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Check out Arts Olympia show and sale this weekend 02/08

Pet the Blog

Treat your dog while supporting Red Cross efforts in Japan 04/28

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HOROSCOPES

Horoscopes

Horoscopes for Friday, February 10, 2012 02/10

LIVING COLUMNS

Busy Mama

Some gems emerge when rediscovering life without power 02/04

Soundings

Local artist, 99, finalist in New Yorker contest 02/05

Notes from the ER

As a doctor and a son, learning to let go 05/05

Where do I take my

Don't toss old medicines, try to recycle them 06/09

Health Matters

Get to know neighbors before next storm hits 01/28

Marianne Binetti On Gardening

All is not lost for gardens hit by snow 01/25

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Living Editor

Dusti Demarest
253-274-7380
Dusti.Demarest@thenewstribune.com

South Sounders get creative, harvest rain

Got rain? Of course you do. Sometimes in the Northwest it can seem like that’s all we do have. Yet there’s always a period of total drought midsummer when your water bill skyrockets, and forecasters are predicting that situation will only get worse. But so will flooding. Plus, the big problem is that pollutants in stormwater runoff can hurt Puget Sound. Time to get creative with the rain – and a handful of South Sounders are exploring three different ways: above ground, in-ground and below ground.
Roll into the New Year

Not a New Year’s Eve partier? Me either.
Improving fitness is for every age and ability

Nothing gets in the way of fitness like a good excuse. So, let’s eliminate one of those right now. I’m too old to get into good shape. The truth is you might not be as old as you think.
Stroll through a Christmas Forest

Instead of taking a nap, why not walk off that turkey dinner and extra piece of pie at Providence St. Peter Foundation’s Christmas Forest in Olympia?
Center moves patients from physical therapy to fitness

Only about two-thirds of MVP Physical Therapy in Fircrest looks like a therapy practice. The rest has artificial turf instead of carpet and looks more like a fitness studio.
Wine and food fest is back

Mmm, beer, cheese and – chocolate? Definitely, says Mike Runion, owner of 7 Seas Brewing in Gig Harbor. Finding tantalizing combinations of this food-and-drink trio is what Runion will be doing in just one of many classes at this weekend’s Gig Harbor Wine and Food Festival, held on the grounds of the Harbor History Museum.
Laying it on thick

Organic. Inorganic. Rocks, bark, straw, leaves or even – gasp! – poop. Mulch is vital to your garden, but there are a lot of options. Your choice should be based on aesthetics, practicality, and just plain science.
New state recreation pass takes effect Friday

Beginning Friday, people planning to recreate on lands managed by three state natural resource agencies will need the new Discover Pass. The pass – $10 a day or $30 a year, plus fees in some cases – will give people access to almost 7 million acres of land run by the State Parks and Recreation Commission, state Department of Fish and Wildlife and state Department of Natural Resources.
Discover what everyone’s clucking about

Ruby is a sweetheart, little Mabel likes to hide and bossy Priscilla rules the roost – literally. The three chickens and their sister hens belong to Jason and Tishelle Ward and their two young daughters in the family’s Tacoma backyard.
You have to fight to get into this boxing class

Generally speaking, it’s good advice to avoid rooms tucked away in back corners of converted movie theaters, rooms filled with the sounds of grunts, loud music and the clinking of chains. In this case however, the room is the home of freestyle boxing classes, one of the most popular group workouts at Tacoma’s Allstar Fitness.
Vivid veggies, flashy fruits

The more colors of produce you eat, the more benefits you get, nutritionists say. Imagine a world where watermelons are yellow, asparagus is purple, oranges are red, cauliflower is orange and raspberries are gold.
Behold nature at Nisqually

Weekend nature programs at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge will resume this weekend. The refuge is used as a focal point for programs that study wildlife, botany, history and photography through the summer.
Radical Reels brings film tour to Olympia

The Radical Reels Tour, featuring some of the most high-energy films from last fall's Banff Mountain Film Festival, is coming to Olympia on Friday. This year's tour includes films on cross-country snowboarding, mountain biking, skiing, rock climbing, skateboarding and kayaking.
Northwest Flower & Garden Show: 1,200 square feet of spring

Every February, something miraculous happens in the Washington State Convention Center. Spring arrives a full month early in the guise of the Northwest Flower & Garden Show.
Illustrating America

Norman Rockwell's coming to Tacoma. Original paintings and magazine covers by the iconic 20th-century illustrator will fill Tacoma Art Museum's two middle galleries beginning on Saturday, a 365-work traveling show from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., that has Tacoma as its only Northwest stop.