Artists :: Billy Bragg and Wilco
Song :: California Stars
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Just for fun...
The bridesmaids dresses and shoes have arrived! My sisters gave us a little fashion show with the full she-bang. We decided to go with the dress I showed you in this post. I swooned about them then ~ the color, the fabric... and the pockets. I'm still uber jealous that the bridesmaids have pockets!
This was the perfect excuse for all of the girls to buy TOMS. We've each drooled over them from afar, but never took the plunge until now. Why TOMS? Everyone liked their casual look, but we really love their charity work. The girls claim that the wedges are really comfortable, and I think they're better than heels for an outdoor wedding on grass!
And what are the post-wedding plans for these two?
They're putting together their audition tape for The Price is Right.
This was the perfect excuse for all of the girls to buy TOMS. We've each drooled over them from afar, but never took the plunge until now. Why TOMS? Everyone liked their casual look, but we really love their charity work. The girls claim that the wedges are really comfortable, and I think they're better than heels for an outdoor wedding on grass!
And what are the post-wedding plans for these two?
They're putting together their audition tape for The Price is Right.
Friday, March 25, 2011
This week, much to my delight, the garden was bursting with early bloomers! I can't say it enough, manning this yard is going to be such a fun learning experience for me. Everyday I'm discovering new facts while observing the plants, reading my pile of gardening books, and researching online.
Here's the same patch of crocuses I showed you in this post::
Did you know that crocuses open their flowers every morning and close them every night?! The bees love them, can you spot the little guy in this photo, he almost blends in with the background::
We have a few patches of dwarf irises::
There are more varieties than I expected, and I'm still not 100% sure what we have here. 
Under the pine trees there are snowdrops::
and Eranthis, or winter aconite::
It was such a fun treat to find these under the trees where I really didn't expect anything to come up! Apparently the Eranthis will self-seed and are most successful if planted in a space that will be left alone so that the new seedlings aren't disturbed. Hands down my favorite fact of the week ~ the Eranthis use thermogenesis to give off a small amount of heat. Warming the ground around them allows them to be one of the earliest blooms in your spring garden!As the gardening bug has taken hold, I've started to explore the world of gardening blogs. A couple of my favorites are A Way to Garden and You Grow Girl. Of course, I'll add these to the sidebar along with any others I find.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Superplasticity.
A few years ago, my mom and I saw a pair of card catalogs on ebay and we couldn't walk away. In fact, if they were to be ours, we had to drive to them since shipping was out of the question.
Both card catalogs went home with my mom, because my shared Boston apartments did not leave much room for one of these big boys. My mom's card catalog was put to work immediately, the drawers were filled with everything from silverware and scissors to markers and masking tape. My card catalog was stored in the barn, until "the great barn clean-out of 2010" that I often refer to. During its time in storage, it got wet, and the finish on top was ruined.
Not a big deal at all. In fact, I have such a hard time taking that leap and painting old, wooden furniture, that this was the excuse I needed! I still had a bit of blue paint left over from painting these desk legs. After removing any final bits of varnish and sanding the top of the card catalog, I got to painting. 
I love the results! I'm thinking that I'll take it a step farther and paint the sides of that top piece, and maybe one day I'll get adventurous enough to paint everything but the drawers. You can see in the photos that the varnish is already chipping off in other areas. Won't it look awesome?
I've yet to fill up the drawers, right now I'm just enjoying the old labels {and thinking about ways to keep these labels, while adding new functional ones}.
{WOOL! could there be a better label for a knitter?}
One idea was to keep the old labels where they are and add smaller, new labels to that smaller section on the left, where the drawer numbers are now.
Plus, how great would it be if the items I put in the drawers relate to their old labels? Like silly putty in the superplasticity drawer, because I'm always looking for a place to store my silly putty.
Both card catalogs went home with my mom, because my shared Boston apartments did not leave much room for one of these big boys. My mom's card catalog was put to work immediately, the drawers were filled with everything from silverware and scissors to markers and masking tape. My card catalog was stored in the barn, until "the great barn clean-out of 2010" that I often refer to. During its time in storage, it got wet, and the finish on top was ruined.
Not a big deal at all. In fact, I have such a hard time taking that leap and painting old, wooden furniture, that this was the excuse I needed! I still had a bit of blue paint left over from painting these desk legs. After removing any final bits of varnish and sanding the top of the card catalog, I got to painting. 
I love the results! I'm thinking that I'll take it a step farther and paint the sides of that top piece, and maybe one day I'll get adventurous enough to paint everything but the drawers. You can see in the photos that the varnish is already chipping off in other areas. Won't it look awesome? I've yet to fill up the drawers, right now I'm just enjoying the old labels {and thinking about ways to keep these labels, while adding new functional ones}.
{WOOL! could there be a better label for a knitter?} One idea was to keep the old labels where they are and add smaller, new labels to that smaller section on the left, where the drawer numbers are now.
Plus, how great would it be if the items I put in the drawers relate to their old labels? Like silly putty in the superplasticity drawer, because I'm always looking for a place to store my silly putty.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Grapefruit Marmalade
Two batches of this marmalade. I followed the recipe as written except for the lemon because there were none in the house. 
I prefer the marmalade recipes with pectin, just to be sure that all of our hard work jells. And when it does, how much fun is it to look at those little floating flecks of candied rind::
And I can confirm, it's delicious spread on some bread and cheese for breakfast.
It's always best to have not quite enough marmalade to fill the last jar, so that there's some for testing!
The remaining jars will be saved for the wedding ~ for our favors of canned goods.
I prefer the marmalade recipes with pectin, just to be sure that all of our hard work jells. And when it does, how much fun is it to look at those little floating flecks of candied rind::
And I can confirm, it's delicious spread on some bread and cheese for breakfast.
It's always best to have not quite enough marmalade to fill the last jar, so that there's some for testing!The remaining jars will be saved for the wedding ~ for our favors of canned goods.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Happy Spring!
It's here!... and so are the crocuses. 
Did you know their flowers open up during the day and then close again each night? Those little red rosettes are from one of the many succulents that I'm so excited about!
Did you know their flowers open up during the day and then close again each night? Those little red rosettes are from one of the many succulents that I'm so excited about!
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