Archive for category: Musings

A Wood Pallet Garden

A Wood Pallet Garden

Happy Friday friends! And hello!

About a week and a half ago we wrapped our our SimpleTax’s incredibly successful first year. The next day I hopped on a plane and flew to Charlottesville for Heather and Gav’s amazing wedding. And I’m back again! Hooray!!

One of the Pinterest projects that’s been on my list for a long time (… more than a year …) is a wood pallet garden. Okay, and other wood pallet projects too.

back-deck-pallet-garden-urban-5

Pallet projects generally have been on my mind for quite awhile; I found the pallet I used for this project in April 2012. Then I found its friend the other pallet about a month later. These pallets have been living in a stack on our back deck. For a year.

It’s not like I wasn’t thinking about pallet projects. At one point shortly after I found them I tried to disassemble one. I don’t actually remember what the project was, but I do remember me + my hammer + two hours + lots of swearing. Needless to say that project was a bit of a fail. Life lesson: if you don’t have power tools, stick to pallet projects that don’t need deconstructing.

So, I decided upon this vertical pallet garden from Life on the Balcony.

Pretty, right? I thought so too, and bought the landscape paper for this project last May.

And then I just never got around to it. I have all sorts of excuses: I was busy craigslisting and projecting all the stuff inside our house, wedding season came, SimpleTax was crazy. But honestly, I was a little intimidated by potting soil.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take the afternoon off and just do it. A trip to Home Depot’s garden centre, two bags of potting soil (that were surprisingly inexpensive and not all that intimidating), and lots of plants later (including a hanging planter and some pretty lavender), I was ready to go. And it went quite quickly following Life on the Balcony’s instructions. Except I needed a third bag of potting soil (shakes fist) so lots of swearing and one more bus ride to Home Depot and a half an hour more and I was done!

back-deck-pallet-garden-urban-1

I let the pallet sit there and the roots take hold for 2 weeks, and then I tried to make it vertical.

And I realized that was never going to happen. There aren’t enough back boards on my pallet, so when I (ok, the hubs) lifts it or tilts it, all the flowers sag. Grrr. This is extra unfortunately because of the sweet peas I planted at the botton to grow up the planter. Grrr.

In positive news, at least it isn’t a total Pinterest fail.

back-deck-pallet-garden-urban-2

And, in other positive news, I still think it looks pretty awesome and brightens up our deck. And I’m thinking about using the other pallet to hide the other wall and make a different kind of pallet garden from Kelly Moore that can certainly stand vertically!

We shall see, friends. Maybe next May :)

May 10, 2013 1 comment Read More
A Haworthia Terrarium

A Haworthia Terrarium

Yesterday was one of those days where you remember exactly why you moved to Vancouver.

It was March 3. And this happened.

sunbathing-in-march (That’s people sunbathing on March 3, in case you were distracted by the beautiful view.)

On top of the fantastic weather, we were surprised that we had a bit of a “calm before the storm” (at least we hope the storm is coming) type of day. It was the type of day where we woke up bright and early and went grocery shopping when the store was still empty, but ready for a busy Sunday. The kind of day where we found a bookcase on craigslist, brought it home, and released our books from the Staples boxes in which they’ve been living since December 2011 (I wish that was a typo). And then we styled it. And our house feels so much more like a home.

Then we decided to go for a walk to buy a succulent, since I’ve wanted to build some sort of terrarium or succulent garden for a very long time. On last week’s epic walk we purchased this fun hanging glass pot from CB2 with this project in mind.

This cute little guy is called a “haworthia”. He is a succulent, and though he looks like an aloe, he isn’t. That’s the extent of what I learned about him on the internet.

haworthia-succulent-terrarium-3

I made a little rock barrier around his outside, and decided he looked pretty fricken cute.

haworthia-succulent-terrarium-4

The last tenants left us 4 hooks in the ceiling for ceiling plants, and after taking him on an adventure to all four we settled on the kitchen. This is his view.

haworthia-succulent-terrarium-5

Other than the time it took to buy the materials, putting him together took less than 15 minutes and resulted in something pretty awesome.

March 4, 2013 1 comment Read More
2013 goals

2013 goals

Hello! See, I told you I’d be back.

So. Let’s talk about my 2013 goals .

I have two.

Image found on Pinterest from Fresh Studio.

Having two goals this year is very different from thirty goals I had in my 30-before-30 project, last year.

And one of this year’s two goals is private (sorry mom; it’s not have a baby).

And having a private goal feels really very different from the public goals I had last year.

The second goal is not to obsess about things. Because you may have noticed that I tend towards the obsessive.

So there you have it. 2013 is about giving myself a break.

(P.S. If you are reading this in your RSS reader, pop on over and check out the blog makeover. A little less fancy, a little easier to maintain. A lot more conducive to more frequent posting).

February 25, 2013 4 comments Read More
changes are a comin’

changes are a comin’

Hi guys! I’m back. And this time, I’m going to try to be back to stay. You may not hear from me every day, or even every week, but I’m promise that I’ll post more than once in 5 months :)

Part of the reason that I’ve been completely absent from my blog is because I’ve been feeling guilty. If you’ve been around for awhile, you know I tend to the long-winded. But I just ran out of steam and I couldn’t—or wouldn’t—devote the energy that it takes to write my regular posts.

I’ve been spending a lot of hours per day starting at my computer screen lately (the amount of time you spend at your computer when you have one colleague/husband and no commute is cr-a-zy) and I haven’t wanted to devote my downtime to a hobby that’s also in front of my computer screen. Instead, I wanted to get off the computer, give my lower back a breat, and do things! So, without really making a conscious decision about it, I started spending my my spare time doing things rather than writing about them. It’s been good for my soul.

So. What’s gonna happen? Well, the plan is to come back. I miss it here! But be ready for something a little different (and posts that are a lot shorter). I should be good at short. I’m short. Don’t worry though, I’m sure I’ll throw in a soul-baring 1500-worder every now and again (because I won’t be able to stop myself).

So. Hello! Thanks for sticking around!

From Kensie Kate, found on pinterest

 

February 23, 2013 0 comments Read More
*cough* *cough*

*cough* *cough*

Well… this is awkward.

So awkward that I’m not entirely sure how to start. And I always know how to start.

So, let’s go with: “Hi! How are you? It’s been awhile”.

And it’s true. It has been awhile. An embarrassingly long while. A since October 18th kinda while. I guess I just ran out of steam.

And now I’m here to reflect on 2012 and to think about 2013. And to warn you that it is going to continue to be kinda quiet around these parts for the next little while. You know that “quitting your job to start your own businesses” thing that I’ve got going on? Well, apparently your own businesses can wring out your heart, your soul, and every spare second of your time until there is not much left.

We’ve had an … interesting … couple of months. The kind of months that we couldn’t have even imagined when we started on this journey. The kind of months that I don’t wish on anyone, ever. It’s been tough. And I’m exhausted. Don’t worry too much: despite being tired, I’m ok and the hubs is ok, and our product is growing into something really awesome. But our business needs every ounce of my all for the next couple of months, which is why it’s going to stay somewhat dark in these parts. If you miss me (and you are interested in tax) I am going to have my tax tips blog launching at simpletax.ca/blog sometime this week. Woohoo!

And on a positive note, 2013 is looking promising. We’re going to release our product. (And it is really good). And wedding season kicks off immediately after tax-season with Heather & Gavin’s wedding and runs right through to September 1st with some pretty great clients in some pretty awesome spaces.

Throughout wedding season, I’m hoping to take a “tax-break” and finish up all sorts of things that are as yet un-done around our place (we still need a bookcase, I need to reupholster our awesome armchairs, we need art in the family room, the half stripped kitchen table needs a lot of love, we need a headboard, our world’s ugliest dresser needs a facelift … the list goes on). I also hope to come back to my beloved blog, and you guys (if anyone sticks around until then!)

And despite the rocky end to the year, 2012 was quite possibly my best year to date. It started with the wedding in Uruguay, which was quickly followed by Antarctica. And this. (If you haven’t seen that yet, click through, you won’t regret it). Three months soaking up the atmosphere in Buenos Aires got us all charged up and ready to take on our next adventure. My first season photographing weddings in Vancouver was a great success — I am so happy with my work and where it is going this year, and then as wedding season wound down, I dove head first into SimpleTax. And I love it, and I care so much about it, I’m pouring my heart and my soul into it. I feel like in 2012 I took my life and steered it towards the direction I ultimately want it to go.

But guys. I’m tired. And I’ve got a big couple of days (and months) ahead of me. So know that I love you, and I miss you. And I hope to be back again before not too long.

And because what’s a blog post without some images, here’s a few shots from our snowy snowy Christmas in Ottawa.

December 31, 2012 2 comments Read More
birthday goodness

birthday goodness

If you are wondering about how I fared in my 30-before-30 post, head on over the the 30-before-30 page, where I’ve just posted an in depth update! In other news: I had an awesome day yesterday.

I woke up at 6 (I’m a morning person, yo) to the best card and gift ever from the hubs.

Then I got to pull one of the “30 Things We Like About Al” from the gift my parents gave me! Yesterday’s thing? That I’m an Excel guru.

After about an hour of work at my computer, I was off to use my free birthday drink at Starbucks. I got a Venti.

I also stopped at Cobs and at the grocery store to pick up ingredients to make myself delicious french toast.

I then sat down and coloured for a few hours while I waited for the hubs to wake up.

When the hubs woke up, I made him some french toast while I opened the card from my grandparents, my in-laws and my brother. They were all so good!

After about an hour more of work, we set off on #fallwalk2012. (Each year we do a long walk in the fall. This year: 25.5 kms, a record even by fallwalk standards!)

We crossed the Burrard St. bridge, did the seawall all the way around the West End, Stanley Park, and Coal Harbour, crossed through Gastown to meet up with the seawall again before Science World, took a detour onto Granville Island, and then back to Kits.

We had planned on going for a nice dinner – likely to Vij’s – but by the end of fall walk we were plum worn out. So we stopped for beer and wings (and dry ribs and bugers) on the patio of our favourite local pub. This was extra good because we had just spent a dry September, where not only did we not drink, but we didn’t eat things like pub food.

Then we picked up a Safeway pumpkin pie for $2.99 and ate it while watching the reminder episode and the season premiere of Revenge.

I was in bed by 10:30, my preferred bed time.

So all in all, I had a perfect day.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends, I’ll be back on the blog on Tuesday!

October 6, 2012 3 comments Read More