Our House in the Middle of Our Street

* Lab Girl by Hope Jahren - I'd heard about this book nearly a year ago from a magazine and I pinned it for later. For whatever reason, I was thinking about it a few months ago and put it on hold at the library. This book is quite slow the first half, but once it picks it up, it's fast! I hate that this book took me nearly 3 weeks to finish--that's like a lifetime to me re: books, but sometimes that's just the truth. I was on vacation the first week of the month (i.e. no reading-too much friend time!) and then it took me every bit of those two weeks. It's about a female scientist who studies plants; it's her memoir. She prefaces each 'relational' chapter (about herself) with a 2 page interlude that somehow relates to what's coming, only it's about plants, and those were my favorite bits of the whole book. The way she writes about plants is just breathtaking . It's easy to tell she truly loves her job and the questions that she hopes to f

Ani and I sharing some paletas outside after the heat set in One of my 17 in 2017 items was heading to Seattle for the summer Renegade Craft Fair, a huge handmade show that I've been wanting to go to for more than five years since I first heard about it online. It did not disappoint! It was in an area of Seattle I hadn't been to yet, and a really pretty area right by the water that the boys could drop us off and then enjoy with the dog. This was, really, an entire day devoted to driving and taking me where I wanted to go just because, and I am thankful I got to do it, even though we were all really tired by the end of the day. There was only one area (shown below) where all the vendors set up, and a few food trucks outside. I was surprised at how seemingly small it was since most of the vendors I talked to were not local. The term 'craft fair' is almost a bit too colloquial for this show, as every single vendor produced high-end, beautiful and trendy items,