It's a Wonderful Day In My Neighborhood

It rained last night, and rain means cooler temperatures and not-dry weather (what you guyses would call regular humidity). Oh, and since it rained overnight, there's a lovely layer of snow on the mountains out back of our apartment.

Here are the full sized pictures if you'd like to use them as a nature-y desktop. :P One, two, three.

Third day of this cold means super dry throat, which means lots of cough drops and lots of tea. I decided to get cough drops after eating one of those zinc tablets on an empty stomach and feeling superbly nauseated for about a half hour. The tea I picked up is a peach green tea, and while the packet it comes in smells awful, the peach really shines after you steep the tea.

Sproutlings Update: they be growing! When we planted them, I asked H. to give me three of what he thought were different colors. It is now evident that one of them is a pinkish color, and the other one might be a white or a yellow. They have different outer shell thingies.

This one is the pink one, and I guess you can't see it very well, but there's a bit of a crimson outer coating while a smaller green stem/leaf/something pokes through. This is the one that bloomed first, if any of you are betting on them at home. Once again, I'm very excited for the third one to pop up any day now.

I am not going to post any pictures of the invitations, but you'll see for yourselves in a few days when they arrive like little rays of sunshine in the mail. I still have to assemble all of them, but that won't take too terribly long, I imagine.

Aaaaand it just started to downpour. Sideways rain! ... aaaaaaaaaaand now it's done raining. Total time: ~ 3 minutes. Now it's back to being perfectly sunny, just the way I like it.

Well that's all for now, folks. Off to finish those fancy-pantsy invitations.

Small Successes

As H. said yesterday, "How did you catch a cold in the desert?" Being the delicate flower I am, I somehow managed to get aches and pains and a sore throat. This means putting off the invitation assembly process for a day, but that's good, since Sunday isn't a mail delivery day anyways. I'll just send them off Monday and be relieved when they arrive in their various destinations a few days later.

Yesterday, as my body started to power down for this wonderful cold, I had a sweet little surprise awaiting me in the apartment. My gladiolas had started to sprout! Or at least one of them had an adventure and poked its head out of the soil.

Isn't he just the cutest? I was thrilled that at least one of them wasn't dead yet. H. disagrees with me, but I like to think that it had something to do with the lamp I had hovering over this guy as he was sprouting. The desk lamp I brought with me uses a 10W fluorescent light bulb with a "daylight" glow. I had read online that bulbs and seeds respond best to blue wavelengths of light, and that a "daylight" fluorescent bulb helps in the sprouting process. I wasn't sure if the desk lamp would be the correct wattage (seeing as how light bulbs produced specifically for growing plants were at least 15-20W), but I guess it worked!

I was just about to take a nap this afternoon and decided to check on my little sproutling when I noticed that a second little one had appeared! This bulb had sprouted while underneath the lamp I set on it this morning. Coincidence? I think not.

Now all that's left is for the third one to make it's appearance. I would like to think my flower box has more than a 66% survival rate, but we'll see. I'm also surprised by how short of a time it was for them to sprout. It only took six days for the first one, and seven for the second one. The label on the gladiola bag stated I'd have to wait somewhere between eight and fifteen days. Soon, I'll have the greenest thumb in the land!

You can sort of see both of them in this picture. One at the front, and one way, way down at the end over there. The middle one is being stubborn, but what middle child isn't? Eh, eh? ... I guess that's really for all children.

Ah, my pride and joy. The only downside to these guys is that after seeing the second one, I was going to take a nap to help get over this cold quicker, but couldn't sleep because I was so excited about the sproutlings. H. thinks thought this was hilarious.

And that's pretty much been my weekend. Other than getting up the courage to enter this quick DIY contest, it's been a nice, lazy weekend. H. bought me a waffle maker as a surprise a few days ago, and now you can see the fruits of its labor. This thing is so easy to work, it's not a hassle at all making waffles!

Oooooo!

Aaaaaaah!

In The Meantime

I forget if I've said this before, but H. and I bought a little stair stepper to use instead of going to the tiny, cramped not-very-gym-like gym that the apartment complex has. So every day, I hop on that gadget and walk along while I watch Eureka or Bones or any movie that I know H. will never ever watch. However, a couple of days ago, I had a little strain in my left leg. I figured I was just "feeling the burn!", but after trying to stretch it out, I think I made it worse. So, today is my first day off from working out - I kind of miss it now that I've been doing it every day for a week or two. And what else would I do with my newly found extra time than look at wedding-y things!

I do believe I have solved our What Goes Inside That Darn Vase problem! I found this super easy idea that will completely eliminate the debate on whether to use rocks or sand or sliced lemons and oranges or chupacabras to fill up the empty space inside the vase. Ta da!

How easy would it be to just spray paint the vases white? Then we could put whatever the heck we want inside, and no one would see. Also, I'm super psyched about seeing those gorgeous green leaves flowing over the sides of a perfectly white vase. Super duper psyched! And it's most definitely cheaper than any option we have for putting something inside the vase.

Aaahh. It feels really nice to have a cheap yet elegant solution for something.

Time to go make a haircut appointment!

EDIT: Susan, I found some more inspiration for my/our bouquets. Here's a link with more photos. The only thing I don't like about these is that I'm pretty sure dahlias are on the more expensive end of the floral spectrum, so I'll have to figure out some substitutions.

(5 min later) Okay, I also found this colorful little guy. I'm kind of in love with it. So cute! I have no idea what type of flower this is, though. Any thoughts? This might be my decision ... maybe ... !! Now I've got visions of me with this bouquet and you and Brittany with Either just pink ones or just yellow ones or something. Oh my goodness! I'm so excited! Now I just need to know what flower this is.

 

Alrighty. Now I'm off to tidy the apartment. Whistle while you work!

Waiting.

As I nervously await the verdict of whether or not the reception hall is big enough for us, I figured I'd show you what I accomplished over the weekend. Well, H. and I accomplished. As the story goes, after receiving beautiful pink roses for Valentine's Day (of which I forgot to take any pictures, doh!), I wanted more and more flowers. Instead of buying bouquets of them, I decided to grow them. :D

Currently, nothing is growing, but I have high hopes! I planted gladiolas, three of them, and hopefully they will be sprouting in a couple of days. I am way too excited about this for my own good, but at least now I have something productive to do in the morning instead of browse the internet for wedding ideas. I'll probably do that anyways in the afternoon.

H. and I mixed some soil and some Perlite (which I didn't know wasn't soil - it has a picture of dirt on the front!), and today I'm going to mix up some fertilizer diluted in a gallon of water. Hopefully I don't over nutrientize these plant babies.

As we were watering the soil thoroughly as per directions on the soil bag, it started raining! It's only rained on the mountains out here, not actually on the civilization parts. H. was very proud of this accomplishment we had somehow provoked.

I'll be posting some more pictures once something develops. I super duper hope these guys sprout - I might have to do the funny dance a la My Neighbor Totoro, except I would stop before they grew into actual trees.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Now What?

I got an email from the hotel representative I've been working with for renting out a reception room.

The only space I have is our McKinney room.   It is 1400 square feet.  I can only do a small-ish dance floor in that room.  I want to make sure it is what you are looking for and will meet your needs.

The hotel will provide the china, glass, and silver for a fee when using an outside caterer.  We cannot allow you to bring in wine or any other alcohol.    Our house wine is Woodbridge, and you get about 4 glasses out of a 750 ml bottle. 

I am here Tuesday through Saturday and would like to arrange a time.  I can put together a contract for you and your family, but would like to make sure you are aware of the size of the space. 

Several issues with this email: (1) 1400 sq. ft. is not a helluva lot. How the hell are we supposed to fit 50 people in that room with tables and chairs and buffet tables and a dance floor? Our apartment is 900 sq. ft. and there's absolutely no way we could fit fifty people in here let alone the tables and chairs to accommodate all of them. What the hell.

(2) What do you mean you're going to charge a fee for using silverware and china? So renting the reception hall is free, but we have to pay for using the dishes? Whatever.

(3) Like hell I'm going to pay $28 for a single bottle of wine. That is just freaking ridiculous. And you won't let us bring in alcohol because why? You don't think we can handle our liquor or something? I'm trying to do this wedding on a reasonable budget, lady. REASONABLE BUDGET. And by the way, that brand of wine sells for $12 at any grocery store.

Ugh.

I just spent an hour looking at other possible reception venues. I realized I never emailed back one place, so maybe they are still available (although honestly, I doubt that day isn't booked - it's less than three months away). If all else fails, I suppose we could have the reception at the church. The drawbacks to this include the fact that they don't have a dance floor, that the space (the old church excess area) is much too big for fifty people I imagine and thus we would look like ants in a huge hall, and that I have no idea where the bridal party would go for photos after the ceremony. I imagine we just chillax and take pictures around the picturesque water fountain and whatnot, but if everyone else is still going to be mingling around, then what do we do? I doubt Father Tim wants us taking photos in the actual church.

So. I have emailed one or two other places requesting pricing information. I have very little hope that the dates are still open for any of them, but who knows. With the recession and all, maybe they haven't booked anything for that very popular spring weekend.

Onto something that isn't so very, very depressing - I have to return the shoes that I bought online (okay, I guess that is still depressing). I tried them on, and the heel feels like it is too far forward, like I can't get my footing (literally) when I walk. I compared them to a pair of shoes that I already had, which I like very much, and feel extremely comfortable, and super easy to walk in, and realized why the hell can't I just wear these shoes? Doh! Leave it to me to try and buy something that I already have and like. I took some pictures of these shoes, which you guys have probably seen before, but here they are to refresh your memory.

The only slight problem with these shoes is that one of them is a little dirty, and I don't know how to clean it. It's like I walked right next to something that was recently wood-dyed, and some of it rubbed off.

You can see the damage on the loop there, but there's also something halfway up the shoe - it's like a piece of glue or something. Hopefully we can clean it off, because these are probably the most comfortable heels I've got, and I got them from good ol' Walmart a couple of years ago.

I found another option for shoe accessorizing. =3

The tutorial for making them is on a weird-looking blog (complete with odd picture instructions, but I get the gist of it), and I think it'll be easy to do since I'm starting with a T-strap sandal. So now I have to decide between the "petal sandals" and the flower clips. Decisions, decisions.

Yesterday, I bought a plastic rectangular planter, some $1 garden gloves, some flower fertilizer, and gladiolus bulbs. I also bought something called Perlite, which I thought was soil because there was a picture of soil on the front, but it's actually just organic styrofoam that aerates the soil. So today H. and I are going to go pick up some actual soil, and then we can get planting! I'm super excited to have some greenery in the apartment ever since Valentine's Day. I'll take a picture for y'all when it's all set up, and probably every couple of days after that so you can see the progress. I just hope that they don't disappoint me and die. :x

Off to Home Depot!

EDIT:  Susan, here's the DIY tutorial I was talking about. It looks super easy if you want to try it out, and don't be limited to just green for the fabric color. Enjoy! =]