Notes from A Cottage Industry

Some pretty cute chicks.

There are no shortage of chickens and roosters on the island of Kauai, and I got a little..fixated on snapping pictures of them.

Such charming little creatures.

You may know that my affection for chickens is not really new, as I shared here a few years back. I know I am not alone, as raising chickens has become pretty popular these days, even in urban settings.

If you pay attention, you'll see that they all have their own personalities. (Some share better than others, for example.)

We saw chickens and roosters everywhere...they were enjoying the beautiful lush landscape when we stopped at the lookout point...

...and we had fun watching them sunning themselves, poolside. It was even more fun to watch other people watching them cross the road.

According to some folks, the reason for the incredible number of these birds everywhere was due to hurricane Iniki, back in 1992, but other people say the Polynesians brought chickens to Hawaii in the canoe voyages, and they just kept multiplying.

However it is that these fluffy foul arrived, there's definitely no shortage of them anywhere you go on the island.

We also discovered that they develop a fondness for french fries at an early age when we stopped for lunch at Bubba's on our way to the airport.

Time flies when you're chillin' on a lounge chair in Kauai.

Wha...?! It's over?!

Say it ain't so.

(Insert huge bewildered sigh here.)

(True confession here, there is a teeny-tiny part of me is incredibly homesick. Do you feel that way at the end of a trip? So sad for it to end, wondering where the time went, and longing for home at the very same moment?)

Okay, back to my story.

We rendezvoused at the baggage claim in Lihue last Wednesday at noon, and while we didn't have any sort of real agenda or schedule for our time on the island, my oldest-dearest-bestest gal-pal since fifth grade and I managed to make the absolute most out of every single second in the tropical paradise that is Kauai.

The sun, and the sand. The pool, and the steam room, the hot tub, the restaurants, and the quaint little towns nearby. We even experienced one real life up-close-and-nearly-personal celeb-siting.

(We saw Pierce Brosnan shopping for produce at the local Big Save grocery. We held back on taking selfies with our cell phones with him in the background, let him have his space, and his strawberries.)

We drank our share of grown up drinks with pineapple wedges adorning the rims, and scarfed down pulled pork sliders, and a gazillion several orders of chili pepper chicken wings (So yummy!) while discussing everything from grand babes to boyfriends, to career choices and challenges.

We laughed. A lot.

Not wanting to waste one precious minute, we woke up early and stayed up late, and spent all most of our time eating and drinking, or talking about when and what we would next be eating and drinking. (Melissa, our favorite poolside Nashville-born-and-raised-waitress, was never more than a nano-second away from filling our food and beverage needs with a smile and an adorable Tennessee drawl.)

We reclined on side by side chaise lounges close enough to the water to jump in and cool off when the sun hot. We debated the pros and cons of mix and match two piece swimsuits,(that seem to neither mix nor match) discussed and debated our assorted weight and exercise challenges,including, but not limited to, what to wear to Zumba.

We talked about our bucket lists, future vacation ideas, recipes, coffee makers, and quite literally, everything in between.

Today we will leave the island, and fly home. Back to daily life, and reality, with our phones full of photos to take us back to this magical escape at a moment's notice.

Weekly words to live by.

 

Another little moseying around through Camas Antiques.

Oh, I could wander through the isles of Camas Antiques each and every day and find something new to make me smile.

Truly, the eye candy never disappoints.

Never ever.

There is always inspiration, and mind-boggling creativity that I can only aspire to.

It always makes me want to scurry home and revamp, and rearrange, and fluff, and clean.

And it's just down the hill from my home.

Oh, I am blessed!

Weekly words to live by.

 

Thirty eight cents can take your meal from alright to aah-mazing.

And special.

Summer has arrived at last here in the Pacific Norhwest, and at our house, that means cool and refreshing salads on the back deck for dinner a lot of evenings.

I chill our salad bowls in the freezer, which is especially nice in triple digit weather. (if you haven't ever done this, try it!) The chilled bowls are a nice touch, but what really takes our supper up to a whole new level is a little just-the-right-size-for-two loaf of bread, warm and buttery, fresh out of the oven.

I like to cruise through the bakery section of the grocery store, and for thirty eight cents at my local Winco, I can buy just a single mini baggette. They are on the petite side, which is perfect for accompanying our dinner for two.

I am an incredibly visual person, and I always like my table to look (and smell) inviting. I rub the crust of the baggette with butter and pop it in the oven at 400' for about six minutes to make it really yummy. Taking those extra couple minutes to step things up a notch makes every meal a memorable event.

It's heaven.

Try it yourself. I'm betting you'll enjoy your meal just a wee bit more.

Keeping it cool.

Last Saturday I was over hangin' with the little men, and my Rock n' Roll Buddy surprised us all by rolling up on his motorcycle with a bag full of ice cold popsicles!

We all know that there is nothing better than an ice cold popsicle on a hot summer day...

....although it can present some challenges.

In the end though, it's all worth the effort.

Weekly words to live by.

There is power in looking silly and not caring that you do. Amy Poehler

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Busy bees.

The Saturday before last, I was in my glory, baking and dcorating the sweetest little cookies for the baby shower brunch my daughter was hosting, and I just had to share.

The baby shower theme was "Mama-to-Bee" which you might remember from my daughter's own baby shower, and from the Bingo game a couple of weeks back. (Some of these are already in my etsy shoppe, and the rest will be there very soon!)

Speaking of etsy, I popped over to etsy and found the perfect little cookie cutter here.

In the end, I didn't make any of the bumble bees, but opted instead to make little pale pink frosted hearts.

So sweet.

(Pun intended.)

There were other yummy treats as well. Mini cinnamon rolls, just-right sized yogurt, fruit and grannola parfaits, and lemonade in the bee skeep beverage server.

It all made for a  darling display, and a yummy spread, and it has inspired me to get back into baking this summer, when fresh fruits abound, and my creative juices are flowing.

Weekly words to live by.