Summer Lovin’ 2012

Last summer I shared with you folks what all the happenings were in my little neck of the woods. You can see that post here if you wish. This is my second summer in our first home and although summer is still in its early stages I thought I’d give you a look-see into my present life during these sun shiny days.

 

I purchased these sweet little porcelain garden markers from Chapters at 50% off (score!). This summer I’ve mostly stuck with herbs like mint and lavender but I’m hoping to learn some mad gardening skills and by next summer be able to grow everything you see labelled above. As a vegan lady it’s exciting to think one day I can cut way back on grocery shopping and just eat from my backyard the food I’ve put my hard working hands into. Or fail miserably with a bunch of dead plants…. who knows! :)

   A big part of my summer lovin’ consists of buying sweet sweet local berries. I’ve been gulping down fruit smoothies in the morning as opposed to my regular steaming hot coffee since I feel like sweaty moose is not a great look for me-unless I’m kicking butt at the gym. Smoothies are such a satisfying way to fill your tummy up sans the guilt and sneak in all the yucky health powders and stuff people like to consume. I add maca powder, chia seeds and a B12 powder to mine for an extra nutrition boost. See more about those products here.

 

My galfriend gave me this hearty white ikea planter and every summer I put it by my front door to brighten up our entrance and give you a burst of flowery scent when you come and go. This year I filled it with some sunny begonias and other bright blooms. It feels extra jolly to come home to some peppy flowers.

 

I have to admit summer is not my favorite of all the seasons. I rather enjoy the crisp chill of a brisk Autumn day but when my pink roses come into bloom I forget all about the sweltering heat and feel downright jubilant. I can be a majorly prissy girl I know, but there’s just something so gosh dang pretty about roses growing in your yard. On that note here’s one of my favorite cheesy “think positive” quotes:

Instead of complaining about the thorns on the rose bush, be grateful that the thorn bush has roses.

 

These are my sweet “Welcome to our Home” flowers in my front door basket. Yes, more pink! I loves me some pink. I can’t remember the name of these little cuties but they are small flowering buds that stay fairly compact and are super easy to maintain. I know this because I tend to inadvertently kill most plants but these guys are hanging tough (while being adorbs!)

  

I’ve also been doing something I’m very good at: evoking my inner consumer. I went on a bit of a shopping spree with my lady friend and bought some spiffy new stuff. I found this daffodil scarf for $15 at Chapters and it’s one of those fantastically gigantic ones you can do all sorts of different things with (good thing you pinned “600+ ways to tie scarves” on Pinterest last week!) The tangerine ring is from H&M and only set me back $7. I have a serious “big funky rings” addiction. The lipstick is from Sephora (a store that could empty my bank account in one visit if I’m not on high alert) in a really sweet shade of, you guessed it,  PINK. My skin is paler than a scoop of vanilla ice cream (I have a little chat about that fact here) so I can’t pull of the fun coral colors that you tanner beauties can or I’ll look like a clown. A soft pink is always my go-to color, this one is called Lovable. And lastly I picked up this adorable little book Baby Cakes from my local library for some sweet vegan treat ideas to make for weekend get togethers with my chums. It’s a pretty awesome little book, I recommend checking it out.

My other little shopping spree consisted of something a touch more extravagant. Recently my iPhone decided it was done being alive and just checked out. No good-bye letter, no forwarding address, just a cold hard black screen of hatred. I felt like I was missing a leg for the three or so days I had no phone. What did people do before cell phones? How do you leave the house without a phone? What if I was out and saw something mildly interesting or funny? How would I instantly tell everyone I know about it?!……. Anarchy!

So I walked into Best Buy all confident that I wouldn’t get swept up into any fancy sales footwork and walked out of Best Buy with Samsung’s brand new Galaxy S3, a nifty case and the extended protection plan. That sales person was smooooth! (I also found out I was his first sale, so maybe I just lack smoothness?) What I found silly was that I am so unhip and non-trendy that I had no clue this was the new “gotta have it” cell phone. I didn’t even look at the display model before I bought it; the salesmen just said this was the phone to get and I blindly agreed. What can I say? I was delirious from not being able to read tweets on-the-go. I would have bought a phone made of asbestos and the tears children if it had a data plan and a decent camera. Addictions are no joke people!

Anywho, after using my new phone in public and being constantly asked by excited strangers about it, I realized I fell head first into the latest trend. I suddenly felt like putting on my sunglasses and strutting my stuff. 

 

At any given time in my life, a portion will consist of animal loving because I am one of those psycho: “Don’t swat at the flies!” “My cats are my children!” “What’s the harm in the racoons eating the leftovers out of the trash can? It’s not like we need them!” kind of person. My Ma is currently fostering four little black kittens. This cute little man above is named Luigi and is available for adoption to a good home.

Now for cuteness x4:

A hug full of sunshine is what this is. These four little tykes are all up for grabs to a home brimming with love. (IF you can pry them from my arms!)

And speaking of tykes. This is my little guy Henri who I’m always happy to be welcomed home by. Don’t be fooled by his sophisticated stance, this guy is a handful and a half. Curiosity with total disregard for safety and/or home furnishings is the definition of Henri.

Last but not least, what would summer be without spending time with your friends? My fella and I share in quality time with our friends and our godson whenever the opportunity presents itself and can you blame us? Look at that face. Not the virile hairy one with the deep brown eyes; that’s my guy:) I’m talking about the bald little goof-troop who is pleased as punch sitting in his big buddy’s lap!

Of course not nearly as pleased as when he’s sitting in Auntie’s lap! The boy has good taste.

  

So how is you Summer coming along so far? Any exciting plans or just relaxing in the sunshine with some delicious ice tea?

   

 

  

(Photos property of Reckless Bliss with the exception of #8)

Seeing Red

We’ve been doing a million little projects around our house all at once and (much to my chagrin) none have been completely finished just yet so I figured I would give you a look at one of said projects being my front door.

When we bought our house it had a solid wood brown door with all brown trim. I wish I had taken a picture before we did anything at all to give you an idea of the unpleasantness. The first thing we did moving in was change the locks so we removed the ugly old round brass handle with the fancier bronze one you see above. The old handle matched the door knocker which I didn’t care much for either. It also had a jar-like exterior light not visible in this pic but trust me when I tell you it wasn’t pretty. Overall it just felt sort of bleak and unwelcoming. After a little handy work and some elbow grease we got it looking like this:

There’s something about a red door that’s always made me smile so I knew I would want one for my home. We debated getting a whole new door so I could switch the side of the handle but this beat up old wood door started to grow on me so we decided we would save ourselves the money and stress; it would stay and get a spiffy new paint job. We also added some hanging pots and the basket to bring in some summer cheer. The exterior light was changed out for a bronzed finish light to match the door handle and the knocker was removed. We still need to put in the peep hole on the door in place of the knocker. We also intend on painting all the brown trim black to look cohesive. I’ll post a finished “After” picture once that’s actually completed.

We painted the door in a color from Behr called Apple Polish which is supposedly the color above but I’d say it comes out a few shades lighter than this sample. This shot has a really merlot colored tone to it on my screen but it could just be my settings. We choose an exterior semi-gloss paint to give the door a sheen and make it way easier for cleaning.

 

  When we paint the trim black it will be done in Behr’s Beluga which will also be a semi-gloss to match the door.

 

I hope you like my progress so far and I can’t wait to post the completed project!

*Photo credit Reckless Bliss and Home Depot*

Blossoms On A Budget

I can be a bit of a penny pincher when it comes to “extras.”

  Because of my thriftyness there are some luxuries in life that must suffer.

  Obviously, fresh flowers fall into that category since we all know how expensive store bought bouquets are which by default, make the fake ones much more attractive.

   This gives me one more reason to be even more smitten with having a garden of my own and have fresh flowers available to me at a cost of $0.00.

  I cut these blushing beauties from my garden to pretty up my kitchen.

  Mission accomplished.

I always knew I would love having a home and a garden that was just my own; I day dreamed for hours about it and now that it’s actually here the feeling is even better than I’d imagined. Sometimes I stop myself mid-step and soak up my surrounding for just a minute before continuing on my way. So my advice for this weekend to all you lovely readers, take a moment, look around you and appreciate all the luxuries you see that you would otherwise pass by. Stop and smell the roses.

 

Happy weekend!

 

*Photo credit property of Reckless Bliss*

Summer Lovin’

Now that we’re into August and the end of summer is nearing I’m cherishing the little time left I have of the beauty this season brings. I thought I would share with you guys some of my summer lovin’s around my home.

Since this is my first summer in my first home I’ve never had a rose bush of my own before but growing up my mom grew them below my bedroom window and I would sit and stare at them for hours in awe of their silent beauty.

      Then summer came this year and these little pink buds started flourishing and flooding me with joy. I love roses and I love pink. Perfection.

   I was pleased to see all the other flowers that sprouted around my yard too. It was such a nice bonus of purchasing our home to get all these splashes of color.

     Speaking of bonuses, we also have a blueberry bush that gives us more than enough berries to feed us through summer. We all know berries cost a small fortune so it’s a lovely perk to step outside and pick some for free.

This is the neighbor’s chubby kitty who spends more time in our yard than his own but that’s ok by me because clearly he’s cute as a button.

 

           It’s tough wearing a fur coat in this heat; a fella’s got to stay hydrated.

  I’ve also been attempting to grow some of my own things like strawberries

  

and mint.

  The neighbor cat isn’t the only frequent fuzzy visitor to my yard. This mischievous little squirrel has be wreaking havoc on my bird feeder. I fill it up and put it out for the birdies then this little guy climbs up the tree and does this:

 

Cracks it open and…

 dumps the bird food all over the ground.

 

I’m guessing this is what squirrels consider hitting the jackpot. In all honesty it doesn’t really bother me that he does this because squirrels need full tummies too and the birds still swarm the seeds on the ground. My fella isn’t as understanding as I am since it appears to kill that patch of grass but I say it’s a small price to pay to watch the critters enjoy themselves.

 

What are some of your summer lovins’? Anything you find especially pleasurable during this season? Feel free to share!

 *Photos credits are property of Reckless Bliss*

The Ivy and the Willow Tree

This is my willow tree. It sits silently in the corner of our backyard swaying gently when a breeze blows and providing shade on summer days. I love my willow tree.

    When I first saw it I secretly hoped it would come to life and dole out wise advice like the willow tree in Pocahontas. It’s hard to give up on a little girl’s fantasies.

As you can see, my tree is covered in ivy. I fully admit I knew zip about plants and gardening when we made the move to our house so I thought the ivy was a nice perk to an already beautiful tree. Then my astute mother came over and set me straight on the dangers of ivy (maybe I don’t need the tree from Pocahontas after all) She brought me up to speed on the fact that ivy is actually bad and will strangle the tree and eventually kill it. Suddenly I was picturing something from a Stephen King novel; an unstoppable force of ivy that would sneak into my bedroom in the dead of night and strangle me too… My imagination takes on a life of it’s own at times.

  So I got to work pulling and yanking and jerking these ropey buggers out of the ground. After hours of sweaty upper body pain and countless bug bites I got to this point and decided to call it a day.

And what’s a girl to do with all the scary bug filled branches? Pack them into waste bags apparently. This is only five of the never ending bags being filled up around here.

  There was still a ton of vines entwined in the top of the tree but removing the bottoms rooted into the ground kills them off so the plan was to give it a week or so and come back out with a rake to get all the dead brown vines down.

  After a few days of some major heat the vines got what were coming to them. We were good to go.

BUT THEN…..

I saw this! There are a family of baby racoons living up in the tree!!!

         My first thought was, ‘Yikes! Those are vicious right?’ Looking back at this critter who had locked eyes with me and let out an angry GRRR! suddenly my mind went to a very different Disney movie moment:

Run Pumba!

*I think I just called myself a wart-hog*

 

But eventually I realized that these were little babies. Three to be exact. They were cuddled up together in a sleepy ball yawning at my interruption of their snuggle time and probably more scared of me and my incessant clicking camera than I of them.

 Then I thought about my chubby nugget of a cat and how racoons have a reputation of brawling with cats. When my cat is scared she quite often takes on the pose you see above in hopes you will just move on. I may as well bring her out to the racoons on a silver platter with these fighting skills. But alas, she is a strictly indoor kitty, that is, when she doesn’t slip past us and out the door for a few minutes of freedom before we chase her back inside.

 

So I decided they won’t be much threat and I would leave the babies alone in their willow tree home. They are too cute to serve an eviction notice to in the form of a rake. Hopefully they just move on to a new home and our battle with the ivy will continue onto it’s next saga.

 

Stay tuned…

 

*Photo credit Disney and Reckless Bliss*