Happy 4th!

I hope all of you have a wonderful, safe and happy 4th of July!!

Fireworks in San Antonio, New Years eve 2008.

Edible garden

A few weeks ago I showed you the work we did in the front of the house and promised to show you what we did out back. Without further ado, here is it!


Here is my stockpile of supplies to get me started:

And yes, Diet Mt. Dew is required when gardening (at 7am!!)


Here are the gorgeous plants that we purchased the evening before at the local greenhouse:

We picked out a variety of peppers, onions, and cucumbers. You can also see the sweet flowers we have out front.


Next up we have the incredible plant stand that found just for this occasion (we got a great deal on it: free!!):

And here is that same stand all dressed up:

A close up on the top:

And now for a closer look at the bottom layers:

Here are some pots lined up along the side of the house. They house my Grammy's special strawberries, 2 kinds of lettuce, and even more peppers:

We also have a few other pots scattered around the deck with the rest of our goodies.


I guess Mr. Moore deserves some credit for his work that day. He spruced up our patio, weeded, re-mulched and made a much needed trip to Home Depot.

I can't wait to be able to feast on all of our hard work!

A girl can dream...

On beautiful days like these, I wish I had one of these:

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Oh yea! A Vespa!


And I totally would wear a helmet like this one with it:

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Geek chic, baby!

Does the warm weather rekindle any of your dreams??



A fresh coat of paint

Even though we have been ready for summer weather to arrive these past few weeks (read: months), Mr. Moore and I have not been able to really get out and enjoy the warmth for a few reasons:


1. One or both of us have been away from home for most of the weekend.


2. The nice weather has only been around during the week and the weekends have been rainy or generally yucky.


3. We have been wrapped up with the festivities for Mr. Moore’s sister's nuptials. (Congrats to the happy couple!)


But this weekend we were finally able to start to enjoy the lovely weather and begin on a few projects that have been literally piling up (in the garage).


An easy one on the list was to spruce up a plant stand that I found at one of my favorite second hand stores for $4.

You must forgive me. I am a bad, bad blogger and forgot to take a “before” shot. So please bear with me and accept these “during” shots as a close and hopefully acceptable second:

The pretty swirlies even match our existing plant stands:

Yes, my sprucing method of choice was a can of black spray paint. The paint cost me under $3. So for a measly $7, I had a snazzy new plant stand that looks pretty darn sharp:

 

Our weekend endeavors also included a trip to a local green house where we purchased the bulk of our plants for the summer and of course planting said plants. I even got around to hanging the wreath that my parents purchased for me for Christmas…nothing like finally enjoying a gift 5 months later. Here it all is at home on our front porch:

Can’t wait to share what we did in the back of the house!

Shopping online = FREE money?!?!

Do you like to shop online? I know I do.


Do you like free money? I know I do.


Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could get free money for shopping online? Yes, please!

I realize this is starting to sound like a questional infomercial.

But in all seriousness, have you heard of Ebates? It’s a website that when you plan to do online shopping, all you need to do is start your shopping there after creating an account. Find your store of choice by doing a simple search. The percentage of money that you will receive back is listed. (Sometimes there are specials where stores will offer more money back for a short period of time.) When you click the link to your store of choice, a tracking number is created and all you need to do is complete your shopping as usual. Every three months, your money will be ready for you. A check will arrive in your mailbox or it can be directly deposited into your bank account.






I know, I know. I was skeptical too. But I decided to give it a shot. So a few months ago, I signed up for an account and started my online shopping there. After a few weeks, I actually got a check in the mail from Ebates! I was shocked. Even more shocking, the bank took the check and deposited the money in my account!! It really worked.






Since then I have received a few more checks from Ebates and good news… the bank consistently deposits the check into my account. Thank you Ebates for my free money!

Items I am currently loving:

Ok, it is really only one item…but I really love it:



1. Rimmel Fix & Perfect Foundation Primer.

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This stuff is AMAZING! My foundation stays on sooo much better than it ever has. I no longer need to break out the powder compact over lunch for a quick touch up to make it through the work day. However, if I were going out after work, I would want to do a quick touch up. But only on areas that are frequently touched throughout the day(ex. my constantly runny nose or my chin from my desk phone). For your reference, I have been using this with a powder mineral foundation and my skin is normal/combination.

It’s no joke!

Spring continues to evade us in the north east. 

At least some signs of hope are popping up:

But if spring never gets here, we can always look forward to Gmail Motion...

Question of the day…

 via a very lovely etsy shop

 …isn't this defeating its own intentions?

Soapbox

When my mom and I were at the Philly flower show, we were handed this business card:

And we were given these instructions:

Go to: www.KomenPhiladelphia.org/Video and watch the video.


If the video reaches 5 million views then UnitedHealthCare of PA will donate $50,000 to Susan G. Komen for the cure. If the tally then gets to 8 million views, then they will donate another $50,000.


So take 4 minutes and 2 seconds out of your day to watch the video and help out your mother, sister, aunt, best friend…or even yourself who may one day have to battle breast cancer.

Every little bit does help. So if you have an urge to jump on a bandwagon, hop on this one!

The Situation, part 2

After much more searching both online and in stores, I still have not been able to find a quality bag that not only fits my long wish list, but one that also makes my heart sing. I have begun to think that maybe rather than finding my “forever” bag, I can find a “just right now, until I do find my forever bag” bag.



So that took me down another path that ultimately ended with two options being ordered from Target. With free shipping and free in store returns, this was a no loss exploration. Here is what happened upon my door stop one lovely afternoon:

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 The sizes of the bags are great. There are plenty of pockets to keep OCD me sane. Handles are a good length. The material I do not love (but I was expecting and accepting that). So that leaves me on the color options…



Option 1 is much closer to my color wish. However, it is a little darker than I had wanted. It is more brown, than it is tan. So it wouldn’t go as well with my ensemble on days that I wear black...although I am trying to get away from wearing so much black…but that’s another story for another day.


Option 2 is nowhere near my color wish. But it does go with everything. But is it too…juvenile?


I have since returned #1. The color just would not work with me and my tendency to wear black.


#2 still lingers in my home.

What do you think?

Keep it? Leave it? Keep searching?