Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Savvy Shopper- My $25 purchase


When we moved to Seattle, Jason and I decided that it was high time we started taking advantage of all those wonderful coupons out there for our grocery shopping. We subscribed to the Seattle Times just to get the coupons. For those of you who don't know, there are grocery store coupons and then coupons put out by the manufacturer of the product. If you can find both for a certain item, you can usually use both. So if a box of cereal is normally $2.99 and you find a store coupon which says take $.50 off and then you find a Kelloggs manufacturer coupon for that brand of cereal and it says take a dollar off, then essentially you can take off $1.50 from that $2.99! Usually the deals aren't that amazing, but sometimes you come across some sweet deals.
So this week, I did part of my grocery shopping on Wednesday and went to two stores. Between the two I spent a total of $25! I got 15 items which included brand names like nature valley, fiber one and kellogg's --and I even got a roast!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Take a Hike!


Much to our delight, the gloom and doom as predicted by Seattlites was postponed a little more when we woke up on Saturday to a glorious sunny warm day! Jason had done some research and found out about a state park a hour northeast of us that had some good hikes. So like the good Seattlites that we are, we decided to take advantage of the weather and go hiking! Can I just say how much I LOVE the forests of western Washington? Everything is so green and lush. We walked past tall pines trees covered in moss with ferns growing all along the forest floor. It was stunning. The end of our hike rewarded us with a beautiful view of some waterfalls.



I thought this was kind of funny. I don't know why I always get a kick out of signs like this.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Ode to a Watercolor

How I wish I could water color,
Let me count the ways!
To hold a brush,
mix some paint,
and create a beautiful landscape!
But alas! My dreams and wishes
are far greater than my skill.
And my feeble artist's hand
struggles to meet my expectations still!
I will practice,
I will persist.
Yet my heart cannot resist
the hope that someday,
someway,
my hand will succeed
and all my dreams fulfill!

I have attempted to take up the art of water coloring. I remember starting at a young age with my mom leaning over me, showing me how to tape up the sides, blot my brush and make a wash. She was my best teacher. I dabbled with it again in high school, with some promising results. But then I went to college. Apparently there were a lot more important things to do than keep up my art skills. Woe to me.
But it's never to late to start up again, so that is what I have begun! I figured that if I am to paint a picture that comes close to resembling Mt. Rainier, I should probably practice my technique and form a few times ( and a few more times) before I attempt that.
So far, I don't have much to show. In fact, I hesitate to show anything I've done so far until I've practiced a bit more ( and then a bit more). Perhaps I will post my earlier work later on, if I've improved, to show a "before and after" post. Perhaps.