Project 52: Week 2

1. Late afternoon snow flurries

2. Paperwhites continue to perfume the apartment

3. Mostly naked Norfolk

4. Perfectly tart

Project 52: Week 1

Good morning! I am kicking off the year with a new series: Project 52. Full discretion- not my idea at all. Completely pilfered. The lovely Benita at Chez Larsson gave me the idea for this weekly photo collection. In previous years she documented each day with Project 365 and 366! Very cool, but I know my limit and you, dear readers, are bombarded with enough kitty photos as is. Although Ms. Larsson is no longer updating her blog, you can check out her archives. I recommend that you do. Beautiful, light, and bright pictures of Swedish life in abundance. My "photos" are a Instagrams until I figure out how to use my camera properly.

I will be posting next week a 2013 "Let's Do This" recap and sharing 2014 intentions. I'm bubbling with excitement! Please come back to read and share!

1. Deep chill in Milwaukee. Negative temps created beautiful art on the windows.

2. Paperwhites blooming to spite the cold.

3 & 4. Mogget and Simandl staying toasty. I moved their basket by the radiator, and they do share...sometimes.

5 & 6. New housemates. Because I may have killed my fern over the holidays by not watering it...

My Nest: Holiday Decorations

Last year I didn't do much to spruce up my apartment for the holidays. With no plans to entertain, I lacked the desire to do more that slap a wreath on the door and put out a stinky candle on the coffee table. Not so say I was a complete miser- I did help my mother-in-law decorate her home, accompanied my sister to the Nutcracker ballet, wore a sparkly sweater, and was up to my eyeballs in holiday programs and music gigs. Honest.

Even though my entertaining plans are small and limited, I was actually itching to bust out the trimmings back in November. I exhibited some impulse control, waited until after Thanksgiving, and kept the decorations at chez refeathered fairly simple: white, green and sparkly things inspired by nature. While some decorations are clearly Christmassy, I wanted to be able to enjoy a majority of my decorations throughout the winter season.
Take a peak!

 The super fluffy doorman at chez refeathered keeps a watchful eye from a twig wreath adorned with silver and white stars. He'll keep his post until spring arrives.

Atop the bar cabinet sits this little arrangement. The pine boughs light up with LED lights, which make the sparklies even more sparkly. Birds and glass tree courtesy of my mum. 

 

White, green and sparkly arrangement on the table.

Lately on Instagram

 

1. Christmas cactus in bloom before Mogget decided the buds looked like fun toys to bat around the apartment

2. Cranberries for upside-down cake

3 & 4. Decoration shopping with Molly

5. Cat in a basket or Simandl's new favorite spot to hangout

6. Hilarious fourth grade assessment doodle. The people are singing while running away form an unfinished erupting volcano.

What have you been up to lately?

Lately

I realize it has been a bit cat-tastic on the blog lately. I promise I do more than follow Mogget around all day and take her picture. In addition to a number of work obligations, it's been a bumpin' few weeks at chez refeathered!

 

 

1. Checking out a new release by Tigernite at the Exclusive Company.

2 & 3. After a few busy days at the WMEA State Conference I ran a marathon...wearing a felt triceratops mask. It was the Haunted Hustle after all! And, yes, 1234 was my actual race bib number.

4. Post marathon cookie baking. 

5 & 6. Scenes from Mondo Lucha.  Guys, this was the best combination of ludicrous and fabulous. It had everything a girl could want. A saucy goat, glitter, rock 'n' roll, and a lucha libre style wrestling team that consisted of a robot and a one legged man called Uno. Seriously.

7. My sister and cohorts rocked it at Mondo Lucha!
8. A long over due trip to Beauty.
9. Taming mutant plants. More on that later.

What have you been up to lately?

Oops!

Forgetting to close the window one chilly evening squelched my plans of nursing my basil plant into the winter. Dead. Super dead. I walked in to make my morning coffee and was meet with shriveled, browning basil leaves scattered across the kitchen floor. My very, very dark shade of forest green thumb strikes again. The succulents, however, totally unaffected. In fact they look greener than ever. Did the succulents absorb the basil's energy Highlander style? We shall never know.

I really enjoy having fresh herbs in the kitchen. Perhaps a new rosemary plant is in order?  Although, I cannot guarantee the rosemary would not become a cat snack. Simandl seems to like the savory herbs...

Recommendations?

It's a very, very dark shade of forest green....

The lack of a yard has never stopped me from having plants. This cool info-graphic helps justify my ever growing windowsill collection here at chez refeathered. Next time Ler rolls his eyes at a new plant I can just say "biophilia hypothesis, dude, biophilia hypothesis." However, my green thumb has changed from a verdant shade to a very,very dark shade of forest green. It started with this innocent looking little violet, which was a thoughtful gift from a first-grader.

  

Dead. Totally dead. I came home one afternoon and it was covered in aphids. Where the hell did they come from? I quickly disposed of it and inspected my other susceptible plants. They looked fine. I kept my eye on them and all was good for a few weeks until...

dead. Like, over night dead. Poor little rose bush. Also a gift from students. Damn aphids.

 

Also, dead. Same crappy little bugs killed my basil. They must have been very motivated to make that journey. The distance from the living room window to kitchen sill must be like the Oregon Trail for aphids. The thyme plant, however, meet a kitty demise. That scrappy thing next to the sad basil was once a nice little bush. At least the aphids didn't get the satisfaction of killing that plant. The lavender is thriving though, since it is not pleasing to their palate.

 

Neither bug nor cat related, but the aloe in that picture is also dead. I tried to encourage new growth. Nope. No roots or shoots. Just dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.  

Fancy that Friday: That's Rad(ish)!

I'm way late to the quick pickle party, having tried it for the first time last summer. One can pickle just about thing, just ask Bryce Shivers and Lisa Eversman. So when I wound up with a giant bunch of radishes last week, I decided to take a crack at pickling some.

Aren't they lovely?

The jar did not last long- perhaps 3 days. I used stuff I already had around the kitchen and I couldn't be happier with the results. My super precise recipe appears at the bottom of the post. Check out some other rad(ish) items inspired by the peppery little root!

I love getting mail that is made and sent by an actual human.
Make someone's day with this note card by Hello Sprout.

Sage life advice from lifeonmars.

Looking Up

While sitting in my fab little workspace my eyes wandered into the living-dining room. Something, something felt off balance. I squinted and that immediately made Ler ask what I was scheming. I think I need something more than the candle sticks on top the bookcase. It looks lopsided, I replied. I could tell he immediately regretted asking. Nothing major, I reassured him. And then I did nothing for weeks, mostly because I wasn't sure what. All I knew was that I did not want more tchotchkes.

The answer is plants. Always and forever plants. The bookcase needed a little more "oomph" to balance out the amazing painting this lady made. The candle sticks needed some assistance.

I already had the fauxbois planter in my closet (it's one of a pair) and the ceramic dish was in the bedroom. I spent a whooping $6 to balance things out on an English Ivy plant and the "tropical folliage." I have no idea what it is actually, but the colorful, curly leaves told me it needed to be mine. And it had the same light and water needs as the ivy. Win.

In time both plants will fill in and look fabulous. Simple little tweak that makes me stupidly happy. And Ler is super relieved it didn't require a trip to IKEA.

What little tweaks have you made to your nest?

Scenes From My Weekend: Low Key & Lovely

 

  

 

 

 

 

 1 & 2: Cannot put into words how proud I am of my sister! Her first solo show at Grey Matter Gallery. 

3. Pancakes with Nutella and fresh blue berries. And coffee. Always coffee.

4. Moggers supports my running habit.

5. My sweetheart niece shows me how to blow bubbles and pop them with ones toes.

6. Grades. Done. Must. Go. Outside.

7. About to burst!  

8. Weighed down by beauty.

9. Along the side of my building.

10. Most fragrant lilacs in the neighborhood.

11. Lake front mansion ditches its lawn in favor of vegetables.

12. Sweet, elderly gentleman on a garden wall- poking plants with his cane and critiquing their hardiness.