Playing Catch Up!

Spring tends to bloom with tons of new blog post content. I meant to publish this one before the previous (Tulips and Grass-fed beef), but was so overjoyed by the day that I went ahead posted. Now to play a bit of catch up.

Our loot! from the Sustainability Expo in Tacoma @ the Convention Center on March 3rd 2012

We got:

Light bulbs

Sunflower seeds

water saver timer

(to use to reduce water use in the shower!)

Vegetable brush

a tote

and

tons of awesome information!

One of the best things we learned while

we were visiting was

about these little guys: 

 photo courtesy of city of Tacoma 

Tacoma has instituted a new program where we get to put food waste into our yard waste bins. We already have a worm compost, but there are certain things that they will not eat. Items include dairy, meat, breads, fruits/ veggies and even leftovers! Though we have not received our cute little bin, I placed the first food in our large brown can.

For next post: We continue playing catch up- Patio Improvements! 

Tulips & Grass-fed Beef!

Over the weekend my family and I went on quite the adventure! It started out planned for the Tulip Festival in Mt. Vernon, WA and it turned into so much more fun!

Tulips have been my favorite flower for some time now. It's hard to pick a favorite flower just like it's hard to pick a favorite color there are phases for me but tulips have stayed at the top of the list.

The Plan: Go to the Tulip Festival and see as much of it as possible.
The Reality: We started out on our journey around 9am and headed to Mt. Vernon. We knew we were in the right place when we saw the line of cars waiting on the shoulder of I-5 to take the correct exit. Yikes! We proceeded to wait at least 45 mins and had barely moved closer to the exit sign. Fred, my stepdad (who hates crowds/ busy places AND knew the area) suggested we come up with another plan since it did not look like we were going to make it to the city center ie: the Festival.

The Adventure: We all pondered Fred's thought and decided to get out of wasting our day in line to see what else we could see of the area. It was a extremely bright idea. We ended up going a few more exits up the highway and going down a smaller highway that lead us to a Tulip Field!!

It was probably ONE of the smaller fields of the entire area, but it was perfect! It was not very crowded, had a ton of the colors represented and had places to park.

A few shots of the Tulips:

After walking, gazing and buying sometulips we headed to LaConner, WA for some Lunch!

In LaConner, we settled on a resturant entitled Nell Thorn. Boy were we over joyed by our choice. On our way to the table, we noticed a sign that stated that their food was local. It only makes since in a place like Skagit Valley surrounded by farm land and resources why wouldn't you use it in your resturants!

The dishes were chosen, crab cakes and half pound burger with fries for Jesse (my boyfriend) and I to enjoy, a half pound burger with salad for Fred and a wine marinated portabello mushroom with salad for Mom (Jen).  The crab cake was all crab and I wish had taken a picture of the plate presentation, it was beautiful. The burger was so tender and delishous on a potato bread bun, served with herb and lemon and who knows what else seasoned fries. We asked our waitress if the burger was local and if it was grass fed beef. We felt a little like the couple from Portlandia asking, but we really wanted to know. And we were rewarded with her answer of yes to both. Success! I have finally had grass beef with the knowledge that I was eating it and in it is fantastic.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the LaConner and enjoying the beautiful weather we were so lucky to have had that day.

Our Adventure in Skagit Valley was so simple yet an experince that I will never forget!

Spring is Here!

I have been a tad neglectful with my blog as of the start of the new year. 2012 has proven to be a very eventful and family oriented year. It had Jesse and I making several trips to Oregon to see his family and friends in addition to the normal routines.

My blog was never forgotten in my mind and I have a slew of posts and post ideas ready to be posted.

To get this blog back full of life I start with what is happening now in the middle April. We, in the PNW, have already enjoyed a handful of gorgeous days and the flowers have started to bloom!

The first Daffodil of  the Season!

In our current apartment, we have a small area of dirt under our living room window that we discovered dozens of bulbs in August when we started digging around in it. Before the end of fall we made sure to replant a handful of them and it was a mystery game. What is going to pop up come spring? To our delight we started getting beautiful yellow daffodils!

Beautiful White flowers!                                                                                                         There are trees and trees filled with these delightful white petals (followers please help identify if you can) and I have no clue what it is but they are so lovely and sweet. Jesse and I walked down to a bar and grill, Parkway Tavern, last Friday and these blooms where just one of the sights we saw. It was a really enjoyable evening walking in the fresh spring night air!