I've been spending quite a bit of time exploring my neighborhood and downtown Olympia lately. I have my set jogging route, and rarely do I venture from three(ish) tried and true paths. I like the friendly little mileposts that I've come to enjoy along they way. I tend to think of it as "nice graffiti."

Previously, in Catherine's life...

A lot has happened since the sisters three went on hiatus. Let me try to catch you up a bit...

Home & Away: Recipes into tea towels

When I have some free time, there's really nothing I love more than working on a project at home. Get ready, you get to see more of my cat and my house. Win!

Insta-sista!

DIY: Paper Chain Countdown

I've been thinking real hard about how much I loved making paper chains in elementary school (I'm not even kidding, I think about that)...

Insta-sista

Genevieve posed for my first picture on my new iPhone. I would say she was an outstanding model!

(Bad) Peanut and Purls!

I devoted lots of time to my current knitting project in the last week, which is a good thing since I needed something to distract me from the worst cat in Olympia...

plaque

This is my favorite plaque in Olympia (and there are plenty to pick from).

I think that plaques are entirely underrated. Behind every plaque is immense effort made by someone or some group that thought some event was important enough to be commemorated.

This plaque happened to be placed by the Sacajawea Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution in Olympia (you see I know this since it's on the plaque--brilliant!).

Sunshine in Olympia!

Yeah, yeah, yeah it's Spring and lots of places have sunshine, but in Olympia, WA, this hasn't happened too many times this year. On Saturday morning, Nicholas and I took full advantage of this (and we had to get our cars downtown from the night before...ssssshhhh). We went all over the place and then even managed to get in lots of yard work. Take a look!

The iris are blooming!

The harbor...tide is out.

A stop by Olympia Seafood Co. for some smoke salmon and lox snacks. It was delicious.

The farmer's market

Fun fact: Olympia's farmer's market has more fresh, locally grown produce than Pike's Place in Seattle. Boom!

Next stop, Ramirez for some Cinco de Mayo quesadilla fixings. This is also the best Mexican food in town.

I bought ready-to-bloom geraniums at Costco.

All our of spring flowers are blooming.

After a few week delay and some lawn mower repairs, I finally mow the lawn.

Peanut assists as always.

I find more snails!

Geraniums potted.

Rockery weeded.

Our radishes are coming up!

Our onions are going crazy.

Then I found the cutest little pinecones possible. Until...

I find even smaller pinecones!

Then I admire the Bigelow House and think how cool it is to live next door...and let's be honest, I think about the
March sisters from Little Women because that's what this house always reminds me of.

And finally, I have dug out (mother helped) every last dandelion from these rocks. This will probably last 2 weeks.

homeward bound

I was super-homesick, so I made a quick trip to Tacoma after work on Saturday to see mother dear and sister Catherine. And Peanut and Nicholas. Catherine and I had a craft summit in the basement. Peanut was the moderator. 

Here's to weekends!

Peanut is the best morning assistant. 

One of Monika's knitted ball mobiles. 

 A worm found me while we waited for Nick to finish his half-marathon. 

Manta ray on the wall of The Clipper in Olympia. 

Catherine and I had dueling fro-yo from LIMEberry.

Good night, embroidered pillowcases!

Some Christmas tidings

trees at Catherine's

gift for Monika

tree & bow by Monika, knitted urchin by Catherine

ornament on Mom's tree

felted snowman for Mom

The luckiest kitten in all of Olympia...

Tonight my kitten dreams came true...sort of.  You see growing up, I had dreams of finding an abandoned box of kittens.  If I found a box full of kittens, I would have to rescue them.  My mom would have to let me keep them--they would have to be rescued!
I was just telling Nick yesterday that for some time, after I got my license, I would stop and check boxes in ditches just in case they were full of kittens.  They never were.
Tonight I rescued a kitten, but instead of a being in a box, it was in a backpack.
Living in Olympia, one becomes accustomed to seeing the Olympia bummies walking around with cats on leashes perched on their shoulders and dogs galore.  These characters are a part of the downtown scene in Olympia, and both the animals and the bummies always multiply when the weather gets nicer.  It probably doesn't help that people gravitate towards Olympia, seeing it as the bummie/hippie Mecca.

Nick and I were the first car stopped at a red light a few blocks from our house.  Two Olympia bummies (hiking packs, grungy, sunburnt) walked across the sidewalk, one of them had a dog.  When they were about halfway across we noticed a little orange kitten sitting in the middle of the road right where they had just been standing.  We gasped, and I opened the car door yelled, "SERIOUSLY!?!" and scooped up the kitten.  Meanwhile the light had turned green but no one moved--(I mean how could they?) there was a kitten rescue taking place.  The one bummie yelled, "yeah, seriously!"  Then he saw that I had the kitten and said to the other bummie, "dude, your kitten fell out of your backpack."   The backpacked bummie turned, said, "oh," and started walking towards me for the kitten.  Even though the kitten's  little hindquarter was covered in kitten poo, I held on tight.  He reached forward for the kitten, but I didn't move.  I had become Charlton Heston and the poopy kitten was my rifle.  He waited a second and then said, "...unless you want it...I can't take care of it anyway."  I answered, "YES! I will take him."  A car or two started honking but I like to think that they were just out of view and didn't understand what was taking place.  The first bummie yelled something else about how I didn't have to be rude that they didn't realize the kitten had fallen from the backpack.  I didn't take the time to remind him that he was the one shoving kittens into backpacks and letting them shit all over themselves and how they probably shouldn't have pets if they can't even acquire shelter for themselves.  I climbed back in the car and we returned home.  The poor little guy was so hungry and thirsty and poopy.  He's sleeping on a snuggy right now.  He started purring the second his baby kitten paws touched the thin, foamy fleece blanket.  Fact:  All cats love snuggies.
Little kitten will spend the night at Glass Ave.  In the morning he will be taken to the local shelter where I am sure he will be scooped up by the sweetest family ever.  Orange kittens are always a hit.  I couldn't help but think that we were meant to be the first car stopped at that red light in order to rescue the baby-kitten-baby.  There's no doubt this kitten had a really rough day.  As I wrapped it's freshly-washed kitten body in a warm towel fresh from the dryer, I whispered to it that falling into the middle of an intersection from a bummie's backpack is the best thing that will ever happen to it in its whole life.
It kind of reminds me of when another little kitten's lucky day in Olympia...

Peanut, on her lucky day!

A walk to Ellis Cove

The cats are ready to hear about Ellis Cove too.

On Sunday, Nicholas and I decided to take a walk.  We walked along the water North towards Priest Point Park.  When we reached Ellis Cove, we entered the forest and went on a little hike.

Good thing we weren't going to participate in group running.

A tree in a stump!

The cove!

Trillium!

I also bought a new succulent on Sunday...

And one on Saturday.

After work, I went to Canvas Works to pick out some material to make pillows.  I love making pillows.  Nick hates throw pillows.  Oh well, this is for the guest bedroom.  I bought down pillow forms at Ikea and needed to pick out some fabric.

Genevieve already approves.

Genevieve's fake poop toy in the background (one of her favorites)

Then we made pizza.  I'm going to go eat that now!