Under a Blue Moon

Friday

Untitled, 2. Untitled, 3. For all the Sentimental Reasons, 4. buff orpingtons like kids

Happiest of Fridays to you! I made it through week three of the new job! I’m still loving it and I’m starting to get my footing. I’m on a very interesting training project and it is starting to ramp up a bit. The first couple weeks definitely felt like I was still onboarding but this week I’m feel like I’m finally earning my keep. I feel so fortunate to have landed in this position. I felt that way about my last position too and feared nothing would ever feel quite as perfect as that. I was on a fantastic team and we are all still in close contact even a year after being disbanded. We just had a big barbecue at my old boss’s house a week ago.

Well this new team feels very promising as well. The work is very interesting and everyone is very friendly and welcoming. I was actually invited to have lunch with a group of people at the “Game of Thrones” table! No swordy thrones but it was like being invited to the popular kids table for lunch.

I will say that it is a bit exhausting and I have to thank you for being patient with my sporadic and less than scintillating content lately. I hope to hit my stride in a month or so and come up with a new blogging routine that works with my new schedule. I come home from work now and my poor mushy brain can’t come up with anything interesting to blog about. I can barely manage to shower for that matter.

I do actually have plans for this weekend though. Surprise surprise. My niece is getting married next year and asked if I would come wedding dress shopping with her and her bridesmaids on Sunday. Her mother, my younger sister, passed away four years ago (how can that even be…) and I only hope that I can be an adequate stand in for her. I am so proud of my niece. Despite the fact life threw her the most incredible obstacles she managed to finish college, land a prestigious job and maintain a positive attitude. It is her time to shine and I’m so happy I get to be a part of it.

I haven’t done anything the least bit crafty or creative the last few weeks but I’m hoping once I settle in I’ll get back into the swing of things.

I hope you have a splendid weekend!!

House Plants

house plants

I did a little house plant (is house plant one word or two? Houseplant?) maintenance this weekend so I thought I would share some pictures. I’ve acquired a few new ones and had a few casualties. Sorry String of Pearls. I promise never to buy another one of you since it never ends well.

I have managed to keep my Pilea Peperomiodes (Chinese Money Plant) alive. It has actually grown and has little babies popping up!

I gave all of the plants a bath (except for the African Violets, who protest violently when I accidentally get them wet). Our house is ridiculously dusty because we live on a fairly busy street and we like to have the window open a lot. I either put them in the sink and give them a spray down or, if they are too big, I give them a good dusting and wipe down the leaves with a damp paper towel.

My newest plants are a Ficus repens (Green Creeping Fig) and a Hypoestes phyllostachya (Polka dot or freckle face plant). The Hypoestes was a dicey choice because I don’t have a great history with them either. In an effort to give it a better chance I’ve put it near my little plant humidifier.

Isn’t this cute? I can’t remember where I got it but I think it is adorable. Most of the plants in my office are under a heating vent so I like to run the humidifier for them when the heat is running. It’s also nice for those super hot days we get in the Summer. The only thing I don’t care for is it has a light at the base that rotates between neon pink, purple, blue and green. I wish it would just have a white light or no light. The light does shut off after a while though. I just kept waiting for the light to fade to white to snap a picture.

I had to give up on having a Boston fern in the house. I just can’t keep up with the watering and misting. So I’ve put it outside under a hanging fuchsia that is on a drip system. The water runs through the hanging basket and waters/drips on the fern. I’m hoping it is happier there.

A question for my fellow house plant lovers – do you regularly feed your plants? I feed mine whenever I water them. I use Eleanor’s VF-11 plant food. You can use it every time you water and also as a foliar spray. I’m just wondering if there is anything else out there that people have had success with.

I do love having lots of house plants.

July Favorites

This is my first monthly favorite post! It may evolve as I figure out exactly how and what I want to present. These are all things I have tried/bought/seen and love.

I am going to try to group things in categories but the categories may change from month to month. This whole blog is ever evolving so we are just going to go with the flow.

Beauty:

Lemony Fluttery cuticle cream 2. Orly Breathable nail polish in Kiss Me I’m Kind 3. Crystal nail file

I’ve been making a concentrated effort to take better care of my nails. I’ve flirted with doing my own gel manicures (which I like but is labor intensive and maybe not so healthy for your nails), a misguided and totally one-off episode of glue on nails (looked great, wreaked havoc…) and just leaving them bare. I finally just cut them all short, started pushing my cuticles back properly and only file them with a glass nail file. I’m also treating them to a nightly slathering of Lush cuticle cream which is divine. Pricey but goes a super long way so the tub should last me a year at least. I’m also loving my glass nail files which I bought only for the packaging. I’m sure most glass nail files work the same. And finally I’m using a nail polish that claims to be good for your nails. So far I don’t have any complaints and I love the sheer pink “your nails but better” look I get with the shade “Kiss Me I’m Kind.”

Home:

GORGEOUS Scandinavian home

My favorite kind of kitchen remodel – when they stay true to the era and heart of the home.

Lovely 1930’s cottage

I’m all about the sunny and bright, yet soft colors. While I love the 30’s Texas cottage, the Scandinavian house is the most appealing to me. I love all the white, muted greys, wood and, of course, the plants. I could definitely live that way.

I’m just finishing up my second week at the new job and every day I love it more. I’m working with an incredible team. Everyone is so helpful and encouraging and the energy is so positive. I am looking forward to the weekend, though. Just to give my brain a rest.

We don’t have plans, by design. I’m just trying to get used to my new normal. I hope you have a splendid weekend, whether it be relaxing or embarking on some kind of adventure.

Free Desktop calendar – August

It’s that time again! Continuing with the free desktop calendar downloads for August (seriously – how is it almost August already?!). This month I’m sharing another favorite quote done in three different colorways.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture but it was late afternoon and the lighting was just not on my side. My desk got it’s monthly scrub down though so that’s good.

These are all rendered in 1920 x 1080. To save the image click on the link and the image will open in a new tab. Right click on the image and select “Save image as…” and save to your computer.

I’m not sure how to update a background on a Mac but on a PC you right click on your desktop background and select “Personalize.” You can then browse to the file location of the picture you want as your background.

Pink/Blue desktop calendar

White/Lavender desktop calendar

Peach/Aqua desktop calendar

I hope you enjoy!

Friday

Untitled, 2. Beneath the Sheltering Boughs of Green Shade, 3. Spring Garden, 4. Buildings: Camouflage

Happy Friday!

I made it through an entire week of work! And survived. Spoiler alert – I loved it! Of course there is the usual overwhelming amount of information to absorb (coming at you from a fire hose) but I can already tell I am going to love working here. I love instructional design. Oh sure I can deliver training with the best of them but I am happiest when I am creating training materials for either other trainers to deliver or when I am developing web based training. My first project will be a web-based training and I might even get to go up in a helicopter as part of my research!!

This week has been a flurry of onboarding activities. The team I am joining is seriously short-staffed at the moment so they are delighted to have extra help coming on board. I’m not the only newbie either – there are four others starting with me and we have been relying on each other for support. Lot’s of “did you catch that?” type of back and forth.

I have discovered that my work wardrobe is seriously lacking. In my previous job I could wear nice jeans (black or dark wash) and that made up the majority of my work appropriate attire. Here there is no jean wearing. Still business casual but no jeans. I have four pairs of pants that aren’t jeans and most of them are various iterations of black pants. I need a serious wardrobe update.

I literally just walked into my darkened bedroom and said “Why hello kitty…” to a pair of pants that I threw on to my bed when I got home from work. As soon as I get home I cannot wait to take off my work clothes and put on my comfies. I need to find comfortable, fashionable, business casual appropriate clothes to wear so if you have any favorite stores let me know.

We have a bbq to go to on Saturday but other than that our weekend will be spent resting and recuperating. Rick has had an especially bad bout of kidney stones this week. I don’t think he’s ever had an attack that was this prolonged. Why couldn’t it have happened last week when I was still not working?! So he’ll be recovering from that and I’ll just be trying to catch a breath.

So so happy to gainfully employed again!

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Elevating your envelope game

Decorative envelope liners

I have a love for envelope art and enjoy sending over the top decorated envelopes when I write letters or send packages. You can revisit this post to see some examples of letters and packages I have sent out.

I don’t always have the time or inspiration to come up with a unique design but I still want the whole experience to be special for the recipient. Adding a decorative liner to the envelope is easy and very pretty.

I make my own envelopes but you could easily add a liner to an existing envelope. In the past I used a scoring board when making envelopes but just discovered the envelope punch board by We R Memory Keepers and it is so much easier. I especially appreciate the built in paper punches for the corners.

Envelope punch board

They have the measurements for various sizes of envelopes. I tend to make my cards and envelopes A6 in size so I cut my paper to 8 7/8″ and follow the directions for the score lines. For the liner I cut a 5″ square of decorative paper and used the punch on the envelope maker to round the corners. You really only need to round one corner as the two side ones are trimmed off and the bottom one is hidden.

Attach the decorative liner before gluing or taping the flaps down. I also like to trim the bottom flap even with the side flaps.

I’ve seen liners done with vintage wallpaper which is very pretty. I use scrap booking paper for mine. You could even use pretty wrapping paper. I find that thinner papers are better since they don’t add additional bulk to the envelope.

Ten points to the first person that can identify (without googling…) the fictional name and address I’ve used on my envelope.

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