Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire

Welcome to Faire!

An unexpected surprise! My brother has been telling me for several years now, how much I should become a part of Faire...much to his delight I finally agreed to get involved in Faire this year rather than just attending as a patron. Honestly, I never saw myself becoming a member of any guild for Faire, but I finally agreed to become a part of the Kumpania Paramitsha when I was asked to sing some amazing music. Oh yes, the proverbial "carrot" of music was temptingly held over my head...and it worked. Note to self, if you ever want me to say "yes" to something just mention that music will be involved and you will likely get the answer that you were hoping for. 

Check out a quick clip of one of the songs that a friend captured. It's called: Mori Shej, Sabina

A beautiful sunrise around 6:00 AM the second weekend of faire.

Jane, getting ready for the day

"Dalia" as I liked to call her, trying to hydrate before the 90+ degree weather. We lucked out with amazing weather all three weekends!

One look of several, with my bodice and layers of skirting.

As ready as I will ever be for my first day of Faire!

A quick picture of some beautiful ladies!

Thank you Larry Bennett for capturing this shot! Click the following link if you would like to see more amazing pictures from Larry Bennett .

Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire is the first three weekends of August. Click the link for more information

Luminitsa must get upon the noble donkey during one of the stories told by Vidor who acted as narrator for the story of the Salt Mill.

The Kumpania Paramitsha (more commonly called Gypsies) are a collection of performs who delight in story telling...and riding camels!

Oh yes you heard right, there were camels!!!

I met so many amazing people, performers and friends including Rocco an amazing horse that "Sir Nigel of England" is sitting upon"ith" (in this picture), and both of which are members of the Cavallo Equestrian Arts, a group of amazing and diverse performers.

I can't believe how fast time went...and that it is already over. What an amazing time that I will treasure. Until next year!

Rainier's Baseball surprise

Happy Birthday Dad!

 Totally surprised him when an amazing cake arrived and the crowd sang him "Happy Birthday" as his name flashed in lights on the score board for the whole stadium to see. Good job Toni on an amazing surprise!

 The Rhubarb mascot is so cute! I just want to squeeze him!

 

 The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and cooled down just enough for a...

Dance Off!

 

 Rhubarb totally danced circles around Harry the Husky!

But in the spirit of things, "Go Dawgs!!"

What a fun night!

Later that week, my dad and brother were absolute dearhearts and came over to help me replace my back patio roof!

 

 I had every intention of working on this but between the two of them, my job quickly became handing them roof panels, whenever they called out "panel"...so I decided to do some calking around my back door in between running to get them supplies.

I saw a lot of leg from the guys during this project! haha!

 

I am so blessed and thankful for all of their help. I can't begin to tell you how amazing it is to sit on my patio under the shade, enjoying the cross breeze with an iced beverage, all because of the help from these two amazing guys!

Bunny Trails

My beloved Puffers, how I miss you already! You have been such an amazing companion these last 15+ years. I couldn't ask for a better behaved bunny or a better and amazing friend. Rest In Peace and may you have all of the alfalfa, clover and carrots your little body can hold! I still can't believe that you are gone...I miss and love you so much...thank you for 15 special and loving years!

In honor of my beloved Puffers:

If you have ever had a rabbit I think you might love this movie. The rabbits are absolutely adorable!!!!

"Rating: G · Genre: Animation, Family · Run time: 1 hrs 34 min

Synopsis: It's 'vege-mania' in Wallace and Gromit's neighborhood, and our two enterprising chums are cashing in with their humane pest-control outfit, "Anti-Pesto." With only days to go before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition, business is booming, but Wallace & Gromit are finding out that running a "humane" pest control outfit has its drawbacks as their West Wallaby Street home fills to the brim with captive rabbits. Suddenly, a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging "beast" begins attacking the town's sacred vegetable plots at night, and the competition hostess, Lady Tottington, commissions Anti-Pesto to catch it and save the day. Lying in wait, however, is Lady Tottington's snobby suitor, Victor Quartermaine, who'd rather shoot the beast and secure the position of local hero -- not to mention Lady Tottington's hand in marriage. With the fate of the competition in the balance, Lady Tottington is eventually forced to allow Victor to hunt down the vegetable chomping marauder. Little does she know that Victor's real intent could have dire consequences for her and our two heroes."

Did you know that rabbits are the third most popular pet/companion in Pierce County Washington?!? With that said they are also one of the third most abandoned or displaced (particularly around Easter) pets as well.

Have you ever considered a rabbit as a pet? Here are a few things/reasons to consider them!

• Rabbits are very social, affectionate, lovable pets.
• There are several different breeds that are available to best suit your situation and or personality
• Rabbits can be very intelligent and trainable to do tricks!
• http://www.youtube.com/embed/a9poWbBG-GM and...wait for it....bunny agility!!! http://www.youtube.com/embed/bx6auvUCYqg
• Bunnies are entertaining and fun to watch.
• Rabbits are clean.  They clean themselves top to bottom five times a day.
• No barking.  No meowing.  Rabbits are very quiet!
• Rabbits can get along with other pets such as dogs, cats, birds etc.  
• Rabbits can be house/potty-trained as well as trained not to chew on furnature/carpet etc.

Fun Fact: Rabbits are also CREPUSCULAR, not nocturnal which means that they are most active during the day like you and are active when you would most like to play/interact with them!!)

You can search for rabbits and bunnies that are available for adoption or to foster at The Humaine Society.

Weekend Weddings

It's that time!!! Summer weddings are in full bloom and as beautiful as ever! So the last several weekends have been filled with flower prep and delivery/set up! Here are a few snapshots of what I have been up to floral wise, while working with/for Art of Floral. I absolutely love to see the floral designs and ideas that come from this amazing and talented company.

Wedding 1:

A front entrance table arrangement

.

Aisle arrangements:

At the reception!

There were three variations for the reception tables.

"Let them have cake" !

 I love floral accents that we added...the end result? An adorable wedding cake.

Beautiful!

Wedding 2:

We were asked to use nectarines in the floral arrangements.

Such a cute idea and floral accent!!!

 Beautiful table arrangements perfectly accented by crystal and glass cut vases.

Mini arrangements for the cocktail reception tables

Wedding 3:

The Bridal Bouquet

Check out more amazing work by: Art of Floral

Red, White and Blue!

Belated "Happy 4th of July"!!! I have had an amazing summer so far! It has been FULL to say the least...as you saw earlier I finished making adorable little lamb cupcakes for my friend's Noah's Ark themed baby shower...

The weather for the 4th of July couldn't have been more beautiful! The perfect amount sun so that it wasn't uncomfortable, a nice breeze and a day surrounded by good food and even better company! I decided to contribute to the feast by bringing a sweet treat appetizer.

Red, White and Blue Strawberries!

I decided to put toothpicks in each strawberry to keep the plastic wrap from messing up the white and blue frosting...

 All wrapped up and ready to go!

 This was the beautiful view to watch the fireworks!!!

 Ooooohhh Aaaahhhh! I don't know what was more beautiful, the fireworks or watching the moon come up over the horizon!

 Happy 4th!

Baaaahhhby Shower

Wow! I can't believe we are already in the middle of July!!!! Belated "Happy 4th". The last two weeks (and weekends) have been packed full of work, and summer filled activities...a lot of which has required that I use some some of my creative skills! Yay!

Baby Shower:
My beautiful friend Katie is expecting a boy!!! I was lucky enough to be asked if I would provide cupcakes for the shower...the only guideline? "Making them Noah's Ark themed would be nice"... Let's get started!

Let's make some little sheep and lamb cupcakes!

You will need: Mini marshmallows, cake mix, muffin liners (dark brown), frosting (white, brown and black are needed), chocolate covered almond/caramel nuggets

Mix and bake your preferred cake mix in lined muffin sheets per the instructions (I used a basic Funfetti cake mix and followed the baking instructions for muffins). Once fully cooled, add frosting to the tops of the muffins and apply the mini muffins. I tried two methods...the 1st was to just randomly sprinkle the mallows on...but this resulted in a more flat appearance so I ended up placing each mallow individually to give the body a more puffed/ fluffy look. 

 Next, apply a little bit of frosting on the back of the chocolate nuggets and place on top of each muffin.
 Once the frosting has set for these begin applying the eyes, noses and ears with the appropriate colored frosting.

And there you have it! How c"ewe"t!!!

I initially came across this idea from Pinterest (of course) but here is the full link of instructions and you can adapt as needed: lamb cupcakes

 Oh, for the baby lambs I made some mini muffins with the left over batter and used chocolate frosting for the lamb head/faces! Spread some shredded lettuce on the table or plate to act as grass that the sheep are resting in! Could these be any more adorable?!?

  The dessert table! Yum!

Happy mommy-to-be!!! She loved everything!!!

Ah the sweet smell of confectioner's sugar success!!!