Monday, July 2, 2012

Memory Garden

I’m working REALLY hard on trying to turn my black thumb into a green thumb. I have a long history of killing ferns and other beautiful plants due to various reasons, but most involved NOT WATERING THEM! Ooops!

After we had our landscaping installed in the front yard, I have really stepped up my game on the watering front. Seeing some success there, I decided to work on transforming this overgrown patch around the two trees in the back yard. garden

I thought it would be nice if I dedicated this new spot in dedication of my mom, Elinor, as a memory garden. As you all know, my mom was killed in a car accident when I was 6 and Lauren was 3. The amount of grief that came from that tragedy cannot be described. However, as I have grown older I no longer focus on sadness or grief. Instead I try to think about memories I can recall as well as looking at old pictures and hearing great stories about my mom. I think this new memory garden will be a great way to think of her even more often and to reflect on the joy that she brought the world while she was here.

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This is my one of my favorite pictures of my family.IMG_1155

Here is the garden in progress, Dinah was being a great assistant. And here is the finished product! I love it and am so happy I put in all the effort to create it!!

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Here is a photo of me and my mom, look how cute! I believe both of our outfits were made by my Mammaw! How awesome is that?!

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Sunday, April 15, 2012

A little DIY action

Hi all! Life is great here in East Nashville. Just wanted to share a few fun projects I worked on this weekend. First up, framed brooches... These were my grandmother's and I believe are costume jewelry, not sure. But they are so pretty and I felt like they needed to be out of the jewelry box and displayed. I took a standing, double vertical picture frame and created the project below. I took the glass out of the frames and wrapped burlap fabric around the frame insert. The brooches had pins on them, so they stuck right into the cardboard frame insert. The frame is now sitting in the little telephone nook in our dining room. 


The next trick up my sleeve was to update the cushions on the front porch. They were fine as is but I felt they could be cuter. Especially after I found this shower curtain at Home Goods. I didn't need a new shower curtain but I fell in love with the pattern. Also, since it's shower curtain material, I'm hopeful that it will hold up well outside. check it out...
Before

After

Shower curtain source

Super cute, IMO
Also I'm linking up here http://abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com/2012/04/one-project-at-time-tuesday-link-party_17.html

Monday, February 20, 2012

Bahamas Recap

We had an amazing time on our trip, I’m not sure words can do it justice, but here goes!

Sunday AM we headed out of Nashville on our 6AM flight and landed in North Eleuthera by 12. Both flights were easy and it seemed like in no time we were in paradise. Mom was at the airport waiting for us. As we de-planed we could see her waiting and waving on the other side of the airport fence.

We got to Mom’s house, settled in and unpacked. And took in the amazing view. DSC_0140DSC_0152DSC_0357DSC_0168DSC_0350DSC_0125

After getting situated and taking a quick nap, we headed out to Coco Di Mama (super cute B&B) to watch the Packers vs the Giants. No internet or tv at the house, so Mom made sure she found a good place for Chris to catch the game. Too bad the Packers lost, but I had the most amazing Pina Colada ever and we watched a beautiful sunset.

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Monday AM we were up and getting in some exercise. The three of us walked to the Rainbow Inn which is about 1.5 miles away. We left Chris there so he could connect to the internet and get some work done. Mom and I kept up our walk and met Chris at the house later. For lunch we had a picnic at Rainbow Beach and that night we were back at the Rainbow Inn for pizza night.

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Tuesday Got some AM exercise walking along Navy Beach. Noticed that the sand was pink! How beautiful!! After our walk we drove to Governor’s Harbour and ate lunch at Sunset Inn. The grouper fingers were OOC (out of control)! While we were eating I saw a dolphin playing in the harbour, that made my day. Chris stayed at the restaurant to get some work done while Mom and I ran some errands and did some shopping for souvenirs. We also hit up the bakery for some sweet treats for breakfast the next morning.

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After running errands we headed to the Nature Preserve. Lots of indigenous plants and gardens, pretty cool stuff. DSC_0059 We headed back home after a nice long day out and about and settled in for a delicious dinner. Stone crab, bruschetta and key lime pie all cray-cray delicious.

Wednesday We were up early to have a tennis lesson. Check out the great view from the court. tennis I guess when the island is only 2 miles wide at the widest part, you are always going to have amazing views but I couldn’t get enough of it.

After our lesson we enjoyed some BLT’s at home. The L and T fresh from the local vegetable garden. With lunch taken care of we headed out to Surfer’s Beach to see if we could watch anyone catching some waves. This was the craziest,, most awful road to navigate but Mom got us there safely. It seemed like she knew the road like the back of her hand. I wish we had taken pictures but basically the most humongous potholes you have ever seen in your life is what was going on. No flat road at any point during the 1/4 mile drive from the main road. DSC_0101DSC_0103DSC_0107DSC_0109

Next we headed to Gaulding Cay Beach. This is kind of close to where Lenny Kravitz has a house. We didn’t run into him, but did see his posse out at the Rainbow Inn one night. Anyway, Mom and Chris snorkled out to this little piece of land and saw a sea turtle! While they were doing that I was making sure that this crazy little rooster was staying away from me.

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With plenty of sun soaked up we went home and had Pina Coladas and beef tenderloin for dinner. Do you see a pattern here? We ate REALLY well on this trip! =)

Thursday Did an AM walk and showed Chris Smuggler’s Beach, Come and Go Beach and Hidden Beach. Then headed to Governor’s Harbour for lunch at The Beach House. Had some more fresh fish, grouper sandwich. After lunch went to Twin Cove Beach and actually saw some people! Also saw a super cute dog splashing like a maniac in the water, made us think of Dinah when we took her to Florida. After our outing, came home and relaxed, watched a movie and ate some shrimp.

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Friday Chris headed out for a run and Mom and I embarked on a 2.5 hour adventure walk. We didn’t have those intentions at the beginning of our journey, but we went over to several neighbors houses and visited and time just flew. It was a really good example of how when you’re on vacation, who cares how long it takes to do something, like go get some tomatoes from the neighbors down the road?

After our awesome walk we went to Sky Beach Club. AMAZING! Had the best lunch of anywhere in my opinion and a to-die-for view.

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After an awesome time at Sky Beach Club we went to one of Mom’s friends houses. Tulicki and her husband live on the Caribbean side and have cut out steps in the cliff down to the water for access for snorkeling. It was so beautiful! We wore wet suit tops because it was a bit chilly and had fun snorkeling. After we got out, Chris and Tulicki got to talking and she told him that people jump off the side of the cliff safely into the water. Didn’t take long and Chris was jumping! This was such an amazingly scenic place, I hope you get the feel for it in the pictures here.

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Saturday Our last full day we did the AM walk again and went back to Navy Beach for a picnic lunch. Chris went kayaking on the caribbean side later in the day but it was a bit rough out so he didn’t stay out for long. We ended the day with a great dinner at Rainbow Inn.

It was a fabulous trip and we had a great time getting a break from winter back home. I can’t wait to head back in May with Lauren, Brooke, Noah and Mom!!!