Baby Seal Goes Surfing

My dad showed me this video today--totally want a GoPro Camera, but anyhow... this is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

What I Found While Watering the Flowers

While we live in a beautiful area up on the mountain and thus enjoy all the natural wonders around us--we also live on the third floor of an apartment complex, and so there isn't always a lot of natural flora and fauna to experience while in the apartment. My husband has been very helpful in building planter boxes for our porch, so I am able to entertain my own albeit little flower garden--that is as much of a garden as one can create on a third floor balcony. ;) I am quite proud of my little balcony garden actually, and quite enjoy spending time out with my little baby flowers.

Every morning I take a few minutes to check on my flowers--watering as needed, pruning, etc.--just as part of my daily routine. It is during this time I can hear the little hungry baby birdies crying for their breakfast (there is a hidden little black bird nest somewhere above our patio, deep in a crevice of the building, so you can't see it). I believe this is the second or third batch of birds this summer, and this past week they have sounded as if they are almost nearly old enough to leave the nest. 

However, a few days ago I took down a hanging flower basket outside from our patio in order to water it, and found something I definitely was NOT expecting...

This little guy just chillin' among my petunias--Well Good Morning indeed! I'm surprised, not just because it's not something I tend to find every day (I haven't really had many run-ins with snakes), but also because we are three stories off the ground in an apartment complex. Poor little guy must have been rather startled as well, because as soon as I saw him I dropped the basket and he crashed to the patio. 

Once my heart started beating again I suddenly began to realize that I couldn't hear the birds chirping as I generally do during my morning routine, and as my new little snake friend began to slink away I saw that he appeared to have recently eaten... which made me feel much less bad when I trapped him in a bucket to examine and determine his species (Gopher Snake by the way--for being named after a burrowing animal, it sure is good at scaling tall buildings) and show my husband.

Hopefully no more reptiles will be frequenting my flowers.

Rufus the Hawk

This time of year makes my hsuband VERY antsy--it's the time of year when several species of baby hawks are fleding, and time for us to begin our falconry season. I have always LOVED animals, but will admit that I never thought I could call myself a "falconer"--yet, thanks to an amazingly talented husband, last year we both received Falconry Licenses so now I can add falconry to my list of hobbies!

Knowing how much we love falconry, my dad showed me an interesting Wimbleton fact the other day that I bet you didn't know:  Rufus the Harris Hawk. The famous Wimbleton courts are carefully maintained within the millimeter with perennial ryegrass, a delicious treat that attracts numerous pigeon visitors--who understandably disrupt games and cause problems. What to do with so many pesky birds? That's where Rufus comes in.

Rufus is an absolutely gorgeous Harris Hawk who has been on pigeon control at Wimbleton since 2000. Read about him on KSL or just Google Rufus and Wimbleton--he is so awesome!

My favorite part about Rufus is this commercial--very entertaining in my opinion:

Happy Birthday Vera!

Three years ago today, I was living it up in London Town--but back home, my sweet little girl was coming into the world--and what would I do without my sweet little companion?! :)

Mama and Baby:

 Since Vera was the only surviving pup (her little brother died that same week), she was afforded a LOT of milk to drink, compliments of a very loving Mama--thus, she was a very healthy, rolly polly puppy! :)

She was SO little:

When I finally got to meet Vera for the first time, she'd grown quite a bit--but was still just as cute as ever! :)

When I got married last year, Vera came with--and my Hubby came to love her just as much as I do! :)

A now she's three years old, and still my bestest little friend and companion ever--Happy Birthday Little Vera Girl! :)

"A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME UNTIL IT HAS A DOG." ~Gerald Durrell

Desk Makeover with the Cricut

Growing up we had this amazing monster of a desk--it was the most annoying yet most amazing thing ever! It's one of those old wooden desks. Annoying, because it was SO HUGE--it took up half of the wall, was super heavy, and somehow attracted shins, elbows, knees, you name it, to be bruised by its solid structure. On the other hand, it was amazing because it was so big--just the top alone provided so much space for work to be done! I have a love/hate relationship with this desk, so when it came time for deciding what to do with it in our new house, I was torn--it didn't fit or match, it just seemed to glare at me in our room! 

But one weekend I decided I wasn't quite ready to part with it--but it needed a serious makeover if it was going to fit a little more subtly into our lovely new home. So, I took a trip to Home Depot for some paint, pulled out my Cricut and vinyl, and went to work.

Before: 

 And after! I painted it a light gray/silver to tone it down a little more (we're going with the oriental look and calming fung shei in our bedroom), white just a hint of glimmery sheen to it (I might be married to a boy, but I still like to slip in my sparkle when I can), and then decked it out with flowers, birds, butterflies, and dragonflies I cut with my Cricut! (first time ever using vinyl--I was proud of myself) 

I was going for harmony--yin and yang--so I need silver AND gold, white AND black--however, I only had silver, black, and white, so I made do by painting the white with gold acrylic paints.

Humming birds for happiness:

Lotus-type blossoms for virtue and balance, dragonflies for passion and energy, and more humming birds for playfulness and joy! :)

I also took the remaining brocade fabric from my lampshade and pillow (mostly just scraps) and pieced together a matching runner to go across the desk, and a mat for my laptop.

The finished product--voila! :)