Friends With Berries

 This was so cute and typical.  My friend's boy was interested in pulling, swinging and jumping on the tree, while my friend's little girl was more interested and delighted in picking the cherries!

 I always anticipate seeing the fun little outfit that she comes up with.  It is always bright, and cheery and has many layers.  She usually is wearing more than one skirt!  She is so sweet and adores my baby.  The feeling is pretty mutual.

You all know I love Greenbluff.  I could go every week in the summer.  But this last week I didn't have to. The berries came to me.  Our church community garden has strawberries and raspberries.  My friend gave me a little jar of fresh raspberry jam.  My friend Lindsey invited me over to pick raspberries.  Yum, I think they are my favorite berry.  Then, my friend Amy told me she had 2 cherry trees that we could pick from.  She was so sweet and even rented a ladder for us.  The berry season goes by so quickly, you must hurry and pick them and eat as many as you can!  My freezer, fridge, and tummy is currently filled to the brim of berries!  Courtney has a fun post about the cherries.  We had such a good time!

A Random Summer Day

I did manage to finally print a picture of my baby girl.  Yes, she is 8 months old now, and I just printed my first picture of her.   Oh the negative side of digital photography.  I even got some frames for them.  This beautiful picture was taken by my talented friend Jessica (Jeff Loves Jessica Photography) at my friend Amy's wedding. I got it in a 12x12 size.  It's a fun photo size.  I must brag, I love this picture, and Jess just snapped it-not planned or posed, outside of the aqua VW van as we were decorating it, just like that.  Aren't the best photos the unplanned ones? Yes, I am so spoiled and blessed to have a best friend who happens to be a professional photographer!  And I would kill to be able to grab my camera and just casually snap a pic like this!

Blah day.

I'm feeling blah
I want to get projects done on this house.  I've learned that it's best to get the idea out of your head and into reality, it helps bring on new ideas and more creative thinking.  I've waited so long to paint a house, I have so many projects in my head, they just need some execution.

I'm just about finished with my dining room, a few final details and it will be done.

I realize I've been away from my Bible for too long.  And for some strange reason I keep putting off reading it.  I know I will feel better, but I'm being weird and avoiding it.

We have 2 big bass amps in our little house.  One needs to go.  We have 2 coffee tables in our living room.  One needs to go.  I have a vintage sled in my entry way.  It needs to go to the basement.  I have an ugly couch on my porch.  (The couch is not ours, it's our neighbor's)  Our Christmas tree stand is still on our back porch.  I have an extra bedroom that needs to be turned into a bedroom/studio.  I cannot walk into said bedroom.  Did I mention I have a baby on the brink of crawling?  She scoots backwards and rolls all over the place.  The clutter is driving me mad.  You might be thankful that you don't buy and resell things as a living if you saw my house today.

I am leaving for my brother's wedding in two days.  I need to make practice cupcake cheesecakes and make some cupcake wrappers using my silhouette machine.

I have pitted cherries, and homemade pie crust sitting in the fridge begging to be made into pie.  Apparently you need tapioca to make homemade cherry pie.  Who knew?  I don't have tapioca sitting around.

This is a silly thing, but I had to take a photo.  I sold my sugar jar to the people at Etsy.  It is going in the Etsy office space in Brooklyn.  So I may not have many sales, but if the people who work at etsy want to buy something of mine to have in their office I might be doing something right, huh?  It gives me a little nudge to list all the other crap I have sitting around here.  I kinda geeked out about this!

Another big accomplishment for me is that my kitchen floor is clean.  My floor is always gross and I hate it!

So there is my brain dump for the day.  It's nothing pretty or nice, but it's what is going on over here.  I think I want more posts like this.  The reality of my day.  The challenge of wanting to get things done, versus actually doing them.  And you know what, after posting this it is giving me the motivation to scratch some things off the list.

The summer is slipping by.  I will enjoy it!

His Band

 top two photos courtesy of Blank Line Studios

I'm really excited for Sam's band.  I finally got to see them perform (I've just heard them practice)  They played at the Perry Street Fair (the last picture) They also played at Ionic Burrito.  I'm pretty sure they are going to be at Perry Street Pizza on Wednesday night.  And the coolest thing is that I heard them on the radio the other day.  And it was my favorite radio station- KPND.  That must be surreal to hear yourself as you're driving in your car.  So I'm pretty proud of them.  They are going to be playing live on KPND next Wednesday.  In fact Sam is cutting his vacation short to come back for it.  I don't blame him, I'd do the same thing.  He will be playing at Trinity at Willow Bay for their pint night.  Here is a link to hear some of their stuff.

He's Back (for now)

Sam came back on Saturday and we had a nice day Sunday.  

Before he came back we got one more trip to Greenbluff and picked lots of big juicy strawberries.  (And this time Luna was wearing the apropos attire- the strawberry capris!)

 Then we hurried back for a picnic with friends at the park.  She loved swinging!

On Sunday we went to Liberty Pool.  It was so much fun, and not just for Luna.  I know I may sound like a dork saying this, but Sam and I had fun too!  Grandma and Grandpa came and watched and took pictures.  After Luna was done swimming we went down the big kid water slides, and I even tried out the whirlpool.  The slides didn't look too impressive, but they were really fun!  It's good to act like a kid again, and kids today have it good with cool pools like this in every neighborhood.

 She is half fish I think.  She loves splashing and doesn't mind getting water in her face, she just sticks her tongue out hoping to get a little taste of that water in her mouth!  She liked the water slides.

 In the evening we went on the City Drive.  Have you ever seen the brown arrowhead sign around town?  We didn't head out to Green Bluff, but we did the rest of it and it was really fun.  We saw parts of Spokane that I hadn't seen.  It takes you through the most scenic spots around Spokane.  The next time someone new comes to town I will take them on it for sure.

And then we came home and were starving.  We were going to order take out from South Perry Pizza, but when they're busy they don't even have take out available.  Then I realized I had the ingredients to make a salad just as yummy, and a pizza just as good.  I just cheated by using crescent rolls for crust instead of pizza dough.  

The Waiting Game And Letting Go

Sam was supposed to come home Wednesday night, then Thursday night, then tonight, now tomorrow afternoon.  9 times out of 10 these jobs always take longer than anticipated so I always try not to look forward to the actual day he is supposed to arrive home.  It is so hard not to know when to expect him, and to be disappointed at the last minute every night!  It's 11 pm his time and he's still working tonight as I write this!  So, who knows- maybe he'll be home Sunday.  I'm not going to assume anything until I get a call from the airport!  3 weeks as a single parent is so tiring!  I have so much more respect now.  Luna is chewing on a vintage block as we speak and I'm trying not to think about where they have been.  I'm just hoping that their age will help her build a strong immune system.  This girl has also figured out how to scoot all over the place and roll from one area to another.  It's no longer safe to leave the room and expect to find her where she started out!  She has such a strong little personality.  She scrunches her nose and squints her eyes when she laughs- it's the cutest thing.  I don't know if her dad will recognize her!  I really miss him.  I also know it could be much worse, I'm glad he's here most of the time.  I'm glad he's not in the military.  I'm glad I'm not a single parent!

Her little vintage bathrobe- all clean after a bath!

Being a homeowner and first time landlord has been a little stressful to deal with all alone.  I have been so thankful for my friends and family who have helped out so much.  Friends have invited me over for dinner.  They have listened to me talk for hours on the phone, venting!  They have watched Luna so I could haul our weeds to the transfer station.  They helped drive my truck home when it broke down on the way home!  They helped me put together our lawn mower.  (I can't wait to show you- it's a reel mower-(no gas) and so much fun to use.)  When Jess and Jeff came I was planning on making this cake for them, but it didn't happen, my kitchen floors didn't get mopped and my pile of crap from an estate sale didn't find a home.  It resides in a pile in my dining room!  It's hard for me, because I like everything to look perfect, but it just didn't happen.  But I'm learning to just roll with it.  I felt bad that I couldn't make the perfect meal.  It was so much more fun to just chat at a restaurant and enjoy food that someone else made.  It's so good to just get together with friends.  It's a lesson for me to let go of my own expectations and pride and just be!  God is good and is getting me through.  It really has gone by fast.  Having a community of people to help is so nice.  It's great to have people who love and care and understand! 

So the past few weeks have been very busy.  Staying busy makes the time go fast, but it was almost too busy.  One day last week I helped sell things for our church's community garden and some weaving made by refugee friends.  I was excited about it, but it didn't really work out.  We were not organized enough and had some miscommunication.  So sadly, we aren't selling anymore- but to be honest I'm a little relieved!  It was fun to sit and chat with a friend I hadn't talked to in awhile.  And it was fun talking to the other vendors.  Hopefully we can get it together someday!

Our little garden is growing bigger by the day.  It still looks pretty pathetic, and since I forgot to add the markers before the pencil washed away everything is a mystery!  I know the tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and squash- but that's it.  Every night Luna and I go.  She loves to get sprayed by the hose (on the gentle mist setting)  She makes her little squinty face, it's fun!  She was my little helper weeding all day yesterday!

I painted a little accent wall. It's the first time I've been able to paint in any place that I've lived.  Let's just say I didn't ease into it!  I'll show you the full reveal when I get my art on the wall.

I also made another trip to Greenbluff and got to pick my $16 worth of berries!  There have been many play dates at the park splash pad, a girls night spent chatting much too late at night, and lots of time outside.  Trying to make the most of summer, and trying to choose to be happy even though Sam is gone!

Happy 4th

I made a little cake for our low key 4th of July.  It looks so pretty and is very yummy, but it's super simple to make.  I simply baked a white boxed cake, whipped some heavy cream and sugar, cut the cake into three layers, and piped some stars and a reverse shell with an extra large star tip.  I added some strawberries that Luna and I picked from Green Bluff and some store bought blueberries.  I wish I remembered to use my trifle dish more often.  It makes things so pretty, but I tend to only remember it on the 4th of July.  

 Aunt Katie took Luna swimming.  Luna loves to swim.  She even does a little frog kick.  She loves to float and lay on her back and swim to toys.  She enjoyed the floating even more after we put the sunglasses on, the sun was so bright!

 Nothing better after a long day of swimming than a nap in Grandma's arms on the back patio swing.

 We had a good old fashioned American barbeque.  We didn't get to watch the fireworks though.  I thought we might be able to see them from my porch-pesky trees were in the way!  We also had fun with friends in town the night before.

My Little Strawberry Shortcake

It has been so long since I last blogged.  Luna had her first trip to Green Bluff today.  Last year, she was in my belly when I was picking.  It was more fun and comfortable this time!   She had so much fun and ate so many strawberries!  She has it pretty good, eating her first berry picked all by herself and still warm from the sun!  Sam has been out of town for over a week and it has been so busy and I've been so tired!  The berries were so small, I only picked $0.82 worth of strawberries!  (It was more about the experience, and I was a slacker and didn't get out until around 1 pm, when it was sooo hot!)   Normally I can pick about $16, at least.  I think I'll wait a bit and go to Knapps.  This was at Siemers and I must say their berries are usually smaller and they have no system.  At Knapp's they give you a little flag and you put it down to indicate where you picked at, so the next person can pick up where you left off with no guessing.  

The girl has 8 teeth!