New Home, New Coop, New Garden.

The new (to us) house is littered with boxes. There are various utensils on the counter, furniture in various states of disassemble. There's a litter box in the closet- no, it doesn't belong there- but we're too afraid to move it lest the cat gets confused.

Bodies ache. Feet hurt. I've got cuts, scratches, bruises that I don't remember getting. Val has cracked his head an innumerable amount of times in the last 4 days. I'm not sure how he doesn't have a concussion by now.

But, we're getting close. Rio, the unfinished sailboat, will be making her journey south in three days. After that, we'll be entirely moved in.

The past few weekends have been a blur. We've been racing to build a chicken coop. Our salmon Faverolles hens have been laying religiously for us, and we've grown attached to their silly little fluffy butts, so we decided to make our grand migration along with them. (Let me tell you, a three hour car ride with stinky chickens is.. um.. quite an adventure).

Chickens were moved in yesterday. They're adjusting- the first egg was laid within 5 hours of arriving 'home.' And while we have a bunch of boxes that have yet to be unpacked, I can't stand the thought of being completely garden-less this year, so I started a small square foot garden bed.

Just a little one, mind you. 4x8. I had some leftover lumber lounging around- I think it was from cutting apart stringers for the boat. They needed a purpose.

Enough talk. Let's see the photos already!

The new coop + freshly planted garden.

(The coop design we used is called the Garden Coop- plans can be found here)

Here's the square foot garden bed layout:

And another view of the garden: 

The tarp you see in the photos is used to kill off the grass. I'll be installing more garden beds in the future (once we actually unpack, sell the other house, and really move in!).

Grow garden, grow! Curious to know what it'll be like to have a garden with actual sunlight..

Packing Up and Moving On.

We're renting a 14' U-Haul today.

It has been 11 years since I've moved to the Seattle area. As someone who grew up in a small town on the western side of the Puget Sound, I have a hard time believing that I ended up on 'this side of the water' for so long.

I remember distinctly a conversation that I had with a friend in high school. I asked her what her plans were after graduating. "I want to move to Seattle." I was floored. Seattle? Why? Why on earth would you want to move to such a densely populated area? And yet, here I am, 11 years later, wondering where the time went and how I could have survived being here this long.

(Seattle is a lovely city. But still a city. And therein lies the problem. When you've been raised on 7 acres against the Olympic National Forest, you may have an adverse reaction to all cities and suburban scapes, too.)

I was at the dentist on Tuesday and the hygienist tried booking me for another appointment 6 months from now. I told her I won't be in the area, and when I told her I was moving to live in the outskirts of a town of 2400 people, she was shocked that anyone would consider leaving the lovely suburban sprawl of the Seattle area. "Why?! What's out there?!" With much of the same incredulous revulsion I had to the idea of moving to Seattle in the first place.

For those of you who have never lived outside of suburbia and the city, let me assure you, many of the same things that you enjoy here can be found in a smaller town. Yes, there's running water. And electricity.

But there's also clean air. Enough land to grow a significant amount of your own food. You can see the stars at night. And there's less people, which usually means less traffic. And we'll be close to family. I've forgotten what it's like to have a clan. To feel like I belong somewhere.

I can't explain how excited I am to have this opportunity. It marks an important transition in our lives. We're moving. This is actually happening. 

And I'm also being hit with a wave of nostalgia. While I haven't exactly loved being here, I have met many wonderful people, expanded my education, and have become a better person because of it. I will miss Seattle's warm liberal ideological embrace. I will miss seeing the Cascades on a clear day. I will miss having close proximity to all of the cultural benefits that come from living in a densely populated area- and the food. I'm not sure what I'm going to do without my favorite Thai restaurant. Or dim sum. Or pho. 

Seattle, you'll always be part of my heart. Rest assured that it's not you. It's me.

First Weekend at New House

My husband escaped from work on Thursday, and we high-tailed it down to our new home in SW Washington.

I can't even begin to tell you how much we love it.

When we bought it, we knew it was nice. It had good bones, a little, erm.. retro.. in some (most) areas, but that it was clean and well loved.

We weren't prepared to love it as much as we do. The space is magnificent.

And no, that isn't just from a small-house dweller moving to a larger home standpoint- we're going from 680sq/ft to 2116, so there's bound to be some shock involved, but really- the house is full of light- at any given point during the day there is some sort of sunlight streaming into the windows.

And the storage. We're going to have to really work hard to fill this home up. And by work, I mean it- I plan on building as much as I can for this home.

The views from the windows are breathtaking. You can see Oregon on a clear morning. The fruit trees were in bloom, and our two acres of pasture is lush and green.

There are lilac trees- just on the verge of blooming- rose bushes, hydrangeas, rhododendrons- it's a beautiful piece of land.

I guess most of the shock comes from putting in the offer before seeing this home- then spending a paltry hour in it while the inspection was occurring. We didn't have a chance to really soak in the property or the house in that time.

Enough with the sentiments, you want to see what we did, right?

Well, a nuclear yellow room was toned down with a gallon of 'Lamp Room Gray' paint.

The 'Lamp Room Gray' turned out a bit bluer than I anticipated- we have the shade in our current house and it's lovely, but it could be the contrast between the wood trim. That'll all change, including the curtains. 

Oh, remember the stars and bald eagle wallpaper that was on the wall in the kitchen?  

Well...

It's gone.

And by 'gone' I mean that the face was peeled off- next weekend I'm attacking the glue layer that has been left behind. 

I did save some of the paper- it's really quite epic and I couldn't bear to throw it out. Stars & Stripes forever, yo, but not in my kitchen! (I think having a Rosie the Riveter themed workshop would be amazing, no? And the stars and stripes motif would be pretty cute in there!)

So my life has been packing, planning, drooling at paint swatches, ordering laminate samples- basically awesome. Or at least awesome for me. I'm having a blast.

Oh, you'll get a huge kick out of this. Want to see the luxurious master bedroom?

Yup, sleeping on the floor on a twin-sized memory foam. It's oddly comfortable for being on the floor. We're too cheap to buy a 'real bed' until we move down permanently, so that's our luxurious sleeping arrangement until then.

Anyway, that's the new house update. 

Closing on a New House!

See this 1976 delight?

It's located in a town of 2300 people, somewhere along the Columbia river.

And it's our new house.

Pending on 4/14/14.  All the papers have been signed, we're just waiting until the current residents (who have lived there for 27 years) move out.

My heart hurts for them. It's obvious that they loved their home, as it is incredibly well maintained. It's a house of love- it has such a wonderful vibe to it that it felt like home the second we stepped foot in it.

2.5 acres. 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, a dedicated laundry room... AND 576 SQ/FT OF GARAGE.

That, my friends, is 100 sq/ft less than the size of our current house. All garage. Actually, cancel that. It's not a garage, people. It's a shop. It's MY workshop. Trespassers will be forced to help move lumber and sharpen hand tools. 

OMG, I can smell the sawdust. THE THINGS I COULD BUILD.

I can't even tell you how excited I am. 

And bonus? We'll be 4 houses down from family! FOUR.

Additional photos of the technicolor delight can be found here.

Investors, purchase stock in paint, because holy moly, we're going to be buying truckloads. 

Land Search: Nothing Yet

So.  (blows dust off of computer)

How have you been?

Me? I've been fine. Surviving the cold winter weather we're currently having. 25F currently. It was a balmy 16F when I walked out the door this morning- so cold that it nearly knocked the wind out of me.

Our little house is such a delight in the winter- it's so small that one little wall heater will heat up our little 680 square feet with no issue. I love living in a small house, some of the time.

As you may know, we were looking to buy some property in southern Washington, somewhere near the Columbia River. Well, the land we were looking at fell through- while the property was beautiful, the seller was kind, the bank was willing, the land itself, as it stood, wouldn't support a septic system- and we weren't willing to spend the money or the time waiting until we could build.

So, we're back to square one.

We still love Casa Crustante- the house itself is wonderful. I have little to fault it for what it has. It's very functional, and personally I think it's adorable- but there are some issues with the situation that we're in that makes it very clear that it's not quite working.

I had no idea I'd be such an avid creator- builder, sewer, baker, gardener. The land, a scant 1/5 acre- just isn't enough for all that I'd like to do. We want a garden that gets sunlight (ours is in the shadow of a beautiful maple tree). We'd like another room or two in the house- the husband needs an office, I would like a craft room. Oh, and the boat building thing. I definitely need a shop- or, at the bare minimum, a garage I can build in. And with the addition of our beautiful Westfalia, that garage is now a necessity.

We contemplated renovating our house so it'd fit our evolving criteria. It doesn't solve the lack-of-land issue. And, as it turns out, we're just not invested in this area. Our neighborhood is decent, but we're adjusting to some suburban culture shock that I wasn't quite prepared for- perhaps one of the biggest hurdles of suburbia is the concept of no property lines. Many people in this neighborhood feel that it is their right to welcome themselves to your property if you're not home- to check out your cars, to invite themselves into your chicken run and then not latch it on their way out (also true story- I deadbolt it closed now), to examine anything or everything that you don't have tied down.

I know people are just being people, and they're just curious. But when you're from 7 acres in the middle of the sticks and descendant of a line of people who are rightfully territorial, I get very, very angry when people assume that I won't mind.

So, we're looking for another modest house with land, or perhaps a piece of land that's perfect for building on. Perhaps in the sticks. Keep your fingers crossed that we'll find something soon!

Jiggling for Gillio: Update #1

I WON MY SECOND ROUND OF DIETBETS!

Check out my weight loss graph:

As you can see, it's been a rocky ride but the proof is in the progress.

If you recall, I had started a Dietbet in September.  I won $40.44, then turned around and placed that money into two bets- one bet for $25, another for $15.

I won, but by the skin of my teeth.  I made the goal, but only after doing two hours of cardio and basically sweating out 1/5 of a pound.  I won $34.45 on a $15 bet, and $44.64 on a $25 bet.

So in happy news,  the Gillio Fund has been updated!

My $25 I had invested in the first bet has grown into $79.09.
Guess what I'm going to do with it?  Yup.  I'm rolling this train right into healthy BMI town.  I joined someone's $25 bet, and started my very own $15 dietbet based upon my current love affair with a particular tasty sauce.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you: The Sriracha SlimDown! 

If you've got a little additional ballast to lose, consider joining me.  The game starts on Tuesday (but you'll have two weeks after that date to join), and it'll run until December 3rd.  The goal is to lose 4% of your body weight in that time.

Can you do it?

It's only a $15 bet, too. So if you change your dietary habits in that time frame and avoid eating out as much as you're currently doing so, just think of how much money you could save.  $15 is a cheap price to pay for a powerful motivator. 

Click here to sign up! The Sriracha SlimDown

I'm hoping that this dietbet will be the one to move me from the 'Obese' category of the BMI scale to the 'Overweight.'  Small steps, but they're all adding up!

We made an offer..

 

We put down an offer on 2 1/4 acres of raw land near my husband's family.  Please, please, please- if you know of some super-secret dance to appease the land gods, please perform it now. 

Jiggling for Gillio

I'm overweight.  I have been for a really long time. I've tried all sorts of dietary jiu-jitsu to regain control of my body; gluten-free, paleo, atkins, south beach, etc.  I'd lose some weight, but couldn't maintain the diet, and the weight would creep back on.

I've finally found the secret.  Better sit down, peeps.  Your minds are going to be BLOWN.

Are you ready?
Truly ready?

Drum roll, please!

........The secret to MY weight loss:

1. Working out.  

2. Eating in moderation.

Freaking groundbreaking, right?

Since August 15th, I've lost almost 15 pounds.  I've got a lot more to go, but I'm fitting into jeans I almost donated because I never thought I could fit into them. I'm down 4 notches on my belt. FOUR.

My favorite brand of torture?  Pilates.  Massive amounts of Pilates.  Pilates until I can no longer pick myself off the mat.  Pilates SO HARD I've burst into tears in the middle of them.  It isn't a coincidence that 'pilates' has the same number of letters as the word 'torture'.  But I love them.

And it's starting to show. 

But, I can't get ahead of myself.  I've got a lot of weight to lose and a long road ahead of me.  Which is why I'm DietBetting.

Dietbet is a social weight loss game.  You plunk down anywhere between $10-$100 and bet that you can lose 4% of your body weight in 28 days.  It's a lot harder than it seems. If you win, you get to split up the pot.  If not, well, the other players get to divvy up your money and you cry.

It sucks to lose.  Because everyone knows that you've lost and you get to read all of the "OMG, I JUST WON $50!!" posts and you know part of that is your money. 

So, yeah.  Don't lose.

Here's a brief video to sum it up:

But if you win?  Oh, the sweet, sweet joy of victory.  You are 4% lighter, you feel better about yourself AND you have just walked away with more money in your pocket.  It's pure, unadulterated joy.

So, ladies and gentlemen.  I'm dietbetting my way to victory.

I plunked down $25.  Won $40.  Then I turned around and rolled that money into TWO more bets.  If I win these bets, I'll roll them into MORE bets.  Until I reach my goal weight.

Why?  Well, besides the sheer motivation of putting all of my Dietbet money on the line, there is something that I'd love to have, something that will pair wonderfully with my future fit and toned self.

It's a planner.  A Gillio Compagna planner.

I stole these pictures from Gillio's website: more info on the Gillio Compagna here.

These sweet Gillio planners run about $400.  Yes, they're expensive.  Yes, they're divine.  But could you imagine how amazing it would be to groom a $25 bet into a $400 planner?  AND be a healthier version of myself?

Sign me up!

So, I'm calling my fitness and weight-loss quest "Jiggling for Gillio."  Because jiggling is precisely what happens whenever I do any form of cardio. 

 

I'm motivated.  I've got a plan.  I'm eating healthfully and challenging myself to be a stronger, healthier person.  

The coolest thing about the last dietbet is that out of 4552 players, a combined weight of 24,441 pounds was lost.  That's as much as two Tyrannosaurus rex! TWO.

That's a lot of weight!

Anyway, if we're hanging out and I turn down a delicious morsel of tastiness, don't be offended.  Or, if I am moving slowly because my muscles are crying at me, please understand.  There's some ch-ch-changes going on here that have to happen.  Things that should have happened years ago. 

Wish me luck!

My Brother is Learning How to Sew

My brother sent me a text message this morning with a simple request: 

"Do you know anyone with an extra sewing machine?  I want to learn to sew to save money."

YES. 

Well, NO, I don't know anyone with an extra sewing machine.  But YES, you should buy one and YES, I'll help!

I called him up and logged into Amazon, and noticed that I had nearly $80 in unused Amazon Points (I have the Amazon Visa card and buy EVERYTHING on that card- I usually get about $50 back a month.)  My brother and I shopped the Warehouse Deals and found a nearly brand new machine that retails for $250 on sale for $93.69.  I used my points, and my brother ended up with a nice machine for $20 and change after taxes.

Here's said machine as seen on Amazon: 

 

So, yeah, Warehouse Deals.  Shop them.  They can be a bit tricky to find on Amazon's site.  When you're searching for an item, go to the right of the screen and click on the link that usually says "X New & Used From X Price" on the bottom of "More Buying Choices." 

Scroll down and see if you can find that same item that you're looking at through the warehouse- sometimes, it's as simple as the item is missing a box, or perhaps it was returned and can't be sold as new.   You can save a lot of money that way.

And here I was just going to buy a David Tennant cutout for my Doctor Who party I'm having in November with those points.  This one, in fact.

But now my brother will have a chance to learn a new skill and hopefully save some money.   I'm feeling pretty great about that.   And I'm looking forward to showing him the ropes.

In the meantime, I'm having fun browsing the internet for all sorts of tutorials that he might find useful.  For example:

1. Denim Fabric Basket Tutorial, from Threading My Way.

He could reuse those shredded jeans and make baskets out of them! These would be awesome for gathering notebooks, tools, tape measures, etc in the shop.  They're cute enough that he could really use them anywhere in the home.   Hello, extra storage bins for the nursery!  Especially if he lined them with this Dr. Seuss fabric.

2. Potato Grow Bags, from WVSundown.

Bags, used to grow potatoes.  No more digging in the soil to harvest your pommes de terre! This would be a great project for him, as he's an avid gardener (he keeps talking about growing potatoes- maybe next year he'll give it a shot), and he would probably enjoy a fast, confidence building project.  

And 3.  Baby Blocks!

I've got a bunch of foam left over from my own woodworking and sewing project (from that aforementioned loveseat project) that would be perfect reincarnated as play blocks for my brother's son.  Also, it'll teach him some stitching skills.  WIN.

So, there you have it.  My brother is learning to sew, and I think it's awesome.  He's also an avid builder, welder, DIYer extraordinaire (and yes, also an amateur boatbuilder- he started building his very own boat this summer!), so I'm very excited to see what great things he creates with this new tool.

Behold, a wild life summary appears!

I've attempted to post several times, and canned each attempt after getting frustrated with every post.  Nothing felt right.  Everything was disorganized and jumbled.  I have so much to say and yet none of it seemed important.

So, here we are, 6 months since my last post.   Let's summarize all the good/bad/whatever stuff!

THE BOAT

Rio The Boat (buildingasailboat.com) is currently being neglected.  I pushed pretty hard on the build over the summer, and ended up getting burned out by how much of life I was missing by focusing on a hunk of plywood that doesn't quite float yet.  The build is SUPPOSED to be fun, and when you're outside in 90F weather with high humidity, wearing long sleeves, jeans, and a respirator, it really, really sucks.  And when you're being accosted by spiders (this year, the spiders are everywhere, you can't walk 20 feet outside without getting tangled in a web), you can't help but get a little frustrated.   This is coupled by the joy of forgetting that you have epoxy on your hands and you, reflexively, try to get a spider/beetle/wasp off of your head, and instead smear epoxy all over your hair.  GOOD TIMES.  No, I haven't given up.  Yes, I still am proud and happy that I'm building a boat.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so why rush it?!

THE FAMILY

I'm a three-time aunt now.  My brother and his wife had a little boy on March 14th.   He's pretty cute!

My mom was married in Reno to her sweetheart of five years last month.

My husband's Aunt Bev entrusted us with her 1987 VW Westfalia, Casa Rodante, which we drove down to the aforementioned wedding.  It was amazing.  It's such a cool bus that I want to dedicate a post to it.  In the meantime, though, have a photo of its awesomeness:

Yup, custom plates in honor of Bev. 

THE HOUSE(S)

Casa Crustante is serving us well.  BUT, there are things we need.   1.  Privacy from the nosy neighbors.  2. A Garage  3.  A big fence.  We don't like the area enough to invest in it.  In summary, we'll be moving in a few years.  More on that later.

Remember the property I grew up on?  Well, the land that raised three generations of my family was sold to the S'Klallam tribe for a paltry $285k.  I have, since moving out to the Seattle area, have wanted to move back.  It's where I thought I'd raise my own kids and grow old.  Now that it's no longer in the family, I had spiraled out a bit and have been struggling to figure out where I am supposed to be.   I know this may sound foreign to those of you without a long family history of staying in one spot, but that land was very important to my brother and me. 

The Condo:  We're renting it out right now to some friends, but will be placing it on the market on January 1, 2014.

Aaaand.. there's a bunch of other crap.  But that's it for now.  The weather is shining, the pull to make sawdust is strong, and I've got couches to build.  Yes, I'll be posting about that, too! Look, I've got three things to follow up on, now.  So stay tuned.

Cold Frame!

I've been intrigued by the concept of a cold frame for a while now.  Every gardening book seems to mention one, nearly every decent garden center sells them, and I couldn't help but wonder if having one could make gardening even more fun for me.

I waded into the over-full shed, pulled out some significant sized scraps, and got to work.

Here's the very beginning where it's essentially just a box. 

Now a bit of a box with a bit of a lid:

 

I added a middle brace to the lid to support the 8mm dual-paned polycarbonate for the top.  Then I painted.   Clark + Kensington makes a paint that can handle temperatures down to 35F.  Rio the Sailboat helped (incidentally, I've decided that this color, a Farrow and Ball shade called Green Blue, will be Rio's color). 

And before I knew it, I had a cold frame! Notice the cedar along the bottom- that's tacked on as a 'sacrificial' board.

And the interior.  I'm now the proud owner of a mini greenhouse. :) Total cost:  just under $50, considering I had most of the wood already. 

And while we're talking about gardening, please join me in ogling my soil.  How rich does that look?!  Let's hope 2013 is the best year for gardening yet.

In sad news, the property that I grew up on has been or is being sold. I remember all the long hours that my parents and my grandmother spent working and improving the land on that property.  I'm heartbroken to see it go.

Chicken Salad Bar - AKA the Greenhouse

I built my three hens a little addition to the chicken run to use up some of the scrap hard wire cloth and lumber I had floating around in the shed.   It's a little 3'x3' pen that I can open up for their snacking pleasure.

 I have two points of access- the closest side in the photo below can be completely removed so I can muck it out / add more grass / whatever. 

 I threw in some grass seed that I had on hand and it's just starting to take off. 

I'll let them have access to it for an hour or so a day, once the grass is filled in and jungle-y.

My hope with this addition is to increase the nutritional value and production of the eggs that my hens provide.  I have no idea if it'll help or not, but I bet they'll have a blast destroying it. :)

Mason Bees - Summary of 2012 Season and Preparing for Spring

I've just returned from the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.  My haul included a gorgeous blue zebra striped primrose (I didn't take a photo before I gave it to my neighbor- she loves primroses AND purple, and this pretty plant had her name written all over it), along with 7 dahlias, and, the pièce de résistance- more mason bee cocoons.

Mason bees are my current insect obsession.  I think we all should have one indigenous insect species to champion, and the blue western mason bee has impressed me so much that it's now a priority for my 2013 garden.  

Last year, I started with 20 cocoons and one small house.  Here's what it looked like at the end of the season:

There are two plugged tubes on the bottom of the nest box, which indicates that I have some sort of bee larvae waiting to be harvested.

There was significant water damage to my house though- water seeped into the bolts holding the house together, and along the roof.

Despite the issues, I still had some cocoons to harvest- 8 in total.

Behold, the contents of the tubes- I had 8 cocoons (3 female, 5 male), a dead mason bee, and a bunch of miscellaneous debris.

Here's a close up of the bee who decided to use my bee nest.  I promised her that I'd take care of her offspring to the best of my ability before burying her unceremoniously in the compost pile. 

A close up of the bee tube debris- the concave brown things are mud plugs- the yellow stuff is pollen- and the teeny tiny little bits are feces.

I made several mistakes in 2012 that I hope that I won't repeat in 2013:

1.  I didn't put my house in a sheltered area.  I had falsely assumed that the home would be sheltered well enough on its own.  Building something like this is a priority for me before putting out my cocoons:

2.  I'm going to release my cocoons in two different batches, perhaps 2 weeks apart.  My first 20 cocoons were soaked and soggy due to some crazy cold rain and due to the exposure issue I mentioned above- I can't imagine it was great to emerge under such chilly and wet conditions.

3.  Don't kill before you know what it is.  I thought I had a yellow jacket in my house (it was silhouetted against a bright window) and I killed it.  Afterwards, I discovered that I had murdered one of my own mason bees.  Whoops.  

Now I have a total of 37 cocoons in my fridge, thanks to Beediverse and Wild Birds Unlimited.  I'll be building a mason bee lodge here soon, and will have photos for you as soon as I'm finished!

 This is the perfect time of year to start a mason bee colony.  If you're so inclined, I highly recommend Crown Bees and Beediverse for both cocoons and information.

Lower Salmon River Squash

Since Boat Building Season is over, it's now Planning Next Year's Garden season.  I have the basics in our garden- strawberry and asparagus patches, along with a growing rhubarb and a 2nd year nectarine tree.   But I want something more, something I can stash away in the pantry for those long winter days.  Like a winter squash.

So after digging around, I found exactly what I'm looking for- a gorgeous squash that stores well- and it's called the Lower Salmon River squash, which is native to the Pacific Northwest and is an endangered plant (information from Renewing America's Food Traditions). 

I stumbled upon it at Marishabee's Blog. 

She writes:

This year I grew only one variety of winter squash:  Lower Salmon River.  I chose this squash because it is fabulous for winter storage.  In fact, it will store so well that my partner says that we need a bandsaw to cut through it (we can process it with standard kitchen utensils too).

See?  That's what I want! 

If you're looking for something different to grow, and would like to help preserve and endangered plant,  you can buy seeds from Seed Dreams.

Alternatively, if we're neighbors/friends, I might be willing to share some of my stash.   But you will be subjected to a growing competition.  You've been warned!

Happy garden planning! 

Nail Polish Storage

I've always been crap at being a lady, much to the disappointment and chagrin of my dear mother.  That said, I do have a feminine Achilles heel, and that, my friends, is Essie nail polish.

I refuse to use anything else.  Honestly.  And I have stopped going to the salon for manicures or pedicures because my nails chip 30 minutes after walking out of the salon, EVERY TIME.  And if you're paying $40 to have your nails done, it better damn well last longer than half an hour. 

Anyway, I had some scrap okoume from the boat build lying around, along with a cedar 2x2, so I thought I'd make myself a little Essie nail polish shrine. 

They need to be finished but I'm so pleased with how they turned out. 

First Time at the Dog Park

 

Our Cardigan Welsh Corgi is turning into quite the socialite/water dog! As much as I give him grief for being so daft, he is such a delight to have around.

Photos by the husband, more here if you're interested!

Camping at Dosewallips: A Photo Summary.

We went camping at the Dosewallips State Park last weekend.

I love the Pacific Northwest.