April 29, 2011

Our wedding!

our guests rented out the hotel, the ceremony was in the courtyard/ bar area, reception was poolside. 

[...]

all i hear are excuses!

it's been too long and i have so many things ive wanted to post. for now an apology and brief updates.

garden: the garden started off well and i was really excited to run out to the deck every day to see how much growth had occurred. then the aphids showed up and despite winning a few battles against them the totally overtook the sweet peas. in fact i cut them all back down to the soil today. there must have been a couple hundred on just 24 plants. INSANE. defeat is never easy to swallow. [...]

Homemade Laundry Detergent and Other Handy Recipies

I am tired of buying more plastic bottle of detergent, so I invested a few bucks and made our own. Poured it into the now empty Tide bottle and the rest stays in a 2 gallon bucket. It smells great, works great, and saves money. 

You can pretty much clean anything in your house with just a few ingredients: baking soda, washing soda, vinegar, borax, and basic soap.
[...]

hooray spring!!

the weather has picked up this week reaching nearly 80 degrees at one point- although it was cloudy and didnt really feel like it. it was sunny enough to sit out in shorts though! i took a break from the dark room with no windows (aka the office) to go outside and sit in the sun and listen to the birds chirping. and the frequent jets- hey i work near a major airport.

Engaged!

behold!

525,600 minutes

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure -
Measure A Year?
In Daylights - In Sunsets
In Midnights - In Cups Of Coffee
In Inches - In Miles
In Laughter - In Strife
In - Five Hundred
Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure
A Year In The Life?

You know what today is? A year ago today we started our move. We were staying at Morgan and Anna's

the last week. We went to Snow City Cafe and Side Street for coffee (George gave us free cups!) for our
monthly anniversary date (the 8th) and as a good-bye to the city. Then we packed the car. That part was
frustrating as we realized how much we had to stuff in there- including the cats.  It had snowed nearly 2
feet a few days prior too. Then we headed north- to 'Palin country'- and drove all the way to Tok where
we were greeted with below zero temps- fun! I remember after we were north of Mat-Su the roads were
clear but still very icy. Matt was driving and at one point almost lost control of the car. From then on it
was 30 mph for us. I'm not sure why but for some time now I've been very skiddish and anxious about
speed in the car. This certainly didn't help and I probably drive him nuts telling him to slow down all the
time even when he isn't speeding. But we made it all in one piece- every leg of the trip!

We're making salmon tonight to celebrate the day. Real Alaskan salmon that I caught on my trip to see
Erica and Dan in Cordova last August. Delish!

Thanks to the Lord for this very large and yummy catch!

in between seasons

kittens rejoice!
one of the warm days sandwiched in between winter days a few weekends ago.
it's a good thing i was busy tending to plants and compost to sit considering i didnt have a chair!

living in the south again brings back the reality of unpredictable weather. warm one day and cold the next. i noticed the trees had buds starting a few weeks ago... in february! it isn't even spring breakup season in alaska and i am blessed with tree buds!

snowpocolypse

on january 27th we were blessed with snow. LOTS of snow. we live in DC where if people even hear of a report of snowflakes they take the day off because they don't have the proper driving skills or equipment to clear the roads. you may remember last year this area had "snowmagedden" and whole central eastern seaboard didn't move for a week. this wasn't quite that bad, but pretty close. i love snow... and so does my suby. 

absentee

well, i've been away for nearly a month and a half. let me fill you in on what's been keeping me so busy. the short version is there was wine to be drunk, traveling to be done, cleaning to be accomplished, wedding planning to persevere, tv to watch, and gardening to prepare. the long version is...

A random post because I like overalls

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work."    --  Thomas Edison

I would totally work in the yard all weekend in this. 

Must have gardening accessory? Yes. 

Window Seat

It's a rough existence. 

Before and After: Found Chair

When we went out to Matt's dad's a few weeks ago to pick up a few of the things we left at his house I noticed the neighbor had moved out and left some gems by the road. It's 'unofficial' freecycling. I didn't get to do as much as I would have liked with this one because it's just so cool, but I really needed a sewing chair stat.

I unscrewed the seat, ditched the plastic, and untacked the existing fabric. It was a really light weight fabric- not something you'd usually find on upholstery. Despite being left out in a drizzling rain the foam was in really good condition. I ended up using the existing fabric as a pattern for a heavyweight tweedy fabric and then went about tacking it all back together. The wicher could use a bit of patching and cleaning, but it works. Any other ideas for the chair? I was debating on painting the wicker after I patch it up and maybe finding some different fabric eventually.

Freecycle

This is newly discovered for us. If you don't know it's a collective of "neighborhoods" around the US where people post things they have and want to get rid of or things they are looking for. But everything is free. You can't charge for any of it. It's fantastic- like shopping Value Village from home... for free! Of course you have to go pick up your stuff. The funny part is that you don't even have to meet the person you're freecycling from. There's no money exchange so people just leave it on the porch for you.

Check it out...

picture frames

 a large unframed mirror

3 pillows- now I have a pillow for the pillowcase I got in India (shown)

11 green wine glasses- no more plastic ones for us!

After picking up the mirror last night I promised Matt I won't freecycle for a while- at least until it gets warm. :)

Now serving No. 27

I came home Friday to a box outside the door. Matt's momma sent me beautiful tulips! Did you know tulips keep growing even after they're cut? I'm all out of vases (I think we donated them in an effort to purge for the move), so I used a clean pasta sauce jar. They don't seem to mind. I love having them brighten up the counter. :)

New books!

Glorious.

I have no idea where the Stieg Larson books went :(

progress!

well, we actually accomplished some things this weekend! Saturday we  did the grocery shopping. We didn't have much on the list, but did more stocking up shopping than anything. Giant and Safeway actually had some things on sale that we buy. That's our biggest gripe with coupons. Most of that stuff are products we never buy in the first place. We save by buying in bulk and only buying what we need. Our fridge and freezer are stuffed and none of our meals are pre-made. We have to do all the work except for snacks... chips and hummus or fruit. I started keeping track of what we were buying, how much it cost, and how much that cost per serving. We started because one of matt's coworkers didnt think you really saved that much by bringing lunch to work instead of eating out. So when I made shepard's pie, we calculated it up. Made 8 good size servings at $1.42 each. Booyah! 

Life in Full Swing

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

20 years? I'm already disappointed by what I haven't done! I suppose that's typical thinking around the first of the year, but honestly there have been things that have been nagging at me for a while. So, when I came up with my "resolutions" for the year those things played a big part. Without further adieu:
1. exercise at least 3 times a week. how? joined gym/ have gym at the condo... really this isnt that hard. matt and i used to very regular. 
2. spend money wisely. how? no impulse purchases. more or less just maintaining my financial scruples. 
3. grow a veggie garden- how? build self-water raised planter for the deck and plant a few veggies and herbs. also along with this... start composting. 
4. get outside more. ie. more biking, hiking, etc
5. eat less no fast food. how? will power against the nacho cheesy goodness of the crunch wrap supreme. 
6. pick an instrument and start learning it- probably banjo since i actually have that handy- and practice at least 1 hour a week
7. sew at least 2 projects this year. goal: i have a dress i want to make for National's baseball games and I just salvaged 3 chairs from the neighbors trash to repair and reupholster. 
8. blog weekly. (like on saturdays)- might have to set an alarm, but if I'm working on projects and gardening, etc and whatever Matt has going on we should have something to say at least once a week. 
9. study and take GRE.- I've been planning on taking it for 2 years now and haven't. must stop procrastinating. 
All in all I feel that these are pretty achievable. I've had a sewing machine for several years and have made a total of 1.5 projects with it, despite the fact that I have a habit of collecting/ keeping fabric I intend to use on future project. The banjo, much like the piano and guitar, is something I have started and let myself get away with not making time for it. The garden and compost are probably the biggest and most challenging of the resolutions. It's new and I don't know much about either, but I've been reading up a lot. But, like sewing and music, I feel it's a part of my heritage. When I was little I remember my great-grandmother working in her garden and helping her harvest and can. I care about sustainability and personal semi-independence from corporate America, but most importantly I think gardening is fun and the food tastes a heck of a lot better than store bought. The trick for success on this is to plan ahead and to limit myself to a few items to grow. I'm thinking a lettuce mix, tomatoes, and beans or peas. Maybe a meyer lemon shrub or berry bush and some herbs. We buy Costco bags of frozen broccoli, cauliflower, squash, and carrot mix so I don't think it's necessary to grow those. Resisting the urge to build an entire forest on our deck will be hard, but very, very important to the mission. I have other much smaller homegrown projects that I have planned. One is making our own natural laundry detergent. I finally have the ingredients, now I just need to make it. Tonight I made a bottle of static guard spray because with the dryer weather we're getting zapped every time we sit on the couch or pet one of the cats. I also made two more spray bottles with a non-toxic, natural insecticide for the houseplants and one with liquid plant food. It's Miracle Grow for the time being, but once I get fresh compost (in several months) I'll make compost tea instead. I was doing pretty well with the plants until I decided to set them on the balcony and forgot to bring them in overnight and they got mighty chilly. When we got home today and brought in they we looking terrible. I might be down to two plants now: the emerald gem and the scheflera. I think the 3 pathos are done for, but it might come back. Who knows?

 pretty pathetic pathos :'(

 I suppose it's not really "natural" if it has fabric softener... but it is homemade.

-Sam