My summer so far...

Blogs are a tricky thing and I have no idea how the great bloggers manage to churn out posts weekly if not daily.  I have been keeping busy this summer, which means I should have things to blog about, but I seem to get caught up in the doing and forget to do the writing.

One thing that needs my attention every day is my garden.  Things grow surprisingly fast out here in the desert, I imagine its from all the sunshine.  I can barely keep up, but I really enjoy spending hours out there, except for the days when it's 115 degrees out.  Those days I curse the garden and say desert gardening is the dumbest thing ever.  This year was sorta a giant experiment and I have learned ALOT.  I cannot wait until next year to try some new plants and new ideas.  My cute little garden turned into a jungle in a hurry and I have been researching tons of ways to keep it under control next year.  I have also been planning out what I will plant this fall and winter.   

...see it's a complete mess, but it gives me veggies so it can stay for now.  My cucumbers over grew the trellis I gave them and have now started climbing up and pulling down my sunflowers....

...for awhile I had more summer squash than I could eat, but they have slowed down and now I finally have acorn squash and cucumbers.  I grew two kinds of cucumbers this year, armenian and pickling.  I was able to make a small jar of refrigerator pickles but other than that the armenian ones have way out produced the pickling.  I'm hoping for at least another little batch of pickling cucumbers so I can attempt to ferment them.  

I took a small break from the garden to travel back to Ohio for my brother's wedding and to visit family.  The wedding and the bride were absolutely gorgeous and it was in such a beautiful church. 

It was such a fun time getting to see everyone.  

While in Ohio I spent some time with my grandma and the older I get the more jealous I get of her little farm.  As a kid I grew up thinking living surrounded by farms was nothing special and that most people experienced this.  How wrong I was.  I am very grateful for the childhood I had in her garden eating more of every thing than I picked and being surrounded by her animals.  I now dream of having my own little piece of land someday.  

...Malaysian Ayam Serama Chicken...smallest chicken breed in the world..

...even poultry deserve to have a pretty house..

My other hobby this summer has been dyeing.  

If you have ever eaten at my house you know I am a huge fan of cloth napkins.  Paper napkins rarely make sense to me.  You buy them over and over just to throw them out.  It's a waste of money, bad for the environment, and not as pretty.  I have a large collection of napkins that we use on a daily basis.  Most people's response is.."but isn't that just more laundry?"  No, it's not.  I keep a basket in my laundry room that holds dirty kitchen towels, napkins, etc.  Whenever I do a load of bath towels, which we all have, I throw them in.  No extra loads.  What about kids? "You can't use cloth napkins with kids" you say.  Well I am super messy and I promise you that a cloth napkin cleans up and absorbs so much more than a little paper napkin. 

Oh yeah, before my little tangent about napkins I was talking about dying.  Well to go one extra step and make my cloth napkins extra green and good for the environment, I buy vintage napkins.  Yep, old used napkins.  Most come with stains or look a little sad so I decided to start dyeing them pretty colors. 

I may have gone a little over board and now have too many napkins....

Please visit my etsy shop if you would like your own pretty napkins.

Lamp Makeover

I have been slowly giving my bedroom a makeover...slowly.  I painted, then I got a new bed, I'm working on a new nightstand for my side of the bed (which I'll show you at a later date), and I recently gave my lamps a much needed makeover.

The other day I was telling my friend about my lamp makeover and she was all.."you know you can get really nice lamps for a good price at Homegoods".  The thing is these lamps actually came from Homegoods a couple years ago.  They were really nice and I still liked them, but they just didn't make sense in my room anymore.  I thought about getting new ones and started shopping around a little but just didn't want to spend any money.  I was willing to spend $5, $10 tops and yeah, it's just not possible to find a lamp or new lamp shade for that price.  Even if I did buy new lamps what would I do with the old ones?  So I had to find away to fix these guys up a little .  

So I started with buying a new socket from Amazon.  When shopping around I noticed all the lamps I really liked had a pull chain and it really does make turning the light on and off from bed so much easier.  This was actually the only thing I purchased,  I found everything else in my craft room, so I was pretty happy with myself.

While we had the lamp apart to put on the new socket I painted all the silver pieces gold.  I used some gold Royal Stencil Creme that I already had from a previous project and it worked wonderfully.

Next I had to tackle the lamp shade.  It seemed simple enough in my mind and I came up with a game plan, but things came apart quickly.  

I started out taking the fabric off and I thought it would be sooo easy.  Just peal the old fabric off and glue the new one on and done.  Unfortunately like I said, things came apart quickly....

Yikes!  So I just started slowly and carefully putting everything back together.  First I used some spray adhesive to stick the new fabric on to the old lampshade.  

Then I slowly hot glued the top metal frame on to the lamp shade.  This was actually easier than I thought it would be.  Just remember to leave a little bit at the end unglued so you can slide in the bottom hoop and glue that into place.

Next I cut a couple strips of fabric and glued them over the edges to hide the metal hoop.  Also this paint can opener has become my best friend when it comes to hot gluing things, it's like an extra finger that doesn't burn.  

Right about now Leo and I let out a huge sigh of relief, it was finally starting to look like a lamp shade again.  

The only thing left to do was add a little trim to the top and bottom to hide all the seams.  I used the same white fabric and ironed it into pretty little strips, then glued it on with fabric glue.

So happy that worked out.  Not gonna lie, I had my doubts, but it wasn't that bad and I love my lamps again. 

Homemade Raviolis

This summer I intended to plant spinach, a lot of spinach.  However, after placing my seed order I was informed that they were all out of the spinach seeds I wanted so I quickly chose another leafy-green plant.  I settled on Japanese Mustard Spinach because I read that it does well in dry weather and is rather hardy.  Mustard Spinach is not a mustard, nor a spinach, it is actually part of the same family as broccoli.  So it has different nutrients but is still very good for you and you can use it and cook it just like you would spinach.  

I ordered 3 packets of seeds because I was certain there was no such thing as too many greens.  Well after a month of eating salads, sides, and basically trying to incorporate Mustard Spinach into every meal as much as possible I was over it.  Unfortunately I had planted 3 rows of this stuff and it was doing incredibly well. 

1 of 3 rows of Mustard Spinach

I also planted a few rows of mixed salad greens that I needed to start eating sooo yeah I needed to get rid of this stuff.

row of salad greens calling my name...

I mean I didn't want to get rid of it completely, I just wanted to be able to cut all the plants down to a couple small leaves so that I could have a little break.  I also didn't want to waste all the leaves that I was cutting down.  So I decided to make Mustard Spinach and Mushroom Raviolis that I could freeze for later.  

Here's how I made them...

...and I fully apologize for this crazy explanation and lack of "recipe".  Truth is I have a hard time following and creating recipes.  I get bored when cooking and want to experiment and create and forget to write things down, but it normally works out in the end.  

First you need to make some pasta dough and this I actually did use a recipe for.  I used one from the Better Homes and Garden cook book.  The only thing I changed with this recipe is that I used whole wheat flour and honestly you can use any old pasta dough recipe you want.  They will all work.  

So first make some pasta dough, set it aside to rest, then on to the filling, which is the fun part.

Here's what went into the filling:

all the Mustard Spinach leaves I had that looked good

a handful of parsley

a handful of oregano 

a bag full of mushrooms

3 handfuls of shredded cheese

garlic powder

onion salt

There's really no wrong way to make the filling.  Just throw in whatever tastes good to you.  

I put everything except the cheese in the food processor, cooked it all together, then set it aside to cool.

Once it had cooled down quite a bit I added the shredded cheese.

Now you are ready to start assembling some raviolis.  I separated my pasta dough into small batches and started rolling it out into thin sheets.  How thin is up to you and your muscles.  I really need to buy the pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, because I do not have the arm strength for this nonsense. 

Once I had it rolled out I placed teaspoon size blobs of filling all over my dough.  I then laid another sheet of dough on top and stamped out each ravioli with this handy ravioli stamp.  You can find a similar one here.

getting a little more efficient at my stamping...

Once your raviolis are stamped out they are ready to cook or freeze.  I made enough for 5 nights of dinner and stored each night separately in a freezer bag.  I did have some filling left over but I was too tired to make any more raviolis.  I separated this filling into a couple different freezer bags and intend on making stuffed chicken with it.

Of course I had to cook up a few for lunch that day and they were delicious and so worth the work.  

How to get wrinkles out of Restoration Hardware's Vintage Velvet...

Well, I finally broke down and bought a new "grown-up" bed and it's about time considering I have had the same bed since I was a senior in high school.  I have a hard time buying new furniture especially if it's a big purchase.  I strive to buy the perfect piece which for me means the following things... 1) I have to absolutely love everything about it, no settling 2) It has to be made well enough to last 3) I have to have a vision for it in the future, will it still work when I change my style in a few years?  4) I'm not made of money so I have to be able to afford it, i'm willing to save up for it, but not take out a loan...

So because of all these issues it takes me a little bit, some times years to find the perfect piece of furniture, but when I do it's always worth it.  So here it is my new bed! It is the Chesterfield Fabric Sleigh Bed in Sand Vintage Velvet from Restoration Hardware

Okay, so maybe the picture is more about my boys than the bed, but they are just so cute! 

Now on to the real point of this post...

When you order this bed you pick the fabric so it is a custom order and takes forever.  I waited over 3 months for this baby to show up so when it did I wanted to keep it.  Unfortunately once the delivery guys set it up I noticed this...

Ahhh! Wrinkles! My beautiful vintage velvet fabric was all messed up with what looked like permanent wrinkles and creases from the packaging materials.  I was annoyed to say the least.  I emailed Restoration Hardware since they are normally great about handing any issues you have.  I was hoping they would just say that with time the wrinkles would go away and this was normal or some nonsense like that.  Instead they wanted me to exchange the bed...what!? No way was I waiting another 3 months..oh I can keep this bed until a new one shows up?...Nope still not doing it. I don't want to deal with the delivery of a new bed again.  They then offered to pay for the bill if I want to hire an upholsterer to come to fix it or I can keep it like this and they will give me some money back.  After some research on how to get wrinkles out of velvet I chose the third option and took the small discount/refund and then went to work.  I refused to believe this was that hard to fix and I was right. 

This is all it took:

I used a spray bottle and lightly sprayed some water on the wrinkles, the water bubbled up at first so I rubbed it in then immediately dried it up with tissues. 

I kept doing this, spraying, gently rubbing, and patting with tissues.  I went through ALOT of tissues.

Once the wrinkles were pretty much gone I used a hair dryer on medium heat on the fabric and gently rubbed the fabric to completely dry it and fluff up the velvet. 

  

Of course I tested this first.  I had scraps of some of this same fabric I used on a chair and after it worked on that fabric, I then tested a small spot on the bed behind the headboard.  Once I was positive I wouldn't ruin the bed by spraying water on it I went to work.  

The trick is to not get it too wet and to not let the water sit for too long.  You need to make sure it dries with blow dryer and drys all fluffed up.

These wrinkles ran down the entire length of the foot board and it took me a good hour to get them out.  But, they did come out and the bed looks perfect.  I did receive a few hundred dollars back which more than compensated me for that hour, so to me it was worth it.

My "Shop" is Open!

I did it! I finally opened a shop on Etsy!  I have been buying things on Etsy for years, but have never jumped in myself.

I have a small obsession with all things vintage and antique, these pieces really make a house feel like home to me.  I believe I inherited this love from my grandma whose home is decorated so wonderfully and could easily double as a museum.  She has an amazing talent for decorating and collecting and I can only wish to have a home as beautiful as her's someday.  As a kid I never truly appreciated how amazing her home was, but I did know that I always felt so comfortable, loved, and at home there.  I still remember when I was a teenager telling her all about a new bedroom set I just got that I thought was amazing and probably the coolest thing ever.  It was very 90's modern and shiny black with silver trim.  She listened to me and told me how when she was younger she loved modern furniture too, and then her taste slowly turned to traditional/country and then to antiques.  She said someday I too would probably like antiques.  I thought to myself, and probably out loud too knowing me, that I would never like the same decor as my grandma.  Well she obviously knew better than I did and today I would love to live in her home.  

So over the years I have slowly decorated and collected just the right pieces for my home, it truly is a constant work in progress.  Some things I bring home and right away they have a spot or fill a need, others move around my house until they settle in, but some never find a place.  I also have found I just really really love going to sales and finding a great buy.  Sometimes it's all about the thrill of the hunt.  So I decided if I want to continue on this treasure hunt I am going to need a place to put my finds and a way to fund it.  I have dreamed about a little shop but right now that's just a dream, I have looked into renting a booth in an antique mall and I am just not quite ready for that.  So for the moment the place that seems most logical is etsy.com.

I have been reading and researching this on and off for months, but the only way I am going to learn and figure it out is to just jump right in.  Today I did just that.  I opened up a shop and listed my first item and I will just figure it out as I go and pray for the best.  This how I do most things, okay all things, in my life so here I go!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SmellTheCosmos

The Big 3 0

So another week has gone by without a post...obviously I'm bad at regularly updating this blog.  Sooo we should probably just acknowledge right here and now that this is not going to be a blog with posts every day or even every other day.  I mean who has time for that anyways? I'm busy, you're busy.  Let's just agree to meet up here at least few times a month...okay? Okay.

Now what was I doing last week that kept me so busy?  My 30th Birthday of course!

Yes, I am one of those people who celebrates their birthday for a whole week.  I feel like I deserve it and I need a whole week of fun.  Which in all honesty translates into a week of me eating what ever I want, sleeping in super late, and slacking majorly on my chores.  Then the actual day of my birthday I go all out.  In years past I have spent the day at the spa or spent the day shopping.  This year my birthday might have been the best yet.

I woke up super early which is unusual for me.  There are only 3 things that I will wake up early for: work, a flight, or a garage/estate sale.  Lucky for me there were a couple really good estate sales the morning of my birthday that I just had to visit.  Even luckier, probably 30th birthday luck, is that I scored some pretty fun stuff.  I was excited to pick up a few bags of craft supplies for a few bucks and these pretty pieces all had to come home with me...

I fell in love with this umbrella stand...

this painting is so charming, but that frame! love it!

and the best and most exciting find...this flatware set!

Nobility Plate Oneida 1939 Royal Rose Pattern, so pretty!

Then after my morning of treasure hunting it was time for celebrating!  

one of a few pictures I did remember to take...

Since I love a good cup of tea the only logical way to gather my friends was for afternoon tea.  I chose to have my tea at Veranda at the Four Seasons.  This was my first time there and it did not disappoint.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of it! What was I thinking?!?!  I guess this just means I will have to go back again to take pictures.  I can say that the food was amazing.  Everything was delicious and the service was great.  I have been to tea at the Mandarin Oriental before and while you simply cannot beat the view or atmosphere of the Mandarin Oriental the food at the Four Seasons was so much yummier.  The portions at the Four Seasons were also much larger and none of us could finish and we had to bring home a couple of boxes of yummy desserts.  

To top off my week of celebrating we had my parents over for some yummy smoked brisket that my hubby cooked and my mom brought with her the best birthday cake ever!  Seriously the best cake I have ever had.  She got it from my favorite cup cake shop called ShowBoy BakeShop.  They have a cupcake called The Bombshell which is sweet strawberry cake topped with champagne buttercream.  It has to be my favorite cupcake flavor and they made this cupcake into a cake in the shape of a tea cup complete with sugar cubes!  It was so cute and so delicious.  I am such a lucky girl and this definitely made the sting of turning 30 so much easier to bare. 

Expanding my Garden in the Desert

I wanted to share with you my "garden" progress...

A little while back I shared with you my plan/dream for some raised beds...

My growing space has been very limited and I was only using pots around the yard and these large planters.  Ever since we moved here our yard has been a work in progress and every year we add and improve.  This year we built some raised beds and I am so excited about them.

We wanted to spend as little money as possible, make them as eco friendly as possible,  but still make them strong enough to last a good while.  So here is what we came up with...

First we took a little trip to Home Depot.  Well, we actually we started off at Lowes, but they were unable to cut our wood for us.  Apparently they can only cut wood that is 1" thick or less, so boo on them and good to know for the future.

We were super happy to find the wood we wanted, and that we were able to have it cut to any length we wanted at Home Depot.  We picked up 8- 2" x 12" x 10' boards and had them cut in half.  We also picked up a couple 2"  x 2" x 10' boards and had them cut down to fit in our car.

We used the smaller boards for corner pieces and screwed everything together.  The boxes ended up approximately 5' x 5'.  

Next I painted everything with Raw Linseed Oil.  I bought natural untreated boards because I didn't want any chemicals seeping into the soil, but I was worried they wouldn't last very long.  So after some research I decided to use an old method of wood protection,  Linseed Oil.  Raw Linseed Oil is Flaxseed Oil which they sell in the vitamin section, so I figured it was pretty safe.  I bought the raw untreated version because there are some linseed oils out there with chemicals in them so that they dry quicker.  So make sure you read the labels before buying.  This oil does take along time to dry, but since I live in a desert I wasn't worried.  I left them to dry in my garage for about a week and after that they were still slightly greasy, but I'm not sitting on them or anything so it didn't bother me.  I just brushed it on, it's basically like painting on olive oil.  

Once they were somewhat dry we moved them to the backyard and into place.  We quickly discovered our yard was not as level as we thought, which is probably our fault.  So we just dug out some dirt under the high parts until everything was level.  

Here is Leo inspecting the new beds...

Now we were finally ready for some dirt!  I was so excited until I realized how stinking expensive and heavy dirt could be.  We ended up buying the cheapest dirt we could at our local nursery and just amended it ourselves.  

I could not wait to get some of my plants and seeds in...

 I still want to make this area a little prettier.  First I want to remove the grass between the beds because I feel that will be a nightmare to keep mowed.  Then this fall I want to add an olive tree to the middle for something nice to look at.  I think this summer will pretty much be one giant experiment.  Each box gets a different amount of sun so I still need to figure that out and figure out how much I can fit and grow in each.  Hopefully I will only have good updates this summer, but you never know.  Fingers crossed!