warren Gamaliel Harding Kennedy June 24, 1920 – July 9, 2012. Warren G. Harding Kennedy, 92, passed away July 9, 2012 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Mr. Kennedy was born in Tellico Plains, Tennessee to James Pinkney and Queen Esther Jenkins Kennedy on June 24, 1920. He received a football scholarship to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga before serving in the United States Navy. After serving his country, he moved to Houston, Texas where he graduated from the University of Houston. He served as Director of Finance at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and worked with the Old Hickory Council of the Boy Scouts of America where he was awarded the Long Rifle Award for outstanding leadership. He and his family moved to Winston Salem where he became the Associate Dean of Administration and Director of Finance at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University Medical Center. He remained at Bowman Gray until his retirement in 1986. He served as president of the Winston Salem Kiwanis Club, served on the Denmark Loan Fund at Wake Forest University, and was an avid tennis player. He was predeceased in death by his parents, seven brothers, five sisters, and daughter Helen Carole Kennedy. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Helen Harris Kennedy, his children Doris Hixson (Terry) of Florida, Mark Kennedy (Pam) of California, David Kennedy (Dell) of Pennsylvania, Anne Hodges (Warren) and Warren G. Harding Kennedy, both of Winston Salem; grandchildren Orinda Welton (Lyman) of Florida, Elaine Hixson of Arizona, Liana Corn (Stacey) of Germany, Elizabeth Shilling (Chip) of Texas; Eric Kennedy of California, Michael Kennedy (Corey) of Delaware, Charles Hodges of Winston Salem, and Katherine Kennedy of Pennsylvania; great-grandchildren Savannah Welton, Megan and Trevor Corn, and Amelia Kennedy, as well as a host of beloved nieces, nephews and cousins. Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, July 13, at Centenary United Methodist Church, with Dr. Mark Ralls, Reverend Craig Ford, and Dr. Michael Brown officiating. A private committal service will be held at the Centenary United Methodist Church Columbarium.