Joe’s Garden – Fall Produce

My brother Forrest works as a farmer at a local farm Joe’s Garden. My mom and I have been stopping by once or twice a week to get produce after our walks. Joe’s has the most perfect peaches and nectarines of anyone in town. They are juicy and sweet, and I’m going to miss them terribly when they are gone! This week I also bought some acorn squash, some purple pears, cilantro and apples.

They have tons of ugly pumpkins and squash too right now. It’s a pretty awesome place to go to get in the fall spirit! Fresh local produce is reason #5,450 that I LOVE Washington!

Say hi Forrest!

 

 

 

Daily Eats – Day 33

Banana. Grapefruit. Mini Cliff Bar (they are TINY!) Greek Yogurt with Gronolla

Lean Cuisine. Wine. English Muffin with jam. Veggie Soup.

I also had some shake n bake chicken but forgot to photograph it.

Today felt like SPRING (despite that dumb groundhog) all day long. I woke up to extra sunlight, and the sun didnt set until 5:30! Which is an hour later than it was last month. I love it. So we skipped the gym and walked around Lake Padden instead, it was the fresh air I needed.

 

 

Fall Fun Bonanza!

I like to use the word Bonanza whenever possible. Seriously.

October was whirl wind of activities! Bonfires, Antique Shopping in Lynden, Thrifting Dresses and sweaters, wearing tights, Eating Man Pies. How I love fall! I’m so glad it is taking so long for all the leaves to change. I’m so glad that the weather goes from rainy to sunny and back again, never too hot, never too cold. I’m so glad that Mr. Gaunt takes me on dates, and we eat outside in our coats. I’m so glad we switched our roadtrip snacks from Sunflower seeds to Pumpkin Seeds. I think November will just be another extension of October, and I will ride this pumpkin flavored, maple leaf smelling, puffy vest wearing coat-tails all the way to Christmas!

Forrest burning all our excess cardboard

$8 "Infinity Scarf" from Buffalo Exchange. Thanks Aunt. J for th pin!

A NEW USED WASHER! HIP HIP HOORAY!

Dress $4, "cardigan" is a thrifted J.Crew jersey tee I cut up the front, and cut the sleeves 3/4.

$6 at Value Village

 

$3 Skirt from Value Village. Didnt buy the sweater

Pumpkin Seeds for the road.

A Rainy afternoon in Lynden

Did you know Lynden is a Dutch Colony....weird.

Checking out the antique shops

Bought a cat for the Teal Cat Project! Check it out at http://www.tealcatproject.com

The Crazy Spider house!

Need a closer look?

Check out that HUGE spider on the side of the house!

Eating Man Pies...the ultimate comfort food.

 

me: My lips look so JUICY!

This weekend was pretty awesome. Nothing overtly exciting happened, but a lot of pretty good things did, and those add up. I also didn’t have that over whelming “I’m not getting enough done!” feeling that comes with most of my weekends.

The Accomplished:

-Made a mock table setting and was pleasantly surprised that it all came together and looked really good. I think there is a struggle with wedding decorations (especially table settings) to really fill the space in a cohesive way. It bugs me when table settings are too plain, or have a whole bunch of weird “Monogrammed stuff” or confetti or little marbles strewn all around. I will be the FIRST to stand up and say that I am a wedding centerpiece SNOB! So really ignore me, unless you are too, and then join the club and hate on some flat colored marbles with me!

-Painted Frames Mustard. I bought a bunch of ornate frames at the Salvation Army (all 99 cents thankyouverymuch) and some mustard yellow spray paint from a fine-art supply store. Hardware stores only carry YELLOW spray paint, and I just didn’t want that (note that you will send closer to $9 on a can of a fancy color). The frames will be used to hold little signs around the wedding like: WELCOME, FOOD MENU, DESSERT BAR INSTRUCTIONS, and so on.

-Create a Menu. We managed to sit down and write out exactly what we will be serving at the wedding including drinks and dessert bar treats. My Grandma and my Aunt Jody came up today from Seattle to go over everything. I’m so excited the food is going to be amazing!

-Dollar Tree Stock Up! Did you know the Dollar Tree sells packs of FIVE of these for $1! I bought 10 packs, but will be going back for at least 5 more. I also bought mini tongs for our dessert bar. They have such good cheap basic party supplies AND buffet serving dishes (big clear bowls and serving platters, etc).

-Had Dinner with my MOH (Mallory) and her Fiance (Aaron). Always nice to see her. The fact that I get to see her probably once a month compared to twice a year makes me soooo happy! And to be honest I can’t wait until my wedding is done and I get to just help her with hers and do all the fun MOH tasks for her! She is awesome.

-Wrote our Vows! Yup, I was sitting on the couch listening to Adele Pandora (duh) and they just came spilling out. Thankfully I had my laptop and I typed away. They are sweet and funny and it was so easy for Mr. Gaunt to use my format to write his own set. DONE, such sweet relief. And yes we have read each others, we aren’t the sappy surprising type.

-Cleaned my house. For Grandma…duh.

-Bought the PERFECT wedding Lipstick. My sister and I went to Macy’s and did what I had read about, hunt around for a makeup counter girl who’s makeup you like. I did this and spotted a fantastically done-up girl at the Lancome counter. She was awesome and put a bunch of colors and liners and shadow on me until we had the perfect one. It is nothing like I thought I wanted, and yet it is perfect. Worth the $30 (EEEEEEEEEK) it cost. I have never in my life bought nice lipstick (and liner), this was quite the treat. I then proceeded to go home and wax my eyebrows and tried to (unsuccessfully) re-create the whole look. Needless to say I can do the lipstick perfect, but the rest I will leave to the professionals.

-Decided to wear my hair down for the wedding. The vote is in and the hair will be down! now where are my Lauren Conrad extensions?

-Made all the wedding papers. I spent a few hours on Photoshop the other day and made all the paper things we need printed for the wedding. I even managed to tie in Hula (our cat) into some of the items, which brings me such joy:

• Table numbers
• Welcome Signs
• Menu’s
• “Vegetarian & Vegan” signs for select dishes
• Cake topper
• Dessert Bar Banner
• Boutonniere Stickers

I have to go some time this week to Kinkos and get everything printed and cut out.

-Ordered Groomsmen Gifts and looked into Bridesmaid Gifts. Because they are all do nice to us and deserve a treat for being our slaves for the day.

We actually have very little (of the big things) left to do. Just little stuff here and there and then the stuff for the week of. I got time off work and so did Mr. Gaunt. About half our guests have RSVP’d (any advice on how to get more people to do this?). We have picked a place to have a rehearsal dinner and will be going in next weekend to reserve it. I’m getting really excited! My weight is also down about 5 pounds since I joined the gym and started eating less, the dress needs to fit!

Ok I’m done boring everyone with my wedding plans. I’m just feeling really good about things!

I leave you with a random mish-mash of pictures from the last 2 weeks:

Picking dinner from the garden!

Mr. Gaunts first trip to Whatcom Falls Park

Me trying to convince him the V necks are sexy. He was having none of it...lol!

Worlds most flattering dress I got for $18 at Value Village!

Sad day for all Prego Thrill Seekers at the Fair!

 

The Morning Person in me

If I didn’t work till (was 1 am)now 11 pm, I would wake up at 6 am every day. I kid you not. I like mornings. I love having extra time to do things, feeling productive and such. I’m also not a huge sleep fan. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate sleep and I sleep well, but I like to run on the minimum amount of sleep needed. I am not someone who prioritizes sleep over…well…being awake.

This morning at 7am the weirdest smell woke me up. It was such an odd smell that I flung myself out f bed in search of it. To be honest I almost think the smell was something my brother cooked at 5:30 am before he went to work, not sure. After that I was awake! So I went and ran 2 miles (walked 1.5) and spent some time stretching in the front yard. Then I watered all of my gardens and made scrambled eggs and Kale. Oh and I cut another sweet pea bouquet (they grow like mad!). And here I sit.

Today we have to go to Costco with my mom, then to our wedding venue to make a payment and measure a few things for decoration purposes. I’m excited to see it again and get re inspired!

I  also wanted to show you some pictures from our recent day trip to Eddison Washington. Downtown Eddison is the tiniest cutest downtown you ever did see! It’s a must if you’re looking for something to do with some girlfriends or your parents, or out-of-town guests. Its only about 20 minutes from Bellingham out Chuckanut drive. I’m trying to convince Mr. Gaunt to move there and get some ducks and just little the quaint slow life.

Bread Farm

Lanjager? Chilli Nibb Chocolate Bar?

The Lucky Dumpster

 

 

 

 

It All Ends In Fairhaven

Mr. Gaunt and I walked down to Fairhaven today to watch the end of the Ski to Sea Race “It All Ends in Fairhaven”. They have a vintage car show at Boulevard Park and then a festival in downtown Fairhaven, then the end of the race is at Marine Park. For those that dont know…

” widely known as the Ski to Sea, is a seven-legged, 100-mile (160 km) long, multi-event competition held on Memorial Day in Whatcom County. The race starts on the ski slopes of Mount Baker, a 10,800-foot (3,300 m) volcano, and ends at Marine Park in Fairhaven, on the shore of Bellingham Bay. The seven legs of the race are: cross country skiing, downhill skiing, running, bicycling, canoeing, mountain biking, and finally kayaking.”

So it was fun to watch the first Kayaker come in (around 6 hours after the race started). We also shared a “Heart Healthy Southwestern Wrap” (they used 95% fat free tortillas too!) and bought a sweet $5 Brenthaven laptop case at their sidewalk sale. Other than that we are sore from all the walking (and last nights strength training workouts) and mildly sunburned. I also feel super bloated. Despite having eaten very little today I can tell my weight is up, and my hands feel very swollen. I’m trying to just drink lots of water and hopefully de-puff a bit.

Oh and our entire workout was 7.5 miles roundtrip, although we did stop half way through for about an hour.