African violet ICU

Anyone who has heard me talk about any of my gardening attempts knows that I do not typically have great success. I have killed a number of house plants, and the herbs my mom so kindly gave me for Christmas didn't even make it until spring. However, now that David and I have a nice back yard and a house to decorate, I have jumped in with renewed determination to keep my plants healthy. This well-intentioned effort was immediately met by the death of my third African violet (take a guess what happened to #1 and #2).

Luckily the leaves still looked green and healthy, so I set out to salvage the plant by rooting the leaves. At my grandmother's instruction, I placed the leaves in a dish of water and kept them in the sun until they each sprouted a good set of roots. I have now transferred each leaf to its own pot (filled with African violet potting mix) and will do my best to nurse each leaf into its own plant. Wish me luck! This African violet has been on edge long enough that I don't even remember what color flowers it has... 

Our first 5K!

As many of you know, David and I have been working hard to get in better shape and lose some of the weight we gained while eating out all the time during house renovations.  In addition to eating healthier, we have been trying to run a few times a week. David was able to jump back into it a little bit better than I was, but I have slowly worked my way up from suffering through a single mile to being able to reasonably comfortably run about three.  I got it in my head about a month ago that one way to keep myself motivated would be to sign up for a 5K!  Luckily for me, I have an awesome fiance who jumps on board with these sorts of things and he signed up as well. We are even planning to do another one in December!

We woke up early this morning (7:00am) and went through our morning routine (breakfast for Ash, breakfast for us, walk for Ash) and then headed down to Davis Square to participate in our very first 5K. The 5K was sponsored by the Somerville Homeless Coalition, so our registration fee went to a good cause. Oh, and we got cool matching t-shirts :) We didn't quite know what to expect, but in the end it turned out to be a lot of fun! Based on bib numbers there seemed to be about 1000 participants, and it was neat to run with a crowd. We decided before hand that we wouldn't run together so that David could compete for a personal best (I'm most certainly slower than he is, and was happy to trudge along at my own pace). We know a 5K isn't very far, but at least its a start for us non-runners! We hung around Davis after to enjoy a complimentary brunch, and are now back home for a little bit of Saturday yard work.

Ash, the fearsome interior decorator

Our dog loves to interior decorate when we are gone. For some reason, Caroline and I insist on putting clothes in the hamper and shoes near the door, which is obviously the wrong spot. The right spot, according to Mr. Ash, is wedged between the window ledge and the back of the living room chair that he likes to sit on and watch the outside. We had gotten used to putting things back after coming home, but today we found something new!

If you look carefully, you can see Caroline's wirelesss mouse on the windowsill! We aren't totally sure how or why Ash decided that it should go with the shoes and clothes, but he decided it belonged on the windowsill. Just like everything else, it wasn't hurt at all. We'll have to see what he goes after next!