Look!

Last week when Andrea was here I made 11 containers of Strawberry jam. On Sunday, I was alone with my blackberries, so I turned them into 5 containers of jam. Here is a pic of the super cute labels Andrea made me for Christmas for this very purpose. Love it!!

All summer long I've been making friends with my yellow finches. Last week I looked out & counted 17!! Crazy birds - I'm going to start charging them rent. :) Of course once I got my camera out - several of them flew away...but here is a peek at what is happening in my backyard. We also have hummingbirds (or gummingbirds as Nellie calls them) that frequent our backdoor feeder. I'm such a dork, I just love watching the birds - does that officially make me old? Don't answer that...

I had FUN mail arrive today! This summer I taught some Kindermusik classes & used some of my 'fun money' to buy this adorable purse on ETSY. I can't wait to take it somewhere...

And last random photo of the day is our new cabinet. Thank you to Andrea who helped assemble it. When Tim got home he put on the doors with super cute red handles. I love it. I can containerize all of my appliances which use to just look like a giant mess - now it's a more masked giant mess. :)

Wishing you & your family a joyous Labor Day weekend. The kiddos come back on Wednesday...ready or not.

Garden Disappointment...

Seriously. I can keep the house plants healthy like nobody's business (with the exception of orchids, which we won't discuss today) but the garden just a few feet away is a completely different story. Some of you may remember my tiny broccoli post from last year? Well this year I thought...okay I'll plant 10 broccoli starts & for sure I will have TONS of broccoli. Wrong. Below you will see my teeny tiny poor excuse for broccoli & throughout the summer the progress has been about the same. I think I've eaten three (yes, count them three) broccoli sprouts from my 9 plants that survived. Brother.

My other complaint is against my cucumbers. As you can see in the photo below...I have the worlds smallest cucs too. And not lots of them like everyone said...only two. (That's five vegetables total for those keeping track).

The strawberries I have to say are doing okay. I got a handful of them earlier this summer & noticed today that I have another little blessed berry growing. Although not too much praise for this plant either as it took three years for it to bear any fruit at all.

And last but not least is my tomato plant. This year we have two plants. One plant has actually given us five tomatoes to date with the promise of many more. The other plant is ignoring me. All of it's tomatoes are green, green, green with no promise of ever turning red.

Oh little little garden, what shall I do with you? See case(s) & point(s) below:

Cucumber smaller than my finger at the END of summer...

The record holder for the world's smallest & least productive broccoli plants...

Strawberry, not bad for end of summer, I'll take it...

Tomato plant with lots of potential...my only garden hope

Winner Announced & Other Random info...

Congratulations to Andrea F. for correctly guessing first for the contest earlier this week. She will soon be the proud owner of a Starbucks GC. And as if I need to say it - the napkin was inspired by Starbucks - we added our own little twist to what was originally printed. :)

Tomorrow I head back to school. I can't believe that summer has gone so quickly. I suppose time flies when you're having a blast with two people visiting you from ID.

Ethan declared almost everyday that he wanted to stay at my house forever. So sweet.

I also feel the need to share two funny stories provided by Ethan during his visit. I picked them up from the airport by myself on Tuesday morning. Ethan came down the jet way - walked right up to me & the first thing out of his mouth was ' where's Tim?' Wow - I now know where I rate. :)

Later on in the week it was time for E's bath. He asked if he could take a shower but his mom was quick to explain that nobody was available to take him to the shower (when he gets to take showers, it's with his dad). He thought about this for a moment then came up with a solution...'well, we've got Jess' he responded. I still laugh about that every time I think of it. So funny. And no in case you're wondering, he did not have a shower - baths only. :)

Happy Sunday!

Week of Girlie Time...

This past week Andrea & E came to visit. We had a wonderful time! We were crazy busy fitting in as much fun as we could possibly stand. :) Here's a quick recap of our week & some photos.

Tuesday: Tuesday morning they arrived bright & early. We hit Starbucks for some caffine then headed to Salem where I was teaching my last Kindermusik class for the summer. That afternoon we hung around then got serious in the kitchen with some baking & cooking. Andrea made her famous outrageous chocolate chip cookies while I made strawberry jam. We had a great time destroying the kitchen but making lots of goodness in the process. :)

Wednesday: We went to Portland hit IKEA where we made a few lovely purchases, then headed to the zoo. We had a fantastic time at the zoo seeing all of the animals (excluding bats & snakes) & we even took a train ride, much to Ethan's delight. :)

Thursday: This was beach day. We packed a picnic & hit the road once again this time heading for the coast. We had a fun picnic lunch, played on the beach, & then headed home for some milkshakes. It was a quick trip to the beach but we accomplished what we set out to do. That evening was filled with more desserts, hummus for dinner, & the news that Andrea will be published! I'm sure that she will tell you more about that on her blog.

Friday: We went to Riverfront Park with Victoria & her two kiddos for a play date. After the park we had lunch & took much needed naps. That afternoon we hit another park close to my house with water features - it was great fun for E & us as well.
We met Nicole for dinner & then headed back to my house for some much needed girlie time with Nicole.

Saturday: After our 7 am wake up call (thank you Ethan) we got up & began getting ready for the airport. We made a few stops along the way & eventually got to our destination. It was sad to watch them go as I don't know when I'll get to visit with them again. However, I'm so thrilled that they came to spend the week with me - what a wonderful trip filled with lots of great memories (& we actually took pictures this time...aren't you proud? We were....).

More Photos...

These were taken at Riverfront Park on Friday. Victoria, Jack, & Frank met us at the park for some great fun.

Jack & Ethan

love this shot...

at the Carousel

later the same day at a different park...too much fun!!

**Contest!**

The first commenter to correctly tell me where this slogan was inspired from will win a fabulous prize:

"More napkins. Less plants. Less planet. More napkins."

Good luck!! :)

Lazy Day...Wonderful Day

today is a lazy day
...it's been self proclaimed as 'tim & jessie day'...
...a trip to starbucks (2 teas each because they made a mistake)
...a delicious pastry
...costco for strawberries that will be made into jam tomorrow
...lunch with a coke
...naps
...finding strawberries & a tomato in my garden
...spending time together
...wonderful day...

Oh No!!

My favorite photo from the previously stated post was left out. Silly Picasa. Here is one more photo from my album - cover page & a little look at the pages that follow. Enjoy! :)

Photos to Share...

Last week when Erin was here we took ourselves to the LSS to purchase some goodness. We found these really cute little chipboard scalloped books - so we bought three & took one to Nicole (aka my biggest blog stalker) for a project that evening. I decided to do mine on my 30th birthday celebration. Here is a glimpse at how it turned out.




Box that holds said album...



A look at a page from album...


And lastly, here is the latest shoe purchase. I was in Corvallis this week having dinner with Nicole (aka...well, you know) & we went to her favorite consignment shop there. I picked up these little numbers for $15 & they look brand new! I love them...now I just need an outfit to go with them...

Where Has The Time Gone?

Wow. Today I officially have 1 1/2 weeks left of summer. Not that I expect anyone to feel sorry for me - but I feel sorry for me.

I took it upon myself today to try out the life of a cat. I would like to proclaim that I was up by 8:00 am - but by 11:45 am I began my short visit into the kitty world. I lounged around on the couch with the kitties, took a little nappy-pooh, licked myself, out wait...I didn't do that. :) But I did enjoy my 2 hours of down time just hanging out with my daytime buddies.

After my lounge time, I made my bed (as requested over the phone by Andrea), did laundry, cleaned the kitty box, vacuumed, tidied up around the house, unloaded & reloaded the dishwasher, & got ready to go meet Tim & our friend Kelly for an outing. I did all of those chores in less than an hour - so I felt no remorse for my short-term cat life.

I have decided that I would be incredibly bored if I were a cat - so I'm sure I will be thankful for my busy schedule & the start of school sometime soon.... maybe around October...

Foto Mixed

You may have noticed that I've added a new blog to my sidebar. This new blog was Tim's idea of some fun picture sharing. If you'd like to post your photos to it, e-mail me & I will add you to the contributors list. If you'd rather be a spectator & enjoy what others are posting you're welcome to do that too. Each week there will be a new topic for photo entries. If you have an idea for photos, you're welcome to leave a comment on either site or e-mail me. We hope you enjoy!!

Randomness

I was perusing through the local newspaper online & found this interesting article.

Ummm....yeah.

Ahhh The Fun We Are Having...

This weekend Nellie is staying with us. We picked her up last night & as soon as we arrived at the house, she came flying out the front door, backpack on, blanket in hand letting us know that she was ready to go with us. It was precious. We stayed for a bit and chatted with Laura & Mia before heading out. Poor Mia was sad to be left behind, so we promised to take her for a weekend sometime soon.

Today Nellie & I sorted through some of my clothes to donate, dropped them off, ran a few other errands which included a trip to Target & the purchase of this for Nellie. She has been enthralled with it ever since...I think it's a hit. We also picked out a toy for Mia. After lunch with Amy we headed back home for a nap. Although...she didn't take one...so we had some quiet time & headed to the mall for some nail painting fun. When were about 1 minute away from the mall, Nellie fell asleep. So...I decided to keep driving. We went to a drive thru Starbucks, got gas, & drove around some neighborhoods. After about 1/2 hour she woke up, so we headed back to the mall.

Nellie had her nails painted with a little white flower on each thumb & we browsed around a few stores. After the manicure we headed to the park for the carousel ride. This is what Nellie had been waiting for all day. We were invited to Riverfront Park by our realty company for the annual picnic - it turned out to be tons of fun. Nellie got her face painted, played in a bounce house, poked a clowns nose, had a butterfly balloon made by that same clown, sat in a fire engine truck & got to talk to the firemen, ate some dinner, played at the park, & finally rode the carousel. What a blast.

We came home had a bath & off to bed she went. I think we will all sleep well tonight!

All Alone...

Yes, poor me all of my playmates have left & gone back to their own homes & lives. I guess that means my birthday is officially over. How sad. :)

Erin left last night & I was a sad girl. Fortunately I have a visitor(s) coming in less than 2 weeks, so I'm looking forward to that. Ah, the life of summer...

Here are some photos Erin & I took from our wine tasting journey on Monday. We had a wonderful time looking at the country side, tasting delicious wines, & spending time with one another. It's a trip that I plan to do again soon with Tim - I think he would enjoy it too.

Erin, queen of the vineyard

A view outside Sokol Blosser

Self portrait

Pretty toes - we treated ourselves to a pedicure on Sunday afternoon. Can you guess who's toes have the pretty flower with sparkles?! :)

Keys Locked in the Ocean Pt. 2

Here are the much anticipated photos from the event described in the previous post. Click here to see the reenactment video. All is well that ends well...

Tow truck getting ready to move my car

Up it goes...

Off & away...

An Ocean of Keys...

On Friday we all (Tim, Matt, Andrea, Erin, & myself) decided to spend the day at the coast. After a trip to Starbucks (of course!) we headed out. We arrived in Lincoln City & hit the outlet mall. Andrea found some cute red shoes & some clothes for Ethan but the rest of us decided to hold onto our wallets & didn't find anything exciting. We headed up the road to look at the ocean. We stopped at a lookout point & took some photos (see below) and saw some whales. The whales were close to the shore about 5 miles down the road so we decided to head into Depoe Bay for a closer look. That's when it all began to go awry.

Erin & pesky me

Girl photo

We are smiling now...

Upon our arrival in Depoe Bay we piled out of the car to go find our whales. Matt was driving & had the keys in his hands. He stepped out of the car and tripped over the sidewalk - catapulting him toward the sea wall where a drop of 40 feet & the ocean awaited. Thankfully for Matt he caught himself & his camera on the wall, unfortunately for my keys they went flying - hitting the rocks below, then sliding their way to the bottom of the sea - never to be seen again. Matt was quick to act calling the Newport Ford dealership to find out about getting a new key made. It was 4:02 when he placed the call & wouldn't you know the dealership closed at 4:00 on that day. Who closes at 4:00 on a Friday!?! The initial shock wore off about an hour later, as we were still sitting along side the road on hold with AAA. After 40 minutes on hold they were able to get through & we were told that a tow truck would come in about 2 hours. We spent our time going to a few shops, getting some ice cream, waiting in the car for the tow truck & trying to figure out what the new plan should be. Of course, this was the only set of keys to the car I had so getting another set from home wasn't an option (it is now though!). Wouldn't you know that Depoe Bay does not have a tow truck or rental car company so that wasn't an option. The lovely girl at a rental car dealership in Newport (which shall remain nameless) was rude to Andrea & very unhelpful about renting a car. She was out the door at 6:00 sharp she informed Andrea & had no way of coming to pick us up....even though they advertise that they will. Interesting...

My father-in-law was in town so we called him & he came to rescue us. After a very nice dinner we headed back to Salem, 7 hours later. Matt & Tim went back the next morning to retrieve said car from Newport where they had towed it & got 2 new keys made. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to have my car back with a back-up key & new key fob...just in case.

What an experience! Stay tuned for a reenactment video & more photos...

Surprise Party Photos

Here are some photos from the party. Andrea...we did it again - no photos of us at the party. :(

Birthday Bash!!

What a wonderful day Thursday turned out to be. Nicole & I started the day with two trips to Starbucks on our way to the airport. Once we picked up Andrea, we headed to our 3rd Starbucks for the day for her. We hung out at Laura's house while we waited for Erin's plane to arrive. At the airport collecting Erin, we stopped at Starbucks again for a pastry & coffee for Erin. (Do you see a theme here?) Back on the road we began my birthday adventure. The girls had a terrific day filled with fun activities. We ended up in Portland on 23rd Ave. for a shopping spree. Erin made a scrapbook of 30 birthday challenges that I needed to fulfill by the end of the day (or day after - she & Andrea said I could have an extension...). :) The challenges were things like: Find an item that costs $30...find 30 colors of nail polish...find 30 pennies...take a photo of something with the #30 in it. I had my camera with me & started snapping away trying to complete my tasks during our shopping spree. Laura & the girls also joined us - so it was definitely girls day out.

After lunch, we went to Saint Cupcake for deliciousness. After a little walk, we hopped back in the car to drive back to Salem to get ready for the 'BBQ'. On our way home, we of course stopped at Starbucks one more time for tea. That makes 5 in one day...beat that.

Once home, I was appointed the cupcake retriever along with Andrea & Erin (Nicole aka my biggest blog stalker) had to leave to go to VA to play with some of her best friends from her masters program - we missed her. Erin & Andrea decided we should leave a little early & go to the park to take pictures. We (and by 'We' I mean Andrea) figured out how to work the timer on the camera so that all of us could be in the photo - we forgot to bring our photographer with us. :) After photos, we got a phone call saying the cupcakes were ready for pick-up. So...we headed to the Wild Pear to pick them up for the 'BBQ'.

Upon arrival at the Wild Pear, I was greeted by a 20 voice 'SURPRISE' as this was my surprise party - there was never a BBQ. At least we have 250 paper plates in case we do have a BBQ sometime... :) We had a WONDERFUL time at my surprise party, surrounded by wonderful friends, family, & delicious food. Thank you to Tim, Andrea, Erin, & Nicole for planning this wonderful occasion for me. I love you all so very much!!

Andrea, Erin & me

My girls

Princess Jessie Pants aka The Birthday Girl

...and we are you know...

Stay tuned for more adventures from the weekend, including how we locked the car keys in the ocean...yes, I'm serious.