a simple snow.

Alabama pulled through pretty nicely last minute. and let it snow! all day the flurries fell through the blistering cold. the first full snow of the year so perfectly placed on Christmas day.

full bellies i have from gathered family and friends. full thoughts as well of meaningful gifts. this Christmas has been quite a splendor of surprises and affection. so share with you i will a bit of a poem i received from a very close friend.

these words do mean more than boxes or bows.
tied up in phrases, gifts of the thought.

Not unlike mountains

Not unlike mountains
an unwavering boldness
with a core that penetrates stone

Not unlike the arrow
sifting through unwanted targets
for home

not unlike the moon
with empty newness
and waking fullness
only to rebirth again

not unlike the deserted soldier
whose treacherous young heart
fights brave quick battles, yet
not meant for the vastness of war

not unlike the ocean
with shallow depths
come deep awakenings

not unlike the apple
forbidden sweetness
with a crisp to your liking

not unlike the winds,
she binds,
she floats,
she dances.

She is not unlike mountains,
but more importantly
she is the true girl who will
be to be.

-christian becraft

chest of fairytales- a favorite illustrator

Dil and i catching the tiny bits of snow. when we were younger we gathered bowls and bowls of snow to store for the rest of the winter. why you ask? well, to make snow cream of course. the snow however never quite kept it's consistency. you think we would learn after a year or so, but we still packed the freezer with bags of melting snow.

snow cream:
2 handfuls snow
1 handful sugar
6 drops vanilla.

mix and enjoy. you get the idea.
quite a splendid treat.

i wish everyone a splendid new year.
i hope it is filled with laughter and thrills.

fagan

From Garden to Plate

There is nothing better than eating veggies fresh picked form the garden. This weekend was a feast of fresh tomato sandwiches, cucumber salad, watermelons, and fava beans, all from mom's garden. I finally gave myself a break from the internet, and spent a wonderful weekend with family and friends.

OH and get this. While we were up at the mountain house Gavin and I went exploring down toward the waterfall and we came across a huge patch of Chanterelle mushrooms. We know this because my mom has a friend who is an outdoor expert. We picked an entire bunch, and are waiting to cook them tonight. I had never picked mushrooms from the wild, or ever eaten Chanterelles before. I am so excited.

I am sure everyone has had a very eventful weekend. But its time to get on with the week. This week I'll be staying home to get my house cleaned out and ready to move in. I am having a MASSIVE garage sale and selling everything I possibly can in order to make some space. I will also be posting tons of new dresses this week in the shop so stay tuned.
Also, does anyone have any recipes for Chanterelle mushrooms? I have never even eaten them at a restaurant.
Have a Happy Monday.

Pearl River Blues

I literally have 25lbs. of blueberries now stored in my fridge! Yesterday Gavin, and his little sister, and I went to pick blueberries at Pearl River Blues Farms. We visited Pearl River Blue's Farm last year and we absolutely loved it. The farm has over 3,000 blueberry bushes, chickens, a veggie and flower garden and wonderful friends. If you have never gone to a farm near you and picked either blueberries or strawberries I highly recommend it.

Pearl River is an organic farm so they don't spray the field with any pesticides or herbicides. You can eat as many berries as you want right off the bush. And did we ever. Gavin and I remembered not to eat a lot because we knew we would be filling our bellies with berries.
Right now is perfect blueberry picking season, so research a blueberry farm near you!

Gavin and I will freeze most of the berries and eat them year round. I'll post my favorite blueberry recipe tomorrow. It is so much fun getting to know farmers in your area, we even brought
home one dozen fresh eggs.

Has anyone else gone blueberry picking?

Chickens!

My mom got chickens today!We have been waiting for these guys for months. My mom lives right outside the city limits of Birmingham, so I think its legal? Any who, we have been waiting on these guys for a while. The last batch of chickens (as seen below) we bought at about 9 weeks old. It only took them about two months until they started laying. Unfortunately mom didn't have any chicken wire over their little fenced in area, so either the owls, or foxes would come in a steal one every night. It was really sad, and kind of funny at the same time. Exactly one chicken would go missing every night until they were all gone.

My mom practically treated the chickens like her daughters, waking up at 6 in the morning to check on them, and playing with them during the day. She tried once to even give the excuse that she couldn't visit me at school because she had to watch her chickens. Crazy mom and her chickens.

So this is round two of the chickens. I will head into town next weekend so I can post pics of them. I even get to name 4 of them haha. I think I will just repeat my names from last time.

Catchatori
Houdini
Tandoori
and
Shaniqua
(so bad....hehe)

I am so excited for fresh eggs!!



look how ridiculously happy my mom is with her chickens!

Do you know anyone close to you who owns chickens? There really is nothing better than walking up in the morning, walking outside, and picking two fresh eggs for breakfast. It's like Christmas Eve every night.

Jazz Fest Nola

This past weekend I drove down to New Orleans with Gavin to visit the family. We initially planned to visit Jazz Fest, enjoy some good tunes, food, and art. However, we both quickly realized that since it was the last week of school we had TONS of work and studying to do. We ended up selling the tickets, dropping off Gavin's lil sis at the fest and heading to a small coffee shop to get some studying done. Well long story short we ditched the coffee shop to do a little thrifting! It was even Gavin's idea! I found tons of goodies, and now I am convinced that New Orleans does have a few great thrift stores. Thanks to Goodwill for opening up a HUGE store right down town. I must say though, America's Thrift store is still my favorite.





Here are a few pictures from our dinner. Crayfish and Shrimp of course. We had to indulge before the awful oil spill ruins all of the yummies.


This guy was delicious!

Dandelions and Picnins

I have not been able to post in a while. I have been super busy with art shows. I thought I would put pictures up from a recent picnic Gavin and I took. There was a plant and art sale going on at the arboretum in Tuscaloosa. This was the perfect opportunity to pack up our first picnic of the year. We gathered some delicious munchies, some cheese and crackers, a couple of apples and we were set. My little sister Lily came with us, she took these wonderful photos.



After a couple of photos Lily and Gavin could not help but frolic in the fields. They started throwing daisy's around and blowing out dandelions.








I just could not resist to capture this moment. I probably took five attempts to capture this picture, but it eventually worked. It was totally worth it.



Speaking of dandelions. How do you like my new main border with dandelions? I thought it was perfect for spring and summer. I am sure I will change it soon. I cant seem to design one that fits.

This past week I had the opportunity of testing out my new fondue pots before I sold them. They are the perfect colors bright apple red, and avocado green.
Just to make sure that everything worked. Gavin and I drove all around town to find some Sterno to place under the bottom of the pot to keep it warm. We invited a couple of our friends (Kinsey, Ray, and Johnny) over to enjoy the melted chocolate and cheese treat.

This was by far the best idea ever!Apples, strawberries, raspberries, lettuce wraps, and french bread were all displayed...just waiting to be dipped.



Kinsey and I were a little more fond of the chocolate fondue.

G-Dingle was all about some queso cheese. I think him and Ray pretty much finished off the cheese.

Check out all of these wonderful fondue pots! You can buy most of them HERE.