Well, it is unfortunate that my laptop has officially died. I am not sure what I am going to do about the problem. My husband thinks I could diagnose the problem, but at the same time we don't want to put a bunch of money into something that could stand to be replaced. After all, it is five years old. Now we don't have a computer that works at the house at all. Right now I am on my hubby's work laptop, but I can't do anything shop related with it because of the restrictions placed on it.

My other camera (that got mysteriously broken) worked on this computer, but my new camera doesn't. I'm trying to be patient rather than frustrated over all of this stuff, but I am a little discouraged.

In other news, I have some very fun stuff in the mail with new ideas for jewelry...I am super excited and can't wait until it gets here!!!

My latest piece...I had to show it off because I am truly in love with it!

It's incredible to see how my little garden grows and changes overnight. Last night I was inspecting my geranium plant, wondering when it would finally bloom. My grandmother grows the most beautiful geraniums I have ever seen. They are always gorgeous and full in an array of colors - white, red, pink. My mom isn't so lucky, hers are usually sad, so when I bought my geranium plant, I called her up for some friendly plant-growing competition. (Although I must add, she can do everything else, so I am still the true loser here.)

At first, I had no idea that geraniums needed so little water, so unfortunately some of the leaves are burned. Now that the water is drying out, the flowers are budding, and last night one of them opened! It was a nice surprise to see. Hopefully they continue to grow and bloom through the end of summer.

My other plants are growing as well, and I am excited to see them popping up all over my window boxes that serve as a makeshift garden on our tiny porch. The weird thing is that the seeds I planted last year, the ones I gave up on and never bothered to tend to, started sprouting this year because I used some of the same dirt since it was in fine condition. I don't quite remember what I planted, with the exception of morning glories and maybe some tulips. I am pretty convinced that the mystery plant I found growing in nothing but water is a morning glory, because it is growing to be tall. Morning glories can grow in the worst conditions and are climbing plants, so I think it is a safe assumption.

 

In this photo, you can see the geranium, my green pepper plant, and the banana pepper plant. I think the pepper plants need some kind of stake, because they are starting to tilt sideways. Notice the adorable Wembley paws in the left-hand corner.  

 

This box contains a peppermint plant and some of the mystery flowers from last summer. Peppermint grows like crazy, and I am hoping to have enough of it so I can make dried peppermint sachets for the holidays. Peppermint smells so good.

 

These are the boxes of new seeds that I planted this year. I planted arugula, pickling cucumbers, jalapeno, and cilantro. They are sprouting, but I am just hoping I can keep them alive. Especially the arugula, because it would be fabulous to be able to make salad from my own plants!

 

And here is the mystery plant. The "Hawaiian" plant. I have no idea what it is, only that is going to be huge. I love this plant. The leaves remind me of oak leaves.

And that is my little garden....hopefully I will have even more photos soon, when it gets bigger and better!  

Well, perhaps not a vow, but a day.

I really hate silence. It makes me nervous. There needs to be something on at all times, whether it is music, a podcast, or television. I grew up in a noisy house and need noise to function and feel at peace.

Today though, I  do not have anything on. No TV, no radio. The reason for this is that my dogs have been napping and looking adorable, and my ipod is downstairs in the car and I was too lazy to run down and get it.

And in this silence, I discovered just how noisy it really is around here. People always talk about how urban areas are always loud, but I never really felt that where I live is especially loud. The roar of airplanes and the rush of traffic are the regular noise makers, but never disturbingly so. Perhaps this is because I lived across the street from a railroad before I moved here, where the trains actually shook my bed and pierced my ears daily (I loved it).

But it's not the cars or the airplanes that are loud today - it's the BUGS. It is the constant whirr or bugs. I just hope they are having good conversation.

One of my absolute favorite things is waking up in the morning to a bright sunny day, and being able to hear the noise that accompanies living right next to the interstate.

I grew up in a very rural area, a true middle-of-nowhere type of place. In the summers before I had to start growing up and start working, my siblings and I developed our own morning rountines that I came to love, but there was always something inside of me that nagged for the outside world. Living in the woods invokes that feeling, I think. We would get up and watch Major Dad and Wings on USA, which was a big deal because this was the first time we ever had real television. In the past, we only had three channels. After that we would swim all day, ride bikes, read, play and play ouside.

Before all of that happened, there was the waking up and hearing the birds outside. And that's all there was. Don't get me wrong, I adore where I grew up and would never change if for anything. But today I love hearing the whoosh of cars every morning. For some reason it is very hopeful, the sound of people on their way to what is important or unimportant in their lives.

My sister gave Wembley a haircut today, and found a lump. Goldens are prone to cancer, and I've already said goodbye to one golden because of it. I am not ready to say goodbye to Wembley. NO- it is not cancer - or at least we don't know for sure, but there is a lump, just like my old dog. It has been a shock to my system, mostly putting into perspective just how much I love my dogs. Just when I think I can't possible love them anymore, I do, every single day.

People who don't love animals cannot understand what it means, but the bond between a person and their dog is unlike a bond with any other creature. They live to please us, comfort us, and love us. They aren't mean and spiteful. They are always full of love. And isn't that what life is supposed to be about? Finding love? The motivation of every story, every movie, every poem - they are all about love in some way. Not necessarily romantic love of course, but a love for anything. To me, dogs provide the ultimate and most pure love that life has to offer.

We already had a routine vet appointment scheduled for Thursday, so we are going to get the lump checked out then. Hopefully it is just a fatty tumor and nothing else.

Today Alan and I went to the farmer's market. The first thing I zeroed in on were the wonderful herbs, flowers, and decorative plants. We have a lot of plants in our home, and this summer I started planting a little mini garden on the back porch. The seeds are beginning to sprout - cilantro, jalapeno, pickling cucumbers, yellow peppers and green peppers - these are all things I am attempting to grow.

We did pick up a plant at the farmer's market - a "hawaiian plant." It has huge leaves and will apparently grow up to 15 feet high if we let it. The problem is, I don't know what it's called!!! The leaves look like oak tree leaves. The man said if I take the seeds out when it flowers, I can plant more. And that is all the information I have.

Still, it is a beautiful plant and I potted it when we got home. It's in a huge pot...I can't wait to see how it grows.

Show us why you get up in the morning.
Submitted by David.

I had the best 4th of July of my life yesterday. It wasn't anything exciting, but it was just one of those very nice days with Alan where we can enjoy each other's company and not worry about everything else going on around us. We went to Crossroads Village and rode the train and the boat, watched the parade, and made some small purchases at the general store there. After debating where to see fireworks, I admitted I had no desire to drive another hour just to watch fireworks, especially because I don't like being around annoying drunk people who don't even know what the 4th of July is all about.

Pardon my ridiculous arrogance, but I am in the middle of a fabulous Thomas Jefferson book, and that is what made this 4th of July even more special. It may sound silly, but it is true. After we had our nice day boat and train riding, we stopped at Borders and Alan bought me the Thomas Jefferson documentary that Ken Burns made for PBS in the late 90s. It is 3 hours long, and we watched the whole thing last night. It is tragic, inspiring, and romantic. It is America in some of its finest moments, and even not-so-fine moments. But is it our country and where it came from. Alan loved it as much as I did. For years I have had a thing for the history of the Revolution and have always had an interest in Mr. Jefferson - that interest being sparked as a child because he was the only famous person I knew of that shared a birthday with me.

It was just a wonderful day, and the start of a wonderful weekend.

It's hard to believe I have had my Etsy shop open for THREE YEARS!!! To celebrate, I am having a HUGE sale this weekend, with the theme of three of course. Some items will be marked down 30%, others $3 off, and even some $3 items in there. Just look for the anniversary sale section sometime on Friday, and it will be up all weekend until late Sunday.