Catching Up

I finally got the camera working so that I can transfer pictures onto the computer. Yay! I wanted to post images of some of the projects that I've been working on over the past couple months. I posted here about the wall above our couch, which I referred to as "my nemesis" because it is huge and high and nothing seemed to fit right. After the Fiance put up shelves two months ago (sigh) I finally got the framed pictures up. Although it's still a work in progress, it's a big improvement over the empty wall.


It's hard to capture how much better it actually is without before and after pix, but I can now walk by the living room without glancing at the wall and uttering a long sigh. The other portion of the living area that somewhat coordinates is the fireplace. I'm still working on the rest. I do love how in this picture you can see the baby monitor, a fabulous decorative addition to our mantel.


I've also been feeling very crafty as I posted here. The result is a new spring bag that I created from Sandi Henderson's Market Bag pattern. You can find the link to the pattern shop on her blog, Portobellopixie, and it was pretty easy, even after not having sewn much of anything in many moons.
The fabric that I picked up at Joanne's is wonderful and bright and summery. It's not necessarily a universal bag that goes with anything, but it is big enough to hold a book or magazine, as well as the normal stuff. I'm currently in the process of making another in a different fabric for a friend. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Below I added pictures to the post about our new vegetable garden. We've lost one lettuce plant but otherwise the plants are doing well. Our roses are about to have the first big bloom of the year, but I added some pictures of how pathetic the garden looked after we chopped the roses down a couple months ago. It was hideous but amazing how quickly they grow back. I'm so stoked on adding pictures. I feel much better about my blog now!

A Little Vacation

In honor of Easter, the three of us are making the long (two hour) journey to Palm Desert to spend with Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt E, the Fiance's family. I've explained the desert situation before and it's truly a mini-oasis from normal life. This time of year it will be about 85 degrees and just perfect for sitting by the pool trying to tan my sadly pasty legs. Incidentally I'm very happy that my wedding is after the summer because I have several months to get nice and golden without even considering any fake n bake (which I don't do anymore).

I'm armed with a couple mindless magazines and a strapless swimsuit to hold the tan lines at bay. Normally I'm pretty carefree when it comes to tan lines but I think it would be rather unsightly in my strapless wedding gown, so I'm making every attempt to prevent it from happening. With the whole summer ahead of me, it's somewhat of a daunting task but I'm making the effort and if I have some lines it won't be the end of the world. I'm just not that high maintenance.

Easter dinner has been replaced in the past couple years with Easter brunch and that pattern continues this year. Personally I love it. No one has to cook. No one has to clean. You just eat until you have to resist the urge to unbutton your pants but you don't because that would be inappropriate at your future in-laws golf club, and then you go home and sleep it off. That really makes me sound like the epitome of health! It should be a really nice weekend and we haven't seen the Fiance's family in a couple months so they will enjoy seeing our little monkey. Her newest skill is clapping and she's really honed it down in the past week. We've got her to the point where she does it on command and it's just the right thing to warm a grandparent's heart. Happy Easter!

New Vegetable Garden = Aching Muscles

I love spring! This past weekend was in the 70s and perfectly sunny. On Saturday we took advantage of the nice weather and took a trip to the local garden store where we chose a selection of veggies for a small plot on the end of our rose garden. We decided to be a little adventurous and we'll see what comes of it in a few months. Tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries and pumpkins came home with us, along with a new hydrangea bush and a calla lily.

Supposedly strawberries grow very well in our area, and I think it would be wonderful to have fresh berries in the summer instead of buying one of those overpriced packages at the grocery store that we can never seem to finish. I also love the idea of carving pumpkins at Halloween that came out of our own garden. We have grand visions of dedicating a much larger space in the back yard to a vegetable garden but we thought it would be smart to start small and see how it turns out. I'm not exactly a green thumb so I'm following a lot of instructions from the Fiance on this project. A LOT.

Below is our rose garden at the end of February after the bushes all got chopped down. So sad.

The roses are about to have their first big bloom but these pictures were taken about a week ago when we started seeing the first roses. Did I mention I love spring?

The Doversons

Last year around the time that Baby was born, a pair of doves took residence in a nest in the arbor behind our kitchen. We watched the two birds with casual interest for a few weeks until one day two babies appeared. After that we checked in on them regularly and observed with amazement how quickly the babies grew. I was able to see the babies being fed by their mother, and we even saw the first tentative steps out of the nest as they learned to fly. It was the Discovery Channel right outside our kitchen window. Sadly, soon after the babies began leaving the nest, the whole family disappeared and our birdwatching days were over.

Just this week the mama and daddy bird reappeared and have been rebuilding the nest together. The mother sits protectively in the nest while the father flies back and forth, bringing twigs and brush to build up their home. It's pretty amazing to watch actually. Fiance nicknamed them "the Doversons" and now I often peek out the window to see what's new. I like this little family growing in our back yard. I don't know if there are any eggs in the nest because we never get close enough to disturb them. We just take a look out the window periodically and there they are, staring back at us as if to say "mind your own business!" I hope we will again witness baby birds and there very speedy growth. I can only imagine if Baby grew that quickly. I figure by now she'd be applying to college. Luckily my own nest won't be empty so soon.

Lazy Saturday

I love the weekend. I love that it's 11:00 and I haven't even showered yet. I find it strange and wonderful that even though I no longer work outside the home on the weekdays, the weekends still hold significance. I worried that all the days would blend together once I was at home full time, but I still look forward to the weekends when life seems to slow down just a bit. Today we don't have any commitments and the sitter is coming tonight so Fiance and I can have our usual weekly date night. Tomorrow holds all the promise of a lowkey bbq with friends. I'm already wishing that we were closer to corn season but I'd settle for some good potato salad.

Baby girl is close to crawling and that often has me looking around the house with anxiety seeing as how our house is one of the least child-proof homes ever. Our saving grace... we don't have stairs. Ultimately I watch with anticipation as she climbs up on hands and knees. I can almost see the wheels turning as she tries to figure out how to get moving. I know that one day soon she will astonish us and just do it. Until then it's time to bust out all those safety latches we have and start helping our home to be a little less of an accident waiting to happen!

Blog-Hopping

Lately I've been pretty lazy about writing on my own page but have done a lot of searching through other blogs. There are some that I really like and have added to my sidebar. I've been feeling pretty crafty in the past month and this was partly inspired by sites like Portobello Pixie and U-Handblog. I busted out my sewing machine for the first time in months and made a brand new bag for spring. I found the pattern on Portobello Pixie and I'm in love. It was much easier than I thought it would be, especially since I haven't really sewed much of anything in several years. I guess sewing is sort of like riding a bike. The new bag is almost complete and I hope to post a picture as soon as the camera is back in action.

I've also been frequenting a few wedding-related sites and finding some great inspiration for my own upcoming nuptials. My favorite is Melissa's Smitten which is the blog of an invitation designer who has the same classic taste as Martha Stewart Weddings. Another really fun site is Classic Bride which is mainstream but with a little kitsch added in. Both are great for creative ideas as well as tips on budgeting, DIY, and adding personality to your wedding. I'm all about not having a wedding that speaks to who we are and not focusing on what is or isn't appropriate or traditional for a wedding.

Greener Pastures

My very first post was about resolutions and I mentioned that one of mine for 2009 is to make our home more environmentally sound. I admit that I have yet to make any really big strides- the composting machine is on its way... really... But we have made some baby steps and for those I feel like giving myself a small pat on the back.

One of the biggest changes we've made actually happened last year when Baby was born. Fiance drives about 20 minutes to work each way and I mostly drive within a few square miles for errands during the day. Due to this and safety, we swapped vehicles last summer. I now drive the gas-guzzling monster SUV (I can practically see the soccer games now) and Fiance drives the lower MPG sedan. The result is that we only fill the SUV up maybe once every two weeks and not only save money but also contribute one less energy-monster to the daily commute.

A more recent change is my efforts to use less paper towels. We have been very bad about this in particular since Baby came along and we became germaphobes. I tend to find crumpled paper towels randomly discarded on the major surfaces of the house and throw them out in bunches. So recently I purchased some packs of small kitchen towels to serve as reusable napkins, which were much cheaper than actual cloth napkins, and I've been making a concerted effort to keep clean dishcloths available for drying hands and cleaning spills instead of grabbing the usual wad of paper towels.

CFL bulbs have been installed in many fixtures that get the most use and I've switched over to more natural cleaning products in favor of the toxic bleach variety. I'm more cognizant of what can be recycled instead of haphazarding throwing items in the trash. Overall I feel like I've made some positive steps and hope to continue the pattern throughout the year. What are you doing to help greenify your home?