Things Happen in Threes

 

Have you ever noticed that things tend to happen in threes? Inevitably, when a famous person passes away, two more are sure to follow within the week.  Well, to put a positive spin on the idea, this past week or so two bloggers that I read fairly regularly both announced pregnancies, here and here. So I am wondering who will be next? Rest assured it is absolutely, unequivocally, not me. But hence, I thought I would share some cute little baby feet on a summer day for the occasion. It makes me wistful for barefoot weather.

A Weekend of Organization

It still feels very much like summer here even though it is August. Lot's of rain and everything is green. Yet, it is hot, Hot, HOT! And I hear the rain has probably stopped for the time being so it will somehow be getting even hotter.

We have had a busy day with an impromptu visit to Ikea. For the past month or so I have been looking for shelves to put up in our living room to organize all of our piles that have been accumulating. When we struck out at Lowe's yesterday I was pretty frustrated. So this morning over breakfast my husband and I decided to head down to Charlotte so we can be down with the shelves. We were in and out of Ikea in forty-five minutes and got everything we needed without dealing with the stress of the crowds. Now, our living room has been transformed. It's amazing what some wall shelves can do! I will take pictures once I have organized them enough to be picture worthy.

On Tuesday we are going to Vermont for the annual UFVA conference. My film, Drowning Slowly, is playing on Wednesday. I will do my best to continue to post this week, but it may be slightly sporadic.

The Gumball Dilemma

This afternoon we had a very impressive thunderstorm accompanied by sheets and sheets of rain. While it was needed it put a damper on my afternoon. After such a heavy storm I know that many gumballs will have been knocked loose from our neighbors tree and into our yard. I am not sure what the official name of this tree is, but around here we all call it simply a gumball tree. We have so many of the pesky little seed pods (like the one pictured above) that my daughter plays with them like they're toys when she goes outside. They are very spiky and hurt when you step on them.

Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be anything we can do about it other sneak into our neighbors yard to give the tree expensive injections that may stop it from forming pods or we could move. Not much of a choice.

Life Out of Focus

It seems as though when the week begins I have all the time in the world. I make all these grandiose plans for the week and feel rushed by the end to accomplish everything. This week I am making cupcakes for a family get together this weekend.

Of course, these aren't your everyday cupcakes they are from a cookbook I recently bought, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It's pretty fun once you get into making them, but there are a lot of supplies to get. My daughter and I have been all over town today. She was very good while we were out, but now she doesn't want to go to sleep. Everything catches up with you. Now, I need to get her to sleep and start editing my video for tomorrow. It's funny how the week begins slow and rushes to a close. It seems to happen every time.

Our Garden (a little on the late side)

This past week we decided to start our garden. We have been planning on it for awhile, but have been dragging our feet.

My husband has been devouring a book about gardening and fashioned this lovely raised bed. We have both seeds and seedlings; just yesterday I noticed some radishes have already begun to root down. I am excited to grow strawberries in the fall. When I was a kid we had a huge strawberry patch and I loved it so much.

Building the garden was fairly easy to do (though my husband really did the grunt work). It's pretty exciting even if a little pass due.

Herb Grower

Alright, I'm only actually growing two herbs and the basil looks really pathetic, thus, no pictures. Technically, I have two types of mint: spearmint and chocolate mint. They are doing very well.

My main reason for growing mint is so I can make mojitos and if I was better about brewing iced tea I would put some in that as well. I had mojitos at my bachelorette party at The Mediterranean in Boulder, CO. They use fresh mint and were excellent. I highly recommend visiting if you are ever in the area; you'll have to suffer a long wait, but it is worth it. Previous to my bachelorette party I had maybe had a mojito once or twice, though they were more than likely made with mint syrup or some other faux mint and they were not as impressive.

My good friend, Lindsey, who was in my wedding, and I go to the The Med when ever I visit Boulder and we partake in mojito. The other day I finally (after three years of talking about it) made them myself after watching this cheesy, but informative and regrettably enjoyable video. They were delicious.

Wordless Wednesday (Our Back Deck)

After the Rain

We have wonderful thunderstorms here in the summer and we had a good one two nights ago. When we woke up in the morning we explored outside and my daughter had fun playing in the water. It was very relaxing playing outside.

Normally I don't have to go to work in the summer, but I usually have a big project to work on. Yet, it feels very odd to not have anything pressing to do. Usually I am on a schedule during the summer because I have to be done by August so it is similar to still having to go to work. I wonder when I will get used to this new unstructured life?