Friday, I braved a class at my new gym, which I thought was going to be Body Flow, but turned out to be Body Pump. Very different things. It was tough, but awesome and the instructor was so motivating! I can’t wait to do it again! And it was extra fun taking it with my good friends Andi and Daisy. Those two ladies and my Manfriend Scott are the main reasons I have switched from the YMCA to Gold’s. Those of you who haven’t tried Body Pump, I highly recommend it. You can tailor the class to fit your needs, based on the amount of weight you use on the barbell. Barbell…is that the right term? I’m a weight-lifting-newbie and don’t know if I call anything by the correct word!
After the class, I drove up to visit my mom in Winchester. Those of you Loudouners wondering, yes, the XXX Video place is still alive and kicking. In fact, they have added a much more permanent sign, claiming to be some sort of “grocery.” Yeah…
Saturday, Mom and I had breakfast (the prettiest blood oranges ever from Ellwood Thompson’s.
If you love citrus, I’d recommend grabbing one of these from their cooler case over toward the dry goods. Get the slightly squishier ones, they are the best. After breakfast, I drove over to see this girl…
…who happened to be in town to shoot a wedding! Exciting surprise for sure! You’ll be seeing/reading more of her when I go visit her family in California at the end of the month.
Got back to Mom’s and started preparing tiny egg salad, chicken salad and shrimp/cream cheese/cucumber sandwiches for the tea party we had with my little cousins and my aunt Karin. The girls were in town to see Shenandoah University’s Cinderella on stage. We’ve been to a couple of plays with the little girls and they always do a great job catering to the younger audience.
After the show Saturday afternoon, I headed back to Richmond to meet up with Scott and have some dinner and a glass of wine at Sidewalk Café, an old favorite (2101 W Main St – best nachos EVER). Sunday, we ran to Lowe’s and the Great Big Greenhouse to get a bunch of dirt and hauled it home. The dirt was for my new raised beds! I’ve been dying to populate them ever since we put them together a few weekends ago. My mom gave the parts to me for Christmas this year since my yard has crappy soil for gardening and raised beds are so neat and easy to take care of. For information on raised bed gardening and other types of gardens, go to The Gardner’s Supply. That’s where I got info on how much and what kind of dirt to use for my beds.
So the process was pretty interesting. I started my seeds in an extra room (in other words, cat-proof) in my house in little bio-degradable pots.
They might be a little small to put outside, but I’m taking my chances because the anticipation is killing me! I have more seeds if this doesn’t work, otherwise I can run to a plant store and buy bigger plants. But I’m giving my seedlings a shot.
So each bed (I have two) is 3 feet by 3 feet (9 cubic feet each). I used the following (for each bed):
- 4 bags (1.5 cubic feet) Organic Gardening Mix (Miracle-Gro was the brand Lowe’s had and I had a gift card, so I felt like I should just use that)
- 3 bags of Topsoil
- 1 (3 cubic feet) bag of Peat Moss
- 2 bags of organic, dehydrated cow manure (stinky, but effective)
So here’s the before and after of the beds. It was a tiresome process, but I can’t wait to see what they yield! And I shouldn’t complain – Scott was the one who made the three trips with full carts of heavy dirt from the front yard to the back. I owe him!
Here’s what I planted in the beds:
- Carrots
- Lettuce mix and arugula
- Broccoli
- Bell peppers
- Yellow pear tomato
In the spot where I dumped one of the extra bags of dirt, I planted cucumbers and zucchini. And in some pots on the deck, I planted various herbs.
If you have some garden space and you’re wondering what/how much to plant, you can plan your garden by the square foot at Gardner’s Supply.
And to end an awesome weekend of family and yard time, Scott and I joined our friends Carver and Jay for dinner at Carver’s house and watched The Pacific. Pretty good show, but not exactly bedtime-friendly!
Upon arriving home, I was greeted with police cars and ambulances. Evidently there was a fatal shooting three doors down! And another potentially related shooting about a half mile away. Sometimes I forgot I live on the very edge of downtown Richmond, previously ranked 5th Most Dangerous City in America, but more recently dropping to the high 40’s (according to Wikipedia). Scary!
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