My brother's wedding

Here a some pictures from my brother's wedding. And, yes, I made the topiaries. Which is why there is a ton of pictures of them. Sorry.

Vacation

Vacation:

1: a respite or a time of respite from something : intermission

2: a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation

I recently returned from a trip to my parents' house for a two week
"vacation"
that was, although fun, anything but a respite.

When I first arrived I was immediately put to work making an as-authentic-as-possible Russian feast to celebrate my sister's homecoming.
She just returned from living in Russia for a year and a half.


It turned out deliciously, but the entire time I was cooking I was thinking,
"I've never been to Russia. Why am I making this?"
Oh, wait. For my sister. That's why.

Isn't she cute?

And then we were celebrating my brother's high school graduation.

Isn't he cute?
He was the Valedictorian and gave a speech and everything.

Then there was a family reunion thrown in there


But what really kept me busy was getting ready for my brother's wedding.

And it wasn't all topiaries and tying ribbons either,
although we did that, too

No, we re-landscaped my mother's entire yard.

In two weeks.

We went from this:


To this:


I'll be giving you the details soon.

A Perfect Independence Day

Hello!

Happy 4th of July!

today was a perfect day

it started with a thrilling parade

then involved cooling off with some refreshing water

and ended with my husband cooking dinner on the grill

and very few dishes for me to clean up.

I had wanted to be super fancy and make something like this:

or this:

but, when life gives me lemons I make ...

well, lemon meringue pie

delicious, sweetly tart lemon meringue pie

yep. today was a perfect day.

how was your holiday?