04/06 Life

Real Talk: Blog Life

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This photo pretty much sums up today’s post, both in what it’s kind of about and how hard it was to write, HA!  I’m sharing blog life as I know it, which is something I’ve chickened out over many times because I didn’t want to risk coming off as whiney or like I’m complaining.  The opposite of that though would feel like I’m giving off the false image that I’m getting by without struggle.  So as I begin by admitting to you that I failed over the weekend at coming up with this week’s scheduled DIY, my hope is that there’s something here you guys can relate to and that we can be encouraged to talk openly and honestly about the things we struggle with, whatever they are.

I think you guys know I work a full time job, so I reserve nights and weekends for working on my blog.  My entire struggle lies in how that same time needs to be shared with everything else that’s important in my life, but with the pressure of trying to “keep up” with the blogosphere and dedicating precious weekend daylight hours to photographing content for the blog, I often reject plans with friends and family and sacrifice taking care of my basic needs (I know that wouldn’t fly for a second when I have kids… blogging mamas, HOW do you stay alive??)  So far I’d try to wear this sacrifice as a badge, like it was assurance that I’m following in the footsteps of every success story, but the reality was that it kept me from living a vibrant life offline, which makes it very, very difficult to stay inspired.

Lately it’s been rough for me in that sense, to consistently come up with ideas that are relevant to me rather than something I forced in order to create a pretty picture people would want to pin.  It’s teaching me that while this blog takes an immense amount of time and work to grow, I cannot effectively churn out creativity in a way that’s genuine and true to myself if all I do is live for the blog.  It’s a little counter-intuitive, to spend time away from something you love that requires a lot of your time to do, but I think a huge part of success in blog life is knowing when to remove yourself from it for a minute, like when the inspiration just doesn’t come, when creativity starts to feel like a competition, or when it feels like a bombed Instagram post is ruining your day (hate how petty that is, but I’m guilty of it!)

I’m making it sound all bad, but it’s definitely not.  The tricky thing is just that blog culture encourages carefully curating the better parts of our lives, which is fine, we want to be inspired by beautiful and happy things, but it can be exhausting trying to keep up with that all the time, or if everything you do offline starts to feel contrived because it needs to be something you can blog about.

So my point… I’m making an effort to spend more time enjoying things outside of blog life with the intention that what I do share on this blog comes from a real place.  Even if it doesn’t work out that smoothly, I recognize that there’s a limit to how much time should be spent cooped up at home trying to force ideas to formulate out of thin air.  It’s what happened this past weekend, and I went outside and enjoyed my city instead, something I’ve been loving doing a lot lately, and  is a little bit of how I’m navigating through this funk that has been hanging around for what seems like since the start of this year.

I know a lot of us were feeling that funk too, and I don’t know if any of you still feel it lingering around, but I’d love to hear any insight on how you deal with similar issues, or if you have been feeling any of the same frustrations!

04/01 DIY

DIY Air Plant Hangers

 

DIY Airplant Hangers

It’s surprising to me too that this is the first appearance of air plants on the blog.  Where have I been, took me long enough, about time, all of that yes.  Just another one of those things on my list that took me forever to get to, but we’re here now!

I started thinking about an air plant DIY after making a brass himmeli hanger at a craft workshop.  The idea started out as an air plant wreath, then somehow I ended up here, which I guess could also be seen as a minimal wreath.  Whenever a DIY takes a different direction, it’s usually a result of simplifying things after the initial idea doesn’t work out, so that makes this one a very, very simple idea that’s definitely worth trying for how beautiful the results are.

Materials:
-square basswood dowel
suede lace
-scissors
-air plants
-wire
wire cutters

Wood piecesI cut the square dowel into three pieces with the measurements noted above.  I picked a square dowel because I figured it would best keep the wire (showing that soon) in place and prevent it from slipping around like it most likely would on a round dowel.

Suede laceI tied and double knotted each end of suede lace to each end of the wood dowel, then cut off the excess lace.  I roughly eyeballed the length of the lace so that it was somewhere near twice the length of the dowel, maybe a bit less.

Wood and suede hangerAnd then it looks like a little trapeze!

WireMy air plants came with wire already wrapped around the base, but it would be fairly easy to add it yourself.  Note, this means the air plants will not be easily removable, but I plan on only water misting the plants and not removing them for soaking.  I have another air plant that has faired well for a while with just water misting 2-3 times a week, which is a relief because it’s possible I’m too lazy to regularly remove plants for hours of soaking.

So all that’s left is wrapping the wire tightly around the dowel (I wrapped each one about three times around) and cutting off the excess with wire cutters, making sure that the air plant is balanced on the top side of the dowel.  That part is a little tricky because the air plant makes the dowel top heavy and likely to tip over, so it’s a bit of a balancing act.  I used the suede lace to help stabilize the dowels by somewhat weaving it within the leaves of the plant, which you’ll be able to see in the photo.

Air Plant HangersI didn’t anticipate that each hanger would need to be hung off-center in order for the dowel to hang straight since I attached the plants on the ends, but I find it surprisingly beautiful that way and how it creates scalene triangles (woah, just realizing I still remember that term from geometry class once upon a time, didn’t know that was still in my head).

Air Plant Hangers DIYThese turned out way better than the original sketch I had in mind (ain’t that the best?) and they’re the perfect accessory for letting the sculptural lines of the air plants take the main stage.  Very happy with these, AND with how well my plant babies have been doing in general.  You see that little baby leaf sprouting out from the plant at the bottom right?  Makes my heart sooooaaar.

 

If you were looking for an April fools’ joke I’m sorry to disappoint you.  I’m sure you’ll be getting your fill today from other sources, but being that I can be pretty gullible, I’m on HIGH alert today aka avoiding everyone and everything, HA.  May your day go on with harmless fooling, but also have fun <3

03/30 DIY

Bedroom Update Plans

Bedroom UpdateGuys.  This is a momentous occasion.  Last I talked about my bedroom I shared a tiny bit of my angst over there being no headboard.  I’ve tried to act cool about it, but the truth is that it bothered the hell out of me how unfinished the room looked without one.  So after almost two years of coming up with every argument possible to convince boyfriend that a headboard was necessary for our survival, he finally caved, and our new blue velvet baby is on. its. way!

My obsession with this headboard and frame started when I saw it in possibly my favorite bedroom makeover ever, then when I saw it in Aileen’s beautiful bedroom, there was zero question that it was my soulmate.  You guys already know about my feelings for blue velvet, yes?

It helped that the set was on sale, had an extra discount (much like the promo that seems to be going on right now), and I’ve got a Target debit red card that knocked off 5% and the $60 handling fee.  I swear I’m not being sponsored to say this: it makes no damn sense not to have a red card given how frequently I shop Target.  I’m a Target monster.  It almost hurts to think about why I didn’t get it sooner.  On top of that, I applied Ebates cash back, so I was going all out trying to get a good deal on this thing.  Is this at all helpful or really boring?  I was excited to tell you guys all that so hopefully it didn’t make you run away screaming.

Ok so why am I here.  The shipping info says it’s going to take a million years for the thing to get here, so while I wait, I’ve been contemplating new pillow options and wanted to share them.  I’ve already spent a lot of time thinking about this so I think I’m 99.8% sure about which one I’m going to go with, but I couldn’t pass up how terribly interesting it would be to put it to a vote and see which one you guys think I should go with, or which one you think that I’ve pretty much decided on!

Pillow Options
Option 1- Banana Leaf: I’ve wanted banana leaf anything for a long time now.  It’s such a beautifully bold design.

Option 2- Leopard: You’ve never seen leopard on this blog before, but I have a secret to tell you… I like leopard. Not in every situation, but in this one heck yes.

Option 3- Blue Ikat: I’m always drawn to Ikat, and love the idea of a monochromatic look with the blue headboard.

Option 4- Geometric Black White and Gold: I mean, that sums me up in a nutshell.  If I were a pillow, this would be me.

 

Which one would you pick?  Or which one do you think I’d pick?  Brownie points: know of a pillow you think I should see that’s not one of these?  Please share!!!

03/27 Friday Links

Friday Finds

Floating ranunculus

You know, if it weren’t for these Friday Finds posts that make me pause and think about what day it is, I’d completely lose track of time.  Guys, how is it already the end of March, what is happening.

It’s been really hot in LA and already feeling like full-blown summer, which is great, but also my cue to bring out the ac unit from storage.  Our apartment building is old and doesn’t have central air, which I won’t bore you to death complaining about it, but it’s seriously about to get sweaty at home.  It’s got me thinking mostly about being outdoors and staying cool this weekend.

K here’s some fun stuff!:

In case you missed it, above are the ranunculus from this week’s spring tablescape post.

Just got these earrings and they’re amaaaazing.

Adding this home tour to my list of all time favorites.  It sealed the deal that glam but livable is the style I want.

Impressive engagement shoot, but the link in the comments section made me laugh.

A compilation of Spring cleaning tips from some of my favorite bloggers, and one’s from me :D

I’d like 100 of these.

Most beautiful Easter eggs.

This family makes 600 sq ft look pretty darn good.

I must remember to watch this whenever I’m having a bad day.

Happy weekend, guys.  Hope you’re up to something good.  ALSO, if you have any book recommendations, just anything you consider a must read, let me know about it.  I’m always on the hunt for a good read!

03/23 Seasonal/Holiday

Spring Table with Ranunculus

Spring table

Yes, I am also very happy it’s officially Spring!  Without question, I had to welcome the new season with my favorite flowers, and what actually started as an idea for a floral arrangement turned into a Spring tablescape idea, which is even more exciting because I’m yet again here to tell you guys about a super simple idea that can make a big impact- my favorite thing to do.

RanunculusSo these glass votive holders, right.  They come in a 16 pack at Michaels and I take at least one glance at them every time I’m there.  Sometimes I just have a feeling about things and keep them fresh in my brain catalogue, ready to be dispensed at any possible DIY or project idea that pops into my head.  I always thought about how I should do something with these votive holders, and somehow that manifested into a vision for floating flowers.

ranunculusYea, so maybe if you covered one eye and hopped on one foot, these would look like they’re floating, HA, but I think you can tell what I’m getting at.  One or two of these on their own wouldn’t seem that special, but seeing a bunch of them grouped together like this makes them almost magical, no?  Too much cheese?  Point is, all it took was cutting a bunch of ranunculus to the height of the votives and plopping them in one by one.  That’s very little work for a really pretty tablescape!

Simple Spring table

Not to mention, this is an excellent way to stretch out those flowers and cover large ground without buying a million and fussing over any arranging in vases.  I do love making floral arrangements, but something simple and quick like this can be just as beautiful, too.

Simple Spring table with ranunculus

Oh AND, last time I showed you guys a tablescape I talked about how I didn’t have any of the cool stuff, but now I have placemats, aw yea, progress.  Got them as a gift for Christmas (thanks, HALO) and am finally putting them to use.  And those adorable salad plates?  I wish I could tell you I DIY’d them and drew on the designs myself, but no, it’s just Target reading my mind and being amazing.  I adore the graphic details and how it still keeps the overall look of the setting simple but is still interesting and beautiful and Spring-y.  Favorite.

Setting the table like this actually isn’t something I ever do, especially when it’s just me and boyfriend 99.99% of the time, but I could really, really get into this.  Do you guys set the table special for Spring get-togethers?  Easter probably?

Anything else you got going on for Spring, I want to know about it.  Tell me about any of your plans or traditions, maybe I can get into it, too.

03/18 DIY

DIY Gold Striped File Folder

DIY Gold Striped File FolderAm I the only person who still uses accordion file folders?  Not that I have more than one, or four, but I like this “old-fashioned” way of keeping my receipts organized, which I was thinking about after filing my taxes this year, which is very boring and no one wants to talk about that, but what’s not boring is putting gold on everything.  This one only takes 10 minutes, too, which is so worth spending to make receipt-keeping a lot prettier.

White File FolderFirst, this 12 pocket file folder, which was only a dollar at the Target dollar spot (they get me).  I was completely happy with it being all white like this, but it also felt like the perfect opportunity to test out a new craft find.

Foil tape

Here’s a truth.  This DIY happened because I wanted to tell you guys I FOUND GOLD FOIL TAPE.  You’ve seen a lot of copper foil tape around here on the blog, which yes, I often wished it was gold,  but I couldn’t find any that was thin, or maybe I didn’t look that hard.  Point is, I found it, in a three pack set like this at Michaels.  It was in the Washi tape section, which I browse only in two situations: whenever there’s a sale, and whenever there’s not.

Gold Striped File Folder DIYThere’s not much to show, especially because I did this at night and took zero photos of the process, but it’s very straight forward.  The foil tape has a paper backing that needs to be peeled off, and I used a small piece of the backing to measure out the spacing in between each gold stripe as I stuck them on.  This tape smooths over really nicely, so it was easy to get rid of any small air bubbles by rubbing them out with a finger, but if reapplication is necessary, the tape doesn’t crinkle or crease much when peeled off- nice!  Once satisfied with the placement, I used scissors to cut off the excess tape around the edges of the flap.

If I had to do one thing differently, I probably would have brought that gold tape at the bottom all the way down to the edge of the flap to give it more definition, but it didn’t occur to me until after I was all done.  For a second I considered doing it all over again, but only for a second.  I got over that real quick.

DIY File Folder with Gold StripesI could very easily go down the rabbit hole of gold foil taping all the things.  This could work on so much stuff, like most other office supplies, DIY art, vases, planters, all my favorite things apparently.  You might probably definitely see more of this stuff in the future.

Do you guys like these quick little DIYs?  I personally do, and really I focus so much on simple DIYs because of how they best fit in to my lifestyle.  So often people tell me they wish they had the time to DIY, and I think if a lot of that desire comes from just wanting to create, quick projects like this to make ordinary things just a little more you can be so satisfying and fun while still leaving plenty of time for all the million other things you gotta do, like taxes.  MAN I’m glad I got that done!!