eclaire (what’s in a) name?

aside from some loud (albeit nice) college neighbors, the initial mouse problem (which was completely solved by using these little devices that plug into the wall and emit high frequency noises, kind of like this), and the frequent night time sound of coyotes howling as though they’re going to eat us for dinner, mike and i love our beautiful home, which is perched right on the edge of the wild outdoors. we are constantly in awe of the idyllic canyon, rolling hills, majestic eucalyptus trees, and peeks of the ocean that await us outside our back door:

but every so often, we come across some parts of nature that we wish would stay just a little further away from us. like this BIG, UGLY SPIDER that appeared out of nowhere on thursday night. seriously, we were sitting on the sofa, enjoying a little daily show and surfing the web on our laptops when i decided to put my laptop down and grab a glass of water. when i stood up, i was inches away from this humongous creature. i normally don’t mind spiders, and i’m pretty good at the catch-in-a-glass-and-release-outside technique, but this one scared the bejeezus out of me! i don’t think it looks as big in the picture below as it did in real life, but it was hard to work on a great photo angle when i was freaked out that the thing would walk over and eat off my big toe. i was able to keep my wits about myself enough to throw a peppermint on the ground next to it for size comparison. UGH!! i am not going to be walking around barefoot for quite a while, let me tell ya!!

growing up, i can remember the excitement of picking seeds to plant with my parents and then fervently watering, weeding, and harvesting delicious fruits and veggies from our veggie patch in the front yard.

as an adult, i hadn’t taken the same kind of joy from gardening – oh, i’ve puttered around with various indoor and outdoor plants, but they aren’t quite as exciting as seeds because they’re almost fully grown when you buy them. i’ve also confined myself to potted plants (except for at fairway, where we had lots of front yard space/dirt that looked incredibly barren), figuring that the pots can move with us until we have a more permanent home. this spring, however, jen gave me a sassy salad seed mix (that’s the real title!) and i got excited about the idea of growing something from seed. i went to the garden company to get some planting troughs and was inspired to buy some basil, sugar snap peas, and various wildflowers as well. 3 weeks later, we have some great results, and i’ve become pretty enthusiastic about the little seedlings, raving over their growth to the point where even mike seems to be kind of interested in how the little guys (or girls) are doing.

i thought i’d share the progress with you to inspire you to plant your own garden (if you haven’t already and have the space and time, of course). you may notice an utter lack of sassy salad mix – this is because i am testing the peas outside to see if we have foliage-nibbling deer before sowing the precious sassy seeds.

the basil seedlings (which need to grow for 6-8 weeks indoors):

snap peas:

and lupine:

ok, so that’s it for the seeds that have sprouted so far, but after all this progress i got excited and went out and bought red poppies and california poppies and sweet pea flower seeds to plant in the little drainage problem behind our patio – might as well use the wasted water to grow some plants!

can’t you just imagine all the gorgeous flowers that are going to pop up here?!?!

so it seems as though spring has officially sprung around western drive. i hope that you’re all enjoying the weather and the change in season wherever you are and that you get out there and plant something soon!

this could potentially be quite exciting for all of you out there who don’t own an ipod nano, but are interested in utilizing the nike+….there’s no cost listed yet, but it’s expected to be available on april 10:

http://www.uncrate.com/men/gear/sports/nike-sportband/

a very honest and very dear to my heart person asked me frankly yesterday: “is is even worth my time to read your blog?  i mean, you never post, soooo…..”

i have been quite a slacker this month, and i completely apologize, dear readers.  i have a post almost complete with all the fun stuff i did this month that kept me from posting.  but until then, just know that eclaire is back on the scene.

mike and i are sitting outside at the bagelry right now, consuming delicious bagels and iced tea while taking advantage of their free wireless internet (thanks, cruzio). inside my honest iced tea, the quote says: “guilt is the gift that keeps on giving.” touche, iced tea, now i see why they call you honest.