Pretend Minimalism

Right now, my house is empty.  We took almost everything out in order to install the sexy bamboo floors you see in the photo above.  We are still working to get all of the baseboards back in, and so have not put much back into any of the rooms.

It has been fun, pretending at minimalist living, sort of like glamping in your own home.  I am not certain how sustainable this is, however.  In the end, I do have a lot of things and while I am making an effort to get rid of many of those, I am not sure I could ever really be a girl with only two bags.  As you can see, there are plenty of hats claiming space on my entry rack as it is.

First Eggplant of the Season?

I am going to have home grown eggplant!  This little purple flower says so.
Interestingly enough, I bought white eggplants so the color of this lovely blossom belies the pale fruit that shall follow.

Fun Times

So an interesting side effect of the job hunt, is that you often don't hear anything for so long that you forget you even applied for certain positions. Then, months later, you get a polite rejection letter.

It's like if you made a pass at a guy and he sort of let it slide and you both tacitly agreed to move on and not speak of it again, and then, months later, you get a handwritten note saying something like:

"Just so we are clear, I'm really not into you.
Best,
Thaguyfrombefore"

Making Changes

It is unbearably hot today.  98* by Google's calculation, but I am sure it is hotter in places where the sun has been baking the pavement for several hours today.  I simply had to get somewhere cool.
Enter Whole Foods.  You see, the more typical Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf simply won't do for me.  I am hyper sensitive to caffeine and trying to cut way down on sugars, that eliminates almost everything on the menu besides hot tea for which I can never justify paying $3.
I also have trouble mooching off the wifi and taking up space in the store without buying something so I needed an establishment more in sync with my needs.
Whole Foods, on the other hand, has convenient underground parking, air conditioning, free wifi, and a selection of healthful goodies should I need a snack.  I am more comfortable over-paying for freshly pulverized green juice and organic salad than I am for sugary beverages.
So here I am, getting organized, or trying to.  Productivity here I come!

You Wish Your Garden Was as Cute as Mine.

This year, I am experimenting with starting various edible plants from seed.  Right now my basil has just started and it is friggin adorable!

Our first strawberries of 2014.  I need to figure out what these guys want to produce because I want more strawberries!

Re-Thinking My Thoughts

Los Angeles traffic has turned me into a terrible person.  I see news of an accident or a stalled car in the middle of the freeway and my gut reaction is how much that sucks for ME trying to get to work.

Really, it sucks for that person.  I am going to be a little late in a city where that just happens sometimes when your commute is 45 minutes in good traffic.  (There is a lot that can happen between my driveway and my work parking spot.)  I want to retrain myself to pray for the person who is having a waaaay crappier day that my minorly inconvenienced self.

I need to start doing this because I am afraid that commuting is starting to eat my soul, piece by piece, mile by mile.  I need to breath and get out of my metal box and out of the vindictive race mentally, if not physically.

New Beginnings | Vegetable Garden Edition

So I have re-planted my garden.  I have seeds starting in my window sill and little cucumbers, peppers, and eggplants in the beds with drip hose ready to get them through the hot summer with as little waste as possible.  In the above photo you may see my crop of swiss chard, bright and lush and utterly unstoppable.  I seriously neglected the garden this past winter and those guys didn't blink for a second.  They are still going strong from last years planting.

This is the second planting we have done in these beds.  No one in our household is particularly experienced in growing edibles, so I like to think of this as our test lab garden.  Last year we learned that arugula needs no assistance and that romaine will bolt in the heat if not watched carefully.

This year I hope to learn about peppers and a few root veggies like beets and carrots. 

The toughest part is going to be waiting for harvest.