Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory

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We spent part of Mother’s Day weekend in Cincinnati, and the International Butterfly Show at the Krohn Conservatory in Mt. Adams was one of the places we visited. I can’t believe I’d never been to Mt. Adams before. It’s pretty awesome. (In the sense that Bloomington makes you forget you’re in Indiana, Mt. Adams makes you forget you’re in Cincinnati!)

The butterfly show was pretty rad. It’s just a great big room filled with flowers, people, and butterflies. They hand you a card upon entry that looks like a real flower so you have a better chance of getting one to land on or near you.

Hey! Look at that! I got one!

The flowers were SO pretty, and the butterflies were surprisingly friendly. We had to walk through airlock-type doorways going in and out in case any of them tried to hitch a ride out of town. I got to say goodbye to this little guy on our way out:

We took a quick loop through the rest of the conservatory before we headed out and got a decent family picture next to the waterfall:

They had some flowers for sale near the gift shop, but some of them were unmarked. I would have totally taken one of these home, but I have no idea what it is or how to take care of it. Anybody got a clue?

 Advice for future visitors: wear your walking shoes. Parking is spotty at best, so you’re likely to walk a ways, and they weren’t messing around when they named the area “Mount” Adams. But luck was on our side that day, and we got to park close!!

Disclosure: These pictures are straight out of my iPhone. No filters were abused in the editing of these pictures. ;) It’s amazing what natural light can do for a photograph! 

Mother’s Day collage

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Seven months after Jane’s birthday/our anniversary, I finally printed some of our pictures for the grandmas. Better late than never??? Anyhoo, two of the “namaws” got collages of our fam for Mother’s Day (my mom got separate prints, so don’t feel bad for her ;) ):

Thanks to a twitter tip from E Tells Tales (great blog, btw), I used iPiccy to compile this collage. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out! It was kind of tricky figuring out how to create an 8×10 (not sure why this wasn’t an option), but if you change the ratio to 4.5:5.5 (I’m almost positive that’s what I did), you can get pretty close, and then the rest will get trimmed off when you print the jpeg from your computer. If someone figures out a better way, let me know! I was messing with this at 1am, so my brain probably wasn’t firing on all cylinders…

Flowers and a new iphone app

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Hey, guess what. We’ve been in our new house for two whole years this month! At what point do we have to stop calling it “new”? Also related – when do we have to stop calling our daughter “the baby”? She’s 2 1/2 years old now, and even though she is small for her age, she is getting SO BIG. When did this happen?!

Wook at dat beautiful crusty face...! ;)

I kind of feel like this house is our baby too, so part of it will always seem new. But the two year mark is high-time to start planting some flowers. Let me just say that not a lot of thought was put into what we chose. I had bought these pots awhile back – three sizes for daddy, mommy, and “baby”. (If you need a look at the front of the house, go here, here, and here. I’m proud to report that all of the shrubs made it through our mild winter, and our yard has been properly seeded and re-seeded in parts.) Since each of us has our own pot, I sorta-kinda let everyone choose what they wanted, with some guidance. There’s only so much control I can give up…

Isn't this a stone-cold pack of weirdos? (Name that movie...)

Chris chose his flowers by how cool their names were. The purple stuff is Speedwell (apparently also called Veronica), and the bushy stuff with no flowers is Creeping Phlox (I cannot look at this plant or talk about this plant without singing “Creeping Death” to myself…). I wanted there to be something tall in this pot, so I “suggested” this grassy thing (can’t remember the name). I apparently didn’t look at the tag very well, because not only is it not a perennial like the rest of the flowers in the pot (or as Chris calls it, a “perineum”), it can grow up to 5 feet tall. That just sounds unnecessary to me…

I chose Dusty Miller because my grandma always used to plant that with her geraniums, and Marigolds because they’re cheap and orange and Mom used to plant them a lot when we were little. My Aunt Linda had already given Jane a start of Petunias (don’t ask), so I let Jane pick out another color of them. Pinky/purple is her go-to color these days. Green has hit the road, which makes me a little sad. Please also note that she has a Homer the Gnomer protecting her pot. And she made sure to put rocks in each of the pots because that how she does.

Back on the deck, I put Lavendar in the big orange pot, and it smells SO good. I bought way too many dusty millers and marigolds, so they are making a reappearance in the little red pot.

Aunt Linda also gave Jane a start of Impatiens (people have a real problem with saying no to my child for some reason), so I put those in another little orange pot.

Jane chose another pink flower, of course.

We still have some more pots to fill, but this was plenty expensive and time-consuming for the time being.

Let’s go back and look at the orange pot that contains the lavendar, shall we?

 Now look at this picture I found on Pinterest yesterday (UPDATE: Here is the original post from Mr. Modtomic where this picture came from [thanks to Kate from Retro Ranch Revamp for pointing that out ;) ]):

See anything similar?! Yeah, I’m gonna need someone to make me one of those plant stands. Now what can we make it out of…?

On a different subject, did you notice how the pictures of my flowers are trying really hard to be good? Well, I bought a new iphone app called VSCO Cam. I’m not major big into photography, but if I can get cuter photos for $.99, I’m all over it. Money well spent.

My rad new friend Alison – part 2

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Wanna know another reason why my new friend Alison is rad? She let me and Jami ransack her booth  (that was closing) at the antique mall and take home anything we wanted. For free. True story.

Here’s what I grabbed:

It kind of spoiled us for the rest of the antique mall. I was honestly afraid I was going to grab something and absentmindedly leave without paying for it!

That was so much fun, Alison. Thanks again!!!!! :)

My rad new friend Alison – part 1

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So you know my ottoman that I can’t stop talking about (here, here, and here)? I’ve mentioned before that I bought it from AZ Vintage at the Bloomington Antique Mall. Well guess what. I finally got to meet “AZ”!!! Her name is Alison Zook, and she’s awesome.

And she’s opening her own store today.

And she is selling some of my goods in the new store!!!!!

That’s a whole bunch of awesome going on, let me tell you. So my SIL Jami and I headed over to Bloomington this past weekend to drop off my stuff. I totally wanted to shop, but girlfriend needed to keep the place good and stocked for opening day. Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend the grand opening this weekend, but Alison let me take some pictures while we were there.

That’s Jami making herself at home:

Love that little blue bookshelf:

Dresses galore:

What about this amazing cabinet with the skinny drawers?!?! She said it came with the space and weighs a ton. It formerly belonged to IU.

Lovely housewares (I’ve got my eye on that flowered cannister in the top left corner):

I LOVE the fabric she used for dressing room curtains:

More housewares:

And what about that bitchin’ screen?! I could totally use that in our basement some day:

I would have totally taken this planter home with me:

Representin’!!!!

Be sure to head over to 236 N. Morton Street in Bloomington (near the Bloomington Antique Mall and the Farmers Market) if you’re in the area!

Alison, I am so happy and excited for you, and I am CERTAIN your store will be a great success! Good luck and best wishes!!! :)

PS. Here are some official photos of the store that she put on Facebook.

PPS. Here‘s a little ditty written about her from the IDS.

This awesome house

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Hello, strangers! Long time, no see! I can’t use the excuse that I’ve been terribly busy, because I haven’t. I’ve actually been doing a whole lot of nothing, and it’s felt pretty good. I did recover my desk chair (I’ll share later) and revamp my website a bit, but that’s about all.

So in an effort to jump back into some kind of bloggy routine, I want to share with you some pictures of an awesome house. I first found it on Pinterest but then discovered that it was located in Louisville (about an hour south of where I live). Hours of time suck later, I had dug up about 30 pictures of this place and became obsessed with it. If there was any house that could semi-realistically drag me away from the one I’m in, this would have been it.

I started writing this post a few months back with the intention of giving a realtor-like tour, complete with little captions on all of the photos (yeah, I’ve really studied this thing), but I folded. One, there’s not enough time in the day for me to write a full-on awesome post, and two, I get bored with things pretty easily. Once I decided to revisit this unfinished post, I discovered that the house has since been sold and some of the pictures have been taken down. Apparently I didn’t save originals, so you will find some of my chicken scratchings on a few of the pictures. Enjoy!

PS. If you need an another awesome house fix, please see this (via Modern Sauce) and this (via Whorange).

PPS. Somehow my “revamping” of this blog has caused my Link Within to stop working, and I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet. My apologies while it is out of order.

PPPS. If any of you are WordPress users, the plugin I used for my slideshow is called Portfolio Slideshow by Raygun. If you search for it on your plugins page, you can find a free version.

Ottoman

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Oh Lordy, this thing is finally done. I told myself at the beginning of the year that I wasn’t going to start any new projects until I finished all of my in-process ones. This one officially took me just over 9 months, but I’m sure I’ve got plenty stashed around here that have marinated longer than that.

Just to jog your memory, here’s what it looked like before:

Isn’t it so cute?

I originally intended to use this as dress-up clothes storage for little Miss Browning, but yeah, it won’t all fit in there. But no worries, she’s already got it filled up with other stuff:

Please note that she did not even wait for her daddy to finish attaching the lid before she filled it to the brim. She heard the words “new toybox” and went straight to work. I’m pretty sure she likes it.

I think it turned out fairly well. I’m not showing you any close-ups or detailed instructions on how I did it for a reason. But I will say that this white trim stuff I got at Walmart hides a multitude of sins.

PS. The brown and white fabric I used is actually a shower curtain from Target. I was inspired to use it after I saw a nursery on Lay Baby Lay where they made curtains from it. So thanks, Joni and Steph!

PPS. And thanks to AZ for hooking me up with this sweet ottoman. I hope I did you proud!

Have a great day!

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Hope you have a Valentine as sweet as ours. ;)

PS. Cougar Town‘s back on tonight (2/14 @ 8:30pm on ABC). Please watch!! It’s my favorite show on TV, and I’d like to keep it that way! Picture me hunkering down in front of the TV with my bottle of wine…

PS. to the previous post

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One more thing I forgot to mention that happened in last month – my desk calendar was mentioned on Print & Pattern!

It’s a pretty big deal to me even though it didn’t result in any sales. But it was a honor just to be “nominated”!!!! ;)

PPS. Oh wait, here’s another thing. Remember that f-ing Annie wig I made Jane for Halloween? The little $h*t finally decided to wear it three months too late. Enjoy!

Hello again!

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Hi. That was a much needed break. The beauty of being the boss of your own blog is that you can take as much vacation time as you want. So I did!

Here’s a quick-and-dirty of what I was up to in the meantime:

* Sent out a Christmas card…

… and had a lovely Christmas and New Year’s, thankyouverymuch. I hope you all did as well!

* Met some Cougar Town people:

(The show’s back on February 14. Please watch!!!!)

* Attempted a Photo a Day Challenge on Instagram…

… but only made it to #11. Check out my Instagram feed here (there is also a link on my header menu).

* Watched some good movies:

The Muppets – *****     The Descendants – ****     Our Idiot Brother – ****

* Purged a lot of belongings from our house. Well, technically it’s all still sitting in our basement, but there are definitive piles for Goodwill and garage sale. Something about the beginning of a new year makes me want to get rid of everything.

* Thought about a lot of things. And here’s my conclusions:

  • I have to get more sleep during the week. So that means less blogging.
  • I want to add new things to my etsy shop. So that means less blogging.
  • I want to finish some of the 8,563 DIY projects that I’ve started. So that means less blogging.
  • I want to be a better wife and mother. So that means less blogging (and internet, computer, iPhone, TV, etc.).
  • I want to read more, exercise occasionally, and do laundry more frequently so that my daughter always has socks that match her outfit. If you guessed that this would require me to blog less, you guessed correctly.
  • I love my blog, but all of the above are more important (except for maybe laundry and exercise). So now I will only be blogging about once a week-ish.
  • I will find a way to make a living doing what I love, or I will die trying.
  • I WANT TO DO IT ALL.
  • We need to win the lottery.

That pretty much sums up my last month. I hope 2012 has been treating you well and that it’s your best year yet!

FREE Christmas gift tag download!

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Am I the only one who still has some presents to wrap? And does anyone else need some last minute gift tags? Look no further, I’ve got you covered! 

Just click this link to access the PDF file, and you can print them at home (for personal use only). Happy wrapping!!

Our tree, she’s famous!

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Many thanks to Natalie of Nat the Fat Rat for featuring our Christmas tree on her blog:

This month, in addition to her normal posts, she is featuring reader-submitted Christmas trees, and ours was one of the lucky ones she picked!! Please check out her blog; she is the cutest and funniest thing ever, and her little boy Huck is SO adorable.

Thanks again, Natalie, for sharing our tree with your readers! Have a wonderful holiday! :)

Rad ornament

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Kate from Retro Ranch Revamp recently shared her newest creation, these adorable mini ranch house ornaments:

And now she is selling them on etsy! Take a wild guess who bought the first one… ;) Can’t wait until the silver one is gracing my Christmas tree.

Great work, Kate! Be sure to check out her blog and her lovely MCM home.

FREE holiday postcard download!

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Because I have not been posting much lately, I’d like to extend a peace offering to my readers in the form of a free holiday postcard download! Just click this link to access the PDF file; it is an 8.5×11 file containing two 4×6 postcards and trim marks. You can print this at home or have it printed professionally (for personal use only). Enjoy!

We’re ready for Christmas

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Christmas is in full force at the Browning house. Here’s some highlights of what we’ve got going on here…

All of our window clings hung at toddler-eye level:

Our “tree” centerpiece:

Our lovely tree:

My tree collection on top of the entertainment center:

Our “mantel”:

Wreath made out of Christmas cards:

Jane’s tree:

PS. Apparently I was in a funk the same time last year as well. Maybe it’s the calendar that puts me in a bad mood. (BTW, it’s at the printer and should be done by the end of the week.) This might be the last year for the calendar. We’ll see…

Ho hum

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I’m in a slump. There’s a lot of things swirling around in my head right now, none of which is making sense. This happens to me quite often, but the year-end brain swirly sucks the most. (What did you accomplish this year, Jill? Have you made any progress this year, Jill? You’re almost a year older, Jill… Whatever.)

This blog turned 3 this month, and I didn’t even notice. My last post was #300, and I didn’t notice that either.

2012 is going to be better.

Here fishy fishy

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Remember this little guy (girl?) with the dangle-y eyeball?

I now own its gold-toned brother (sister?)!!

Yeah! And mine has a tail! And it was almost $20 cheaper!! Man, I love ebay! I think I’ll name her (him) Dorothy. We were meant to be together.

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