What's growing on around here

I planted seeds the other day. Specifically, basil, parsley and chives. This is a first! However... I made the mistake of planting the whole basil seed packet in two jars like the one above. So this weekend, I spent some time separating seedlings.

 

 I had a few left over jars – which makes it seem like I do cool things with jars, like storing food or crafts or something. This is not the case. I purchased said jars because they look like baby food jars, and I planned to serve dessert in them at a baby shower, but the person making the dessert had other plans. This, however, is a different story. SO – I had these jars sitting around, asking to be used as seedling planters.

I think my little guys look pretty happy. Of course, this is only the basil, and only half the basil. I gave the other half to some friends (one of them was Mr. NHS 1996). There were so many seedlings that Pres "had" to run to Lowe's for some  little seedling planter thingies. It was a really nice husband thing to do.

 

The parsley and chive seedlings are just now starting to show. Not so sure what I'm going to do about that.

 

In other news, we finally have blooms on our passion vine. We bought this plant at the beginning of summer and it's just now blooming. Hurray! And also, 9 days until Italy!

The Stokley Girls go to Italy

Source

The Italy count down is on for The Stokley Girls. We are only eleven days out from our second annual mother/daughter trip across the pond. Last year, we kicked off our tradition in Paris, a beautiful city for a beautiful start.

This year, we've planned a road trip through Italy, starting in Rome and ending in Florence with a few stops along the Chiani Highway and one sidebar to Cinque Terre.

Itinerary
Day 1, 2 - Rome
Day 3, 4, 5 - Chianti
Day 5, 6, 7 - Florence

Trip Goals
• Lay eyes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome
• Walk around inside the Coliseum in Rome
• Enjoy a picnic in a Roman park
• Eat all the gelato in Italy

• Night time taxi cruises of the sites - a tradition!
• Hot air balloon ride in the Chianti wine region
• Lots of bike riding around the Chianti wine region with stops at castles, vineyards and churches
• Day trips to Sienna and Cinque Terre
• Italian cooking class - also a tradition!
• Walk between villages of Cinque Terre
• Take photos of Cinque Terre from a boat
• Visit museums in Florence
• Drink espresso, the kind with the foam on top
• Take amazing pictures with my new camera, including one of us holing up the leaning tower of Piza
• Blog along the way

Blog Posts
The Stokley Girls go to Italy

Links

Fortyseven Hotel - Hotel in Rome
Castello di Spaltenna - Castle/hotel along Chianti Highway
NH Porta Rossa - Hotel in Florence
Driver in Italy - Recommended driver/tour guide

More on travel

Cooking with Mr. NHS 1996

We have this friend named Derek.

That's Derek.

Derek went to high school with Preston. He moved back to Nacogdoches and we've been hanging out with him and his girlfriend Holli. We invited them over to dinner a few times, went to a few concerts, but it was when Derek invited us over for dinner that we realized that he really, really likes to cook.

That's Derek cooking in my kitchen.

He wowed us with this crazy homemade cheese sauce over chicken breasts and a lemon custard made from scratch that was topped with some kind of fruit infused something, I don't remember, but it blew the socks off the prepackaged burgers and reheated sausage links that we served them at our house. 

That's Holli, Derek's girlfriend.

Oh yea, Derek was also Mr. NHS (Nacogdoches High School) in 1996. We don't let him forget it.

Last weekend, Pres and I had a party on Friday night (woo hoo!) and were left with copious amounts of grilled pork and veggies. We invited Derek and Holli over for leftovers on Saturday night. We thought we would just reheat said leftovers, but Derek had other plans.

He made our leftovers into little fancy dishes. I think Cooper the Dog was the most excited about this. He followed Derek around the kitchen like this.

And made pretty faces like this.

He's workin' it!

And sat pretty like this.

This is my favorite!

So from now on, when Derek cooks, I'm going to take pictures and write about it here in this segment titled "Cooking with Mr. NHS 1996." But don't expect recipes. Derek claims that he doesn't remember recipes (see Holli's photo above) but I think he just doesn't want to share.

Derek's "plated" dish - grilled pork with BBQ sauce,
grilled veggies and cornbread. 

The quilt

Remember that quilt I gave up on about four months ago? Well, I'm almost finished with the quilt top. I just need to add a boarder.

The next steps are backing, binding and batting. I will probably pay someone else to do all of those things... but as I write that, I'm thinking "ehhh, I could do it."

We'll see.

Sidenote: Cooper the Dog loves the quilt top. He walks all over it and lays on it with his nasty chew toys. THis quilt is going to need a bath. Also, I guess my next sewing project is a dog bed.

Lake Austin Spa Photos

For the past four years, Mom and I have spent a long weekend at the Lake Austin Spa in Austin, TX. We love it. It's relaxing, the food is yummy, the yoga and activity classes are enjoyable, the other guests are always interesting and the pool in the pool barn is shady and addicting. 

I've never taken a camera before, but this year I took some practice shots with my new Cannon 5D Mark II. I think they turned out pretty well. All in all, I don't think I really captured what it's like to go to this place or how Mom and I keep going back to the same spa resort but always end up with a different experience.

Enjoy!

Flowers and Gardens

Pomegranate

Persimmons

Eggplant

Animals

These two ducks live near the yoga deck

These two geese live near the activity deck. They were named
Will and Kate and are never more than three feet away from each other

A pretty, lazy cat

This squirrel caught me taking his picture

Will and Kate again

In the Water

Mom getting on the aqua bike 

Mom on the aqua bike

Paddle boards on the activity dock

Paddle boarding lesson

Me being awesome at Paddle boarding

Wine Tasting in the Kitchen

Flowers picked from the grounds

Wine tasting

 Just Around

Walkway in front of the hotel rooms

Shady hammock

Trumpet creeper is everywhere

A sitting room near the lobby

One of the three resort pools

Mile marker on the trail

The water sports dock

The library

Landscaping along the trail

A viewing area along the trail to the spa building

The Yoga Deck

More on travel

While I get to know my camera

I've got some great pictures from the Lake Austin Spa. But I'm having a little trouble getting to know this new camera of mine. Every time I think I've figured it out, I hit another road block. There is so much that goes along with these fancy pants cameras. So here is at least one picture that I like. I think I'll have it all figured out by the weekend. :)