Farmers Market Flowers!

Now that we have the fruits and veggies from the CSA each week, I haven't been to the farmers' market once this summer. On the balance, I'm fine with that, but I do miss all of the flower vendors, and I've been wishing for sunflowers. I spent about five hours yesterday working on caulking the trim in the family room. As I worked, I listened to all of the cheers and honking for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk, which headed past the top of our street. As the day got late, I decided to run up the street to pick up white thread for Kevin's curtains and see all of the walkers (aka, do a little honking myself) – many of them get dressed up in things ranging from "outfits" to complete costumes. I actually found it quite emotional to see their progress – most of them are either survivors, or friends and family of people who have had cancer. I know several people this year with horrible, sad cancer stories, and this walk seems like such a brave and hopeful thing to go do (you can't walk without a hitting a minimum pledge – it's not little, and it's a big physical and time commitment), and at the same time each walker is so small in the face of the dollars and years that are required for improvements in care, let alone a cure. You see all of the PINK, and the friends, and the brave T-shirt slogans ("I had a war in my raq."), and it was a steady stream of women and supporting men and sons, but it still made me kind of teary to drive by. Very emotional and powerful.

On the way to the thread store, I drove by a woman with a tent selling flowers along the way, and I stopped and bought these.



They're so extravagant, and exactly what I've been feeling we were lacking. The right flowers to be summery, but heading into fall colors. Perfect. :-)

The weather has been cooperating with brilliant sunshine, so our kitchen was full of glowing flowers and bright sunlight all afternoon.



We've been hoping to replace the kitchen cabinets since we moved in. (We have a hole where a trash compactor used to go, and none of the current cabinets are adjustible, so they're a terrible use of space. We still have glasses in storage. Plus there's a mid-eighties-era microwave/oven that you can see in the photo above that would make an excellent pantry if we redid things.)

Do any of you live in Seattle or on the Eastside and have custom cabinetry recommendations? We'll definitely scope out the Lowes/Home Depot standard options, but we're hoping to keep the current Corian countertops and the kitchen as it is just doesn't fit the standard grid. Any thoughts (including keywords to search for online) would be awesome.

P.S. If you know an electrician, we're in the market for one of those, too. :-)