we're still farming.

i guess you can't really call caring for our 4' by 8' garden "farming" but it's kind of the same.

anyway.

so about a month ago, our garden was looking like this:

lush. green. fruitful. right?

well, today it looks like this:

the corn is dead. our lettuce is non-existent. the whole thing is still a little bit unruly, but mostly just a little waaamp waaamp. but despite it's not-so-wonderful looks, our garden is still providing us with lots of veggies.

however, a few weeks ago, we picked some corn {obviously before the corn was looking dead like this} but this is all we got:

we got two or three little cobs like this and we cooked them. but after one little bite, we decided not to eat them. fortunately we had bought some corn from the market, so dinner was not ruined.

another disappointing harvest was our potatoes.

these were the ones that were growing in a container {we lost the ones in the garden a long time ago} and while these potatoes looked promising, they were reeeally soggy and nasty when we went to cook them. boo.

austin also pulled up one of his beets {who knows why he planted beets} but you can just take a look at his face and tell how that turned out...

but despite those disappointing picks, we are getting lots and lots of tomatoes, green beans, and peppers.

and cucumbers. so many cucumbers that austin had to pickle some, six jars worth actually.

and while i appreciate that the cucumbers aren't going to waste, i think we all know how i feel about pickles...

{image}

but let's also note, just for fun, that one of the ingredients austin just had to run out and get before he could make his pickles was alum. and what did he do? forget to put the alum in? why, yes. that's exactly what he did. except in this one jar.

so who knows if these pickles are even good. or pickled, for that matter. but that's ok. 'cause we've got more cucumbers.

so austin can always try again.

bethenny!

this saturday, i attended the annual she expo at the convention center.

this women's only event {or women mostly} is two days of vendors, raffles, free products, food and drinks. they also offer free health screenings ranging from allergy tests to free mammograms. and then they have some big time famous speakers. in the past, they've had the neelys, paula deen and, one of my personal favorites, jillian michaels. but due to scheduling issues i've never been able to make it before. but this year, i knew i couldn't miss it. why? because one of my new favorites was speaking. she's been on tv on for quite a while, has written books about health, nutrition and fitness and created one of my favorite cocktails, the skinnygirl margarita, mrs. bethenny frankel.

i got there just in time to run into lindsy's sister, alex, who had good seats for bethenny so i sat with her, just a few rows back from the stage. bethenny answered questions about her life, her reality shows, her books--anything and everything--even sharing details about her flannel/cow print pajamas. she had me and the whole audience laughing the entire time.

she even walked danced the runway a few times for us.

i was really hoping she would do a meet and greet after speaking. i even brought my copy of her book, a place of yes, hoping i could get her to sign it. but, no such luck. but that's alright, i was happy to get to see her and hear her speak.

and i absolutely loved her look, so don't be surprised if you happen to see me wearing something similar soon.

momma would be so proud.

even though we were totally exhausted after returning home from our cabin weekend and then grocery shopping, it was unavoidable that our grass had. to. be. mowed. austin planned on doing it last weekend, but didn't get around to it and we really just couldn't wait any longer.

but instead of austin doing it, i had him show me how to use our new lawn mower and i did it all by myself! ok. mostly by myself. austin did the first outline around the whole yard and then took over a little bit of the front yard once an angry hornet was on the loose.

but doesn't it look wonderful?

i only planned on doing the front yard {it's way smaller} but i was on a roll and did the back yard, too!

and yes, my hands are blistered and sore today. but i managed to not chop off a limb, although i did get a battle scar. and it was intense. there was blood.

in case you have poor vision and can't see my wound, i pointed it out for you here.

pretty intense, i know.

nellie, part two.

you might remember back in march when austin and i joined the heards on a trip to nellie's big fish road and we just had another big adventure with nellie this weekend!

steve, gloria, taylor, ozzy and bailey made their way to the cabin on friday night and austin and i joined them early saturday morning after a few pit stops and adventures on the way.

for our first pit stop i needed a pair of shoes that i could wear hiking to the falls and tubing down the river. we stopped at academy sports+outdoors, even though it was about 7:45 in the morning, but we figured they would open at 8. and it's a good thing we got there when we did because acedemy was giving away $20 gift cards to the first 25 customers in line! austin and i each got our own gift cards and i used mine toward these bad boys.

sweetness, right? and $20 off? yes, please!

then on our way up the ocoee river, where all the rafters are, we saw some flashing lights that grabbed our attention. we then realized it was just about time for them to release the water from the dam into the upper ocoee, the area where the 1996 olympic rapids course is. so we pulled over and waited on one of the bridges to watch the water pour in.

i'm not sure how this picture turned out so terrible {i blame austin the overcast weather}, but here's me and juliet on the big bridge waiting for the water.

and here's a series of pictures showing the water coming down the river, it starts coming down the top left side of the picture.

and then the water on the down river side of the bridge before:

and after {and you can thank austin for the long exposure photo}:

we were really hoping some sort of wave would come rushing down the river, but it wasn't quite that dramatic. but it was still pretty cool to experience it.

when we finally got to the cabin, austin headed down to the river for a little bit of fishing.

then, after searching the entire county for some inner tubes, we all went tubing down the river, starting at the deep hole and getting out right in front of the cabin. of course, i don't have any pictures of tubing in order to protect my camera, but we all had fun floating down the river. the five minute road trip took about an hour in the floats!

i like to call this my bonnaroo outfit: a little bit of every thing. sundress coverup, bathing suit, and hiking sandals.

don't judge.

and then on sunday austin took me hiking to a waterfall! after about a thirty minute drive, we arrived at the base of the trail to fall branch falls.

i was worried that there might not be any water at the falls, but right at the bottom of the trail i found plenty of water running, so i knew it would be pretty when we got to the top!

after a short but straight up hike, we made it to the falls!

after getting some rest, splashing in the freezing cold water and taking a gazillion pictures, we headed back down the mountain and made our way back home. and that was our weekend at nellie's big fish road!

i hope you all had a great weekend, too!

fourth of july

first of all, let's mention that i love katy perry {who doesn't?}. and i think anyone could have predicted that her song "firework" was going to be super popular in this year's 4th of july celebrations. and even though it might have been a little cliche or perhaps even overdone, i still sang at the top of my lungs every single time i heard it played this past weekend.

and in case you live under a rock and haven't heard this song {although i'm not sure how you'd be reading my blog under there} let me share the video so you too can rock out with katy.

austin and i decided to spend our fourth of july {after he got off work, of course} at the lookouts game. even though i thought it was going to rain and ruin our plans, the weather held off and we were able to enjoy the entire game and fireworks rain-free.

and i got funnel cake. which is really all that matters.

and then there were fireworks. that were actually kind of lame. but i got a few pictures.

oh and the lookouts lost by an embarrassing 10 runs to the hunstville stars. oh, well.

hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

and i also hope that you now have this stuck in your head...

"cause baby you're a fiiiiiiiiiiiiiirework!"