Ye Ol' Urban Spoon... give it a whirl.

You can even post on here how much you just love your espresso drink that I make you... and how wonderful you think I am ;)

Dreams do come true....

This one has been lingering since high school, when Janet and I cooked up a plan to buy a sailboat, name it the Dawn-Juana, and sail it to warmer climes.

Well, that was over 15 years ago, and we finally just this summer got to climb on a boat together! My second time on a sailboat and Janet's first! This long overdue outing was to celebrate Janet getting married over the winter. I was hoping to have time to plan a wedding shower, but alas, being too busy prevented that... so this was a post-wedding celebration/gift.

Down on the river....

My first overnight camp out this summer, actually the first one in years I think. Good people, flowers, fire, fish...

Moving along at a snails pace...

I thought I'd have this done mid June when I first got started on it... But apparently I wasn't taking into account that I work ninety-plus hours a week, and the evenings right before bed just don't hold enough time or energy to get moving very fast... But here's where "we're" at now. I say we because I'm trying to make this a team project, recruiting whoever I can from my family and friends to help me ;) ... Big thanks to my brother, mom and boyfriend for all the help up to this point!







... and then they were blue!

Spring flowers and unknitting...

The turtle-neck on the sweater was too 80's I guess. Of course my crafting sensibilities bristled at the suggestion of cutting the neck off this sweater and stitching it to keep it from unraveling. To my delight the sweater was knit from the bottom edge up to the neck, so I could just unravel it :) It came out picture perfect, thanks to my stubbornness.

The thing dreams are made of...

I recently came across a 1948 Spartan Caravan for sale. Needless to say, I was instantly smitten and thought I needed to purchase it to turn into the home of my dreams. Alas, after a first visit, I realized this caravan would take many thousands of dollars and thousands of hours to turn into something worthy to be called home.

Oh Blue Goose, I sure hope someone with sufficient funds and time finds you to return you to your glory days...

Simply the best...

We won! We won! We won!!! Thanks to my loyal customers... friends and family (who are also customers ;)...



Janet wrote me some new lyrics to the Tina Turner song Simply the Best... " Congratulations to Dawn... and Retro Espresso! You're simply the best......better than all the rest.....better than anyone......anyone I've ever met....." Tina Turner rocks. Now I just wanna hear Janet sing it.

Spring has been well underway despite the constant snow and rain this year, and now summer is almost here! Flowers seem to be doing okay despite the lack of sun... Maybe with summer solstice, the sun will come out in all it's glory...

Seattle in the spring...

How excited was I? Oh, very excited!!! I got to leave town for the day. Crazy I know! A certain someone wanted me to go to Seattle with him to see his sister play in the show Guys and Dolls. And man was she good, in fact the whole musical was great!

Of course there were no cameras allowed inside the theater... so no pictures of that, but here's the rest of it:



Saturday morning we made our way down to Pike Street Market, of course. Our hotel being a mere four blocks away, we walked, and window shopped along the way. And had breakfast. I should have taken a picture of the salmon eggs benedict I ordered. Holy yumminess.







These gorgeous green and jadeite glasses were in a store that was NOT open. Thank goodness. I thought I had to buy them and take them home with me... There goes the rent money.




This store was located in a very quaint little enclosed patio with lots of little retail shops... I should have gotten a picture of the whole thing... but here one of the little planters in it. I like the little plants planted in the pots... I want a few of those for around my espresso stand!




When we arrived in our hotel room, Joe went to the window to open the blinds and look out the window, and immediately a seagull dives for our window sill and lights there... looking for food. Of course Joe, not one to disappoint, obliges with cheese and salami.





I'm guessing we're not the first hotel guests to feed this guy. I could have reached out and grabbed his leg I was so close with my camera...

Where does the time go?

So I missed posting anything in April or May, and now here we are half way through June!

I've been working extra here at the stand trying to get the sitting area put together...

My mummer got a good start on cleaning up the pads... I put that lady to work!





I got 12 yards of gravel and dirt shoveled out of the foundation behind the espresso stand. It needed to get taken down a little bit so that I could bring in some sand to lay the pavers and rock in... Holy smokes! That was a work out. I did enough whining that my brother offered to come in with his little excavator and loaded it on his dump trailer for me. He thought I should just shovel it on by hand... Like I'm super woman or something... Well, I might be, but that's just a huge waste of my strength! I should be lifting school buses off children and deflecting speeding bullets. Thank goodness for brothers with big toys.



Small sized operator in training...



In an attempt to prove that I can do anything... I mixed up some concrete to patch the crumbly edges on some of the pads. In all fairness I should mention that I did get some help from Joe. Though he talked the talk, he never had played with concrete before either.



I thought we should definitely put our names in it... but Joe was very reluctant. He did however put his foot in it.

Liquid Sunshine...

Spring is on it's way! The birds are singing and just about the last of the snow banks have melted away... It sure is giving me an extra spring in my step.

I thought I'd let you all in on my newest project. Of course it's something here at my espresso stand...

I have a foundation behind the espresso stand that has four octagonal cement pads in it. My landlord gave me permission to turn this into a sitting area! So exciting... :)



Since the cement pads are octagon shaped, I thought it would be fun to have an octagon picnic table for them... I found this one on Craigslist, and it's even in Moscow! How lucky is that??? I'm not sure I can quite afford this one, but the guy who made it said he'd be happy to make me another one anytime. Pretty convenient. I'm hoping to get a couple of these eventually.





And to top off such a good start to my sitting area, I've been able to find quite a few free bricks around the area! I'm still looking for lots more since it's such a large area to fill. Let me know if you know anyone around this area that has old/used bricks or pavers that they'd like to get rid of. I'd be happy to take them off their hands!