Farmer's Market, Gardening, Food, & Friends.

Yesterday was basically my ideal day.

To start my awesome evening off, I went to the East Nashville Farmer's Market for the first time! I was so overwhelmed and happy by the collection of local famers, bakers, crafters, and shoppers. It was awesome. It's probably now my favorite Farmer's Market in Nashville. I've been disappointed with the downtown Farmer's Market because they sell more imported, non-organic produce than locally-grown produce. I really want to eat in season, and it's hard to do that when I see tomatoes in February and mangos from Mexico. But the East Nashville market features only locally-grown crops in season. It's awesome. So I bought the most beautiful basil & garlic, some amazing Kenny's gruyere cheese (YUM!), and a dozen eggs from grass-fed chickens (about which, I recently read in an article on Mother Nature Network: "According to Penn State University research and other studies, eggs from hens raised on grass pastures contain twice as much vitamin E, two and a half times more omega-3 fatty acids, a third less cholesterol, a fourth less saturated fat, and two-thirds more vitamin A than standard supermarket eggs that come from tightly confined caged hens"... plus they seriously taste better!). YUM YUM YUM. It was really fun. There were cute kids running around, and dogs soaking up the sun. It was perfect.

Then I came home to my awesome husband & we got to work on our garden. We dug up the garden & turned the soil with a broadfork we borrowed from Nathan's workplace, The Nashville Food Project. While Nathan finished turning the soil, I knelt down in the dirt and pulled the weeds & bermuda grass out. I got really dirty... it was awesome. Then, when I went in to start on dinner, Nathan planted an herb bed of mint, basil, and cilantro next to our beautiful rosemary bush; he also planted a bed of tomatoes and bell peppers. We still have watermelon, and beans to plant. Oh, and we got our beautiful yellow rose bush planted in the front yard! Nathan drew out plans for the rest of the garden space, and we made a list of supplies to buy at Lowe's. It is so exciting to be able to look out the window and see a little garden. It's life-giving in so many ways.

After gardening, we ate the most delicious dinner, and with the most wonderful friend! Marie came over to update us on her life and share in a yummy meal of roasted red-pepper risotto topped with fresh tomato slices & fresh pesto, some roasted fresh summer squash, and fresh-baked bread toasted with local gruyere cheese. It was a meal of dreams.

I love days that end the way yesterday ended. I love food (anyone who's seen the size of my tush would know that), and I love enjoying in the process of food, from seedling to finished meal, all in the midst of a community of growers, eaters, & admirers.

I wish I had some pictures to share of the Farmer's Market, our garden, or our yummy meal, but unfortunately I can't find where the heck I packed away my camera battery charger. Ugh.

Oh, and in other news, today is Sarah's birthday!!! Thank goodness for wonderfuly women like Sarah. She's smart, passionate, talented, funny, cute as a button, clever, reliable, and just plain awesome. Thanks for being my friend, Sarah. And tonight we're spending the evening celebrating her birth & life by going to the 90s themed Way Late Play Date at the Adventure Science Center! YES! :-)

Me & Nathan with Sarah & her girlfriend Lauren. Love them.

SO EXCITED.

I cannot WAIT for Baz Luhrmann's version of The Great Gatsby. Leonardo Dicaprio? Carey Mulligan? Yes, please.

Nathan's New Toy

Anyone who knows my Nathan knows how adorable nerdy he is and how much he loves space. I remember him wearing his jean jacket covered in NASA patches the first time we kissed. And I remember thinking how awesome that jacket was (babe, why don't you wear that often anymore?). I remember the giant moon poster hanging next to his bed in his old apartment. And, of course, I remember all of the computer backgrounds of space photos rather than photos of his girlfriend/fiancé/wife. So he must really love space, right?

Well, for his birthday this year, a much-deserving birthday boy got a big ol' telescope through which to look at all sorts of cool stuff out there in space. And tonight he took it out in the lawn to gaze at the sky. He showed me the craters of the moon & the rings of Jupiter. It was really neat. And he looked super legit doing it:

Finally.

After 3 years of an fruitless and somewhat discouraging search for a church, Nathan & I have finally found one that we are eager to make our home. For a while now, we've been trending toward the Episcopal Church; I just knew I couldn't be a part of a demonination or church that excludes people based on gender or sexual orientation. I will never feel a full part of the body if I am in a congregation that doesn't value my sex as leadership material, or that bars my gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered friends from joining in worship. These are priorities for me. And St. Ann's, like many Episcopal congregations, is dedicated to inclusion and social justice.

We visited St. Ann's one time before (where I met Sarah & Lauren, actually!), but we didn't really go back for a while. A couple of Sundays ago, though, we visited again & I had a sense of hope & joy that I haven't felt in church in a really long time. It was exciting. Our friends Allie & Will are actively involved in the church community, and they've been very welcoming. We met the parish Rector & are going to grab coffee with him sometime soon to talk about our interest in the Episcopal Church & confirmation.

I'm really excited to have found a church home; a place where I feel welcome and included; a church I look forward to attending; a church with a diverse congregation where all are welcome. I'm excited to get more involved & learn more about St. Ann's.

Big Love.

I've been a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee for over a month now, and I am loving it so much. My little, J (not going to use her full name) is the most darling little 8-year old, and I feel so lucky to get to play and hang with her every week. She's very friendly & talkative, but she seems to have a bit of a guard up, as if she's afraid of not being liked for who she really is. I'm hoping that with time that guard will fall so that we can become even closer friends.

J and I have already had lots of fun adventures: going for ice cream, outrunning a storm in the park, reading together at the library, coloring pretty pictures, Sonic drive-in snacks. Most recently we went to see the Nashville Children's Theatre's production of "Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type". It was a cute play, and J seemed to enjoy it. Then this weekend we went to the SPROUT garden party for The Nashville Food Project. J seemed very interested in the plants & she loved getting to eat black raspberries right off the bush. She had her face painted like a mermaid, and we decorated bricks together. She chased a big hen around the yard trying to feed it grass, and she marveled at the couple speaking sign language to one another. She isn't afraid to ask questions and learn more, and she has adorable theories: for instance, all farmers have gaps between their teeth (it's a prerequisite, I believe).

I am loving my role as a Big Sister and look forward to becoming even closer and more open with my Little. This week, she's coming over to my house to make dinner... and probably do a little finger-nail painting. :-)

I wish I could post an actual picture of her.

Birthday Boy.

Happy 24th birthday to my wonderful husband, partner, best friend.

I'm amazed & thankful every day that I get to share life with such an incredible person. And he deserves a perfect day in celebration of himself!

Favorite New Toy.

So, remember my last post about how awesome my mom is? Well just one more reason... She got me the PERFECT birthday present. She sent it as a gift thru Amazon, so one would assume that they would put it in a separate box, rather than the box plainly stating what it contains. But, no. I came home to see a big ol' Singer box containing my dream sewing machine. And, given that I already knew what was in it, I figured there wasn't really any reason to wait until my birthday to open it... right?

Well, I did. And I'm in love. First I made a cute little simple curtain for the awkward window in the downstairs bathroom. Then, I got resourceful and grabbed the two pillows & shower curtain out of the giveaway box.... And, now we have two beautifully recovered pillows! And they match our living room decor. :-)

Ugly pillow before:

Shower curtain with nowhere to be used:

A little cutting, a little sewing, and a couple of new-looking pillows!

I used a simple envelope-style enclosure, so we can easily take the covers off & wash them.

I'm so pleased with how they turned out! And they were SO fun to make. :-) I made something else that I'm going to share with you later, when I make a few more.

I'm also back in the swing of knitting again. I'm working on a beautiful bolero lace top, and have another pretty summer sweater next up on my list. And, I'm currently teaching Nathan how to knit, too. He's catching on really quickly!

I'm so happy to be busy with crafting projects. It's always been something I've enjoyed, and I'm so grateful to finally have the time & resources to do more of it! I'll be sure to share upcoming projects with you. And I have some other recent cooking adventures to share, too... Now that we have our kitchen all set up!