One Year Raw Anniversary and Other Musings

I just looked down at my shirt to see if I'd spilled my morning tea on it. Yeah, my middle name is Grace. I hadn't. But the glance did show me a smallish stain from the other day (I often wear the same shirt more than once in a week...so shoot me). Maybe I should have separate clothes piles. One for "clothes with raw food spills" and another one for "clothes okay to wear another day before washing." Just a thought.
Tomorrow is my One Year Raw Anniversary! Hooray Me! What a difference a year makes. I'm going to buy me a Vitamix Blender. I bet I'll be surprised. I haven't ordered it yet because I'm still quibbling over the cost. Which is silly because I know I'll use it every day. I'll use it until its motor grinds to a halt, the container glass turns yellow with age, and the plastic casing crumbles to dust. And it'll make my smoothies, shakes, soups, and whatnot that much greater. I'm think I'm going to get the Vitamix Super 5200. Sounds like something a superhero or jedi knight or starship commander would use. I'd better order it now.
Spring came!
The foothills are green. The trees are budding. Flowers are shooting up out of the moist earth. My garden lives!
A few years ago my parents came out and created this magical place for me. Before they toiled and slaved away at it, there was a sunken in goldfish pond thing with pieces of black plastic poking up through the rocks and weeds.
Now look at it!

Here's some Stairway to Heaven.

I know the steps are small, but I bet you'll get there. You don't even have to buy it from me (cheesy reference to a song, I apologize. Or maybe I don't!) you can use it for free.
And then over in the corner sits my helpful rain gauge Frog and some Columbine.

I think that Columbine is Colorado's State Flower. I'll have to verify that information, but I'm pretty sure it is. Let's just pretend it is, okay? Okay.
I'm a little enamored with caps today.
Speaking of green. I have been eating predominately more greens and cutting way down on the fruit. So far so good. I still have a few kinks to work out but this current adaptation to my rawing is going okay. I've also been eating sweet potato chips and kale chips. They're so good! Only bad thing about them is that they're gone so quickly.
My birthday is in June.
I love birthdays. For a variety of reasons. 1. I get to (usually) spend a lot of time with my family. My grandmother and sister share a birthday - June 13th. My birthday is the week after - June 20th. All my life we've celebrated together and managed to make it a nice bash! 2. I get cool stuff. 3. I get a lot of attention - kind of a Queen for the Day thing. 4. Having a birthday means I'm not dead yet. Which I think is pretty flippin' sweet.
Recently I was talking with s and she and I decided that having a Birthday Eve was a great idea. Christmas gets an Eve. New Year's gets an Eve. Why shouldn't I? And if you want a Birthday Eve as well, go for it! Why the heck not!?
I'm trying to get my birthday all planned out. I'm going to Texas for a week. I'll be there for both the 13th and the 20th. I'm really excited I haven't been home for an extended time (just weekends mostly) other than at Christmas since I moved away.
First idea for my birthday obsessiveness: I know I want to make Cafe Gratitude's German Chocolate Cake.

Actually, I'd like some of that cake right now. Drooling. Wiping away said drool.
You're all invited to my folk's house for my birthday party - BYOC (bring your own cake). No. Just kidding. I'll share. Really I will.
I went to the library last night to pick up my books on hold. Man! Whoever invented the library (The Romans? Ben Franklin? And who remembers the days of the Dewey Decimal System?) should get a reward in heaven. And then whoever invented inter-library loaning and book holds should also be given a crown, maybe two crowns.
These are the books I got:

Two were recommended by Ray Bradbury in a utube interview I watched the other day. He said writers should read a poem, an essay and a short story every night before they go to sleep. Get that old grey matter working while you dream or some such ness. The third book was recommended by Charles. I'll let you sort which books were recommended by whom.
When I was leaving the library I heard a librarian telling some kid about the Summer Reading Program. Bam! I was back to my childhood just like that. My sister and I used to ride our bikes to the library all the time. We'd fill up a backpack full of books. Nancy Drews, The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Browns, Fairytales, Lorna Doone (we owned The Narnian Series and The Tolkien books among others)... you name it we were all over those books. Then we'd lock ourselves in our room and read and read and read. Sometimes we'd go back to the library the next day for more.
As Groucho Marx so aptly said, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."