I Won an iPad Mini!

So a few weeks ago, I received a phone call from my bank letting me know I won the customer service survey drawing for a free iPad mini!  I filled the survey out a few months ago, and I definitely didn't expect to win.  I figured my chances of winning were better as the Kitsap Bank is just a western Washington regional bank, as opposed to national.  And also, most of the people in my town are elderly and don't know how to use a computer or the Internet as well, so I figured there probably weren't too many people in th drawing.  You can never be too sure though!  I don't know how many people entered last quarter's drawing with me.  But the survey does not ask for your bank account information at all.  It's survey just on customer service.  I did put down contact information so I could be eligible to win the iPad mini, and now it's worked out!

The photo second from the left is me and the Sequim Kitsap Bank Branch manager with a little blurb that has my name in it!  See the web page for yourself here.

The new iPad mini at work while I was hanging out in a coffeeshop.  I had to have the Kitsap Bank Facebook page, of course.

I am so excited to use this iPad mini in college.  I use this Evernote app for checklists, and I can't wait to start taking class notes on it as well.  It's much easier to carry and handle than my laptop!

Trek and Travel #3

I finally got around to photographing the Wild Birds Unlimited sanctuary garden!  I feel so accomplished - I've been hoping to get myself back over here so I could do that.  Here are the photos:

The entrance, with a fun snake metal art on top of the entryway,

The front of the accompanying bird and garden store.

A pretty garden.

Signs with directions and rules!

Entering the garden.

When you turn left from the entrance.  I snapped a photo and then turned right in this photo sequence though!

I think it's like a pictogram: Luther rocks!  Luther is the name of the fluffy shop cat (whom I unfortunately forgot to take a photo of!)

A little fountain spewing from a rock, which you can see when you turn right from the entrance.

The majestic waterfall pond area!  I got a bigger and better photo this time.

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A different angle of the waterfall and pond area.

A better view of the pond.

Going towards the back of the garden.

The row of roses here are SO fragrant when they are in full bloom!  They're wilting away now, as this summer has been unusually cloudy and chilly.  You get a pretty view of the bay as well.

Big shady tree - perfect for hot summer days.

The roses coming towards the end of their bloom.

The entrance back towards the waterfall and pond.

This is what you see when you pass by to walk back to the waterfall and pond.

The waterfall pond has an additional mini-waterfall and pond.

Fun little figures among the shrubs and undergrowth.

I don't know what this is called, but it was tall and bright!  This is literally eye-level for me (I am 5'1").

A shaded seating area that has a view of the bay.

Long pinecone charm!

I wish I knew the name of this flower.  It was so bright and pretty.

Another angle.

Bright blooms by the entrance!

Creepy looking tin can fish art!  The rust and gaping mouths are what creeps me out.

Almost forgot to include the second compass near the waterfall.

A swinging bench by the entrance.

Decorative rocks!

Wild Birds Unlimited sign by the entrance.  They need to do a little trimming so the whole sign can be read, but I rather like the growth.

This was such a lovely visit.  They sell plants, bird feed, lots of bird feeders, and other decorative gardening objects.  I want to visit this place one more time when it's sunny before I leave for college next month!

Sequim's 18th Annual Lavender Festival

The other day, my mother and I visited two lavender farms after my town's 18th annual lavender festival ended.  Sequim has around nine or ten lavender farms in the area.  Lavender repels mosquitoes away (thank God), and a lot of people love the color and smell.  And by a lot of people, I mean A LOT.  People from all over the world will visit Sequim for its lavender farms.  I believe someone nicknamed our town the lavender capitol of the nation once.  It's sort of a shame it wasn't sunny this past weekend, but the overcast helps my photos out a lot!

My mother and I visited the Purple Haze Lavender Farm and then the Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm.  There were not very many people around the time we visited the farms, which is super nice because the crowds can be annoying.  So we had more space to take photos, take our time with walking around and browsing vendors, and traffic was not all too terrible.  It was a very fun afternoon/evening for us.  Here are the photos:

My mother sitting in the little ice cream/lemonade shop area.

This is the other side of where my mother was sitting in the first photo.  Through the windows, you can see the little ice cream/lemonade shop I was talking about!

One of the southern fields of the Purple Haze Lavender farm.

The northern-most field of lavender with a pretty but private residence in the background.  The white tent is a vendor.

My mother would not stay still for these photos!

More of the festival.  There was music and the tents under the trimmed willow tree were part of a restaurant, Blondie's Plate, selling good food!

Finally, a non-blurry, posed photo of my Mom!

Little trails and little crowds

They had the prettiest little garden area!

Raised bed garden.

My mom next to the super tall artichokes.

A close-up on one of the artichoke heads.

Sooooooo much color, I didn't want to leave!

I am half-tempted to just walk into that residence, announce that I live here now, and kick everyone out.  I don't know how successful that would be, but I don't want to deal with the lavender festival crowds anyway.  They can keep their house.....for now.

There is even a cute pond with huge dragonflies on this property.

And two lines of evergreen trees.

They had a fenced off area near the evergreen tree lines, which had chickens and two peacocks!  This is the male peacock.

Such vibrant colors on this one!

There is the Royal Highness with his lackluster female companion in the background.

I had no idea chickens fall asleep this way.

Where is her head?!

The sounds of my shutter clicking woke her up...  Oops.

Mom wanted me to pose in the fields.  I'm not all that photogenic, and I look super tan here.  I swear I am not this shade in reality!

The west lavender field at the Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm.

The big red barn is an adorable herb and gift shop!

I chased this bumblebee around for a while trying to get a cute photo!  It was a little afraid of my camera's shutter sounds.

They had a goldfish pond!  The metal mesh over the pond is to keep birds and raccoons from eating up the fish!  And they have this old purple bench in front of it with the paint chipping away to a distressed, vintage look.  But someone broke the wood in the middle of the bench, so it's not very suitable for seating anymore.

Close-up in front of the farm's water fountain!  This is a great spot for resting and people-watching on this farm.

This purple garden arch used to be stark white.  I think I prefer the stark white more, but it's obviously painted this color for the festival.

I think I like this photo of me best but I'm not too fond of photos of myself.

My mom in front of the main lavender field, with it's statue in the background.

Close-up on the naked statue!

She and her cherub companion look over the fields, I guess.