today around the house...

leaves from the backyard spruces up the dining room when I can't afford flowers  / handmade cards for the teachers ready be distributed tomorrow / newly thrifted green sofa for $20- compliments everything in my living room / thrifted bookcase for $50 / Lucky's new haircut.

colors outside

While most garden blooms in spring and summer, for my garden it is the fall season.  My front yard is bursting with the most brilliant colors right now. The maple tree right next to my living room window cast a golden glow in the mornings; the path to the driveway and entrance is covered in warm shades of brown and the fiery red maple tree is just gorgeous!  I had to ask my husband not to rake the leaves just yet.

inspiration Friday

I took these photos from my front yard yesterday after the rain stopped.  We've been having lots of April showers here in Seattle as of late and I love it; there's nothing like the distinctive fresh smell after the rain, and the pretty flower buds popping everywhere this time of year. I'm looking forward to do a little bit of gardening this weekend. 

Happy Friday!

numbers

Some numbers that are floating around in my head today...

The kids just completed their 100th days of school, such a great milestone!

I looked at my calendar and it dawned on me- my munchkins are turning 6 in less than 3 months! 

2 things they want for their birthday; cupcakes and bouncy house, which I think is the perfect combo.

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The shop reached more than 10,000 hearts this month! so much love!

(via)

Speaking of love I can't believe I have been doing this Etsy gig for almost 3 years now (will be 3 years in April)... and I still LOVE it so; every minute of it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!  I live and breathe Etsy, can you tell?

5 years ago we moved into this house, the longest I have ever stayed put in a place for the last 20 years.  Where all 2,000 sq ft of it now houses hundreds of my junks ahem "treasures",  kidding, only a thousand of it the rest is our living space (hubby thinks).  A place where many wonderful memories, growth and incredible milestones were made.

and this makes my 367th blogpost :-)

snow!!

well, I got my wish a little early, looks like we're going to have a white Thanksgiving. The snow poured in yesterday and the kids have been home from school, they played in the snow all afternoon yesterday and today they're bored out of their mind.  The streets are frozen with ice and we can't go anywhere, I think we'll put the tree up and decorate it tonight. 

clutter

Since running an Etsy shop I learned to let some things slide around my home.  Some chore has been drop to the bottom of the list; for instance I don’t do the dishes after every meal, I do ‘em all at once at night or the next morning when there’s abosolutely no more spoons to use for the cereal. I'm also fine doing the laundry only on weekends. Washing and drying I don’t mind, it’s the folding of small garments and putting away 100 pairs of socks that drives me craaazy! I only clean the house once a week, or when someone's coming to visit.  Yeah, our house is not as immaculate as you think it is dear visitor, in fact 90% of the time it looks more like this...- clutter everywhere.  This is the current state of my home this morning.  My dining table is full of stuff that's either needs to be clean or photograph for the shop. 

The mantel is right next to the spot where I take pictures and is very convenient place holder, sadly it is also the focal point of my living room. 

The USPS boxes came in last week and they’re still parked by my entrance.  And once in a while at night when I pass by to get a glass of water in the kitchen, I freak myself out, thinking someone's standing on the corner of my dimly lit entrance door.

And some odds and ends on another corner... but as you've guessed, I have way more fun blogging about my messy home than actually cleaning it :)

Happy Monday everyone!!

beautiful mess

I'm loving the beautiful mess the colourful leaves creates on my driveway.  This morning I spent a couple of hours sorting, cleaning and polishing my recent finds.

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I changed my shop banner last night and I'm a little nervous about the change...but happy.

weekend thrift find

Two bookcases from Goodwill; $20, (and if you've seen my basement) finding an empty wall for them; priceless!

Of course it didn't take long for me to fill them up. But a great thing that happens each time I find a new storage for my finds is that I get so motivated to reorganize and clean- and then discovering some forgotten stuff I thrifted many weeks ago that are yet to be listed in the shop. It's like finding new treasures all over again, I know it's that bad.

I also reorganized my frames and decided to hang them up instead so they're easier to find when they get sold. My computer desk is right across this wall, now I feel like I am being watched from behind by these old couple.  I admit some of my vintage finds does creep me out a little.

blue hydrangeas

My blue hydrangeas on the front yard is in full bloom. Yesterday I asked my husband to cut me a few stems for the dining table, the kids helped him and they got a little crazy and picked all the flowers within their reach then they brought them to me one stem at a time with each time announcing they got a present for me.   Silly kids, now my living room is in a sea of blue hydrangeas.

A few years ago, I bought a small hydrangea plant from Home Depot and planted it in the backyard.  It was a pretty pink shade, the following year the flowers turned to blue.  I later found out that the soil changes their colour.  The more aluminum present in the soil, then the flowers will eventually turned into a blue or purple shade.

One trick I read to changing the blooms into pink is to use a fertilizer with high levels of phosphorus to prevent the aluminum into the system, or better yet consider growing them in a large pots.  Maybe I'll try using the big pot method next time.

I love the blue hydrangeas just the same, I think they look great with the brown apothecary jars.  I like to use them for my flowers.  I don't  really have any vases, one big ceramic vase from Ikea but all my flowers go to jars and bottles mostly, and milkglass vases.

You can't really go wrong with these and the old mason jars, they look nice with any kinds of flowers and they're very inexpensive at the thrift store.

natural inspiration

These are the beautiful colors that surrounds my home this time of year. I don't spend very much time in my yard, I wish I could; the backyard is bare and could use more plants. Each time I drive by the garden center I always daydream of building a romantic garden with a pond in the backyard with a couple of very old cast iron benches and a couple of swings. I love that my yard is very low maintenance, and all the trees that was planted blooms alternately all year round. The front lawn has been invaded by green moss which I much prefer anytime than a regular lawn grass. And the clematis is climbing up all the way to my bedroom window on the second floor.