Life at a "Swell's" pace

1. This Moment....

Actually this didn't make the week awesome, it made the week miserable. We don't think it was the flu, but it put us down for at least six days. I was able to get a lot of work done on my laptop, so there's a positive. PITA is a snuggle-er, so he and Baz took turns keeping company with everyone laid up until this morning. We are all finally feeling better, but wow, what a miserable week.

2. This Rain.

These images are from last week, but we still haven't had a break in the rain here. I like the rain, but days of it is getting a bit exhausting. Hopefully we will have a change-up soon....possibly some snow?

3. These Tickets/Shirts/and Z-Scale Trains.

Can you see the hikers?

I went to my first train show with the Mr. and the Bean. This train show was pretty interesting with all of the different setups and scales of train sizes. My favorite was the Z-Scale size. How delicate that pieces were and how detailed the landscapes are. The boys are at a train show today too, but I decided to stay home for this one. I can't wait until they return and tell me all about what they saw.

4. This Robin.

Even though it's been raining a ton here the birds are clearly enjoying it. This little Robin has been splashing about in the birdbath every morning without fail. I placed some birdseed in the bath to encourage her to return. She seemed to have loved the treat and I enjoyed watching her play.

5. This Moment with The Mr.

The Mr. enjoyed a year with his Fantasy Football Trophy for 2014, but this year he wasn't so lucky and lost it to another team. He got his name engraved on the trophy though, so that was a pretty cool recognition for him. (Even if it was all in "fantasy")

Extras:

Eye exercises.
The Art of Teaching Yoga.
Pillow Fight Flash Mob.
This necklace and this bracelet.
Martha Stewart Handbooks.
Aveda Hair Color; I might take the plunge into a different color.
Her favorite things are likable things indeed.
What Heather from Dooce has been us to lately.
David Bowie and my broken heart.
#RockthedotswithMinnie and Disney Family.

What happened this time last year?

Our garden right now is looking quite sad. I wish I could say that we have the most amazing winter garden going on and that we have cold-weather crops in full display, but that just isn't the case. Although, we do have plans on cleaning it up and moving things around. It has even made the Mr. and my resolutions list on things to do.

The most important thing is to imagine a space that we would be happy with when we harvest each year. We sat down one night and came up with a solution to the over-crowding in our raised beds.

Of course, this is just a rough outline, things may change. We want to have some sort of walkway through the garden and we feel the beans/peas, or both may give us the coverage over the walkway that we are looking for. I was thinking that morning glory would be a good one too, but we'll see.

I'm in love with the front entry of this house. I'm not sure where the photo came from or who it belongs to, but I just love it. Living in a city it would be a great way to break your property from the city streets. And the balcony.....*swoon*

(Source for both photos)

I've recently been finding an interest in roses. I have been following a few pin boards on rose planting, pruning, and cutting, but I still couldn't figure out a good way to grow them where we live. If you know anything about Oregon, you know that Portland is the Rose City, so roses grow fantastic here. Finally, I came across an idea. The pictures above are from the Lady Carnarvon's blog. Who is Lady Carnarvon, you might ask? She is the current countess at Highclere Castle. What is Highclere Castle? Well, if you're asking that, then you are really missing out on a lot of great history. Highclere Castle is Downton Abbey. Or should I say, Downton Abbey is Highclere Castle. Well, I digress. The roses pictured above are from the gardens of Highclere and I love how they are shown here. The one on the left is a great way to grow them and I am having the Mr. currently design me something similar for when we move into our own home. The picture on the right is a great way to grow the roses while we live in the city. Although, we don't own the property here, I don't want to plant anything directly into the earth and not be able to take it when we leave. I hope my roses look just as lovely as Lady Carnarvon's do.

We also want to do something similar to the trees in front of the house. Mowing in a tiny circle is getting annoying, so we feel this would be a great solution and be more appealing. We have a lot of bricks when the neighbor had us help tear out the old fireplace in his house. We may do something similar, or just stick to bark mulch. We'll see.