Mogget Monday: Color Me Jealous

Wait, I don't get to go the Color Run with you? Harrumph.

***Mogget insisted on rubbing her face on my mum's leg and my shoes when we returned from the Color Run. She has a blue and yellow face. She is being oddly camera shy, so just trust me on this one.

Fancy that Friday: Aquatic Arts

Summer is not yet over, though back-to-school ads that are plastered everywhere have me feeling otherwise. There is still time to feel the sand between our toes and inhale the special air that is only found by open water. Let's escape to the shore together and enjoy some aquatic inspired art.

A meditative photograph from The Gingham Owl.

Colorful prints from Nicole Kristiana.

A little bit of solitude from Four Trees Photography. 

Can we talk about this vivid beauty by Leila Hijazi of Illustrated Ink? Amazing, yes?  Leila's entire Etsy store is a magical place full of Dia de los Muertos and old-school tattoo inspired work. Go check it out!

This is one of my favorites by Waterhouse, Circe Invidiosa. 

Cruise the Caribbean with this lithograph by the late Charley Harper. 

 Let's not forget the ultimate aquatic artist: Esther Williams. Swimming never looked so glamorous. Flowers, fountains and flames ahead! 

Happy Friday!

Mogget Monday

What? My toes are cold.

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.  

Mogget Monday: Table Top Napping

 

Snooze.

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?