recently.

it's been a little while since my last post and i'm sure you all have been anxiously awaiting an update from me. but fret no more, my friends {or random strangers} because i am here to update you on some recent happenings.

austin and i have been getting lots of good stuff from our garden and we're having to get a little creative with some recipes in order to use all the veggies.

we used the giant bell peppers we got to make some stuffed peppers. it doesn't really look all that pretty, but it sure was good.

austin, juliet and i shared the first cucumber from our garden together.

and yes, juliet absolutely loves cucumber. however, just like her mother, she will not eat the peel.

proof that she will eat the cucumber, but leave behind the peel. and quite literally turn her nose up at it.

and just like last year, austin and i had to tie up our corn stalks although this time it wasn't because of a big storm's wind. i think our ears of corn are just weighing down the stalks, but they aren't quite ready to pick yet. so we brought out the tulle and tied 'em up.

we also bought some new stuff over the past few weeks to add to the garden. since our onions died {i'm told our soil isn't sandy enough for onions} we removed them and planted two banana pepper plants and some kind of pepper called a holy mole! not sure what we'll do with them, but we've got them anyway. we also pulled up all the lettuce we had growing because it was nasty. it tasted spicy, like horseradish. but we bought some new seeds and replanted. hopefully this lettuce will be much better.

and one last garden-related thing. austin and i pulled up all the beets we had growing in ordered to make some pickled beets. sounds gross, right? but for whatever reason austin likes them.

turns out we are pretty good at growing beets!

check out our prize beet. it was huge!

literally bigger than my hand.

and while i'm glad that austin is going to enjoy his pickled beets, i seriously did not enjoy the smell of the process. it was the boiling vinegar mix on the stove that was the worst. yuck. but i can appreciate the hot pink color of the beets in the jar.

moving on. a couple weekends ago, austin and i spent the day up on the mountain hanging out at his cousin's pool.

this past weekend, we were up the mountain again for a family cookout. some of austin's family from out of town were in, so we had a big group up there. we played corn hole and ladder golf until it was too dark to see anymore.

all the sisters and cousins together.

and i do apologize for making this picture so awkward. clearly, i didn't know what to do with my hands. also, i'm really pale.

the best part of all these gatherings is that i'm able to force austin into getting his picture taken with me!

and it's a good thing i wore my boots, because austin and i took a little adventure hike to go pick some yummy {and pretty!} blackberries.

we're planning on making blackberry pancakes for dinner one night this week. but let's be honest, i don't eat fruit cooked in food, so i'll just have plain...

saturday morning, austin was sweet and took me yard sale-ing. we kinda just drove around until we found a sale to stop at and although we didn't actually buy anything at any of those, we did make some pretty sweet purchases at a little local place called the insyde outsyde shop. it's a little antiques/resale/fun things store that we browse every now and then.

austin bought this sweet mug {or is it a stein?} with his fraternity shield on it. it may be from the university of georgia, the year 1958, and have the name johnny on it, but it was like five bucks and we thought it was cool. so cheers to you, johnny.

and austin bought me this ceramic l.n. fowler phrenology head. i was so. pumped. because i'm nerdy like that.

i think he really adds to our eclectic decor around the house. fits in nicely with some of austin's coca cola collection.

and this faux ivory {it's actually like some kind of papier-mâché} elephant.

rounding out our collection of random things is a dried displayed rattlesnake head, some vintage cameras, and juliet toys, of course. quite the mix, yes?

and one last little thing, speaking of juliet. every one think good thoughts for my juliet today, please. she's at the vet right now getting checked out because she's been a little sickly lately. i had to drop her off this morning so they could see her in between surgeries because they didn't have any open appointments, so i'm all alone without her next to me.

look at that adorable little face.

{update: literally as i was typing this up about julie boo, they called to tell me she was ready to come home! she's got some meds and is feeling much better. i'm glad i didn't have to miss her all day long! hooray!}