Outdoor patio surprise!

 I couldn't resist posting to a linky party today for outdoor party ideas at Censational Girl! My poor hubby has been working overtime lately at his "big boy" job, he hasn't been too happy about it either. With the weather finally deciding to be SPRING I thought a nice surprise for him when he came home today should be waiting =)

 We recently purchased our home, (Christmas time) and recently purchased this sectional from Walmart. We love it! We live in the Pacific Northwest so it has been sitting in our courtyard waiting for the rain to stop!

 I have shopped the house for most of the goodies, and have been purchasing the flowers over the last couple months.

 Today I finally put it all together!

 While I hope that the little touches I've added today surprise him...

 This is his surprise! S'mores!

 I think he will be rather surprised!

 I think I will just sit and wait for him to find me! Ha!

 Thanks for stopping by today! Check out the link for more great ideas!
Have a sweet evening!

Learning...

On my way out to the studio yesterday I noticed this pretty blue on the ground, I bent over to pick it up and knew right away exactly what it was! The robins eggs have hatched!

I grabbed my camera from the house and went to the nest, mama was away so I quickly snapped a few pictures. I guess they heard me walk up so they opened their little beaks expecting a treat!

 When they figured out I wasn't mama they settled right back down and went to sleep. Mama wasn't too far away, she made all kinds of noise to get me to leave.

 The purple wisteria near the kitchen is getting ready to bloom! Yay! I think spring has finally arrived! As I have shared, I have been working out in the studio the last few days trying to organize and purge a few things for a yard sale this weekend.

 Umm, I've discovered a few things about myself during this process... I may have a little obsession with containers. Almost any container really, jars, bottles, new or recycled. (Infact, I have three jars/bottles on the kitchen counter as I type this that I thought I would recycle into my crafts. A cool syrup bottle, a small chopped garlic jar and a pickle jar.)

 tins,

 plastic,

 did I say jars? Oh, ya right! ;) Luckily I have a few projects coming up that will require jars, so I hope to use a few of these up. Also, I plan to can some salsa, tomato sauce, jam, and any other items I can this summer, so all those jars will come in handy =) I may even need a few more jars from IKEA by that time. Hehe!

 Umm, these two boxes contain gift bags, tissue paper, ribbon... maybe I don't need to buy any of that for a while either.

 These three boxes contain my "alterables" for crafts, you know things to alter, photo albums for cookbooks or mini books, Christmas decorations, frames, clipboards, cd cases. Maybe I don't need to buy any of those things for a while either.

 Above is a BUNCH of frames, nope don't need to buy any! =)

And lastly would be my collection of canvas... now, I had to buy all these because my favorite scrapbook store was going out of business and they were such a great deal! Really!
I think I will make a goal for myself to not buy any craft products for the rest of the year.

I did not have any clocks though, so I bought one! Isn't it pretty? On sale too!
Well thanks for stopping in! Have a pleasant evening!

Studio update

 I have been spending quite a bit of time the last week in the studio. The main reason is I need to open every box and go through it... we are sponsoring a garage sale this weekend in support of Relay for Life, so it's the perfect time to get rid of unused belongings. I had to hire someone last week to come and look at the heater, it gave off an awful smell... after two visits with no results, the HUBBY was able to fix it himself! Ha! This weekend he hung the gorgeous little chandelier over the table =)

 He also hung the cute little mantle over the faux fireplace.

 This room is huge, I am not sure how I managed all this "stuff" in my last craft area!

 My hubby also installed the new lights in the garage portion of the studio. Lights were there but not centered on the ceiling and not attached to any electricity, just there. So he centered them and ran electricity to them. Now we can see in that space!

 Plus the light from that side helps light the studio area a little better too. I may need to break down and paint the ceiling =( Ugh. We will see when I get everything stored where it belongs. I know eventually it will all be painted, but I really need my crafty stuff out to use for a while first. Too many other projects happening right now.

 Here are a few shots of the garage portion of the studio.

 We still have lots of boxes to go through and organize. We plan to build more storage shelves and put a used refrigerator/freezer in the space. I think the hubby plans to build a work bench too.

 I am thinking I may sell this desk at the yard sale. The previous owners left it here, I wish it worked better for the space, but it is too tall for crafting at while sitting. I thought about cutting the legs down, but then your thighs would hit the bottom edge. While this is not where my main crafting is done, I use the white desk my hubby built, I want my friends to be comfortable when they come craft with me.

I found this at a local furniture store web site and would LOVE to put this in the space!!! Hmmm, maybe even store wine glasses and wine in it, hehe! Okay, maybe crafty things instead!

 Found these cute button decorations at JoAnn on clearance 70% off, these are my color inspiration, SWOON!

 The chairs go with my dining room table, which I am thinking about selling as well. They were perfect for our other house, but since I purchased the dining room chairs from the previous owners and bought a new china hutch... I am thinking a dark farmhouse table would be perfect!

The dining room table just blends into the wood floor. It does have a huge leaf stored inside to seat 10.

 Decisions, decisions! I did think about painting the table... the hubby said no to that right away.

 Well, enough of the chit chat today, I need to head out and sort through more boxes!
Have a super organized day, thanks for stopping in today!

Orcas Island-Eastsound dinner

 A couple weeks ago the weather decided to cooperate long enough for the hubby to surprise me with dinner. Not just ANY dinner, a flight TO dinner =)

 I hadn't ever been to Orcas Island or Eastsound. After he got off work he asked if I wanted to go to dinner, to Friday Harbor, one of my FAVORITE places to go.

 Once we got in the plane he asked if I wanted to go to Eastsound instead, I, of course said sure! So off we went!

 Just a short 10 minute flight just above the water and islands!

 Above is Eastound, we had dinner in one of the buildings there on the water.

 The color of the water was amazing!

 Once we landed, we parked,

 the hubby tied done the plane, (see the water at the end of the runway? So awesome!)

 Then we walked down this little path for about 15 minutes until we reached downtown.

 Such a quaint little town! Can't wait to come back a little earlier in the day to do some shopping! Ha!

 This is an outdoor amphitheatre, I believe they have a Shakespearean  festival here.

 Fun sculpture outside of the museum.

 Cute little shops!

 The main drag.

 More cute shops.

 Quaint little Inn and cafe.

 This is where we ate, The Madrona Bar and Grill. The food was delicious, the atmosphere very down home local, perfect!

 The view was spectacular! Lots of fish jumping and birds swooping the water to eat the insects before the fish. So peaceful and serene. We both wished we had thought to make a reservation to spend the night! Next time for sure ;)

 If not the Inn then maybe here.

 After dinner we enjoyed the leisurely stroll back to the airport. Above a local church, reminded me of the one where I used to live.

 The path is very easy to find, signs direct you at each turn. It was a wonderful surprise evening with my honey=)

 Off we go! The sky was pretty hazy so we didn't get to see the sunset, but the flight was smooth as glass.

I can't wait to return again. Next time we are spending the night and I plan on a little shopping too! Thank you honey for the great evening!
Hope you are having a sun filled day where you are! We are enjoying a foggy, drizzly morning, thanks for stopping by!