Memorial Weekend

Memorial weekend was pretty mellow. The weather was just so/so...overcast, big suprise. On Saturday night at work I came across a classified ad and garage sale map. There were several listed to last into Sunday so I circled the few that sounded good and decided that I would do a little treasure hunting. I am super stoked over my finds here

I got some of it for free (late bird special!) and the rest I got for $26. Ahh, my heart sighs! None of it looks as cool in the picture as in real life, or maybe even then it only looks like treasure to me.
Later on in the day I went over to mom and dad's for a BBQ, yum, yum. Then on Monday stopped by to see the kitties.
He loves his baby...
this one is Buster...and this is Stewart.
I spent the rest of the weekend in the garden...now, how do I get the dirt out from under my nails?

My Nursery & Nana's Birthday

My backyard is looking like this right now...




...it's like I have my own personal nursery! I love it! I've been out "gardening" every day for the past week. I say "gardening" because mostly what I do is just rearrange all that I have bought so that I won't plant the wrong plants in the same pot. You'd be amazed at how much time I can take up doing this! I drag this set of flowers over there, those pots closer over here, regroup collections of flowers by their tags...is sun/part sun the same as light shade? How about part sun/part shade, is that the same as the one before? I can spend SO much time doing this but when I actually get my hands in the dirt I am very happy. Sigh.

On Sunday I went out to dinner at Larrupin's for my very special sis's birthday. Happy Birthday Nana! Here she is ready to attack with her weapon of choice. Beware. Always be on the lookout when she's packing cuz you don't want to be caught on her myspace looking like a deer caught in the headlights!

A little shot of her and I with the beautiful Brandy. What a fun night!

Cooling Down

I never thought I'd see the day where I would be thankful for cooler temperatures here on the home front. It was so nice today, just perfect at around 78. My accomplishment for the day was to tear apart a jasmine plant that I dug up at mom and dad's house. It took about an hour of ripping, tearing, trimming, and cutting at the roots to end up with about 5 individual plants. I hope they will grow!
On my way to work this afternoon I saw at least three different yard sales that I would have loved to stop at. It was probably a good thing I couldn't because I was driving dad's truck and who knows what I would have drug home with all that space to fill up! I'm really itching to do some serious yard sale-ing this summer. I'm not sure why I like it so much. It's kinda like a treasure hunt. I have made a couple of yard sale purchases so far this season...

found these gorgeous vintage buttons--like I need any more of those! But aren't they SO pretty?!

And then there was this little bounty. Love the crates! Love the aqua glass! The yellow bowl is so perfectly suited to our little yellow kitchen it's just sick. The ceramic squirrel, well, you'll just have to stay tuned for what we have planned for this chipper little guy.

Took a Walk

It's 11:30pm, and it has taken me two hours to cool the interior of my home to 88 degrees!! This is INSANE! All I can say is that I'm so thankful to have kept my trusty little fan that I bought when I was in Puerto Rico. I carry it into every room with me. It's been so hot here the last few days, I'm seriously wilting. I mean, who'd think that it could be 100+ in Arcata, 100 in Trinidad, 110 in Blue Lake, in May?! It's absolutely nuts I tell ya!
On Tuesday I took a little afternoon walk around the neighborhood. I was so happy because it was 5:30pm and I had on a thin short sleeved tee and no jacket, I felt so free (little did I know what the next couple of days had in store for me, ha!), I mean, it's so rare to have an afternoon where the wind doesn't kick up or the clouds don't roll in. Anyway, I've been on a gardening kick and there are a few yards that I always admire when I drive past and I wanted to get a closer look. I grabbed my camera as I went out the door and shot a few pics of my favorites...


this is actually the tree in front of our place that we just realized has bloomed the most fabulous little pink flowers--so pretty!



not sure what these are, but I totally want to find out

Love the ornamental grasses

vegetable garden in the front yard!

The fuschia flowers next to this tree wave above skinny green stems in the breeze--been noticing these around town and I love 'em!

I'm totally obsessed with this stuff, I want a Japanese Wisteria so bad

Now my head is full of ideas and I need to get back to my own yard and to potting all my little flowers that I have collected over the past month.

B*Day Dinner

The weekend following mom's birthday we all met for dinner at the Sunset Restaurant, always a favorite for birthday dinners. With everybody on a different work schedule it can be hard to find a time when we can all meet, but when we do, the memories made during that time are priceless!

Dinner was filled with lots of laughter and an especially touching moment when the subtly playing music caught mom's ear and she realized it was the first song she and dad had ever danced to. It was something by Chicago, I can't remember what. It turned out dad had requested it, and we all thought she would cry, but she didn't. It's kind of our thing to tease mom a little bit cause she often cries when she's really happy, like when she gets an especially sweet gift or something like that. And It was a fun moment too because we don't get to see dad be that romantic too often.

This next picture cracks me up because it's the "take another to be safe" shot. You know, the one where as soon as the first one is taken you holler out, "wait!, one more"....well, mom was about to get ready for it, but dad was mid desert when the first shot was taken and I guess it must have been so good that he didn't want to wait to get back to it cause this is how that photo turned out

funny stuff! And for good measure here's one of me on my way to dinner...

I don't get dressed up much anymore and what else to you do when you have a camera and great natural light? Oh, but does it ever show off those fine little lines creeping out around my eyes!