Someone else likes the garden

I forgot to mention that Joey loves the garden too!  I can't leave him out there by himself for a long period because he will eat my plants.  I've caught him licking the leaves and even just holding the leaves in his mouth.  He's so silly.  Obviously, these pictures were taken before the storms.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I'm so excited for the balcony garden!
We have red tomatoes!  One is about ready to be picked and one that will be picked in just a few more days.  We also have a 3 green tomatoes!  I'm so excited!  I didn't know if  i could grow tomatoes in a pot and I have!  Yay!!

I don't have any peppers just yet but the plant has grown quite a bit.

As far as the gerber daises go...they are no more.  Matthew wanted to zip tie the containers to the balcony to ensure that they don't fall onto the sunbathers down by the pool.  We have had some CRAZY weather lately.  It has been incredibly windy (so windy that I feel like I'm back in Lubbock) and some pretty bad hail storms.  I was able to bring the tomatoes and peppers in but the daises were left out on their own.  They didn't survive.  

I don't know if i want to replace them or not.  I might decide to turn the pots around so they're hanging over our floor instead of the pool.  That way they don't have to be zip tied to the balcony and we can bring them in during the storms.  

I can't wait until I have a house and have my own vegetable garden.  I would love to grow cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, zucchini, potatoes, onions, garlic, basic herbs, and maybe even a lemon tree!

My Little Garden

I think that if I had a house with a yard that gardening could definitely become a hobby.  I don't really know a whole lot about keeping flowers alive or growing my own produce but I would love to learn.  For the first time I have a balcony that actually gets a decent amount of sunlight so I decided I would try to grow some things on our tine balcony.

I love tomatoes and growing up my dad and I grew our own tomatoes.  I don't know if they'll survive in a pot but I'm hoping they will.  I loooooooove tomatoes!  I already have a few green ones  :)

On the other side of the balcony  I have some green bell peppers and some red bell peppers.  I'm really nervous about these guys.  

And I have my favorite flowers growing over the rails.  I love Gerber Daisies!  They look like happy flowers.

The past few days it has been incredibly windy (so windy, that I feel like I've been out in west Texas again!) and I've watched these flowers completely bend over.  They're doing okay with the wind.  The orange ones have taken the hardest beating it looks like.  They are zip-tied to the railing so they won't accidentally fall over to the people in the pool.  I don't know what I'm going to do if there's a heave storm.  They're going to be hard to get off in a hurry!

It was really windy the day I planted the flowers and there were some people laying out by the pool.  I tried my best not to get soil, water, and stuff on them but I couldn't help it.  They were pretty understanding though.  Next time I water the plants or plant new plants, don't sunbathe right here...

Wish my little garden luck!  

When He was on the cross, I was on His mind.

The past few days my quiet times have been about the crucifixion- the reason for it, the illegality of how Jesus was arrested and in trial, and the body's physical response to being crucified on the cross.  All this week I've had this song in my head.  This was one of my granddad's favorite hymns as well as the favorite hymn of one of my sunday school teachers from Waco.  I love old hymns.
Yes the song is slow and long but I still love it.

Here are the words.  Maybe you can put it to a different tune :)

I’m not on an ego trip, I’m nothing on my own

I make mistakes and sometimes slip

Just common flesh and bone

But I’ll prove some day just why I say

I’m of a special kind

For when He was on the cross

I was on His mind

A look of love was on His face

The thorns were in His head

The blood was on that scarlet robe

And stained it crimson red

Though His eyes were on the crowd that day

He looked ahead in time

For when He was on the cross

I was on His mind

He knew me, yet He loved me

He whose glory makes the Heaven’s shine

So unworthy, of such mercy

For when He was on the cross

I was on His mind

For when He was on the cross

I was on His mind

Incredible Faith

My heart is hurting for this family but at the same time rejoices with them and praise God that they have an incredible amount of faith.  I'm embarrassed and saddened to admit that I don't know if I would have they faith that the Hunt's have.  Keep them in your prayers.  Here's their story.

Dash Down Greenville 5K

Today Matthew and I headed towards Greenville and participated in the St. Paddy's Dash Down Greenville 5K.  Matthew came home sick yesterday and had a bit of a coughing fit at 4 in the morning.  He knew that I've been excited about going so he decided to tough it out and we went!  He's much better now, just exhausted and still a little congested.  We knew that parking would be a problem so we tried out the Dallas Rail system.  I'm not a fan.  Germany spoiled me.  In Germany, (from my experience) the trains are rarely no more than a few minutes late, if that.  (Side note: one time in Germany we had to wait a really long time for our train to come because someone had decided to commit suicide by jumping in front of one.  Apparently, that isn't a rare occasion. Sad :(  )  Anyway, we should not have waited more than 15 minutes for our train but we ended up waiting for nearly 40 minutes!  They only had one train and it was PACKED with people ready to party.  Once we got off the train station we had to run to even start the race.
I knew that last year about 5,000 people participated and I was prepared to be around a lot of people.  This year, at least 7,000 people participated in the 5k.  It was ridiculously crowded.  I wanted this to be my first "official" race but we got there kind of late and we weren't able to start at the front.  It was so crowded that we walked for the first couple of minutes.  Once the crowd spread out we were able to run.  We ran the first mile and the Matthew was having coughing/breathing problems again.  I decided to walk with him for a little bit and then I left him in the dust for the last 1.5 miles.  Again, it was really crowded so at times I had to walk just so that I wouldn't run over people.  The race wasn't that organized.  You would think that with that many people running you would close the roads but they didn't close all of them.  It took me about 40 minutes to finish the race which I'm not proud of but I learned several lessons.  One is that if you want to take timing seriously, arrive early with the other serious runners so you aren't stuck behind walkers.  At the finish line the provided free beer.  Gross.  Why would anyone want to drink beer at 9-10 in the morning and right after you run 3 miles.  I was surprised at how many people skipped the water and went straight to the beer.  I don't get it.  It would be a different  story if they if they had margaritas..
I'm thankful that we were able to go.  I didn't think Matthew would feel up to it and I really didn't want to go down there by myself.  This is the first time that I've run more than 10 minutes outside in about a year.  My asthma/allergies held up a lot better than I thought they would!   I've been in fear that I would have an asthma attack if I ran outside by myself.  Running outside is soooo refreshing so I think I'll get into doing that more.
Matthew hates crowds and he isn't a fan of running but toughed it out with me.  I love him.

Here he is in his kilt while waiting for the train.

And here I am after completing the race :)  The weather was PERFECT!!

 

My Lazy Magical Pooper

I have the world's greatest dog.  He also happens to be really spoiled, high maintenance, super lazy, and our sir poops a lot.  On any given day he will usually poop about 4 times even though we only feed him once a day.  This morning, as I was taking him in a walk, he pooped 4 times!  He's magical or something.  I have no idea what to do with this problem and the vet says each dog is different.  Really?  My dog can poop 4 times in 15 minutes.  He is also super duper lazy.  All he does is sleep.  He might play and run around for 20 minutes every other day or so.  All the pictures I have of my dog are pictures of him sleeping because that's all he does :)

Joey's favorite place to nap is on the couch.  It's sooooo comfy :)

His toys are never far away when he naps

He loves snuggling with Matthew for Sunday afternoon naps.

He usually sleeps on top of the couch but sometimes in his sleep he just slides down.  I love this picture.  He didn't bother waking up long enough to go back to a normal sleeping position

When we can't find him we always look under blankets or pillows...

Just like humans, he sometimes wakes up with bed head. 

Matthew and I are dog-sitting 3 other dogs for the week of spring break.  I have a feeling Joey will be exhausted and ready for those crazy dogs to leave.