Gardening Season - it's started!

In case you were unaware, gardening season has officially begun. I received my most favorite seed catalog from Seeds of Change back in January and have been drooling over the pretty pictures. I organized my seeds from last year and found what I could save and use this year; threw out what didn't work last year (FYI - Nasturtium attract aphids like crack); made my list of new seeds I'll need this year and have been outside getting things ready. I need to still empty out 3 of my gardening boxes from last year and will refill with new compost from Cedar Grove and will refresh the rest of the boxes with said compost. The awesome thing is that my tomatoes I planted way back in the fall are now almost 3 feet tall and itching to bloom - which means (crossing fingers) we might have tomatoes come April/May. I've planted my indoor starts - peppers (sweet and chili), cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, pear tomatoes and eggplant. Next month I'm going to plant my cold hardy seeds - lettuce, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, onions and squash.

Nick and I built our first compost bin which will be used for food compost using red worms. I've decided to try my hand at using red worms and I cannot wait to see what my pretty white box will yield. We'll build the open-air yard waste compost bin this next weekend.

I'm working on something new and exciting with a work buddy, involving food and health and I can't wait to see what will happen - stayed tuned!

Love is in the air...

I married an amazing man 11 years ago and we'll celebrate our anniversary in August this year. However, 15 years ago he gave me my first flower from a boy - it was a carnation, a pink carnation (which means "I'll never forget you") and I've been smitten ever since. Over the last few weeks he's been doing some amazing things around our house - created a "treasure" hunt of hearts (exactly 32 hearts for my 32nd birthday) that were hidden all over the house. Then a few days before my birthday, I came home to a house strung throughout with yarn (no pictures as a new camera was at the end of the yarn trail) and various darling treats in pretty bags scattered throughout; the kicker though was the words along the trail, 32 in all, that he felt described me. Talk about making a girls heart go pitter-patter!!

Valentine's was a love filled weekend of favorite food memories (chocolate covered strawberries, epic sandwiches, etc.), construction of a compost bin for food compost, working on my Jeep and much more...

I am so blessed to have this man in my life that sometimes I feel like my heart will burst. He is definitely "THE man". As one of my favorite bloggers said, "Now, I have my very own Valentine, and it is Mr. Tomczek (I changed the name to my honey). And all he has to do is smile, wink and slap my behind as I walk by, and I am hopelessly in love." That's real love people!!

Good Eats in Leavenworth

I had to share a few more photos from Leavenworth...

AMAZING desserts!!!

The guys decided to try chocolate dipped Twinkies while we were in Leavenworth - very hilarious!

Now that's good eats!!

Jumping through January

January came and went with an absolute flurry! Birthdays, get-aways, applications and lots of fun. Here's the list:

√ Apply to grad school; now waiting with bated breath for acceptance - stay tuned!

√ Finish monstrosity of a puzzle and vow to never do that again.

√ Start planning garden for 2011

√ Celebrate Nick's birthday

√ Celebrate Rachel's birthday with a weekend of girlfriend time (who were also celebrating their birthdays!) - spa day, lunch, lots of chick flicks, girls slumber party, dinner, shopping and winter market time.

√ Annual weekend in Leavenworth with Aaron and Connie