Author: Allie Zottola

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

The big day is almost here. My little sister is getting married! This time last year, I was super proud of her for graduating high school, and now I’m super excited for her because she’s tying the knot.

photo booth for wedding and bridal shower with frame

I am so incredibly happy for Hannah and her fiancé, Josh. They’re both so wonderful and each serve God will all their heart. Now they get to do that together.

My brother, sister, and I all met our spouses at our church, and to say that’s a huge blessing would be an understatement. There’s just something special about spending your life with someone who is on the exact same page as you are in terms of faith. Because really, what matters more? Nothing.

I’m thankful to my parents for raising us in the Christian faith, and proud of them for going through three weddings in four years! Go Bill and Lisa!

So, what else is going on?

Well, I’m bushing up on my Russian again. Ever since I found one of my old journals, I got inspired to dive back in. Jimmy and I both want to visit Moscow one day.

Learning Russian with Duolingo

I use the Duolingo app and really love it!

I finished baking for the wedding. I made four dozen almond butter cookies and four dozen decorated sugar cookies. Jimmy helped me put the royal icing on the sugar cookies, which was a huge help! I would have been up so late the other night if he hadn’t joined me in decorating. Thank you, Jimmy 🙂

Heart sugar cookies

I filmed another vlog yesterday about a day in my life. It includes Malcolm’s naughty antics, mowing, pet sitting, and a lot more randomness. If anyone is interested in what it’s like to work from home (aka how easy it is to get distracted) this is the vlog to watch 😉

Well, I better start working! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Our 2017 Garden So Far

Finally, our garden has been planted! I was looking forward to it since we wrapped up last summer’s garden, and now it’s here 🙂

We weeded the plot, tilled it, applied weed block, and started a fence.

Garden with fence

Then it was time to plant! We did our planting on Memorial Day. We used seedlings from Bedner’s Greenhouse again, since we’ve had great harvests from their plants.

Here’s what we planted:

  • Cherry tomatoes
  • San Marzano tomatoes
  • Purple tomatoes
  • Green beans
  • Japanese eggplant
  • Swiss chard
  • Green peppers
  • Cucumber
  • Zucchini

Vegetable garden with fence

As you can see, the weed block (black tarp-looking material) is a new addition from last year’s garden. We did a lot of weeding last year, so we’re hoping the weed block will cut back on that task. That would be a game changer! I will keep you posted on how it works for us.

Here’s a look at how our garden has developed since we moved in.

Vegetable Garden Progression

So, that’s our garden so far for 2017! We need to finish up the fence, and then tend to the plants as they grow!