The Perfect Pouf

If you look around in all of the most fashionable houses these days you are likely to find what is essentially a small, firm, leather bean bag.......this is called a pouf.

Originally a popular household item in Morocco, these tuffets have taken the US by storm. Unfortunately, their staggering price (around $300 for a smallish one) prevents them from being available to the masses.

They can function as extra seating, ottomans or even end tables. Their versatility makes them the perfect choice for smaller spaces.

Yes. I really, really want one (or maybe two). Butter-yellow leather for one and maybe a pretty lighter brown for the other. Yes, I know that I am part of the "masses" that I mentioned above...but aren't they neato?

What is the state flower of Alabama. I'll take shrubs for $400 Alex.

The pictures above were taken tonight on my way home- these are just some of the pretty Camellia shrubs I pass on my commute. I think they are beautiful. I'm not sure if it's because they bloom early and I am just happy to see flowers again or because their pink-red shade and round shape are just so perfectly what flowers should be.

I first really started noticing Camellias last year. I thought they were pretty, asked around and found out what they were. A year went by and I completely forgot what they were called. When they started blooming again this spring I kept thinking I ought to track down what they were. After taking all the pictures tonight I decided to Google around and figure it out.

Have you tried to Google something when you don't know what it is called? It is harder than you would think. After searches for "early blooming shrub" "pink blossom flowering shrub" "Washington state flowering shrub" all came up to nothing I did what I often do when I don't know the answer, I called my parents.

My Dad, who has planted enough trees that he and Seuss' Lorax could be the best of friends and gave top effort to a raised bed garden of cucumbers and carrots back in the 80's that the birds took in the end knows his fair share about plants- but I wouldn't call him a Gardner, no one would. After hearing the same 3 or 4 word descriptions of this mystery plant, he suggested offhandedly that, "oh, it might be a Camellia" "Yes! The name clicked in my head, that's what it was." Another mystery solved, my Dad just may be smarter than Google.

Here is what the computer had to say about Camellias:
A long-lived evergreen shrub, the Camellia plant is a beloved Southern shrub with graceful blooms that have been enjoyed by gardeners for years. Camellias are well suited for part shade.

It is also the state flower of Alabama.

Makes you wonder why you're not eating cornbread all the time.

Tyson, among his numerous other interesting talents and amazing achievements also happens to make the BEST cornbread in the world!  

It is unreal how good it is, it is, okay-i'll-have-one-piece-oh-yum-better-make-that-two-wow-forget-the-chili-lets-just-have-cornbread-for-dinner-jeez-this-is-good-why- are-we not-eating-cornbread-all-of-the-time?!?!  Yes, it is that good.

The Farm Stalking has Begun!

Today, Tyson and I started what will be a multi-year process to find the perfect farm property up north for our future home/business. We jeeped the back roads of Skagit Valley for about four hours and identified some of the towns we like better than others. There are a ton of options up there and many more places to check out.

The picture above was one of the favorites of the day, we stopped back by after dinner with Tyson's dad to take a picture, unfortunately it was pretty dark by then. But it is a great two story white farm house (with a green metal roof I think) on a decent sized rectangle of land with an old barn.

I just added a daylight picture I found from the Skagit County Assessor's office.  Ignore the weird outbuilding, I already planed to get rid of that.  Bummer though, it seems that the house is only sitting on 1 acre of property.  We would have to convince the house behind to sell us their 10 acres or the house next door to sell us some of their 40 acres or....we might have to keep looking.

The WORLD'S game is coming to Seattle...

...and we are going to see it! Feel free to be jealous or join us!If you are not a soccer fan, then just admire the sweet wooden swordfish I have up on the wall.

Surprise-y Sam the Solider

Sam came home for surprise leave a few weeks ago. When I say that everyone asks if it was a surprise to him or us? It was a HUGE and wonderful surprise for us. Not wanting to disappoint people if he had to change plans at the last minute Sam called his wife from Denver to ask her to come pick him up at the airport!

He continued this sneaky streak by appearing unannounced at my parents house. They were driving home from the store and mom noticed "some man"in the yard- turned out to be Sam.

He ended up surprising me as well, I called home and was talking to Dad one evening, I think it was a Wednesday if that helps you picture it better, and I could hear Paige running around in the background. Mid-sentence my Dad says hang out a second- what does this mean? Well to me it quite clearly meant that I was going to talk to Paige, as I waited to hear her voice, Sam started talking- well, had I been sitting I would have fallen out of my chair.

The simple conclusion that he was home on leave didn't even occur to me. I was completely confused trying to figure what was going on- was the war over (probably would have heard that on the radio) was his unit done, was this some sort of very expensive 3 way call from the middle east? No, Sam was home to visit for two weeks, YAY! These pictures are from when we all went down to the Island house and hung out.

C R A S H ! ! !

This is from a few weeks ago- he is all healed up now. On his bike commute home Tyson attacked the road with his face. He broke his helmet and glasses, but you should see what he did to the road!

Your hair is now probably longer than mine.

This short film was taken about two weeks ago, which if you know anything about haircuts means that my coif is just about starting to look good. The video and laughter is coming form some of my co-workers who went with me for the BIG chop.

It has been about 8 or 9 years since I have had a whole pony-tail cut off. I am enjoying how much easier short hair is (after he trimmed it up it is now just past my shoulders) to take care of but have already decided (how inevitable is this?) that I will be growing it out again, long hair just kind of feels more normal to me.

Below is a picture featuring my locks on their last day at the office.

We OFFICIALLY have a farm....

…and by that I mean that I made this neat bag with a possible name for our possible future farm!

Tyson gave me this cool DIY canvas bag kit for Valentines (craft project in a bag- a wonderful gift!). It came with the bag and a whole bunch of iron-on letters and pictures, you supply your own creativity and this is what I came up with.

It went together really quick and I’m happy with how it looks. I used a dinner plate to get the curved letters in “Danilson” to come out even. However, as I am not yet an iron-on champion I think I need to use some fabric glue to secure a few of my letters before they jump.