Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Long weekends are wonderful. They always pass a little too quickly, but they are a great way to get a break from work without using up lots of vacation days. The best long weekends are the ones that also have a federal holiday at the beginning or end. :)

For Memorial Day weekend, Dan and I started off with a date night at the new Alamo Drafthouse theater in One Loudoun. If you’ve never been to an Alamo theater, I highly recommend you check it out. They are a combination of a movie theater and a restaurant. You purchase tickets for specific seats (so you don’t have to show up really early for the good ones), and you can order all your food and drinks (including alcohol) directly from your seats, even during the movie!

Dan and I have been to the theater three times since it opened at the beginning of May. We love the food, the funny previews before the movie, and the friendly staff. This past Friday, we saw the newest Star Trek movie, and we had yet another great visit at the Alamo. Here’s a picture we got at the theater before the show:


On Saturday, we stopped at two different parties. The first was a very yummy crab feast at a friends’ house. The crabs were delicious, and Dan had fun scaring people with the crabs before throwing them into the cooking pot.

After the crab feast, we headed west to have dinner with my family in Martinsburg. It’s always fun getting together with my cousins. Only your cousins truly understand the kind of crazy family that you come from. LOL We seem to be getting crazier as we get older too. Heehee…

Sunday brought a beautiful sunny day, and Dan and I got to clean house and watch some episodes of Castle before heading out to a VA Wine Mafia meet up. The “godfather” of our group, Kurt, had most generously opened up his pantry and basement to share some wines before they got too old to drink. The other mafia members also brought wines and snacks to share with everyone. Dan and I brought a bottle of Fox Meadow Freezeland White to share. Mmm…




There were many favorites being passed around. Some of my favorites were a Breaux rose, Crushed Cellars Merlot and Meritage, and Berry Hill’s 2010 Petit Verdot. Kurt even broke out a few special bottles – Keswick’s 2009 Cab Sav, Clarksburg’s 2010 dessert red (from Cali), and Corcoran’s special white port.



VA Mafia meet ups are always a blast, and we enjoyed every minute spent with this fantastic group!


No weekend would be complete without spending time gardening, so Monday was spent working on our veggie garden at my dad’s house and the potted garden at our house. We started with a trip to Home Depot for mulch, insect repellant, and a couple flowers.

Our veggie garden was growing, but slowly, and the zuccinni, squash, and cucumbers were getting seriously attached by some nasty yellow striped bugs. At Bluemont nursery, a worker said he had seen the same kind of bugs that we had and gave us some repellant called Eight. It is a product that has been used for years, and part of the mix comes from the extract of crushed mums.

After weeding, applying the insect repellant, and putting down some garden mulch, our garden looked much better.



The last hours of sunlight were spent cleaning up our own backyard. We moved my little maple tree into a big half-barrel pot, put down a bunch of mulch, and did a general clean up. We even gave the puppies a bath, much to their disappointment.





Dan and I thoroughly enjoyed our Memorial Day weekend. It was a great mix of relaxing, fun, and outdoor activity. Cheers to wonderful long weekends!

The Garden is in!

With the weather starting to stay on the warmer side, Dan, my dad, and I decided to plant our garden. Taking into consideration how things grew last year, we decided to plant the following veggies:

• Sweet 100s cherry tomatoes
• Beef steak tomatoes
• Bell peppers
• Chili peppers
• Thai Dragon peppers
• Jalapeno peppers
• Sweet Banana peppers
• Summer Squash
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Green beans
• Basil
• Rosemary
• Chives

It’s going to be a BIG garden this year, and we are dying to see how everything grows!



To prevent our squash, zucchini, and cucumber from growing into the other plants, I suggested making some wooden fixtures for them to grow over. After looking around, I found a great idea on Pinterest that made a fixture out of old wood pallets. The pallet fixtures turned out great, and we are looking forward to seeing how the plants take to them.


We did have one last frost scare earlier this week, but we protected our plants by covering them with all our old tupperware and lego containers. :)

Flowers Make Me Happy

Spring brings many wonderful things. Warm weather, birds, and most importantly, flowers!

Despite my past battles with my very small, mostly shaded backyard, I teamed up this year with my fiancé to put a bunch of pots filled with flowers in the one section of our yard that gets a decent amount of sunlight.


The first thing we had to do was put up a fence around the area to keep the dogs (especially Vander) from peeing on them. Anyone with a male dog knows that their favorite thing to do is pee on any object taller than them. LOL


Putting up a simple plastic fence is easy and inexpensive. First, we picked up some metal stakes. I would plan on one stake for each corner of the area being enclosed and a few extra stakes for the longer sides. Ideally, you should put a stake up about four to five feet, to ensure the strength of the fence. Once you have your stakes up, you can start putting the plastic fencing up. We didn’t get anything fancy; we just wanted to make sure it was pliable, which makes it easy to attach to the fence. To hold the fence in place, we cut strips of twine and tied them on at the top and bottom.


After the fence was up, I pulled out all my planting pots and refilled them with soil. Then, I laid out each plant where I wanted it, and started digging holes. :)


I am very happy with my little flower garden and will likely add some herbs once the last of the cool weather is gone. Giving the plants a little water each day is a nice break from the normal schedule. It is also fun to glance out the window at my flowers when I am tired or feeling cooped up.


Here are the types of flowers I picked up from Lowes:

• Three red varieties of Dahlias
• Yellow Asiatic Lilies
• Yellow Snapdragons
• Multi-colored Celosia
• Purple Impatient
• White Dianthus
• Blue Lobelia
• Purple Pentas

Peppers, and Basil, and Tomatoes, Oh My!

This pepper smells amazing.
Dan and I picked a bunch of veggies from the garden yesterday, so I figured I would post an update on how everything is growing.

Our pepper plants are producing by the fistful. Chillies and jalapenos are everywhere, and we also got our first bell pepper!

Chilli Peppers

First Bell Pepper
The basil and rosemary plants smell sooo good! We grabbed some of each to season our dinner tonight.

The four tomato plants have grown into a mini jungle. No joke, they are over SIX feet tall!! The cherry tomatoes are already ripening and being picked, even as the plant puts out more flowers. The beef steak tomatoes are making up for their smaller numbers by producing tomatoes that will weigh at least a pound each!

Look how tall the tomato plants are!

Beef Steak Tomatoes
The rest of the garden is bursting at the seams and starting to bloom. The bean bushes are reaching up toward my knees, and both the cucumber and zucchini plants are blooming. Our chives and garlic are also getting taller by the day.

Hurray for fresh produce!!

First Veggies from the Garden!

Me munching
This past weekend, we harvested the first veggies from our garden! Woot!! I was very excited as I picked the sweet, crisp pea pods from their gnarled vines. I also plucked some fresh basil leaves to put on our steaks. Mmm… There really isn’t anything more exciting than eating food that you have grown yourself. :)

Dan with the first veggies of the year
The rest of the garden is growing nicely. Check out the pictures below:

Our tomato plants are HUGE! One of them is already taller than me! Guess this means that the gardener’s trick I mentioned in my previous post really does work. :)

Here are our baby greenbeans!
The pepper plants are growing like mad. We already have a ton of chili peppers that are starting to ripen, and the jalapenos and bell peppers have lots of little baby peppers growing.

Ripening Chili Peppers
Baby Jalapenos
Baby Bell Pepper
Because of the crazy weather we have been having, we had to replant some seeds, and our cucumber and zucchini seeds would not grow at all. Since the seeds were being stubborn, my dad picked up some cucumbers and zucchini seedlings to give us a jump start.

Hope everyone’s gardens are coming along nicely!

Morven Park

Just outside of Leesburg town limits lies majestic Morven Park, home to Virginia’s 55th governor Westmoreland Davis. I first learned about the park at Leesburg’s monthly First Friday event, where a volunteer handed me a flyer and told me about some of the features the park offered. One important thing that I learned from the volunteer is that leashed dogs are allowed on the grounds – important knowledge for anyone who likes to bring their dogs on day trips.

A gorgeous tree I found in the gardens.
Covering 1000 acres of open and wooded property, Morven Park is a fantastic picnic location. The grounds contain numerous gardens, all of which are well maintained and great for pictures. The grounds of the park are free, and you can tour the governor’s mansion or take a ride in a horse drawn carriage for a small fee at different hours during the week and weekend.

One of the garden paths
I have visited the park on a few occasions and have always found it open and relaxing. Sometimes I see other visitors, but each time I have gone, it is never crowded. On my most recent trip, Dan and I brought the dogs with us. They LOVED running through the fields and playing fetch with fallen branches. :)

Puppies resting in the shade after playing fetch.
Whether you live around Leesburg, or are just passing through, Morven Park is a great location to visit. I would also recommend it to people who are planning an event, such as a wedding or party. The gardens and mansions are excellent settings for any event!

For any additional information, visit the Morven Park website. Enjoy!

A view of the mansion from one of the farther fields

How to Keep Deer out of Your Garden

Ever go out to your garden and see nothing but chewed off stalks? I have! My garden loves to get ransacked by deer.

Two years ago, my dad and I tried to grow a garden in his back yard. The day after we planted the garden, we walked out back to see nothing but the stalks of our plants poking mournfully out of the dirt. It was obvious from the tracks that our nemesis was a herd of deer. We attempted to replant and fight off the deer, but despite all our efforts, nothing we tried seemed to work. The deer enjoyed our “salad bar” that year, and last year, we did not even bother to plant.

This year, however, brought with it a strong desire for me to plant a nice garden. As you read in earlier posts, we tilled up the garden and planted all kinds of good veggies. My dad kept a visual on the garden, and after much thought, he devised a foolproof way to keep out the deer.

Part of this year's garden.
Before I give away the secret to our deer-proofing, we want to help prevent you from suffering through the same mistakes we did. So, here are the ideas that failed:

• Marigolds: No, I know these are supposed to keep rabbits out, not deer. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention. ;)
• Human hair: Have you ever heard of this? We had, and it worked too! At least until we got the first thunderstorm of the summer. After the first rain hit, whatever had not washed away was completely ineffective.
• Irish Spring soap: I forget where we heard about this solution. Basically, we nailed bars of Irish Spring soap around the edges of the garden. It seemed to work for a while, but the rain also ruined its effectiveness, washing the bars away slowly and leaving rusty nails for us to trip on.
• Deer Repellent: We found some different animal repellents at Lows while shopping for planting supplies. While there were a few different kinds, we picked out one by a company called Sweeney’s. The repellent came in little round canisters that you placed into the ground on little posts. They were supposed to be weather and water resistant. While they did seem to hold up in the weather and water, we confirmed that they were not deer repellent when we discovered deer tracks in the garden.




Deer Repellent that does not work.

So, what solution did we finally decide to invest in? A Fence!

Seriously, if you are having trouble with deer, quit trying to find the inexpensive solution and just invest in tall posts and wire fencing. The deer will move on to easier pickings, and you will be able to enjoy a year full of delicious home-grown veggies!

Me putting the last few plants in the garden.