february bloom day 2013

Hello everybody!  Today is the 15th of the month, which means it's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.  Every month, on the 15th, Carol over at May Dreams Gardens hosts this event, and it gives bloggers all over the world a chance to show off what is blooming in their world at that particular moment.  I love reading new blogs, and seeing all the pictures.  I've found other blogs in my region, or with similar growing conditions, and I've gotten some great ideas for plants to put in my yard.  My favorites have been grouped together in the bundle you see on the right had side of this page.

The best part about bloom day for me is being able to catalog my yard.  If you're new to my blog, I moved into my Great Grandmother's cottage house just over a year ago with the plan of watching nature take it's course for a year without planting anything new.  I wanted to learn about my new yard and what my growing conditions were before I went crazy putting plants in the ground.  Bloom day has been great for me, because I can go back and see what things looked like at different times of the year, and plan my gardens accordingly.  I can also look back and see how far I've come, which is not a bad feeling either.  Last February was my first bloom day post at from my new house, and it's nice to see some familiar blooms, and my first additions to the gardens.

It felt like the blooms were coming early this year, but it looks like everything is on par with last year.  My daffodils are coming up, and the bushes near my spare bedroom are blooming.

 

The Vinca Minor is a little early though.  It showed it's first flower yesterday!

One of the best things I did last year was amend the soil in the beds beside my driveway.  I added mushroom compost & mulch, and this year I have mystery tulips coming up by my back door... in an area that was completely bare last year!

November marked 1 year in my house, and the first things that I planted were hostas and hellbores.  Like so many other areas around my house, the rock garden had been neglected for at least 20 years.  The soil was hard and dry, and nothing was growing here.  With my mom's help, we broke up the soil about 8 inches deep, then mixed in mushroom compost, topped it with much, and added additional rock edging to keep everything in place.  It was a lot of work to do it 'right', but the pass along hellebores are happier than I've ever seen them!

Thanks for stopping by today!

my favorite use of twitter - #HOTNOW

So this is a little random, but yesterday was Fat Tuesday, and I didn't eat a single donut or dessert.  I'm not sure I can (or want to) hold out again today.

Since there is a Krispy Kreme donut in my future, I thought I'd share one of my favorite twitter gems,  @KKHotLight. You can tweet #HOTNOW + your zip code, and @KKHotLight will tell you if there is a Hot Now sign lit up near you.

There may not be a donut in my jump-in-the-car-right-now immediate future, but I'm not ashamed to admit that moment is coming.

If you're not on twitter, Krispy Kreme has other ways to keep up with the Hot Now Light in real time in the form of apps, search pages, and a desktop widget.

Click here for the website, not my blurry shrunken screen capture

It's like they know that sign pulls cars into the parking lot.

(Re)Discover Chattanooga - Community Pie

I love new restaurants.  I love the energy and the passion for food that comes with opening a new restaurant.

One of Chattanooga's newest restaurants is Communnity Pie.  It is owned by the same people who have Taco Mamacita and Urban Stack, two of Chattanooga's best casual dining experiences.

Much has been said about how the owners traveled to Italy to learn the traditional way to prepare Neopolaton style pizza.  Many people have been impressed with the beautiful oven the pizza's are cooked in.  The kid in me was excited about the homemade gelato...even in the middle of winter!

Beautiful Oven Picture courtesy of Community Pie

Before I get to the food, I want to take a minute to talk about my first impression of Community Pie as you walk in the door and to your table.

The space is open & classy without being stuffy.  It's decorated in Navy Blue, warm tones, and white trim.  In no way does it look like a little sailor boy's bedroom.  There are big u-shaped leather booths perfect for gathering around a pizza, tufted bar stools, painted advertizement style murals on the brick walls, funky lighting, and beautiful ceilings.

Community Pie has paid attention to the details in the menu too.  Both the food and drink menu are simple, well thought out, and interesting.  I love a good drink menu, and this one is pretty awesome.  They did a great job identifying with a broad range of potential customers. You've got everything from PBR to Italian beers, a hard cider selection (!!!), Chattanooga Whiskey, and wine by the bottle & by the glass.

Beautiful Bar picture courtesy of Community Pie

But what about the food??

It was good!  Our waiter was fantastic, (I could write a whole post about him, and how he came to Chattanooga) and he educated us about the fact that Neopolaton pizza is supposed to have a warm gooey center that is best eaten with a fork.  Who knew? (I'll give you a hint, not me.)

We had caprese toasts as an appetizer, and our table had the Sweet Fig & Pork Confit pizzas.  The caprese toasts were great, plenty of diced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, a great balsamic, and fresh basil. Not surprisingly our conversation quickly turned to summer.

Beautiful Toast Picture courtesy of Community Pie

Our pizzas accidentally paired well together, the Sweet Fig a nice balance to the no joke peppers on the Pork Confit pie.  The pizzas are are good size (12" I think) and can be shared or ordered individually.

Sweet Fig

Pork Confit

After the meal came the gelato....and after seeing this picture on facebook, it was something I was very much looking forward too!

Beautiful menu picture courtesy of Community Pie

We tried the Milk & Honey, and the Salted Caramel.  Both flavors were great, and I've got my eye open for when the Hot Chocolate rotates back onto the menu.

The gelato is made by Milk & Honey, a local sister company to Community Pie.  The owners were trained in Italy on making gelato, just like they were trained on the pizza.  The gelato is not quite perfect yet, but it's really good, and I love that they're experimenting with flavors.  It's one of those things that's good now, and you know that it's only going to get better.

I really enjoyed Community Pie, and I have a feeling it is going to find its way into my regular rotation of dinner spots!

UPDATE:  I went back to Community Pie 2/15/13 and the mint chocolate gelato is fantastic.  They're always changing out the gelato flavors, so keep an eye out on their Facebook page for the next time mint chocolate comes around.  We also had the specialty pizza, the Superhero, and it was great too. 

Community Pie
850 Market Street, Chattanooga TN 37405
423.486.1743

Hours: Sunday-Thursday 11am-10pm
Friday and Saturday 11am-11pm
Website | Facebook | @CommunityPie 


Thanks to Community Pie for letting me use their logo and some of their pictures.  As you know, my iPhone can only do so much.

#travel2013 - denver

This time last week I was in beautiful, and unseasonably warm, Denver, Colorado.  Today I am back at work, cold, and watching it sleet in Chattanooga.  Yuck.

I had never been to Colorado, and I was thrilled to have the chance to go visit friends in Denver.  I stayed in the 'hipster' part of town, so everything..food, laundry mats, shopping, a two story goodwill, more shopping, movie theaters.... was walking distance close.  That's something I'm not used to, but it's really nice.

I'm going to do something different in this post.  It's going to be a lot of pictures with captions.  I think this will be a little more fun, and easier for me to do while I'm at work. (shhhh)  It's also going to make it easier to pin the pictures I took of things I couldn't bring home.  (double shhhh)

Probably the best part of my trip.  I went to visit a musician, but did not expect to hear him play.
The best thing in the world is seeing your friends excel doing what they love.
I'm completely spoiled to have so many friends who fall in this category.

I love meeting new people, especially artists.  Sitting in on this jam session made me happy.

Since I stayed with musicians, we went out to see live music too.  We hit up Cervante's for
their 10 year anniversary show w/Motet. The good thing about having musician friends is
they know how to pick out good music.

One of the guys had two fantastic dogs.  Bentley looks and acts like a cat.
He's shy, but once he gets to know you he's a cuddler.

Weezer (100 lbs of love) was OK having me around, but he never quite gave up his spot
on the couch. He just chilled on top of me instead.

The neighborhood I stayed in was neat. Lots of houses with cool architectural
 details and fun colors. There was a lot of personality, and I liked it.  This is
what I walked past getting to the shops on South Broadway.  The rest of the
pictures are from the shops here.

Yarn Bombed!  The shop beside this tree sold new clothes made from vintage fabrics.

Such a shame I took a picture of the booze and not the food.
The food at The  Hornet was so good I ate there twice, lunch & brunch. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this edition being in a vintage bookstore.

This little guy would have found it's way into my luggage if it we're $95!!

L-O-V-E these clear, stemmed, cordial glasses.

Lots of fun and funky handmade jewlery.

So much of what I saw belongs in my house. This belongs in my living room. 

This belongs over my kitchen sink.

This belongs in my kitchen.

These belong on my porch. For my smoker friends. Because I'm a good hostess.

I'm not sure where, but this just belongs, if it works.

Love these chairs.  I'm looking for something like this for a desk.

This belongs outside, above my future outdoor dining room table.

This belongs at the head of my dining room table.

The end

2013 - my year of travel

2011 was my year to (Re)Discover Chattanooga.  I had just moved back, and the city had changed so much. There was a lot to do, a lot to explore, and most of it is documented on this blog.  It seems like I won't stop finding new things in Chattanooga any time soon, and I love that about this town.

Last year, I told myself that 2012 was going to be the year of my house.  I was going to focus on the house, the yard, and deciding how long I want to be in the house.  2012 was fun, and I learned how I am going to use each space.  I ended up focusing more on the yard than the house, watching and learning what was going to grow, and cleaning up areas that had gotten out of control.  By the end of the year I was able to make some firmer plans for the gardens, and started putting a few things in the ground.  All in all I did pretty good, and never stressed myself out...a definite plus.

Last year, I also told myself that 2013 was going to be my year of travel.  Call it determined, consistent, or stubborn, but this will be my year to travel.  I just got back from a trip to Denver, Colorado, so the ball is definitely rolling.

2013, so far

I love to travel, but when I was living in Clemson I got away from it.  I've traveled a decent amount abroad (Belgium, Germany, The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, & Canada) but not much in the US.  My trip to Colorado was only my second trip west of the Mississippi. (The first trip was to play in the National Pool Tournament in Vegas a few years ago)

travel up to 2013, link

I'd like to see more national parks this year, see more of my friends who are scattered across the country, and just get out more.  So far I've got my eyes on trips to Clemson & Charleston, maybe back to the Denver area to see more of the mountains, but other than that, I don't know.  I am going to renew my passport, just to make sure all my options are open.