southern summers...

today i am grateful for...

my first real vacation in a looooooooong time. we loaded up my brother-in-law's truck and journeyed out to alabama for a memorial weekend at lake martin. while i was there, i crossed off some summer to-dos. here is how i began a good start to a southern summer...

1. made a dent in my summer reading, on a hammock, underneath the poplars, oaks, and hickory trees.

2. witnessed spectacular sunsets(and thunderstorms) from our little cove.

3. fed some breadcrumbs to a family of geese, and collected a few fallen feathers.

4. collected dirt samples from the terracotta red clay back roads leading to our cabin.

5. captured a few lightening bugs in a tiny, hinged mason jar.

6. scoured a little alabama church thrift shop with my mother-in-law.

7. grilled most of our meals outside, next to a sweet-smelling gardenia bush.

i also managed to get tugged behind the boat on a tube. freckled all over. nearly stepped on a baby copperhead snake. weighed down my pockets with lake stones. witnessed the mimosas and crepe myrtles explode all over georgia and alabama. visited chimney rock and goat island, on an evening boat ride, courtesy of my father-in-law. and lounged, loafed, dawdled, and dilly dallyed all weekend long.

it was a perfectly lovely beginning to the summer. what is your recipe for summer?

happy anniversary eddie...

my my my, how quickly time flies. i can't believe it was a year(and a day) ago that we were on a farm saying "i do". and now we just got back from a lake, freckled and a little burnt, and are sharing a bowl of year-old frozen, red velvet ("bleedin' armadillo")wedding cake with icecream. love you darling, i'm so glad i get to keep you.

memorable memorial day weekend...

this sunday marks the one year of the best day of my whole life! can y'all guess what it is???

*all photos taken by josh goleman

pop's printing press...

yesterday my husband's family and i went to visit pop, ed's grandfather. we all love to visit him and listen to his stories, snippets of hobgood and mcniel family history, thoughts on the braves and we'll give him updates of all the newest happenings in our lives. we gather round and exchange our stories over a hearty southern lunch and healthy dose of sweet tea. and after the dessert is all eaten up, he usually lets me go poking around in his basement...

and look what momma stelling found while we were down there! an early, primitive printing type kit! pop believes it belonged to one of his sisters, and was used as an education tool at one of the schools they taught at.

my heart definitely skipped a few beats at the sight of it, which probably sounds ridiculous. but it's so true.

i can think of a million reasons creative folks need a full set of alphabet type laying around! especially ones with a cute little hand "index", and plenty of money symbols. very helpful if one were to open a store with their mother one day...

so thank you pop! you are a magnanimous man and i am so grateful we live in the same state again! we need to now have you come to our apartment for a visit so you can see the new lives i've given to your basement treasures. we love pop.

fried green tomatoes...

this is undeniably, undoubtedly one of my favorite movies in the whole wide world. the costumes(oh the dropwaisted voile dresses, farm boots, hairbows, hats and bonnets, rompers, and patched overalls) and the props( i could live in all the houses and the cafe itself). the cinematography, the characters, the friendship, the storytelling, the music, the whole kit n kaboodle. i laugh and cry at the same spots every time, and i would be friends with just about everyone in the whole dang movie. except for frank bennett. i want to kick him in the shins whenever he appears on the screen. but idgie, ruth, sipsey, smokey, ninny, grady, big george, buddy (big and little), and evelyn all have big ole soft spots in my hearts.

"you're a bee charmer idgie threadgoode, that's what you are: a bee charmer".

"miss ruth was a lady, and a lady always knows when to leave". oh how that line makes me boo hoo.

"tell me a story idgie."

every time i watch this movie my mouth waters. the food looks so good and southern and delicious-except the barbecue. i tend to lose my taste for it ;)

i'm going to have to pay a visit to juliette, GA this summer and visit the real deal whistle stop cafe. i can't believe it has been in georgia this whole time, and here i had been thinking it was in alabama!

i wish atlanta hadn't been burned down back in the day. maybe then we'd have prettier older houses.

i love how ninny freshened up the hospital room with decoupaged rose clippings. i wish all hospitals allowed for d-i-y wallpaper for their patients.

i truly believe this movie helped shape my love for the depression era. this and a river runs through it. is it just me and tess, or did the early 90s seem to produce the best "roaring twenties/ depression era featured in rural towns" period piece films? if that makes sense. the 1920s will always be my favorite reference era. the costumes, the music, the naughtiness...

belated birthday shopping...

today i dragged my husband to chamblee antique row under the guise of "finding stuff for our walls"...which is true...and we did...but there's no harm in picking up a few steals is there? i came home with some practical old scrubbing brushes, stripey paper straws, vintage 5 lb dumbbells, an armful of empty picture frames, and...

little ladylike things, like this darling blouse. sewing construction just ain't what it used to be.

whitework cording embroidery, boning in the collar, bone mother-of-pearl buttons, hand sewn lace collars, and tee-tiny pintucks. it would take me the better part of a whole year to sew a shirt like this! and it was less than $10, so i don't feel badly at all about it.

this pocket knife necklace. the original chain is far more charming than the clunky black strand i added to it. i prefer long, dangly necklaces so i needed to give the necklace a bit more length.

and a boatload of embroidery hoops. i'm a total sucker for metal ones, oddly-shaped hoops, tee-tiny ones, and cloth-bound hoops. i do actually embroidery often and i think some might make nice wall frames, no? i swear these won't go into a pile of unloved props of mine. these will have a purpose!

i didn't really do much for my birthday, on account of moving and whatnot. so i've allowed myself to spend a little belated birthday funny money on myself. okey dokey, enough justifying for one day. my new sewing machine is calling my name and i have a million projects around the house to finish! hope y'all have a lovely and productive weekend!

picture this...

today i am grateful for...

attending my first atlanta estate sale! ooh la la looky at the loot!

i can't resist piles and piles of old photographs. this was the first time that i found atlanta families.

looking at the names of the atlanta photography companies of yore. kuhn and gardner? really?! attention, calling john g. and paige to the aisle of forgotten ancestral pictures!

the pileup of colors are pretty scrumptious too.

these gals knew how to dress back in the day! and their updos rock my socks off. as soon as this mop of mine grows long again-just you wait!

the backs of the photos had the names written down, and some had affectionate little sayings.

and i managed to scrounge up some more decrepit paintings to add to my future gallery wall.

methinks i might have a new addiction.

little by little...

gradually pulling this home together, bit by bit.

i'm terrible though. i haven't even hung anything on the walls, other than my kitchen door. chalkboard paint is quite helpful when you don't own a calendar.

i'm mighty grateful i live so close to hastings garden center. i'm slowly, but surely greening my life. this little table is my flower/plant station.

ikea is great for silly things like wooden hangers, cheap dishtowels, and canning jars.

and my milk glass collection on the windowsill cheers up my kind of drab kitchen.

playing house is pretty fun. having the space to do so is also pretty wild.