we had a really great time being part of the kirkwood tour of homes! we met a lot of nice neighbors and got to show off our cute little house. it turns out one of our neighbors becky writes for various blogs and wrote about our house here and here!

we’ve spent the last couple of months working on house projects and doing the most thorough spring cleaning we’ve done in ages. our friend and neighbor miguel martinez took photos of our house in all its de-cluttered glory. he is a really amazing photographer who works for the mundo hispánico. he took so many great photos we decided to spread them out over a few posts.

this first post covers our front porch, family room, media room, backyard and garden.

– ryan & gub

the second part of our tour of home series features our office, bedrooms, and bathroom, which includes our vintage snow globe collection.

again, all of the photos were taken by our friend miguel martinez!

– ryan & gub

the third and final part of our tour of homes series covers our kitchen and back deck. we’ve done a lot of work on our kitchen over the last year. we tiled our kitchen floor, added a backsplash, repainted, recovered our kitchen chairs, and added new roman shades to the windows. we plan on doing posts on our renovations, so we won’t get into too many details on the upgrades right now.

again, all of the photos were taken by our friend miguel martinez!

– ryan & gub

we are very excited to be a part of the kirkwood tour of homes! our home is one of only eight houses on the tour, so we feel honored to be asked to participate. the tour is part of the 8th annual kirkwood spring fling, which is going on this weekend in historic kirkwood. the festival also features a 5k race on saturday morning and an open air artist market with a ton of vendors, good eats, and live bands. admission to the festival is free from 10am-7pm on saturday at bessie branham park. tickets for the kirkwood tour of homes can be purchased at the festival or at local kirkwood businesses.

after the festival we hope post regularly again, we’ve spent all of our free time fixing up the house.

– ryan & gub

kirkwood spring fling
2051 delano drive ne
atlanta, georgia 30317

tour of homes
saturday, may 15th, 2010
sunday, may 16th, 2010
from 12pm until 6pm

5k race
saturday, may 15th, 2010
starts at 9am

artist market
saturday, May 15th, 2010
from 10am until 7pm

with the kentucky derby on the television and a mint julep in hand, i found myself wondering what exactly defines a bourbon? in general, american whiskeys are classified by the type of grain being distilled. rye whiskey is distilled from rye grain, while bourbon whiskey is distilled from corn. woodford, wild turkey, maker’s mark, bulleit, and jim beam are some of the more popular bourbons.

a common misnomer is that bourbon has to come from bourbon county, kentucky. although most bourbons do come from kentucky, it is not a requirement for classification. if you feel like going on a bourbon adventure, there is a kentucky bourbon festival held every year in bardstown, ky and the kentucky bourbon trail where you can tour 6 distilleries.

tennessee whiskey, aka jack daniels and george dickel, have the distinction of being filtered through a thick layer of maple charcoal before aging.

canadian whisky, aka crown royal, as well as scotch whisky and irish whiskey are generally blended whiskeys. this means they use multiple grains in distilling, often with a large percentage of rye, resulting in a lighter, smoother flavor.

another interesting fact is that whiskey gets its color and flavor from being aged in charred oak barrels. without this, the liquor is clear and known as moonshine.

– ryan

we have been going to a family friend’s beach cottage at holden beach, nc since 1997. it is definitely one of our favorite places to visit! the cottage has belonged to our friend’s family for several generations. it still has a lot of the rustic antiques from when it was originally furnished. it is such a cozy, quiet little place. we love it; especially in off season.

ry and I were lucky enough to celebrate mom and jim’s 25th wedding anniversary at the cottage the first week of april. we enjoyed an amazing week of lounging, reading, cooking, eating seafood & goofing off at the beach. ryan even got a kite and some new sunglasses. yay!

holden beach is located midway between wilmington, nc and myrtle beach, sc — about 40 minutes from each. the town is situated on an atlantic coastal barrier island, facing south onto the long bay region of brunswick county.

holden beach also has an amazing turtle watch program. the site has a story about conjoined twin loggerheads hatching there in 2009!

check out the holden beach town hall web site!

– ryan & gub

what exactly is sea foam? we all know the shade of green, but what exactly is that stuff sitting on the beach as waves pull back to the sea?

basically, sea foam is impurities in the ocean such as salt, chemicals, dead plants or other material that are churned up by the currents and carried to the shore by waves. the bubbles stick together and create the foam you see on the beach.

– ryan

we set up a youtube page with various video projects. the videos are higher quality and larger than the ones we host on our site, so check it out!

– ryan

we went to a really great fabric store in atlanta yesterday called whipstitch. it just opened on the west side near octane coffee. it’s billed as atlanta’s only in-town sewing lounge and offers amazing fabrics, sewing supplies, books, and all types of classes from beginner to advanced.

we’re very excited about a hip in-town fabric store with a great selection of designs you can check out in person! no more looking at small pictures on reprodepot or etsy to decide if a fabric or its color will work. plus no shipping fees!

we’ve been wanting to recover our kitchen chairs for a while but haven’t found the right fabric. the selection at whipstitch is fabulous though and it didn’t take us long to find what we were looking for.

– ryan & gub

whipstitch

1000 marietta st, suite 102
atlanta, ga 30318
404.897.1114
info@whipstitchfabrics.com

an item on my things i should know list has come up numerous times while we plant our garden; what is the difference between an herb and a spice?

the answer boils down to herbs come from the leaves of plants while spices come from the seeds, roots, bark, flowers or fruits of plants.

examples of herbs are basil, rosemary, mint, chives, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, etc. examples of spices are black pepper (seed), ginger (root), cinnamon (bark), cloves (flowers), mustard (seed), nutmeg (fruit), etc.

on a side note, salt is actually a mineral and not a spice.

– ryan