life around the alberts household

it's nut here, lately! 

joel has track meets at least twice a week, sometimes three times. we're both in the middle of the semester so the ungraded papers smother our office floor most evenings. 

 fortunately, we did get our 2012 garden started. last summer we had major rabbit issues so this year we started the season on the offense:

 below are a few things i hope our garden produces. in the meantime, i'll stock up at trader joe's & admire the colors on my kitchen counter.

 

also this past weekend, joel and i had a date @ home!!!

i used the fancy dishes and set out candles. we talked a lot over a leisurely dinner. we went on a walk and watched 2 episodes of "the good wife" online.

around the internet

i currently have nine tabs open in mozilla firefox. 

there are just so many fun things out there. i don't want to lose any of them!

here are a couple: 

1. instead of shutterfly, i'm making a book from blurb this time around. we'll see how the 2 companies compare.

2. someone blogged about the dirty dozen recently. i was curious & this is what i found.

3. a cup of jo had a post about this natural sunscreen today. it's SO hard for me to come to terms with my feelings about such things: eating organic, natural sunscreen, etc. etc. i struggle to balance it all.

4. look at these online invitations!!!! i'm definitely using one of them for a party this summer. 

5. this blog is just cute. check it out. such good stuff!

on my book wish list

tonight i stumbled upon this list: 40 books you won't be able to put down.

top 3 picks: confessions of a counterfeit farm girl; the man who planted trees; the book thief (actually read this on our honeymoon and it was good!)

the first two i plan to buy for our kindle. when we go to ireland. in just over 2 months. awesome!

caution: bucking the trend ahead!

i come from a long line of chocolate cookie bakers. 

my dad loves loves loves them. so my grammy made them for him & my mom took up the job about 33 years ago & i threw my hat in the ring as soon as i could use an oven safely. i'm pretty sure everyone has used the classic tollhouse cookie recipe and i have, too.

until now.

last week i read kristen's blog and saw this post.

i decided to buck the ol' tollhouse trend and see what the internet had to offer me.

i'm glad i did because my cookies turned out fluffy and smooth. the recipe is here. i used parchment paper on my un-greased cookie sheets as a further experiment.

on my mind

 1. i do not want to read for grad school. it's gorgeous outside and i'm on spring break. ugh. even though the topic is interesting, it's SO hard to keep reading: 

2. instead of scraping the bowl, i should probably just make more black bean hummus (recipe coming soon. or you can email me for it)... considering i bought 2 cans of black beans and a brand new jar of tahini because i planned to do just that...

3. i'm considering buy klorane dry shampoo for our trip to ireland this summer. OH WAIT, i didn't even post about that yet! WE'RE GOING TO IRELAND FOR A WEEK IN JUNE! so far all that's done is purchasing plane tickets and a guide book. we need to book lodging but it feels impossible to choose from all the options! 

4. my BFF melissa is getting married in less than three weeks. to a man named joel. we love that. yesterday we had almost a full day of time together and i love that, too.

a cafe curtain!

i've been HATING our nasty plastic mini blinds in the bathroom for a while now. then recently, another panel broke and i decided it was absolutely time for them to go.

so, i bought brown chevron fabric from this etsy seller (who was awesome... so helpful and flexible!)

i used this tutorial which was straight forward and simple. i made some cuts, ironed, pinned, and sewed. 

this morning after joel was showered & dressed, i washed the window and hung the rod/clips.

and here they are:

this weekend i...

 ... attended the wedding of two friends. (see above.)

 our names were written on windows. awesome.

 while we waited for the wedding party to arrive, there were fun photo booth props.

 plus, i had a handsome date to snuggle/chat with...

 the trees were blooming & looked gorgeous.

 every guest got a mustache on a stick favor.

 the newlyweds left under a rainbow of sparklers. 

it was joel's first time using them! unbelievable!