Strawberries

Strawberries
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

Oh man. So many berries. So much jam!

Yesterday, we picked 12 pints of strawberries and 6 pints of raspberries, as well as a pound of basil and bought two pounds of tomatillos.

Yesterday, I made salsa verde. Today, I made eight pints of strawberry jam (some with balsamic vinegar—really good!), one and a half pints of raspberry basil jam, six cups of pesto and a partridge in a pear tree. That left two pints of raspberries and two pints of strawberries to freeze, and two pints each to eat fresh.

Thank you so much to my husband who hulled about a million strawberries while I cooked!

Perfect

DSC04684.JPG
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

Is it weird that I miss his toes?

Pooped

Pooped
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

Sometimes, it's hard work being a puppy (or a Brandon).

Puppy Hugs

Puppy Hugs
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

Sometimes, we like to pretend she's a lap dog.

Graduation Day!

Graduation Day!
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

Bella graduated from beginner puppy training on Sunday, and they had an adorable hat for her to wear! She looks so unhappy, though!

I call this one, "Cone of Shame."

Bella and Brandon Roughhousing

Bella and Brandon Roughhousing
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

This, my friends, is the face of puppy love. Look at that sweetness! I'm going to get a print of this and tape it to the fridge to look at when she's busy destroying something.

More photos on flickr!

Meet Bella

Bella's First Day
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

Allow me to introduce you to Bella, the newest member of our little family.

Bella is six months old and she's a black lab/border collie mix. We found her today at a PetSmart. She'd been with Every Creature Counts, a no-kill shelter here. The woman from the shelter (named Wendy!) told us that animals come to them when they've got no options left; Bella was slated for euthanasia in Mississippi before she was rescued by Every Creature Counts. So, we named her Bella because she's a southern belle.

She was pretty shy and scared when we got her, but she's warming up to us beautifully. She's been in shelters her whole life, so she doesn't really know what to do with a house and a yard. They told us she wasn't potty trained, but we've only had one accident.

Wendy from the shelter was nearly crying when we said we wanted to take her, because she was so scared, she wouldn't even come out of her crate. We spent more than half an hour, sitting outside the crate, tempting her with treats to get her to come close enough to be petted. Wendy said she was afraid Bella wouldn't get adopted, because no one would take the time to get to know her. But we just fell in love and felt like we could give her a forever home and all the attention she needs.

Cleo is taking this a lot better than we had anticipated. She's not hiding or anything; she's mostly interested and a little wary, though not keen on being approached too quickly! We're really pleased that she's handling it as well as she is.

More photos to follow, I'm sure! Or you can click the picture and go to flickr to see more photos from her first day.

A Preview

Emily's Shower
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

This is just a preview of what Baby Richardson will have to look forward to when he meets his Pop.

Home Sweet Home

We've been working on filling up our somewhat empty "formal" living room space so that it echoes a little less, and over Christmas, we added quite a few things!

In the photo, you can see the lovely pillows my mom got me. I love the way the red and taupe colors pick up the colors of the room.

You can also see the bench we bought on a whim while shopping in Dallas! It makes a great coffee table/foot rest/extra seating/extra storage piece! (It opens up so you can store things inside.)

We also got the rice paper lamp in the corner from Ikea. It looks just as good as I hoped it would, and really warms up that corner!

We haven't hung the curtains we bought yet, but I'm excited to see how they look.

And also on the sofa, you'll see my favorite accessory of all: the cuddly miss Cleo in her favorite corner of the sofa.

The Folded Twenties

The Folded Twenties
Originally uploaded by LacyLu42.

The Folded Twenties ROCKED the Fox Theatre Sunday afternoon. ;)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacylu42/sets/72157622861461610/