Things I Love, Part 2.

Time for another Things I Love post! First of all, I love etsy.com. All kinds of cool stuff there.

These are unpaper towels. They look great. Eventually I hope to get some and switch over, not needing paper towels anymore. Buy them here.

These are just plain fun. :) 

I plan to get one of these when I actually have dirt to plant in. Each notch is an inch, so it helps you accurately plant seeds and bulbs to the correct depth.

Just. So. Cute! Buy here. 

Makes me laugh. Every time. Buy here.

P.S.

I don't get any money from any of these links, these people don't even know who I am. Just want to share the cool stuff I've found. :)

New Quilt.

Guys, I just had to share this with you. I'm not paid anything for this, full disclosure, I just happened to get myself this quilt and wanted to share the deal with you.

These quilts are $20-30 dollars right now, depending on what size you get, and the shipping is $5. They are thin but rather heavy, making for a nice winter quilt with another blanket, or possibly a nice summer quilt all on its own. (Have yet to test this, as I've only had ours a couple weeks.) I bought mine when they were on sale for $12.50 (the queen, we bought the blue one) but at $25 (again for the queen size) they are still a steal. I highly recommend you check them out. Also, these quilts, same prices, are great looking, though I don't own one myself and so cannot attest to the quality, (it's probably good though).

Dishes.

I always put off doing dishes. It's not that I terribly despise doing them, and I definitely enjoy the result of having a clean kitchen, but there are just so many other things I'd rather be doing. My mom has always taught me that it makes things much easier if you wash dishes as you go, as in washing as you make them, so when you're done cooking you don't have a mountain of dishes left behind. Also, she recommends finishing any meal dishes immediately following said meal. I've never mastered either of these things. Sometimes I think it would make life much easier if I looked forward to them, if I enjoyed the actual washing of dishes act. Who knows...

Merry Christmas!

My senior year of high school, I convinced my dad that, despite having never owned one previously, I would prefer an apple laptop for college instead of a dell. The iBook I received then held up quite well through most of college until a shirley temple was spilled on it accidentally my junior year. After that, while it still worked, thanks to the quick rescue made by my husband, (then fiancé), it had a weird faded stripe running down the center of the screen. It was also noticably slower than it had previously been, partly due to the spill, and partly due to software updates that quickly outstripped its hardware. These issues combined with a fraying power cord inspired the purchase of an iMac, which has since served me well.

Lately, though, my iMac has been having, well, "issues". Nothing too concrete, save a few hard drive hiccups, increasing slowness, and a mic that has not worked well for as long as I can remember. It is showing its age though, and my husband and I have been considering replacing it for some time. This Christmas, he surprised me with an early christmas present of a MacBook Air! I love it, and I no longer have to worry about my computer dying on me unexpectedly.

What does this all mean for you, my lovely readers? Well, anyone who has been around here for awhile has probably noticed that I'm rather inconsistent about posting. The fact is, I'm rarely in the office with a quiet bit of time to type up a post. Most of the time I chase our lively toddler around the apartment, and when he's sleeping I'm likely doing clean-up, damage control, preparation for the following day's whirlwind, or simply unwinding. Now, with a laptop again, I hope to be able to be more consistent sharing here. Here's to hoping!

Facelift.

I love using Squarespace to host my site. Their service is impeccable, and they make it ridiculously easy for me to customize and play with my site. Today Squarespace released a bevy of new site templates, and I found three that I loved for this site. What you see is what won out in the end. (The other two may be cycled through at various times throughout the year, maybe...) Anyway, hope you enjoy the redesign as much as I do! 

Things I love.

This. Agnes over at KnockKnocking actually inspired me to make my own wreath. :)

See? :)

This is beautiful. Love.

With all the clocks on all of the electronics around our home, any clock we choose to hang on the wall has to be art as well. While I'm waiting to invest in any major decorations till we have a more permanent home, I definitely love this.

I've been mildly obsessed with square cake stands lately, as I don't have a cake stand I can fit a 8x8/9x9 cake on. However, this happens to be one of my favorites, and it doesn't even work for that! Oh well. Love anyway. :)

Of course, above all things, this I love the most.

My Family. Happy Father's Day, my sweet Chris!

Mornings.

I am NOT a morning person. I can't seem to get my body moving in the early hours, and when my son wakes me up each day, (yes, he wakes me up, I almost never use an alarm,) I drag through morning routine. I'm not even really a coffee drinker, so I don't get that boost to help jolt my eyes open.

However.

On those rare mornings, like this one, where circumstances work out just right that I am the first one awake, me, not the noisy, lovable two year old, I get to experience that special type of peace and majesty that God seems to share with us only in the wee hours of the morning. (For me, that's any time before 7 am, just so we're clear.)

Last night, I developed a migraine. I don't get them often, and usually, with my low tolerance for medication, some excedrin will cure it pretty quickly. Not so this time. I was running a temp, feeling sick to my stomach from the brightness of the lights that were on in the next room, and the loudness of my husband quietly talking with me. He sent me to bed at 9:30; this is unheard of for a girl who usually goes to bed anytime between 11:30 and 2 am. Consequently, when I woke up at 3:30 to a bird singing outside my window, I was AWAKE. I laid there for another half hour, willing myself back to sleep, telling myself I'd regret getting up when the light of day finally touched my tired eyes. Finally, though, I decided to get up, enjoy the peace and quiet, do my devotions, enjoy an uninterrupted breakfast, and deal with some prep work for chick week. That was two hours ago, and I still feel well-rested, and now, so grateful that I got this time of peace. 

Mornings can be beautiful after all, it seems. :)

Gardening.

I began my garden for this year in the first week of april, mainly due to the fact that we had gorgeous weather, and that was expected to continue. I've decided to branch out a bit on what varieties of herbs I grow this year. I've chosen Purple Sage, Pineapple Sage, Lemon Thyme, Purple Oregano, Chocolate Mint, Rosemary (holdover from last year...), Curly Leaf Parsley, and Hidcote Lavender. I'm still working on getting basil, of which I hope to get African Blue Basil, which is sterile and won't die when it blooms like all other basil, but as none of the greenhouses in town are planning to get any, my hopes aren't high. I'd also like to get a bay tree, but they were not ordered in as of when we got the other plants. The rest of the garden will be filled with pretty, blooming flowers that we can enjoy simply for their beauty.

As we live in an apartment, all of these things are in pots, which are now sitting in our living room, since it suddenly dropped to 28°F today and began to snow. As it looks to be clearing up, though, and nothing has actually stuck, I hope to move everything back outside tomorrow.

Posting.

I've made some discoveries about my blog over the years I've kept it. First of all, I post whenever I feel like it, not on any sort of schedule, despite often trying to keep the posts regular. I blog more when my family is occupied, or when I'm on a laptop and can post while enjoying their company. I'm still working out how to keep myself motivated to continue sharing with you all, but I will say this. I do love having this site. It's a lovely spot to share my thoughts once in awhile, and I love the conversations that come up over a recipe, a picture, or whatever is going on at the moment. There may be changes ahead to site design, content, et cetera, but what will stay constant is my love to share with all of you. So thank you, for sticking with me and leaving a thought every so often. If you have favorite posts, requests for content, or any input on where this website should head, please let me know. Thanks again!