Vegetable Garden

Brett & I woke up early this morning to get outside and start working on our vegetable garden. While Brett readied our planter beds I planted some cilantro (shockingly difficult to find)...

...and basil seeds in pots to grow in our sunroom.

Wow. Look at those hands...looks like I'm bringing filthy back...only I don't think Justin Timberlake ever sang a song about that.

I also potted some strawberries and started seeds for watermelon and zucchini.


After that the tomato plants went in. This year we planted 1 roma and 1 cherry tomato plant.


Next, I planted a few rows of broccoli, followed by jalapeno and red bell peppers, and some onions.


Then this cute little bunny helped me plant some impatiens in my window boxes out front.


No, not really. But there was a cute little bunny, and I did plant some pretty impatiens. See?:


We also cleared a patch in our yard where we will be growing sweet corn. We are expecting a ton of rain this weekend (possibly 4+ inches) and we were worried that heavy rain would wash away our newly planted seeds, so that will have to wait.

More garden updates to come. :)

New Blog Header

Look! ^^^^^ A new blog header!

It's cute. It's springy. It's everything I hope the outside world to be. :)

So long, snowflakes!

Spring Still Isn't Here Yet

There is a strange sleet/flurry/rain combination falling outside right now. Yesterday it was sunny, and a couple of days ago it was pushing 70 degrees. Now they are calling for 4-8” of snow. Bleh. I was naïve enough to think that we were in the clear. I haven’t decided if we are going anywhere today. Groceries need to be gotten so now the debate is whether to go now in the rain, or tomorrow when there’s snow. It’s kind of a lose-lose. Plus, I was struck with some variety of food poisoning/flu/mysterious bug last Sunday, and I have been pretty under the weather ever since, so naturally, motivation is dwindling. Not to mention the fact that Brett & I just got completely addicted to 24. We have made it through the first 12 hours/episodes, which means there are 12 more to go. The more I write this, the more I think we aren’t going anywhere today.

In other news, I have fallen completely in love with these:

They are measuring cups from Antrhopologie that come in the shape of adorable little flower bowls. Tempting. Very tempting. Then I remind myself that they cost $36, and it is NOT OK to spend $36 on measuring bowls. Spring needs to get here, because dangerous things begin to happen when I am cooped up inside spending too much time on my computer. Moving on…

Brett and I went to hear this speaker last night at Front Street Brewery in Davenport. He is a chiropractor/consultant/guy who builds practices for the purpose of selling them. He was interesting. And scary. He talked a lot about all of the things we pretty much already knew but didn’t particularly want to be reminded of about owning a business, growing a practice, financial stuff, etc. etc. etc. Oh well, for now I will just pull a Scarlett O’Hara, “I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.” And when I say tomorrow I mean 208 days, 19 hours and 40 minutes from now when Brett graduates. Not that I’m counting.

Now I’m in the mood to watch Gone With the Wind. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow instead of shoveling snow.

UPDATE: In the time it took me to write this blog post it went from wintry mix to actually snowing outside, and some of it is even beginning to accumulate. *Sigh* Where are you, Spring?

Beautiful Spring

It was such a beautiful spring day today that as we were out and about this morning this little lake near our house caught my eye and I just had to stop and take a couple of pictures.


These geese were kind enough to let me get close enough to take a picture:

It's That Time of Year Again

One thing that I love about this time of year is all of the wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables that come into season. I didn't realize how fortunate Southern Californians are when it comes to having fresh yummy produce year round. We're not so lucky here in Iowa, so this weekend Brett and I took advantage of all of the great fresh produce at our local supermarket. Now I am just counting down the days until our local farmer's market starts up!

Spring at Last!

Well, it looks as though the dark and dreary days of winter have finally given way to the glorious warmth and sunshine of spring. The grass is green, the tulips are blooming and the birds are out and about. We went for a walk today on the bike path near our house. Here are a few of the beautiful glimpses of springtime that we captured along the way:

The bridge that we take to access the bike path:


Duck Creek:


Eastern Avenue Park:

This time last year, I was wearing a tank top

I'm beginning to think that Spring is never going to come. This is us on Easter weekend last year:

It was a glorious 70+ degrees, breezy and perfect.

This picture (from the Des Moines Register) is from the same week this year:

Needless to say, Spring is long overdue.