Long time no post...

Wow, 2 weeks since my last blog post. So much for trying to blog at least once a week. I kept meaning to get these pictures up, but it just didn't happen.

All of the pictures here are from a trip to Vermont that we took last weekend. I took Friday off from work and we headed up in the morning, and then back later in the day on Sunday. I realized that it takes us longer than I would think to break camp- a good thing to know before our upcoming vacation as I consider our long days of driving and now I know we'll have to get up a little bit earlier so that we have enough time.

Our first stop (not counting a quick stop at King Arthur Flour) was Ben & Jerry's. We took a tour, checked out the "Flavor Graveyard" and had a sample of icecream. And of course took cheesy touristy pictures. Next was a stop at Cabot (mmm.... cheese) and then we headed to the campground.

One thing that my family "collects" are highpoints, or the highest elevation of each state. My Dad started collecting these and as a result I've done a number of them with him. Now I've started doing some others with Chris. In fact, on our upcoming vacation we hope to get 7 more states. So on Saturday we hiked Mt. Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont. It is a mountain that is owned by Stowe Mountain Resort (a ski resort) who has a road up to almost the top of the mountain. In order to get some extra summer income, they charge you to drive up the road. So, we drove as far as we could and then had about a 45 minute hike to the peak. It was pretty cloudy on the way up, and when we were at the top it started to sprinkle, but on the way down the clouds moved away and we got some nice views. When we got back to the parking lot the clouds moved back in. Perfect timing!

After the hike we went stopped by a craft fair and although we didn't make any purchases, I did see a few things that I really liked and am considering getting a custom-made piece as a gift for my brother. Hopefully he'll like it.

As we were heading back towards the campground we saw a sign for the floating bridge. Not knowing what a floating bridge was, we figured we should go check it out, so we followed the signs and here's what we found. Ok, now here's my thing- I can understand creating one floating bridge for the novelty of it. In a small town maybe it could become a tourist draw (hey, it drew us in). And maybe when that bridge disintegrates I can understand replacing it with another floating bridge. But this one was replaced SIX times! At what point do you think that maybe this isn't such a good idea and just create a normal bridge?

Sunday, we took yet another walk to the firetower in the campground (I think we climbed it every single day) and then headed towards home. We made a quick stop in Hanover, NH. The Appalachian Trail goes through town and we were kind of hoping to do some trail magic. However, way too many people and really no hikers. We saw one, but he looked like he was just out for a short hike, not someone we would want to give Magic to.

And in other news, I got just a tiny smidge of scrapping done- one card (didn't scan) and two layouts that you can see here and here. DH slightly complained about my choice of materials on the second layout as I used paper and embellishments of things that he hardly ever uses. Oh well. I still thought they were cute. And now only 6 layouts until I'm "caught up" before my trip. If I'm lucky I'll have a chance to do one of those before we leave on Friday.

Busy scrap weekend!

This may have been one of my busiest scrap weekends in recent history! I feel like I haven't been scrapping much lately, so it was nice to get into the groove a bit.
There's no place like home
Mt. Baldy
Chicago- The Bean
Chicago Skyline
Hogwarts Square

Our visit to Hogwarts Square

So on Friday night Chris and I went to Harvard Square which had been renamed "Hogwarts Square". There were a number of places that would be selling the book at midnight, contests, etc.


There also was a concert with the band Harry and the Potters. On the left is a picture of the concert crows during one of the opening acts (The Hungarian Horntails and Draco and the Malfoys both performed.)



Here's a clip from one of their shows, although not the one that we attended. In fact, we liked the show enough that we picked up two of their CDs.





I also present to you a number of my favorite costumes while we were there.


(The quidditch team seems to be short a keeper.)


I had thought about going in costume, but until about an hour before I wasn't sure that we would be going. However, I think that if I had dressed up I would have been Tonks. What was interesting, is that since this was Harvard Square it was a little difficult to tell who was dressed as Tonks and who just had colored hair. If I had gone in costume I probably would have put on a pink wig since my color is pretty subtle.

I also liked that people chose to dress as some of the less popular characters or as villains. (There actually were large numbers of Slytherins, but I don't think I saw any Hufflepuff.) We also saw people dressed as Umbridge, Luna, Padma and Parvati Patil, as well as other lesser known characters.



Other businesses in the area also got in on the fun. Harvard's Natural History Museum had a scavenger hunt for owls, sorcerers stones, etc and a number of the eateries had butterbeer and other "wizard" themed food. Here are some of the flavors offered by a local icecream shop. I love the name of the last one!

Playing with the new camera lens

My new lens arrived today for my camera, so naturally I had to go outside and play.

I tried taking a self-portrait and discovered that I can't do that with this lens. It kept chopping off half my head. Oh well. You may also see that my pink dye is fading. :( Good thing I have plenty of extra dye. One of these day's I'll get around to touching it up. I was thinking it would be this evening, but now I'm rethinking that. Maybe tomorrow?

The new camera has been giving me lots of excuses to get out and take pictures if the garden. Not sure why, but today I got down on a lower level and took my pictures at a different angle than I normally do. I love the results! It makes the garden look much more full and lush.

Check out all of those herbs! We've got chives, parsley, basil, lemon balm, and then some snow peas on the trellis and some other flowers in the front.



Here we've got my two tomato plants, my cucumbers, and my peppers. In the front is some iceberg lettuce that didn't do too well. Anyone know the secret to growing good heads of lettuce?


And finally here we have the tomatoes. two different kinds- Better Boy and Sweet 100's. Can't wait until they ripen!

On Wednesday, to celebrate the 4th, we went to Old Sturbridge Village- a recreation village set between 1790 and 1840. All of the pictures on this post are from our visit there. It was a great chance to play with the camera and try to learn the settings. Unfortunately I over-exposed one event. I thought I had fixed the settings halfway through, but apparently not. Nothing major, so I'm not too concerned. I'll just have to practice more so that don't mess things up on our upcoming vacations.

While we were there, we rediscovered badminton, although at the Village it was Battledore and Shuttlecock and was played with paddles (similar in size to ping pong paddles). On the way home we stopped at the store to pick up our own badminton set. And since Wednesday we have played almost every day- and twice on Saturday.

There was another game there called The Graces that we also enjoyed- and picked up a set to play at home (although we haven't played yet). However, my skills at badminton are far superior to my skills at the Graces.

It's weird to me to be so into a sport- I am not an athletic person at all. If we keep up with the badminton I may even get a better racket. I question the quality of the racket that came in the set for $12. The racket I want is pink and costs about $50.


This weekend I also got a new bikini. It's very cute- black with a skull and crossbones on the top front and another on the bottom back. And since I already had purchased pirate scrapbook paper with no use in sight, I now have a reason to use that paper. Right?

However, I am realizing that perhaps my time for wearing a bikini is coming to an end. It's hardly a skimpy one, yet I seem to have some rolls of fat hanging out. Aaargh! I'm not used to that at all!

So, any suggestions on ways to loose a few pounds- especially in the tummy, butt, or hips? I guess I knew this was happening as I've noticed my weight gaining and my old clothes no longer fitting, but it still comes as a shock to me.


And my final update for the weekend-I finally got some scrapping done! Christmas Album, Mom's birthday, and Easter. The Christmas Album had been dragging for weeks and weeks. Such a weight off my shoulders to have that done. The other two layouts- nothing spectacular about them, but I was able to use some new products on them and it was a nice way to get the creative juices flowing a bit. Next up on the scrapping front is my trip to Chicago in April. I think I have about 4 pages worth of photos. Just one problem- no room for journaling. Not so sure what I want to do about that. The journaling that was on my blog earlier this month is about 4 pages long. I may just print out the journaling and tuck it into the page protector behind the LO. Either that or LOTS of hidden journaling.

My month for Stampers 5

Any of you out there in blog-land interested in buying some rubber stamps? This is my month for "hosting" in my Stampin' Up group. (For 5 months we each agreed to spend a certain amount per month, and we each are assigned one month to be the "hostess" and get the benefits.)

If you're interested, please consider placing your order through Melissa Barlow. The catalog is available here. Just let her know to apply the order to my "party".

Thanks!!!!

New camera

Yay! We got a Canon Digital Rebel XTi today! I LOVE it almost as much as I LOVE my pink hair. :)

I love that I can finally take pictures like this one where the flower is in focus and the background is blurry. I had lots of fun out in my garden taking pictures of the flowers and veggies.

And then I came inside and took some self portraits. So much easier with an SLR than my old point and shoot. (Just look for your reflection in the lens in the mirror and you'll know it's lined up properly.)

Chris with the Pink Hair

When I was on college I had pink hair. And I had a professor who's 3-year-old son knew me as "Chris with the Pink Hair". Well, after many years, Chris with the Pink Hair is back. And I LOVE it!

First picture is the "before", and the others are obviously the "after".







Two small pink chunks in the front. They actually look like larger chunks here than they actually are.

Then the back. When the hair is falling natually it covers most of the pink- just a little bit shows at the bottom. Chris moved my top layer a bit to better show off the color.

Vanessa- I chuckled to myself at your definition for Trail Magic. And re Stacy's blog- I was so excited when I saw the plug that she gave me there. I may even get an order out of it. Someone emailed me interested in one, but she's having some Paypal issues and since she lives in Canada she can't easily mail me a check. We'll see how that turns out.

I have more info on the deer from my previous post. There are two deer in the area. Their mother was killed/died and her two babies now roam the area. There is someone in the neighborhod who has been feeding them, so they have completely lost their fear of humans. This one in the pictures is much more this way than its sibling. We did see the other one, but it kept its distance.

In other news.... This past Saturday was our 4th Annual Pinewood Derby (and Cookout). I think we had our biggest turnout yet- 27 people! There were some awesome cars there- Batmobile, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The beach, the shark, the garbage truck... And the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Sunny, but not too hot. So many great pictures that I don't even know how to narrow it down, so just one for now and then the layout will have more- working on resizing them now. Have a coupon that expires at the end of the week so want to get them printed.

Weekend Review

For your viewing pleasure, we have a post that is NOT about gardening. (Feels like I've blogged about that a lot lately.)

This weekend we went to New Jersey. Chris' family has a cabin there and his parents were going to be there for the weekend, so we went down to see them there.

On the way we had to stop at a convenience store. I went in to make my purchase and waited. And then waited some more. There was only one employee, and he was busy pumping gas outside. He said he didn't see me go into the store, but we made eye contact. However, since I was in the store alone, it allowed time for me to take a picture of the bong collection. I also got to look at the box of porn DVDs.

Later on Saturday while at the cabin a deer came up to me. Literally. I thought he woudl be scared when he saw me, but instead he came right up to me. No stranger danger at all! In this photo on the left you can see me on the right and the deer next to me. For some reason he kept turning his head away right when I was taking the pictures.

I went inside to tell Chris' mom and she came out and the deer was still there. She tried feeding him some lettuce, but he wasn't interested. Instead he ate a cigarette butt that was on the ground. Mmm... tasty. Blech!

She then pet the deer. Personally I don't believe she should have fed or pet the deer, but I certainly understand the temptation. I wanted to but was partially afraid of it biting me, but I also didn't want it to get too comfortable with humans.

Next up is a photo of Chris and I "hiking". The cabin is very close to the Appalachian Trail, so we wanted to do some Trail Magic. We went to one place and were looking at the map trying to figure out what would be a good spot when a park ranger came by. We asked him for his advice and he told us of a shelter a few miles away. Perfect! The shelter was .2 miles from a road and parking lot.

We hiked up with a few gallons of water and ran into some weekend section hikers. One of them (the dad of the group) had thru-hiked in '03 and it looked like he was out with his son and either daughter or daugther-in-law. It was her first time backpacking.

Sunday morning we went back and noticed that 2 1/2 gallons of water was gone, so we left 2 more gallons as well as a bag of Snickers and Skittles.

Later that afternoon we swung by again and found 3 more hikers. Good thing we stopped by because they hadn't checked out the bear box where we had stashed the goodies. They were very appreciative!

As we were heading back to the car I kidded with Chris that we were now section hikers. After all, we had hiked the same section 3 times now. Probably doesn't count though seeing how it was such a tiny section. :)

We also made a stop at High Point. My dad "collects" high points- that's the highest point of each state. He had been to High Point, NJ before with Andrew. I figured that since we were so close I should get this one as well. After all, I've visited a number of the others with him.

This monument is at the top. There are 292 stairs inside, as you can see below. And let me tell you- a day later my calves are killing me from climbing those steps!


After High Point we headed back to the cabin, packed up the truck, and headed home.

Funny how a 4 hour drive feels so much longer after you've been driving around all morning through state parks, etc.

Insect invasion

NO!!!!! I was looking at my garden yesterday and noticed that I had aphids. Blech. A squirrel had already dug up my hosta in the morning, so I wasn't happy. I went inside and pulled out my gardening books. One told met he various chemicals I could use to get rid of aphids. Nope. The other book gave me some household remedies. So I mixed up some Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap and water and sprayed it on my plants. Hopefully the bugs will die or leave and my plants will be ok.

Garden progress

The plants that I had ordered arrived last week, and today I finished planting all of them. One arrived all slimy, so I'll need to call the company to get that one refunded. Rather than waiting for a replacement plant, I picked something else up today at a local nursery.


I tried waving my arms and saying "grow" in the hopes that all the plants would start to magically grow, but I do't think I have those super powers. I guess I'll just have to wait like a normal person to see how it turns out. The next to last section looks a little bare still, but I planted a number of bulbs that hopefully will come up soon- ranunculus and a summer blooming daffodil. I also have a peony in that section that I hope will come up soon.

More pictures to come as the summer progresses.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Summer....

First order of business... a gross picture. Open at your own risk. This is what Chris did to his thumb last week at work. The photo was taken on Sunday after he soaked his thumb for about 30 minutes to loosen the gauze from his finger. And then it still hurt to remove the bandage.

Next up- my garden. Already things are progressing well, and things have only been planted for a week! The tomatoes are growing, and are up to or over the first rung of their cages. I saw flowers on one of my cucumbers this week as well as on my peas. Slowly but surely, the garden is coming along!

So what have I planted? Let's go on a "tour" starting at the top.

To the right of this section of garden is the small patio. You can just see the corner of it in the top right of the photo.

In the box is a tomato plant, 3 marigolds and some carrots. The carrots have not yet sprouted, but I imagine they'll come up this week. Next to the box on the trellis are cucumbers. You can't really see it in the photo, but next to the trellis are some cosmos. We'll see how well those do.

In front of the trellis are 6 pepper plants, and in front of those as well as the second tomato are 6 heads of iceberg lettuce. And the final thing in this section are a few flowers along the right hand size- impatiens and allyssum.

The next stop on the "tour" is my herb garden.

Here we have 2 chive plants. I've had these chives since I lived on Myrtle Street. That means they're at least 6 years old, maybe 7. They also have moved 4 times and been transplanted twice. They are thriving very nicely here.

On the trellis in the back are sweet peas, the only non-herb in this section, but I decided I needed some flowers.

In front of the trellis towards the left is some lemon balm. Any thoughts on what exactly one does with lemon balm?

Then we have 4 basil plants and 2 parsley.

And to round out the section we have more impatins and allysum along the stones on the left.


Moving down from the herb garden we have, what I believe is, the thinnest section of my garden.

In the back on beans. I transplanted 3 that I had started inside. Two of them are doing really well and the one in the middle isn't so hot. It was the runt of the group when I brought them outside. I also direct sewed a number of other beans and this morning I noticed that they had sprouted.

In front of the beans we have two lavender plants. I hope those do well because I would love to make some sachets with my own lavender.

In front of the lavender are 6 garlic plants. I planted these last fall and they seem to be doing well.

The final veggies of the group are 6 plants of leaf lettuce along the right and in front.

And for flowers we have marigolds along the left.

The final section of our tour brings us to my sugar snap peas. At the moment that is the only plant in this section (other than a few weeds poking up) but soon I will be planting peonies, ranunculus, and some summer daffodils. Depending on space I may get some more annuals as well.

There is one more section to the left of this one, but at the moment it is full of weeds. I've ordered some other plants for this section, and hopefully they will be arriving soon. A hosta is on its way, but there are others plants that should be coming as well.