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Lavender, Lost Maples and Kung Fu

Today was a busy day. My parents were headed to see a new lavender farm that opened near Vanderpool, so I decided to tag along.

The 'farm' was not exactly what we expected. To start, we were the only visitors there, so we got a lot of one-on-one attention from the owners. The bushes were all planted in a caleche and rock field, not something I would of imagined a plant could thrive in, and most of the plants had already bloomed and been harvested. In their defense, they did say that the plants were only about 3 years old. The cute 'shack' that they had on the property was filled with lavender goodies: soaps, candles, lotion, saches, etc. I ended up buying some lavender honey (which was pretty darn good) and a lotion bar (interesting concept).

After about 30 minutes at the lavender farm we headed to Lost Maples to have a picnic lunch and take a 'short hike' which ended up being a bit longer than my flip-flopped feet had in mind. But nevertheless, I made it!

I took my camera and tried out some shots with my new lens (75mm-300mm). Check out more of my shots on my Flickr site.

When I got home, Jeff and I went to go see Kung Fu Panda. It was pretty cute, anything with Jack Black I typically like. We kept with the asian theme and had some chinese for dinner (currently regretting that decision).

Having issues posting pics to the blog, will update later. Meanwhile go to Flickr.

Home Alone!

Jeff finally comes home tomorrow night. Its been almost 11 days without him (yah!). I really thought I'd be fine. I'm pretty independent, but I'm also a people person, and while the cats and dog 'speak' to me in their own language, it gets pretty old after awhile. But to be quite honest, I'm bored. I've made the most (well I guess I could of always done more) while he's away.

I did my secret project (that's not so secret to friends and family) to surprise him with when he gets home, I had a girls night when Carilee was in town last week, I spent some time with family and took Sonny out to run with Carlie (the 120 lb yellow lab). I didn't get to go hiking, but I'm going to sometime soon, I swear. I also wanted to go see another movie by myself (proof that I can still do things on my own) but, nothing really caught my eye and I was too lazy this weekend.

I miss my buddy. Can't wait till he gets home.

Check.

Just added this to my collection over the weekend. Let's just see if Jeff checks my blog *wink*.

"Maggots, Michael. You're eating maggots. How do they taste?"-David

Weekend Project #4: The Middle Bedroom

The queen bed was taking up a lot of room in our middle bedroom. There not the biggest rooms, but they aren't shoeboxes either, but I really want to maximize the space.

Therefore, we decided to sell the mattresses along with a headboard I purchased about 6 years ago from World Market. We took the profits from that and the weight set we sold last weekend and went down to the furniture store to purchase a sleeper sofa (see image). We looked at a futon style, but we tested it out and we both barely fit on it. We figured we didn't want to torture our guests that bad!

We plan on buying a foam piece to add to the mattress for extra cushioning. Just wanted to add that tidbit to our future guests :).

The couch arrives on Tuesday! I've got some helpers to assist me with the unload! Can't wait!

As another side note, I tried to find a cheaper sofa on Craigslist, but the sleeper sofas for sale are ATROCIOUS - straight out of the 70's and I've no clue how to re-upolster, so that ruled out that possibility.

Las Meninas

I was so impressed with Google today! I admit, I'm a bit partial considering it's one of my favorite paintings ever, but the Google Doodle (or whatever it's called) was of the painting Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez (in celebration of Velázquez's birthday). I was fortunate enough to see this painting at El Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain when I visited exactly 11 years ago this week. Coincidence? I wonder.....

Man, I loved Spain. I still remember it like yesterday and everytime I think about it, it renews my traveler's spirit.

Off to daydream about my next big adventure.

Cat in the Laundromat?

Jeff caught Shush red-handed (er...red-pawed?). Here's the scene as it unfolded (no pun inteded).

The Back Porch

My new favorite place in the house...or out of the house rather. It's Monday night and Jeff and I came out here to take advantage of the nice breeze and fresh air (with laptops in tow).

We put up some lights that we bought over the weekend. I'm not sure if that is "tacky" or not, but I like porch lights, so too bad :D.

We hosted one of Jeff's buddies and his girlfriend over the weekend. We spent about 6 hours on the back porch just shooting the bull.

Unfortunately, we catch the afternoon sun. Which is piping hot, might I add. So we're lookig into remedies. Though, they may be awhile depending on $$.