Happy Friday

Today was an all around good day. Got to sleep in a little, found some yummy banana nut muffins in the kitchen for breakfast and our MIA pool guy finally showed up and cleaned the pool (lots of banana leaves and algae in it, ick!).


Our gardener was here also today and got the lawn all clipped up and fixed one of our broken sprinklers. Said gardener also happens to be a plumber/handyman and attended to the broken shower drain in the main  house and installed the log lighter for the fireplace.


I am so jealous of our tenants having a fireplace! But in four or so years it will be all mine. I imagine many a wonderful Christmas'/parties around it.


I got the hummingbird feeder up yesterday and here's what it looks like in the yard...

I hung it from an eve, close to some plants I notice that the hummingbird likes to take a break at. I saw him go flying into my hibiscus today, but he didn't notice the feeder. If I don't see him at it soon I might have to move it. Part of the reason I put it there was because I want to be able to see it from upstairs/the balcony. It's mainly for his pleasure though, so if I have to move it, I move it.


I decided to go on the search today for a wind chime. First I hit up Armstrong Garden center and I liked what they had, but I wasn't feeling the prices. The cheapest wind chime that I liked was $55 and I understand that they sell the top of the line ones, but I just couldn't see myself spending that much on one I only slightly liked.


So off to Lowe's I went with my 10% off coupon. Right when I walked in the doors from the Garden Center was a display with a bunch of wind chimes. I was so happy! I tested them all, looking for the perfect chime. I don't like a chime with a lot of tinny. I like it to sound a lil... deeper. If that makes sense. I finally settled on a lovely copper colored one, with an interchangeable weight. Since it's fall, I am using the leaf...

I hung it at the far right end of the deck because I want to be able to hear it from the bedroom. I think it looks awful nice next to the palm and with the mountains as a background it's just lovely.


While at Lowe's I found lovely Calla Lily plant and decided to bring it home to have inside the house. All the plant focus has been on outside the house, but I've been dying for some green inside so I bought the Calla Lily plant and have it sitting on our window seat in the living room.

When I got home from my little shopping excursion the painters had arrived to get to work in the main house. They took the nasty old evaporative cooler off the dining room side of the main house and in the process had to pull down the siding. Since they weren't able to find siding that matched they pulled down the siding farther along the wall that meets the breezeway door and will be patching both with a wider wood siding. In the process of pulling everything down, down came my little butterfly bell (we use it as a "doorbell" and I decided it was time to find an actual chain for it rather than the ratty yellow cord that hung from the bell.

So off I went to Michaels. I adore Michaels. I can get in so much trouble there. But I think I really kept myself in check. I found a lovely chain and once the siding by the breezeway is done, I'll put the bell back up and take a photo to post here. I was enamored with all the Halloween stuff they had, but told myself to wait... HomeGoods is next door. I made a quick stop in the prints/posters area and found a lovely print that I'm going to hang above the living room sofa... as long as G doesn't fight me on it. lol

I need to get a frame on it and then I can hang it. I will take a photo of that once it's been done, which I hope will be before the end of this weekend.


After I took my Michael's purchases to the car I walked next door to HomeGoods. And I was so right to wait. Oh my gosh the Halloween stuff they have! I still practiced restraint, I will wait to buy Halloween stuff until I am with G, because he'll get really excited and then it won't be so bad as if I had come home all on my own with a bunch of stuff. haha


I ended up buying two 'Owl' related things for my expectant Cousin for her baby's room. And then I found this lovely aged looking red box for the coffee table to put odds and ends in, this beautiful set of mosaic candle holders, and a towel/jewelry rack.

The mosaic candle holders will probably be moved somewhere else and I've yet to figure out whether I want the rack to be in the bathroom or the bedroom. But will post pics once they've found their permanent homes.


Before I headed home I stopped at Bath and Body Works and picked up the new Fall soaps I talked about in a previous post. Once home I unpacked everything, made spaghetti, and now here I sit and that was my day. I took some pics earlier of my Lilies on the table. Still waiting for a few to open up, but they're looking beautiful.

It is my plan to take photos of each room in the apartment for the purpose of 'before and afters' as I make changes and updates to it. I hope to take these photos this weekend and do a post on each room detailing what I'd like to do. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible. I can get boring with my list love. lol


Hope you're having a lovely Friday evening and that you have a Happy Labor Day holiday weekend!


xoxo

Rude Awakening

Signs went up yesterday warning of city tree trimmers coming by today, but I didn't think they'd start at 7AM! Today was my day to sleep in a little, but it was pretty impossible to do so. I think I'll be taking a nap some time today to catch up on some Zzz's.

Still need to hit up a home improvement store for items to finish up the main house in preparation for our tenants/roommates to move in. We'll probably do that tonight as we have a lot of things happening in the next two days.

I'd been sad at not having any fresh flowers in the house the last two weeks, so I grabbed up a few stems of Asiatic Lily's when I was doing my grocery shopping this morning. I had hoped to get some Stargazer Lily's as I love their scent, but these bronze ones I got work well with my transition into "fall" things and scents around the apartment (currently burning Slatkin & Co's Caramel Apple).

Whenever I'm in the fruits and veggies section of the market I find myself wishing I was at a Farmers Market instead. Our local Farmers Market is on a Thursday, which isn't all that convenient in comparison  to Claremont having theirs on Sunday. When we lived in Venice, the Farmers Market was down the street and was on a Sunday as well. Oh well, I must get to one of the Sunday ones in Claremont and start buying my produce that way.

I've long entertained the idea of having my own veggie and herb garden and as things get better money wise around here, I think I'm going to give it a try. 

Break in the heat

We've had quite the heat wave the last few days, but there has finally been a little break in the weather. We turned off the Coolerado, and are loving the nice cool breeze. I've been dying to get a wind chime or two to take advantage of the natural, beautiful music that the wind can help provide and once I start working on the backyard I'll be out and about looking for the perfect one.

And with the cool brings the excitement for fall. I am so ready to bring out my sweaters and get ready for Halloween. While visiting family last weekend my cousin and I made a little trip to Walmart and I found boxes of Febreze's new limited edition holiday candles. I love anything pumpkin and spice so I grabbed one box each of the Pumpkin Harvest and Cinnamon Sugar. I have quite a candle collection, partially because I'm always saving my candles for a "special occasion", but I talked myself out of that and lit up the Pumpkin Spice tonight. The living room smells delicious and I really must stop hoarding my candles and burn them as often as possible.

I got a mailing last week that Bath and Body Works will be rolling out new Halloween themed soaps and am already counting down the days before I can go pick up a set. Soaps are my new obsession and I'm a big bargain hunter so I absolutely love B&BW because they're so reasonably priced and they always have the yummiest scents.

It's been quite a day and I am so ready for bed. Gonna finish my peppermint tea and get to sleep.

Goodnight!