A Nice Walk Through Nature

Although I am terrible about consistently updating my blog, I have good intentions to keep it up-to-date each time I go on a blogging spree... which generally only lasts about a week. I think the problem is that when I really have exciting things in life to blog about, I am too busy to sit and blog about them. Anyhow, here goes my latest attempt to keep my blog fresh.

While those who know me would tell you that I am far more of a "fly by the seat of her pants" type of girl than I am a planner; I do have a knack for finding new, entertaining activities to take on during my free time.

This past week Adam and I both had Wednesday off, which is a rare occasion for us both to have the same day off right now, what with our out of the norm work schedules. Adam decided that we should indulge in one of our "PG date nights," as our friends call them. We often get teased for going on dates that any kid could easily mistake for a field trip.

We, as always, wanted to find something new to do. We got up early, got some coffee, packed up my pup, took the top off of Adam's Jeep and headed out to explore a new hike. Adam had heard that there was a hike just before Snoqualmie Pass that followed a creek and eventually ended at a big waterfall and swimming area.

Because Adam and I are both such non-planners, we of course, did not even really know which exit to take off of I90, how long the hike would take, if dogs were really allowed or if it really even existed. But, we found the trail with ease, dogs were welcome (on a leash of course), the hike was only about 2 miles each way, the scenery was beautiful, the trails were manicured, and the waterfall and swimming area at the end actually did exist!

I would highly recommend this hike to anyone. It is fairly easy and is a nice short hike for anyone with kids. There are a handful of spur trails that offer beautiful views of Denny Creek, and a few ancient, HUGE, trees that grace the trail along the way. Plus, the swim and waterfall at the end are perfect for cooling off on a hot day.

Getting there: From Seattle, take I-90 east to Exit 47 (before Snoqualmie Pass). Turn left at the stop sign, and cross to the north (left) side of the freeway. At the "T," stay right on Road No. 58, and pass Denny Creek Campground at about three miles. A short distance past the campground, turn left onto a .2-mile road (No. 5830).

Happy Sunday!! :)

Here's a little Beyonce to get your week started out right! :)
I'm not sure if this video makes me want to clean my house or breakout my signature "Burns dance"... hmmm.

Happy Monday =)

Is it odd that after watching Madagascar this weekend, while stuck home sick with the flu, I decided that once I am feeling better I need this song on my ipod under my "get fit" mix? And I would like it to be this exact "lemur version" of the song. :)

First Hike of the Season

The funny thing about the "Seattle's always rainy" cliche is that it really isn't far at all from the truth. Adam, Kona and I got all geared up on our day off on Wednesday for a nice hike up to Rattle Snake Ridge. When  I woke up at about 9am on Wednesday it was sunny with blue skies and birds chirping.... but, by the time I finished my homework, got dressed, got coffee (and Adam got a smoothie) and we started our 10 minute drive to the base of the mountain... it had started to rain and big, slate grey clouds loomed over head. We decided, in true Seattleite fashion, to begin our hike in spite of the rain.

Because of the thick tree covering, the rain didn't bother us too much. We were pretty damp by the time we were done, but the hike and fresh air was well worth it. 

The hike isn't too tough. It was a good starting point for the year for an asthmatic ha. The top has some amazing views, but we stopped just before the top because it started dumping rain and the ridge up top is probably not the safest place to be when it's slippery. (A little boy fell off and died last year actually... not to deter you from the hike. Just be safe up top and don't let your kids climb around the ledge. YIKES).

This is the misty view from the look out just before the top.

My messy dog! He was loving life on the hike and has been asleep ever since we got home. He has an appointment at his doggy hair salon tomorrow! What a mess a white dog can be! :)

Cassidy, Cassidy Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow? :)

This is my little experimental patio garden. I am not a gardner by any means and have never been able to keep an indoor plant alive, but I thought I would try my luck at a potted garden this year. These are the beginnings of what has sprouted so far. (Hopefully my next post about the garden will not feature pictures of dead plants ha).

This is one of my tomato plants... I think this one is the Roma Tomatoes. I did plant a bit of basil in this pot as well.... but it died... hmmm. I think I may have crammed it in there too tightly or over watered it haha.

The first pot on the left is the tomato plant again, the next pot over is my new basil plant... I had to retry the basil since I killed the first basil plants that I had planted and I had been most excited about the basil because I cook with it a lot. Next to the basil is my strawberry plant! It already has a few green strawberries in blossom. I am hoping it produces enough for some strawberry angel food cake topping! On the very end I have some bib lettuce growing.... I think I may have enough for one salad eventually ... some of the lettuce kinda rotted while trying to grow so this is what's left of it.

Lettuce, Thyme, Oregano and Walla Walla Onions... I am going to have to repot the onions soon though since this planted box is too small to hold them all. (Like the cute pink gardening tools Adam got me? Perfect).

This is my other tomato plant... it has a cherry tomato plant and some type of big tomatoes too. We will see how it does. Susan told me to try feeding my tomatoes milk once in a while because they like the calcium... I don't drink milk... but I have been giving them some of my soy milk since it has calcium in it... we will see how they do hahahaha....

Baby strawberry... can't wait to eat it! YUM!

This is a tomato blossom... hopefully I actually grow some tomatoes at some point... we will see :)

More Crafts....

So, this is a little craft that I put together for Adam a while back. Ashley and I made these together (she made one for JJ) which was fun because as with most crafts, they take a lot longer than expected and it was nice to be able to be social while crafting haha. Mine and Adam's anniversary (Feb. 1st) falls really close to Valentine's Day so I wanted to make him something extra special. I decided on the date book. I made a book with scrapbooked pages that included a date for each month of the remaining year. Each page had a theme and most included some type of inexpensive gift card for that date. Here is a bit of the finished product:

This is the cover of the book. I got a cardboard cutout pages from the Mad Scrapper and traced my paper to fit each page, and then cut out the paper and glued them to the cardboard.

For the binding I went to an office supply store and bought some big rings, drilled holes through the pages and then clasped them all together.

These pages are all out of order because I can't figure out how to upload pictures correctly.. but this is September. We went to the Kite Festival last year and I thought it would be fun to go again. Last year Adam bought me a sweet Barbie kite, so the admit ticket in the pocket of the page is for one kite on me.

Adam is obsessed with Harry Potter.... I'm not such a big fan, so I thought it would be fun if I got him a prepaid movie card so that we could go to the opening night of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

June is the camping page... I couldn't think of a fun gift card for this page, so I put a fishing hook in the page instead.

April was the Tulip Festival and you apparently can't pre-purchase tickets for that... so I made us some mix CDs for the drive. It was a very fun date day.... we brought Kona along for the ride too.
This page was a nit of a bust because we decided to postpone our Disneyland trip until June, but oh well! The Disney gift card is preloaded with Disney money and is "Good for Mickey pancakes in Disneyland."

Scrapbook Madness!!

Adam started this scrapbook for my 24th birthday and it has been a fun ongoing project ever since. He did the majority of the book... he is a bit craftier than I am :) It's fun to be able to look back on the book and reflect on some of the fun memories we have had thus far- from when we met in Chelan the Summer of 2008 until now. Here is a little bit of the book: