Smile! Mountain Lilac

One of my fondest memories growing up was of my step-mom proclaiming that the Mountain Lilac was in bloom. She did it every year - when this hills of Valley Center turned a grey-ish, purple color. I had never seen one up close until my brother came home for a visit and on his way there, he had stopped on the side of the road to pick a branch off for her.

I was the first one to notice they were blooming this year. And I was able to find one close enough to a road for me to snap this picture. Spring is almost here :)

A Great Day

Today was great for four reasons:

Reason #1: I am officially a student at Olympic College. Registered for 2 classes, waitlisted on 2 more. Working towards the GIS Technology Certification. A one year program and it happens to fit in nicely with my B.S. in Environmental Science and my Intermediate AutoCAD certificate.

Reason #2: I found bulk, dried, ORGANIC, soybeans at Fred Meyer! May not sound very exciting, but 95% of the soybeans grown are NOT organic. But even better, it means I can start making my own soy milk and tofu!

Reason #3: I ate an entire bag of Crazy Bread, by myself, in my car, on the way home from Fred Meyer!

I even scraped out the little garlicky bits out of the empty bag.

 

Reason #4: Spring is FINALLY starting to show up!!! I'm so exicted! Not only are flowers JUST starting to pop up, but the temperature rose into the high 50s this evening!

 I saw these pretty purple buds just outside of CB's

And the pretty pink flower trees are coming back!!

I guess today's greatness may have started with last nights dessert:

Delicious, homemade, chocolate covered strawberries. 

Just perfect.

I hope your day was great too!!!