Birthday

glass orb + pebbles + soil + moss + tiny bench + tiny old couple = hanging terrarium!!!




Zach got me a hanging orb terrarium from Etsy for my birthday! We put it together as soon as we got home from work. It was a little difficult getting all the materials in through the small hole, and I was afraid I was going to kill the moss, but i think it will survive. It came with a tiny park bench and a little old man and woman, who are now seated comfortably in the moss. Eventually the moss is supposed to bloom with small white flowers. The care instructions are pretty simple: indirect light and water every couple of weeks. I checked on my little people last night before going to bed and this morning before I left for work. They looked like they were doing well.

Zilker Botanical Garden

S: Zach took me out to brunch and to Zilker botanical garden as an early birthday surprise! Very thoughtful of him, since I had mentioned a long time ago that I wanted to go to the botanical garden. We went today since my birthday is on Tuesday and we both have work that day. We had brunch at Gypsy Italian Bistro on Barton Springs. Zach had potato mushroom quiche and I had eggs benedict. Both were delicious, and came with bottomless mimosas. We will definitely be back to try out their dinner menu.

Napkin Rings

S: Zach and I use cloth napkins for every meal, an effort which is partly environmental and partly aesthetic. I recently purchased a bunch of cloth napkins on clearance at Walmart and decided I needed some napkin rings to match. The napkins were cheap, so the rings needed to be as well. I took the same wire I used to make the bird's nest and wrapped it a few time around the handle of a flashlight to make the rings. Then I decorated it with copper wire and glass beads. It was really easy and turned out great. Feel free to steal my idea, I got it from PBS.

Why dandelions make me feel grown up

S: I was working in the yard the other day and stopped to pick a dried dandelion flower. I was about to blow the little seed parachutes and watch them scatter. Then I realized that this "flower" was really a weed. And all those innocent wish-bearing parachutes would become more weeds. I threw it away in the trash. It was a sad moment. We've been in our house for about 9 months now, but it took a dandelion to really make me feel like a homeowner.
Z: I was the one encouraging Sarah to blow the seeds. She didn't mention that she did blow them...into the trash can like a concerned responsible adult wanting a well manicured lawn but still wanting to make a wish. I saw a bit of whimsy die that day.

Master Bath

Before

S: Yes bathrooms have water in them. No that does not mean that they definitively lend themselves to a seaside theme. Enough of the seashell-shaped sinks. There were 5 of them when we moved into our house, now there's just 1 left! The height of the countertop was uncomfortably low, even for me, so you can imagine how Zach felt when brushing his teeth. (Z: Don't imagine. Try it. Put a ladder in your bathroom and brush your teeth while standing on top) Then there were the lovely brass sconces which hung from the ceiling above the sink, directly above your head. Zach rewired all the outlets and light fixtures in the room, per my specifications, which turned out the be quite a task. I'm thankful for such a patient husband :) My favorite part of the bathroom is the third outlet we added, which is hidden within the tower cabinet. We can hide electric razors/toothbrushes in there and still have them charging. I'd post a picture but that would defeat the whole purpose of having them hidden, wouldn't it?
Z: The microeconomics of remodeling, something I self-deceivingly claim knowledge on while in actuality I only understand the following: I sold a crappy wicker ceiling fan in my bathroom on craigslist for $20 and replaced it with an updated $4 clearance light fixture so I made $16 and improved the value of my home. I just kicked the microrecession in the face with some microprofit.

After

S: We ordered new cabinets, which Zach expertly installed. There was so much wasted space before, now we have extra storage. We went from 3 drawers to 10! We used a glass cutter to cut the original wall-sized mirror down to two smaller mirrors, and framed them with frames from Hobby Lobby.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Dining Room Before

S: Take one stair case/dining room wall, add 8 enormous, gold-edged mirrors, and you've got the best "gosh darn" mirror wall ever. At least according to Thomas and Johnny. These two guys were pretty proud of the work they completed on New Years Eve, 1984. Personally, I do not like to watch myself eat or come in the front door late at night and think my reflection is about to burglarize me. No thank you. The mirror wall had to go. However, this was easier said than done. The mirrors were super heavy, and super sharp when broken. Between Zach, my mom and me, we managed to remove all the mirrors, and reveal a hidden message in the process. Drywall retexturing and paint removed the last traces of the mirror wall. We got rid of the mirrors on Craigslist. some lady wanted to use them for her belly dancing studio.

Z: The only thing I liked about the mirrors was that it made it two of Sarah. However, being able to continuously peer into the 6th dimensional mirror world made me realize how evil my doppelganger was. We'll call him Hcaz because I don't know his real name since mirrors don't allow you talk to the 6th dimension. Anyways he was evil and was always checking out my wife even though he had one of his own. Hcaz was getting too comfortable in my house so we busted the mirrors. Strangely enough, he decided to do the same thing. I guess he didn't like me either.

After

Nest

S: I sat down the other night and made this little bird's nest from specialty wire, a little moss, and two feathers pulled from one of our feather pillows. I found the little egg shell just as it is, while raking the yard, and it was the perfect addition for my little nest!