Keeping it Cool

Where have I been? Wish I could say somewhere fantastic. But no, just being me, at home, out with family, just living life. And its left me in an incredibly lazy state. I really need to get back on track to being my organized energetic self, but shes lost right now. It's like riding a bike, right? I hope so, because I have a little soon to be seven year olds birthday to plan!
This weeks project Monday is "keeping it cool," the hot weather is everywhere right now. I don't know about you, but I step foot into the heat and I just want to go back inside and take a nap. Wake me when the sun dips down. But there are a few things I've been doing to try and beat the heat. Cool beverages to start. A glass of raspberry lemonade, or some malibu and pineapple, and of course my favorite, bubble tea. I also change into shorts or a dress after work. Wearing my hair up rather than down also seems to help me keep it cool. How about you, what are you doing to beat the heat?

Project Monday-Magic Hour

This weeks prompt was to take some photos of your favorite time in a summer day. I actually have two. The twilight hours. Those hours in the day when we are still teetering between light and dark, the gorgeous glowing hours where the sun is rising or setting. I love those times in the day. And in the summer, the twilight hours seem to stretch on and on. There is something truly magical about that time. Almost like the world pauses.
Yesterday was my "holiday" for the Fourth of July. So I had a rare opportunity to enjoy the morning hours. I usually sleep in on the weekends, there is no rousing me out of bed before 9 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday! So it was nice to sit out in my backyard, enjoy a warm cup of coffee, water my garden, and watch the sun come up. And then of course retreat back into my air conditioned home as it heats up.

We adopted a new doggy last week. So he's kept me pretty busy. He was a stray. He is a Siberian Husky and we named him Lycan. He is a sweetheart, very inquisitive and playful. They think he may have been stray for a bit, he is pretty skinny for a husky. Since he is very smart and an escape artist (as most huskies are) I have to be outside with him almost always! Hopefully he will feel more at home with us shortly and won't feel the itch to escape. We took him and Penny on a walk together and it was tough! He's a good walker, but Penny is so hyper, and she is constantly pulling and wants to run up and bark at other dogs in the neighborhood (and there are A LOT).
Maybe he will teach her by example. He has already taught her to chew a bone. Before Penny would just take the bone and bury it in the yard, but when she saw Lycan chewing his bone, she gave it a try too.

Seattle Days Five and Six

I've been unplugged this week. I haven't even turned on my computer since my last post. I didn't want to be. I had so many good intentions, so many plans. But every day I have been plagued by these miserable afternoon headaches that have me curled up on my couch until bed time. I'm baffled. I think maybe it's a combination of the heat and not drinking enough water. I have been making an effort to drink more water these past couple days, and the headaches seem less severe. So I guess I need to be on a hydration mission!

So the last two days of the Seattle vacation are here. Sad. Even though I'm long since gone away, it has been fun reliving it here on the blog.

On the fifth day we went into Tacoma. On purpose this time. I wanted to visit this thrifty vintage boutique I had read reviews online about, called Urban Exchange. Turns out they're closed on Saturdays. Boo. So we decided to walk around and check out what else was in the neighborhood, and lo and behold, we came across another cupcake shop! This one was called Hello Cupcake. I've decided cupcake shops are like the best places evah! They are so cute, they smell absolutely decadent and the people are always happy. With cupcakes, how could you not be?

After our cupcakes and boutique browsing we walked back to the car to discover Tacoma had left me a lovely parking ticket. I guess they have these parking box things, new to me, that are hidden behind trees, and you find one, pay, and put a sticker in your window. I'm so used to meters, that when I didn't see one, only a two hour limit sign, I thought it was free to park for two hours. Life in a big city I guess! We drove around to visit some more shops. And this time when I went to park a guy on the street said that on one side of the street you have to back your car into the space or you get a ticket. Weird! Glad he was there though, or I could have left Tacoma with two parking tickets that day!
After Tacoma Crystal showed me around the gigantic mall they have there. I had her try some bubble tea, but she wasn't to sure. I was hooked the first time I ever tried bubble tea, so I don't think she'll be having it again. Chewing a beverage is just too much for some people!

On Day six, our last day, we visited a couple thrift stores in Crystal's area, and we also drove to another Scrapbook store. We ate lunch at a place called Panera, which we don't have here, but I gather a lot of places do! It was really good, and I love how they had a plastic, trash, and compost section at every disposal place in the restaurant. Later Crystal made homemade lasagna and I made a berry cobbler for desert. We said our goodbyes and have been missing each other since. Can't wait until we can get together again, it was so much fun to just hang out and do things with my BFF again.

I'm a Mess Maker

But I enjoy it! It's the aftermath that's not so fun. I don't know why, but all the table top surfaces of my house end up looking like this after a week. That's right every Sunday, I tackle that madness that is my own clutter, collected atop all flat surfaces of my home. So I am at the end of the 1 hour internet time limit I gave myself, ready to get to work and putting all this randomness back in it's place. So I can take it all back out again over the course of the week.

Seattle Day Four

I forgot to mention, at the end of the Day Three post, what was happening with my whole GPS fiasco. Earlier in Day Three before we headed into downtown Seattle I actually called the rental car place and explained that the plug wasn't charging my GPS. We plugged the GPS into Crystal's computer and it powered on just fine, that's how we came to the conclusion. They said they didn't have a replacement vehicle, but it was probably a fuse and I could come in to have it fixed. I had too much to do to be spending time doing that, so we just went about our day, it was charged for now.
Well, we ended up discovering a second vehicle power adapter outlet in the back seat. So we ran the GPS cord from the back seat to the front windshield. It just made it! Hey, whatever I had to do to get the most out of my vacation and not spend any more time with the GPS mess, right? It wasn't over yet. After we left the Space needle, we hopped on the freeway and headed towards Crystal's house for dinner. We were talkin' and talkin' when Crystal looked out the window and said "we're almost to Tacoma!" The GPS never spoke a word. It never told me to exit or turn. It took us thirty minutes out of the way. Needless to say, I packed that Tom Tom back in it's box, and stuck with my trusty Garmin for the rest of the trip!
On day four we went on a little hike. It was a bright and sunny day, perfect to go walking through the shady forests. Crystal was a sweetie and packed us a picnic lunch, and we stopped at a roadside produce stand to pick up some fruit on the way. I'm a destination hiker all the way. I like hikes that take me somewhere cool, give me something to work towards. This hike was to a water fall called Twin Falls. It was a very well traveled trail, easy enough for the little ones to do, and had hand rails and bridges in the places where the earth was really soggy. The forest was so dreamy and magical, I felt like any moment I'd spot a fairy in the dense a pretty greenery that surrounded us.

For dinner that evening Crystal and her family took us to a place called Ivar's. Crystal seemed shocked I had never heard of it, but it's true! We grabbed some fish and chips and sat at our dock side tables watching the sunset over Lake Washington.