my own little piece of land

i built a raised bed garden for myself! I ordered the metal corner pieces off-line because the only place it could be was my front yard and I wanted it to be presentable for my neighbors. and lets be honest, there was a 50/50 chance it wasn't going to be presentable, especially if i had to use tools. But I didn't read the product description and i had to use my drill anyway. It was completely successful, mainly because my father gave me a crash course in the drill before he left me to fend for myself in the cold, cold North. So glad my parents made me an independent person.
On to the bed! I got the boards cut to size - untreated wood of course. look how much grass we have now that the dogs can't go in the front yard! The roomie 'mowed' with a weedwacker the day before this. I wish I had been home to see it. I put down newspaper (that my neighbor generously donated) to kill off the grass and filled it with a mixture of horse manure, soil and compost.

Then I planted! tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, herbs, lettuce and sunflowers. I feel like the lettuce won't do well and i think i might have overplanted, but i can always thin it out later.

And I made a discovery! We have wild strawberries growing along the side of the house. not good to eat, but they are pretty and cheerful.

In which we eat a lot of cake, shaped like a cup

I had two wonderful gals pay me a visit for my birthday: the lovely Dawn and Jodi. I have known Jodi for approximately 6 years (we can't ever decide when we became friends!) and Dawn is her twin, who also happens to be the talented photographer for my sis's wedding.

We ate,

we touristed it up,

we went to a musuem,

we walked,

we shopped,

we ate some more,

we danced,

we watched a sheep get sheared,

we went to another musuem,

we walked some more,

we shopped some more,

we laughed,

we ate a lot more,

we watched some movies, and the rain,

we got some random comments,

we watched a family fall down on the metro-with bikes,

and finally, ate even more.

I took all of 3 photos during the weekend-blame it on me trying to be a good host. But Jodi did an excellent job of blogging her trip.
We also conducted a terribly unofficial survey of cupcakeries in DC. We visited 2 of the 4 I know of: Red Velvet in Pen Quarter and Georgetown Cupcake in Georgetown. Georgetown was the ultimate winner. It's a good thing that that store is difficult for me to get to... otherwise I would be an expert.

I'm sorry I've neglected you, my blog. It's not because I don't have anything to share - I just haven't felt the draw. Brief recap:
I went to work.
explored some woods/beach like area
had a birthday
had some visitors
planted a garden
That seems to sum up the last couple of weeks of my life. I also got my VA drivers license and my new VA GATOR tags! They have the old UF logo on them. I love them.

National Cathedral

Last Saturday Alex invited me to go to the National Cathedral to see the blessing of the tartans. When England was occupying Scotland, tartans were banned to try to discourage the clan mentality. So Scotsmen hid scraps of their tartans and had them blessed by the priests. So this ceremony was a recognition of that. We didn't know at the time that it included a full-fledged sermon. We got to see the bagpipers come in, but decided to duck out before the long lesson began and wander the gardens. It is an absolutely beautiful building, and belongs in France instead of DC. 

Like comparing apples to... apples?

I am very picky about the variety of apples I eat. I can't help it. I'm spoiled. I like Galas. They are very tangy and don't seem to be as dry or mealy as the Delicious varieties. But, of course they are more expensive. I shop consistently at two grocery stores: Giant and Harris Teeter. Giant is a normal mid-to-low end grocer. Harris Teeter is much more high end. I got apples at both stores and happened to end up with one from each store at work. I couldn't help but compare them:

Wowza! The Harris Teeter apple is huge compared to the Giant. This is why I spend more at Harris Teeter! I buy 5 apples a week... the HT apples probably weigh twice as much. I ate the HT apple today. I've decided it's too much for me...I want my small produce, please! 

And yes, I've been reduced to blogging about the size of my produce. 

Cherry {Bloom} Bomb

It's Cherry Blossom season in DC... meaning hordes of tourists. Also, April showers. Last week right at the peak of the blooms my office building took a walk down to the Tidal Basin. It's about a 10 min. walk, and there was about 50 of us. The weather was overcast and dreary, but luckily it didn't rain that day, just the day before and the day after. So the lighting wasn't the greatest, but I would trade that for the massive amount of people who went on Saturday when the weather was gorgeous. I went to the Mall and that was close enough for me.

Did I mention I took these pictures while trying not to lose the group? Meaning I didn't have much time to compose shots or consider light. I think they turned out pretty well considering I was sprinting.


The title of the post comes from the Spoon song You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb, which was playing when I started this post. Also, it's strange that I now have multiple posts with the word 'bomb' in the title, and I'm not even referencing '90's slang.

Pig Bomb!

Friday night I was watching the Discovery Channel [I love the trivia on Cash Cab. People know more than you might think!] and a documentary came on entitled "Pig Bomb." It was about the massive population explosion of feral hogs in the U.S. and how some areas have populations that are getting bigger and meaner. While this is a serious problem that any landowner or farmer in the South can tell you about, I thought the title of the documentary was just hilarious. Honestly, who thought "pig bomb" was a good idea? It sounds like something you would do to a younger sibling, like hog tying (PS Emily I still remember that...). Also, they interviewed people for the show. You know, hunters, farmers, landowners. And then SUBTITLED them. They were indeed speaking English, just with a slight draw, if you will. And in the subtitles, they fixed their cultural slang so it was proper grammar. What's the etiquette on that?

It reminds me of the time i went hog huntin in Okeechobee with a friend's family. They went all out with their swamp buggies -

I rode on a buggy with a guy named Buck. His dog was also named Buck. He acknowledged that it was strange, but the dog came with the name and wouldn't answer to anything else. We didn't have great luck that night - we probably only caught 6 hogs. It was fun though!