Flower Power

Stephen and I took advantage of Memorial Day weekend and decided to get started on the huge project that is our landscaping. We tore out all of the bushes that were in the front beds which included two large holly bushes that had become the home of a swarm of bees that we had to evict first. The bushes were so big that we decided the fastest way to get rid of them was to tie a chain around them and haul them out with the truck. That move probably saved us an entire day of trying to dig those babies out. We planted a few hostas and some other smaller plants that have yet to fill out. Here is the before meets after.

 

 

 

It's still obviously a work in progress. We plan to dig out other bed to the right and plant a small tree and some more pretty plants there. If you look closely enough you might also be able to tell that we painted our shutters. They were a faded blue and now that are a crisp black. Looking better all the time!

Hair update

So it's been a couple weeks since I have been using baking soda and apple cider vinegar as my shampoo and conditioner and so far I see no reason to ever switch back to the traditional store-bought items. I have had good hair days and bad hair days like I normally do, but I believe that I am still in the transition period. I feel like my hair is just as clean, if not cleaner, than when it was washed traditionally. I also feel like I don't have as much hair falling out as I usually do. Losing hair was never a problem for me since I always have so much of it, but it does get annoying when it gets everywhere. I also feel like some of my baby hairs are getting longer, which would definitely be a plus because that is where most of my frizz seems to come from. My hair also seems a little curlier as well. Whether or not that is going to be a good thing, I haven't decided yet.

Cheap Art

There are a few things that I am lacking in the supplies/decorating area. Those things are picture frames, flower pots, and candles. I already have a plan to help solve my dilemma and that involves a birthday trip to Ikea. Yes, I actually want to get up in the morning and drive two hours to Northern Virginia on my birthday so that I can go to Ikea. I also plan to start the day at the Smithsonian and then go to Ikea on our way back. I know that I will be able to score some pretty white flower pots and picture frames at Ikea without breaking the bank. I'm sure I will get a few candles as well while we are there with some other goodies that I know we will be bringing home even if I don't know what it is yet. Anyways, the reason for this post was to show you the cute, but extremely cheap (as in zero dollars) art that I made in all of about three minutes. I found an old picture frame (which is the reason for my above tangent) that needed a little something special in it. I decided that I wanted something besides a picture of myself and Stephen in this particular frame and as I was brainstorming I came across an old Anthropologie catalog and found a cute picture of an owl. I cute it out and popped it in the frame, and I love it! Maybe I will put it in the laundry room so it can be friends with my owl hook.

Let me know what you think....

Another cheap plant score

So I went to Lowes the other day to get the hooks for the bathroom and I couldn't stop myself from checking out their clearance plant section. I knew I had a few empty flower pots at home so I figured that I might be able to score a cute little plant for one of them....and it just so happens that I did! The fact that we have had some unusually warm days here in RVA (which I have been loving) makes me want to bring more of the outdoors in. I even had the windows open for awhile and it was AWESOME! I can't wait for spring and I hope that this spring brings a nice change to my life.

Anyways, back to the plant. I found a nice leafy plant that had a few brown leaves for get this, only $1.50! Score! I brought that little guy home and gave him a spot on the dresser in our bedroom. Hurray for cleaner air and something pretty to look at. Mia has already attacked him but he stood his ground and will live to see another day, and I am keeping a closer eye on that little monster. Here he is in all his glory! It may sound strange, but it makes me happy to think that I gave this little guy a home when most people wouldn't want him. What can I say, I'm a sucker for adopting cute creatures.

Octopuses in the bathroom!?

Okay, so they obviously aren't real octopuses, they aren't even supposed to resemble octopuses, but that is what I think of when I look at the new hooks that I put up in the hall bathroom. They are the same type of hooks that I put in the master bath and since they only cost $3.28 buckaroos for two and they work great in our bathroom, I decided to go ahead a purchase two more for the hall bathroom. The hall bathroom already has a towel bar along the wall but I figured that when we do have the occasional guest it will be nicer for them to be able to grab the pretty clean, folded towel from the towel rack and then hang the used towel on the hook. They are easy to put up and hold towels quite well so I think that my little project was a success. Here are the pics....

Before

 

After

Does anyone else think of an octopus when they see these types of hooks?

Hang it Up!

 So I have had a few pictures that I have wanted to put in frames and hang up just lying around the house for months now. Last night I decided that it was time to spend literally 3 minutes and hang up two pictures that I took awhile ago. I decided that the hall bath was going to be the home of these two lucky photographs because the hall bath was in need of some attention since it really hasn't gotten any since I hung the shower curtain when we moved in. Here are my two pictures. I took the one on the left when I was volunteering at an archaeology dig a few summers ago and the picture of the bird on the right was when Stephen and I went to Gator Land in Orlando, FL for our honeymoon.

Globe Trotters (More like State Trotter for Me)

So Stephen has been working on a little surprise for me the past couple of days and he got the final piece of the puzzle in the mail yesterday and was able to put it all together for me last night. A few weeks ago I showed him something similar and told him that I wanted to make one for ourselves so he decided to go ahead and make it without telling me. The best part is that we can keep on adding to it for the rest of our lives. And here is the final product and all his work. I am very excited to hang it in the office.

It's a map! But not just any ole' map. This map has pins in all the places that we have been, together and separately. The blue pins are where Stephen has lived or traveled, the purple pins are for me, and the green are for places we have been or lived together. We plan to get more maps as we eventually want to travel all over the world together, which will hopefully happen one day. Yay for such a wonderful gift from the hubster!