Gardening 101 (Basil is up!)

Look ... baby basil in my basement! I also have one little container of heirloom tomatoes poking their little heads up, too.

YIPPIE!!!!!!!

I figured I'd use this as a springboard to talk about gardening. A friend of mine asked for some advice about gardening. I know some of our regular blog readers are gardeners (holla to Jackie and Michelle!), but others might need a little inspiration to start. So here we go. I'm going to work in tiers, from the easiest to the more advanced. Just START WHERE YOU'RE AT!!!! Gardening is all about baby steps. And long-term investment.

1. Container gardening

Let me first say that Erik excels at this type of gardening. And my mom is getting pretty good at it, too.

It's pretty simple, actually! To get started, you'll need some pots. The bigger, the better! If they're a foot or less deep, just fill 'em with soil (side note, my farmer friends tell me dirt is the stuff that is stuck under your fingernails, and soil is what the ground is made of). SO get soil (not dirt). It could be potting soil or stuff from your own yard. Whatever.

If your pots are larger, you might want to start off with a layer of rocks at the bottom. A few inches deep. Then fill the rest with soil. Rocks help to let water drain. If you want to sprinkle some in the less deep pots, you can, but be sure there is plenty of soil in there.

Ok, now that your pot is filled, put a few plants in it! It's THAT simple!

Container gardens work well if you are living in an apartment and have a small patio or deck, but no yard. Or if you want to ease into gardening slowly. :)

Some suggestions for container gardening:

• TOMATOES! You WILL want to get a little cage for them so they'll grow up the funnel and have some support, though.

• Also, I think peppers would work well.

• I grow a plethora of herbs in mid-sized pots on the front porch. Oregano, chives, mint. Some herbs (like mint) will go crazy and start to take over your yard, so it's good to contain them in a pot.

• This year, I'm going to try growing decorative gourds in a large pot. Well, more about that when I actually do it. But I think these would work well in a BIG container because they simply spread out and overtook the garden last summer. This should help me keep them at bay. And a special note, the decorative gourds come in a seed packet. But they're EASY to grow. Especially if you have kids, they're awesome! The leaves are really big and the gourds come in all shapes and sizes ... totally fun for kids!

• If anyone else has a good suggestion about what to put in a container garden, leave a comment!

Oh, and HERE is a post about Erik's foray into container gardening.

Also, HERE is another great idea and a space saver! :)


2. Just sick 'em in the ground.

Up until last summer, this is what my mom did. She'd get tomato plants near the end of the season and plant them right next to the air conditioner. Why, you ask? So the AC drain hose would water them. :)

There was really no ground prep or weeding or any concern of that sort. VERY low key.

If you're not anal retentive like I am, and don't mind gobs of weeds or other grass in with your plants, this is a good way to go.

Tomatoes are pretty hardy and survive this well. I would NOT recommend it for smaller plants, like Basil or herbs. Especially NOT mint. This is an open invite for mint to take over your yard.

3. A "traditional" garden.

This is what most people probably think of when they think "garden." There is a separate part of the yard that you designate as your "garden." If you have an area that you think has already been a garden, it might be easier. But let's just pretend you don't have a garden and want to start one.

• First, you'll want to consider how much light the parts of your yard get. Some plants do well in the shade, but many (tomatoes!) need sunlight to do their thing. So you want to select an area of the yard that gets ample sunlight. Now, you don't have to sit in a lawn chair and watch your backyard all day, just stick your nose out in the morning, at noon, and afternoon to see what is in sun and what is in shade. I'd suggest selecting a sunny spot!

• Next, you'll need to prepare the ground. Decide how large you want your garden to be. If you are not sure, I suggest starting small. Erik and I started small the first year. Roughly 7 feet by 7 feet. It was enough for tomatoes, basil and to start our strawberry patch. I selected an area that was small at first, but had the potential to expand if/when I was ready.

• Now, you don't HAVE to do this next step, but it would be a good suggestion to consider. I would recommend finding out if you have a K-State Research & Extension office in your area. The Extension office does SOIL SAMPLE TESTING! (Mike, I KNOW you're totally rolling your eyes right now). I actually had this done at the end of the 2009 growing season, and it was pretty valuable. I know I have good organic compound (3.1%, the goal is 5%), but do NOT need to add any more manure to the garden. Good to know! I'd search the phone book for "county extension" and then give them a call and ask if they do soil sample testing. I think mine ran in the $7 to $12 range. I had to dig down 6 inches in about 6-8 different areas of the garden and take the soil, then mix it all together.

Having a soil test done will tell you right from the start what you're dealing with. If you should add more organic matter, or if you are lacking in any nutrients.

Ok, so you don't HAVE to have a soil sample, it's just a suggestion.

• So, you have the area you want to make into a garden. I would next mark it off. You can do this with stakes and string, or just get out some spray paint. :)

• You'll next want to prepare the ground. I borrowed a tiller from a friend. Then a few weeks later I totally got a steal on our VERY OWN garden tiller. But YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PURCHASE ONE!!!!! If your garden is pretty small, you can just dig it up. If it's larger, say 4x4 or bigger, I'd suggest a tiller. Maybe talk with the neighbors. Does anyone have one you could borrow? Or, many hardware stores have equipment for rent. From 1 to 3 hours. And the rates are pretty darn reasonable.

When preparing the ground, you'll want to get the soil broken up and get rid of the grass (if there is any present). When I first broke ground on our garden, we (ok, Coop did all of the hard work) ran the tiller over it several times, then picked out the big clumps of grass, then raked out the smaller sections. Then Coop tilled again.

I think I also put some peat into the garden when we broke ground. Just to get some more organic-ish stuff going on in there. We tilled that in.

• Next, you'll need to figure out what you want to plant. And if you have the SPACE to plant it. For example, in our first 7x7 garden, there really wasn't a lot of room for cucumbers or zucchini to grow around the ground. And the squash plants were HUGE! They were monster space eaters! (OR you might first think about what you want to plant, then make a space big enough for it!).

• If you're just starting out, I'd suggest going to a nursery and getting baby plants from there. Tomato, cucumber, pepper, basil are all good starters. But beware of cucumbers, they can be space eaters! I'd get plants that have been started already, because they have a good head start. If you're awesome and want to start a few things from seed, corn and squash and zucchini all grow well from seed. But if you grow corn/sweet corn, you might have to contend with coons, which is why I've never planted it.

I honestly think the key to planting a garden is to look at what you eat — or like to eat, then consider planting those sorts of things. For example, the last 2 years, I've planted beans. Honestly, we just don't eat them. And there were never enough ripe beans at one time TO eat. So I'm not putting them in this year.

• Plant it, water regularly (or for the KC people, they get ample rain, and their tomatoes grow more quickly than mine, ahem, Vern), and enjoy!

• Ongoing care: with this option, you might want to weed the garden occasionally. The first two years, I had stones surrounding the garden:


(tomatoes in the front, the big leafy thing is zucchini, peppers and beans in the back, along with some basil in there somewhere ... and strawberries crawling on the ground).

My struggle was that weeds would creep in through the cracks in the stones. I'll post more about this year's possible solution to it. I'm just sayin' if your garden is "in" the yard, you might want to think about a barrier of some sort.

• Lastly, I'm going to talk about ground covering. Once your plants get rockin' I'd suggest mulch of some sort. But DO NOT run to the store and get mulch. Just use grass clippings to cover the ground. It does several things. 1) helps prevent weeds from poking through. 2) helps to retain water if/when it rains, or when you water.

• Oh, one last-last tip. This is more of a pet peeve from when I lived in Hays. People, PLEASE water your gardens in the MORNING. DO NOT water in the afternoon. The water will just evaporate more quickly and be less effective. On watering, you don't have to water every day. Every couple of days (3 times a week-ish) should do fine.

4. Plants from seed. (This is for crazy people like me.)

Our garden started to get large, and filling it with plants from the nursery became expensive. So I have started to purchase seed packs, and in mid-to-late-January, start them in my former aquarium. This is NOT for everyone, and takes more TLC on these little guys than most people are willing to give. I'm just saying this IS an option for gardening. But it's a bit more advanced. If after a few years, you have a great grasp on gardening, give this a try!

ALRIGHTLY.

That's a TON of info ... I hope it's been a tiny bit helpful. I also want to talk about composting, but will do so in another post. And also RAIN BARRELS. But again, will do that in a different post. Both of these things are sort of supplemental to gardening. Composting is SO easy, and there are some REAL benefits to doing it! And it involves little to NO skill. :) Rain barrels, however, involve more skill and time.

Oh, I'm growing baby tomatoes, eggplant, basil and such. I always plant more than I need, in case not everything grows, but there is a GOOD chance I'll have some extra heirloom tomato plants. So if you're in the Salina or Wichita area and want some of my extra plants, DO be sure to let me know, and when spring is here, I'll be happy to share my extras. :)

I am my own worst client ...

I don't know if any other photographers feel this way ... but sometimes I think to myself "I'm my own worst client."

What do I mean by that?

Well, let's see. erik and I have been married for 16 months, and I only have three ... THREE ... photos from our wedding up. The first one took me a whopping 11 months to get up. And it was a measley 5x7. (I'm SO embarrassed to admit that). And just this last month, I added another TWO photos. Yeah, and they're dinky-small 4x6s. (My head is in my hands right now).


This photo is one of the 4x6 photos I've added to our bedside tables.

And here's the kicker ... I have BEAUTIFUL 20x30 inch framed wall portraits on my wall of other clients and/or fashion sessions.

I suppose I tell myself it's totally vein to have big photos of me up ... and have such beautiful work of our clients, I want to display THAT big. But I DO have plans for some big photos of us ... I know where I want to put them, too ... it's just that I haven't gotten around to it.

So, I guess I can understand my brides taking their sweet time. But I don't like it because I want them to hurry up and decide already. ;)

Maybe this should be a goal of mine for 2010: to get a few big framed wedding photos up. Ok, I can do that!

Brand spankin' new Web site! :)

Ahhh...in case you are living under a rock and MISSED iT, I released a new Heartland site last week. :)

This thing has been more than a YEAR in the making, and I'm thrilled it's finally live. It went through several incarnations, and all of the strong feedback from Mike has certainly made it better. Granted, I didn't always like hearing what Mike had to say, but the site is TOTALLY better for it.

The biggest thing is there are separate "sites" for families, seniors and weddings. It makes it easier to find information related to YOUR specific area, or at least, that's the idea. :)

Anyway, you can get to the new site by CLICKING HERE. Watch the individual photos change in the background. :) I dig that. :)


Also, the backgrounds of the main areas (family, senior, wedding) also change, which I like. We couldn't do that on the old site. :)

Aaaand, for those of you who like some of the random artsy stuff I post, you'll notice there is a "fine art" section. I'm still working on it, but you an have my very own fine art on the walls of your own home. :)


This was the site from whence we came. It was pretty good, but we just had too much info and couldn't organize it as well as I wanted to.


And this was the very first "full" site we had .... it's certainly eye opening to go back and look at these. Each site had its strengths, but we've certainly improved each time around. :)

Cooking isn't for the faint of heart

Yesterday, I was picking up tickets (going to see Second City tonight with my friend, Juno!). And the lady selling me the tickets made a comment, asking if I'd just come from a restaurant. Nope, from my house, I said. Evidently the cumin in my white chili lingered on my jacket. :)

She commented that she wished she could cook. She just "doesn't know how or have the time." I assured her I threw everything into the slow cooker and let it do all of the heavy lifting. But she seemed unconvinced.

It really makes me sad how many people float through life saying "I can't cook." Frankly, I think it sucks to be them. And I think they're wrong. Really, if you can read and follow directions, you CAN cook. Or at least in my opinion.

No, what I think it is is that people aren't BRAVE enough to cook.

Sounds silly, doesn't it? But hear me out.

I think people are afraid of trying something new, and failing. Then being hungry on top of that. ;) The other struggle is if you live alone ... and don't like what you've cooked. Then you're stuck with it (I just hate throwing things out!).

But seriously .... following directions is NOT all that difficult.

But being brave ... well that's another story entirely.

Here's a great example. I purchased some ginger on sale. I don't know what to DO with ginger. Instead of being a good girl and looking it up, I just sort of made it up. I mixed it with Tarragon and olive oil and rubbed it on pork chops. We'll see if it works! But I will say it certainly SMELLS good as it cooks just 3 feet away from me. :)

I'm SURE there are some of you out there who know what I'm talking about!

And now I'll confess there are certain things *I* have not been brave enough to try.

1. Couscous. I ate it at my friend, Erin's house, and LOVED it, but have I made it at home? NO. I need to work on that.

2. Lentils. Yeah, cheap protein, so why not? But I just haven't.

There are some things i was scared to try, such as dried beans and dried chickpeas, but now just LOVE using them in and around the kitchen ... so be brave, friends! Because cooking does NOT take talent, it just takes bravery.

Cooking adventures!

So, yesterday I tackled a recipe involving a whole chicken. Yup. I've never seen it done. Mom cooked turkey, but never chicken. And never in a slow cooker. So it was quite an adventure!

I thawed the bird overnight, but wasn't sure it was 100% defrosted. This will become important later.

I had to de-skin the bird, which was an interesting experience. I'd never seen anything like this done, so I just faked it. Me and my BIG kitchen knife. :) Next, I wrestled the foul into the slow cooker ... and started adding the veggies and whatnot. But after the bulk of the veggies were added, I realized I was supposed to cut the chicken apart first. Oops. I tried to do it from inside the slow cooker, but now luck. Oh well.

So, then I started it on low. The recipe said low for 6-8 hours or something like that.

But remember: the bird wasn't totally defrosted? And it was all together, not in parts. So, for the last few hours, I kicked it onto high and we let it simmer. There were TONS of juicy juices and it just looked and smelled WONDERFUL!!!

When it was time to eat, I just looked at it. And then at Erik. I wasn't sure what to DO with it. Do I carve it? Let us pull the meet off with our teeth? Hmm...

I pulled the bird and put it on a tray ... and Erik grabbed a leg to add to his plate ... and ALL of the meat fell OFF the bone and back onto the serving plate. :) I was concerned about undercooking the bird, but I guess I over-did it a big. ;)

In the end, it wasn't the most aestetically pleasing chicken, but the meat was supple and juicy. PLUS I'm going to use the extra for Rosemary-Rice-Chicken soup on Thursday. :)

My life sans sugar

Some of you have heard me whining. Lately, it's been A LOT.

A few weeks ago, I had some testing done and my body is hyper-sensitive to added sugars and yeast. As a result, I'm trying to cut out added sugar in my eating routines.

Growing up with 3 diabetics in the house, I thought this would be a piece of cake. It turns out I was pretty much dead wrong. When a diabetic eats some extra sugar, they just take insulin to counter-act it. Me? I'm supposed to have a zero-tolerance approach. So it doesn't work quite the same way.

Everything (and I DO mean EVERYTHING) from cream of mushroom soup to crackers to chicken broth to chicken nuggets has sugar in it. *roll eyes*

It's fortunate that I like to cook and have a knack for throwing things into a pot that go well together, or I'd seriously starve!

It's also fortunate that I've started making my own hummus, because I can eat that, and it's a great source of protein! :) And as luck would have it, the ONLY cracker I found that does NOT have sugar is Triscuits.


Triscuits are one of my best friends, but I love them all the more now. And, since I've had to kiss bread goodbye for the time being, they serve as a platform from which I can eat tuna + cheese, as well as other tasty meat tidbits. And they have a great crunch.

SO, you ask what it is that I AM eating? Lots of veggies, meats, rice cakes, NATURAL peanut butter ...


This is a great tangent story. Late last week, Erik was munching a PBJ next to me. And I could just SMELL the sugar in the Peter Pan goodness ... I almost ripped it out of his hands, ran to another room and locked myself in it to shove it in my face ... but I did not. But you can bet that Erik got LOTS of kisses after he finished devouring that sandwich. :)

The first week off of sugar was absolutely AWFUL. I had several meltdowns. I nearly had one in the middle of the grocery store when I realized all ham and bacon is cured with sugar. That means no ham and bean soup. :(

And did I mention that my body was revolting, I constantly craved sugar and I was in extreme physical pain? Like worse than normal. And *someone* ate a big tub of hummus I had my eye on. It was a rough week. Not me at my best.

But it's getting better. I still want to rip Peter Pan PBJs from Erik's hands, don't get me wrong. But the pain has subsided to muh more manageable levels. And I'm getting a better hang of what foods I can get at the grocery store.

The biggest victory so far? Eating out. We went to lunch with my brother, and pretty much the only thing I could order on the menu was steak. Now, I'm not a girl that normally orders steak when eating out, but I had very few other options (and did I mention I was STARVING?!???!?). So I did. And guess what? I was FULL for the first time in several days. It was fantastic! (that was during the first week when my body hurt all over and I was hungry 24/7. I seriously woke up at 5 a.m. once because I was SO hungry!).

The biggest surprise? I actually think I like eating natural peanut butter and no-sugar added jelly on RICE CAKES. Yeah, it sounds trippy and crazy, but I really am digging the CRUNCH when I eat them. :)

Another plus is that I have to really think in advance about what I'm going to be eating for the week. Right now, I have 2 cookbooks strewn about, trying to figure out dinners for the week. I think I'm going to attempt cooking with a "fryer chicken" this week in the slow cooker ... we'll see how that goes! I'm also looking forward to Amanda's Rosemary Chicken Rice soup that is SO yummie ... and I can eat ALL of the ingredients!!! WAHOO!!! :)

The one loose end I'm trying to figure out is fruit. I've been eating plenty of meat and veggies, but fruits contain natural sugar. Some of them contain a LOT of natural sugar. So, since I'm trying to starve out candida, and it feeds on sugar, should I axe fruits, too? I can't seem to get a consensus from anyone. But I'm feeling better, and eating only a serving or two of fruits per day, so it seems to be an OK compromise.

Now, eventually, the goal is to be able to re-introduce foods with sugar (ham, wine and beer, please?) into my eating patterns, but for the time being, I guess you would say that I'm in 'detox' from sugar and yeast products.

Heirloom veggie seeds are HEEEEERE!!!! :)

YEEE-HAAAW!!!!!!!

Check out what came in the mail today:


*grin*

Next up, plant these puppies:


I started a few tomato seeds last week ... but now the big guns are here!


Let's talk about heirloom veggies. Last summer, I read in Better Homes & Gardens about heirloom tomatoes. The gist of the story was that the tomatoes are supposed to be more flavorful. :) They also come in cool colors (like purple ... have YOU ever seen a purple tomato?).


I'm SO ready for this summer and to get my fingers into the garden!


And this was what I found on the bottom of my invoice:


I feel all the better for supporting a company that utilizes sustainable practices. The place they get the seed envelopes from uses wind power to make the paper. How cool is that??!!??!

Oh, and if you want the hookup on these seeds, CLICK HERE to check out their online catalogue.

Recycled Purse????

Ok, so for everyone who knows me, I'M NOT A PURSE PERSON!!!!!

But I do have one. Ok, 2 of them. And I admit, they come in VERY handy on occasion. But one is large and becomes a dumping ground/catch all for everything. The other is just the right size for my wallet, but it's sometimes a struggle to wrestle the wallet in and out of it.

So, when we were traveling over Christmas, I saw a glimpse of a purse ... wait for it ... MADE OUT OF SEATBELTS. Now, this is genius, I thought. Really. Reusing seatbelts. I like it.


And the more I looked, the more options I saw that there are in the world of seatbelt purses. Who would have thought????!?!?!


Then I saw the bag below, and really wondered if those seatbelts were reused, or if they were made specifically for that bag.


Seriously. Have YOU ever seen a seatbelt like this? Me either.


There's another company who makes them, and they do a diamond weave. I have to admit, I am digging this a bit more from a visual aspect. ;)


I might actually believe this was made from reused seatbelts.

But then I get back to the bottom line/question at hand. I don't really USE a purse that much ... do I really NEED a seatbelt purse?

Regardless, it's an interesting idea/product and I thought I'd share. :)

Are blogs like Christmas cards?

A few weeks ago, I was reading a friend's blog, and it was gritty. Real. Raw.

And I got to thinking. To wondering. Is this blog of mine like a Christmas card? Clean? Sterile? Showing only the joys?

Hmmmm ...

But on the other hand, I've read some people's personal blogs where they hang their dirty laundry, and know what? It ain't flattering and I just don't like it. Besides, I'm not a generally negative person. So ... what to do????

Some of the struggles in my/our life are medical-related. And know what? I've heard of instances where insurance companies use personal information from blogs to block or deny coverage. So, I am completely not willing to share struggles in that arena.

But there are other areas of life where I can certainly share/brain dump. OK, so here's my yesterday. I was in Wichita for a wedding consult. Went well. And to appear in muni court to pay a speeding ticket. Went OK. They chopped my fine in half, which was great, but court costs are killer! But I *do* have to admit, having a last name with B puts me closer to the front of alphabetical lines, which is a new concept for me, after being in the middle for my entire life! :)

But I also had tons of errands to do. I accomplished most of them in the morning, but there were a few I needed to do in the afternoon. Even though my youngest brother teases me for making lists, I SHOULD have made a "to do" list. It would have completely prevented my afternoon mayham. But I didn't, so it didn't. *sigh*

I ran to the west side to chat with a guy at a natural foods store, but of course the person I wanted to talk with wasn't there. So I found the only "snack-ey" sort of food I could have in the store (more about this in a future post, I promise!), and purchased them. Score! A snack I can eat on the run!

But about the time I pulled up at this store, I remembered I'd left 2 rolls of 120mm film at a lab on the EAST side of town. I was on West Central. I needed to go BACK to East Central.

*sigh*

So I did. And when I picked up the film, I was told only one of them had been shot, so I have another roll of 120mm film hiding in the house somewhere that I will have to remember to take to Wichita to be developed. Sheesh!

And baby bro ... as much as you think my lists are SILLY, if I'd have made one, it would have saved a trip across town ... so there! ;)

And as a reward for those of you who made it all the way through my rambling, here's a photo I took while we were in Arizona. It's about the only photo I've looked at. I have now downloaded, but not looked at the photos. Seriously!


This is from a series of photos involving textures I did in Arizona. And, for those of you who are curious, I used my little point and shoot camera to take this photo. The macro feature is fantastic! So for those of you who think you need a fancy camera, I tell you "YOU DON'T" ... just read your manual!

Update from the homefront

Ok troopers, it's just a mad scramble around here!

Still catching up on laundry (groan).

Doing lots of talking with brides and the like.

Also, just planted my basil and peppers. In my little makeshift plant growing-thingey. I intend to give heirloom tomatoes a spin this year and see how that goes. But per my mother's request, I'll still start a few regular plants for her. :)

Oh, and because I know some of you might be interested, I am getting my heirloom seeds from a place in Ellsworth, KS .... so not too far from home! The bonus is that we know the seeds will grow well in KS. :) To view the info, please CLICK HERE (a big thanks to Erik's co-worker, Gordon, for pointing me in this direction!).

Yes, I'm aware I need to post photos from Arizona, but truth be told, I haven't even had the time to download them. So continue to sit tight!!!!

Blast from the past

Remember in May when I was being all rambly? Well, I didn't want to share photos before the magazine was published .... so here is a photo from my photo shoot:


YOu can CLICK HERE to check out the photos. :)

Crossover — POY

Ok peeps, in case you missed it, I'M STINKIN' BUSY AROUND HERE!!!!! ;)

Yes, Erik and I went to Arizona for about a week and had a spectacular time. I will share photos once things calm down a bit around here.

So in the meantime, please CLICK HERE to check out the work Mike and I have done over the last year. :)

Inspiration III

Ok, last one in this series. This one is dedicated to lighting.


How great would this look in our master bedroom? Painted white.

Erik, of course, would say it's an affront to his manhood and veto it. But a girl can dream, right?


Or this in white?


Or for bedside, keep the base black and have white sheer ribbon?

Inspiration II

This is the wall stuff. :)


Kinda digging the wall decals. Not sure it'd look good on our blue walls, but ya know .... I can always imagine.


Integrated with photos. Digging this!


Stenciled onto a dark wall. Now THIS is an interesting thing to consider. Maybe on the wall our bed is against????


Just cuteness .... if your name is Angie, I can see something like this on your walls. ;)


Sticking with the word/lettering theme, this is for my dad. BELIEVE. :) Love it! I love the soft glow of the lights. I've seen some kickin photos from the neon graveyard in Las Vegas and this kinda reminded me of it.


Kinda like the frames. And that they're black.


This isn't really decorative, but I think it's certainly clever. If I ever live in a loft-like space, it'd be a great alternative to the traditional kitchen cabinets!

Inspiration!

When I was in Denver a few months ago, I was able to take a tour of Sam Puc's studio space. I have to say, it was uber-fab. :)

I'll break the photos from the visit into a few posts so as to not bore/overwhelm you out there in blog-reading-land.

This one will be about chairs. Yes, chairs and sitting surfaces. So deal.


I'm sort of on a kick about chairs with no arms, which is odd because I like to sprawl my legs over the arm of any chair I'm sitting in. But I think I like the clean lines, ya know?


I'm not sure how comfy any of these are to sit in. This one especially, but it certainly LOOKS nice, even if it might be uncomfortable. ;)


Just gotta love this.


This is great ... and could totally serve as a day bed, too, right?


Not sure I'm loving the fabric, but this certainly is an interesting looking piece.


Last one is a great way to store things! Seriously thinking about this for the garage!!!!

This is post #555

Yes, it's a number post.

Ok, not really. But it's post #555 for our blog. If you don't believe me, go back and count. I did. Ok, I didn't, but it tells me on the blogger dashboard. ;)

Ok, so Happy New Year everyone. I hope it was a jolly good time and that you all enjoyed yourselves immensely.

Resolutions? I am not a big fan. In fact, I read in a magazine that the average New Year's resolution lasts about 6 weeks (see the allure of doing a 101 in 1001 list?).

But I have a goal for 2010: Cook with 3 ingredients I've never used before. I'm thinking lentils and couscous for sure!

Sounds strange, but I think I can do it. :) Besides, I already work out on a pretty regular basis. So it's not like I can do that for my New Year's resolution.

If I come up with anything better or anything to add on, I'll let you know, but this is it for now!