the star jasmine on our front porch is blooming and smells amazing! too bad it doesn’t last all year.

– ryan

we have a ton of red mulberries that are ripe and ready to be picked in our backyard! boy are they tasty! we’ve been known to crush up these sweet berries and make delicious vodka drinks, you should totally try it!

on a funny side note, we originally thought our mulberry tree was just a weed. it was growing out of an old pot left by the previous homeowner and didn’t appear to be much. it started sprouting limbs and leaves though, so we ended up planting it in the ground. a couple of years later it started growing these tasty berries, although they create quite the mess on our sidewalk.

– ryan

check out this amazing basketball hoop! it was in an old church gym.

– ryan

we had some fun with kaleidescopes at our baby shower!

– ryan

the flowers in our front yard are loving the spring weather!

– ryan & gub

there was a beautiful sunrise this morning in downtown atlanta! here is a view from piedmont park.

– ryan

our royal empress tree is blooming these days! the purple blooms are way up there though, so it’s hard to get any close photos. the royal empress is often billed as the fastest growing tree in the world and it totally lived up to its name. ours grew like it was in jack and the beanstalk!

– ryan

after talking about it for ages, we finally bought ourselves pairs of TOMS shoes! we were impressed with their ambitious cause and kept hearing how comfortable they were, so we couldn’t resist. abbadaba’s in little 5 points had a huge selection. gub grabbed sweet red ones and i found some blue corduroy ones!

in case you haven’t heard of TOMS before, they started a one for one movement where they donate a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair they sell. so you get a pretty cool pair of shoes and feel good knowing a child in need is also getting a pair of shoes. TOMS also requires that their “factories operate under sound labor conditions, pay fair wages and follow local labor standards.” sweet deal! the shoes also come in recyclable cardboard boxes with a sticker and flag to help promote their cause.

read more about the TOMS movement here.

– ryan & gub

i recently found myself at the home depot in kennesaw, ga and spotted this amazing old rainbow apple sign! i’m not sure if there was once an apple store here or maybe just a computer shop, but the vintage sign is really awesome. i’m impressed and a little surprised the sign is still standing, way to go kennesaw! currently there is a chiropractor and hair salon in the shopping center. i’m sure they could care less about the cool sign towering above.

– ryan

check out this great oversized construction barricade! it’s the entrance sign to the bo phillips co. on lawrenceville highway in tucker, ga. it’s the best of both worlds; a great roadside sign that is also ginormous! don’t you love oversized versions of everyday items?

– ryan

ps…i saw my first firefly tonight, how exciting!