Sunday, April 29, 2012
Big City Life
Louie lives in the City Side Lofts- which are right off the connector as you hit down town at 13th street. There are several people with patios that are all decked out, and namely, two with these trees that light up. One person has a small tree lit up with blue and orange bulbs, presumably for BSU, and then someone who owns one of the top level condos has two palm trees that they light up. The trees look super cool, and almost everyone would know which house was yours when you explained where you live and how it's decorated.
Anyways, Louie has been wanting to beautify his patio for quite a while now but theres been two problems- 1. It's been too cold and 2. We can't find any trees or anything to light up except for the same type of thing that everyone else has on their patio.
SOOOO operation Project Patio was underway. Mission- take a blah patio in the heart of Boise's downtown lofts and make it from drab to fab darling. :)
First things first was to find some sort of something to light up. We both liked the idea of a tree, but couldn't find anything unique....until last week. We went to the farmers market and there is a man there that sales metal sculptures and lo and behold what did he have.....only one of the most amazing metal trees. It is sort of a wire frame trunk with these branches that are kinda curly and come out of the top. It was almost perfect. After thinking about it for a week we went back to the farmers market this week and talked to him. Louie wanted the tree, but wanted two rows of branches vs one and wanted a few other things done to it. The guy said no problem...so- the order was placed and hopefully in 1-3 weeks the piece is done. Whew, step one, and possibly the biggest challenge was taken care of. NOW, we have to figure out how to decorate the tree. We want to get some light and light it up of course, but we need to figure out what color lights and how we're gonna do it. That will be easy though, we already have some ideas that we've been throwing around....we thought it would be cool to light it up festively for different holidays and seasons and stuff. As soon as it's done I will get some pics up cuz it's gonna be super cool I think.
Once that was taken care of it was time to liven it up with some greenery. Last night we loaded up and headed to the store. We wanted to get some flowers and stuff to make an herb garden on the patio. What we decided to do was get a planter that hung on the railing of the patio and put some flowers in that, and then we would do the herbs in separate pots. We got a strawberry pot and planted seven varieties of herbs in it, and then just for a little variety, we also got four plain terra cotta pots and planted four types of herbs in that. The herbs we got include thyme, mint, basil, sage, lavender, oregano, chammomile, dill, rosemary, cilantro and I think marjoram, but can't remember the last one. We are going to have a HUGE herb garden here in a few weeks once everything takes off.
We also decided we wanted to do some strawberries and tomatoes. For those we got those Topsy Turvy upside down planters that hang. It adds a little spice to have something hanging, and these things are supposed to work wonders. The tomato thing said up to 30 pounds of tomatoes from one plant and the strawberries were up to like 15 quarts of strawberries.....thats alot of tomatoes and strawberries...I guess I better learn to can stuff. :)
So, we got the herbs and flowers planted and the strawberry hanger hung, but need to do the tomato one. We need to pick up the tree and get that lit up and then find a little patio set. After that it will be just the small additions to make it feel more settled and homey. :)
Here is a sneak peak at our work so far. It's dark (obviously) and taken with a cell phone camera, so the quality of this picture isnt the best, but you get the basic idea. I will post again later all the pics of the process, but this will have to do for now!
Anyways, Louie has been wanting to beautify his patio for quite a while now but theres been two problems- 1. It's been too cold and 2. We can't find any trees or anything to light up except for the same type of thing that everyone else has on their patio.
SOOOO operation Project Patio was underway. Mission- take a blah patio in the heart of Boise's downtown lofts and make it from drab to fab darling. :)
First things first was to find some sort of something to light up. We both liked the idea of a tree, but couldn't find anything unique....until last week. We went to the farmers market and there is a man there that sales metal sculptures and lo and behold what did he have.....only one of the most amazing metal trees. It is sort of a wire frame trunk with these branches that are kinda curly and come out of the top. It was almost perfect. After thinking about it for a week we went back to the farmers market this week and talked to him. Louie wanted the tree, but wanted two rows of branches vs one and wanted a few other things done to it. The guy said no problem...so- the order was placed and hopefully in 1-3 weeks the piece is done. Whew, step one, and possibly the biggest challenge was taken care of. NOW, we have to figure out how to decorate the tree. We want to get some light and light it up of course, but we need to figure out what color lights and how we're gonna do it. That will be easy though, we already have some ideas that we've been throwing around....we thought it would be cool to light it up festively for different holidays and seasons and stuff. As soon as it's done I will get some pics up cuz it's gonna be super cool I think.
Once that was taken care of it was time to liven it up with some greenery. Last night we loaded up and headed to the store. We wanted to get some flowers and stuff to make an herb garden on the patio. What we decided to do was get a planter that hung on the railing of the patio and put some flowers in that, and then we would do the herbs in separate pots. We got a strawberry pot and planted seven varieties of herbs in it, and then just for a little variety, we also got four plain terra cotta pots and planted four types of herbs in that. The herbs we got include thyme, mint, basil, sage, lavender, oregano, chammomile, dill, rosemary, cilantro and I think marjoram, but can't remember the last one. We are going to have a HUGE herb garden here in a few weeks once everything takes off.
We also decided we wanted to do some strawberries and tomatoes. For those we got those Topsy Turvy upside down planters that hang. It adds a little spice to have something hanging, and these things are supposed to work wonders. The tomato thing said up to 30 pounds of tomatoes from one plant and the strawberries were up to like 15 quarts of strawberries.....thats alot of tomatoes and strawberries...I guess I better learn to can stuff. :)
So, we got the herbs and flowers planted and the strawberry hanger hung, but need to do the tomato one. We need to pick up the tree and get that lit up and then find a little patio set. After that it will be just the small additions to make it feel more settled and homey. :)
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Science Project
Tomorrow Bella has to present a science project to her class. It was sort of a pain trying to figure out an experiment we could do that kindergartners would understand and that Bella could present by herself since Jason and I both have to work tomorrow. After purusing the internet for a while I found an experiment about bubbles. Basically the project is about taking different shape wands and blowing bubbles with it and and seeing what shape your bubble came out. It was a lot of fun. We made a poster board all about it and Bella had a blast blowing the bubbles and recording her results! :)
A wonderful spring day!
The weather this spring has been amazing, and we have been taking full advantage of it. This weekend was no exception. On Saturday, it was the first day of the farmers market so we started out the day there. Then we grabbed some lunch at Pollo Rey. It was such a nice day that we decided we wanted to take a drive so we headed out towards Mountain Home. It was fun- we didn't go anywhere in particular but ended up out in the boonies. We got out for a little while and explored and then headed back in to town. Louie went and picked up Rachel and we went to Municipal Park to play for a while. Then it was time to explore the MK Nature Center. I had never been in the little educational center there, so Miss Rachel took me all around and showed me everything. It's a great little place. Then we walked around the trails for a while looking for butterflies. THEN...it was time for ice cream. After Louie dropped Rachel back off with her mom we went and got all the stuff to BBQ and grilled some steaks. It was an amazing day!
Here are a few pictures from the MK Nature Center:
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Here are a few pictures from the MK Nature Center:
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28
On Friday I had my 28th birthday. Thanks to all of you that wished me a happy birthday. As Louie pointed out...I'm officially in my late 20's. I can no longer say early or mid 20's....it's late..on the down word slope to 30. Louie got me a couple really good things, BUT the thing I'm super excited for is pottery classes. I've always wanted to learn to throw pottery....AND he is going to take them with me, so he signed us both up. I'm SUPER excited. It starts in May and goes for 6 weeks. You get 1 three hour class every week, plus 3 hours of free studio time week. It includes 25 pounds of clay, glazes and firing. It's gonna be so much fun and I'm excited to get to take the classes with Louie. Be prepared to see all our creations!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Easter 2012
Sorry this pictures are like 2 weeks late. Here are just a few photos from Easter this year.
They were at their dads house so as soon as they got here..they were ready to see what the Easter Bunny had left them.
Then it was time to clean up a little bit to go out and about.
We all had brunch at the Owhyee Plaza Hotel...it was DELICIOUS!
After brunch the girls went back with their dad for a while. They went to Camel's Back Park and climbed the hill and played for a while..it was such a nice day!
After the park, they came back to my house for Easter Dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt.
They had a good time. Happy Easter everyone.
A Day with the Girls
Bella didn't have school yesterday, so I decided to keep Zo home as well and make a girls day out of it. We didn't have any plans or obligations so we decided to just sorta try out whatever we wanted to do.
We started the day off with breakfast at McDonalds. We LOVE their Cinnamon Melts and Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits, so that's what we all had- then it was time to play for a while..... who goes to mickey d's and doesn't play?
After we ate the girls wanted to go across the street to D&B to see the rabbits and baby chicks, and since it was their day...away we went!
After admiring how cute some of natures most annoying creatures are as babies, we wanted to go do something fun. I wanted to take them somewhere they had never been before- that was hard. We've been to basically every kid place around: Kid'n Around, Bounce, Jump Time, Planet Kid, Chuck E Cheese, Pojo's...you name it. I had to take Louie to the ER on Monday- long story- and while we were there, I was looking at a Parenting magazine, and they had an ad for a place called Bodies in Motion....very similar to Kid'n Around, up by the Fred Meyer on Federal Way. We decided to check it out. Like I already said, it's very similar to Kid'n Around, but honestly Kid'n Around is probably better, the only caviat to that is that it is ALWAYS packed and the place is constantly complete chaos. Bodies in Motion was pretty mellow in comparison. There were probably about 10-15 different families there, but it wasn't crowded at all. It is about 3 times the size of Kid'n Around. The jungle gym is huge, and they have some really awesome slides, but they really lacked on the other play areas. They also have a little cafe for lunch and snacks, but didn't offer much for kids which seemed odd. Anyways, all in all it was fun. We would go again.
On the way home from Bodies in Motion the girls were hungry and wanted to stop for some lunch. Since I'm such a health nut, we stopped at Wendy's. ...... : /
After lunch it was time to come home for Zoe's nap. Bella just had some quiet time in her room, and mamacita also took a little siesta.
Bella decided she wanted biscuits and gravy for dinner so after naps, we went to the store and grabbed all the stuff to make that. The girls wanted to do a craft at home, so we got some 'melty beads.' Most of you women out there around my age probably remember playing with these when we were young. It has little bases with pegs on them that you put these colored beads on and then iron and the beads melt together. Super fun. I decided it was time to introduce the girls to one of my favorite past times so we got a big box of those and got to creating as soon as we got home while I made dinner.
Zoe looks ROUGH in this picture....ha...poor kid. Normally she doesn't run around looking like such a hoodlum...but hey, in t he comfort of her own home...why not?!?!?
Sadly, the bead thing only lasted for so long before we needed to do something else....so we made salt dough. By this time I was pooped and the camera was put away. BUT, we played with the salt dough for a little while and then luckily for mom, it was time to get ready for bed.
It was an awesome day with my favorite two people in the whole world. Thanks for hanging with your mom girls...it was a super fun day! I love you guys!
We started the day off with breakfast at McDonalds. We LOVE their Cinnamon Melts and Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits, so that's what we all had- then it was time to play for a while..... who goes to mickey d's and doesn't play?
After we ate the girls wanted to go across the street to D&B to see the rabbits and baby chicks, and since it was their day...away we went!
After admiring how cute some of natures most annoying creatures are as babies, we wanted to go do something fun. I wanted to take them somewhere they had never been before- that was hard. We've been to basically every kid place around: Kid'n Around, Bounce, Jump Time, Planet Kid, Chuck E Cheese, Pojo's...you name it. I had to take Louie to the ER on Monday- long story- and while we were there, I was looking at a Parenting magazine, and they had an ad for a place called Bodies in Motion....very similar to Kid'n Around, up by the Fred Meyer on Federal Way. We decided to check it out. Like I already said, it's very similar to Kid'n Around, but honestly Kid'n Around is probably better, the only caviat to that is that it is ALWAYS packed and the place is constantly complete chaos. Bodies in Motion was pretty mellow in comparison. There were probably about 10-15 different families there, but it wasn't crowded at all. It is about 3 times the size of Kid'n Around. The jungle gym is huge, and they have some really awesome slides, but they really lacked on the other play areas. They also have a little cafe for lunch and snacks, but didn't offer much for kids which seemed odd. Anyways, all in all it was fun. We would go again.
On the way home from Bodies in Motion the girls were hungry and wanted to stop for some lunch. Since I'm such a health nut, we stopped at Wendy's. ...... : /
After lunch it was time to come home for Zoe's nap. Bella just had some quiet time in her room, and mamacita also took a little siesta.
Bella decided she wanted biscuits and gravy for dinner so after naps, we went to the store and grabbed all the stuff to make that. The girls wanted to do a craft at home, so we got some 'melty beads.' Most of you women out there around my age probably remember playing with these when we were young. It has little bases with pegs on them that you put these colored beads on and then iron and the beads melt together. Super fun. I decided it was time to introduce the girls to one of my favorite past times so we got a big box of those and got to creating as soon as we got home while I made dinner.
Sadly, the bead thing only lasted for so long before we needed to do something else....so we made salt dough. By this time I was pooped and the camera was put away. BUT, we played with the salt dough for a little while and then luckily for mom, it was time to get ready for bed.
It was an awesome day with my favorite two people in the whole world. Thanks for hanging with your mom girls...it was a super fun day! I love you guys!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Have a GOOD day
This morning I went to McDonalds on my way to work to grab a coke. I went to pay for it and the lady at the window tells me:
"Don't worry about paying for it. The car ahead of you bought yours. They just wanted me to tell you to have a good day."
This is awesome. Why doesn't this kind of stuff happen more...I'm not talking about people paying for my stuff, I'm talking about just random acts of kindness- it was only $1.06, and probably nothing to that lady, but it totally made my day.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Checking In
Just a quick post to check in. Everything is going good here. There are few things that have been going on that are note worthy so I will let you guys have them.
Easter weekend was great. On Easter we had brunch at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel. Then Louie came over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. What would Easter be without baskets? The girls got some really cute stuff from the Easter bunny this year and they were stoked to see that he didn't get lost and left them each a basket brimming with trinkets, toys and candy.
Bella is finishing up here first skiing season with a full day session tomorrow. She absolutely loves it and is good at it so I have a feeling that this is something that she is going to be wanting to do for a long time. It's nice to find something that she really enjoys to occupy her time. It's a bummer she only get to do it in the winter.
We have Bella signed up for the YMCA summer camp this summer. She will go full time, everyday from basically 9 to 5 or 530. She needs it. She has far too much energy to be home all day everyday. She would be miserable and I would be crazy. Zo is another story. She is totally chill and content to just play, color or watch movies or something. She will go to daycare Tuesdays and Fridays when I'm at work, but other than that Zoe is going to be hanging out at home.
I got hair extensions. They were awful. I ripped half of them out and have cut the other half basically off. I was super excited to get them and then utterly let down when they were finished. They seriously looked like a flippin' mullet. It was terrible.
My mother, the girls and I have registered for the Race for the Cure. We are going to make this an annual thing that we all do. It's fun and its for a good cause. Im going to make the girls some tutus I think. Get them some super cute pink tops and little pink and white tutus...super cute! We are going to do the 5k walk and just pull the girls in the wagon. It should be a blast.
Other than that life is same as normal.
Easter weekend was great. On Easter we had brunch at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel. Then Louie came over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. What would Easter be without baskets? The girls got some really cute stuff from the Easter bunny this year and they were stoked to see that he didn't get lost and left them each a basket brimming with trinkets, toys and candy.
Bella is finishing up here first skiing season with a full day session tomorrow. She absolutely loves it and is good at it so I have a feeling that this is something that she is going to be wanting to do for a long time. It's nice to find something that she really enjoys to occupy her time. It's a bummer she only get to do it in the winter.
We have Bella signed up for the YMCA summer camp this summer. She will go full time, everyday from basically 9 to 5 or 530. She needs it. She has far too much energy to be home all day everyday. She would be miserable and I would be crazy. Zo is another story. She is totally chill and content to just play, color or watch movies or something. She will go to daycare Tuesdays and Fridays when I'm at work, but other than that Zoe is going to be hanging out at home.
I got hair extensions. They were awful. I ripped half of them out and have cut the other half basically off. I was super excited to get them and then utterly let down when they were finished. They seriously looked like a flippin' mullet. It was terrible.
My mother, the girls and I have registered for the Race for the Cure. We are going to make this an annual thing that we all do. It's fun and its for a good cause. Im going to make the girls some tutus I think. Get them some super cute pink tops and little pink and white tutus...super cute! We are going to do the 5k walk and just pull the girls in the wagon. It should be a blast.
Other than that life is same as normal.
Monday, April 2, 2012
jolies fleurs
This is what a pretty Spring day looks like at our house:
flowers being planted:
dogs sunning themselves:
and kids having picnics:
ahhh.....could it get any better????
flowers being planted:
dogs sunning themselves:
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