Hello Mr. Blue Sky

My excuse for stepping away from the computer lately is actually a good one: It's been nice outside.

I've realized over the last few years- especially since I moved to Massachusetts and began experiencing longer, more miserable winters- that the weather affects me a lot more than I thought it would. What this means is, I'm a sad cold lump for several months, then the first few warm days hit and I feel like I've taken a party drug. We got out our bikes and everything. And RODE them. Even my geranium, which I dragged inside after last summer and which hated me for it, proving it by shedding a ton of leaves, has regained her former glory and is even pushing out new blooms.

Speaking of plants, I would like to pause in my pro-spring rant to bring you another plant pride and joy, my birthday gift to myself:

Isn't she beautiful? It's a Ficus Elastica Tineke, or, slightly less fancily, a variegated rubber tree. In the background you can see the plant that started my obsession, Rubbert Plant the rubber plant, who is my ultimate favorite- when I learned he came in fun colors, I knew I would get one one day. It was ages until one appeared in my local nursery (ordering online isn't nearly as fun, plus, the hunt his half the excitement!) and serendipitously, I stumbled across this one on my birthday Treat Yo Self trip to the garden center. 

To further deviate from the original purpose of this post, allow me to share another birthday present to myself which is a new pair of glasses. I usually have two pairs in rotation just in case something happens to one but decided to add a third because... why not. I love changing my glasses frequently so I order them from Zenni, which has a lot of inexpensive but good options (I've never had any quality issues and I've ordered many pairs). I will say though that they're inexpensive for me because my vision is normal-bad so no astigmatisms or anything- I'm not sure how it'd be for someone with bad-bad vision. 

I usually go with something in a cat eye shape but decided to mix it up a little. I was specifically looking for blue ones but I fell in love with the shape enough that I was okay with settling on just streaks of blue. I like bolder colors usually (the blue isn't so pronounced when I'm wearing them) but I'm glad I got these because they suit my face so well!

Aaaanywho, with this explosion of good feels, I've broken out of my apathy a little and started some new projects. Things are still slow-going and I'm pretty sure this is something I'll always struggle with but it's felt nice to work on some new crafty things recently. 

One of the first things I did as the weather warmed up is break out the watercolors. I love experimenting with watercolors. I've nowhere near mastered it but I think I'm getting better and am pretty proud of my recent result, which is a card for my mom who recently had surgery on her hand (trigger finger). She's much better now and is healing quickly but I figured she could use a card of support since she was unable to sew for several days (tragic!).

Chickadees are the state bird of Massachusetts and fun to draw/paint because they're basically round little puff balls. Since they are super cute little puff balls, I thought it'd be extra funny to have it yelling at my mom to get better.

I dunno, it made sense when I was painting it.

I was definitely inspired by the comic False Knees when I made this (check it out! So funny!). I think I did a pretty great job if I do say so myself and though I haven't painted anything else since this, I also haven't put my paints away. It's either inspiration or laziness, only time will tell.

That's not the only project I worked on but of course, I'm making things for people that will potentially see this so I cannot yet share but it's happening, trust me. It seems to be impossible for me to just keep making things for myself- for every thing I do for me, I have to bombard at least three other people with something I've made. I suppose it could be worse.

I've also finally gotten around to hanging some art that's been kicking around for a while and generally sprucing stuff up. Spring cleaning I suppose. That and I've been taking more walks and planting a lot of flowers in Animal Crossing, which totally counts, right?

Well, I think I'm going to sit on the porch and try to coax the neighbors cat to hang out with me. I'll just leave the natural choice for a song to accompany this post before I go. Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

Make it Snow

Somehow, I let a whole month go by. Aside from that fact that this is just the time of year that goes by at lightning speed, I found myself extremely O V E R W H E L M E D what with starting a new job and all, and some things just naturally fell by the wayside as my panic brain took over and attempted to cope with all the change. Unfortunately blog reading and writing was one of those things. As plant care and house upkeep/random chores also started to slip, I realized I'd crossed over that fine line of "making space to breathe during a stressful time" to "not taking care of business" territory and started the process of dragging myself back to where I function best.

And here I am.

I will fully admit that I'm one to get overwhelmed easily when facing change but as I began my new job, I realized just how... institutionalized I had become at my previous job. We always talked about the kids getting institutionalized, staying too long and getting too comfortable in a rigid yet "safe" environment that the idea of leaving was too terrifying so they'd do all the could to stay, but I never considered that I would be the one unable to cope in the wide open world outside. (reminder: I work at a psychiatric hospital in an inpatient unit for adolescents)

When I began my new job I was given so much leeway to figure out how to go about the tasks at hand- no hour-by-hour schedule, no strict procedures- that I felt lost the whole day and severely questioned my choice to leave my previous job. Here, I need to give a special shout out to M and my friends and family who listened to me complain about it and supported me until I was able to realize that they hired me to be an expert, they hired me because I have a lot of useful experience, and I can do this. There are so many positives to this job and all the negatives were ones that I created for myself. 

I am happy to report that I'm getting to a place where I'm trusting myself and enjoying figuring out how best to do my job MY way, and finding out that it is amazing to be able to do that again finally. I'd been on autopilot for far too long but now my brain is waking up again and it's pretty great. 

So here we are, at the start of the holiday season (my absolute favorite) and I'm feeling better and better about my job as we go- that means I'm finally at a place where I can appreciate all the things that gave me joy during a rough time and what continues to brighten my spirits each day. Lets play a little "what makes me happy lately" catch up!

One of my first pick-me-ups was, surprise surprise, a plant. On a particularly blustery and cold day, I wandered into Lowe's and found this bad boy on the clearance rack for a mere $5. I couldn't say no. When I went to the garden center check out counter, the woman couldn't get it to ring up so she just rang up something else I was buying twice ("it's too cold out here to wait that long for a manager to get here for an overrride"), making this come out to a whopping $3.50. I removed a few brown fronds (they just failed to water it- he was  healthy guy overall!) and now it's classing up my bookshelf area.

I also snuck this little dude into the house- a Pilea Glauca, aka Aquamarine. That's my birthstone, how could I not?? The leaves have a subtle sparkle to them, I love it.

I've been doing a lot of making things too- that's what's taken up the vast majority of my free time lately and is always my mental health pick-me-up go-to. Planting myself on the couch and sewing for hours is pretty therapeutic for me (who knew stabbing something hundreds of times would make you feel so much better!). The vast majority of my projects are gifts though, so I don't want to share them yet. I did break out the Bead Horde recently though and made myself a couple of necklaces. 

Those wooden beads move around on the necklace. I have a hard time with asymmetry but occasionally I like to give it a shot and I'm pretty pleased with how this one turned out. It's like "Asymmetry Lite" so I can deal with it.

I was into the color combo of this in a big way and who doesn't' like a little gradient?

These two projects were fun to make because I went back to some simple stringing. It has similar therapeutic properties as cross stitching I guess- you have a burst of creativity in figuring out the design but the actual execution of it is just repetitively putting beads on a wire. Very calming.

I also engaged in a little retail therapy in the form of these incredibly amazing Dr. Martens X The Who collection 1461s. 

Fun fact: Pete Townshend, guitarist and singer for The Who windmilled Docs from work shoes to rock shoes as he rose to fame wearing a beat up pair of 1461s on stage.

I have a solid collection of Dr. Marten boots (5 so far!) but have been wanting a pair of the 1461 style shoes for a long time. I just so happen to stumble across these on the Dr. Marten website for $75, in my size, originally priced at $125. Merry early Christmas to me! I particularly love the contrast arrow on the top and the red and blue aglets. These'll be some amazing concert shoes if that ever happens again...

Mental health walks (not yet in those shoes though- we have some breaking in to do), have been pretty vital and I've been trying to take quick 30 minute post work de-stress walks every day, weather permitting. It's extra nice when you see things like this on the side of the trail...

They aren't the only ones to put up a Christmas tree though. I've loaded my apartment with as much Christmas decorations as I could find! Including a 7 ft tall slender tree:

I've been trying to collect more weird ornaments to put on it. Prior to getting this one, M and I only had small 4 ft trees (they're up in different parts of the apartment) so we didn't have a ton of our own ornaments yet. My mom gave me a bunch from when I was a kid (she only puts up her super fancy blown glass ones now anyway) and the past few years I've been picking up a few more to add to the collection here and there. I recently went to a craft store for more gift making supplies and happily picked up my newest additions (50% off too!):

Dinosaurs, robots, and TARDIS! So festive!

Our subtly Christmas-inappropriate tree topper... any Doctor Who fans out there?? I'm thinking about touching this up with some shiny silver paint. I like the topper but it's so dark atop a bright and shiny tree... maybe I'll replace it someday if I stumble across a suitable alternative.

It looks extra nice and glowy at night, doesn't it? I like the red velvet ribbon garland- it fills a lot of space if you don't have a ton of ornaments- but I might replace that at some point too. I like a nice beaded garland, or maybe I'll find a silly one to go with all my weird and random ornaments. I also need to upgrade my tree skirt too, which is just a green/red/white plaid round table cloth, artfully arranged and held together at the back with a binder clip. It's ok though. I see Christmas decorations as things you just slowly amass over your lifetime and I haven't been out on my own for that long, in the grand scheme of things. No rush.

One of my favorite ornaments gifted to me by a friend of mine last year, purchased on Etsy I believe (shop unknown). Make it snow!

Speaking of snow- yesterday, Saturday, it was a gloomy snowy day, the first "real" snow of the season (it wasn't a lot but as you can see, it actually stuck around this time). It was perfect for staying home, being cozy, and doing a little sewing- a wonderful day off. This weekend I've felt more Zen than I have in a long time.

Now all that's left is for me to catch up on all the reading I've missed out on (and, now that I think of it, I should probably clear off my car so I don't have to do it before work tomorrow...). I hope everyone is getting into a festive mood this year despite what a dumpster fire it's been. 2021 can only be better! ,,,right?

If you need a little boost, allow me to drop a holiday classic to get you going. Enjoy!

Made It: Wedding Terrariums

With my wedding being pushed back thanks to Covid-19, I now have time to do a lot of the fun, crafty things I originally wanted to do but ran out of time for. 

At least, that's the idea.

I'm the queen of making grand plans that quickly get forgotten (which, yes, is what happened the first time around) so whether all this happens remains to be seen. Somehow though, I managed to make some slight progress recently in the form of a terrarium. 

At some point, I got it into my head that having living plants, especially terrariums, would make for a really cool centerpiece for the tables at my wedding; something people would actually want to take home and would be able to enjoy for a while. I've never made a terrarium before though so I knew I needed to have a test run before I commit. Luckily, I braved Ikea and stumbled across a really cool (and cheap) domed glass... thing that would make the perfect prototype. Et voila: 

I'd want to use a larger container (but not too large- I want people to bring them home with  them after all) for the centerpieces but this was just a dry run anyway. I really like how it turned out! I knew I'd want to include funny little figurines or whatever in my wedding stuff so I found this tiny alien that I'm pretty sure was an arcade prize of some sort (I don't mean to brag but I'm a pro-level skee baller). It seemed right to put an alien in a weird miniature world I created.

Something I did not think about when I chose the dome though, was that I'd have to put the rocks/charcoal/dirt in a separate container to plant my plant in so I could take the dome on and off for watering without lots of spillage. Luckily I had a small plastic container I could trim down to make fit.

I wanted to make a test terrarium super early because I wanted to see how it'd look over time to see if I needed to make them far in advance or super close to the wedding. Or at all of course. Here's what it looks like a little less than a month later where it sits on my bookshelf:

It's doing super well! As you can see, it's making it's own little rainforest in there. That was something I was worried about in the wedding department actually; would it be too hard to see into/look bad as a centerpiece with all the condensation? I don't think it looks terrible but I am leaning toward an open terrarium now to be honest. I'm still pretty happy to have this dude living on my self though so no regrets. That was the purpose of making it anyway! 

I highly recommend making your own if you're even considering it. It came together quickly and relatively inexpensively. Here are my materials:

1. A plant(s). Make sure they're moisture loving and will fit in your container obviously. I used a Peperomia Frost because it was my favorite plant in my Garden Center's terrarium plant section. You do you of course though.
2. Potting soil. I just used some that I had hanging around.
3. Horticultural charcoal so your plants don't rot in the wicked humid conditions.
4. Sphagnum moss to regulate the humidity.
5. Small stones for drainage.
6. Something to put it all in, preferably made of glass. Thrift stores would probably be a more fun place to find that then Ikea. 

I layered it like so, starting from the bottom: Stones, charcoal, soil, plant, moss. For more of the particulars of how and why, check out this Popular Mechanics article, and/or this one from The Spruce, they're what I consulted the most before starting this. There's tons of help out there for whatever kind of terrarium you want to make though.

It was really fun creating my own little world and look forward to maybe doing it more in the future. It was also nice do do something a little different with my plants, now that I'm a full fledged plant lady. 

And on that note, I'll leave you with this Strange Planet comic. Enjoy!

Plant Mom: The Kids Are Alright

Hellooooooo! Yes, I am here, I am alive, and, dare I say, I am thriving. 

That was so many commas. 

Anyway, like I said in my last post, I've recently become more, I dunno, actually excited to do things. Sounds strange maybe but I started this blog because I wasn't able to drum up that level of excitement anymore. I'd always been the kind of person that had a lot of hobbies- I had to have something to do at all times- but over the past few years I've stopped feeling that strong pull to do and create things on a regular basis and to be perfectly honest that made me sad. Which, unsurprisingly, made me even less inclined to do things.

But hey, I've been killin' it lately. I have that glorious feeling of "there's not enough time in the day to do all the fun things!" which is insane but I'm almost trying not to think of it too much- I just want to keep riding this wave as long as possible. I will say that I have reached the conclusion that the weather affects me more than it used to and now that it's pretty consistently sunny and warm out, it's easier for me to find that mental energy to be super into things. I started this blog in October so maybe these gray New England winters are starting to wear on me (I know October isn't technically wintertime but in NE, it might as well be). I'll be more cognizant of that this year (and load up on vitamin D) but right now, how's about I tell you about my plants?

Ah yes, my plant children. One of my newish activities I seem to have an unending new-found enthusiasm for.  One of my favorite daily rituals is a plant check where stare doe eyed at all my plant's new growth. Sure I've had some recent deaths and subsequent acquisitions but overall I feel like I'm hitting my stride with plant motherhood- I have a better understanding of what plants might work in my space and with my plant-care habits. 

We'll start with my porch plants since that's where I currently am. 

My columbine are absolutely killing it. I thought it was a goner after getting rid of a bunch of dead stalks recently but apparently that was a good thing because it's looking healthier and is finally putting out more of it's beautiful flowers! This perfect beauty has 5 more pods around it, waiting to burst open.

Not only that, but when I took out the dead bits, I made sure to empty the seed pods into the pot. I'm glad I did because look at all the new growth under there!

My geranium are getting pretty large and in charge too, so much so that I'm starting to worry about where to put them once I bring them into the house when it turns cold. I may even need to repot them.

That's it for outside really. Inside, here's a semi-new addition, a peperomia obtusifolia aka baby rubber plant. With that name, I couldn't help but get it considering how much luck I've had with my real rubber plant.

The leaves are thick, almost like a succulent, but it isn't a succulent. That pot is made of basalt (a fine grained volcanic rock) and is really awesome. It has the same moisture absorbing properties as terra-cotta (perfect for over waterers like me) but with a cool brown/black color and a great feel.  I loved it so much I repotted my silver ann pothos into one, and will probably get more for future plants.

The pothos hasn't grown much since I got it but it also hasn't gotten much unhealthier either. I don't think it liked it's previous spot, nor did it enjoy it's pot which was probably too big for it (hot tip: bigger is not better with plant pots. It's more like a Goldilocks scenario- it needs to be just right) so hopefully it's happier in it's new pot at his new spot near the peperomia. 

Next up, my very newest acquisition, this calathea beauty star (who will be hanging out with her fellow calathea, the rattlesnake plant).

Look at those markings! Calatheas love humidity and filtered light and like hanging out with each other. So, you know, I definitely had to get this beauty star, right? The rattlesnake needed a friend, right?

They're definitely buds, just look at them. Also noteworthy: that rattlesnake guy has 3 new leaves coming up as we speak!

Ok, just kidding, I do have a newer plant than the beauty star, though it hasn't rooted yet.

I visited the future in-laws this past weekend and couldn't not ask to take away some cuttings of their impressively long philodendron brasil. I coated the ends in rooting hormone and stuck them in this jar of water- cross your fingers that at least most of these root so I too can have a glorious trailing plant!

Another success of mine is this african spear which has popped out not one but TWO new babies!

Can you see them? I think this is really happy with it's home (that table gets a ton of light during the day) and I've managed to leave it alone for once (it doesn't need or want much water). This is a pretty weird plant- I can't wait until it gets big!

Last but not least, an update on my oyster plant and string of pearls.

I thought the oyster plant was a goner. I watered the ever living shit out of it and also did some drastic things to try and get rid of a fungus gnat invasion but here in front of the super bright kitchen window it's slowly putting out new growth and it's gotten a ton of it's color back. 

The string of pearls is another succulent that hates too much water therefore should not be something I have but was too weird to pass up. It's slowly putting out new beads too and I've only watered it once (!). 

That's it for now. One day my plant updates won't fit into a reasonably sized post and I... don't mind. 

I'll let The Who play me out. Have a good day!

 

Plant mom: Just Chill Already

I've been quieter here lately, mostly because I can only do so much in a lockdown situation (Massachusetts is, rightfully, taking reopening slowly), but also because a lot of my time has been spent stressfully harassing my plants.

We're going through a rough patch at work because we're taking on new patients finally. We always have quite the waitlist so I'm not surprised even given the current situation, but unfortunately this means a complicated quarantine protocol and lots and lots of chaos and stress. Additionally, we finally made the decision to postpone our wedding which was originally going to be this August but has now been pushed to August 2021. The decision is a right one and I don't regret it but it's rough fielding all the questions from people, hearing their input (*insert eye roll here*), and doing all the frantic emailing of vendors/ordering "change the dates." It all worked out though and we were able to get all the same vendors booked for next year but I'll admit, the process left me in a little bit of a funk (shoutout to my fiancé who can still stand me even when I can't stand myself and swoops in for the save when I need it most <3).

On top of all that, I'm one of many that feel a lot of pressure to take this lockdown as a good opportunity to reach my full potential of creativeness and productivity. Of course, that's not how it works really, especially since I still go to work each day, so since it's been so crazy, I've taken extra steps at allowing (/forcing?) myself to just chill already.

And lately, that mostly means PLANTS.

Plant growing has turned into a really absorbing and rewarding hobby for me so it's a great stress reliever. As I mentioned in my last post, I ordered a new plant on Etsy... and here it is! Silver/Satin Pothos. I got it from this shop, which I mention because it arrived quickly, super well packaged, and clearly very healthy. My first foray into ordering plants online was a success! It has been repotted into a pot recently vacated by my...

Oyster plant! I repotted it into a pot from this Etsy store. It's a tricolor Oyster Plant but it's looking a little sad... I'm thinking not enough light, which is why he now lives in front of my kitchen window with his rattlesnake plant brother, who I also mentioned in the last post. I absolutely love the pot- it's a painted terra-cotta pot and the picture doesn't show it's super cool holographic shine so check out this picture from the shop's page (see above link):

It really glows in the sun but unfortunately today is pretty overcast so I couldn't show it's full potential. On days like this, it presents as a kind of sparkly black- most definitely not a bad thing. Something to note if you want to be pot twins with me is that this shop took a while to ship. I don't hold that against them though, as they clearly state that on their shop's page.

One more thing I noted in my last post is that I made a last ditch effort to save my Purple Wandering Jew. I'm proud to report that it's already looking better! I'm so glad I salvaged some cuttings, I might actually be able to grow a new plant out of it!

Maybe you can't tell but I assure you, the coloration is already more vibrant which is a good sign. I popped it in a smaller version of the Oyster Plant's pot.

As much as I'll go on about my plants, I promise that's not the only thing I've been doing with my free time. There's also been *games.*

My fiancé set me up with his old gaming computer (he just built himself a new one!) and hooked me up with all the accoutrements so we could finally play games together (my "everyday" computer is a MacBook Pro laptop). I've never really had a serious go at video games before so I wasn't sure if I would get into it but so far so good!

We're playing Diablo III together (I'm a Monk!) and I find myself really getting into it and even getting excited to play it! It helps having my fiancé (I'm gonna start calling him M) there to sort of guide me through it since I'm by no means an experienced gamer so it's a good place to start. 

M has also introduced me to a very chill game called Fez that I absolutely love.

source

The graphics/art and soundtrack are fantastic and it requires the perfect amount of effort- not too intense/stressful but it takes enough brainpower to keep it interesting. This little dude discovers his world is actually 3D and he has to collect these cubes to keep his world from crumbling. So you rotate the screen and explore/solve puzzles to get all the cubes.

I've yet to turn on the ol' game computer today yet- I'm already jazzed for some Diablo so I'm waiting for M to get home from work. I spent the better part of the afternoon on the porch reading The Return of the King and drinking a White Russian. 

I'm really feeling my color combo today. Neutrals with a big splash of goldenrod yellow and to cap it off, turquoise and red finger and toenails respectively. I also debuted- to absolutely no one- my newest made-by-me earrings;

They're simple but I like the colors and how they look when I'm wearing them (especially with my hair in my go-to summer messy bun) so I think they'll get a ton of wear. They're made from some vintage Czech glass beads!

You may not be able to make your own earrings but if you'd at least like to join me by drinking a Dude-tacular beverage:

source

I have a particular fondness for Kahlua so I usually make it with equal parts vodka/kahlua- I go 1.5oz of both and just kinda wing how much dairy I put in (I don't always have cream so often it's just almond milk, which still tastes great). You do you though.

Well, I'm going to continue to relax as much as possible (full disclosure: I did do a whirlwind cleaning session in the morning. Totally relaxation after that though, I promise). Lord Huron will be playing in the background- I find his voice/vibe very chill and calming. Here's a song from his newest album. Enjoy!

Plant Mom: The New Kids

Today was my day off and since it promised to be a glorious and warm day, I made plans with a coworker to go hiking. We figured it's an activity we could do while still social distancing and plus, we work together so we're already contaminated with each other's cooties.

Sadly, she couldn't rein in her allergies enough to be able to drag her poor sinuses through an excess of nature so those plans got cancelled. I wasn't too upset though because I traded in a 3.6 mile hike in 80 degree weather for a trip to the plant store.

Sadly, my purple wandering jew was looking extremely sad and sickly so I decided to salvage what cuttings I could and put something else in it's pot. Below is a picture of the cuttings:

See how depressingly sad they are? If you click on the link above, you can see how much more vibrant the purple is supposed to be. I think I overwatered these a shit ton and didn't give them the light they needed and when I realized my mistake it was already too late. Hopefully, I can resurrect it from these cuttings but in the meantime, it's pot is now occupied by a Goldfish Plant, which I was super psyched to find at my local garden center.

Those little orange flowers, when fully bloomed, look exactly like leaping goldfish. Also, as it grows and the stems get longer, they'll hang down nicely over the pot. I've been wanting to get some more vining type plants, especially for that particular bookshelf. I've read that these guys can be kind of finicky to grow so we'll see how well I manage. It's probably not the best idea to replace a plant that I accidentally murdered with one that's harder to grow but I couldn't resist. 

I recently discovered that my Rattlesnake Plant likes the light level in the kitchen a lot better so naturally I needed something else to take it's place on the table in our office. Since I get a ton of light in there I decided to get a Croton, which loves light. I'm not sure which variety this is specifically but all Crotons are super colorful. I liked the longer, thinner leaves on this one. I've only seen the oval leaved variety so I decided to get something a little different.

Last but not least of the new guys, check out this weirdo. It's a Sansevieria Cylindrica or, as it's called in more badass circles, an African Spear. They can get a lot bigger but I wanted to give a shot at something not as far along as my other plants. This is supposed to be pretty easy to grow- you mostly just leave it alone. Since I'm a chronic overwaterer though, I made sure to get a terra-cotta pot (it's not glazed on the inside) since the terra-cotta absorbs excess water. 

I couldn't help but sneak in a picture of my baby, my pride and joy, Rubbert Plant the Rubber Plant. When I got him, he was a foot high and not nearly so full. He is thriving, spitting out new leaves constantly, and by next year I may have to get him a bigger pot. I've had a lot of trials and tribulations with all my other plants but Rubbert has never disappointed.

I also have an oyster plant that's going to be repotted in a super special terra-cotta pot I ordered from Etsy a while ago and should get here soon. It's current pot will house another exciting new plant I also ordered from Etsy. When those come in, I'll have to share them too.

All that plant business took up a lot of my day but I enjoyed hanging on on the porch keeping busy. Later I relaxed with my new favorite warm weather beer, Long Trail's Blackberry Wheat. I'm a little iffy on super fruit-forward beers because they often just present as a sad hint of fruit which I don't like as a combo with beer. This beer though, there's no mistaking that its blackberry and its super refreshing. Perfect for warm weather relaxing on the porch.

Cheers!

Did Everybody Say What A Good Day That It Was

I had a great day today.

I work in a hospital which of course needs to be staffed 24/7. This means I'm expected to work every other weekend which also means I have the odd day off in the middle of the week to make up for it. Especially as of late, I've had issues filling these midweek days in ways that leave me satisfied when it's all over. I've been getting up later than I intend, not being productive enough, not doing enough things I enjoy, overall just feeling as if I'm wasting my valuable days off.

Despite having a clear idea of my issue (even I'm rolling my eyes at myself for this "issue"), I've had such a hard time fixing it. I've been spending so much of my days beating myself up for not enjoying myself and trying to force myself to do things that I end up, you know, not doing any of that. As they say, worrying about wasted time is more wasted time (my next cross stitch sampler??). It's a strange cycle of self-created problems I've gotten myself into but today... today was perfect. I don't know how I managed it but it was the ideal blend of relaxing, productive, and fun.

Since this blogs original purpose was to remind me of all the good things, I've decided to make a list of a couple of the things that made it so good. Hopefully I can shake off ridiculous this day-off funk I've gotten myself into.

First up is a fine beer, which I'm enjoying as I type. We're super into trying all kinds of good craft beer (heavy dark beers being my favorite) and New England has it's fair share. I stepped a little out of the area for this one (Mast Landing is out of Westbrook Maine) because it's recently turned into one of my go-to favorites. Beer Advocate rates it pretty highly too, if you're into that sort of thing. A good, super-smooth stout with it's own unique (but not overpowering) peanut-y flavor.

Plants! This past year, much to my delight, I realized the apartment I was currently in actually had enough light and room for plants and that I was ready to become a plant mom. My former apartment was a small studio and super dark so I was pretty excited to run out and buy some plants.  I have a Rubber plant named Rubbert Plant that's thriving and a Purple Wandering Jew that I have somehow kept alive (they're kinda tricky) but sadly, I had a Purple Waffle that didn't make it (RIP). Today I decided his pot needed a tenant so I went to a local nursery and for something to replace PW... and of course I couldn't leave with just one plan. On the left is an Oyster plant and on the right is a Rattlesnake plant. They've already been repotted and have settled in their new homes.

I've actually made progress on my embroidery journal! Yes, I'm super behind still but once I get the fabric cut and ready to go, usually it's smooth sailing from there. I like that I can just sit and stitch without much further thought. And, as a bonus, I think I'll actually work down that great big ball of random thread scraps.

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The Repair Shop is a BBC show which is currently on Netflix. The premise is that people bring in their broken family heirlooms of all types to be restored by master craftsmen. It's pretty much the perfect thing to watch while you have your coffee and bagel in the morning- you get your heartwarming stories but you also get a really interesting look at how things are repaired. I also love the idea that people are working against the idea of this throwaway culture we currently live in. It makes me want to like, I dunno, go out and fix things or something.

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I'm pretty into watches- I love learning about the different types and movements and history. Recently I've been on a pretty intense eBay hunt for a good vintage one and today, I found an old Waltham that was in decent shape, especially considering the price. I went for it and can't wait to get it in the mail next week! I've been wanting a Waltham- it's a company with a solid history of making good watches... and I happen to live relatively close to Waltham!

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Other things that made this day great:

-Laundry! Yes I hate changing the sheets but it needed to be done and going to sleep in a bed with fresh sheets is pretty much the best.

-It was an absolutely beautiful day. Clear, bright blue skies, and mild temps (especially for a New England February). I was able to repot my new plants on our screened-in porch without freezing!

-I went for a walk. It was short but it still felt nice to spend more time outside and move a little.

I have a bonus day off this week- hopefully this coming Wednesday is as magical as today was. In the mean time, enjoy a bonus song from which I sniped the blog title!