garden ho: blooms

June blooms are my favorite - well, a close second to my lilacs and daffodils. I have roses and two very large trees that looks hideous most of the year but have amazing small white flowers every June. I just took a few whiffs of them and I think they might be some form of Honeysuckle. Who knows?

accidents happen

But really, I was not ready for this image when I opened my phone to call my insurance company this morning:And then I decided I should take some photography therapy and snap some shots of my poor car in the daylight. They're pretty self-explanatory...


There is more but that's the only stuff that really photographed well. It's really hard to take detailed pics on a black car. Or is that just every car? I hope to never find out.

cuties, crashes and cocktails

I'm a bit loopy now because I am on cocktail number 2 (a Whaler's and Diet Coke if you must know) and I really don't drink that often. The reason is I took a road trip yesterday to see one of my big sisters and her 8 month old identical twins. Well, that's not the reason, the reason I'm having cocktails will be explained a bit lower in this post. We had so much fun at my sister's and I took an embarrassing amount of photographs even though I was only there for a short 32 hours! Here are some of my favorites:

On my way home, on the approximately three hour journey, I was rocking out to "Just a Girl" by No Doubt (who I am seeing next weekend with the babies Mama herself) when a deer, aka a giant doe, crashed into the side of my car and did this:

That's the best picture I managed to photograph at the gas station a mile from the incident and a mere 20 miles from my front door! My headlight is just gone, front fender squished in over my tire, driver's side door caved in so that I cannot open it (and had to crawl out the passenger door at the gas station in front of a very curious crowd of roadtrippers) and the rear door behind the driver's seat has some damage on the lower half as well. *sighs* 

A very nice truck driver pulled over in front of me after witnessing the incident and RAN to my door to make sure I was okay. Then he checked under my hood to make sure I didn't need to call for a tow. Never mind the 80mph traffic zooming past us.  Other than a teary face I was, and am, just fine. Just a bit shook up. I cannot say so much for the doe. She was there long enough for the police officer to come and make sure I was telling the truth and that's all I'll say about that. (That might be more than enough but like I said I've had a couple cocktails).

PS I feel it necessary to note that I have only ever been hit BY deer. I make a 200% effort to avoid birds, squirrels and any other furry animal as I cannot live with the fact that I have taken a life (as silly and childish as this may sound). The first time I was hit by a deer was when I was 16 and the deer decided to go all kamikaze on my mother's minivan when I was driving home from a HS basketball game with my BFF and foster sister. Other than that, I have a clean, non-animal hitting driver's license.

news flash: treasury and cheap thrills!

Lots of exciting news! 

First and most excitingly, I've been featured in a treasury on Etsy! It's titled "Tangled Up In Blue" and was created by handjstarcreations. YAY! 

Next up in the exciting news I decided to stop by Pier 1 on my way home from picking up a tire for a potential tire swing to be installed in my backyard (no I do not have children, it will be entirely for me and I suppose my twin nieces when they're big enough to use it in five years). So I was wandering, not thinking I'd purchase anything when I saw a sign on some rugs and thought, "Gee, J's office could really use a rug if one is on serious clearance." So I browsed and found a bright and cheerful little guy that I decided would look really cute in the kitchen but we didn't really need a new area rug in the kitchen but wait a minute, 4 bucks?!

And it's totally Eddie approved only minutes after bringing her home. The kitchen is slowly but surely being injected with color! :)

P.S. Please ignore the horrible rose stencils!

AAARGH!

I seem to be having some problems with my last two posts. When I add photos and move them around the text becomes a link to the last photo uploaded and all photos link to the last photo instead of their own link. UGH! I'm working on it...I'll figure it out.

garden ho: window well

J and I have been slowly but surely installing window wells around all of our basement windows. This requires digging them all out of the years of weeds that have been allowed to flourish around them as well as digging the hole to place them in. The one we were working on all yesterday evening is in a hidden spot behind our patio so it was well forgotten. (So forgotten that I didn't take before pictures when we moved in three years ago and I took pictures of EVERYTHING).

So this picture was taken after I finished weeding. I quickly realized how wet this little corner garden is which makes sense because we have serious problems with moisture in our basement. This particular corner of our basement had a finished bar with tons of paneling. The whole thing was sort of cool and retro but after realizing that the 50 year old dry lock was probably failing us now we decided we have to gut the basement and start from scratch (more on that later). This window was actually boarded up on the other side with insulation and paneling.

Anyway, window well. When I was digging the spot for the new window well I realized how low this bed is from the patio which may be increasing the water flow TO the house instead of FROM the house. J agreed. Problem solved.

When he got home from work (and the eye doctor) I explained the situation and he just went into "Go" mode. He dug up these edgers that were half covered with grass and moss and not really noticeable in the ground unless you were looking for them and built them up level with the window well. Yay, free labor! Now we just have to find some dirt to fill in the giant hole that was dug in the bed to lift the edgers but I'm pretty sure our town offers free soil, stone and mulch to residents...now to figure out where to get it and how to get it home in my little car...

out with the old and in with the...older

This is the old. A relatively expensive collection of MDF from Overstock about four years old. J and I have been looking for a new TV stand for the living room since we bought our house in '06 and I had been holding out for a mid-century buffet to convert but couldn't find any in our price range (i.e. cheap). Yesterday I went shopping at some local thrift stores to find some new additions for my etsy shop when I came across a piece of furniture I have been coveting for some time now.Oh, she needed some lovin' but that just happens to be my specialty! (Can you see all of those nasty scratches on the side?!) With the addition of some new hardware (and a lot of elbow grease) we got our new vintage, solid wood beauty back in shape.

Now I just have to convince J that she's too pretty for a ginormous flat screen TV!

PS She was a steal at just $70!

weatherman: rain in the 'burbs

It's pouring. And I love a good rain especially when it's nice and warm out with a cool breeze...but then again who doesn't? I'm going to curl up on the couch and watch a movie. If only I could capture and upload the sound the rain makes on my chimney, you could enjoy my peaceful night, too.

garden ho: replanting

It's 80 degrees, muggy, overcast and just plain nasty outside. So what else would I do with my afternoon besides garden? I have to admit I am VERY new at this whole gardening thing. I continually call my gardener, aka mom, for tips and tricks so take it easy on me or give me some of your own tips on my new hobby.

Today I decided I just needed to replant my Bath's Pink. I started out with four (above) in a little spot near our shed in the backyard. Two were massacred by the ice we get all winter long in Rochester and the other two must have shot up on steroids because they are just massive. I'm not sure if I transplanted these bad boys correctly (as I did not consult my gardener this time) so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that within the next few days they'll perk up and add some life to the bottom of my dogwood tree!

Now I get to decide what to do with my newly emptied corner!

married life: amanda & george

Finally, things are calming down around here! I'm home for the rest of the day with my dear dog, Eddie and he and I are recuperating from a long weekend of festivities. Eddie got to spend the weekend in his favorite kennel and I had the pleasure of being in one of my dear friends' weddings! I got to take a straight shoot from Rochester to Grand Rapids, MI through Canada and have a ton of photos. I thought I would use this post to show a little bit of the fun we had this Memorial Day weekend as Amanda and George begin their married life!

garden ho: japanese knotweed

So there has to be an "inbetween" stage for finishing and beginning and beginning and finishing and I have decided to call it the process. I think this may start my first recurring blog post.

This one is dedicated to the fact that I may never actually finish getting rid of the Japanese Knotweed that has been creeping into our yard since the first day we bought the house.

This is what our side yard looked like when we moved in July of 2006. That's my amazingly ambitious gardner/mother and my ever helpful step-dad pulling out the knotweed. What's in his right hand is actually a stalk from the other side of the fence (which is approx. 6' as is my step-dad) and everything in the foreground is knotweed as well. (I couldn't find a better pic right now but I know I have some somewhere).

So today the fight continued, almost three years later. If you also have a problem with Japanese Knotweed, I'd suggest checking out this site. Very informative. And if you're house-hunting and the garden has Japanese Knotweed in it...RUN!

P.S. For those not in the know, first of all, you are SO lucky. Secondly, "The Weed," as it will now be known, is an extremely invasive bamboo-like plant that can grow over six feet tall and devastate your yard if not properly attended to. Basically, if you don't pull the stuff every Spring, it will end up in your kitchen.

one more thing...

So I'm sort of lying when I tell people that I graduated this past Saturday. Truth is I am one upper division class shy of my diploma and today I begin that class and am so excited about it.

It's my first photography class and it's two full weeks (36 hours thanks to Memorial Day) of jump right in and do it photography. I can't wait to get there!

finish and begin

Tomorrow I graduate from college. (Not that it will be nearly as picturesque as the above photo as the ceremony is on a football field and the weatherman is calling for thunderstorms all day). Nonetheless, I am graduating.

6 years, 8 months and 18 days after I first stepped foot on the campus of Clarkson University.

And no, I'm not up for my third degree or Ph.D or even my masters. I'm excited to receive my very first bachelors degree. That's correct, 5 majors, 3 schools, and just over 8 semesters have finally allowed me to join the ranks of undergraduate alumni everywhere.

Tomorrow I graduate from The College at Brockport, State University of New York. Should be fun.