Mood Board No. 3

Mood Board No. 3- Brought to you by my Pinterest obsession!

Next Post- Garden goodies pic and made my own cleaners from scratch!

Community Garden Update

We had a slow start at our community garden , but it is finally starting to come around.

Our Zucchini is ginormous and has four zucs growing on it currently. We pulled several small ones and then one the size of a football!

The sunflowers are growing so tall and working on their flowers. Yippee!

Lastly, the carrots have shoulders and we have pulled a carrot or two see their progress. WE ate our first home grown carrot and it was Delicious!

Also, we have pulled a set of carrots that are in love. They were too close together and braided themselves. Jesse was afraid that this might happen. Braided carrots may be seen as a mistake in the gardening world, but it makes me giggle every time I see them (Bonus picture next time I post). So cute!

Lessons we learned so far:
1. Do not sow the seeds too deep. Dig a very small indent in dirt, place seed and lightly cover over with dirt.
2. Start the seeds indoors if you can. In little peat pots and cover them so they stay warm and moist.
3. Have patience because they will grow it may just take a little time!

 Next garden post will be of some yummies. We have pulled our first official harvest of swiss chard, carrots and zucchinis.

Green Day Trip

Honestly, before Jesse (my boyfriend) suggested we go to Vashon Island for a day of our 

Fourth of July weekend I had never really heard of it. Vashon is an island that is located 

just north of  the Tacoma waterfront. Jesse planned our day from start to finish and 

we did not need our car!

We live in the Stadium District of Tacoma, which is very close to numerous bus stops. 

We jumped on the no. 11 (at $2 each) and traveled to Point Defiance Park where the 

Ferry was arriving just in time for us. We purchased our "walk on" ticket for just under 

$10 and traveled across the sound.

On the other side, we jumped on the bus (at $2.25 each). The bus took us up the island 

to the middle of Vashon where we jumped off to explore the many shops, the

farmers' market and restaurants. 

Deciding it was time to eat our lunch (stowed away in our backpack), we caught a bus 

to head back down the island to the many parks that it has to offer (no fare needed this 

trip because our transfer ticket was still valid and we had 15 minutes left, eek!)

We had lunch on the waterfront and then headed to the main road to catch the bus back 

to the ferry (at $2.25 each). Once again, arrived at the ferry just in time and waited to 

walk on to make our journey back over the water (the $10 fare on the other side is for a 

round trip!) The last step of our journey was to board the no.11 bus that took us home (at $2 each).

Our well-planned trip ended up costing us $27 total and we did not have to worry about 

waiting for the ferry or parking our car (the ferry alone would have cost us $25, ouch!)

It may seem like it was pretty close budget wise, but the impact we saved 

on the planet cannot be compared. See if you can use your local transport for more of your trips!

Our day was a wonderful, fun filled, sunny trip to a place I was not even aware existed! 

Vashon Island is a beautiful place with extremely nice people wherever you turn who give the 

laid back attitude.

Can I become a Runner?

http://www.historum.com/art-cultural-history/9507-favourite

     On most days, I feel like these lovely woman from Picasso's painting "Two Women Running on the Beach" and think I could never be a runner. I feel overweight, and tired. These ladies do look happy though, don't they?

     Over the next eight weeks, I am going to do a program I found in Runner's World Magazine online. It is a program that turns a walker into a runner. It alternates walking and running over the span of 30 minutes for four days per week, walking for two days, and rest for one.

     I have always wanted to run but let myself believe that I just was not built for it. Lately I have noticed (via Facebook) that a lot of my friends run. I know it will be a lot of hard work and determination, but I think I am finally ready to join them!  Fellow runners, please share your pearls of wisdom with this noob! I need all the help that I can get and it is very much appreciated.

     Hopefully, in the next eight weeks, I can post that I can continuously run two miles. That is my first goal. Wish me luck!

My new shoes and pink watch!

 Went on my first run tonight.  It was tough, but I stuck to the program and did great!

Raised Garden Beds!

For my parents joint Birthday presents this year my boyfriend and I decided to make a raised bed for their back yard. My mom was the first to approach us about the idea for surprising my Stepdad. We took the idea and decided to include her in the surprise (my mom is very busy and was so excited that it had been done for her).

Here is a picture of the bed that we did for My mom and Stepdad.

Here is  the website that we used as our guide and then a step by step of what we did to accomplish the project.    http://eartheasy.com/grow_raised_beds.htm

Simple Raised Garden Bed Tutorial with some handy tips!

Other ideas for a raised bed garden, if you do not have access to lumber or tools.

Plastic moving containers (thanks Meme for this idea), wine crates, and/or buy a pre-made one (We bought our first from a nice man at the Farmers' market).


Hope you enjoy and See you next week!

Mood Board No. 2



Mood Board for June 2011. Enjoy!

 For next time, I have some really good garden related posts (just need the pictures!).


Bonus item:
A new website that I have become a little addicted to and it is Pinterest.
Pinterest= a digital version of my mood boards.  It allows you to pin items from across the web and it does the crediting for you. You can also repin, like or comment on items that others have pinned.  The greatest part is that you seperate each item into your boards (board examples: Food, house, garden, etc.) to keep youself all organized.

I have found this website to be so helpful by keeping me inspired, keeping items I find across the internet in one place and I'm sure for many other purposes I have yet to realize.

Hope you enjoy it too!

Brett Dennen and his Eco-Concert

I was introduced to Brett Dennen's music about a year and half ago in the start of my relationship with my boyfriend, Jesse. Brett's music is so happy and upbeat that I became an instant fan. I decided to get Jesse and I tickets to Brett's concert as a one year of dating gift.

Not only was it an amazing show that had us dancing and singing to our hearts content but we were also able to find out a lot of information on Brett himself.  He really lives the messages he sings, how refreshing. He proves this in so many ways but one is by giving all the proceeds of items sold at the show  to the invisible childeren charity. We were told by multiple workers and friends of Brett that he is not a rich man, but really does not care about becoming one either.  His life and entire attitude is down to earth and I feel honored to be able to say that I shook this man's hand and even got a hug!

Please keep up the great work Brett and we are here to support you!

Brett's tour contributions:

• Using extensive waste reduction and recycling backstage and on buses
• Stocking catering with biodegradable and compostable products to replace petroleum and paper-based products
• Eating locally-grown and organic food backstage
• Using reusable water bottles and water stations backstage for band and crew to reduce plastic bottle waste
• Using non-toxic cleaners and post-consumer recycled bathroom tissue on tour buses
• Calculating and neutralizing the carbon footprint from tour buses, trucks, flights and venue energy use by supporting renewable energy

(information above found on Brett Dennen's Site)

Check out more about Brett's contributions here and 

other concerts helped by Reverb to lower their impact at Reverb's site.