Weekend Wrap Up – Bald Eagles, Small Town, & Spring

There is a part of me that wants to rip through my closet this week and pull out all my spring clothes! Then there is the more sensible side that says “Brittany, you live in South Dakota and it’s still March, come to your senses!” It’s really hard to tackle either since last week we had some days in the 60’s and then this week we may get up to 78 degrees and have it continue into the Weekend. How can you NOT get pumped over that? Also, this winter really hasn’t been typical South Dakota winter. Last winter I remember cooking dinner super in the kitchen and reading the thermometer at a whooping –20 degrees! For a Delaware girl who is a wimp during our low of 30 degrees this was beyond anything I could even imagine. During my first visit to South Dakota in spring of 2009, I remember Delaware’s spring had just burst with daffodils and the highs in the low 60’s… stepping off the plane to see dead prairie grass and mounds of snow in the ditches still was not a good sign. {G} took me to the “city” Sioux Falls one day to shop and it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, there was very little wind, and the temperatures were probably  in the mid 40’s to 50’s. I was stunned at all the girls and guys walking around in flip flops and light long sleeve shirts with cropped jeans. I, of course thought is was FRIGID still so I had my closed toed boots on, jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a winter jacket. After living here for a 1.5 years now I can say my body has become much like a South Dakotan. It hits the upper 40’s and I’m ready to run outside in shorts and a T-shirt…. and lets not kid ourselves a light jogging jacket since I love to be extra warm. I just can’t wait for bright color clothing, my winter outfits for work are really starting to become overly used. By the way, have you seen the Target line yet for spring?!? IT just SCREAMS spring! I need to get to a target ASAP!



Along with the warm weather and of course cute clothing brings my FAVORITE part of Spring… Flowers and the Living. If you read my bio you know that my degree is in Agriculture Sciences. I also taught plant and animal science for two years before moving to SD. My passion is really for plants though, I had an internship for a summer are a garden estate and also grew my love for floral design in college with some courses. I LOVE LOVE LOVE flowers so I cannot wait for the spring bulbs to burst through the warm soil and with rain and weather like we are having its definitely going to be an earlier spring then last. Also, with warm weather the living are starting to come out of their winter hiding spots. Birds, squirrels, PEOPLE in town :) I went running last week and you could just tell the locals were ready to get out and about. The gym is even becoming sparser on the treadmills since I’m sure people are running outside now. I hate treadmills as well so I’ll see you on the pavement! Last week {G} was looking out our kitchen window and pointed out 6 bald eagles perches in a tree about 60 yards from the street. Our home sits right across for the “James River” which is the size of a “Crick” or “Creek” depending what part of the states you are from. We were amazed how many were sitting there and thought they would’ve moved on by now. It’s been over a week and they are still there! They did move trees on us but are still visible if you stand on our porch. The other locals started noticing them as well and have started to stop in the road to take pictures. One day I saw 5 cars stopped too look at them and thought to myself… Wow we are so blessed to be able to witness this from our front porch and for that I will say I will South Dakota. Here is the article along with some of the pictures this guy took. “I shot a bald eagle”




Small town living really shined through this weekend. If you live in a mid west town then you know why… State Basketball Tournaments! I have never been a basketball fan, I do like to watch touches of the NCAA tournament coming up here for March Madness but other then that I just honestly don’t care for it. Maybe because I am 5’3??? Mitchell, the town I live in is a larger town for SD standards, we are a population of 15,000 and from what I have been told it’s ALWAYS been a big basketball town. This weekend our high school girls team beat out Sioux Falls Washington in the AA girl’s state tournament. All week the local broadcast stations have had on the games in the evening and the newspaper has been exploding with article after article. This may not be odd for you but for me we don’t get broadcasted local games on the local radio station back in DE…There are just TOO many schools.. Articles in the paper yes…. High school basketball craze yes. I think it is wonderful that they are able to support the high schools in that way. If only they would broadcast soccer games…. now then I would tune in for sure! It’s still growing here so it’s highly doubtful.

{G} and I finally finished the mail desk/armoire that we started 2 weekends ago. It started out like this:

 

Then I wanted to put Old shutters on to replace the broken glass doors… like this….

and then fully paint it to look… LIKE THIS!!!!

      

We are really happy with how it turned out! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the shutters recycled to use on the front of this. Best this was that we didn’t have to do anything to make then fit, they were already the exact size we needed! We also like the green we used since it’s modern but not too far out of our comfort range. {G} and I really loved this project and he even joked around about how we should do this all the time. I wouldn’t mind it from time to time but it was a lot of work and with the weather getting nice it’s gong to take a lot from me to want to do anything in an enclosed basement. All that is left on this project are a few finishes and touch up spots and then it’s to sit in our basement until moving day. :( BUMMER. What I really love about this piece is you can use it anywhere- large bathroom, front entrance for mail items, dining room, kitchen, bed room, etc.

Our {G}’s next project is a Ford 8000 pedal tractor from the 70’s. Ever since Christmas when his cousin refurbished one for his nephew {G} has had the itch to re-new one himself. His heart bleeds blue through and through so hopefully one day he will be nice enough to let our “Future” kids play with it. Of course in the mean time I have NO idea where it is going to be displayed… I hope out new home has a place for it.

As always, Thanks for stopping in to read about my crazy weekends!

Enjoy the beautiful weather this week where ever you are!

Also, please stop by { The Momma Bear Diaries } tomorrow to see my blog featured in her “Flaunt a Friend” post!