Recently we have had a lot of  rainfall and flooding, so we tried to wait to plant the seedlings we started indoors a couple of months ago and it wasn’t the best idea.  Once we returned home, we brought the record player outside and finished planting our garden.

This is our garden plan for this year:

I made these markers so that we can keep everything organized.

Our sunflowers have exploded since last year.  We are for sure going to have to thin them out eventually.

Recently Ben replaced the washtub on his washtub bass, so we planted some strawberries in his old washtub.  We just drilled a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage and mixed together potting soil and garden soil.  I hope that planting them in the washtub will help with bugs and pests.

I’ll keep everyone posted on our garden’s progress.  I can’t wait to have tomatoes, strawberries and watermelons!

We have  yellow tomatoes (Lemon Boy),  red tomatoes in about every size (Campari, Grape, Better Boy and Early Girl to be exact)  and  heirloom tomatoes (Cherokee Purple and Brandy Wine).  We also have an eggplant and four bell peppers.  I love having a garden!

This is the first Bell Pepper I picked from our garden! Isn't it pretty?

This past weekend Ben and I went to the farmer’s market in Starkville.  It was our first time to visit the market since they moved to their brand new location.  We had a blast and it is very apparent that the market’s organizers have worked very hard to make the new location really nice.  I feel like our little town is improving and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

Everything we bought was so delicious!

We went to the market to purchase bread made by our friends and fellow bloggers, Kristen and Ed.   I tried their wheat bread which was really good but bought their pecan bread which was wonderful.  If you live in our area, you should really purchase some of their bread.  It is called Rustic Bread by Kristen and Ed, I promise you will not be disappointed.

We also purchased fresh eggs from locally raised chickens, Banana Bread and Cherry Pecan Bread, Franola Granola and stuffed grape leaves.  The Banana Bread and the Cherry Pecan Bread were both really tasty.  I would have never thought to combine cherry and pecans but it was delicious.  I had never had stuffed grape leaves before but Ben assured me that I would like them so I tried them.  They are really good and remind me of sushi and pickles.

The Franola Granola Pecan granola  is the best granola I have ever tasted.   It is  made with all natural ingredients which I appreciate.  I really love it! I went home and immediately had myself a bowl.  Go to their website and order some.  You will love it as much as I do.

What is better than a cabin on a lake during the summer?  Nothing I can think of really.

Well,  maybe a tiny cabin on a lake with a tiny dog beside me.  Zoe would love this cabin.

(Ben- My birthday is coming up.  Kind of…)

found via The Tiny Life

I love my current Baggu which I also bought for my Bridesmaids last year.  It is so handy and such a cute green alternative to plastic shopping bags.

Using one BAGGU for one year replaces 300 to 700 disposable bags. -Baggu

My Current Baby Baggu

I can’t wait until this gem comes in the mail and for only $10, I am quite happy.

Just enter luckydaily3 at checkout.

These little guys are getting bigger!

Who knew that squash have such pretty flowers?

Okay and the next update isn’t so much a garden update as it is a front flower bed update.  When we first moved in,  I was thrilled that we had Azaleas or what I thought were azaleas.  After a couple of months,  I decided that they were not “thriving” in their location and pulled them up.  I am what you could call an impatient gardener.  In retrospect I realize that I should have just moved them instead of declaring them unfit and throwing them away.   In their place, we planted gardenias.  I love gardenias.  They smell so wonderful!  I was starting to get sad about my gardenias about a month ago until a couple of people reassured me that it wasn’t time for them to bloom yet.  So I have been watering them every other day, fertilizing them, telling them how much I love them and waiting.

Side note:  My husband and I are new homeowners.  We have never planted our own flowers, bushes, vegetables or anything that didn’t fit into a pot or a container.  Every time something new blooms whether wildflower or not, I feel like it is my birthday.  I have waited my whole life to have my very own yard and I am loving this process.  So if I seem way too excited about my flowers or my garden, it is because I am.

Back to my point, Monday my first gardenia bloomed!

Thanks guys.

The Mississippi Stamp and the Love Stamps were my favorite and the hardest to find.

The envelopes we used for our wedding invitations were 100% recycled paper from Action Envelope.   We used vintage stamps that I purchased on Ebay, for the invitations we sent to the wedding party, close friends and family.

I love the vintage stamps. Ben and I had so much fun picking out which stamps to put on each envelopes.

For all of the other guests, we used the new love stamps which were perfect.

These stamps make me happy.

Since hiring a calligrapher didn’t really fit into our budget and I had no intention of writing addresses on all of our invitations since my husband invited half of  Starkville, we decided on using wrap labels to address the envelopes.  I got the idea from Martha Stewart and she has a free template.   I used a bone folder to fold the address labels.  These were designed by Kirby Doss.

Return Address

A closer look

Sending and receiving pretty mail correspondence is real high on my list of things that make me happy.