Ringing in the New Year

That's right, I am just ringing in the New Year here in my blogosphere. I have been very busy. Very, very busy. Ya'll ready for this!!!

I visited New York again for work and I still never tire of some of my favorite sights.

Rockefeller Center and it's mostly uncoordinated skaters.



Perhaps one of my absolute favorite places in all of New York: St Patrick's Cathedral. I am constantly in awe of its beauty and the very plain fact that it simply doesn't fit in amongst the high rises and city life. Although I am not catholic, or even religious, I can't help but love this building in all its ornate old world glory. I always envision what it must have looked like to the people of New York when it was finally completed in 1879. I can imagine the horse drawn carriages filled with real gentlemen and ladies dressed in their finest along with the common and poor residents who were equally welcomed inside the grand doors of the Cathedral. Am I crazy to romanticise the time when petticoats, corsets and feathery hats were the norm? I have to admit that the feathery hats are really what gets me...oh yeah, and riding side saddle of course. :) 

Now that I have been thoroughly sidetracked :).

I also refinished my first piece of furniture. Our very old, missing one drawer, falling apart old dresser just wasn't cutting it anymore. And for once in my life I remembered to actually take a complete before picture. The dresser was not ugly by any means and was actually originally from Pier 1 Imports which means that someone paid good money for it. Good thing for me, I only had to pay $60 for it.

And thanks to David making me promise to finish this project COMPLETELY as a term of purchase, it actually was completed in one weekend. Ta-da!



And the best thing is that all the drawers are there, they all have handles and they all have sturdy bottoms that aren't falling out.

I have gotten books...several books. My favorite of which is my Western Gardens Book aka the Western Gardens Bible.

With the help of my dad and mom (what would I do without them) I also installed the lattice on my back porch for some much needed privacy. And we replaced my very broken down shed door. By broken down I mean that it was no longer even attached to the door jam and required me to lift it out of the way to go in and out of the shed.

I painted my fireplace...mostly. I want to state first off that I am adamantly against painting brick and think it is a crime. However, mine was already painted poop brown and after staring at it for the last 5 years, yes I said 5 years, I decided enough was enough. I realize now that I didn't actually take an after picture but you can see partially what it looked like before and I will do a full update on it once I finish the inside as well.

And although I cannot take credit for this project, we have also started to remodel our bedroom. By remodel I mean paint, re-carpet and some general sprucing up. I am responsible for the incredible color though. :) Again I failed at taking any before pictures, not that you wanted to see my 50 year old matted down stinky brown carpet.

There has been lots of growing around here too. Spring is here and you know what that means!

Flowers! Alyssum compacta...sorry, I don't even know the common name and no it's not the same as the common sweet Alyssum.

My very confused Lemon tree that always has lemons and flowers...all the time!



My b-e-a-utiful Salvia which has had at least a couple of flowers on it all winter. I must admit that I didn't really like or appreciate Salvia much in my earlier gardening years. I don't think I disliked them because they were bad plants, I simply thought them too commonplace and no longer interesting. I have obviously changed my tune since half of my front planter bed is full of some variety of Salvia. There's a Salvia for everybody!

Oh my love of Toad Lily's. I promise I don't love all plants but these guys definitely make it to my top ten.

This unidentified tree in my backyard. Yes I said unidentified. I thought I had it figured out but now I am not so sure but it smells great this time of year especially in the evenings when it has been warm outside.

It's just not Spring without some Violas offering a little bit of sunshine on those drizzly spring days. 

And last but not least, this weekend was my friends 25th birthday extravaganza! Although by this time in the night I had consumed my fair share of drinks and it was the worst picture I took all night, it's the only one I have of the two of us. :) (That's right, I have like 4 good pictures of myself and they were taken in the same night and my eyes aren't glowing in any of them!)

OMG a people picture on my blog, this is indeed a rare occasion! OMG again, I almost forgot the most important pictures of all!!!! Nothing says spring like the beautiful maple leaves emerging in all of their orange glory! :)

Since I can't choose just one you get to see all 3 pictures.

I had almost 20 so you should be thankful that I only liked a few.

Wow, I story tell like I talk: fast and furious. Like I said, I have been very very busy indeed. Hopefully you enjoyed the pictures since I really didn't have much to say. Happy New Year everyone (by everyone I mean my mom and sisters)! Haha!