Welcome Kathryn, Clara and Kaylee!

We've been planning to get chickens for a while now, and we finally did it! We have coop plans in the review process with the HOA (more on those details later) and a brooder with three chicks in the guest bathroom. Say hello to the new additions to our family:

We got two Araucanas (also known as Easter Eggers) and one Welsummer. They were supposed to be about a week old when I brought them home on Monday, but we're pretty sure the Welsummer is at least a couple days younger than the Araucanas because she is so much smaller and her feathers aren't as developed yet.

A while back Sean and I decided that if/when we got chickens, we were going to name them after strong science fiction female characters whose names start with a "k" sound.

This is one of the Araucanas. She quickly asserted herself as the dominant chick, so she is Captain Kathryn Janeway (Star Trek Voyager).

The other Araucana. She is named Clara Oswin Oswald (Doctor Who). She's already proving herself a handful, loves to try to fly whenever I'm cleaning the brooder and wants to be in the middle of all action.

This is the Welsummer, Kaylee Frye (Firefly). She's a sweetie and loves following Kathryn around.

Surprisingly, Fleck has adapted to the new residents fairly well. The first day she was a little freaked out by all the cheeping, but the second day she hung out on the guest bed most of the day listening to them. We have a baby gate up between the guest bath and the guest room, so she couldn't get in. I also closed the bathroom door if I couldn't be in the room with the animals. I don't think Fleck would do anything, but she is a cat so I don't trust her completely with my chicks.

The chicks are so much fun to watch! I'm looking forward to the weather warming up so we can get our coop built and move the girls outside. I'll try to post somewhat regularly about the chickens, it shouldn't be too hard with all the pictures I'm taking of them!

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Linked up to:

The Chicken Chick

Spring is in the Air!

Spring is here, which unfortunately for this theatre grad student means lots of work and little play. But while waiting for glue and paint to dry on models, I do get a little time to decorate the house with bits of spring. Here are a few photos of the console table in the living room.

The nasturtium on the balcony is overflowing with flowers right now, so I picked enough to fill this teacup with them.

I love how the yellow and orange of the nasturtiums pick up the colors in the oil still life behind it.

The console table is typically my decorating oasis -- it's one of the few surfaces that the husband knows not to put stuff down on (the other important one being my drafting table!) So, despite the chaos of school and work, this table is always a nice, calming surface with things that make me happy. You can see some of the chaos below and next to the table, but not on top!

Some of the different pieces on the table right now:
-oil still life, painted by my aunt when she was a kid. This used to hang in my grandparents' house, and now I have it.
-otter painting, by me. This might find a new home in the office, since the colors would work well in there. But for now it sits in the living room, adding cuteness!
-photo box with fun family photo from my wedding. The box itself was a wedding present from some friends.
-purple candle, from my mother-in-law (purple is my favorite color)
-small jar with amethyst: I used to collect rocks, and I've been working on using that collection in my decorating
-jar with sea glass and white shell: the sea glass in here comes from all over the world, from Santa Cruz to Rimini, Italy!
-vase: This has a great story! Our first Valentine's Day, Sean brought me a dozen roses. But, living in the dorms, I didn't have a vase! Luckily my amazing roommate did, but I had Sean promise me that the next time he bought me flowers he would buy me a vase. And so he did!

I love having a place in the home to display things I love, especially those that bring up wonderful memories. And by incorporating the seasons into this display, the table can constantly tell a new story.

3 Easy Spring Centerpieces

I love to decorate with seasonal items all year long, but spring is my favorite time to bring nature inside. Between the fresh flowers, the fruit, the herbs...nature has practically done my decorating for me! Here are a few of the centerpieces I've done on our dining table over the last couple of weeks:

For Easter, this simple arrangement of wooden and gold eggs in a wooden tub is festive and also reminiscent of freshly gathered eggs.

The wooden eggs (both natural and painted white) were found at Michael's; the gold eggs were from my mother-in-law in our Easter baskets.


I like to keep fresh fruit on the table as much as possible. It's my default centerpiece, since it looks nice and having fruit in sight every day encourages us to eat it. Here's an arrangement from last week, when we had four oranges. I picked some nasturtium and sorrel blossoms from our balcony to add some height and color.

Lastly, our current fruit selection. Maybe not the most artistic fruit arrangement (3 oranges, 2 apples and one lone avocado) but it shows how simply swapping out the cake platter changes the feel of the table. Plus, you can see that these really are centerpieces that are meant to be eaten!

I love how good produce can be the best dining room or kitchen decoration! Especially at this time of year. I hope you're able to enjoy the spring produce, even if the weather doesn't yet feel like spring in your area!

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Linked up to:
 One Project at a Time over on A Bowl Full of Lemons.