Redecorating A Little At A Time

 

"Have no fear of perfection, you'll never achieve it."

~Salvador Dali

I am hoping to do some painting, and redecorating, in the coming months. I just want to change some basic aspects of my home. A lamp here, and vase there. A new quilt set can change the whole feel of a bedroom, as can a lamp or throw pillow. Money, as you might expect, is an issue now that Trump has caused prices to raise. It's truly a shock to the system. DO I buy a lamp right now, or do I put the money away in case some unforeseen emergency arises? I need towels, do I start there? While home furnishings have only raised about 2% since 2024, it still seems like a big spending luxury, when you're paying so much for other goods and energy costs. I can't change my whole domestic surroundings at once, which is a shame because for me it's easier to imagine the look, but there is something to be said for allowing my condo to speak to me as I add a piece at a time.

Let's start here.

I love my current quilts, but it creeps me out that they were seen by everyone and their brother when we listed our house for sale, several years ago, and again when were considering selling in 2023. People I don't know, knew my style and what the bed I slept in looked like. Ugh. So, and new quilt set wouldn't be out of line. 10 years is long enough for a quilt set. Full stop! And it's also not out of line to dismiss an icky feeling that's followed me for years! Let's consider quilts.

I like this one from Wayfair. I love Wayfair

But this one is pretty nice too.

I can add a vase with some artificial orchids or maybe peonies to create a soft, inviting room. Colors easy on the eyes, so sleep is only a snore away. Funny, I used to watch CNN and MSNBC to fall asleep, now the news terrifies me so much, it's anything but rest inducing. Now to fall asleep, I use restful noises from my Alexa or if my sleeplessness it really bad, I use little bottles of essential oils I keep by my bedside. Lavender and cedarwood, and are all great for you if you seek rest. I also enjoy cinnamon and clove, as those are my favorite scents. Below is a great article from the Cleveland Clinic about the uses of 11 specific scents and how they work to benefit you. I love farmhouse style, Mid-century and eclectic with a sense of humor. I want to do each room eventually, but mixing too many styles can come off insane. It's a process. So, sometime soon I will share about where I have landed with things. I might even repurpose old items I have packed away. A new lampshade on an old lamp can make all the difference! I just wish I understood why lampshades are so expensive!

Cleveland Clinic 

11 Essential Oils: Their Benefits And How To Use them.

It's going to take a little time. 

Dried Lavender

"Just as a painter needs light in order to put the finishing touches to his picture, so I need an inner light,

 which I feel I never have enough of in the autumn."

~Leo Tolstoy

Behr Paint

Purple Gladiola

MQ4-59

 

I love lavender. I love the color, and I love the plant. I love the scent because it promotes well being and a good nights sleep, and I even enjoy cooking with it because, in the right measure, it's downright delicious! I meant to plant some in our front yard this past spring, but I allowed other things, and certain people, to distract me. That won't happen next year! I am planning to paint my office soon, sometime in October, in a shade of lavender that the Behr paint company calls... Lavender Gladiola. I think it's going to look really nice, and I think it's going to do wonders for my mood.

Shades of purple have always been some of my favorite colors of fall. It's such a nice contrast to the usual oranges and rust shades. When I was a little girl, my favorite color was pink. Everything had to be pink, but as I grew older I began to enjoy all the colors my eyes could take in, with a deep appreciation for all of them. So much so that I really couldn't settle on one, but rather combinations. I think I owe that to my love of Impressionist art, and Claude Monet, in particular. Life his individual paintings, they all made me feel different emotions, so it helped me immensely in my photography, when attempting to set a certain mood. I used to plan trips around a certain color at times. To date, reds are the most challenging to me. 

Don't get me wrong, I also went through a stage of monochromatic. Everything was grey. EVERYTHING was grey. I looked for natural lighting that would produce a seemingly black and white photo, that was, in fact, taken in color. I loved that project. And from that I moved onto attempting to use the fog in the Bay Area, and along the coast to create photos with an ombre affect, which produced some of my better sunset photos, and one really good photo of the early morning mist, near Monterey, California, as the mist as it moved on shore off the Pacific.But this year, as I feel my photographic mojo returning, I feel drawn to shades of purple, lavender in particular. Oh... I did I mention that it's also good luck to plant some by a garden gate?

Here are a couple of my favorite Purple/Lavender

 colored leaves from the last couple years...

2015

2016

And now the Leaf Of The Day!

  

Leaf Of The Day

September 27th 2017

Manteca, California

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Yellow Fresia And Lavender

"Love isnt all flowers and candles, and dancing midgets.

 No, it is much, much taller than that."

~Jarod Kintz

Love Quotes For The Ages

Specifically Ages 18-81.

Look, See, I made it! Two postings in a row! As I ease back into life anew, Mondays seem to be the day for getting caught up! I was so thrilled to hear from my friend Kat! Lovie, I wasn't sure if you might have given up on me and moved on, so to get a comment from you just made my whole day! And yes, I am taking your suggesstion and I will be doing a video walk through of the house when we are done decorating it! The living room is almost there, we just need to finish the fireplace and get something for the red statement wall! I am learning a lot about color as I move along through the decorating. Next up will be the bedroom, which I am doing in Cornflower Blue, soft lavender and mineral. After that it is on to the hallway, bathroom and finally the kitchen next autumn! I want to let the house show me the way, if that makes sense.

 I want to stay true to it's energy, which from our experience in her the last 6 months, is mostly embracing, gentle and very kind. It's a house that brings you in and gently holds you. It's got such a nice vibe. I felt it from the moment we pulled up in front of it! I hadn't even seen it in the MLS listings. Our real estate expert just decided to add it into the house list for that day! We learned the day we signed the contracts that the previous owned listed it on my birthday! It was meant to be. It was just sitting quietly, in that cute little neighborhood waiting for us, and when we pulled up on the curb in front of the house, Alan and I both immediately remarked on how adorable it was and when we walked in the door the house just seemed to say... 

"Well, what took you so long?"

We have started landscaping the yard. 

Yellow Freesia and Lavender. 

More photos to come soon.

Stay Tuned!

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Cooking and Photography

Japanese Maple (Spring Deep Cinnamon Colored Leaves)

"Cinnamon bites about kisses simultaneously."

~Vanna Bonta

 

The garden is officially off and running toward harvest. That is a happy things. Just this past week I sprinkled cinnamon all around the yard, with taking special care to sprinkle it a bit heavier around each rose bush and each planter that has vegetables or potatoes growing in it. The yard smells wonderful, and it's nice to know that all those pesky aphids and ants will have NO place to stay while in my yard. I owe whoever discovered that cinnamon drives off garden pests a million thank yous! It is so lovely on warm nights to open the window and let the smell of lavender, and cinnamon, fill the room. As a lifelong insomniac I have always looked for natural ways to get a good night's sleep, and in my search on the Internet I found out that lavender is one of the best scents for relaxing and sleeping, and come to find out that not only is it true, but now I almost can't sleep without it!

 

Both cinnamon and lavender can be found in my kitchen as well. I have a small lavender plant that I purchased at an organic gardening center that I use for cooking. It is amazing when used in small amounts. Lavender Chicken is delicious, but so is lavender honey cupcakes! YUM. YUM. YUM. I have been wanting to try a recipe for lavender ice cream, and with summer just around the corner, doesn't that sound particularly good for dessert on a hot mid summer night? I been considering cooking with edible flowers, and lavender seemed like the perfect one to begin with. The plant itself is low maintenance and very nearly pest free. And the scent... Mmmmmm!

Cooking and photography go hand in hand as my two favorite creative outlets!

So tell me, do you enjoy photographing food? Have you done any organic gardening? Have you ever cooked with edible organic plants and flowers? If so, what did you make, and did it come out as good as you thought it would? What were the pluses and minuses?

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Backyard Photography ~ Garden Diary... April 10th 2013

"You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present."

~Jan Glidewell

My lovely Japanese Maple has transitioned from stick figure to crimson beauty! I am a little caught off guard by how early the leaves have appeared, but I am not complaining! I get to watch this beauty move about now through the rest of spring and summer then turn the most magnificent crayola colors of copper and deep purple as autumn comes and goes. Aww... life in the garden... I love my maple tree, and with the roses surrounding it I feel ridiculously happy inside! And the occasional visit by a little bird doesn't hurt either! Now if I could just talk the opossums into coming back around to!

:)



Lesser Goldfinch...





Coming Soon...

New Roses
Lavender
Spearmint
Heirloom Tomatoes
White Strawberries

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

Carly's Garden Digest 2013: Day One... March 25th, 2013

"When one of my plants dies, I die a little inside too."

~Linda Solegato

 

Mumpfh. It's spring now, and sick or not, it is time to get the garden ready for vegetables and flowers. You know... the stuff good living is all about! The yard itself is lush and green, and that's the good news. There is a lot of healthy going on! Just look at the lavender, isn't it gorgeous? I have big plans for my lavender this year, lots of herbal remedies and a sachets for better sleeping! There is nothing like tucking some dried lavender in a light cloth pocket under a pillow. Lavender is amazing for clearing the mind of noise and clouds. Awwww. That's the stuff dreams are made of!

Unfortunately, the rose garden is in a bit of peril. It seems the aphids did a very good job of overwintering, and came back to my rose garden in force! Blech! When I did a once around of the garden yesterday, I found that they had attached themselves in great numbers to half the rose plants, but that left about half in decent shape, with NO signs of damage to them. No black fungus damage or frostbite from that quick chill we had. So, I am counting my blessings, and spending the day preparing for some deep gardening later this week.

I am making a DIY spray to rid the garden of the nastiness. A small amount of cutting back comes next, then I will sprinkle a generous helping of ground cinnamon at the base of each rose, then place some foil on top of the cinnamon, secure the foil with bricks, and sprinkle a little more around the outside for good measure. Once that is done, it will be time to plant between 8 and 12 small mint plants in the ground between the rose plants, and perhaps one or two new, healthy roses (perhaps mini roses) to encourage new growth. Lastly, I am going to plant (3) 5lb pots of lavender against the fence and let it run along the back. It's work, but I have Alan to help me, and it's going to be amazing a couple months from now.

You'll see!

Here We The Before View...


If All Else Fails, I Will Do What I Did A Few Years Back... Buy Ladybugs!


Pretty Soon... Hello Beauty! :)



"Gardening is cheaper than therapy, and you get tomatoes."

~Unknown

Mood: Happy but Determined

~Me :)

A Photo A Day For 6 Months: Day 86~ Sexy Food

"The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star."



~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin


 


My first love is photography. My second love is photographing food. I love the way it looks. Let's face it... food is sexy. There is something wonderful about picking out something wildly delicious, and aromatic, bringing it home, and preparing it for with someone you are crazy in love with. A couple years ago, I began hearing about Blood Oranges, and their attributes. Delicious, visually striking, and like all oranges, a great source of calcium, antioxidants. 

 

I wish they were in season, but they aren't and they won't be until this winter. I will have to wait to cook with them, unless I want to use some blood orange juice as the base for a recipe. Personally, I like the taste of the juice, and the soda for that matter, but there is nothing like working with a lovely fresh organic one, purchased fresh from a store just before cooking. I have some recipes in mind, such as Spicy Orange Chicken, and Blood Orange and Pink Peppercorn ice cream. Oh yeah... did I mention my love of pink 
peppercorns? 


 



Delicious... and equally sexy. ;) Amazing in ice cream!


I think this fall and winter I will be quite busy with food photography, which is good, because not only can lighting be a bit of a challenge, but I also get to get a fair amount of time in practicing my macro photography. I could definitely use some practice with that. 


Okay, here is my market list...


Heirloom tomatoes


Brussels Sprouts


Blood Oranges


Lavender


Pink Peppercorns


Tri-Color Cauliflower


Purple Yams


So tell me, do you enjoy doing food photography? If so, what kind? If not... why not? Would you be willing to try a new food, and photograph it for an EMPS assignment? If so, what have you been wanting to try, but haven't gotten around to yet?

Tell me all about it!


~Me :)


Today's Link...


JR
http://jrclinephotography.blogspot.com/2012/08/apadf6-84.html

Monday Photo Shoot: Personal Gifts

"I don't think my parents liked me. They put a live teddy bear in my crib."

-Woody Allen

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Take a picture of something nice/fun/interesting that you recently bought for yourself. That means something you bought because you said to yourself "hey, that would be nice to have," as opposed to, say "hey, this is something I have to get." So, for example, that package of tube socks that you just bought would not qualify for photo shoot - but a pair of multicolored knee-high socks with kittens on them would. It's all about the delivery, you see.

-John Scalzi (By The Way)

This was a difficult Monday Photo Shoot for me. I haven't really indulged in anything recently, well, not since my last birthday in June, and I think I pretty much shared everything I have purchased since then. So, here are a couple items that I keep on my desk, which represent personal treasures to me. They were both purchased as a little something to pick up my spirits, neither qualifies as having been needed. So I hope it is ok to use these for the assignment.

The first picture is of my pal Arlo, which I named after singer, Arlo Guthrie. He is a member of my Boyd's Bears collection. I have an attachment to this fella, there is just something about him that makes me smile. :) I have a pretty big Boyd's collection, but this bear is very special. I hold him sometimes when I am feeling a little down. He helps.



This photo is of my lavender bracelet. It was really inexpensive, but it is fun and lovely. I wear it often, and feel really good when I do. :) It was only about $5.99, but it means a lot to me. I will always keep it close.

And there you have it, two examples of a recent indulgence. Just two little gifts to me, because, after all, I like me. Me is good. :) Go me!

-OndineMonet
"Arlo"
Berkeley, California
October 1, 2007
Late Evening