we did it!

today I married the man of my dreams at city hall in San Francisco. I am one happy lady!

love you Bryce

They're Growing!

We take the chicks outside to play everyday. They mostly stay in one spot

and like to huddle under the roses. They're getting hard to catch so we have

to wait until they fall asleep to bring them back inside.

Nancy is my bold and curious girl.

She is alway the first to come check things out.

As you can see the girls are growing and will soon be feathered out enough to live outside in their coop. As for the coop, I have been looking high and low for one that's affordable and large, but haven't had much luck. Did you know a new coop costs about $600, and the ones on Craigslist that are used aren't much cheaper? I was getting desperate because the chicks need to live outside soon, but sorting out their coop situation was problematic until I realized we have a perfectly sized garden shed that we never use out back that would be perfect for them. So this weekend we're hauling all the rusty, crusty tools out (the ones that are still useful will get moved into the garage) and then overhauling the shed into a new coop. All we have to do is weather and predator proof it, build the nesting boxes and roosting bar, and build a pen for them to play in and viola! new coop for around $200. I'm really happy because not only am I saving money and recycling the shed, but it's a great size for my flock. I will try to remember to take pictures of the project.

During

A view across the cluttered floor toward the soon to be walk-in closet

Dungeonous corner - the bed centered on this wall

Closet (the next project is to push this out about

4 feet so we can have a walk-in closet)

The bathroom wall where the vanity will live

View into hallway

Here are some pictures of the "during" stages of the master bedroom and bath remodel. We started this projects months ago, but for some reason we have lacked the energy for this project that we had for the living room/kitchen. Maybe because we have a bathroom and another bedroom to camp out in. It's by no means comfortable. but with the kitchen stuff washing dishes in the bathtub and having no walls was a huge motivator. Anyway, we are moving again on this major project and we turned a corner this week - we're actually hanging drywall and should have the bathroom tiled within two weeks!! Cody actually tried to put off hanging the drywall until "next weekend" which is how we have ended up taking so long to even get this far, but one massive temper tantrum by me is all it took and miraculously the ceiling will be finished tonight! I wasn't thinking clearly and forgot all about taking "before" photos which is why there will only be "during" and "after" pics to share, but trust me, the room was hideous. It's the home stretch, people!

Rainy Days

It starting to feel like Fall now! This weekend was stormy and grey and it's definitely getting colder. I love this time of year because I like to bundle up and the holidays are almost here. We're almost done with re-doing our master bath and bedroom (photos to come shortly) and I can't wait until the room is all finished and cozy. I want to stick a fireplace in the room so we can stay under a pile of blankets and be toasty. My girlfriend Gloria made stew this weekend and I think I'm going to swing by the store on my way home and pick up some ingredients to make my own pot tonight. I love to eat toasted sandwiches, comfort food, and hot soup like tomato or navy bean when the weather is like this. In fact, yesterday when it was rainy I made C get out of bed and take my to Harry's Hofbrau to enjoy a gravy drenched turkey lunch with extra cranberry. I had to be helped out of the booth after lunch and I wasn't able to finish everything (the chickens LOVED the leftover macaroni and cheese). We actually let the girls play in the rain yesterday since I'm hoping to encourage their feathers to fill in faster. I love them, but they are still in the house and they smell to high heaven no matter what I do, so they're going outside into their new coop by next weekend. I just looked outside and it's still gloomy - yay! I'm heading home to hot tea, a fire, a pot of bubbling stew and my stretch pants in a bit.

up the garden path...

at some point, this tired concrete path has to go...

and I must say I am digging these ideas of having grasses and succulents creep into the design to give it a softer yet still modern look while still being water conscious.

photo here

photo here

3000 Miles up!

you've got to love modern technology don't you? I am here on my flight to Dallas and online. the plane has wifi - what better way to eat up 3 hours of flight time than work and surf the web...

too bad for the nosy guy looking over my shoulder reading this right now (he just asked me if my name was flufflefritz...) I knew I should have brought that privacy screen for my mac - sigh...

the launch of our product went so well yesterday in san francisco. it really was like introducing your baby to the world, and I am not even in the product development team. I am in the marketing team.

so world, I'd like you to meet ūmi. I was a little hesitant to mix work and this blog, but I am really excited about this - and if you're like me with friends and family far from you this might be just the thing you need!

so now I am Dallas bound, which should be fun.

hope you're all having a great week!

Finally Got Them!

Last Saturday I went to Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond and took a chicken raising class. There were two big boxes filled with tiny fluffy chicks
This is one of the breeds we got - a Cuckoo Marans (ours is named Doug)
who will lay beautiful chcolate colored eggs

Cody and Doug hanging out. Doug is our favorite!
I had no idea chickens were so friendly and curious.

Here are all four chicks sleeping in a pile.

From left to right: Doug, Nancy, Willow and Buffy.

Kate and Bryce came by to check the chicks out. Here is Kate and Willow.

Nancy is always climbing on top of the food container

to see what's going on in the world. Here are Cody and Nancy.

The class was very interesting and along with the four chicks I was sent home with instructions on how to brood them, a heat lamp and some chick starter. I ended up with four different breeds who will all lay different colored eggs sometime in the spring.