Thanks to Mother’s Day and the sweet people in my life, my container herb garden has grown again. I am now growing oregano, lavender, thyme, rosemary, spearmint, lemon balm, bee balm, chamomile, echinacea (aka cone flower), orange mint (aka citrus mint) and a few plants of basil. Hopefully I won’t have a problem finding a place in the car to move them to Charleston with us.

Last time I promised to share a culinary recipe with you, but I’m putting another first. I hope you don’t mind. I came up with my first herbal tea blend using clippings from my own plants. This is the first time I’ever ever made a tea using 100% from-my-garden herbs. You have no idea how pleased I am.

Iced Citrus Mint Tea:
spearmint {leaves}
lemon balm {leaves}
orange mint {leaves}
honeysuckle {flowers}

I used even amounts of each, except for the honeysuckle. I just threw about 6-8 small flowers in for taste and appeal (ok, busted, I just thought they were pretty.) I used my porcelain teapot because I read somewhere earlier this week that metal teapots weren’t best because they can taint the flavor of herbal tea. I boiled the water, dropped in my herbs and let steep for about 10-15 minutes before adding some honey.

It was a hot day and I spent most of it packing, so I was in the mood for something cold and refreshing. I chilled my tea and added ice for a very refreshing, light, iced herbal tea blend. It was prefect. After downing my first tall glass, I got myself a refill before heading into work for the night.

What is making you smile, lately?

This past weekend, my parents visited from Omaha.  Every year, my family puts on a golf scramble in the name of my late uncle, Tony Chapman.  A child with a serious medical condition is chosen to receive the proceeds from the tournament each year.

This year, a sweet little girl with a tumor the size of a softball in her brain, was the recipient.  Harlie is a bold, beautiful and bright little girl. She was all over the golf course and full of energy.  And adorable to boot.  I encourage you to learn more about Harlie, her family and her journey at HopeforHarlie.org.  There’s also a place to donate online.

For 14 years, I have helped put on the scramble.  This year, though, I actually played.  It was my first golf tournament, ever, and the last time I had played was last summer {twice maybe}.  Lets be honest, I’m not much of a golfer.  I like it and want to play more, but I just end up having too many excuses or just flat out forget when the time is good.

Needless to say, I was only there for the company and fun.  I was not disappointed.  My team consisted of Billy, Teeyl, a friend of ours and myself.  The exciting part is that they even used a couple of my hits.  Turns out, Teeyl isn’t just good at teaching elementary education. I felt like she helped me a lot, here.

It was an awesome Sunday, though not restful in the slightest.  I felt a twinge of pain in my arms early this week.  What a wimp, right? But check out this beautiful sunset we ended the day with.  Ok, well, right before a delicious dinner, of course.

Hello, there, honey-darlin’.  I’m back from my Nebraskan vacation.  Really, we were just visiting family.  Most times, though, that turns out to be more refreshing and inspiring than visiting some sort of exotic getaway destination.

I left my computer at home to make myself take a much needed break from the constant process of brainstorming and planning which seems to never end inside my head.  And I survived.  *shew*

I came home with more than the longing to be back with that precious bunch.  I brought new drive and vision, along with me.  I find myself, once again, thirsty for new inspiration and adventure.  I’ve been cleaning out my blog and twitter feeds to replace them with fresh perspective and information.  I’m planning and hoping for new projects.

New things are happening, around here.

My sweet little lady is quickly approaching her fifth birthday and the start of kindergarten.  More on that in a later post, I’m sure.

Billy has a wonderful new job, full of promise, and has also accepted the position as our Pastor’s new assistant.  The latter is voluntary only, but will no doubt pay off in other ways.  Real Life Church has been such a blessing for this family. I couldn’t be more proud of him and happy for the opportunities laid before him.  Its almost like I came home to a new man.  Perhaps the time away was beneficial for us both?

Anyway, I’m prouder than ever to be his wife.  I’m also very much enjoying this mindset I’m currently in.  I hope it lingers for a while.  What a wonderful feeling, indeed.

What inspires you, lately??

Curtis was a school-age friend of my little brother that carried over to adulthood.  His parents grew up in the same small country community as ours.  Little did we know, Ariel, my little sister, held a secret crush for the family’s favorite friend.  Ariel and Curtis started dating around the same time as Billy and I {Summer 2009}.  Because of how crazy they were about each other, no one was shocked {or upset} when he proposed.

They both glowed with happiness and excitement on their wedding day.  I’m so incredibly happy for them both.  I pray for happiness, communication, dedication and compromise in their relationship forever.

Welcome to round three of the wedding photos.  Today, I’m sharing photos of the whole wedding party {minus the flower girl}. I’ve just thrown a few of my favorites together, here, for you to look through.

Be sure to keep a close watch on the blog.  I cannot wait to share the photos of the couple together.  There’s so many, I might just have to break it up into two more parts.  You might even want to subscribe by email just to make sure you don’t miss out on these babies.

Happy Monday, darlin’!  Hope you’re week starts wonderfully.

I’m just checking in from our trip to drop off a few more photos from the wedding.  This batch will be of the groom and his party.  Curtis is definitely one of the best guys I have ever met.  I am so incredibly happy for my sister to have such a good man to call her husband.  We are thrilled to have him officially part of the family.

This last one is one of my favorites from the whole set.

See?  These guys were fun and easy to photograph.  They were so full of personality and fun. Check back in a day or two for another round of photos! We still have the wedding party, couple and maybe even some from the reception to look forward to.

In case you’re just joining us, my little sister recently got married.  After being so pleased with her prom photos {done by me}, she gave me the choice of being in the wedding or photographing it.  For the experience and as a gift {that would save her tons} I chose the photography.  The hair and makeup were a given.

For those of you who have been hanging around fo a while, I’m sure you’ve started wondering whether or not I’m going to share these wedding photos at all.  I decided to use them to keep you company while I’m out of town visiting family in Nebraska.  Lilie Jo and I will be gone for a whole week.  I’m sure Billy will be a bit relieved to clear out some of the estrogen in the house.

For today, I’m going to share photos from the bride’s side of the wedding.  Then next week, the fellas, the whole party and the couple.  That’s four days of posting, so I’ll start today, just to keep from making you wait any longer.

What do you think?!  Isn’t she gorgeous?!  Now, keep in mind: this was my first time photographing a wedding.  It was definitely a bigger job than I expected.

To see more of the wedding, check out the Facebook page.

Hey, Darlin! Aren’t these photos fabulous?  I’d like to thank my amazing friend, Laura, for letting me use these.  See more of her/our adventures through her lens on Instagram @parttimegypsie

We started harvesting squash, from our garden, a couple weeks ago and just harvested our first batch of green beans earlier this week.  We have quite a few tomatoes on their way to being ripe, too.

We had some company from our home town and spent some of the day lounging and the rest walking in the woods and eating great food.

One of Billy and I’s favorite things is having friends over for dinner.  Its something we actually do quite often for a few reasons, number one being that its nice to share the cost, every now and then.  But I just feel like if I can serve someone a healthy and delicious meal, then I’ve done something to have a hand in their care.

Does that make sense?  As I get older, I feel an overwhelming need to physically take care of those I care about.

Anyway, we had just picked our first batch of green beans and decided to pair those with some fresh squash and spice them with herbs from the patio garden.  All together, I added two large squash, several green beans, fresh thyme, basil and oregano and then I threw in some celery salt and black pepper.  We paired this dish with a choice of black bean and cumin burgers or garlic and mozzarella burgers.

It was delicious.  I actually had it again just last night, though this time I boiled the veggies {same spices, though}.

Have you prepared any fresh-from-the-garden foods, yet, this summer??  What’s your favorite recipe, so far?

p.s. See all those weeds in that garden? Don’t judge me.  I admitted from the get-go that weeding gardens is, by far, not my favorite thing to do.

My weekend was busy, nonstop and lightening speed.  My baby sister isn’t that annoying little tattle-tale following me and my cousin around, anymore.  She’s a confident, beautiful, happy, young woman.  Her wedding day was perfect and dream-like–everything she dreamed, I hope.  I’m so happy for her and incredibly ecstatic about this brother-in-law that already felt like a brother.

I just have these two photos, from the wedding, to share for now, but I can’t wait to show you more.  I’m still recuperating.  Wedding photography is more physical than I realized.  Don’t judge me for complaining about how sore I am from running, kneeling, standing, climbing and swimming.  It was more than worth it, though.

How was your weekend?

{photo by Billy Jarboe}

Happy Friday, friends!

What. A. Week.  ’TGIF’ has never meant so much.  My baby girl comes back home, today.  I can’t wait to have her perfect little body wrapped around mine.  Oh, I’ve missed her so.

This weekend promises to be nothing less than exciting, too.  My little sister’s wedding has finally come.  I’m responsible for the hair, makeup, the flower girl, a groomsman and photography.  Possibly even a little decor, too? *shew wee* I imagine if there’s an after party, I won’t be at it.  I hope to use the rehearsal, tonight, to do my own little rehearsal shoot.

Hope your weekend is nothing short of amazing! Plans??