Southern Living: OUTSIDE

 We officially became home owners within the last few weeks.  We spent several weekends checking out properties in Mississippi and would you believe that we bought the FIRST property that we saw.  We did tons of looking on-line before visiting and just fell in love with this place.  We made an offer, negotiated some terms, signed a million papers and got the keys so the place is officially ours.  Here's a little BEFORE tour to show you what the place looked like when we first got it and also to document the changes we make in the future.

We live on a darling cul-de-sac.

Big trees and well established homes.

 We have a hot pink crepe myrtle of our very own.

It's also worth noting that the previous home owner built the home.  She has been working on the landscaping for 17 or so years and has quite the green thumb.  She's a darling older lady who just moved a few streets over.  She even offered to come back to the house and give me a little garden tour.  I confessed that I do not have a green thumb and I would happily take any gardening guidance she had to offer.

The set up is a little unique... the garage is open to the backyard.  We were very thankful to have a garage (most properties we looked at only had carports) and the open layout gave us a covered patio as well as an uncovered patio.  We have attic storage above the garage and a closet for storage in the garage.  You can never have enough storage - right?!?!?

 The backyard is a dreamy little secret garden and I just know we are going to love spending time out there.  I'm envisioning patio tables, grilling, lanterns, a swing for Olive in one of the trees, baby pools, water tables and more!!  Oh and some gardening on our part to maintain the place.

 The previous home owner was very generous to us.  She left us hoses, sprinklers, potted plants and more.  She seemed really excited that a young couple was moving into the home she'd loved for so many years.  We have never had a yard before so we were very appreciative.

I don't know what all of the plants are {yet} but it seems like a lot of them bloom.  I have seen the hydrangeas in bloom and I'm anxious for next Spring to see what other surprise blooms are out there.

 The yard seems like the perfect size for us to learn the ins and outs of taking care of a yard.  The only worrisome thing is the container of SNAKE AWAY she left in the garage for us... heaven help me!  I did see a tiny frog, squirrels, birds and hummingbirds hanging out back there so I'll choose to focus on those instead of the slimy creatures.

Whole Foods for Dinner

I don't usually shop at Whole Foods.  We do most of our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart or Kroger.  We have friends that only shop at Whole Foods so they have introduced us to some of their favorite products.  I'm not ready to start exclusively shopping there, but I do pay attention to their sales each week.  Do you shop at Whole Foods?  If so, what are some of your favorite products??   

They also have a fun RECIPE section on their website that I enjoy.  You can pin recipes from their site and I've started a pinterest board with recipes I'd like to try the BLT Pasta Salad and the Black Bean Quesadillas.  My husband came home with a few recipes he thought would be fun to try and we put together our dinner based on them. 

Grilled BBQ Chicken

 The fresh chicken and bbq sauce were on sale the week we made this.

Both were delicious!

Topher was very interested in the cooking process 

so he deemed himself the supervisor.

Greens with Carrots, Feta and Brown Rice

I'm not great at cooking rice (especially brown rice)

so I was thrilled to find an inexpensive frozen rice option that was delish!

The fruit is always SO TASTY!

Cantaloupe and raspberries were on sale this week. 

Kevin also made raspberry lemonade cocktails for everyone!

Summer sure tastes yummy at our house!

One Year Old Portraits

Professional photo sessions are expensive.

It's easy to come up with a google search of local photographers

but

it's hard to find ones that

will come to you,

have experience shooting pics of kids,

are really flexible

will offer you the copyrights and a photo cd of pictures at the end.

Lucky for me, we met our great photographer when we were in line to meet Santa.  Her family was behind us in line and we hit it off right away.  I couldn't wait to book a session with her.

I had professional pictures done when Olive was a

newborn,

at 3 months

 and then one year.

I took a ton of photos in between her 3 month and 12 month shoots so I'm very pleased with the decision to hold off on paying for pictures during those months.  I'm planning to have her pictures taken around her birthday every year.  Some years I may do professional photos and some years I may attempt to do them myself.  I just love the quality of the professional ones and love that I don't have to stress about getting good pictures.  I can just help plan outfits, get Olive's attention and let the professional do the tough stuff.

We scheduled a one hour session for late afternoon.  We live right along the Arkansas River so I wanted to have Olive's pictures taken there.  I had enough outfits and props for 5 outfit changes - I started with my favorite outfits in case we didn't make it through all of the them.  We ended up using 4 during our session.  I brought ice water and a snack for Olive.  The photographer also brought a blanket, chairs and other props so I think we made a great team.

We got our picture cd in the mail and there were SO MANY cute shots.  She became fast friends with Olive and captured her personality perfectly.  I'm going to have a hard time deciding on which ones to print.  My husband was skeptical about paying for portraits until he saw the finished product.  He said, "She was definitely worth whatever you paid her!"  Hooray for the glowing hubby endorsement!!

If you are in Little Rock,

definitely check out Amber Utnage Hall photography.

She's the best!!

She does all kind of photo shoots and takes the best pictures.  She's got multiple packages available and you get your cd of pictures in about 10 days.  Tell her I sent you  :)

Favorite 4th Food

Here are some ideas of things that I've actually made to celebrate the

**** Fourth of July ****

1. Strawberry cupcakes

 2. Pecan Pie bars

 3. White chocolate dipped, flag sprinkled Snap pretzels

 Red, white and blue dipped strawberries

 Chocolate dipped Oreos

 Chocolate dipped graham crackers

 Fancy Fruit Salad

Pound cake

 With strawberries & whipped cream

Yum!!!

Bring on the Weekend!!!

We are super excited for a three day weekend at our house.

We're planning to spend time with friends, relax and eat some yummy food.

The best parts of my week were...

 

1. I tried a new recipe for Black Bean Burgers and they were delish!

Stop by back next week for the recipe.

2. My husband came home from work and decided he'd be on baby duty for a while.  He told me to do whatever I wanted for an hour and a half because he was taking Olive on a long walk.  It was really thoughtful and I appreciated the break.  They had a wonderful time together and I felt refreshed and ready to take on the world :)

3. I had some keys made and didn't even know it would be an option to get a CUTE KEY!  They were just slightly more than the boring old keys so I was excited to spruce up my key ring a bit.

4. I got the photo cd of Olive's one year old photo shoot and I was thrilled!  It's nearly impossible to pick a favorite shot of your child, but this one might be my favorite (at least for today :)

5. My cats have been put on the back burner since Olive was born a year ago.  I wanted to keep with tradition and make sure that I celebrated their birthdays.  We did a little photo shoot, they had their favorite treats and we gave them extra attention all day.  I think they were pleased :)

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

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