our little green house

last week, we discovered yet another reason why we LOVE our neighborhood: woodlands- vegetarian indian cuisine. another award-winning restaurant within walking distance of our house. we had the pleasure of dining there with one of ryan's friends from his old job. i think they should add two more awards to their wall: #1 their mushroom masala- a vegetarian meal that can actually fill up my husband! #2 most deceiving and difficult to find location! 

on a side note, we REALLY need to hang our homemade curtain rods so we can have a little privacy while in our front rooms. yikes.

a fathers day post... & belated mothers day?

my dad is pretty great. he works his little tushy off just so he can spoil our family. he has the best sense of humor & a perfectly contagious laugh to accompany it. he keeps me on planet earth when i start to get a little freaky on everyone & he believes in me more than i believe in myself. oh & he just so happens to be in better shape than i am.
my mom is the definition of gorgeous, selfless, smiley, giving, loving, friendly, Godly. she is the world's best conversationalist- i know this because half my friends told her more than they told me. i'll put it to you this way. when i grow up, i literally want to be her.

then, if i wasn't blessed enough already, i scored another set of parents who are equally as great. wally and denise have made me feel welcomed and loved since day 1. they have supported our relationship and our decisions along the way. they have made sacrifices to accomodate our families being together for years of holidays and the wedding. and they have provided us with lots of laughter [fish bowl game nights], entertainment [can you say home theater?], and encouragement [calls, cards, visits, etc].

and then, when you think it can't get any better. poppy's talented woodworking abilities and to-die-for hugs have brought so much joy to my life since i was just a wee one. grammy has been my biggest cheerleader in all endeavors- academics, exploring the east, even cooking. living close to both sets of my grandparents growing up has enriched my life so immensely!

i have an incredibly amazing family! the good news is that it just expanded & continues to expand as people keep choosing awesome spouses. good work family.

hotlanta

as somewhat of a belated birthday celebration, we went to atlanta to see joe purdy.. even though he was in nashville two days before when i was working.

okay, maybe we just like visiting our georgia friends so we can take classy pictures together.

review of the show: joe purdy's voice was effortlessly good and he draws an extraordinarly random crowd. yeah, joe. however, the best part of the show was the impressive harmonizing done by the milk carton kids. 

memorial day 2011

memorial day had excellent potential. a lovely mid-morning bike ride to liberty market with my parents, homemade strawberry lemonade & a grilled salmon bbq planned with my grandparents. however, my stomach had other plans. while my last 2 days in arizona weren't ruined by this nasty virus thanks to my very cooperative and caring family, my plans suddenly became much more low-key than i had originally expected.

it's official

with all the hype i made about her graduation, it's probably appropriate to overwhelm you with pictures from the trip. 

unfortunately, the rest of the trip was not documented quite as enthusiastically. my parents threw my sister an amazingly lovely graduation party at the commons that was kindly captured by a family friend into a  video here.  ryan, ben, and i got to play some background music together, as featured in the last 5 minutes of said video. i'm glad my mother forced us to play, because we had a lovely time doing so.

our little house is becoming a home



we are absolutely giddy about the two newest members of our household: our gorgeous succulents, my travel companions all the way back from az [thank you bobands!], and our super sexy industrial kitchen table [on sale! just for us today]. i must say, as sad as i was to be leaving my family and my zona, it feels pretty nice to be reunited with my huz.