Thursday, August 25, 2011

Summer Garden Updates

Does it seem like summer has hardly began, but it's already almost over? Sheesh. That was fast.

Here are some photos of our summer garden. Our tomatoes have been a huge success (just starting to ripen now - love fresh, ripe tomatoes!), same for our lettuce and squash. We also grew pickling cucumbers, which haven't had much success yet.



For herbs, we've had basil, rosemary, dill, lavender, cat nip and cilantro. Next year, I'm going to skip the dill and maybe even the basil. I love basil, I just don't seem to have much luck growing it. However, the cilantro and cat nip were a success - Sophie loves fresh nip!!

Our artichoke plant and brussel sprouts plants are still growing - but they are so pretty!




My biggest lesson is to grow what we eat most often. There were a couple things I thought would be fun to try, but because we don't eat much of a particular vegetable already, I almost felt like we were a bit wasteful.



I also have learned to really space out plants appropriately and watch EXACTLY which spots of my garden bed get the most light for future planting and planning.

I am starting to think about whether I need to do a cover crop for the winter, does anyone have suggestions for what works best?

Monday, August 22, 2011

I'm in love... with a mirror... no really!

I saw this mirror a few months ago at Pier 1, at the time for $250. You know me, I love a good deal, so I couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a mirror. Even if it was super beautiful and unique, I just couldn't do it.

 via Pier 1

But, I have thought about it over and over again since then. It's one of those purchases I didn't make, that I look back on and wish I did.

Not only that, but I was continuing to get reminded of my love for the honeycomb mirror via Pinterest and other bloggers (here, here and here for example). Apparently I wasn't the only one loving this mirror.





Well, I just so happened to be in a Pier 1 the other day with my sister, and what did I see? The mirror! In the clearance section for only $100. It was missing a couple of the smaller mirror pieces, but I knew those would be easy to find and replace if I did a little shopping online. Still, $100 for a broken mirror? hmmm...


So, I asked the sales associate if they could bring the price of the mirror down any lower.  I'm usually not very good at wheelin' and dealin' but I knew this was a mirror from the spring season, and it had a couple missing pieces after all. Sure enough, she brought the price down to $50! Wahoo!


Now, I have one last problem: the hubster (husband). He's not so in love with this mirror, in fact, he kind of hates it. I know it's a statement piece, and I probably should have asked his opinion in advance since it's so huge, I just felt like I couldn't pass up the opportunity since I had been thinking about it for so long.

What if I lost my last chance to get the mirror?


I am of course super curious what you think! Let me know - do you love it or hate it? Leave me some love in the comment section! Part of me likes that it's so pretty and shiny but also kind of rough - it looks almost nautical for some reason, like a sea creature. Am I going crazy over here?

P.S. Here are two last images, of a similar mirror from Wisteria for almost $2,399 - makes my deal even sweeter, right?

image via Domino

image via Wisteria

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Commuting Humor

As a ferry long-distance commuter, I had to share this silly photo via A Cup of Jo.

This is a Dutch subway slide that they encourage people to use when they are running late to catch a train! Check out more here. I wish it could be so easy (and quick) for me when I'm running late in the morning - which is frequent for me. Thank goodness I work for a coffee company!

P.S. I thought this was an interesting article (also via Cup of Jo) on commuting.


Sunday, July 31, 2011

Cafe on my mind

I spent a beautiful day in Bellingham yesterday. It was fantastic - spent with people I love and lots of sunshine. We started off at the farmers market and got some lunch, spent time catching up there, and then went on a walk to the park.

There is something about Bellingham that gets me more inspired than other places. Orcas Island is the same way for me. It gets my creative "juices flowing" and day dreaming of creating my own cafe some day.



As I sit here with my cup of coffee this morning, it makes me wonder what it is about a cafe in particular? Why am I drawn to creating one in our community?



I think my time as a barista at Cafe Destino gave me the taste of what I would love to create someday. A place where I see friends from my community every day, and help make their day a little more special. Where I could serve things that I love most and share them with the world. To create a cozy little spot in Manette is a dream for me.



As the next week starts at work and life picks back up, I know this little bit of inspiration will float away again. But I can count on it to always come back, until I'm ready to take that next step and make that little dream come true.

P.S. Thoughts on a Manette cafe with chickens in the backyard?


Monday, July 25, 2011

Are you there?

Hello blog world. Are you there?

It's been a while, I can't even really pin down why I've been absent for so long. I've had some fun things happen lately, but I've also been a little worn out for some reason. That sunshine was sure revitalizing this past weekend, though!


Some of these fun, recent happenings include:


More to come this week, I promise. I have some photos of the garden - it's growing like crazy! I've having a hard time keeping up with some of the weeds in the vegetable garden, but other than that it's big and beautiful. I can't wait to get my fingers on our tomatoes once they ripen. I have sure been enjoying the strawberries!

Happy Monday, friends!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Outside Our Window: A June Boat

A couple of days ago I saw something really odd in the water. I was inside the house, upstairs, and noticed a little boat floating by outside our window.  When I say little, I mean child size - check it out:


So I went outside to take a closer look. It was actually a beautifully carved little boat, and there was a note of some kind inside. I tried my hardest to get it, but it was just too far out in the water, the tide was out, and it was way too cold to go swimming after it (I admit - in the moment, that thought briefly crossed my mind!).



I am curious who eventually got the boat, or will find it some day in the future. It sure was a fun little surprise outside my window this week!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Importance of Being Neighborly

We are so blessed with amazing neighbors, I really don't think we could have it any better.

Our home is pretty close on both sides of the house to our neighbors, so being neighborly we've learned is so important! We had neighbors from a few houses down drop off flowers, wine, and post cards when we first moved in with nice little notes with our neighbors contact information.  We've had numerous neighbors check-in after Kyle's health incident earlier this year.  We've also exchanged ideas on anything from keeping the ants out of the house to yucky bugs out of the garden. I'm learning that neighbors that have lived here longer than us not only have fantastic advice for us as new homeowners, but as gardeners, as community members in Bremerton, and to help keep watch over the neighborhood.

We have a very sweet couple on one side of our house, who have helped a bit with our otter situation. When the otters started coming, they helped us construct the make-shift fence to keep them away. That same couple recently left a bucket of these amazing peonies on our patio this week - aren't they beautiful?!


We returned their bucket with fresh cut flowers from our garden - yellow and pink roses. It's fun being friendly with your neighbors, and makes our life in Bremerton that much sweeter.

Right now we're enjoying these in our kitchen and dining room - love the look of these beauties in our home.



Do you have any tips or examples of being neighborly?

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Outside Our Window: June

We saw a submarine outside our window last night!


It was fantastic. We were both surprised to see an odd wave in the water, with no big boats in sight. It was bigger than a ferry boat wave. We wondered if it could be a submarine... and knew that something had to be going on under the water we couldn't see.




Soon enough, we saw a submarine emerge from the Puget Sound! Now that is an amazing view from our window and backyard!