enJOY it

just for fun / taped work table.

June 5, 2012
My June goals list wants me to accomplish three "just for fun" projects. This is the first.

I saw this awesome DIY taped table from ladycroissant.com on Thursday and couldn't stop thinking about it. Literally, in Vegas, I was thinking about that table. On Sunday, I went to Target because rumor has it they have cheap solid color tape. At my second Target store, they had it in stock. (Heads up – the brand is Kid Made Modern. It's $6.99 for 9 rolls. It is NOT washi tape, but more like paper tape. Texture/weight is like a post-it note, but the stick is good. I noticed some colors did not come off the roll very well, so that was annoying. But overall the bright colors were perfect and for this project didn't want to spend more money on legit solid-colored washi.)

I cleaned off my computer desk, which is a cheap three piece table from Ikea. I wiped it down with windex to clear the dust and coffee/ink stains. After that dried, I got to work.

Less than an hour (and two packs of Kid Made Modern tape + half of two other solid colored rolls of normal washi) later, my work desk looked so rad.

I just taped long strips and wrapped them around the edges. I added a few extra strips of color at places where I felt like an extra color was needed. When I had all the colored tape on there, as an extra precaution, I secured them to the underside of the desk with some clear packing tape. This was absolutely a "stick with it" (no pun intended) project. About a quarter of the way through, it looked so stupid and I worried I was wasting time and money. By the end, I was obsessed.

Seriously, I love the pop of color. Every time I walked into my office yesterday, I smiled. And I'll be the first to say this is the opposite of practical and it might not hold up very long. But I am going to be careful with it because I adore it. (Obviously, I could try some long term solutions like adding a piece of plexi-glass, covering it with laquer, etc.)

At the moment? Totally worth it. I'll let you know what it looks like at the end of the week. 😉

And remember, the project was inspired by this cute blog. Thank you for the idea, Adeline!

Other posts you might enjoy:
40 pizzas / strawberry balsamic.

June 4, 2012

pizza no. 4 : strawberry balsamic.

occasion : we hosted Paul's aunt and uncle for dinner.

crust : our whole wheat usual – but only about half the recipe and rolled out super thin.

sauce : a balsamic reduction of Paul's concoction. Basically we heated about 1/8 C balsamic vinegar & 1/8 C olive oil, salt, pepper & 2 cloves of minced garlic in a small sauce pan until it reduced down. The result was super gloopy (for lack of better word) which is probably because we didn't stir it continuously but it spread well on top of the dough.

cheese : mozzarella and feta.

toppings : bacon & sliced strawberries.

thoughts : we wanted to try something different for the appetizer pizza (we made up a pesto chicken for the main one) and I had recently seen a strawberry & bacon pizza on Pinterest (link to original here). Ours is different, but the gist is the same. We loved it and so did Paul's aunt and uncle. Sweet & savory and awesome.
photo walk : text.

June 4, 2012

Of alllll the things in Las Vegas this weekend, I decided to shoot text. I took all my photos in a super tiny space – basically an intersection. But hey! It was sort of a fun challenge to a) shoot in the 106* heat and b) limit to such a small area and time frame. When I put them all together for this post, I loved how they almost made a strange poems too. "Bally's valet parking, the best kept secret" & "bum, entire life, 4 real."

As always, please feel free to do your own photo walk. Use "text" as a prompt or anything else you can dream up. Keep the focus on just one thing though for a challenge.

All photos this time around were taken with my Canon Rebel xsi at about 4 pm. ISO was set at 100. Aperture was at 5.6 usually. See all photo walk posts here.
get crafty.

June 3, 2012

No Project Life update today (I am heading home from a bachelorette adventure in Vegas this morning), but I wanted to share some progress peeks from my Palm Springs minibook that I was working on before I left. I am loving how this book is coming together and it's been fun to play around on a small scale again. I'll be sharing the finished project (and so many fun tips) later this week.

Do you still need a summer book? Grab one here.

And hey! Have you hopped out of your RSS reader and stopped by the blog recently? I gave it a fresh new look for summer and am excited about the change. Be sure to visit my rad June sponsors on the right sidebar while you're here.
here we go.

June 1, 2012

Summer is absolutely my favorite. I love the fresh fruit. The colors. The heat. The bonus daylight.

I don't know that I feel more inspired in summer, but I absolutely feel like more is possible. I'm thrilled that this season, I'll have Paul home – with no training or deployments on the agenda. We have a decently busy summer ahead of us, but lots of downtime and weekends to enjoy too.

Just perfect for a summer manifesto and I was so excited when Ali issued the challenge to create one. On our way home from Palm Springs, Paul and I jotted one down.

Ready, set, go, Summer. We're excited for you.

font used in the graphic above is bebas. I added the circles and arrow with my wacom tablet.
june goals.

June 1, 2012

The big one for me this month is the email one.

No email checking after 6pm. It's a hard and fast rule I am committing to in June. Hopefully for the rest of time, forever and ever, Amen.

It's interesting, this job of mine. My work and my life are so connected. I blog about my life. I blog about my food. My travels. My family. My business. My photos. My thoughts. My loves. My struggles. Even my craft projects get hung in my house or document our life. I can never shut off the blog. It's there, humming always, in the back of my mind.

And that's the gig. Exactly what I signed up for and totally what I would shout at the Sorting Hat should he decide to take my opinion into account. Writing this blog, it seems, is my passion. (Also towards the top of the list is goal setting and making grid photo collages.)

So I can't turn off that part of my mind. I can't shut it down and go home for the day.

But I can turn off the email.

I will turn off the email.

If you've emailed me in the past, it's quite likely you got a pretty quick response. Usually within the day. Sometimes within the hour. Sometimes, within five minutes. (No joke, I've been known to hold an email response so I don't look like a crazy-inbox watcher.) My secret for email is that I practice the "one-touch rule." I read it, I respond to it, I archive it. The end. (Unless I'm checking on my phone, then sometimes it waits until I have a full keyboard at my fingertips. Or unless I am totally baffled and can't think of a response until I chat with someone, usually Paul. This happens – I get some crazy emails.)

If you've emailed me in the past, you've also probably noticed I am not at all flowery with my responses. (Though this blog post about email is pushing 625 words.) Your time is precious. My time is precious. Therefore my emails back are usually straight and to the point (but at least they are returned quickly).

Don't get me wrong. I love email. I love the connections. A positive comment or a sweet note in my inbox can make my day. I am so grateful for this job I have and these relationships I have formed online. Choosing (and remember, setting goals is about making choices) to turn off email at 6pm is not about disconnecting from the Internet, it's about connecting to real life. Connecting to Paul. Connecting to making dinner. Connecting to staring at my tomato plants & willing them to produce. Connecting to the book I am reading. Connecting to that glass of red wine.

Starting today, I am going to shoot for normal business hours. (At least in my inbox, we'll see if this spreads to other parts of my worklife.*) All of those emails that come after 6pm will still be read and responded to in a timely fashion (and my FAQ page is pretty legit for those that can't wait), but the pressure to keep up will hopefully be eliminated. The days of "I'll just take a quick peek at my email while Paul looks up how we know that one actor on IMDB" are over.

I see this as a legit challenge as I have a serious email addiction, but hopefully, it's the start of something awesome.

Welcome, June.

*Ironically, I wrote this post at 11:30pm a week before I set the rest of these goals. The first rule of blogging is don't talk about your blog in real life when inspiration strikes you get out of bed and you write.
garden update.

May 31, 2012

I have to say, these monthly updates are fun, mostly because I can clearly see how much things have changed. Here's the garden in the very beginning. And then here it is at the end of April. Crazy, crazy.

Last time I shared photos, I got lots of suggestions get the tomato plants in cages. I did that right away (and added just poles to some of the less "viney" plants. They were difficult to wrangle into cages because I waited so long and will be sure to do this earlier next year. I also was told to "trim the suckers" on my tomato plants. I had no idea what that meant (even the garden books I read just said "trim the suckers" without sharing what suckers were) and I accidentally trimmed some leaves in my attempt to rid the plant of them.

Turns out, (thanks google images) "suckers" are the shoots that grow out of the little nook between the main stem and a leaf branch. (Check out the fancy little graphic I whipped up to illustrate.) They actually can flower and produce fruit (which is why I thought they were a good thing), but many think if you trim them, and therefore keep the energy focused on the main stem, the fruit that's produced will be much healthier and tastier. Other people think there is no point in trimming. According to message boards I stumbled on, it's quite the debate, and for now, in my first season as a gardener, I am happy to just see where these plants go with whatever they get. (Seriously, worrying about "suckers" and over-trimming or under-trimming was stressing me out and something's gotta give.)

My plants have tons of flowers (probably because they have tons of suckers – wop wop), which is rad. Ideally (and I never knew this either), each flower should produce a tomato when the blossom dries up.

I have been anxiously stalking those flowers waiting and finally, last Wednesday, saw the start of my first tomato. VERY EXCITING. More and more are popping up everyday and they are steadily growing.

Because it's 100 times less complicated than tomatoes, the basil is flourishing – even after my first harvest. I can't say enough good things about my new herb trimming technique. If you haven't read that article yet, you should, but here are two of the main points.

First, don't let your basil plants start to flower. This takes energy away from the leaves (which is what you want to eat) and focuses it on the flowers. Bad news. Pinch those flowers right off.

Second, when "harvesting" don't pull off the big leaves at the base of the plant! Those big leaves do the heavy lifting as sun absorbers to bring energy to the plant. Trim from the top and always trim right above a set of leaves. In that second photo, you can see the tiny start of new leaves right in the crook of that branch. You want to be sure to leave these in tact. They'll grow quickly allowing your basil to rebound after a harvest.

I have never had basil thrive like this before and am convinced it's partly because these planters have good drainage, but mostly because I am trimming properly.

And my meyer lemon plant continues to produce fruit buds. Eventually (a few months from now) we are going to be buried in lemons. Seriously. If I stop blogging it's because lemons have taken over my house and I can't find my laptop. I'm so excited.

These past few months have been the waiting and maintaining months. I am so hopeful that the coming months will be the producing and enjoying period. And wow, I am loving these plants. This is such a cool hobby, and I am learning so much as I go.
our trip to palm springs in photos.

May 30, 2012

We scheduled this trip in mid-April when work was crazy for us both and when we just were not connecting as a couple. It was really frustrating and having a short weekend getaway on the calendar was something nice to look forward to. (Paul had Memorial Day + Tuesday off of work so we were able to go Sunday and avoid the insane holiday traffic and hotel rates.) By the time the trip came around, thankfully, things had settled both personally and professionally, but it was still a much appreciated mini-vacation.

Whenever people ask what we did on vacation (or what we plan to do on vacation) we're always pretty embarrassed. We do nothing on vacation. We sit. We enjoy good food and cold drinks. We nap. We people watch. We laugh a ton. That's it. On the one had, we're the worst travelers ever, because we never do anything exciting or adventurous on trips. But on the other hand, we're the best travelers ever because we always come home relaxed and refreshed. 😉

I was a photo taking machine over the 48 hours we were gone (though it's easy because the Ace Hotel and Palm Springs in general is crazy photogenic). I'm so excited to pull these images (plus many more) and all the paper scraps I collected into a minibook this next week.

fun facts : my black & white maxi dress and red polka dot swimsuit are both from Old Navy. Those brown sandals are Steve Madden (similar here). My sunglasses are Kate Spade (here's a similar pair). That nail polish is essie ole caliente. We stayed sunburn free with the best non-chemical sunscreen ever. I am absolutely loving The Creative Habit and can't wait to blog more about it. That last photo of Paul with the cheesy grin is my favorite ever.
40 pizzas / bacon & egg.

May 29, 2012

pizza no. 3 : bacon & egg.

occasion : it's Tuesday.

crust : our whole wheat usual.

sauce : a Romanesco red sauce from Paul's favorite cookbook, the Meat Bible. I looked and found something very similar here.

cheese : jack & cheddar.

toppings : bacon, egg & onion.

thoughts : this pizza was supposed to something completely different, but it turned out we didn't have the right toppings (but already had sauce and dough ready to go) so it morphed into bacon & egg. In theory, this sounds like a breakfast pizza, but I didn't get that vibe at all. It was just fantastic. I like runny eggs, so this was great for me, but if you don't, it's probably best to break up the yokes a bit (so they'll cook through) before you slide the pizza into the oven.
on memorial day.

May 28, 2012

I want to take a moment to remember all those who have given their lives for our country. A moment to wish peace for those families who will always be missing a member. A moment to thank all those who have served & continue to serve. And a moment to be so unbelievably grateful that my service member made it home safe and sound.