Garden Update!

So I just went out to water the garden this evening and got so excited because everything is getting so big! The pictures are bad because I just used my phone camera, but I just wanted to give an update on the squash, zucchini, sunflowers, and strawberries!!!!

Mmmm squash!

They were so yummy!

Mmm can't wait to fry up some of this in a few days!!

Don't laugh, this is right after I got back from the gym. But this is how tall the sunflower is! A month ago it was a tiny little plant.

gardening, sewing, and other things.

After I got off work yesterday, I decided to explore a little town nearby for a bit.  Since Jon wasn't able to visit this weekend, I decided I'd go look for some new tennis shoes (cross trainers) and stop at a nursery I'd seen before. It seems like whenever you're not looking, you find something. Whenever you are looking, it is the hardest time finding whatever you're looking for! My shoe hunt yesterday was exhausting. I went to 4 stores before I finally found my shoes at the 5th store. I tried them on and fell in love instantly. My feet were happy. 

I did stop at the nursery, somewhere in between that shoe search as well, and found my new favorite flower! They are called Portulaca, aka Moss Rose. Apparently they spread quite a bit. I would love to have those in my yard someday. I bought some and think they are just the cutest little things I have ever seen!I also bought some yellow marigolds to put in my flower box that hangs off the side of my deck, and another big succulent to add to my deck collection. 

When I got home, I went out to check the garden and found a jungle instead! The sunflowers are almost as tall as I am (Ok I'm not tall or anything, but come on, it's exciting!), we have 13 squash and 6 zucchini growing and about 5 cucumbers, 4 tomatoes, strawberries (that are super yummy), and herbs that were like trees! My cilantro was like a giant bush, so I chopped quite a bit off, along with some rosemary and chives. I used the rosemary and chives in some delicious chicken I made for lunch today, and have yet to use the cilantro, but I'm thinking about making some salsa tomorrow. The cilantro is SO fragrant, I think it's going to be very tasty. 

After I stopped by the farmers market today to help take down my work's booth, I decided I would go play with some puppies or kittens at the humane society since I am missing my Charlie so much. Not one dog was half as cute as him, but I did find this little gem. If I was allowed to have cats at my apartment, I would have taken this two month old baby home today. She was the sweetest. 

As I'd been sitting at home today thinking about what I should do with myself the rest of the day, I thought it would be fun to sew something, but thought I was all out of material. However, I looked in my sewing box and found a random piece of scrap I'd found at a thrift shop, and started researching easy sewing patterns. I found a pattern for a purse (it's really a satchel) and decided to go for it. I thought it would take up at least a few hours, but nope.. I banged that thing out in less than an hour somehow!I've impressed myself each time I start a project with how quickly I finish it!

Cilantro

Chives

Rosemary

Insert left strap into right strap...

Which closes it up!

Marigolds from my deck

Inside the flower box.

Portulaca

Portulaca

Such a delicate little rose!

Newest succulent addition. The picture doesn't do it justice. Such a pretty light lavender color.

Some succulents from my deck that are going crazy and need to be separated and re-potted.

Adorable little offshoots.

It's Wednesday Again...

I have been such a bad blogger. Between a 40hr a week internship, 2 online classes, a garden to water every evening, and exercise classes at the gym after work every day, I have no time!

A usual day in the life of Marissa goes like this-

6:15  - Wake up, Eat Breakfast, Get ready

7:30  - Leave for work

8:00  - Start work

12:30  - Eat lunch

5:00 - Leave work, Go to the gym

5:30  - Attend one of three workout classes, I usually alternate them

6:30  - Go home

6:45 - Water the garden

7:00 - Do some homework (ugh...homework during the summer is the worst!)

9:00 - Make my lunch for the next day

9:30 - Take a shower

10:00 - Get in bed, call Jon

10:30 - Go to sleep!

Then I do it ALL over again! So, as you can see, I should be doing homework right now..... but I am not. 

People ask me how wedding planning is coming along... but there is not a lot you can do when you are 4.5 hours away from home. However, on Sunday when Jon was here, we stopped by a church garage sale that is held every weekend. They normally have great stuff and awesome prices. It just so happened to be my lucky day, because everything was 1/2 off, so I bought a coffee table for our living room AND  typewriter, all for $10. We needed a new coffee table because apparently ours didn't belong to us and the people who owned it wanted it back...and the typewriter...well, I saw this picture below online and thought that was the cutest idea, to have a typewriter at your wedding, not necessarily to replace a guest book, but as a place where people can write a note, or tips on being married, or love quotes, anything they'd like really. So I'd been on the hunt for a typewriter and finally found one. It's completely manual and your fingers definitely get a workout using it!

We received our engagement pictures yesterday, and I am so happy with how they turned out. I wanted to do an old fashioned theme photo shoot, just because I think you can be so creative with it. So here are a few just so you can get an idea.

Black and White Wednesday

We went on a hike over the weekend, so I thought I would share some photos from that. It was gorgeous. Oregon really has some beautiful waterfalls. 

Yes, I was wearing shorts, but this shirt I wore to keep me warm was my uncles and he is rather tall, and I am not, so it fit me like a dress.

We hiked down behind that waterfall, but my camera died so we didn't get any pictures of that unfortunately.

This was just one of the falls, there were many, of all sizes.

Suzy Homemaker

I have been such a bad blogger these last few days..but I have been so busy! I started my new internship yesterday. Orientation finished today, so tomorrow I'll actually get to start doing some marketing.

I got a new (ok, it's super old, but brand new to me) sewing machine from my fiance (he knew I had been wanting one so bad!!) and I have been busy! Yesterday I made a dress. It was the first thing I have sewn on a sewing machine since I was about 8 with my grandma. I  put together a sewing box over the last year and had some fabric I'd bought at a thrift store hoping to someday get a sewing machine, and finally put that fabric to use! I saw a tank top pattern online and thought I'd try that. Well, when I'd realized I had forgotten to cut more than one arm hole, and I'd already started sewing parts together, it was too late to cut another arm hole, so I decided to turn this thing into a dress! I don't know why, but somehow it turned out great! I turned the neck hole into a neck/arm hole so that it could be a dress with one shoulder strap. I made a longer hem on the bottom, and used the extra fabric to make a belt! I was so proud of myself. When I tried it on, it fit me perfectly too! So strange. Beginners luck I guess.

Tonight, I made a pillow. I didn't have enough filling to fill the whole pillow, so after it was already made and mostly all sewn together, I decided to add a couple inches of hem on the edges, and then all that extra space was taken up, and it looks good! I've made a couple pillows by hand as well that were pretty cute.

The one in the front is the one I made this evening. The one in the back is the one I did by hand, along with the pictures below.

Sunday evening, I went out to water and check on the garden. It is doing so good, and apparently loves the heat here. We have new tomatoes growing, new strawberries, giant sunflower plants (minus the flowers so far) and the corn is loving this terrain as well. Everything else is coming along great too.

This picture of 4 zucchini plants was taken about 3 weeks ago, and they are giant now!

This is a strange bug I found... anybody know what it is??

We have a ton of lady bugs! 

We have two cilantro plants that are doing great.

Mmm garlic chives.. can't wait to use some of these for cooking.

These are my growing sunflowers! Like I said, these photos are about three weeks old, so these guys are huge now!

This sunflower is one we planted as a small plant already, and it's taking off!

A nice little flowering coming up on a squash plant.

I already ate this strawberry a week ago when it turned red, it was so delicious!!

Hope you enjoyed reading my blog this week. There have been so many new changes this week, but I hope to get a routine going again by Friday!

Photography Friday

These are both photos I took on the hike last weekend.

Wedding Wednesday

Because I am already planning on doing a Wednesday post, I feel that Wedding Wednesdays need a new title. Hmm. . . Any ideas?

This picture is what caused me to choose the colors eggplant and chartreuse! The second I saw it, I fell in love. 

I would love to find some super cute eggplant colored heels for my wedding day. Any suggestions?

I love this centerpiece idea. It's so simple, but the flowers are so gorgeous that they really just pop and are eye catching. 

This is sort of what I'm hoping the finished product looks like, based on dress and bouquet colors.

Black and White Wednesday

Wednesdays are no longer simply Wedding Wednesdays, I will be doing two posts now on Wednesdays, and the other will Black and White Wednesday!

I talked about my little buddy Charlie last week, so I figured I should introduce the little man and tell you his story!

We have had Charlie (a.k.a Chuck, Chucky, Chuckster, Chucky Brown, Charlie Brown, Charles, Sir Charles the Great, Sir Charles Poops a Lot, Charlizard, Baby, Stinker, Mutt Dog) for seven months now. We got him a couple weeks before Thanksgiving last year at the local Humane Society. Jon and I had not been looking to buy a dog, but we visited the Humane Society often just because of our love of dogs. However, we both lived in apartments that did not allow us to have a dog, so we had never actually thought of getting one before. We'd take puppies on walks, sit and play with them, and would forget about them after they were gone. Charlie, however, was a different story. One afternoon, Jon had been looking at the Humane Society's website, and said, "You have to see this dog." He brought up the website and showed him to me. I didn't fall in love with his picture (like his mama, he's not very photogenic) but we went that day to take a look at him anyway. Once we got there, we were just speechless. We got him out of the kennel, sat down and played with him outside, and just knew! Jon immediately called his parents and informed them that he was pretty sure we would be getting Charlie. The only problem was, he would have no place to live (and I am sure the little stray would not have liked to go back to the streets)! We made a plan to find Jon a new apartment as fast as we could in hopes that Charlie would not be adopted by the time we found a home for him! It was almost closing time though, so there was nothing we could have done that evening. The next day was a blur, looking online and driving around town in hopes to find Jon a new place to live that would accept dogs. Well guess what. We did! We hardly checked it out inside because we were just too excited and didn't really care at that point! The price was good, so he said yes. We went to the Humane Society and picked up that little dog as fast as we could and hugged him tight! He has been the best bone burying, hole digging, cuddly dog anybody could ever ask for. Before Jon and Charlie moved back to Oregon and when Jon had to work, Charlie and I spent our days going on walks together, studying together, napping together, baking together, and going to the dog park together. I can't wait till Jon and I can get a house with a yard for him!

A day at the park.

My handsome little man.

Charlie's first meal, the day we picked him up.

Charlie's first bath at home.

I learned he was not a fan of baths that day.

Our Happy Little Family.