thesewoods

purple martin migration

the purple martins have arrived early this year.  every year they migrate to south america for the summer and they pass through austin on their way.  they come back, year after year to these trees in a wells fargo parking lot next to the run-down highland mall.  just before sunset they start to appear in the sky.  just when you think it's the most beautiful thing you have ever seen, the rest of them show up.  it is breaktaking.  it is something we look forward to each year.  

it's a bird, it's a plane. 

xo, emily

around the neighborhood: smithville, texas

i was awoken at 5am by an evil cricket that decided to sing at the top of it's lungs inside my window-until air conditioner 2 feet away from my head.  i tried tracking it down and attempted sleeping on the couch but the noise was relentless.  so waking up before the sun was not my choice but i'm over it.  around the time the sun was coming up, eleanor and i loaded ourselves into the car and decided to go for a little morning drive.  we ended up out in smithville (about 45 miles away) and spent the morning exploring.  my grandmother lives out in smithville and so did my great grandparents.  it's a very small, but adorable little town.  if you pass a car on the road, be prepared to give the old two-finger-steering-wheel wave.  eleanor was working overtime today but she doesn't seem to mind.  she seems to enjoy anything that means she gets to hang with me and i love how she rests her head on my knee when we go on drives.  she's getting so good at her little tricks.  i am always so impressed with her. 

looking for lumberjacks/great grandparents tracks/downtown smithville/overcast/ford/mobil regular/what's left of my great grandparents house/eleanor on a ford/messy hair-road to nowhere/morning trees/eleanor on a blue trailer/roadside tomatoes/berdoll pecan farm/eleanor on cable spools/eleanor on a giant squirrel 

xo, emily

homemade pickles

i wanted to try my hand at refrigerator-pickling because i love anything pickled but i just don't think i am ready to try pickling the hard way.  i found a couple easy recipes here and here so i thought i would give it a go.  these are not meant to be stored more than a week or so in your refrigerator and the result is a crunchier, fresher vegetable (which i prefer). 

i decided to pickle cucumbers, radishes and carrots.  i added in peppercorn, mustard seed, garlic and dill.

add in:

1 cup of white vinegar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar (you can use less or more, i used less for caloric reasons)

1 tablespoon salt

seal the jars and store 24 hours minimum in your refrigerator.  they should last around a week so make small batches or make enough to share. 

xo, emily

this and that

we went out to dinner at phara's on north loop last night to celebrate my sister sarah's birthday as well as her and john getting engaged.  of course, i had the scare of my life this morning when i woke up at 7am and realized i didn't have my camera.  i tried calling the restaurant but they didn't open until 6pm.  i left a message on the reservation line and i got a call back from phara herself at 2pm, she said no one turned anything in but she would send her husband to go give the place a once-over.  she called back about a half hour later and said they found it under the table!  i was so relieved!  not having my camera feels like an arm is missing.  the bad news is we had a baby shower today for my sister-in-law josey and my brother vaughan and i was not able to take any pictures besides with my iphone.  for me, this is tragic.  but at least the camera is not lost.  i would love to upgrade to something worth several thousand, but unfortunately now is not a great time for that.  

below is a mix of weekday instagrams as well as some pics from my sister's birthday dinner last week, the engagement yesterday and josey and vaughan's baby shower today.  

instagrams: birthday dinner at vivo's/cucumber margarita/night lights/sarah and john/making plans/supermodel cat/hotwheels/california dreamin'/hotwheels/boob naps/mount bonnell/engaged!/cupcake party/baby eli snackin'/balloon boy/josey opening gifts/dirty fingers/eli waving goodbye to a dog poop in the yard (i don't know..)

what a week!

xo, emily