A carrot!

They didn't grow two years ago. They didn't grow last year. But today, I harvested a carrot! 

Look, here it is hanging out with some snow peas, green beans, and broccoli! 

We're getting to the time of year when things get very exciting in the garden. I love seeing how God makes all the vegetables grow. I know it's Him making them grow, because I've proven I do not have a green thumb. 

Here's a little tour of my garden:

Not pictured: dying red, green, and yellow peppers and super-slow-growing cucumbers

I'm also excited this week to announce that there are several tiny, green tomatoes growing! I have one plant each of cherry, Roma, and normal-sized tomatoes, and all of them have some growth on them. The Roma pictured below is the biggest:

This is so fun! 

So much for being "green"...

We recently got ourselves a new stamped concrete patio, a new patio table with gas firepit, and comfy chairs to go with it. So, now that we can eat dinner (or breakfast!) outside, I also got us some new outdoor-friendly plates. I bought these from Amazon in "natural". I was a little nervous about the fact that there weren't many reviews, but I liked that they 1) weren't ugly, and 2) are made from bamboo and crushed rice husks, not plastic. There wasn't much more information, so I'm not really sure how environmentally friendly they are, especially once you factor in shipping from China and then from Amazon. And now that I've seen their packaging, I've got even more doubts...

Once I got through the bubble wrap, plastic, and dividers between each plate (um, didn't I buy these because they aren't supposed to be fragile?), I discovered that each and every plate had two stickers on the back. One of them was about the environmental friendliness of the plates. Well, let me tell you that the stickers themselves were definitely not friendly. 

It took some elbow grease to get this off the back of all 16 plates (8 small, 8 large). But once they were clean and sticker-free, I was able to enjoy a yummy egg sandwich:

... with lots of lettuce from the garden!

(Relatively) Proud of Myself

I'm proud of myself, so I'm going to brag. I biked to work three times this week! 

Now for some perspective: today (and tomorrow) thousands of people are bicycling from Seattle to Portland. Including one of my family members. That's why I included the "relatively" when I said I am proud of myself. Pun intended. 

But despite the fact I did less than many others, I did more than I normally do. It's 4.6 miles one way to work, so I biked over 27 miles this week!

In order to do so, I had to overcome one big thing - how dorky I look on the bike. 

The reasons I feel dorky:
1) I'm not wearing special clothes
2) I'm slow
3) I'm huffing and puffing on the hills
4) I'm being passed by the serious bikers in their special biking gear (see #1 and #2 above)
5) I am trying to teach myself how to pedal while standing up, which involves much swerving and looking silly. [I only do this when there are no cars anywhere nearby. The same goes for trying to learn to bike one-handed so I can signal my turns properly]. 
6) My husband agreed that I look dorky while riding. He tells it like it is. Which is also how I know that I am beautiful! He wouldn't say it all the time if it wasn't true. 

Here's how the bike itself looks, minus its rider:

The basket is very practical, but I'm not sure it helps my street cred as a serious biker. But do I want to be a serious bicyclist? Does it matter if I look silly? Probably not. I'd rather ride for pleasure, exercise, and to get to my destination in an earth-friendly way. I'm not fast, I don't look cool, but I'm still proud of myself for biking to work this week.