Favorite Things: papercoterie and a Sale!

papercoterie is a new company offering really cute and cool ways to display your photos, from posters to calendars and swatch books.  Shutterfly has always been my go-to for photo books and the like, and I still think they're great.  However, papercoterie has an aesthetic that appeals to me; take a look at their templates to see why.  

I recently ordered a couple of swatch books and a "10 Things I Love About You" poster for P.  The package came in yesterday and I'm very pleased with the quality of the products.  I'll be using their services again.

Check out the 30% off coupon code.  Not too shabby.

Seriously, Lipton?

Lipton Iced Tea has a new slogan, and we're getting bombarded by it on Hulu.

You are What You Tea.  

Huh?  They paid someone for that.  Maybe I'm being juvenile.  Maybe it's the fact that, thanks to having a two year old, all we do is talk about going to the potty these days.  But doesn't it just make you think of going number one?

I think I could do better.  Howsabout Mmm Tea?  Or, Please Buy Our Tea?

Dave's Garden Watchdog and Oakes Daylilies

For probably well over a year, I've gone to Burgess, browsed all the beautiful pictures of plants and trees, added hundreds of dollars worth to my Shopping Cart...and left it at that.  I never could work up the nerve to place an order.  

I recently began preparing a new flower bed, and of course, I turned to the Burgess site to daydream about what I could plant in my 2 x 20 foot-ish bed.  I've had my eye on evergreen daylilies.  There are so many different varieties with beautiful blooms and their foliage sticks around all year.  Also, my garden-centric neighbor has had great luck with daylilies, and they tempt me each time I walk outside.  Lucky for me, I found Dave's Garden to help me with my decision.  There's a wealth of information on the site, but I was most pleased to find reviews of online nurseries.  One quick search for Burgess and I found that, out of 348 gardener reviews, 243 of them are negative!  That's astounding.  Thanks Dave; I'll be un-bookmarking their site from my browser.    

Although my bubble was burst, Dave didn't let me down; the site also has a list of the Top 30 best-reviewed online nurseries, of which Oakes Daylilies is one.  Out of 243 reviews, 241 are positive for Oakes.  That's pretty impressive.  Even more pleasing to see is that the owner of the nursery responded to each of the 3 negative reviews, asking the reviewer to call him so he can make things right.  Feeling good about taking my chances on Oakes, I placed an order for daylilies a few days ago, and I can't wait to get them!    

source: Oakes Daylilies

Of course, I'll keep you updated on the quality of the plants I receive.  I'm so excited!

Isn't She Lovely?

Isn't she pretty

Truly the angel's best

Boy, I'm so happy

We have been heaven blessed

I can't believe what God has done

Through us he's given life to one

But isn't she lovely made from love

-Mr. Stevie Wonder

Repurpose: Fiery Succulents.

Succulents are one of my favorite things to plant.  I think they are really interesting and beautiful to look at, and it doesn't hurt that, in most cases, it would take a serious black thumb to kill one of them off.  I tend to have really good luck with them as long as I remember to cover them before a frost.  

For the past few weeks I've been eying my decrepit old fire pit that's been taking up space in my backyard.  The bottom of the bowl has some rust issues, and I don't think it would hold wood for a warm and friendly fire.  For whatever reason, it never made it to the road for curbside pickup.  

I've also been searching for a wide and shallow pot to re-pot some succulents that have long outgrown their current home.  Call me a genius, if you will, but it occurred to me that I already had the perfect wide and shallow pot living a very useless life on my back patio.  Hence:

I'm not sure what species of succulent I've got growing out the whazoo, but I like them in their new pot.

Stay tuned for more garden goodness to come!      

p.s.  That green swing you see there is a Wal-Mart purchase and it has easily tripled the time we spend outside.  

Rekindling the Spark.

Yesterday was the day.  I'm back on the wagon, baby!  I logged into my old SparkPeople account yesterday morning and tracked all my foods and activities throughout the day.  And it was such a great day!  I worked in the yard!  We went walking through the neighborhood as a family!  I ate sensibly and snacked healthily and I wasn't hungry all day!

 

They say you only need about 300 extra calories a day when you're pregnant, which is a perfect segue into a conversation about Needs vs. Wants.  I'm pretty sure for the last 5 or 6 months I've been eating 2 or 3 times the amount of calories I need - baby or no baby.  Add that to the fact that I haven't exactly been a Fitness poster child since October, when I stopped going to my local CrossFit box, and you've got the state I'm in now: unfit and about 40 pounds overweight.    

Well, no longer!  I'm reclaiming my healthy lifestyle.  While I might hold off on CrossFit for a bit [mostly for financial reasons], I've established a Family Walk tradition for the afternoons and I'll be working in the yard a little each day.  And it's just the beginning!  I'll keep you posted.

Want to join me?