At the last Citysearch Dictator’s meeting (which is no more), I won a Sprinkle Party at Cupcake Royale!

If there is enough interest to fill all 12 guest spots, then I will host a Sprinkle Party blogger meet-up!

We’ll each get to decorate a cupcake and throw back a glass of champagne or wine (what pairs well with cupcakes?)* and overall just get to know each other better. It’s always nice to be in the company of other bloggers and meet each other in real life!

So if you are in the Seattle area or know of someone that is, post a comment here or shoot me an e-mail to let me know that you’re interested. We’ll work out details later. :)

*All ages are invited!

Vinocaching, it’s just like geocaching, except you are searching for a bottle of wine at each location.

The Husband tasting wine. The bandanna was our team color.

A couple of months ago I went to a fundraiser in Yakima Valley for the HeartLinks Kids fundraiser. It was bascially a scavenger hunt for grownups. My husband and I were a team with his parents. The goal was to use GPS devices to locate, by longitude and latitude, medallions with symbols on them that we had to decode.

We would then call in to the base and they would give us our next coordinates. Each location was either a winery or a local point of interest. At each winery we had to perform a simple task, like applying wine labels or washing the windows, in exchange for a wine tasting and a bottle of wine.

One of my favorite wines of the night, it was actually port. But there are laws about what you can call port*.

I believe we made it to around 6 of the 10 wineries in the time frame. We then donated several of the bottles to the auction that would be held at the post race dinner. Here’s a site that has a description of the event.

One of the winery tasting rooms.

It was all a very good time. And the dinner was amazing, the freshest of asparagus is what I remember most clearly. The asparagus was grown locally, and they fried it up in a wok made from tractor parts. It’s amazing as it sounds. And there were buckets and buckets of the veg.

Many dollars were donated, much food was enjoyed, and numerous bottles of wine finished off in mason jar glasses. And of course dinner was located on Merlot Drive.

The wineries were all beautiful and expansive. This one in particular had an awe-inspiring view, I believe this was the DavenLore winery. I suggest you visit them if you ever go to Prosser, WA. Despite its podunk feel, there’s a lovely wine country. You should come to the VinoCache if you’re in the area next year. It’s a very unique idea for a fundraiser and it’s one that’s sure to please. Good food + excellent drink + good cause = grand time all around. Join us next time why don’t you?

My favorite wineries were:

DavenLore (the one with the view)

Coyote Canyon

Thurston Wolfe (especially their Sweet Rebecca dessert wine)

A Guide to Prosser Wine Country

A few weeks ago I went to City Peoples with a coworker post-workday. We both had a little problem. And it looked a lot like this:

His name was Spot. But he’s been replaced. By 5000 ladybugs, each one more aptly named Spot than Spot was. Reminiscent of Too Many Daves by Dr. Seuss, if you will.

I bought my 5000 Spots for somewhere around the ring of $7 I believe, though truthfully I don’t remember. Definitely not more than that.

Most of them were hiding behind the cardboard label or in that nest in the middle.

Carrying this was not easy, you can see their little legs poking out of the bag.

I took my little guys home, and prepared them a lounge amongst my plants in case my aphids were not to their tastes. Their home was a paper towel soaked in sugar water, every ladybug’s favorite. I released them at dusk per the instructions, shaking them out on my plants like seeds.

In the end, I didn’t really notice a difference. And my little bugs only stayed around for a few days. You’re welcome neighborhood for bringing a ladybug colony to our block. It certainly was entertaining while it lasted!

More pictures are viewable HERE. They are photos taken by my coworker of her ladybug release, she has quite a few more photos than I do. Mine came out too blurry.

By the way, all three of my tomato plants have tomatoes! Though none are ripe yet. The Totems are doing the best by far, and the plant is the most compact. So far I highly recommend it as a container tomato.