Flowers, Whiskey, + a Little New York City

Ambience: Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico

For Mother's Day, I got my mom a Jack Daniels whiskey barrel planter from Home Depot (great reuse of a preconsumer recycled product!) and some vegetables for her garden.  I got the idea from a friend at work, and thought it was such a good idea, I got myself one as well!  I really wanted to get some naturally mosquito repellent plants that I found on Pinterest, but couldn't find any besides Marigolds at Home Depot.  Who knew they were mosquito repellent?  [Here's the website with the other mosquito repellent plants]

Anyway, my mom ended up helping me choose and arrange the rest of the plants, which I think ended up looking very nice!  I can't remember all of the names, but the ones I know are Blush Pink Nandina, Marigold, Cockscomb, and Sweet Potato Vine.  Such a great addition to our barren courtyard!

My mom also got some Xenia just as a little summery addition!  She's so awesome.  Did I mention she did all of this while I laid around, groggy because I had just gotten my wisdom teeth taken out?  :)

Other exciting weekend additions are a new laundry basket (above) from Let's Get Organized in downtown Homewood and a Frommer's Day by Day book for New York City.

Did I mention we're going to New York City!?  Next month for our 3 YEAR anniversary!  Yep, that's right.. 3 Y-E-A-R-S!  Of course I've already begun planning our schedule while we're there.

Highlights so far: the World Trade Center site, the Statue of Liberty, Fifth Avenue, the Empire State Building, and the High Line.. can you tell I'm an architect (intern)?  :)

Finally! Somewhere to Put the TP!

Voila!  Behold the long awaited bathroom console!

 My mom got me this super cute bath console from Target for Christmas this year.  I really loved this particular one because of the nice glass front detail, and the fact that the pull matches the pull on the cabinet that I already have.  It's also white, which I didn't think I wanted at first, but I am now loving the white on white look!  

(I have a new love of the white beadboard and tile in my bathroom since perusing PotteryBarn.com, and seeing all that they did with white on white beadboard.)

Of course it did not come assembled, by any means.  It came with not one, but SEVEN baggies of screws, nails, and so on..  Overall, it went together pretty easily though.  Made for a nice little hour project.  And Leila loved her new box to play in!

And of course Bryon did his part... by playing on his new iPad and watching a documentary on TV...  men!!

Starting the Year off with Some Apt. Additions

ambience: someone like you - adele

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, y'all!

So I haven't get on here much lately due to the football and holiday seasons... however, I will have LOTS of free time for a while!

This Christmas was a very adult Christmas indeed.  First off, my sister Lauren is ENGAGED!  It was our first Christmas with all of us, including our boys on Christmas day. 

Secondly, this year my main focus for presents, were things for the apt., including a bath console and spice shelf that I have been needing and wanting seems like FOREVER.  And last week, I finally got around to putting them up!

First up was the spice shelf!  About a month ago I tried to put up another shelf that I got from Target, however my ignorance coupled with cheapness of the shelf ended up with a sloping shelf.  So I threw the shelf away and stared at screw holes in the drywall above the stove for months.

Finally, new stainless steel Pottery Barn spice shelf and jars in hand, I got some help from a neighbor Sam, finding the studs in the wall, and installed my brand new shelf!  This allowed me to clean out some wall cabinet space by filling my new spice jars with my spices. 

I still need to fill the last jar with something colorful and maybe add a picture above the jars!  Bath console post and pictures to follow!