The Plaid Barn

The Plaid Barn Giveaway!  Win a Fuji Instax 7 from the plaid barn.
The Plaid Barn features daily crafting deals.  Woo!  I suggest entering.  :)

Trip to Oklahoma!

At the beginning of June, Dave & I went to Oklahoma to visit family & friends and to attend a shower thrown by Chris P. in our honor. It was such a fantastic time and the ladies that designed all the details for the shower did a fabulous job. CP, if you ever see this, thank you so much again for hosting!

Here are some pictures of the decorations and details. Apparently, my mom has been keeping them informed on the style/decor of the wedding because everything fit in soooo perfectly! They even sent me home with decorations and I am definitely planning on using them at the reception! Perfect!
I just adore this tablecloth (made by CP). I know it will see a lot of use in the days to come.




My mom and I with the ladies that made everything so beautiful!
Dave and his dad came to the end of the shower so they could meet everyone there. It was so great to show his parents around Norman and to have them at this special event!

There are so many pictures I would love to post, but this will have to do for now. :)

Garden 2011

Hello Blogworld!

I am running so behind on all my blog posts, but things have been busy around here! This past weekend, I moved into Hanover, so I've been doing lots of packing, cleaning, and now unpacking. There are many perks to my new living situation, which I'm sure will be detailed in a later post. One thing that is not so good for gardening is that there are many big, old trees blocking sunlight in the backyard. So, I've kept my garden at the barn, so I will have many excuses to go back and visit! Here are some pictures from a few weeks ago after we first planted all the plants!

Here we have lettuce, carrots, radishes, peas, broccoli, swiss chard, fennel, brussels sprouts, cornichons, zucchini & green beans. I've just started harvesting some of my peas and had my first sugar snap pea last night while I was harvesting/watering.

These are my pots that are now at my new house, so that I have some herbs readily available when I'm cooking. We have parsley, lovage, rosemary, basil, catnip, arugula, a mustard mix & some matchbox pepper plants.

This is the part of the garden that I like to call "The Annex". Here we have chives, 2 types of basil, oregano, tarragon, bell peppers, cayenne peppers, thai chili peppers, and jalapenos in the left bed. On the right, there are various tomatoes, ground cherries, and tomatillos. You can see Mo trouncing about in the background. He already misses the barn and its abundance of land.

I was a bit ambitious with the seed planting this year. These are all the plants that didn't find a home in the garden. :(

More recently, my radishes have been growing like crazy. They've been super yummy. (Artsy photo creds to former barnmate and fellow gardener Meghan)

Last Sunset

Live from...

Kitt Peak, Tucson, AZ!

I'm out observing again. It's been great weather and even though I'm mostly awake at night, I've enjoyed the beautiful late afternoon sun of 31 degrees latitude.

When I come to Kitt Peak, I have to do a total change in schedule. I'm mostly isolated and only see engineers and other astronomers. I am always guaranteed some awkward interactions when I'm here. Let me tell you about my "days" at Kitt Peak right now.

2pm - Wake up, eat breakfast
2:30 - do yoga. I've found that yoga is a great way to exercise up here. I've tried to run, but the change in altitude (6000 ft here) and hilly terrain make my already pathetic running skills just embarrassing. So yoga is great.
3:15 pm - Free time/prep time. I usually use this time to walk around or just relax
5:15 pm - Dinner time. Oh, the KP cafeteria is the breeding ground for awkward conversations/silences. I love the caf, but sometimes it's like being back in middle school looking for a lunch table.
7:10 pm - Sunset and the beginning of my work night. After this, I just point the telescope at the objects that I'm interested in and work work work.
Midnight - Ah, time for night lunch. I take a small break to make myself some grub.
5:30 am - Sunrise. I close down the telescope and go to bed.

Then repeat this over 10 days. Very exciting, I know. :)

Here's a pretty pic of the telescopes at the top of the mountain.

I call this one Self Portrait #3.I made a little trip to the gift shop yesterday and couldn't refuse this uber-nerdy purple hoodie!

Spring?

So, I had a few random pictures I wanted to share with my corner of the blogosphere and I realized the common thing among them was the ever-elusive spring.

It seems to me that spring is coming more slowly than usual to the upper valley. Maybe I was just fooled by last year's mild, short winter. Regardless, I am ready for some warmer weather and no snow flurries (like yesterday).

As I was exchanging some winter sweaters for t-shirts, Mo decided he would inspect my drawer. Just to make sure it was ready for my spring things. He loves crawling in any sort of enclosure-- bags, small closets, drawers.


Spring hasn't fully sprung in the upper valley, but my tiny sprouts are a welcome sight.


And even though spring isn't in the upper valley, it has hit Boston. Here's a pretty forsythia bush in Dave's neighbor's yard. There are also blooms on trees! So amazing! :)

Some great outfits

There are definitely some great outfits on the Jess LC design your look challenge website. Here are some of my faves.
Credit to Kelly M., Heather B, Diane C, Anna May, & Lakin M (see their links at the voting website)

I think I just love the overall look of this one. I probably wouldn't go for the wedge heels, but like the dress and belt a lot.

I'm not for the bowtie, but I love that someone added a bicycle as an accessory.

I feel like this outfit is so wearable. Especially when you work in a super casual place like I do. Astronomers are casual to a fault.

Love the boat shoes! I love the leftmost column this picture. I've been wanting to revisit the one-piece swimsuit with all the really cute ones that they have J. Crew and elsewhere these days. Does anyone have any opinion of the slightly vintage looking one-piece trend?

In any case, looking at all these spring outfits has made me want to spring to be here in NH/VT even more. Hopefully we get some more beautiful days very soon!!

Don't Forget to Vote!

Hey Blog Readers out there!

Don't forget to take a look at my spring look below and vote. The entries are in alphabetical order by first name and you can vote once before Friday. :)