greek yogurt parfait

This is not fresh from our garden, but it is a light, fresh snack for the dog days of summer! It is an identical copy of one of my favorite frozen treats from Counter Culture. It's called a Humphrey Yogart and is always considered a treat! It doesn't taste exactly the same, but pretty close and very easy to make!
I use Chobani greek yogurt (I buy the 32 oz at Sam's Club for $4 something), my favorite granola- Whole Foods french vanilla, and local Louisiana honey.

Combine with grapes, banana slices, and strawberries (drizzle with honey last)

(or use whatever fruit is in season)

and you have the perfect snack anytime!

notice my new dessert cup? perfect portion size!

It's Independence Day

 This time last year, we were in Lake Wales, Florida with Elliott's family for a family reunion. Elliott's parents rented a lake house and we packed up 2 cars to spend a week with his mom's mom's side of the family (The Nelson's). It was such a fun trip and since I didn't blog then, I'll recap now!

Below is a picture of everyone who attended the reunion on July 4th after Church in Lake Wales.

And then this handsome bunch

 Evan, Todd, Elliott

Claire, Meredith, Me

Margaret, Phil

The trip mostly consisted of hanging out at the Lake houses of various family members on Lake Wales listening to Ms. Margaret and her cousins recap stories of their childhood spent on the lake with their grandparents. It was neat to get a glimpse into their upbringing and meet so many family members I had only heard of until then.  Ms. Margaret's uncle is a farmer and part of the co-op that produces Florida oranges for Florida's Natural Orange Juice which is located in Lake Wales. Many of the cousins actually work for Florida's Natural in some capacity as well.  One day we visited and toured the orange groves and the plant where the oranges turn into juice! 

Orange trees in the grove

We watched a presentation about the company and got to meet Farmer Dave who is in one of the commercials! In most circumstances (except where required by law) Florida's Natural uses their actual farmers in all their commercials. How neat!

Me and Farmer Dave

Florida's Natural is the only orange juice producer that doesn't import any oranges. They use oranges from the US only while the other brands import from South America. After spending a day at the plant and a week with the family I have a whole new appreciation for orange juice and will only buy Florida's Natural! You should too.

http://www.floridasnatural.com/

Now, a trip to this part of Florida wouldn't be complete without a visit to Disney World! Lake Wales is about 30 minutes from Orlando and what group of 20 somethings wouldn't want to go to Disney World?? Actually Meredith had never been so naturally Todd wanted to go with her which enticed Elliott and Evan.  I think Claire, Margaret, and I were in from the beginning and Phil absolutely refused!

gearing up for the big day!

I think we all had a great time but agreed we could hold off on another trip until we have kids! We got there as soon as they opened the gates and let Meredith navigate since it was her first time. I think we walked about 10 miles around Magic Kingdom and stayed for the fire work show that closes the park down!

family photo (minus Phil)

No trip to Disney is complete without Mickey ears!

Happy 4th of July! Here's to spending the holiday's with those you love.

Happy Birthday Mom

I can hardly believe it is July! Where has the time gone? My mother's birthday marks the 2nd half of the year. It's so true that the older you get, the faster time goes by! 

Since it's my mom's bday today, I tried to find a picture of her and this is the most recent one I have. My mother is a skilled photographer and likes to be behind the lens so it's rare to capture her on film. On this occasion, she became YaYa. Almost 2 years ago, my oldest niece Mary Stewart was born and we were in Atlanta together for the birth! About a month ago, my second niece, Anna Caroline was born and Elliott and I just got back from visiting those two sweet girls and their parents (post on that to come!!) Anyhow I think it's a great picture of my mom and represents her newest phase of life as grandmother (and it's obvious that she's too young to be a grandmother so she's YaYa instead)! Hope your day is special and full of the excitement that comes with being blessed with another year of life! Happiest of Birthdays Mom!

Basil

A few months ago, Elliott brought me a basil plant from his dad's store.  I repotted it and it has really taken off! Like a lot of plants, you have to cut them back so they'll keep producing! We can only eat so much basil and I have yet to make pesto-I have everything except those darn pine nuts, so the only thing left to do to avoid wasting it is to dry it! Mom brought be a drying rack back when she was doing all that "spring cleaning" so we are on our way to stocking the herb rack for the winter!

 One of our favorite summer appetizers is a Caprese Salad made of El's homegrown tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella, and a splash of balsamic

Wednesday Recipe

Since summer has "officially" begun (June 21 I believe), I've decided to do a summer recipe series featuring just that- my favorite summer recipes! Most will be very few ingredients with whatever's fresh in the garden! I'll post them on Wednesday's to help get over the hump in the middle of the week. Enjoy

Springtime

Springtime has come and gone and summer is here! It is hot but we were able to enjoy some cooler weather this spring. I love when the days get long. It makes me so happy to come home from work, put on my gardening gloves, and play in the dirt. My flower beds always need to be weeded and our neighbors won "Yard of the Month" in May so we have a lot of pressure...(I really don't care, I actually meant to nominate them and if you only knew the countless hours she spends in those flower beds. We've seen her in the front yard at 10pm-No lie). Anyway, I haven't updated any of my planters and the pansies and petunia's were starting to fade so my Master Gardner mother came to the rescue! We went to the nursery and picked out some caladiums and impatiens (I have a very shady yard). and this is what we came up with!

Mom also brought me this great crate she found and we bought these old casters at the ReStore.

  Once Elliott puts them on for me it will sit by the backdoor filled with old flip flops, boaters, and gardening clogs. I originally saw this idea in a Serena and Lily catalogue, pinned it to my pinterest account, and then made it a DIY project! This is a picture I had taken awhile back from the catalog!

you get the idea...Thanks Mom!

My mom was also busy going through some old boxes and I was the recipient of some treasures found in the attic. She found these great dessert cups which are perfect for a yummy parfait (post on that to come).

Among the dessert cups were various wine glasses, martini glasses, and a punch bowl- I better get to entertaining! I also got these two little planters which I've always loved,

these two BIG planters,

and my favorite childhood books! I can't wait to have a nursery to put them in.

Elliott has also been hard at work in our vegetable garden. This winter we fenced in our garden area (our dogs love to dig) and brought in some dirt. He worked in the compost and leaves to make some really great soil for our veggies! Tomatoes are his all time favorite thing to grow-he does all sorts of varieties and especially loves his heirlooms.

 keeping Ruger out!

 Liza snuck in

 young cherry tomato plant

first pickin' of green beans

Charleston

So, I finally made it back to Charleston! Since Carolyn's wedding is approaching and she is busy finishing up rotations for school, we decided to bring the bachelorette party to her! (and NONE of us were opposed to having a girls weekend in Charleston!!) Half of us arrived Thursday and the other half arrived on Friday and we had a wonderful weekend of great food, shopping, and celebrating Carolyn tying the knot! Friday night we had dinner at MUSE.  The food was incredible!

After dinner, we bar hopped and ended up at Trio which was a blast...it was like a great college bar downstairs with a fun band and a techno club upstairs. Earlier Katherine had made friends with the bellhop at our hotel and got all sorts of tips so we were able to enjoy the Pedi-Cab ride home with Kat's new friends!

Saturday we headed to the beach at Sullivan's Island and then had a late lunch at Poe's Tavern...another great meal. Afterwards, we headed to the rooftop pool at the hotel to lounge around.

Saturday night we threw a lingerie shower for Carolyn and enjoyed gourmet cupcakes from Cupcake and these adorable cookies that KP made!

After opening all her goodies, we headed to Coast to start our "Mojito Crawl" since that is Carolyn's favorite drink.  We all enjoyed different kinds of mojitos...my favorites were Strawberry Rhubarb and the Mango Mojito. After a few more stops on our Mojito Crawl we ended up at Trio again and danced all night to great live music.

Sunday morning we headed to brunch at High Cotton. KP and I split the crabcakes benedict. I wish I had taken a picture of it because it was incredible! It was served on a slice of fried green tomato and of course, brunch wouldn't be complete without Mimosa's and Bellini's.

After brunch we walked around the market and did some more shopping.  By around 4 it was time to head to the airport so we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and take one last picture.

In front of the fountain at our hotel, Charleston Place Hotel

I had the best time and was so glad to get to be a part of the weekend! One night, we were planning everyone else's bachelorette weekends based on locations we all want to visit and came up with (in no particular order) Austin, Vegas, Napa, NYC, and LA....then we all decided we'll start saving now for whoever's next!!!