Friday Five

So life is starting to settle down. I'm working on some web design projects as well as getting some things ready to start my Etsy shop. This afternoon I'm canning pickled asparagus with my mom so that should be fun. I'm also going to blanch and freeze a bunch to put in pasta this winter.

Friiiiiiiday fiveness:

1)Masquerade speakers...they look like art hanging on the wall! You can get them done with your own photos. Pretty cool I say.



2)Check out this gorgeous pink teapot by Vessels & Wares on Etsy.



3)Plant Me Pets look like little plastic toys, but you plant them headfirst in the ground and they grow into plants! They're made with bio-degradable latex with seeds inside.



4)fun Cast Iron Twig Skewers from World Market.



5)I didn't think you could make old plastic bottles look this good but when Michelle Brand reuses them they look like a bunch of flowers. (via AT)

New Blog: Divine Inspiration

My delightful sister-in-law Jen and I have started a new art/craft/design blog called Divine Inspiration. It's going to feature some of the things you like about this blog (my friday five, art posts ect) as well as some fun new things (tutorials, Jen ect). So go over and give it a bookmark, it should be a lot of fun and we're aiming to update it every weekday :)

Click Heeeeere

Gardening, In-laws,and a birthday

So the garden is almost all planted, we have tomatoes and squash and salad mix and dill ...still to come is mint and basil and more tomatoes and peppers and flowers. Then later on we'll go for the corn and carrots and peas.

Goodness that's a lot of food, I can't wait to start eating it!



Having fun with Craig's parents. They're out doing a birding tour with him this morning. We've been to Castlegar and Nelson on Friday and hopefully will go to the hot springs tomorrow. We went to the wildlife centre (where Craig works) and we saw this moose:



And she was in the process of giving birth. To twins it turns out.

Insane!



And my mom had a birthday, I made her a chocolate turtle cheesecake (as requested). I've never made a baked cheesecake before and I really am going to need some practice as it was not up to my standards, very yummy though.



Yes that caramelly crumble was sposed to be a sauce, ah well.

Anyway, hopefully next week I will be getting some work done as I have a bunch of projects vying for my attention. Fingers crossed.

Life

In point form for your convenience:

- We are all moved in! Well mostly we are in storage. We (and the parents) spent most of Monday moving our stuff out of our townhouse. I was kinda nostalgic but Craig reminded me that really? Not such a great place :P

- On the way over the summit coming home a semi went off the road. As we waited for it to get towed we walked up the line to see what was going on and not only were my parents ahead of us...but so were Barb and Blair! :P We chatted for a bit and I took some pics of her adorable pregnantness. All in all a pleasant traffic jam.

- I am working on a surprise for you all with Jen...coming soon!

- Here are the rest of my Victoria photos...except Buchart Gardens...I'll load those up later: Click to see em

- It has rained all day and it's a nice change from the heat and good for the garden. More on the garden later.

- Craig's parent's come tomorrow for a week. Very exciting as they live in Chile and we haven't seen them in a couple years.

That's all for now :)

Raspberries

So I'm very excited about gardening after being inspired by Animal Vegetable Miracle and Jamie Oliver's at Home Cookbook. Also because I love food. Tragically I avoided gardening at all cost when I was younger (why? meh?) so I'm rather ignorant on the subject. Happily I'm living on my parents farm this summer and will learn the gardening ways. And share with you. So far we have planted raspberries. This is excellent because I luuuuurve them. I will eat as many as possible.



Look! Baby raspberry plant! Also, baby cows.

Any of you guys gardening this summer? What's growing?

Friday Five!

Sorry that I neglected you guys last Friday while I was away (still so many photos I haven't posted...should just figure out how to link you guys to my facebook gallery...jen?). But I'm back on my own computer (oh Audrey...I'll never leave you again!) and have found much funness for you all today.

1)Polar Bear Plushie by Fantastic Toys



2)Beauty art print by Hammerpress. This really appeals to me. Birthday anyone?



3) Fern Animals by Ashley Anna Brown are a bit strange and a lot delightful. Check out this little lion with a hoodie (at least I think it's a lion...)



4)This beautiful necklace by Cursive Design is meant to look like droplets of water on twigs. I love it so much, such a unique idea.



5)Cloudberry Napkins and Placemats are just two of the wonderful things you can find at LU Prints

Catch-up and Craigdarroch Castle

Yeesh I am way behind here still, too many adventures. We are home...which is not quite home as we're living in a motor home on my parents farm for the summer. I'm taking a bit of a break right now but am currently setting up our office in one of their spare rooms. Can't wait to have my computer up and running again so I can get back to work on my projects. Hrm, so I'll give you the week in reverse:

Yesterday: Cleaned the Motor home out from top to bottom, let the bugs know that we will be living there now, not them...eeeew. Got most of our stuff put away and did some cleaning in the main house for mom. When Craig got home we drove out to Duck Lake...we figure we saw over 30 birds but I was mostly excited because I saw a muskrat, and all the geese have fluffy little babies trailing after them.

Monday: Driiiiving. It was a long day.

Sunday: We were sposed to go sailing for Mother's Day and we were all really excited. Unfortunately when we called to confirm that morning it turned out that there was too much wind :( So instead we went to the museum and the Imax. The museum has a exhibit on right now about War Brides. The artist is the daughter of a war bride and painted 81 portraits based on the wedding photos of women who married Canadian soldiers and moved here after the war. The portrait were beautiful and the stories were very interesting. Honestly it got me pretty chocked up. The rest of the museum was pretty impressive as well. The Imax movie was about the ocean off the South African Coast and was really cool. Also Dad cooked up some fresh scallops and halibut. Amazing.

Saturday: Craig and Dad flew in and we went to Beacon Hill Park. I saw a sea otter and we watched in for a bit, sooo cute.

Friday: Mom and I went to Buchart Gardens. I took my Canon and took three rolls of film. I'll post my favs up later. It was a lot of fun, really beautiful.

Thursday: Well my last post covered some of Thursday. Mom and I just had a lot of fun running around Victoria...here's some more photos for you (the photos, when will they stop? Okay there's a lot so I'll save some for tomorrow)

Craigdarroch Castle: This was built in the Edwardian Era and was the largest private residence in BC, later it was a military hospital for years, then a college, and is currently being restored. It's amazing inside, all wood paneling and Art Deco accents, but it was pretty dark so I won't subject you to my photos.

Government House

Man, it's hard to keep up with all the fun we've been having, especially without my computer, but here's some of the pics from Wednesday. This is the Government House grounds which were very cool. A neat mix of garden and wildness.










PS Craig is finally out here with my Dad. I'm sooooo happy. Clingy much?

Salt Spring Island

So Salt Spring is one of the Gulf Islands, which are between Vancouver Island and the mainland. It has a special place in my heart because it is where we went for our honeymoon :) It's a super artsy hippy touristy island. I went over on Tuesday with Mom and Jen in hopes of buying some heritage seeds for the garden this summer. We had lots of fun wandering about (a little more walking then we had intended) and not only did we get some fun seeds buuut, we spotted a quilt shop (danger danger). When we walked in what did we see? A whole wall of Amy Butler wonderfulness! We (Jen and I) squealed ran over and petted the bolts while my mother and the shop lady laughed at us. Whatever, I got 4 matching fat quarters of a bluey set to hopefully redo my duvet cover, and a browny pink one just for fun. Jen got some orange and blueness for her basement suite. So much fun.

Here's some phoootos:

More May Flowers

I was having blogger difficulties yesterday, so here's the rest of my pics from the Uvic Garden. We spent yesterday on Salt Spring Island which was very entertaining, I'll blog more about that when I get the photos together. Today Mom and I were sooo tired of walking (we walked over 8 miles yesterday) and sore that we mostly stayed home. We did some cleaning and watched Enchanted on her new laptop. It is ridiculously girly but I liked it. Also the car is in the shop which is goood. Also, I baked cookies.

3 more sleeps until I get to see Craig again!

May Flowers

Here's some of the pics I took while wandering around Uvic yesterday. Hooray for Spring!

bunnies!

Joel and Jen (especially Jen) are always going on about how many bunnies there are at the Uvic campus. I always thought that meant that there were a few bunnies...and often you might see one.

No.

There are bunnies everywhere.

Eeeeverywhere.

Pretty much you almost trip over them as you're walking around. Almost, because the bunnies are still vaguely wild and will wander away if you try to pick them up. They were soooo cute. Also, there were baby bunnies! Here are some photos of the delightful bunniness.


Babies!


Jen caught a rare snuggly bunny!





We also spent a while in the gardens, but I'll show you that tomorrow :)

Greetings from Victoria

Hello all, just a quick post to let you know that I am alive and well. Even though I miss my Craig. And Audrey (my computer). Here's an update:

-Our drive out was fun but sleepy. The kitty was loopy because they fed her kitty sleeping pills so that she wouldn't freak out. She loves cheese.

-We had major car trouble on the way over the last pass and were rescued by some very nice guys who helped fix us up and followed us for a bit to make sure we were okay. The car is not running now however. My dad will fix it up when he comes out.

- I have eaten some yummy food including a great thai stir fry from the Noodle Box and a wonderful smoked salmon sandwich from some cute bakery.

- I have bought a new hat, some cute stickers, a very cute silk skirt ($5!), some used books, a lime green colander, and a pair of trail runners. Very exciting stuff.

Craig is at his first day of work right now....I hope all is well...

mmmm hot chocolate

well my house is officially 95% packed...which is as good as it's getting tonight. I'm leaving at six (uck) o'clock in the morning to go to Victooooria for a week and a half. I will try and check in but I don't know how much I will post. I have big plans for such things as:

-shopping! Want some trail runners (shoes) and a new hat...maybe a new shiiirt.

-embroidery! taking along a project which I will show you later and also bought some new needles to use with beads...because I love beads but can't seem to use them up in jewelry and can't seem to stop buying them.

-girl talk! 14 hours in the car with my mom and sister in law. And her cat. Don't know how that will go...

-photography! Hopefully going to the Buchart Gardens...and the beach...

-Saaaailing! And by then Craig and my dad will be out. They're flying down to spend the last weekend with us and driving back. Which will be nice as I'll have someone to snuggle with for the 14 hours home.

In the meantime, here's a speedpaint I did tonight: