Last weekend there was a big celebration. Our great friends Jackie and Dave got married, and it was a beautiful day, ceremony, and party.

Mr. and Mrs. Dave and Jackie Wilson!

Their wedding was at a farm in Snohomish, WA, and was full of wonderful DIY touches. Vintage fabric napkin rings (seen below), recipe cards at the table, and upcycled tree ring cake stands made the day truly picturesque. We hope that even though the wedding is over, our crafting nights can continue!

Isn't the barn pretty??

For the front door of the barn, Jackie asked me to reprise last winter’s felt ruffle wreath in a summer version. We used upcycled fabric (bed sheets) acquired at thrift shops. I left the edges unfinished to give a softer, frayed look. I tried a couple different attachment methods (i previously used straight pins into foam for the felt wreaths), but because of the flimsiness of the fabric, i settled on hand sewing each petal in place.  Long story short, I loved making this wreath but I won’t be selling them on etsy

 It looked terrific on the door next to the other warm tones, and i was so glad to be able to contribute to their special day.

Bonus Pic! The twinsies at the wedding.

Since I bought a sewing machine this year and have taken up some basic sewing projects, its been great for me that Design*Sponge has been featuring some simple sewing tutorials this spring and summer. One of the projects I spotted over there right before Mothers Day was great, because it gave me the opportunity to make some simple little gifts for the wonderful women in my life.

I also made a few wraps for a Bridal Shower I attended in June. It was a holiday themed shower, and I drew New Years Eve, so i made a couple of festive wraps for Champagne bottles that the couple can use on New Years and other holidays special to them. For this one, I attached a strip of velcro (fuzzy) side, and made some fabric numbers that can be interchanged for years or birthdays. I used iron-on velcro to make the little numbers.

If you have time to whip up a few of these to keep in storage, you can spruce up bottles of wine or juice for housewarming parties, showers, picnics, etc. They’re easy, customizable, and stop drips from hitting your table cloth.

Salud!

So, today we will be taking an 8+ hour roadtrip back to Washington from the beautiful state of Montana.

Its August 28th.

This is not the first time D and I have headed off into wild blue yonder for a long road trip on August 28th. 5 years ago today we woke up early, turned on the local news, and decided it was probably about time to get our butts out of dodge. And by dodge, I mean the Crescent City.

5 years ago today, we evacuated from Hurricane Katrina. Most of you know the story already, but for those of you who don’t, just picture this:

3 people (Bri, D, and our great friend Kevin)

1 styrofoam cooler (squeak, squeak)

1 bassoon in its case (being rescued for another friend)

all snugly fit into a blue volkswagon bug.

It was quite a day. It took us 10+ hours to drive 300 miles from New Orleans to Tuscaloosa, Alabama (by the way – our initial destination was Tampa, FL and we made it nowhere NEAR the beach). We passed many gas stations out of fuel, many towns too small to have a name or population, and ran for our lives (literally). Needless to say, there was a bit of stress involved.

So, here’s to roadtrips on the 28th. Replicating today was unintentional, but it does seem awfully fitting as a reminder of how far we and New Orleans have come in the last five years. This trip will no doubt be less soggy, and we are blessed enough to have a home to return to when the day is over, which is more than we can say for last time.

These pictures below are from D’s graduation weekend, almost two years after the storm, taken at several of our favorite places in NOLA, Le Crepe Nanou and St. Joe’s (oh, and thats Kevin!). The city was on its way back then, and its come even further now.

Take a minute out of your day to think about the people of New Orleans, their strength and courage, and how terrific the city has become in the wake of this. One great example can be found over at Le Bateau. People wondered at the time of Katrina what would, and maybe what should become of the Big Easy. I think 5 years later its pretty safe to say that New Orleans is one of the most wondrous places anywhere and that perserverence is the name of the game down that-a-way.

Our backyard garden is doing wonderfully!  It must be all the warm weather and sun we are getting.  YAY!

Here is a look at what the yard looks like today:

Dahlias are in full bloom everywhere.

Tomato plants are huge.  Tons of flowers… still waiting on the actual tomatoes though.

Cukes have lots of flowers and a few small baby ones!

Peas are still doing well… they are nearing the end of production though.

Lettuce is still doing great… and we are eating salads a lot.

We have completely harvested all of our small onions and shallots….

(only like 1/3 of the onions….)

Probably the most exciting thing lately is that we have planted our new fall starts that we bought from Cascade Edible Landscapes…..

When we planted them two weeks ago:

And today:

Pretty cool!

There are ten varieties of plants…including califlower, brussel sprouts, spinach, radicchio, kale, and a few more things….  stay tuned for when we eat them….hopefully!

With the infusion of fresh fruits and vegetables this summer (from our own garden and our CSA box), storage to keep these fresh and delicious was becoming an increasingly tricky task.

I saw over on the Juniper Moon Blog that Susan and crew had researched and found that the recommendation for most veggies is to wash and store lightly in an absorbent towel. Susan, in response, whipped up some quick little baggies out of inexpensive IKEA dish towels so they’re all ready to go in varying sizes.

I loved this idea (they’re both CUTE and functional), so i stopped by IKEA one day, picked up 2 packs of towels, and sewed myself some. So far, they’ve been working terrifically. Our greens are staying crisper, onions and shallots staying good, etc. Thanks for the great idea, Susan!

Total cost: $4.