Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Farmer Frannie

I have been slowly turning into my father. I don't know how it started, or when but I've been noticing it a lot lately. At first it was just how I wrapped a napkin around my cup, so that the condensation didn't get on me, yuck. Then it was how I neatly arrange my food on my fork before each bite. It's important to chew people! But my latest discovery came the other day when I look up from some internet searching and saw that two hours had gone by while I researched....vegetables. Yes, I'm becoming a "farmer." If you can call 3 long pots gardening. My dad on the other hand, has planted a garden for years. A HUGE garden. I remember as a kid dreading summer when my dad would come up the hill with bags and bags of green beans that needed to be broke. Yeah, I'm from the south. I hated it. Maybe it was because I didn't really like green beans that much. He also had a lot of corn too, that wasn't as bad. But I enjoy a good ear of corn. Anyways, my garden will not be having beans, or corn.

Getting ready
 What it will have, hopefully, are tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and broccoli. Also some herbs: mint, basil, oregano and rosemary. It turned out to be pretty easy to get what I needed to start my garden with. A trip to Home Depot and $80 later I was set.
I felt like I was in 5th grade again as I put my little seeds in the dirt to magically appear in 6-21 days.
Only 3 days later!













 I was elated to see a few sprouts just 3 days after planting! Woo hoo! I hope its a sign of things to come. Brandon laughs at me cause some times I just sit and look at the plants, as if I am going to see them grow.
Grow baby, grow!







 Then I left on a three day trip and came back and found this! I was so excited. Who knew it only takes seeds and dirt? Look at those cucumber plants baby! They are the biggest ones on the left. I'm on another three day trip now and can't wait to get home to see them and see if more have came up. It's shaping up to be a delish summer at our house!

I swear they are there.





 I also got two blueberry bushes as well. I'm not to sure how they will do as one looked dead when I got it, but I crossed my fingers and am hoping.










Sticking with my 1950's house wife style I got a washer. Not just any washer mind you, this one you hand crank. For $30 I can do my wash and get an arm work out. Seriously, it works well, you can wash a small load and it costs you nothing! Now I just need the spin dryer to go along with it. Wringing things out by hand is hard! It looks like Little House on the Prairie here.

The Wonder Wash
I can even dry outside!

And a little taste of NYC spring.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Viva Mexico!

I've been MIA lately thanks to work, family stuff and a fun trip to Mexico! (Fun that is until I brought home an unwanted friend that has made me stay close to the baƱo for a few days. Grrr) Some fun things have happened that I've not done before, like enjoy my first Seder. My boyfriend's family is Jewish, though not devout, but enough that they celebrate the holidays, with food of course, which is lucky for me because his mom makes this big meal complete with Matza, Brisket, (yes, I'm thinking of Howard too) and Gefilte Fish which I kindly passed on. The extended family comes over. There is eating and drinking. You go home full and happy; not unlike my family gathering in Tennessee. No gefilte fish there though, although there is the equaling disgusting innards. Ick. After the lovely passover dinner it was back to work on a really nice four day trip where I did some damage at the Orlando Outlet Malls, it's not just about Mickey down there folks!
Ready for the party!

Then back to the fellas parents for a birthday bash for his dad's 60th birthday! About 50 people packed their house on Long Island for a night of reverier. There was even an impromptu dance party, for one song, in the living room.















The next day we left for a 4 night stay in Playa del Carmen with his immediate family and significant others to continue the birthday celebration.  We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, my first time at one, called The Royal. It was really, really nice. It was adults only so no kids were spotted for 3 full days!
View from our balcony.

Fun towel art!
 What a lovely 3 days of lounging,
sipping tropical cocktails, eating, and playing in the ocean. A few of us brought back an unwanted stomach friend, but other than that the trip was a smashing success!









Now that we are back in NYC spring has finally arrived! Check back soon for my next post on spring time fun here at the house. It's a flash back to the 50's as I try to garden and "hand" wash clothes!
On the way to Cozumel!