check out my garlic! these are mainly the softnecks, but look at them go! i've got 44 plants, and they are all making leaves and getting bigger. in spite of them sprouting early because of the warm winter, i'm optimistic i'll get a good harvest once the summer rolls around.

i've been making an effort to eat better (lots of fruits and veg), take my vitamins, and get lots of fresh air.

this morning, i even woke up early to *gasp* work out before work! yikes. it's been about a year since i last was exercising regularly, and my muscles are proclaiming their distress at actually being required to exert themselves. but i'm glad i did it.

camilles (8:43pm, 3.24.10)

as a treat for our friends, we had gone shopping at de bier tempel during our short stay in brussels, and lugged back a variety of some of the best beers in the world. (we actually don't know if we broke the law by bringing them back, but we didn't get stopped along the way.). between our beers and the beers that travis contributed, we had a pretty nice tasting night.

some of them were sweet, some were malty, and some were downright sour. the boys like the sour beers.

the girls know better when it comes to sour beer. in our opinion, it tastes like vinegar.

with the nice weather finally making an appearance, we've been hard at work trying to fix up the yard. i was determined this year to give growing our own hops a shot. travis had some success last year, so i wanted to find our own way to help the beer brewing cause. this little strip of dirt running along the side of our garage has been dry and ugly since we moved in. some cow poop, compost, ammended soil, and woodchips later, we've got a nice little spot to see what we can grow.

travis was able to break off several chunks off his cascade hops rhizomes, including this chunk that is just rearing to go. we buried them in little mounds, jeff got the drip irrigation all laid out, and now i guess we just wait.

we also planted sweet basil, thai basil, and a bell pepper...but it appears that earwigs have had a field day with the tender new plants. there is pretty much nothing left on either of the basil plants. :( i think we'll be digging them out and trying again.

happy st. patrick's day!

camilles (5:58pm, 3.17.10)

i'm feeling like i am missing some of the sass that usually keeps me going day after day.

i've got an appointment to color my hair this week, and i think i'm going to ask for something different.

maybe it's the days on end of gloomy weather? the lack of fresh air or vitamin d is getting to me.

camilles (9:21pm, 3.9.10)

it took a few weeks, but the thought of being in europe finally isn't making me feel tired and worn out.

that means i actually got around to resizing and posting all the photos!

marvel at all the snow and europeness of europe here!

so it's back to normal life, which means seeing friends, family, yardwork, etc. my only complaint is that it's rained every single weekend we've been back, which means no motorcycle rides. oh well.

one of the things that being abroad made me understand a little better is that everything in life is about pros and cons.

did you know that the average german gets 30 days of vacation a year? they were totally shocked that i was happy with 15 days, and to learn that my normal vacations were only about a week long. in their minds, it takes a week just to unwind enough to begin to enjoy vacation time.

before i spent time over there, i was envious of the fact that they had so much time to take off. but then i realized that everyone over there is just living to go on vacation. nobody seemed to be all that excited about hanging around where they lived.

i never really thought about it, but since i actually LIKE where i live and enjoy spending time hanging around my town or just southern california in general, i don't feel like i need to escape at every opportunity. so...i guess i don't really need that much vacation time after all. life is pretty relaxed.

of course, that isn't preventing jeff and me from planning another trip to hawaii in may. :)

camilles (10:07pm, 3.3.10)