So you think smoothies aren’t good for you, huh?
Well, they don’t have to be full of sugar, whole milk, and ice cream to be sweet and refreshing.
Take a gander at my latest creation: the peach pineapple smoothie.
1 cup of frozen pineapple chunks
1/4 cup fresh peach chunks in light syrup
1/4 cup crushed ice
Blend and enjoy.
The fruit is so sweet that there’s no need to add sugar and the ice and frozen pineapple makes this smoothie super thick!
My fresh basil and Italian parsley are doing fantastic – they both seem to require a ton of water as it’s been very hot. The meals that I’ve seasoned with them have all turned out fantastic and full of flavor – nothing beats fresh herbs! The lemon balm and catnip both took a spill off the porch yesterday thanks to some high winds but seem to be recovering nicely. Plenty of water and a new wind-resisant home on the floor of the porch as opposed to the railing should prevent a repeat fall!
All of my tomato plants are growing like weeds! Yesterday I enjoyed my first cherry tomato and used two of my Early Girl slicers on my nachos. They were all very sweet and very ripe. Looking forward to plucking more of these red gems off of my healthy, happy plants!
Last but not least is the strawberry bed that my husband planted. Several different types of critters have been digging in it and may have killed a couple of the plants but a few seem to be taking off quite nicely! Looking forward to at least a few quarts of fresh strawberries next summer.
I stumbled across some custom birth prints on Etsy and Pinterest and fell in love! This is exactly the type of thing that I’d love to have in Carter’s room, especially considering my love for print and typography. LOVE it! Will be easy easy easy to create and print… just have the find the right frame. :) Happy Saturday!
On a whim, I purchased a paper punch after seeing all of the beautiful mobiles that my sister was making and selling online at her Etsy shop.
What a relaxing project this turned out to be! My mini mobile has about 30 raindrop-shaped pieces of paper strung from some of Brad’s unused lightweight fishing line and suspended from a wooden ring. It’s so delicate and light that the slightest breeze seems to make it spin just a little. I’m VERY proud to have just listed it in my own Etsy shop and cannot wait for someone to give it a new home! My sister is currently making an orange and white one for baby Carter that will fit my orange and white teddy themed baby room a lot better.
All in all, I really can’t complain. Business is nice and steady and it’s warm enough that all the windows are open (in the 70′s all day today!) and the mobile is spinning just a bit where I hung it in the corner – it’s so nice to let some fresh air in while I work at my computer.
In other news, I discovered a baby tomato growing on my biggest tomato plant (an Early Girl tomato plant) and my herbs are thriving in this nice weather! It must be time to lay that pallet out flat, fill it with potting soil, and get my carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce started!
PS! I’ve chosen a photographer for Carter’s first photo shoot. Imagine Photography out of Murphysboro had these shots in their portfolio that were TOO CUTE and exactly what I was envisioning for Carter’s newborn photos:
Before I launch into this blog, I just wanted to quickly plug my newest social media endeavor – Tumblr! Tumblr is a photoblog and if any of you are currently posting photos there, readers, follow me ( my username is rikkirogersblog ) and I’ll follow you back! Or, just creep over to my Tumblr page to check out my latest Instagram shots!
I’m happy to present our front yard landscaping – finished!
I have trouble feeling bad about a single dollar that we’ve spent on this project, as it has completely and utterly transformed our property. I heard once that “curb-appeal”, kitchen updates, and bathroom remodels are the best places to put your money when fixing up a home and with the completion of our latest project, I couldn’t agree more!
Back in 2009 when we were house hunting, I remember seeing the first photos of this house before we drove out to take a look. Brad almost didn’t convince me to drive out here with him! The front yard was completely overgrown, un-mowed, the trees were in bad need of trimming, and there was almost no landscaping to speak of. A large, square deck with no railing served as the front porch about a foot below a hideously outdated screen door, flanked on either side by cheap, plastic, “imitation rock” garden lining in a weed-strewn flower bed devoid of flowers!
(There were many problems inside the house as well, but over the years we’ve painted, rebuilt, rewired, and replumbed the interior back into shape!)
The most expensive and labor-intensive part of this landscaping project, but by far the most rewarding, was the installation and leveling of the castle rock.
The gray rocks are quite heavy and while they don’t NEED to be leveled, it looks a lot more professional when they are. That leveling also makes the process about 10 times slower than if you just plunk them into the ground!
The brick patio for the front porch was also quite costly, but really looks nice. It was considerably less difficult and time consuming to install once Brad and his Dad had the sandy base poured and leveled. We’re currently shopping around for a small metal bistro table for it!
The gravel and mulch were fairly cheap, and a few of the plants were given to us by our neighbor Betty who has a huge flower garden! (That saved a lot of money as each flowering plant and bush can add up rather quickly!)
You’ll have to excuse my far-from-perfect before and after shots in this next graphic!
When the Before shot was taken, it was very overcast – near-perfect lighting! At this point, we had mowed the yard and trimmed up the trees (as well as removed a tree that had once stood right in front of the front door!) Also, our new metal roof had been installed at this point. This was a huge improvement as the original roof was in dire need of replacing.
In the after shot, all we need is our little metal table and chairs and we’re ready to go!
Unfortunately, I was shooting directly into the sun, but I think the photo still provides a nice view of the corner tiered castle rock garden and walkway that greet visitors who pull up into the driveway. We’re quite proud of that part, can you tell?
While my pallet herb garden is probably our next immediate project, the back of the house will be our next major one.
And for those of you who haven’t seen the back of the house, you’re just going to have to wait. I’m definitely not going to be posting a “before” photo until the “after” one has been taken – we have quite a bit of work to do back there!
Happy April, everyone!
I wanted to share my pallet garden progress and in the process, stumbled upon the blue-tailed skink who has been living under our porch. This time, I caught him camera-in-hand and managed to snap this shot of him! He’s been keeping my plants company while they await their new home – a pallet garden that my husband and I will be planting soon!
At Rural King this weekend, I purchased the following herbs and veggie plants:
A little overboard? Maybe. But hopefully, they all survive until I can get them pallet-planted and firmly rooted and my backyard will be full of fresh herbs and veggies this year!
For the last 2 weeks, we’ve been experienced unseasonably warm weather here in Southern Illinois. Our end of March averages were all in the 60′s and 70′s and the the few days have been solidly in the 80′s! Sounds like prime planting weather to me. Soon Brad will be bringing home a new pallet and some more potting soil and we’ll be crossing our fingers that a late frost won’t zap all my little plants.
Here are some shots of my herbs pre-pallet!
And of course, my tomato plants, too!
Check back soon for the final pallet garden photo, as well as an array of new photos showing how our front yard landscaping (ALMOST FINISHED!) turned out! :)
Well, it’s officially spring!
Right in the middle of an unseasonably warm mid-March, the temperature here in sunny Southern Illinois is a comfortable 81 degrees. The birds are busy painting my black car white, the bugs are collecting on my windshield, and the red wasps are busy making nests around our back door. But honestly, even with those unpleasantries, I can’t wipe the smile off of my face. This is, without a doubt, my favorite season in this part of the country for a few reasons.
The humidity is still low! I can go outside and enjoy the sun without instantly being covered in sweat. I can enjoy the wind in my hair without crazy 80′s frizz. And without humidity, 80 degrees feels a lot more like 80 degrees and not 100. ;) I can throw the windows and sliding door open and let all that musty winter air out of the house and hear the birds singing while I graphic design at my desk. Which, while not as good as working outside, is about as close as you can get.
For those of you who have been keeping up on the blog or following me on facebook, you may already know that our little Christmas surprise has been keeping me from blogging regularly! But now that I am well into the second trimester and feeling much better, I plan to jump back into writing regularly, so check back or friend me on facebook for updates on new posts!
First an update on the last blog post: Baby Rogers is a boy! He is tentatively named (oh, who am I kidding? We’ve loved this name from the very beginning…) Carter Bradley. And while I may have grown up blissfully oblivious to what a “pallet” is and its many folksy and useful upcycling uses, Carter is probably going to be painfully aware. That’s right, I’ve stumbled upon a couple of new pallet projects and I couldn’t help but share. ;)
I can already see it… Our little family is cruising down the freeway in Daddy’s truck. From the shade of a quiet group of storage units, right next to a large dumpster, a stack of handsome pallets catches our eye. *Screeeech!* We’ll whip around and pull in the lot to inspect them. If Carter is, by this time, old enough to be embarrassed by us, this is the part where he’ll be rolling his eyes or hoping against hope that no one from his school recognizes his parent’s truck. ;) Yep, we’re already refining our “weird parents” quirks well before Carter makes his grand debut. But thankfully for all of you, I’m perfectly comfortable with embarrassing my child with my love for ”upcycling” so he’d better just learn to love it. ;)
On to the project!
How easy and adorable is this planter? I’ve been eyeing the standing planters at Rural King for a year now, unable to pull the trigger and drop $80+ on a tall, wooden box for my plants. I’d never even considered that my beloved pallets could do the same job!
The supplies for this project are all things that we have here, thanks in part to Brad’s extensive garage tool arsenal.
I fully plan on asking Brad to help me construct this environmentally-friendly-and-folksy project which I heard about from a friend and found instructions for online at Life on the Balcony. I imagine this project taking off in the next month or so, so stay tuned as I will most certainly be posting photos!
Now what pallet garden would be complete without an upcycled pallet bench upon which to sit and admire my plants?
This project looks a bit trickier. But thanks to Brad’s affinity for woodworking and our love of pallet makeovers, I think we’ve got what it takes to figure this one out. There are no directions at the Garden Daddy website, but with the photos he posted, I’m betting Brad can figure the design out.
That’s all I’ve got for now as we haven’t started these projects yet. Be ready for a new cork mat, a paper mobile, and (probably) more pallet creations in the coming weeks!
Happy spring, everyone. And here’s hoping that my Idaho friends get to enjoy this weather nice and early this year, too!
Who hasn’t found themselves getting a tad bored with the internet from time to time? It happens all the time – your Facebook feed has just run out of new stories for you, you’ve checked, deleted, and replied to all your e-mails, snooped on your ex’s Facebook page… what’s there left to do? Your logical brain will tell you that with as vast as the internet is, there is a world of funny, interesting things you could be checking out now that your essentials are out of the way. But who wants to do all that searching!? If only all the interesting stuff was collected in one place…
Well, it is!
Well, maybe not all of it, but I guarantee there’s a place so chock full of internet gems that you’ll have to pry yourself away due to lack of time before you run out of great stuff to find. Those who are already happily addicted like myself already know what I’m talking about.
Pinterest, you’re a cruel mistress, but you sure have a whole heckuva lot of interesting things to check out…
To everyone who checked out the clothing-finding/outfit-building website featured in my last post, be warned, Pinterest is an even larger time suck. But admittedly, the things that you will take away from your Pinterest ‘pinning’ may actually save you money and really shake up your day to day. (Which is more than I can say about Polyvore since it had me seriously considering expanding my clothing budget!)
In the thumbnail here, you can see my current front page at Pinterest. At any given time, it is populated by an endless supply of cool internet finds that your friends have “pinned” to their own Pinterest profiles – ideas, recipes, photos and such that they would like to save.
In short, Pinterest is a super easy way to save and share the interesting things that you find online with your friends.
In the image here, you can see that my friends have found an awesome chocolate chip cookie recipe, an upcycling idea for turning an old wine rack into an awesome bathroom towel rack, a romantic bedroom decorating idea, and even an idea for newborn baby photos. There are music suggestions, travel ideas, unique articles… the categories are endless! There’s even a nice search feature. If you’re wanting something new to do with the avocados you just bought, you simply type “avocado” into the search and prepare to be bombarded by avocado recipes, art, and craft projects involving yours truly’s favorite fruit.
Men, don’t feel left out! The reason my board looks so feminine is because my Pinterest friends are nearly all female and that just happens to be what we’re into. The entire web is open to pinning so with the right search options, you can fill your board with sports cars, motorcycles, video game reviews, bikini babes, or whatever it is that men find more interesting than recipes and home decor. ;)
If Pinterest is new to you, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find that MANY of your Facebook friends are probably already there, pinning away. Even if you’re alone at Pinterest, the board can be easily populated by things you’ll love simply by entering a word of interest into the search bar in the upper left hand corner.
So what are you waiting for?
Head on over and check it out. When you figure out how to follow friends, you can add me while you’re at it! Over at Pinterest, I go by rikkirogersblog and I would love to see what kind of interesting things you’ve found there. Just make sure you have a big ‘ol block of time put aside – it’s easy to lose track of the clock while you’re busily pinning your life away!
Visit Pinterest!
“Don’t do it!” A tiny voice seemed to shout as I succumbed to the curiosity that has been bubbling just below the surface. For months I watched friends, family members, and total strangers alike all falling victim to a ruthless, swift-acting addiction – Pinterest. I brushed the voice aside.
“I’m stronger than that. It won’t suck me in… I just want a peek at what all the fuss is about.”
Upon entering the site, a wall of color greeted me. Hairstyles, shoes, crafts – clicking, clicking, clicking… each item seemed even cuter than the last and I felt the force of Pinterest sucking me further and further down the rabbit-hole as I followed link after link.
But then it happened. I stumbled upon an item infinitely more cute than all the rest and I was helpless. It was an entire outfit, laid out just like they used to do (still do?) in the Seventeen and Cosmo magazines. It was SO cute! With a rabid irrationality I thought to myself, I have to have every item in this collection! Thankfully, that moment passed and I was able to collect myself enough to further explore who had put this perfect outfit together.
I scrolled through the gushing comments and somehow found that the collection had been put together on a site called Polyvore.
And thus began my addiction that would surpass that of any of my Pinterst-obsessed friends.
I’ve got to warn you, don’t click on any links here unless you’ve got some time on your hands. The time-sucking power of this site is not to be underestimated. That is, unless of course, you’re a guy. In that case you’re safe. But then, you probably won’t be clicking the link anyway. ;) I didn’t do much exploring but it didn’t look to me like they have any guy clothes anyway. Moving right along…!
These are the outfits I put together on my first trip to Polyvore!
As anyone who knows me will tell you, I love spending money. But strangely enough, sometimes clothing shopping can be downright painful for me. I’ve always had self-professed plain taste. I like my outfits simple, monochromatic, and comfortable. I’m not sure if it’s the latest trends or the fact that I’m edging out of the age group that actually understands the latest trends, but I’ve been having an increasingly difficult time finding clothes at the mall that I really love.
Enter Polyvore.
When you click “explore,” you’re given a blank white space where you can drag clothing items from actual retailers online. That’s right, ladies, you get to play dress up with real clothing. What’s even better, the website allows for sorting. You can type in keywords like “sweater”, “dolman”, “necklace”, “red”, “leather” and even more exciting, you can sort by price as well. Just find an item that you love, drag it into the white space, and voila! In minutes you can put together an entire accessorized outfit with prices and links to all of the actual items you used.
You can even add text and arrows if you’d really like that Cosmopolitan feel to your collage.
As for me, I would always turn on the “Under $50″ filter and go nuts! Most of the items that make up my outfits up there are very moderately priced. Those cute black flats in the first picture are only $11! Now, the bracelet in that same collection? It’s upwards of $250!? If I had seen that during all my clicking and dragging, it certainly wouldn’t have made it into the collection in the first place. But I suppose it can stay for now. :)
If you’re somehow still here, now’s the time that I release you to your own devices. Follow the link below to my personal Polyvore page! There, you can click on any of the items in my collection to be directed to the retailer where you can purchase it if you like. Or, you can click on the “Create” link on the top of the Polyvore page to start creating your own outfit. You can create something cute even if you don’t have an account, too!
When the site sucks you in like the merciless Succubus that it truly is and you’ve created your own account, please “follow” me on Polyvore. I’m rikkirogers. I’d love to follow you back. Goodness knows I’ll be spending enough time there in the foreseeable future!
Happy creating. ;)
http://rikkirogers.polyvore.com/
Have you ever heard of a kissing ball?
Neither had I!
Apparently, it involves the origin of kissing-under-the-mistletoe tradition. In the eighteenth-century, the English credited the mistletoe with a certain magical appeal. They would create a ball out of a tree branch, put a sprig of mistletoe at the bottom, hang it up and call it a “kissing ball.” At Christmas time a young lady standing under the ball, brightly trimmed with evergreens, ribbons, and ornaments, cannot refuse to be kissed. Such a kiss could mean deep romance or lasting friendship and goodwill. If the girl remained unkissed, she cannot expect not to marry the following year.
In modern times, kissing balls can be made out of almost anything! I’ve seen some beautiful kissing balls made out of flowers at weddings, and was recently inspired by one that I saw that was made out of – you guessed it – cork!
I used a reflective Christmas ornament ball and glued my halved corks all around the surface. I left the wire hoop on the ornament exposed so that these may double for tree ornaments come December. But as for now, they are simply funky centerpieces keeping my hedge apples company.
They are also the latest addition to my Etsy store!
I’m so excited to share this creation with Etsy and my readers here!
Do you have any cork creation ideas for me? Leave it in the comments below!