I Suck...

...at gardening.

I really suck at gardening.

Well, I shouldn't say gardening, that's not broad enough.

What I actually suck at is anything plant-related.

I am a killer of plants.

Send me your beta fish, your dachshund, your four-year-old daughter.  No problem.  I can totally take care of those guys.  Ask me to watch your philodendron?  Yeah, you're going to regret that.

Except there seems to be one type of plant that is immune to my plant-killing super-powers: 

The mighty succulent.

I discovered this quite by accident.  You see, whenever my in-laws come to visit, we play this little game:  They buy pretty plants to put in the planter by my front door.  They take care of the plants during their stay.  They leave.  The plants die from my gross neglect.  They quietly replace them during their next visit.  

But on their last visit?  Well, something miraculous happened.  

They bought a succulent.  

And it lived.  

This was a revelation.  Positively inspiring.  So much so that when I recently saw this footed bowl in the Wisteria Catalog, I immediately envisioned it filled with succulents.  (Hmm...  now that I've pulled the link, I see that they have it pictured with succulents inside.  So much for "my" vision...)

Anyway, the bowl arrived last week and I was able to get to the garden store yesterday.  

First I picked out these: 

At the recommendation of the saleswoman I also picked up a bag of this:

Then I took my bowl (isn't she pretty?)...

...poured in a little soil...

...and started arranging the plants.

(Beyonce watched with interest through the pool fence.)

And here's the end result.  

(Much like my first daughter, my first plant is overly-photographed.  Plant #2 can attend therapy with daughter #2 after they look through the family photo albums in twenty years.) 

So, there you have it.  I'm hoping this will be my first successful attempt at plant ownership.

Second if you count my in-law's purchase.  

Well, third if you count this guy...

That's right.  While everyone else on earth has gotten rid of their Poinsettias (this being April and all), I can't seem to kill this one for the life of me.

Go figure.

(3/20/13 Update:  Come see my most recent succulent creation here.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you interested in seeing new projects as I post them?  

Simply enter your email address in the space below and then click "submit".  

Thanks!

FOLLOW BY EMAIL:

The 2012 Ultimate Blog Party

Hello!  If you're linking up from the 2012 Ultimate Blog Party I'd like to welcome you to `A Casarella.

I'm kind of new here in the blogosphere, in fact I've been blogging for exactly three months today.

I call myself a mommy-blogger (because, well, I'm a mom who blogs) but ironically I don't write much about my kids.  If you'd like to learn what I do blog about allow me to direct you over here, the post in which I tell you how it all began (ninety looong days ago ;).  Or I perhaps you might stop over here, where you can learn more about my blog goals.

If you want to know more about me as a person, why not pop over here or here for a little history lesson. 

(And if you're still with me after that?  Well then I consider you a lifer ;)

Before I sign off to look through everyone else's blogs I thought you might be interested in reading some of my more popular posts, like this one.

That little project went viral on Pinterest.  And that made me a little big for my britches.  (For about two days.  I'm recovered now.)

This one was also popular.  And it's easy.  People seem to like easy.

Oh, and this one is tasty.  People also seem to like tasty.

And finally, this just happened today.  I'm still kind of giddy about it so I just had to share!

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to getting to know a whole bunch of new (to me) bloggers!

  

Validation!

This makes all of those hours spent on Pinterest seem somehow worthwhile ;)

Stylelist Home's Hot on Pinterest: 5 Pinners to Follow Now

(Probably makes sense to link to my boards.  You can find them here.)

Laundry Room Art

As some of you may remember, my recent trip to the thrift store was full of fabulous and interesting finds.  You might also remember that I brought very few of them home.  In fact, the only item that did come home was neither fabulous nor interesting: a bag of vintage wooden pants hangers.  

As promised, I will now show you what I did with them. 

But before I do that, I need to show you my laundry room:

Well one side of my laundry room.  (The machines are on the opposite wall.)  As you can see, it's not terribly exciting.  In fact, some might even call it a little bit depressing.  (For starters, I have to do the laundry in there...)  And while a major laundry room overhaul is definitely on my list of things to do, I won't be getting to it anytime soon.  

But that doesn't mean I can't pretty it up a little in the interim, right?

Here's how I used the thrift store hangers to do just that.  

First I gathered my materials, starting with the hangers:

And some cardstock:

(I chose a package of assorted cardstock in neutral colors.  I'm sure I'll be able to use the rest of it for other projects.)

And some Command Hooks:

(You can read more about my love of Command products here.) 

Once I had those, I spent a little time trolling the internet looking for cute laundry room art to print out on my card stock.  I happened across this site which had two printables that I loved.  I really wanted a third piece but couldn't find one that I liked.  Then I had an idea: I did a search on "clothespins" and clicked on images.  That brought me to this site.

Once I had selected my images, I printed them out on the card stock and inserted them in the hangers:

I hung them here, using the Command Hooks:



As you can see, the new pictures inspired me to gussy things up a teensy bit.

And for those of you keen-eyed readers who want to know more about these...

...I am going to direct you here or here or here.  Because, frankly, while mine are fine for holding bits and pieces in the laundry room, they didn't actually turn out that great.

But the pictures did :)

(Dontcha think?)

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Oh the lure of the thrift shops...

Last week I happened to be in the vicinity of one of my favorite thrifts.  Though I didn't have much time I just had to stop in for a look around.  Despite my rush I decided to take pictures of the items that caught my eye.  Here they are, from the ridiculous to the sublime:  

Falling squarely in the ridiculous camp was this dachshund dressed as Elvis. You know what's even more ridiculous?  The fact that I regret not buying him for $3.00.  As a "dachshund aunt" and former dachshund owner myself I should have just ponied up the three bucks.  Oh well...     

Also ridiculous?  This life-sized model of a human skull.  Okay, I'll admit, it was actually kind of cool and a cursory look around ebay seemed to indicate that I could sell it for a profit, but do I really want to be a skull peddler?  (Notice that I'm not actually answering that question...)

Probably the most ridiculous thing I saw?  Yeah.  Silly, silly.  

Now moving on to the sublime (otherwise known as things I considered buying):

As I mentioned back in this post, I began my thrifting "career" looking for little girls' clothing.  One of my favorite brands to find was Lilly Pulitzer.  Her shift dresses are adorable and always sold well for me on ebay.  Since I'm not selling much on ebay anymore, I left her there (sniff).  That took a lot of willpower.   

 

This was also hard to leave behind: four canvas panels which, when put together, made up a map of the United States.  Originally sold by Pottery Barn, they were in excellent condition.  They didn't fit with the decor in either of my daughters' rooms, though.  If they had I probably would have picked them up.  

I know I've discussed my love of Pyrex in previous posts.  This Snowflake Blue Casserole was beautiful, but a little pricier than I might have liked, so I left her behind.

Also left behind?  This bad boy.  And if you hear a faint thumping noise it's the sound of me kicking myself for not buying it.  The truth is that I need to be careful when thrifting.  Once upon a time I thrifted with reckless abandon.  The result was bins full of things that seemed like a great idea while I was shopping, but turned out not to be.  That has made me extra cautious while thrifting, especially when the item in question is expensive or unfamiliar to me.  I tried using my ebay app. to research these while I was in the store.  They seem to sell well but I didn't know enough about this particular model to risk spending $24 so I ultimately left it (and its case) behind.  It sure was cool, though.

At this point you might be asking yourself, "What did she buy??"

And here is your answer:

For three dollars I bought ten vintage wooden pants hangers. 

I've seen many great Pinterest projects that use these and I plan to do one of my own soon.  

Stay tuned for that in a future post.    

UPDATE: Click here for my hanger project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linking here:

http://herlibraryadventures.blogspot.com/

http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2012/04/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no108.html

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://stylishonceagain.blogspot.com/
http://www.blueeyedowlboutique.blogspot.com/2012/04/thrift-score-thursday-45.html
http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.ca/
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/thrifty-treasures-begins-for-2012/

Be our guest! Be our guest!

...Put our service to the test

Tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie

And we'll provide the rest...

Did you read that in your best Disney voice?

Good.  

Because this week's been all about the hospitality.

And Disney.  

(As in Disneyland.)

You see, this week is spring break for my kiddos.  

And while one kiddo is off on an adventure with her aunt, the other one needed a little somethin' to keep her occupied.

And that's where living in Southern California comes in handy.  Hop in the old minivan and you can be at Disney in under two hours.  Seriously.  Handy.  

And though we're back at home now, today I'll be accepting a little more hospitality.  

This time it will be from The Frugal Girls where I'm doing a guest post.  It's my first time guest posting and I'm really excited to be sharing a recipe that I love:  

Mediterranean Chicken. 

    

So, not to be inhospitable or anything...

But, why are you still here?!  

Go check it out!   

Getting My Kumbaya on

Okay, so here's the deal: this is going to be kind of a sappy post.  All kinds of sentimental.  If that isn't your thing you might want to stop reading now.  (Don't say you weren't warned.)

So I've talked a number of times about blogging, both why I started and what I'd like to get out of it.  As it turns out, my favorite thing about blogging is something that wasn't even on my radar until I'd been doing it for a few weeks: the friendships and connections that keep springing up as a result.  


Not that I didn't want connections, I simply wasn't looking to make them via the blog.  (In my mind that was what Facebook was for ;)  I'm not sure why, I just hadn't envisioned blogging as such a give and take type of thing.  But of course, this is the internet and nothing is done in isolation.  Nope, if I write something in the morning I'm often getting feedback before lunch.

And so far, the feedback has been so... nice.  No, not just nice.  Nice doesn't cover it.  It's also been interesting and... somehow fulfilling.  I've gotten feedback from people all over the world.  Like New Zealand (I'm looking at you Simoney).  Or Italy (okay, I suspect this woman stopped by because my blog has an Italian title, but she stayed long enough to leave a comment: "Sono fantastiche. Bravissima. Ciao," and I now follow her blog which I faithfully translate from Italian to English).


And of course there are all the friends that I've made here in the US.  One in particular, Linda from It All Started With Paint, stopped my my blog in its infancy (which admittedly was only a few weeks ago ;).  Her encouragement really inspired me to take things up a notch and I am oh so grateful.  She also sent some really nice blog-friends my way (seriously, she told a bunch of people to come read my blog--and they did!) and now some of them are also dear blog friends (ahem, cough, Karianne). 


Believe it or not, I'm going somewhere with this.  


You see, yesterday I was awarded The Liebster Award.  


Twice.  


In one day.  




For those of you who aren't familiar, Liebster is a German word which means "dearest" or "beloved". It can also mean "favorite". The idea behind the Liebster Award is that it's given to up-and-coming bloggers (with fewer than 200 followers) in order to create new connections and bring attention to some wonderful, growing blogs.


And now I get to pass the Liebster Award along to someone else!  Here are the rules:  



1. Link back to the person or people who bestowed the honor on you.
2. Pick 5* blogs with less than 200 followers to pass the award forward.
3. Leave the awardees a comment informing them about their designation.
4. Post the award on your blog!


The two bloggers who bestowed the award on me were Lisa from Budget Design Girl and Emily from Sweet Bliss Bakery.  

Lisa is clearly a kindred spirit.  We're both Midwestern transplants (living in Southern California) who are doing our best to feather our nests without breaking the bank.  Her home tour is beautiful and she's done some amazing projects (like this vintage desk redo).  

And Emily, well, just go to her blog and click on the cupcakes tab.  Trust me, you won't regret it!

Thanks ladies!!

Now accepting an award is easy but the bestowing part is always a challenge for me.  The last time someone gave me one I was so paralyzed by indecision that I simply never followed through.   (I still feel ashamed about this.)  Truth be told, at that early stage in my blog, I just didn't feel qualified to give anyone an award.  (I kind of envisioned the recipients going, "Who are you to be giving me an award?" which is silly when you consider all the nice things I've just said about the blogging community.)  

Now that I've been at it a bit longer I feel a slightly more qualified to give out the Liebster (*though I've only picked three recipients as opposed to the usual five).  

Here they are:

• Sara from Everyday Sadie.  Sara is funny and I love funny.  (Here is an excerpt from her "About Me":  I'm a coffee-connoisseur (read: addict)... and I've been married so long I'm practically a sitcom.  See?  Funny.  (Plus this recipe looks awesome!)  So please, go and check her out.  (Tell her I sent you ;)
• Next up is Courtney from Thoughts From the Birdhouse.  At some point Courtney quietly came by my blog and became a follower.  When I stopped by to return the favor I was delighted.  Courtney is smart and articulate and I love her blog.  In short, I totally want to be Courtney when I grow up.  The problem with that?  I'm also totally old enough to be her mother.   Yup, Courtney is in high school.  (And I am sooo glad that she'll be running the country when I'm old and in need of care.)
• My final pick is a person I know in real life.  Her name is Sabine and our daughters do children's theater together.  Sabine is a true Renaissance woman.  Her "real life" job is something technical (that I don't understand).  At home she's a mom to three beautiful (tri-lingual) children.  She's also an amazing cook (did I mention she's French?) and an avid crafter.  In her copious amounts of free time ;) she started The Tech Foodie a blog that chronicles all of this.  The blog is new, but she's already posted some amazing recipes and I'm sure there's lots of great stuff to come!  Please be sure to check her out!

So that's it!  The Liebster award is just the latest warm and fuzzy thing that's happened to me since I've begun blogging.  Can't wait to see what's next ;)