Garden

I'm going to take a picture of my newly landscaped (mulched) front yard soon... until then, this ought to hold you over. My garden is doing great and I've already harvested lots of banana peppers. I have green peppers that are really growing great as well as 3 tomatoes that I cant wait to see turn red. 

And for those of you who are my facebook friends then you've already seen this angel at an angle. LOVE HERRRRRRRRR

Two days in Columbia (SC, of course)

Last Thursday I had off for Confederate Memorial Day (Raise hell South Carolina!) and John had a special art event in Columbia that we decided to attend. He donated some windows (painted with his art work) to MIRCI which is a foundation that helps people with mental illnesses. They had 52 artist contribute and had a silent auction where half of the proceeds went to their recovery center. John sold two paintings at the auction for $300 and $230 so he made a hefty contribution to a great cause and came home with a little cash! We stayed the night in Columbia at this cool bed and breakfast right in 5 points called The Claussen Inn. On Friday we got up and headed to the zoo. I havent been to a zoo in a LONG time so it was even more fun than I expected! I think my favorite was the big brown bear sitting there when we came in. I also enjoyed feeding the giraffes (slimy tongues!) and of course the birds (hyacinth macaws and toucans). It was a fun fun morning and we laughed at the animals and the people! After that we were lured into heading up to Sunset Beach for the remainder of the weekend to go fishing with Shane. The weather didnt pan out for fishing but we did enjoy a long trip in the kayak and lots of throwing the cast net! Piper loveeeddd seeing what was going to be pulled in next (in the net) and she was also intrigued by the blue crabs we caught (i dont think she ever got pinched, miraculously). So all in all it was a long and fun weekend with lots of pictures. I have no idea why I cant rotate the pictures that need to be rotated so I apologize. So annoying.

I call this one: Two Turkeys.

 3 Deer in the marsh at Sunset Beach... cool.

My favorite. I love her expression. I interpret it as saying "what is this
thing?? And is it okay if I play with it or are you going to beat me if I do?"

Kiawah Tennis Tourney-- Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

This past weekend I loaded up with a few of my tennis girl friends and headed down to Kiawah Island (just south of Charleston). There was a charity tennis tourney that draws a good crowd and we decided to join. Most of the girls played in it last year but this was my first time since I'm just now getting into the real swing of USTA and leagues and tourney's and how it all works. Anywho-- there were 10 of us from the MB area that went down and it was such a blast. We rented two condos and in one there were 3 married couples and in the other there were 4 unescorted ladies. I played in the 3.5 singles division as well as the 3.5 womens doubles division. Jess (my doubles partner) was also playing mixed doubles so we were busy busy busy all weekend. To sum things up it was a great weekend. I won my first singles match on Friday afternoon 6-1, 6-3 which set me up to be in the final on Sunday. On Saturday, Jess and I played two tough doubles matches and won both! The second of those matches was against our friends and teammates which made it extra tough. Not to mention that Mandy tore a ligament in her foot during the match but insisted to continue playing. That was a hard fought match that Jess and I barely won but we were in the final. So I had two final's on Sunday. The first (8:00 AM) was singles against a girl that was from Kiawah (and actually worked at the resort and her whole family and some teammates were there watching her) and her record was amazing. She hadnt lost a match in like a month of Sunday's UNTIL... dunn dunn dunnnnn... she met me! haha... She waxed my butt the first set 6-0 but I knew I could fight back... so during the second set I got my head screwed on straight and kept up with her much better. We got to 6-6 in the second set which means we had to play a 7-point tiebreak for the set. I won that 7-4 which meant we had to play a 10-point tie break for the match. I think after I won the second set she just fell apart because I ended up winning the tiebreak 10-3... I was super pumped. It was definitely one of the best matches I've played in awhile against some really tough competition and I was elated to have won. I was proud of myself for not giving up (which I never do) but also for knowing that I could come back and win the match. Tennis is SUCH a mental game and I do not claim to have the best mental game but I'm getting better. Anywho-- yay for me for winning the 3.5 singles title. Thennnn Jess and I played for the 3.5 doubles title in a tough match where we [again] lost the first set 6-2 but came back to win the second set 6-4 and we won the 10 point tie break 10-8 (WHEW). It was a close close match but we pulled it out in the end and I came home with two trophies! Whoop Whoop!!!

And here's a cool series of shots that jess took on her good camera-- i guess it shoots like 4 times in one second or something? Pretty good breakdown of my backhand...

set up...

...take it back...

...prepare for contact...

...blast off!

not great follow through...

Sorry this is blurry-- dont know how to fix.

Garden Time

It's finally spring and my garden has already sprung! I planted quite a few pepper and tomato plants in my garden (aka yard) and I'm already seeing some progress. I only have one spot that gets enough direct sun to plant a garden, which just happens to be in my front yard, and since my yard (grass) already looks like hell, I just decided to make half of it a garden. So randomally planted in my yard, is my garden, consisting of both herbs and veggies. Planted so far are [herbs] rosemary, lemongrass, and basil, [veggies] tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, and blackberries that have big fat blackberries all over it... pics of this are also coming soon. I forgot to take a picture of the entire thing, so yall can see how redneck it looks to have veggies growing in a semi-grassed front yard, but I'll get on that soon because I'm sure you all [7] deserve a laugh.

First banana pepper of the season.

One little baby cherry [or is it grape?] tomato.

Flower & Lettuce Wraps (with a side of bug)

I've had these plants growing in a flower bed in front of my house since I moved in. They have been pretty but plain looking leaves sticking up out of the ground and have never bloomed-- yet I've refrained from pulling them up and planting something else in their place. Well this spring I finally noticed a bud growing on one and it took about 3 weeks for it to open. Everyday I would walk by and anticipate it being open but it never did. Well FINALLY last week it opened up and bloomed into this gorgeous red flower. I am not sure what it is but from my online research I'm guessing it is an amaryllis. Anywho-- here is my documentation of its birth!

I've also been on another Asian kick lately-- these lettuce wraps were a hit last week and too pretty not to photograph before digging in. I laughed because as soon as I took the picture I realized there was a little beetle bug crawling across the table! Eeeck! And no, my house is not dirty... I dont know where this little fella came from but he looks like he wanted some of this asian creation too! I decided not to crop him out because I think it's hilarious how perfect the timing must have been for me to capture him so perfectly in the photo. Bon appetite!

This creation goes something as follows:
Sautee chicken in pan with oyster sauce, minced garlic and soy sauce until done. Chop into bite sized pieces. Place on piece of bib lettuce with rice noodles, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, mint, crushed peanuts, and sweet chili sauce. Garnish with lime twist and eat like a [messy] taco.

Ketchup. (Translation: Catch-Up)

Here we go again-- another game of catch-up.

The Cooper River Bridge Run was a great success this year (minus the actual running portion). The Thursday prior the boys took the boat from Gtown to Isle of Palms and I was SO jealous that I had to sit in the office while they were out cruising on the water on such a gorgeous day. When I got off work I was directed to come to the harbor walk (downtown gtown) because we were going on a boat ride. Yay! John has two friends that run a delishhh restaurant downtown (highly recommend) and they were going for an afternoon tootle in the boat and invited us to tag along. Georgetown is so pretty, especially from the water and I really enjoyed this afternoon. John shows off his cast net skills and caught two mullet. Winner. On Friday Hope flew in from Alabama to join us and once she finally arrived (flight schedule was a disaster, poor gal) we had a ball. We stayed in an awesome house on Dewees Island (only accessible by ferry-- no cars on island, only golf carts) and had a house full of crazies. I think there were 10 adults and two babies = good times! I did the bridge run in 1:01.57 or something like that. I wanted to do it in under an hour so I missed the mark by two mins. Disappointing but oh well. Not bad for not doing a LICK of training. I think i ran twice in the two months prior to the race. Meh-- I'm lazy and would rather play tennis than run. Anywho-- that was a blast of a weekend and poor Hope had a nightmare return flight as well. I'm hoping this wont deter her from coming back for a visit. Maybe gas prices will drop and she can drive! ORRR buy a one way ticket and stay here forever!!!! :)

big fish.

cruising

georgetown by water

love these boys

Love this gal!

Precious little Gardner family

This us missing the ferry by 30 sec.

after missing the ferry, we enjoyed this.

Waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for the race to start.

bridge run line up

Saturday night supper!

"becky" and her sweet sweet boy

Katie and her sweet sweet boy!

Other random notes and happenings: 

A green lizard likes my wreath! Pretty.

Of course, new Piper pics: 

FAVORITE EVER.

 

Lap dog :)

Cutest rear view in town.

Sleeps while sitting up-right.

This wooden pillow is perfect! lol

begging.

eating sticks is fun!

 When I was home over Easter, Lisa and I made time for another trip to the driving range. I also attended a baby shower for Lauren Riggan where she was showered with a MOUND of presents. If anyone deserves so much love it is L.Riggs! And I cant wait to meet Luke!

Quiche for Celeste's bridal shower

Old pics off my camera-- Love this classic shot of Shane and Bruce mowing the yard at Sunset Beach!

Mom and me took a trip on the ferry over to Fort Fisher... Oct 2011.

Gardening project. I'm making a vertical garden similar to the one pictured below... I started this project last night after finally getting a pallet that wasnt half rotten... Then I made a mistake that I'm currently deliberating how to fix but too embarrassed to share..... will provide a post of its own of this project once completed...

I've been SUPER busy at work and on the weekends so I havent had much tennis time but I'm hitting the courts for practice today and tomorrow so hopefully getting back into the swing of things after a couple of weeks off. I have matches the next two Saturdays, next Tuesday and am heading to Kiawah Island for a tourney in a few weeks. So glad to get back out there and burn some calories and see all my girls! That's all for now! Be back sooN!

This is what my office floor looked like at one point last week. I was writing a community development block grant which requires a ton of paperwork and even more copies (8). This was the only way I could organize it all... daunting.