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!

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.

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.

Salmon for Lunch

On Saturday Jason, Waylon ( Jason's friend) and I went to the Ballard locks to see if we could catch a glimpse of the jumbo salmon swimming up stream. The last time Jason and I went we saw little cute fishies about the length of my forearm. This time we saw the big guys. Salmon easily two feet long and weighing 20 pounds! But the coolest part of the whole trip was watching a sea lion have his lunch. He knew where to find all the salmon, and an easy meal. Crowds of people looked on as he ripped salmon apart, flinging them in the air. I thought it was pretty cool, but apparently the local Native American tribe trying to fish the salmon didn't think so. They threw a bomb into the water that went off with a loud explosion under water, meant to scare off the sea lion. But can you blame the poor guy? I know there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if you know how to get one easily why not, right?

I'm Back!

OK, so this all feels really familiar. Last summer we moved up to Seattle for Jason's internship and I was jobless for about two weeks. I feel like this is happening all over again. Jason just started his new job at Microsoft and I am hanging out. Not that there isn't a lot to do, because there is! In fact, now I have time to do the things I only talked about doing. Ya know, we all say it "when I have more time" or "one of these days I'm gonna..." Well that extra time has come for me. So here is my short list of things I would like to do. Some of them are more practical than others, some of them are fears I need to conquer and some of them are skills I would simply like to finely tune.

The LIST
Learn 5 new songs on the guitar
Find a piano somewhere and practice twice a week
Bake a new recipe once a week
Read the Book of Mormon in Spanish
Organize my pictures into photo albums
Make a scrapbook (whoa!) of our road trip this summer
Work out DAILY
Finish John Adams
Read all 7 Harry Potter books before the movie comes out
Plant a little potted garden
Write in my journal daily
Do a watercolor of Mt. Rainier

Hm... I'm glad I wrote that down. Now I'm gonna have to hold myself to it. Ya know, I could get used to this whole housewife gig...

What Lovely Flowers!

Jason started his floral design class last week and this week he had his first lab. I am holding the results! He made sure to have a focal point with colors that highlighted it--I'm so proud of him, and I got some dang good-lookin' flowers! Watch out Martha Stewart, here comes homemaker Jason Casebolt!

Gone Snowshoein'

On Saturday we got to use our new snowshoes that we got for Christmas.We didn't do anything too wild like tramp across the back of Timpanogos or hike up a glacier, but we did hike all the way up to the Y! Half way up it started snowing and it was all so beautiful! I love when it snows. It is so quiet and calm. Even though the snow wasn't more than a foot and a half deep at the deepest points, it was still really fun! What a way to spend our Saturday afternoon!