Flower Pot Before and After

I have a long list of projects that need to get done, but most of them have to wait until summer finals are done (so soon!). But in between work and homework I've managed to fit in a few small projects to keep me sane.

These three pots have been sitting in my garage waiting for their makeover. I found them on the side of the road; someone had put them out for free. There was an original price tag on one still, and it said $20, so that's essentially $60 worth of pots there for free. That was a good find!

I also had this little one from a craft store.

I was out of white spray paint primer, but just had to do this project. No more waiting! So I used my grey primer and that worked just fine.

Then I spray painted them a bright, cheery yellow.

When I picked up flowers for my window boxes, I also got some for these pots.

I really love how the colors look together!

I had a few extra plants after I'd potted most of them in the yellow flower pots, so I put the remaining ones in this pot. It was given to me as a gift a number of years ago by some students of mine at the end of the school year - they painted it and planted basil in it. Such a thoughtful gift! I'm still using the pot all these years later.

And in the small flower pot I planted this pretty plant for my porch.

The big ones went on the steps up to the house!

I enjoy seeing them there every time I come home. Such a small amount of work for such a lot of pleasure!

This past Monday we also had an unseasonably cold day.  It rained a ton most of the day, and really put me in the mood for roasting veggies, though that's definitely not a typical July meal. :)

I have a little herb garden just outside my kitchen door, and the thyme grows back prolifically each year. I love using it in cooking!

We had sausage, roasted veggies, and a salad for dinner that night, and it was all delicious!

The rest of the week has been pretty sunny, and now we're working our way towards 90 degrees, so probably no more meals like that for awhile!

But all the sun means I get to enjoy the light in the house.

So glad to have these flower pots checked off my list, and to be enjoying them in our home!

(Bird hoop and cage, yellow pillow, and pink bench on my porch are all from the Be Crafty/White House Girls sale).

Thanks for reading!
xo, Katherine

Summer at Home

It has been quite awhile since I've posted here! Not sure if the few of you who were reading my blog ever come by anymore. There has been a lot going on that has kept me away from this space, but I have missed writing here and I've missed visiting other blogs, which I haven't gotten to do much at all. This is an amazing online community of creators, and it has been hard to be away. 

A little over three years ago, my best friend and I started a business together. It's a brick-and-mortar young adult and children's bookstore, and it quickly took over our lives! It is still going strong (and growing! We are in the process of moving into a new, and bigger, location). In addition, we both have day jobs. Until recently I was working as a teacher, but this past year I got a job as a school librarian, which has been such a good change for me. However, it has put me back in grad school for another master's, this time in Library and Information Science. All of this has been wonderful professionally, but it has really put my creative life on the back burner. Although I'm still making, it's not as much or as often as I would like, and I certainly haven't been able to make the the time to share it here.

In addition, I have started my own photography business, and I also take photos for the bookstore. I found that as soon as my jobs required me to take and edit photos, that I was doing it much less for pleasure.  I was no longer capturing memories of my home and pets and loved ones.  Last winter I decided to make an effort to take photos just for me; to make sure that I was still loving the process and not just doing it for work. And since then, I have indeed been taking many more photos for me - but they were sitting on my computer, not getting looked through or edited. And so it occurred to me to come back to this space - to go through my photos, pick some favorites, and share them here. I'm not making a commitment to a certain number of posts, or to any sort of frequency here. If I feel I need to post, I'm worried it will become another thing I have to do and will become a burden rather than an outlet. But I certainly hope to visit and share more than I have been - which shouldn't be too hard to do, as I haven't been here at all. :)

And so, for my first post in well over a year, I bring you a few photos from around the house and garden this summer. My cherry tree is still small, but it yielded a delicious harvest that we took to my parents' house on my dad's birthday.

A few weeks ago I went to the Be Crafty/White House Girls sale and picked up some perfect things for our home. One was this adorable milk glass planter, complete with succulent and teeny deer. (If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen this already!).

My sweet guy got me a special drill bit for ceramics so that I could put a drainage hole in the bottom of the cup. One house project checked off the (very long) list!

We've been enjoying open windows all around the house (especially the cats!  Sitting in windows just may be their most favorite summer activity).

And speaking of windows, my guy made me three stunning window boxes! I now have one outside of each of the kitchen windows, as well as one of the dining room windows.

I've been wanting window boxes forever, and he built and varnished them for me, and then attached them to the house. I finally got around to putting the flowers in this past week, and they have been bringing me such pleasure!

Whether I see them from inside or outside, they never fail to make me smile.

Seriously, even doing dishes is awesome! I can now stand at the kitchen sink and look right outside at my sweet window box garden.

I'm looking forward to watching these plants grow over the summer, and trail down from each of the boxes.

If you made it this far in my post, thanks for reading all the way to the end! I look forward to sharing bits of my life here. It makes me happy to have a place to share my photos, and if you happen to come across them, I hope they can bring you some happiness too.

xo, Katherine