celebrate the small things | Feb 13

So much to celebrate in Austin this week!  While the rest of the country still firmly sits in the clutches of winter, battling temperatures close to freezing and snowfall every other day: Austinites have un-offically welcomed Spring!  The sudden appearance of dandelions attests to the splendidly sunny days we've had, while trees and other flowers are budding all around.  The best news however, is that my own flower seedlings (planted on Monday) have already sprouted!  Here are a couple of pics of my Bachelor Buttons babies, that I took just 15 minutes ago:

 
I've also planted some Cosmos that are sprouting and daisies, (that I'm still waiting on, but) beyond excited all 'round!!  The warm weather has also brought more outdoor excursions for the pups, so they are thrilled.  Here's a pic of Baxter from a recent hike we went on:

And some more evidence of Spring in the photos below that I took on various walks around the neighbbourhood throughout the week:

More exciting news is that I enrolled in an online writing course and am loving every minute!  It's rather challenging but each successfully completed task provides a much needed confidence boost so I'll be starting this Valentine's Day weekend in rather a giddy mood.  :)

And finally (for once) I'm celebrating the swift passage of time which enables me to say that I only have 9 days left until my fabulous anniversary cruise!  Yipeeeee!

Have a great Valentine's weekend!  Hope you're spoiled rotten!

celebrate the (big and) small things | Jan 23

After a gloomy and cold couple of days I'm celebrating the sun coming out in time for the weekend! Hooray!  Everything looks more cheerful with a sunny backdrop!

Also this week I'm celebrating two new additions to the family:

a baby blue point juniper and Baxter, saying hello

and a baby lavender <3
(this will be my third attempt at growing the herb, so fingers crossed!)

And something that's always cause for celebration is dates with girlfriends! This week I've had two!  Lunch and a wedding dress fitting with my girl Meredith who gets married in May // then The Theory of Everything at the cinemas with my love Susanna.

I should mention that this movie, about the life of Stephen Hawking, blew my mind and opened my eyes in a way I can't describe.  I highly, highly recommend it and plan on buying it for myself the second it comes out on dvd.  Perhaps the biggest thing I should celebrate this week is the lesson I received from this incredibly moving film - about the tenacity, positivity and sheer purity of the soul of the man who has achieved so much despite a horribly debilitating disease: a condition that surely would have destroyed a lesser man.  It's a testimony to the human being, really, that in spite of body wasting away, the mind can reach such heights through simple, unwavering determination and positivity.

I actually haven't stopped crying.  I mean I've literally been breaking down on and off since watching it.  Its impact so deep that it's caused me to reevaluate my life and all my bull-shit, nonexistent, self-pitying excuses about why I haven't grabbed life by the scruff of the neck and fought for my dreams.  I'm filled with shame for myself, and awe for the man.  I have a renewed sense of determination and believe that if Stephen Hawking can smile and achieve more than anyone ever thought he was capable of, I simply have no excuse.  How can I even dare to invent one?  I refuse to wallow any longer!  Please do yourselves a favour and see this film.  If it doesn't drastically affect your outlook on life, then at least you will know more about what it's like to walk in the shoes of this lovable, brilliant, radiant man.  If you're anything like me, you'll be left with a bit of a crush really.

Hope everyone has a marvelous weekend.  Don't forget to give thanks for your able bodies, mouths that speak, eyes that see and ears that hear!  For that alone, you are blessed.

this week's tip | succulents for summertime

I truly love the idea of growing plants.  My dream is to have mismatched pots scattered about the place with bright flowers and big, green leaves; filtering the air and cheering up the place.  Some of my earliest childhood memories from Kazakhstan are of my grandmother's flowers that were perched upon every windowsill in her downtown apartment.  Unfortunately the green-thumb that everyone else on my mother's side inherited skipped me entirely and left my own thumb looking a little blue.

This spring was a perfect example: I tried growing herbs with puzzling results!  My harder-to-grow peppermint, parsley and basil are all looking splendid; while my poor (apparently easy to grow) coriander, lemon balm and dill have seen better days.  Since I'm seriously lacking the aforementioned green thumb, I have no explanation as to why this could be - instead (logically) becoming upset every time a plant starts to die and taking it personally.

After some experimentation and a stubborn refusal to give up, I have found the perfect solution for the plant-challenged like me: succulents and cacti!  For one thing, they look amazing as summery accents with my Southwestern decorating scheme; especially in rustic clay or (my fav!) talavera style pots. And for another, they're virtually impossible to neglect - only requiring one watering per week (a very small one in the case of the cactus) and very occasional re-potting!

I purchased my very first succulent, a Jade plant, shortly after moving to Austin in October last year and am happy to report it's doing very well :)

Recently I purchased two more that look like flowers - one to sit on the coffee trunk and another for a side table:

Bright Kilim rug coming soon! 

My prized prickly pear cactus was, as many of you know, a souvenir from our Xmas in the desert.  

In case you need more convincing, or have a green thumb and can successfully grow many plant varieties, I have linked up some ways in which my fave bloggers use succulents for decorating: Cupcakes and Cashmere, Sincerely Jules, a Beautiful Mess.

Now that I've finally found the plants for me - my plan is to buy several more, plant them in gold, silver and talavera style pots, then scatter them about the house to see if I can make my plants-everywhere dream come true!  Wish me luck and try one out for yourself!  They're the perfect summertime plant and would even make a great hostess gift :)

PS: The myth is that succulents need a lot of light, but when I worked in the J.Crew bridal office we had a Jade plant that grew on our bookshelf without any windows at all!  Artificial light was enough.

PPS: A cactus is technically a succulent too!

spring, Austin-style

If you're in the U.S (or anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere) you're rejoicing at the long anticipated arrival of spring!  For most of us this winter was especially brutal and while many northern yards are still covered in snow - it seems less daunting now that spring is the official season at last.  Here in Austin flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, birds chirping and warm weather clothes are emerging once more.  I think it's so nice to be able to capture a little bit of that wonder and contain it within the house.  Bouquets are divine but they die so quickly :(

As I write this next part, I know my friends from Atlanta are going to laugh because they warned Will and I before we moved here that Austin was a town for hippies; it is known for it's quirkiness, environmentally-friendliness, organic/ local farming, relaxed and holistic approach to life.  After I wrote about Eastern medicine, some of them thought I'd been 'sipping the cool-aide' and now ... this spring, in the spirit of rejuvenation, new years resolutions and doing my part for the circulation of Austin's quirky reputation: I'm planting! hehehe (enter comments below :P).

Anyway, I say planting and not gardening because we're in a rental so all my plants will be in pots.  I love decorative flower pots (called planters in the US) and the idea of having them neatly arranged in my herb window.  Did I mention that our rental has a herb window in the kitchen?  Oh yes, it's one of my favourite things about this place!  (and another definite ode to Austin's unique-ness, considering you'd be hard pressed to find herb windows anywhere else in America but it's really common here).

Once I'd made my mind up about planting, I became quite taken with these flower pots from anthropologie:

and loved the idea of them sitting happily inside my herb window so I went on down to the store, money in hand and smile on face, picturing all the while how I would arrange them, only to be disappointed by their lack of drainage holes :(  Of course avid gardeners already know the solution is drilling holes using a masonry drill but that wasn't something either Will or I fancied doing.  It all turned out for the best though, when I found this (very Austin) herb growing kit at my local pharmacy (I know, weird right?)

That made my decision easy, I would replant all of my herbs into matching terracotta pots and save any decorative ones I come across later for my other plants.  I think having them uniformed will look equally as nice:

My prickly pear cactus and prized souvenir from our Christmas in the Texas desert got a very beautiful, one of a kind pot of his own.  As you know after said desert trip, I became obsessed with southwestern decorating and knew from the moment we got this lil prickly pear that he needed to be planted in a bright, southwestern themed pot to achieve maximum memory-jogging-of-time-spent-in-desert affect.  All this time I've searched for a pot that would do just that and worried my little cactus would start to die because he desperately needed a bigger pot; then last weekend when Will and I grabbed a taco lunch next to an authentic Mexican pottery shop where I happened to find the peice de resistance to my herb window!

'handmade in Mexico'

isn't it splendid?

I read somewhere that when re-potting a cactus, tongs should always be used.
Definitely came in handy 'cause I was would have been quite perplexed
about this process otherwise...

Voila!
He's a little small but will soon look perfect in his brand new pot.
PS: replanting using tongs was a breeze