The other day O and I grabbed a handful of seed packets and a bag of potting soil on a whim at the grocery store. She enjoyed gardening so much last year that I figured we’d be able to burn an afternoon planting everything. Wrong. It ended up that she lost interest quickly. Mostly because preparation was my biggest part of the plan… I laid out old towels on the kitchen table, grabbed a pile of flower pots I had stored under the deck, Wiped them down, labeled a dozen or so popsicle sticks and then I was ready to get the dirt out. Of course O was suddenly ready to help. Because dirt is fun!

We plated basil, parsley, lavender, marigolds, sunflowers (large and hybrid), zinnia, impatiens, alyssum and more.
  We used the buffet/dresser in the dining room for a week to get everything started. The sun in there is great, but not direct. We had sprouts in just a couple of days!

We plan to move some of our new sprouts to larger post for the front porch and the sunflowers usually go along our deck in our perennial garden. Because we plan to move  then, I used an egg carton to start these seeds. I hope that later this means I can easily break them apart and transfer.

After a week we have quite a few sprouts and the sunflowers are going crazy. O has enjoyed watering all of her flowers and watching for new growth. We’ve moved most of the pots outside for now except the herbs because those are in the kitchen window. I suspect there will be a few cool nights that I bring them in before Spring fully arrives.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for good design. It’s one of the many reasons I love brands like Apple and Ikea. I’m also pretty into saving money and being “green”. For a few years I’ve been lusting after Nest. If you aren’t familiar, Nest is a wi-fi enabled learning thermostat. It learns your habits to program itself, adjusts when you’re gone and is controllable from your smartphone. Amazon and Home Depot consumers both rate it at 4.5 stars and Lowes consumers rate it at 5 stars. BUT the 3rd generation Nest costs $249. I know it is supposed to save you money but, Ouch! Luckily, our new energy company offered Nest as an incentive to switch to their services. Sign me up!

It took something like 6 weeks but the Nest was shipped to our door. I received an email letting me know it had shipped. The same email also included an instructional installation video and a number to call if I’d rather have them install it. After watching the video I felt confident that installing this thing was in my skill set.

Here are the Cliffs Notes:

What’s in the box: Your Nest. A built in level… genius! A small (and very straight forward) instruction booklet that also has the wire labels inside. 4 screws. A small (and very ergonomic) screwdriver… but I found that using my trusty drill was quite fast. An optional (see 3.5 below) mounting plate.

You may also need: A drill. It’s just faster. Wire strippers in the case that your wires need to be trimmed, straightened or stripped (about a half inch). A glass of wine… because you’ll have plenty of time left over to enjoy it!

According to the video and manual… I did the following:

***I turned off power to my HVAC system before beginning.***

1– Remove the front plate of your old thermostat. Take phone for later reference for where wires are placed.

2– Remove screws and release the old thermostat’s mounting plate. (PS- check out that great vintage green textured wall paper.  I kind of wish it was still here.)

3– Use provided label stickers to label wires accordingly. Photo from step one may be helpful.

3.5 (optional)- If desired, install provided mounting plate. I chose to use it because there were holes and blemishes left from previous equipment that I didn’t care to fill. Well that, and the fact that I had just used the last of the hall color to custom mix a new wall color for the bathroom.

4- Mount Nest using the screws provided. Lucky me dropped one in a vent and had to scrounge up a spare drywall screw from the pit of doom garage.

5- Connect wires to coordinating chambers on the nest. Do so by pressing the button, inserting wire and then releasing button (which tightens the chamber to secure wires in place).

6– Snap Nest in place. It literally clicks into place!

7– Follow prompts on the Nest screen to connect to your wi-fi network, confirm location of thermostat in your home, test each system. It walks you through everything. Just scroll by turning the outer ring of the Nest like a knob and make selections by gently pressing on the outer ring.

8– Download the Nest app onto your smartphone (multiple users are allowed!). Follow prompts to create an account/login and connect the app to your Nest.

Done. That easy. I think I spent about 20 minutes installing it. But I did end up with a little mess. Bonus: O has been walking around with the old thermostat pretending it is a phone, ipad, walkie talkie, gameboy and a remote. WHO NEEDS TOYS!?

Cool stuff the Nest does:

It goes dark and turns off the display when not in use, when you walk away etc.

When you walk by the Nest it senses you , “wakes up” and displays the current setting, current inside temperature.

When heating, the display is orange. When cooling, it is blue. If no system is running it is black.

When set to an energy saving temperature, a green leaf is displayed.

You can review settings from previous days and schedule settings differently for every single day of the month if you want. Both can be done from the Nest display or from your smartphone.

The Nest will record how long your HVAC system ran each day. You can look back to see settings, when settings were changed and when the system turned on from the Nest and your smartphone.

The Nest displays the date, time, current outdoor temp, current local weather, current indoor temp and humidity  level.

The Nest can be programmed, changed and monitored from the app. Going out of town? Turn it off from your phone. Heading home? Turn it on before you arrive.

Nest makes other intuitive home products too… home monitoring cameras, CO2 and smoke alarms.

It has only been a few days so there is no telling if we’ve actually saved energy or money just yet but I plan to report back.

* I am not affiliated with Nest, Home Depot, Lowes, Amazon or any other brands referenced in this post. None of these links are affiliate links. I have not been compensated financially or with goods or services in exchange for my post, opinions or views expressed here.*

Ah… Curb appeal. Not my strongest suit. In fact, I often have visions and good intent and I lose steam or have no idea how to execute my ideas. A perfect example is my house numbers. I remember buying them maybe 3 or 4 years ago as part of my plan to revamp our porch and entry. Needless to say, they lived in a Home Depot bag in the hall closet until this week. I found them and decided to give it a shot. I was intimidated by drilling through metal siding, which I think may be part of the reason these have been in a closet for so long. But I went for it.

First thing was first: removing the old nasty letters. They were here when we moved in. And had obviously seen better days, been spray painted and then left to die on the front of the house. They also had been mounted on the front of the house, outside of the entry and porch area… out of reach of our porch light. So at night they were not visible. I literally yanked them off the house bare handed. So liberating. I didn’t even need a screw driver.

Next I used the templates that came with the numbers to mark where they’d go. I new I wanted to put them above the door so they were lit at night. But I ran into a problem: the light is not centered to the door. I measured, remeasured. I ran down the hill 10 times to eyeball it. Eventually I landed on mounting them almost centered with the light and almost centered with the door. Sort of just in the middle of each measurement.

I opted to use a “floating mount” for the numbers so I followed the drill bit recommendations from the package for the floating mount. A flush mount was also an option but I quickly realized that the angle of the siding could make a flush mount look a little awkward since it would basically angle the numbers upward. Anywho, I  marked my holes according to the templates by drilling straight through them.

I used a wrench to fit the screws to the back of each number and then I placed the numbers in the holes I’d made for a “dry fit” before I secured them with caulk.

I used painter’s tape to fix the numbers in place while the caulk set. A few hours later, I removed the tape and admired my work.

A little more modern and visible at night. How do you like them? 

Before I begin, I totally apologize for not writing much. I have no real reason… just spending time with the family and enjoying our days. I’ve still been creating tons but I have totally slacked on posting here. My Instagram and Facebook are updated more frequently if you want to catch me there too.

At any rate…. the bathroom. I’ve mentioned before that our entire house was brown when we moved in. The bathrooms were no exception. Our half bathroom began with the same paper bag color too. While there is nothing wrong with brown, I do have a problem with a dark and flat brown sucking all of the natural light in the house. So once upon a time I grabbed a random yellow paint while I was at the hardware store. I was just so sick of brown in the bathroom that I decided to be all BRIGHT and cheery. I returned home with what I’m certain is the least thought out paint choice I’ve ever made: Honey. That is what crazy little whims do. They give you colors you only might like rather than really love.

So for 3 years we had honey. And that fun medallion shower curtain, also bright and cheery. Cute. Livable. Cheery for sure. And then, you guys, I got another crazy little whim. I just decided we should have a calm, chill and tranquil bathroom and decided the honey had to go.

This is where I had to get creative. Guess how much money Hubby was willing to let me spend. Just guess. Nothing. Because I had already done the bathroom once. Can’t argue that! So then I was all “Fine. I can do that!” and he was all, “Whaaaa? How?”…

I ran down to the garage and inspected my arsenal of paint. I returned with a handful of cans and slapped a few on the wall. Like paint roulette! I ended up with Behr Ashes from the family room and foyer, Behr Zen from the guest room, Behr Roman Plaster from O’s room, the hall and the striped wall, Benjamin Moore Glass Slipper from the master and basement half bath. *All of these are in eggshell finish*

I ended up getting a little brave and mixing a 50/50 mix of Ashes and Roman Plaster and added 2 cups of Glass Slipper. It made about a gallon (which I mixed in an empty paint can… I buy them in the paint department). So we have a cool silver blue color going (the smear to the left of the rest of the samples). Gutsy but worth it.

I caulked and painted all the trim… because I skipped that last time and I’m pretty sure it had never been caulked. Then I go to work. I have to say I was a little nervous painting gray with brown tile and brown counter tops but I realized there is a gray color in the tile and a bit in the counter top too. Since I wasn’t spending any money I figured I had nothing to lose.

It took 2 coats but I believe its and ace! Everything already felt more calm and put together with the new color.

So the red shower curtain had to go… it no longer matched. I had also washed it several times according to the label but it had shrunk to a humorously short excuse for a shower curtain. The final straw was when I washed it while I painted the last coat. I eyeballed a few shower curtains online and had considered several geometrics or very subtle patterns but I went against my usual stripe addiction and landed on a monochromatic floral paisley. I know. I was surprised myself. This is the only money I spent: $23. And since it was now a need Hubby agreed.

Here is the finished product. A calm and tranquil sanctuary of a bathroom. My own personal spa! I hung a few of my Instagram pictures of the Cincinnati Museum Center that my parents had printed and framed when they gifted us a pass for Christmas (way more fun than opening a gift card!). I promise to take better non-iPhone pictures later but for now this should do. High five for a (nearly) free bathroom makeover!

  
Pop fizz clink! New Years Eve is here and it’s one of my favorite holidays… Dressing up, gathering with friends, reminiscing the past year and starting fresh for the next. And of course, champagne. I do love a good glass of bubbly. After all, I do take after my mother. 

Whether you’re a regular champagne drinker or only pop open the bubbles on NYE and at weddings, these articles and recipes are enlightening to say the least. 

First, let’s discuss this amazingness. I am pretty sure I’ll be adding it to the bucket list. Can it be done?

Don’t be intimidated. A decent bottle of bubbly doesn’t have to cost a fortune. I’m a Prosecco gal myself and I rarely splurge for anything over $20. If you’re lost on what to buy, check out this list of bubbly buys under $20.

And you know, champagne has plenty of health benefits. At least I’m reducing my risk for Dementia and Alzheimer’s while keeping it glamourous. Multitasking at its best! 

If you’re adventurous I promise these champagne cocktail recipes won’t disappoint! 
Source: Picklee
Find more recipes here and here. 

For the best champagne experience I’ve compiled a few basic pointers:

1- Cold champagne pops louder and more powerfully because the molecules have expanded as the temperature dropped. See #3 for safety tips.

2- If your champagne goes flat (if you’ve attempted to save), just drop a raisin into the bottle to revive the bubbles. 

3- To safely uncork a bottle of champagne: open the foil at the top of the bottle just below the lip of the bottle. Twist the metal cage open and remove. Hold the neck of the bottle with one hand and hold a clean dish towel over the top of bottle with the other hand. Use your thumb to loosen the cork. The pressure should pop it once loosened. The towel will prevent the cork from rocketing upward. You’re welcome. I just saved your ceiling, light bulbs and maybe your face. A handy video!

4- Make a toast! It’s simple… Raise your class, make a joke or a wish, honor a guest, celebrate with a “cheers”. 

5- Be sure to serve champagne in a fluted glass whenever possible. They are designed narrow and tall promote bubbles to rise through the liquid. The narrow opening helps retain the carbonation (bubbles!). Serving in a glass with a wider opening (like a wine glass) helps the carbonation dissipate quickly and therefor go flat. Read more here. 

6- While you’re at it, be sure to hold your glass by the stem. It helps keep the champagne cool and at an ideal serving temperature.

7- There is always an occasion for champagne! Moët Chandon has a nifty food pairing feature on their website.

8- For extra fizz try adding berries to your glass. Frozen berries keep your champagne cold too!

9- Be sure to store your champagne in a cool, dark place. Read more here.

10- feeling fancy? Study up on proper champagne service.

Cheers! Happy new year! See you in 2016!

Xo

Hilda