Guys. It’s happened.
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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Sunday Style so here it is! I’ve been pulling off side braids for quite some time now so I thought I’d give this extended version a try using this pin as my inspiration. I wouldn’t say I nailed it by any means but I think it turned out pretty okay.
I started braiding just above my right ear and continued across the top of my head. When I got to braiding at the nape of my neck it just wasn’t happening – I tried it 3 times. Instead, I added the rest of my hair to the braid sections and braided towards my right shoulder before securing it with a clear, small elastic. With a quick twist up and to the left followed with a quick tuck of the end of the braid, I was ready for pinning (it took about 7 bobby pins to keep it all tight).
I’m going to try it again…someday. There are a lot of braids to try that may help me lead up to this one…we’ll see. :)
PS I have zero skills and made the animated gif here.
I also managed to finish Eddie’s Garden:
It’s nice looking back there and thinking I’ve completed this little garden…even when I haven’t. I’d like to add some climbing flowers to the lattice and chain link (the lattice was left over from the previous owner).
I had to grab some edgers from the front yard (Lowe’s no longer carries the ones I have – boo!) and finally picked up the mulch I needed to make it very nice. (I hope you read that with an accent). The Primrose is doing excellent and spreading like wildfire – I’m sure I’ll hate that next year when it’s overtaking the new Blue Beauty and Geraniums I just planted. I also added some Salvia and Bee Mint (I think that’s what it’s called). I quite enjoy Eddie’s little corner of our yard. Now if I could only get Penny to stop running over the flowers…
…or a gardener. You know.
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This little project has spurred one giant one just beyond that chain link fence and steps behind that cute dog in the same position an hour after I began. The work presses on!
At the beginning of August I picked up these:
I got each letter knob for .19 each or I spent a whopping $1 on all 5. However you look at it, it was a pretty sweet deal considering I like to monogram and put my name on everything. The Jer likes to, too. I asked.
Trouble was, I was in absolutely positively no need for 5 knobs or even for 5 coat hooks (we have 7 in the breezeway alone, peeps). So they sat around on the kitchen counter until Ray (one of our cats) decided they would make a great play toy and I was finding the letter ‘L’ in the bathroom. Clearly, he missed the Sesame Street episode teaching him ‘B’ is for bathroom. And, no, the cats are most definitely not allowed on the counter. These knobs were just too good to pass up, apparently. Worth every squirt from the water bottle? The world my never know.
Skip to a few days ago when I was helping Jerry cut some drywall in the garage when this caught my eye:
Random, 5′ short screen door? Check! (I actually have another one in green waiting to be played with). I had pulled it down from the attic above the garage months earlier not really having any idea what I would do with it but suddenly, what to do with the knobs hit me smack on the forehead.
After thoroughly cleaning the odd, short, old screen door, I had to drill 2 holes to make the knobs and door work together. My first drilled hole was straight through, front to back, a smidge smaller than the screw that came with the knob. The second hole was drilled from behind a smidge larger than the washer that went around the screw to keep everything nice and tight. It looked like this from behind:
In all of about 20 minutes, I had this:
Hooray! A place for my bling! Get it now? I still need to figure out a way to store my giant collection of bangles that doesn’t involve lifting 20 to get to the one I want on the bottom. I may add some upside down drawer pulls to stash some rings but I’m not sold on Quinn and Ray letting rings live in the open like that.
If you’re looking for me, try the jewelry store. I’ve decided I have a pretty sad collection here.
PS Don’t hate me because my wallpaper is more awesome than yours. Yes, we have lived here for 6 years and still haven’t renovated the master bedroom. Sigh…
Jer and I have this on repeat and I needed to share it. I could listen to it over and over, forever and ever. Which is kinda what I’m doing right now.
Also, happy September! We’re celebrating with shared ice cream – Pumpkin and Southern Apple Pie. Apparently, we’re ready for Fall but not quite ready to let go of Summer. :p
So. You know I haven’t been working in the breezeway so what has this unemployed girl been up to? Gettin’ dirty.
The first shot is to show you approximately where this garden is – all the way in the back right corner by the arborvitae. The second shot is when I finished ridding the corner of grass. The third shot is when I realized I didn’t have nearly enough plants. The fourth is the progress I made today. Yes, I realize I’m short on both edgers and mulch. Deal with it because I am.
This corner of the yard is a particularly…hm…special seems like the wrong word. This is where Eddie is buried. For those of you who don’t know, Eddie was our first (four-legged) child who passed away last October. Excuse me while I go have a melt down about that.
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I haven’t talked about this little garden mostly because, well, it’s hard to. It’s Eddie’s garden and that’s what we call it and that’s what it is and that’s where we go when we’re feeling sad because we still do sometimes. Sometimes I don’t go into this garden for a very long time because sometimes it’s too hard and sometimes it gets overgrown until I realize that sometimes I need to be a grown up and deal with it.
Today I dealt with it.
Tonight I cried.
Tomorrow I will go to Lowe’s to get mulch and edgers.
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Getting sick of my weekend posts yet? So sorry, Charlie, but this here is my blog so get used to it (and plus also, I hope to have non-family related posts this week, too, so stay tuned)!
This past weekend was Penny’s first trip to my Mom’s house in the hills. Well, the Catskill Mountains, technically. She’s pretty much a pro at road trips and we’re only 2 months into this relationship of ours. What a catch. ;) Anywho, the weekend was packed with family time since my Grandparents were up from Long Island and we were celebrating both my stepfather’s retirement and my mother’s birthday (which is actually today – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM)! Things got crazy on Day 2 when I attempted to fly with assistance from an ATV and was quickly shut down by a tree to my side. And front. Basically, my entire abdomen front-back-top-bottom feels like I accidentally stepped foot into Tony Horton’s gym studio on a day they gave him spandex 3 sizes too small. Ouch. I’d share photos but my lovely husband thought my panties were cute that day and they were showing in each and every one. Maybe and updated photo shoot for the trail rash is in order? In the end, it all worked out. My Mom felt bad for me and gave me a stuffed bag of produce freshly picked from her garden. Win.
PS Before you go, please look closely at the wide shot of everyone on the porch. My Grandpa gave me that face for a solid 30 seconds free of charge. That man is amazing.
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Weekdays around here have been pretty humdrum. Working veeeery slowly on finishing up the breezeway (seriously, I wish this drywall would put itself up on the ceiling). I’ve been a little scarce around here, too, so if you’re on instagram and care to keep up with the daily goings on in the Boyle household, I’d suggest looking me up there (emilymcboyle is the username).
Weekends on the other hand, have been packed with road trips, visiting friends and family and generally having a great summer. About two weeks ago we found ourselves staying with friends in the 1000 Island region of NY (but we could have swam to Canada if we were so inclined). We stayed at an insane house on the Saint Lawrence River with 7 levels of decks and our room had floor to ceiling windows overlooking Heart Island and Boldt Castle. In a word, it was breathtaking. In another, exhilarating. We watched a mock Pirate battle from our own boat in the river before a water war broke out between the onlookers (hence, no camera on board for actual pirate pictures – boo). It was loads of fun and I highly recommend it if you find yourself presented with the opportunity.
A special thanks goes out to our buddy, Grant, for hosting us for the weekend! We had such a great time! :)
Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had this year. I was hired by a British production company to be a PA for the day while they worked on a documentary about the girls with tics from Leroy (serious generalization). Still, even though I was only hired as a PA, I got to meet and speak with several people who really cleared things up for me in my mind (yup – even I need myself explained to myself).
Basically, I finally heard that you make your own destiny. That you choose your own fate. I’ve believed it to be true for some time but was having severe difficulty figuring out what it meant for me. What am I supposed to do? How can I make my life better? I realized I’ve been relying on other people to see what I’m capable of and to hand over what I want. How does anyone get through life like that? It’s easy – they don’t.
At first I was thinking a more vigorous and expanded job search was what I needed. While I still intend to do that, I’ve also realized that, for me, I need to write. Seriously. Yeah, yeah – I’ve been saying it since September of last year but I was fixated on this idea that to be any good, to be taken seriously, I needed to complete a novel. Well, nearly a year and at least 8 started novels later, I have nothing to show for my endless free time that is unemployment. That makes me feel even worse about myself and has made me question my capabilities and my worth (which if you’ve ever done that, you’ll know it’s a slippery slope to depression).
I decided to approach todya as the day I start cleaning up my life, starting quite literally in my home and garden (baby steps, folks). Guess what? A great thing happened as I was weeding yet another neglected garden bed (metaphor for my life? Probably). I decided to finally listen to both my husband and my mother in the same thought bubble. *GASP*
Husband says, “Take the ideas you’ve already started on papers found all over this house and finish them as short stories.”
Mother says, “You need to write a book about Eddie.”
By the time I got out of the bed and washed the dirt from my knees, I had a children’s book about Eddie written in my head. I even had the illustrations thought out thanks to a cartoon rendering I had in my mind from my sister-in-law.
I’m ready to stop making excuses for myself and start living my life. Who’s with me?
PS Be patient. Bad things can happen on good days. Yes, you love sweet tea but you’re an adult and understand you can’t put boiling water into a cold glass pitcher. Also, remember to clean under and behind the microwave more often. G-ross.
according to boyle 