Its Blueberry Season!

This morning we went out and picked a couple buckets worth of blueberries at Anderson Blues, North of Corvallis off Hwy 99.  We went back to the same spot we did last year.  We were too late in the season to pick the Spartan blueberries but the Dixi ones we picked were just as delicious.

 Stalking Emma through the blueberries like a paprazzi

 What a lovely stick Charlotte

 Char kept running away so Oz sat down to keep her entertained like a good dad

 Picking some Dixi blueberries

Yay! Fresh blueberries!

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

 This is a very late posting that I should have posted back in April, but its better than never right?  The 3rd weekend in April was a gorgeous sunny day and was perfect condition to drive to Woodburn and see some tulips in full bloom.

 The Wooden Shoe tulip farm is a family owned tulip cultivator that opens their fields to the public to view thier tulips during their blooming season.  I met Amy here and we had a blast walking down the tulip rows.

Cute windmill

 I love little Dutch gnome people

 Farming is HARD work!

2nd Annual Newport Celtic Festival

 Brandy and I just returned from a day in Newport at the 2nd annual Newport Celtic Festival and Highland Games.  It was a beautiful sunny day filled with lots of Scottish festivities and drinks!  My grandpa's side of the family migrated from Scotland in the 1860's and it was very special to get in touch with my celtic roots.

 The opening ceremonies color guard

I LOVE bagpipes!

 Awe yeah, meat pies!

 It was amazing these guy's didn't drop these on their heads

 Look, we're in Scotland!

 The Sons of Malarky

 Eating fish and chips while watching some highland games

 Some bangers and mash

 Caber Toss

 Cute wooly cow

 After the games we headed to Agate Beach

There was a cement dock washed upon the beach from Japan as aftermath of the tsunami last year

Sunshine, Please Return and Bring Back my Motivation!

As you may have noticed I haven't been posting many blogs lately.  I have been busy with work getting the store ready for the hustle and bustle of the spring months that are just around the corner.  In my spare time I have been just as busy with all sorts of activities.  My mom, brother and Nana came from Nevada and stayed St. Patty's weekend.   While they were visiting we went to the coast for a day, we did some gift shopping at Schmidt's, we introduced them to Block 15 and Market of Choice, and we played pool and drank margaritas in celebration of St. Patty's Day!

My mom, brother and their dog, Buster at Nye Beach

The day they left, Corvallis woke up to a snow storm that lasted all day long.   And since then the weather has been too terrible to work outside I have been focusing on indoor projects.  I did try and do some yard work this last Monday when it was sunny.  I tried mowing the lawn but it was still too wet and Charlotte was not making it easy on me because she likes to bark at the push mower because it "chases" her across the backyard.

 Playing some frizz bee tug of war out in the snow covered park

And then I have been recovering from being under the weather the last few weeks.  It wasn't serious but I took a few days off from work so that I wouldn't over do it and get worse later on in the busy spring gardening season.  I'm finally feeling close to 100% and feel like I've regained my energy as well as motivation for work and craft projects as well as blogging!

 Charlotte basking in the sun when it came out for a few hours

When I've been feeling up to it I've been working on items for my etsy shop.  I recently put most of my decorations I made for my Harry Potter party a while back.  I have also been in the middle of making some really adorable dog beds made from discarded dresser drawers and vintage suitcases.  My shop has been doing fairly well this year which is exciting.  It gives me encouragement that I should keep coming up with new ideas and products to list online.

Well fellow blog readers, that is a recap of what I have been up to this past month and a half.  I am hoping April will bring lots of sunshine and fun outing with good people to make the most of this 2012 spring.

Portland Nursery on Division

I spent the day with Amy in Portland yesterday. I dropped off Charlotte at Amy's so she could play with Porter then Amy and I were off and about. Eventually We went to a plant nursery in search of plants for Amy's apartment. We went to the Portland nursery on Division Street. 

It was a pretty cool spot. We found some staghorn ferns mounted on the walls. We both bought a 4" one to make our own.

We saw a hanging basket filled with beautiful red speckled pitcher plants.

A giant jade plant that was about 4 feet tall.

They had tons of tropical plants more than a story high. I'm standing under a giant palm plant with fronds so large they could double as an umbrella.

They also had a great selection of succulents and cacti. Inside the greenhouse was a mini desert display with all sorts of cacti growing around rocks and boulders. Out front they even had living walls made with succulents.

An Autumn Homecoming

Wow, its been quite a while since my last posting.  As you know I have been traveling the Northwest and visiting family and friends in Idaho, Utah and Nevada.  What a fun and needed vacation I had.  I've been back for a full week now but haven't had a chance to blog because I have been busy deep cleaning and organizing the house this past week on top of working a full week's worth.  But I found some extra time this morning that I could blog a little so I thought I would share with you a few photos from my travels.

The first day I drove 61/2 hours from Portland and ended the day in Emmett, Idaho and stayed the night with one of my close friends from high school.  While my friend, Tessa and I were busy catching up and playing with her little girl, Charlotte was busy making friends with the two cow dogs and the horses in the field.  Charlotte kept sticking her head through the fence to go say hi to the horses.  I kept a close eye on her because I was afraid she would squeeze through the fence.

 Charlotte, Me, Tessa and Alyanna sitting on a bench in Tessa's backyard

 Aly on her swing set

 Charlotte and Storm

After staying with Tessa the night I drove 2 hours more through Idaho and stopped in Hagerman to visit my grandparents.  Idaho has never been a favorite state of mine but the little town of Hagerman is beautiful.  It sits right along the Snake River and is full of natural greenery and small ponds and creeks. My grandparents house was built entirely by my grandpa and my uncle about 15 years ago.  My grandpa did such a good job designing a house that fits his property beautifully.  It complements its surroundings and doesn't feel out of  place.  I saw a lot of multi-million dollar homes along the Snake River but my grandparent's house is by far my favorite.  There is even a large pond in back stocked with carp, koi, sturgeon and other types of fish that my grandpa filled himself.  

This is the back side of the house my grandpa built.  The grass is a perfect spot for my grandma to practice her golf swing.

This is part of the pond.  To build it my grandpa redirected the water from the creek that naturally fills the pond.  He also added a fountain in the middle of the pond to aereate the water every once and a while.

Here is me with my grandparents boating along the Snake River.  We took the dogs with us.  Charlotte loved it.  I was afraid she would jump off the side of the boat because she wanted to investigate everything on it.

While I was there my grandpa made a ton of cute projects for me.  Which I will blog about in the future when I have time to finish them. Above is a photo of a dog dining station my grandpa helped me attach legs and cut out holes for the dishes.  Its made out of a skate board.  I am still working on painting it and customizing it for Charlotte but when I'm done I will blog about it.  I might even decide to try and sell them because it turned out really cute.


The next stop was my grandma Colleen's house in Utah.  It was really nice to see my grandma and as an added bonus my dad was there too.  He just moved back to the states from Mexico and I hadn't seen him since Christmas.  While I helped my grandma plant up some planters out front and then we worked on sewing a Christmas yo-yo quilt (another topic for a blogging post in the future).

Charlotte had her own bed to sleep on.  Not really...I put down the sleeping bag and blanket so she wouldn't shed every where and she made herself at home.

My dad, grandma and I at Payson Lake Utah.  We drove up to watch the leaves turning color and have a picnic at the lake shore.  It was a really nice day and we all enjoyed our lunch.

Beautiful leaves turning color on our way to the lake.

After Utah I drove 9 1/2 hours to get to Dayton, Nevada to visit my mom, nana and the majority of my relatives.  We did a lot while I was there.  We went to Virginia City and watched the Port-a-potty races, drove to Lake Tahoe and had a picnic and I helped my nana make some scarecrows for her yard.

My nana and her new scarecrow

The historic mining town of Virginia City

 

A contestant in the annual Port-a-potty races

 At Lake Tahoe with my brother, mom and nana

Charlotte and Buster in the water, neither one wanted to be in there.

Well, that is the condensed version of my trip.  Charlotte and I had lots of fun.  Now that we are back I haven't wasted any time getting back into the crafting ideas.  On Sunday a steam cleaned the living room and redecorated.  I should be done very soon and will post photos of what I have been working on.  I have a lot of blogging ideas, hopefully I will find the time to get them all done!