Portland..Plant Paradise & Adventures of Aaron

Ahh, what an awesome trip! Me and the boys- magnolia mccracken and grandpa john, recently returned from a fast and furious nursery and garden trip to the northwest. Using Portland as our home base we ventured far and wide to collect plants and grafting wood to propagate back in NC.

Mccracken and me taking in the horticultural hotties at the nursery

French Canadian misty mountains, magnolias, and maples

Flowers on fresh snow

Witchazel's frenzied flowers

A gathering of Portland's professional plantsmen after many margaritas

Chinatown and an authentic china garden. Fabulous foo dogs for you know who-a favorite of Stacey's.. I'm always on the lookout for shiny asian ornaments for my darling daisy.

Artistic asian elephants and amazingly detailed designs. We found this amazing full size bronze sculpture of mamma and mini elephant in one of Portland's chinatown parks.

After browsing books in Powell's-largest independent bookstore in the world!! We found ourselves feasting on dim sum for dinner- a revolving asian buffet on wheels.. wantons, dumplings, black pepper calamari and much much more. If ever you get a chance, try a sesame seed ball for dessert. These are like semi sweet filled doughnut holes that have been rolled in sesame seeds.. Yum!!

Mccracken and grandpa john packing our bags..

Oops! Is that one of Stacey's bags bulged out with our northwestern budwood? To my credit, I lined her luggage with plastic and made sure to shake all.. or at least most of the seeds from the front pocket. Better keep those bags handy as mr. magnolia and I are plotting another Portland trip in the fast approaching future. This time to scout out nurseries, accomodations, and gardens for the Magnolia Society meeting in May of 2009. Any takers??

I've Been Tagged!!

My friend, Erin, tagged me. I'll take a moment to explain this some readers (since my mom is still perplexed that she is not getting emailed about the blog posts instead of just checking it when she has time or is interested - or is bored at work like everyone else). Occasionally another blogger can "tag" you and you have to tell everyone five things about yourself that no one knows. It usually doesn't result in anything earth shattering, just funny stuff. So here goes!

1.) I once was a man. Just kidding. Erin, we have this one in common - I HATE to be hot. I'd like to hibernate in the summer. I ALWAYS sleep with a fan no matter what (many of you know this). My boss jokes that he would prefer not working with me June-September because I just gripe about how hot the car gets when we are on a sales call and take time-consuming efforts to keep this from happening like using the folding car shade, unrolling windows just so, etc. Yes, I will be hugely pregnant in July. Stop laughing. I planned it so I can stay inside the rest of July, Aug, September.

2.)I clean the living room every night before going to bed because it is the first room I see when I come downstairs and it ruins my chi to see it look like we've been robbed.

3.) Aside from my husband I think Sam Elliott is the sexiest man alive. I know he's, like, 60 or so but its true. Part of it is his voice: "Beef. Its what's for dinner". Ahhhhh.

4.) My favorite movie since I was old enough to watch them is "Urban Cowboy". This movie certainly won't win any awards for anything but bad, bad costume design but my parents can attest to me doing impersonations of Sissy when I was 5. Mortifying. (Things are starting to come clear between #3 and #4. I have definitely been influenced by my dad's penchant for westerns).

5.) I hate shopping malls and department stores. I actually only shop when I physically can't go another day without that particular article I need. The only time I enjoy it is when I am in a very cool city with things I have never seen before - one of a kind shops, truly unique home decor shops, etc. I also get annoyed when I have to spend money on shoes and jeans. You have to have both and they are expensive to get good ones. Just not rewarding to me. Good thing I don't see the same people at work everyday so I can repeat outfits a lot.

Shiloh the "Barn Cat"

Meet the newest addition to our menagerie. This is Shiloh, Aaron's little barn cat. He brought her home from Shiloh Nursery on a plant excursion and she has been happily residing both at Meredith College and at our house. Aaron takes her to the barn at Meredith to play in his nursery every day and then she usually comes home to hang out with us in the evenings. She is unlike any cat I've met (or I am just used to the decorative pillow that is our Izzy). She comes when called and actually likes riding in the car.



How did the other animals react? This picture sums up Fitzi's relationship with her new sister. She LOVES her! They wrestle constantly and we have to constantly stop Fitzi from dragging Shiloh from room to room by her scruff like a little mother. Shiloh also loves Fitzi and will jump out from behind furniture to bite her back (with affection I think). JoJo and Izzy are fairly indifferent to her.

January Projects

Sigh. January is such a downer month. The holidays are over and it isn't nice enough to have a lot of events going on. Since we can't really do much work on the nursery yet (because we don't know the gender) we are getting organized and doing small projects that need to get done before baby arrives. WARNING: these are very boring pictures but they help me realize we are actually getting things done.



The good thing about January is the sales. Pottery Barn finally put my silk drapes on sale and Aaron was good enough to hang them. Beautiful Oxblood color. The dining room is a hard one to photograph because of size and the colors don't photo well. Notice the lack of crown moulding. Guess what project needs to be next?

Can you believe I am showing the inside of one of our pantries? Had to because we have been meaning to install this extra organizer on back of door JUST FOR AARON'S BEVERAGES!!! What use is having a second pantry if it is filled with drinks? Aside from one can of condensed milk, this is all beers, random nectars and things like coconut water and ginger ale. He has been confined to this one area before buying more.

I'll spare you pictures of my sock drawer and putting our baking ingredients into air proof containers. Oh the excitement!

Baby Sprout

Okay, so all of you at least know the news by now but here is a picture at 9-10 weeks or so (we're 14 weeks now). This ultrasound was the most surreal experience. We were not prepared for what we saw in the least. I just assumed you'd see a gelatinous spot that indicated the baby was there but the baby was totally moving arms and legs and turning over. At 9 weeks! We were both stunned into silence. Needless to say it makes it a bit more real and exciting. I even stopped complaining about feeling bad and gaining weight. For about 2 hours.

Telling everyone has been such fun! Some of your reactions have been just hilarious and wonderful and it feels great knowing people are so excited at this very unique time in our lives. Your check-in calls, cards, etc. have been very sweet. It is finally starting to sink in and we are getting more excited. We will be even more excited February 15 when we find out the gender! Keep you posted!

Happy New Year!!

May all your joys be true joys, and all your pain Champagne - Anonymous

Christmas 2007

We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas! This one was nice and low key for us which is just perfect! We were able to participate in a few Christmas festivities but never felt too stressed and hurried. Ahhhh. I'll have to figure out how we managed that! Here's a look at what made us smile this holiday.

I love having a Christmas project to work on while watching old fashioned Christmas movies. This year Aaron and I made truffles for our friends and wrapped them in leopard print Chinese containers. They were so easy and rich. We rolled some in red sugar crystals, powdered sugar and cocoa. Aaron added chopped candied ginger to some. Yum.

Christmas movies! I watched just about every one of my favorites this year - even the ones that are a little silly now. I still enjoy them all.

Aaron always finds a creative way to give a little something to his boss and fellow managers at Meredith. They all enjoy gummies and sours (is it a guy thing or what?) so this year he layered different candies in rugged masculine travel mug/water bottles. They were a hit.

I also love to gift wrap although this was the year of cellophane. Instead of finding a box to match every item I wrapped things in cellophane with ribbons.

Strange but true. I love this time of year partly because it is Clementine season!!! Yea!!!! I can polish off boxes of these little cuties this time of year.

Getting together with friends. We have an annual Christmas dinner somewhere fun. This year we went to Cafe Luna downtown.

(Below) Of course, getting together with family is always great. This was a great year because for the first time in many years, 2 groups of family members actually live in the same town! My brother, sister in law, and nephew moved to Kentucky in November so it was very easy to see a nice group. We also got to see some of the family's oldest friends Bob and Alice Austin who seem like family. Bob was the first person to hold me when I was born. They joined us Christmas Eve so it was a nice party.

Dad opening his sock/shoes from Aaron and I. I swear he actually requested these. I didn't even know they still made them. Dad is all about comfort.
Look at this face. Jake is so active now. It was so funny to see how he gave each present its own attention. Every little gift was as exciting as the big ones. He's getting so big!

Mom, Sharon and Jake playing with camera. After all of those presents he still prefers expensive adult electronics.

Aaron and I examining a gift.

BJ, Sharon and Jake playing with a plush horse Bob and Alice gave Jake. He loved it. He carried it around to each person and then kissed it on the snout.

A Christmas Greeting

Today I looked up and realized that this is the last work week before Christmas and there is tons to do so in lieu of Christmas cards this year we are sending a different kind of greeting! We got this idea from our friends Jeff and Julie. Click on link below and enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1484352602

A Nice Weekend

I don't normally photograph my food but this breakfast was a thing of beauty. This was at Foster's Market - the restaurant of Sarah Foster, a chef who used to work for Martha Stewart. She's been on her show several times so you might recognize her. The pancakes were topped with berries, pecans and syrup. The egg dish was served over cheddar grits and chorizo with grilled cornbread. Soooo good. If you come visit us we will take you here!!

Next stop was the Raleigh Rose Garden. We visit at least 2 times a year when the roses are in their peak. It was a gorgeous day to view everything. We sniffed a ton of roses and made notes on "keepers" for the college. Takes me back to Wacker Park in Pauls Valley when I would go sniff the roses as a little girl and my mom would have to tell me "no picking". Its still a challenge not to do that.

One of the favorites of the day: Hot Cocoa. Wish the picture did it justice. The foliage is dark green and shiny. The flower is a dusy dark brown-red that has a chocolatey smell. How can you resist?

The evening was topped off with a babysitting adventure with Richard and Dwayne. We watched Harrison while Jeff and Julie celebrated their anniversary. No, it does not require the work of 4 people but we like to make a party of it. I think we have heard him cry twice since he was born. That's why we offer to babysit! We also like to raid Julie's pantry and call boys.

Harrison entertaining himself with a cup. I post this to remind myself when we have kids, that they really don't need a ton of expensive toys.

Decor Update

I never did post the pictures of the bedroom for those who were interested. I was waiting to get our horse prints framed but haven't gotten around to it. I coveted this bed for 3 years before finding an inexpensive way to buy it (thank you Neighbor Carson!). The side table is actually a very rustic writing table from Idaho and was a wedding present from my parents and the clear chair (no, we don't run into it all the time) is a Phillipe Stark Louis "Ghost" chair that Aaron got me for a birthday. I had wanted it for years.

I was trying to capture to coolness of the paint color. Aaron's dad did a great job of getting this on. Its a great gray-beige that I absolutely love. So bright during the day and warm at night. I hope we are posting our much needed bathroom update soon! Have to start it first!

Hallway art display on the cheap - the top picture was a gift to my parents from some acquaintances. It never went in their house so I "rescued" it. The chair print was actually a Christmas card from an artist we bought a print from. I liked her card even better! The two small pics are Greek Intaglios that were on clearance in Savannah. I bought the two twig wall vases there as well.

Hope to have dining room drapes and crown moulding up soon. Keep you posted.

Funny Pictures to Make You Laugh

If I could buy this I would and proudly display it on my coffee table - it was that funny. Aaron and I argue who actually decided to take this picture. I say it was me out of boredom while he tried on carhart jeans and other workwear at an outdoor store. Taxidermy is very creepy to me but the fact that someone decided to capture fighting ferrets makes it just hilarious to me. Do they actually fight ? And on logs?

Speaking of ferrets..... Our shih tzu Fitzi lays like this all the time. She's long enough to have her lower half on the top of the couch and her head and shoulders on the seat.

A stoic looking Jojo. I kept trying to get a head on pic of him but he would only give me his profile. I kept laughing because it was like he insisted on it - maybe its his best side.

Halloween

For the past couple of years we have made a tradition of going to the Farmer's Market with our friends to eat breakfast and then pick out our pumpkins and other seasonal stuff. We are so lucky to have an incredible market. There is always something to buy - local honey, plants, bouquets, produce, and artisanal breads. This time of year it was apples, pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks, haystacks, etc. It really puts you in the mood for the season - no matter what season it is!

Yes, we plan to pick out pumpkins, but who are we kidding? We were really here for the biscuits.

Hilarious pictures of Harrison in his kangaroo outfit. Check out the baby 'roo in his belly. He was just adorable. Jeff, who spent time in Australia in college, dressed as an outback guy to carry him around. So cute.

Better view of Harrison's tummy.

New kayak and fall pics

Not a scary Halloween photo of Aaron in a coffin. I found him this way in the backyard one day. He was actually blowing up the new inflatable kayak I had gotten him for his birthday. Looks like he likes it.

Success! This one is so much more convenient than our hard one. Blows up in a jiffy and I don't have to help Aaron heft it on top of the jeep.

We sure are enjoying this river/lake by the house. We timed it - 3 minutes away! It has added so much quality to our lives. Such a great place for a quick get away or an afternoon or picnic. Can't beat the sunsets.

Here we are in Asheville with my parents. It is so nice to be able to see them so easily now. We can each drive 4 hours and meet in the mountains. It was so gorgeous that weekend - so cool in the mornings and warmer in the afternoon. I wish we had taken more pics, especially since we took them on the river. They did great and had a wonderful time. I just wish you all could see mom in a wetsuit and dad in his "baked potato" windsuit he has taken to wearing. Aside from mom bonking herself in the head the last 20 feet of the river, it was without incident.

A trip to NC Arboretum in Asheville. Gorgeous this time of year. Enjoyed the fall color.

A beautiful native grass of North Carolina that turns a gorgeous, fuzzy pink this time of year.