Xmas 2013

 Merry Christmas

Nautical Dinner Party

It's the last week of school for my kids and it's starting to feel like summer is right around the corner.

I guess I'm on the post every three month schedule?

Last weekend we had a dinner party for some dear friends we rarely get to see anymore.

I wanted to make the evening feel special, so I pulled out my nautical/beach inspired decor to set the table.

I made Seared Sea Scallops in Saffron Cream Sauce for the appetizer and they were delicious.  

Just click on the link for the recipe.

Thank you Paula from Bell'alimento 

I recently started working at Anthropology and I scored the coral table cloth the first week 

I started my new job.

I had coveted it for a long time before I started working there and it just happened to go on sale the week I started.  

It was meant to mine.

  

I picked up the placemats at Homegoods last year.

I found the square dinner plates at Target years ago.

The glass floats are from Marshalls.

The octopus tray in the background is from Homegoods.

It was a great evening with friends, yummy food, and good wine.

Hope your summer is off to a fun start.

Thanks for checking it out.

You might also enjoy other beach inspired projects;

Look What I Dragged Home

Goodbye Deer Booty, Hello Sea Monster

The CSI Project

Vertical Pallet Garden Update

Well hello my long lost blogging buddies! 

 I've been on a long hiatus from blogging and I don't have any earth shattering reason why?  

I hope you have been enjoying 2013 and that Spring is just around the corner for my friends living in cold climates.  

We are enjoying beautiful, mild Spring Break temperatures here in San Diego.

I thought I'd give you a little update of my vertical pallet garden.

It's filled in nicely since I last blogged about it.

I originally posted back in November 2011 about how to construct a vertical pallet garden.  

It was an experiment that went horribly wrong and you can read all about it in this post, Plan B.

This is the original from 2011

Here is my back up Plan B

faux succulents.

                               The live succulent vertical garden turned into one big gnat farm in my house.  

Totally gross! 

                       

  I went with a faux succulents for the indoors and remade my original one to hang outside.

Here is the Plan B option for indoors.

Here is the outside pallet redone after getting rid of all the old plantings and gnat farm.

I started with small cuttings and laid the pallet flat for two weeks.

After two weeks I hung it up.  

Bad idea, to soon!

2 weeks laying horizontal wasn't enough time for the cuttings to root.  

Better to wait more like a month.
Some of the little cuttings fell out to their death before they could take root.
I'm so impatient sometimes.

I screwed large hooks into my eaves to hang the pallet.

Don't hang something this heavy from your eaves unless you know they can support the weight.  

This thing is incredible heavy when it's wet.

Mine has been hanging for about eight months and it's doing fine.

This is a north east facing wall that gets great morning sun.

Before

After

Here's how it looks today.

I have since removed the candle sconce.  It was getting to rusty outside.    

The cuttings are filling in nicely and ready for me to trim off some of the babies to grow more succulents.

I'm off to weed my vegetable beds and get them ready to plant.  

More work to be done.  

Hope your spring garden is bringing you happiness.

To see more detailed instruction on how to construct your own vertical pallet garden click here.

Thanks for checking it out.

I'm Bringing In Green For The New Year

Happy 2013 everyone.

We've been busy skiing in Mammoth and getting back into the school groove.

I took this picture with my iPhone through the car window on the way home.

Here's my family at the top of the mountain.

While I don't mind cold and stark when I ski, my house seemed empty after I put away Christmas.

It needed living things to bring life back into it.

I shopped the house and the garden and added terrariums to my industrial shelves.

                                                                  

 I hung two sconces I've had for years on either side of the gold mirror for some symmetry.

  

Green re-energizes me.

 Free make overs are perfect for my January budget.

I hope the the first month of January has been fantastic for you! 

Thanks for checking it out.