People...

Summer might just be coming........

 Look what I picked out the garden today......

Garden and Yard as of today.

So mostly pictures but this is the first year where I just started shoving stuff in places...in past years I made sure everything had a "area" and it was all organized and such..this year (mostly because of my addiction to buying plants) I am shoving stuff anywhere it will fit.  So here it is right now:

When we moved here 3 years ago there was really nothing but dead grass and the arborvitae, it is a slow process but getting there.    

I love doing laundry surrounded by roses...better than being inside! 

Corn....I have never grown it but we shall see how it does.  Sadly don't think it will be knee high by July..

Boscoe checking out the rhubarb and some flowers. 

The tiffany blue inspired Apiary, the bees are SUPER busy right now but moving fast I can't really capture them...we really enjoy having them around and that third box on top means there will be honey...just don't know how much yet.

One of the three raised beds we have...this one is partial shade so lettuce (and mustard greens as you can see) live here...

Please let it be noted I have re-planted the lettuce 3 times because of some very adventurous chickens...who might be soup soon....

Middle bed is full of tomatoes, some beets and half dead basil...I just can't get that stuff to grow...any tips?  Also would love if they made wall of waters that fit around the larger cages..my solution was to just wrap plastic wrap around them...seems to have worked.  

Just got this whiskey barrel and am going to attempt to grow cucumbers up the metal fencing in the back...anyone done this before?  Do I tie it to it or just slowly train it to go up??

The last bed is full of peas, some bush beans, more cucumbers, some eggplant and ......

Bell Peppers!!! This one plant has four on already! None of my other plants have much of anything...soo excited.  They eventually (fingers crossed) will turn purple...

 The chicken coop under some shade...sadly no chickens would pose as they used this opportunity to escape and are now meandering around the yard evading capture...oy.  Thankfully I know they can be lured by avocado leftovers....eventually this will be painted to match the apiary...was a great find off of craigslist.

Next to the chicken coop we have potatoes planted...I am experimenting with cages I made of stuff laying around the house (left over chicken wire and the weed blocker that never worked for us).  I also have some buried in the ground so we shall see which is more efficient.  

Between the rows I planted onions.....not a smart choice...between me stepping on them, the dogs and chickens they aren't doing so good....prob won't do that again next year.  Hopefully some turn it around.

 Won't win any awards for beauty but gonna use what you have laying around...

Still my favorite place in the garden...it is where I go to "supervise".....

Now gonna go hit the streets and ride the ol' bike around!  We are lucky enough to have the  Portland Parkways this sunday! Great weather to go out and see all the neighbors! Next week I will show some pictures of our newest "garden" space & the front yard.

TG-I-FREAKIN-F

Dear NY,

Thank you for being so awesome.

Sincerely,

Lacy

PS I swear I didn't tear up...until I looked over this photo:

Seriously...Look at those happy, surprised faces.  I love all the love in this photo!!

So hug those around you, and lets work on the next state....

Lacy

photo from: boingboing....go check them all out! 

Surprises.

So I bought 3 roses at Fred Meyers on the super cheap because they didn't have a tag on them....hence when I bought them I had no idea what they would look like...and then a couple of days ago I got this from one of the plants:
                                                       

           

Sometimes I love surprises.....

BLAH.

So I have started a "cleanse" of sorts and honestly this has shown me what a wuss I am!  My "cleanse" is pretty lax compared to everyone else's but it has been a rough couple of days....

So I have given up processed sugar, gluten, dairy, soy, CAFFEINE, and red meat.


Now I knew when I started that caffeine would be ROUGH...but it has really kicked my ass.  I honestly can't remember a time when I haven't had coffee....like in the past 28 years of my life...so the first day was painful.  like nauseous, kill me painful. Honestly questioned if it was even worth it but decided if something is causing me that much "withdrawals" within one day then I needed to reduce the hold it has on me.  I am now completing day 3 and while the headaches have gone (mostly) and I have actually started to feel thirsty occasionally (which I used to never) & my energy is GONE.  For example today I sat down after work and what felt like one blink of an eye it was 2 hours later and I still felt exhausted...and I am not a nap person.  

While the detox from caffeine has been about 500,000 times worse than I thought the other things I am not eating I haven't really missed at all.  While I enjoy sugar, I have been eating fruit and can use raw honey so haven't even craved it at all.  Also when you just cut out bread it makes it easy to say "no thanks" and again I haven't missed it.......yet.........

So originally I was gonna do this for 10 days but I might keep it up a bit longer as long as it has shown me that my body is a bit too dependent on certain things........

hopefully I start feeling the "good" affects of this whole thing...

wish me luck!

My dad.

So my dad was pretty young when I came around...like really early 20's and as someone who recently finished her early 20's I just don't know how he did it.  Both my parents really stepped up to the plate and for that I am really blessed.  So today I thought I would share a list of some things I learned from my dad about life:

1. When life throws you shit you can decide to overcome it or give up.  It is that simple.  

My dad has demonstrated this so many times in my life that it is hard to choose one instance where he really sunk this home but when he was in his early 30's he was diagnosed with a super rare/odd cancer that left him with an almost zero percent chance of life.  Overnight he went from being a really buff, vibrant young man to an invalid who spent a year in a hospital bubble.  Constantly he was told he wasn't gonna make it, and honestly some of the shit he went through it would of seemed easier to just give up...but he never did.  His mind was made up and he blew all those stats out of the water and is thankfully not only with us but doing things his doctors said he would never do...and he attributes this to "mind over matter" (and God).  This lesson wasn't only taught in major ways either, in everyday situations I see this lesson repeated and while my life hasn't been super harsh (fingers crossed) this lesson has served me really well and while some call it being stubborn I know I am better for it.

2.  There is nothing wrong with making a mistake (and admitting it) if you tried your best and learned from it. 

My dad never had any issues sharing mistakes he had made in life.  I think what I really got from this lesson is that it is okay to try, even if you don't think you will succeed.  This has given me a lot of courage and "balls" to go after things that were slightly out of grasp..and that has helped me tremendously in all areas of my life.  It also showed me that it is okay to admit you were wrong, that your self-worth shouldn't be tied to succeeded at everything.  This lesson has also helped me take criticism with the right outlook and use it to better myself.

It also helps to know that I have a dad who will answer my call, or his door, if I do fail with a hug or kind words :)

3.  A man's worth can be measured by his basketball game.

Now this isn't completely true..but when growing up my dad's "challenge" to potential suitors for me and my sister was that they had to win a came of HORSE against him....what these young men didn't know is that he would be spend hours practicing long shots from our neighbor's driveway (which was across the street)....

It wasn't about basketball though my dad told me to never marry/date or befriend someone who didn't have a passion in life...something they had to sacrifice and prioritize for.  That was what sports was about.  Working your ass off, committing to something and learning to work with a team.  This lesson has helped me more times than not with finding amazing friends and people with whom to grow with.

4.  Let those around you know how you feel about them. ALL THE TIME.

My dad calls me everyday not to actually talk but to just tell me he loves me and to "make it a great day".  It isn't just me he does this too....it is also his sister, various friends of mine through the years and really anyone he knows.  I think having cancer at such a young age showed him that you have no idea what life is gonna throw at you so make sure those around you know that you love them.  One of the most valuable possessions I have is a box I have thrown all my "love" letters from my dad in over the years.  Some are pages long, some are on post-it-notes.  I used to come home from school and have one on my bed and through the teenage years where I pretty much was a HUGE pain in the ass and he was having a hard time connecting with me he used those notes to reach out a vine to I knew that no matter what he was proud of me and loved me....even if I spend 90% of the time crying and yelling at him.  He wasn't afraid to get "gushy" and at moments when you can barely love yourself knowing he is there was super comforting.

I also love to see him doing this to people whom I love, friends who don't have family by, many young men who didn't have positive male role models, etc.  He had no issue just adopting them and showing them that men don't have to be tough or emotionless that it is fine to hug and cry and love.

5.  It will never hurt to know how to do stuff for yourself. 

I really credit my dad for my love of gardening, baking, preserving, changing my own oil, etc.  He is the guy who will geek out out over seed catalogs with me, the one who started my addiction to Mother Earth News, and the one who didn't call me crazy when we got chickens....He was really a pioneer with healthy eating for the time....while we did eat plenty of "hamburger helper" growing up I remember going with him to get raw milk, digging up potatoes in the garden with the whole family and trying to chop wood to stack.  I am not going to debate if this is actually "helpful" to my life or if organic is really "worth it" but what I will say is there is a certain confidence you can carry with yourself when you know that if something pretty bad hit the fan you would know how to take care of yourself and those who love you.  I also think this helped me never feel as a woman that I needed to have a man....I can not only be independent and open my own jars but also kill spiders and mow the yard.

6. Its okay if you do not agree with people.  You can still learn from them.  

My dad and I are polar opposites on many moral areas in life but he never judges me or lectures.  Because of this we have had great conversations where we discussed various things and thrown different  bits of media to explore and discuss (mine is usually from the Daily Show and his is from Fox..).  He and I both come away either slightly changing our stance or at least feeling more confident in our choice.  This type of open mindedness has helped me really keep my options open on who I friend, who I learn from and also helped me truly believe the stances I take.  It has also helped me never feel like there were doors blocking certain conversations and/or people in my life with him.  When I first decided to move in with a beau he was there to help me move, even though I knew he didn't approve and when that didn't work out I never heard an "I told you so" instead he offered a place to stay and to also beat the crap out of the guy..ha.  When I was volunteering tons at Planned Parenthood we had great discussions and he was able to say he was proud of the work I was doing even though he was sad that those services were needed.  Sometimes when I am talking to people I wish everyone had learned this lesson.....the conversations I have had with my dad have been some of the most meaningful in my life, they are the ones who have helped me grow and become the adult that I am.  I am so thankful for his modeling of this and also the support it has allowed me to get from him.



There are so many things I could say about my dad. I have always been thankful yet the older I get the more and more humbled I am by his selfless actions and decisions he made throughout the years so that I could be a better person.  On father's day I always have a hard time finding the perfect gift or card because how do you find something that can convey how important he is to me?  How truly thankful I am that he is my dad? How everything I am is because of him?  I hope that by living a life guided by his lessons that that is enough (and of course lots of hugs and weed pulling in his yard. ha)

Happy Fathers day to all the great dad's out there!

srsly...

People...Make this:


Strawberry Jam Infused with Vanilla Beans


Your welcome.

Pride.

In Response to those who Oppose Gay Marriage: 

"You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn't black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing. You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don't care what you think. I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I'm trying to do the right thing, and that's where I'm going with this."

-New York Republican Senator Roy McDonald, 
on why he supports Gay Marriage

FUCK YEAH.

Happy Pride PDX! 

Mood and Stuff..

So as I become older and wiser (peanut gallery can shut it...) I am becoming more and more aware of how connected my mood is to outside forces.  About a year ago I made the connection of food and my mood and while this is an ongoing experiment I realized that without TONS of protein in the morning I tend to be a complete unbalanced bitch and will seek out total garbage (re: starbucks) to put into my body for the rest of the day.

Some of these discoveries though I tend to ignore (re: huge wine allergy tends to be "forgotten" about frequently) and some I know I have yet to uncover.  Though recently I have started to work out everyday and have realized just how important this is to my mental health.  In the past I have typically done some exercise (re: dog walking...with pug....so more like walk a bit then stop to sniff...then walk a bit more...repeat for about 30 minutes) and thrown in 2-3 times a week a kick your ass workout class but when you do something pretty intense (re: sweat actually forming in awkward crevices) 5 days a week you quickly realize that your body does enjoy being pushed and at least for me that hour a day to just test myself feels pretty awesome.

Am I a marathon runner? Hells to the No.  But it is pretty rewarding to see in just two weeks my speed improving, and instead of gasping for air and counting down until I can stop I am actually pushing myself to see how far I can go at the end.

I have always been an athlete (re: my father believed if you weren't doing a sport you were doing drugs so from ages 5-16ish was in various sports year around) but just now linking together how centering, how relaxing, and how empowering working out can be.

Isn't growth? Age? Wisdom? Pretty awesome?

I am also lucky enough to have a gym that is part video store so once I am done sweating I can grab a movie to chill-ax to....how cool is that?  Only in Pdx....

So my advice?  Type in: Destiny's Child on Pandora and start moving!

Thankful Thursdays

So as it is friday morning and I am running (well make that slowly walking..still sore from an epic adventure earlier this week) out the door here is what I am thankful for this week:

1. To Be Alive! Seriously. Breath is pretty awesome.

2. That I have started to find some awesome woman in my life that get what it is to be strong and passionate yet not bitchy and/or catty.  They inspire me and I am learning so much.  Really loving this aspect of my life right now and feel privileged and lucky to know them all.

3. To see the change in our yard year after year.  So before B. Jones dropped a chunk of change on the house I pretty much moved every six months or so for the previous 3 years prior.  I have always loved gardening and yard work but was never able to see what my lavender plant would look like 3 years later...or the thrill of bulbs coming up that I had placed the previous year.  When I look at our yard I see teamwork, hard work, sweat, some tears, and laughter.  I can't wait to see where it goes in the future.

4.  A work out partner!  A friend recently moved close by and because of it I now have an accountability partner at the gym.  I am NOT a morning person but knowing someone else is gonna be there makes me get out of bed and get my sweat on.  I have seen a HUGE change in my mood since doing this every morning which I bet everyone else is also thankful for ;)

5. The local Paper (the Oregonian) has a series where they are interviewing old married couples about their lives and unlike the rest of the paper it leaves me with a smile and my faith returned in the world.

6. My ipod...especially Pandora on it.  I kind of fell out of love with Pandora but recently paid for the yearly subscription (read: no commercials) and now am in love with it.  Do a new channel with the artist: Adele, perfect!

7. Coffee out of a mug, not a travel cup! I realized that I didn't just love the caffeine but the whole ritual that requires me to stop and sit down for a second.  Like my own little break to take a breath.

8. Groupon/LivingSocial/Google Deals/Etc.  Seriously have scored a ton of good deals recently and when you would rather spend your money on plants (seriously I might have a problem...) this is a great thing!  I also love waking up and seeing what their deal of the day is...

9. Not Cheap Candles.  For years I thought there was no difference between a dollar tree candle and a quality one and have recently realized there is a HUGE dif.  While I might have less candles in my house I love the ones I now have and they smell great!

10. Outdoor Clothes Dryer. Do it. Sniff Clothes. Enough said.

Here's to a great weekend ya'll!  Photos of our garden/yard are upcoming..want to get the "baby" stage to compare to the "harvest" one...

Lacy

Thankful Thursdays

I just looked at all my "rough draft" posts....and seriously they are epically depressing and very ala Holden Caulfield...and after all the rain and life and whatnot I can save my teenage angst for another day.  I am gonna focus on what rocks in my life.

1.  I have a dog that cuddles. and snorts. and look at that face:

seriously......ridiculous. (please note she also hates the outdoors and that look indicates "can we please be done with this and go lay on the couch?")

2. I planted this:

 and also got these:

Jealous? Lovely! Sometimes I love mistakes more than what I actually planned...

3. Also love craigslist.  seriously.  I have not gotten any amazing deals recently but I love looking through what people are willing to sell and for how much....its the shrink in me ;)

4. Speaking of the shrink in me..I am obsessed with Hoarders.  Seriously OBSESSED! I wish they would do a follow up show on the past episodes....

5. I am currently loving figs. in everything. cookies, granola bars, risotto, my mouth. love. love. love.

6. The prospect of this:

80's people 80's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So much to love and if the weather is this great I should have a great sun burn to show off :)

Living Life!

Lacy