Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Sunday Lately, 24

This week I’ve been doing oil pulling.  It’s that thing in which you swish coconut oil around in your mouth like mouthwash for 20 minutes and it’s supposed to reveal a whiter, straighter, prettier smile that also opens into a studio apartment and a million dollars.

It’s kind of gross.  I’m trying to stick it out though.  In other news, we went to Wigle Whiskey‘s Tar and Feather party on Friday night.  It rained for most of the evening, but it got nicer at the end of the evening and we got to watch the tax collector get dunked.  It was a great time.

Tar and Feather party at Wigle Whiskey

Updating

Instagram!  I’ve been on the fence about opening a blog-specific Instagram account, but I finally did it!  You can find me at instagram.com/GardeningInHighHeels.  It’s going to be more focused on “blog stuff” like gardening, updates, and interacting with bloggers/readers.

Reminding

I signed up for The Joy Equation with Molly Mahar and I need to remember to take the workbook to Staples and print/bind it.  It’s beautiful, full color, so it would totally kill my printer if I did it myself.  I also would never get it bound.

Needing

To catch up on other blogs and leave comments.  That’s my favorite part of blogging and I’ve been putting priority on other things in my life.  What are your secrets for balancing all aspects of blogging?

Wearing

This awesome Blogger, Maker tank from Katy’s Handmade Escapade shop!  I love the way she’s laid out the words so each one is kind of different and the font that she chose to use.  And the fact that it’s totally comfortable!

I want to live in this shirt this summer.  It’s also really hot and swampy here, so the less layers, the better.

Being

Hot and swampy.  The humidity here has felt off the charts.  Today so far is a little cloudy and cooler.  I think this week is supposed to be rainy.  It’ll be great for my garden in terms of water and not so great in terms of weeds.I spent about 2 hours yesterday weeding that damn garden and I know it’s one of those fruitless jobs, like vacuuming, where as soon as you do it, you can’t really tell you did it anything.

Fresh Essie mani and fresh herbs

Weeding a garden is the best accomplishment.

What have you been up to lately?

Be a Better Blogger is a weekly link up dedicated to helping you be a more intentional blogger. Want to be a better blogger but don’t know where to start? Head over to the Be a Better Blogger page for daily prompts and a weekly linkup to help get the creative juices flowing! Oh, and use #beabetterblogger on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Sunday Lately, 23

Man, what a week.  Today is part two of my father’s moving yard sale.  Yesterday went pretty well but the weather wasn’t our friend.  It was cloudy and windy.  Only just as we were wrapping up for the day did the weather get better.  Oh of course.  Thanks to Jonathan, I had company and laughter throughout the day, though.  I’m a lucky gal.

Today is also the end of the first week of Be A Better Blogger with myself, Katy, and Meghan.  Check out next week’s posts and link up with us!

21st Amendment Hell or High Watermelon

Dwelling

Actually, I don’t know what I’ve been dwelling on.  It’s been a busy week and I don’t think I have time to dwell on anything.  It’s been quite a roller coaster this week at work which leaves little time to focus on anything at home aside from eating dinner and sleeping.

Helping

I want to keep up with commenting more on the Be A Better Blogger posts, but damn you guys are just doing so great, I can’t keep up.  But I’m still going to be helping any way I can for supporting and uplifting other bloggers in this community.

I’m also helping with a yard sale.  Yay for helping.

Forgetting

I really need to keep up with my garden better.  Like I was saying before, It’s been quite a ride this week and I’m totally using that as an excuse for not weeding my garden.  Plus, weeding is the worst.  If anyone wants to help me, I’ll gladly share the harvest with you!

Switching

I’m trying to work on rotating my skincare masks.  I have quite a bit of Cupcake (from Lush) that I have to use up, but I want to use my other masks.  One of my favorites, Steep Clean, is getting lonely waiting for me to work through Lush products!  I really have too much makeup.I need to sell off some makeup.RelyingMy family has been relying on me a lot lately and I in turn have been relying on my friends.  I’m very thankful for the group of people I have in my life, especially the ones who stick around through the screwed up moments, the late night freak outs, the wonderful highs, and the general life-ness of everything.

What have you been up to lately?

Be a Better Blogger is a weekly link up dedicated to helping you be a more intentional blogger. Want to be a better blogger but don’t know where to start? Head over to the Be a Better Blogger page for daily prompts and a weekly linkup to help get the creative juices flowing! Oh, and use #beabetterblogger on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Sunday Lately, 22

I have been hit with crazy allergies this week.  Ever since I got back from Virginia, I’ve had a sore throat, aching ears, sinuses draining, and fits of sneezing.  Mostly the sneezing fits come when I’m carrying a cup of coffee.  Yup.  It also makes it hard to sleep when I’m exhausted yet I can’t stop the coughing and the draining.  Thanks for that, body.

But despite the allergies, I’ve manged to blog every day with Katy and Meghan for Blogger, May I.  I’m so proud we made it!  This is the last day that I’ll be a semi-cohost with those two and Nicole for Sunday Lately.

Huge beautiful white peony!

Doing

Preparing for a yard sale.  It’s been years since I participated in a yard sale.  It wasn’t even hosted at my house, it was at my uncle’s house.  I’m woefully unprepared for this.

Appreciating

The peony flowers in my yard.  I love the way they look and how they smell so wonderful in my house.  The only downfall of fresh peonies in the house are fresh ants in the house.  It’s kind of annoying.  But, I’ll gladly take some ants if I means I’m surrounded with beautiful, fresh flowers.  I’m sure there’s an adage in there somewhere.

Purple peony

White peony bloom

Designing

Because I have fresh peonies, I took some new shots to use for desk photos here and maybe an image on a home page.  I’m excited at the prospect of seeing where I can go with this little blog of mine.  I’ve been energized by photos of flowers, which I want to share more of here, and late-night wine, and early mornings waking up gently and getting some things done.  The late nights and early mornings don’t happen back-to-back.

Humming

Taylor Swift songs.  One of the companies that I do social media posting for is going a TSwizzle concert ticket giveaway.  In the posts, I’ve been trying to get punny with song titles.  And after I write it, I get the song stuck in my head.  Guess I’m just gonna have to shake it off.

Expecting

To be busy in June.  There’s the yard sale all next weekend.  I want to keep going writing a post per day in a continuation of Blogger, May I – I want to call it #GoBlogGo, but we’ll have to see what the group decides on!  And I’m also going to be participating in Emily Levenson’s Project:Food Budget.  And like I said, I want to share garden updates and photos of the progress there.

What have you been up to lately?


Sunday Lately, 21

This weekend, I’m spending some time with my mother in Williamsburg. It’s about a six and a half hour drive, so before I left, I loaded up some of Nicole Antoinette‘s No BS Lab podcasts and made it through about 5 of them. OMG. I wish I could have taken notes while I was driving because they fired things off in my brain that were spot on.

Like Samantha Bennett saying, “Well just try it!” when her friend was waffling between two choices. And it clicked with my why I have no patience for people who need constant hand-holding..you’ll never know if you talk about it, so just try it already!

So who’s ready for some Sunday Lately?

What have you been up to lately? This is week 14 of Sunday Lately link up with Katy, Meghan, and Nicole!

Planning

I have so many more No BS Lab podcasts left to listen to, so I’m planning on listening to those on the drive back home. I’m tempted just to have an audio note-taking app on the whole way, but the podcasts already play through my phone, so I don’t think I can pause the audio, switch to a new app, say something, and go back without running myself off the road. Best not to even try.

Loving

That I’m getting a bit of a tan (only on my upper body and feet, though, because I’m an Oreo – dark on the top and bottom, light on the inside). Also loving the perfect weather to be spending outside. Yesterday, we went to a seafood festival in a small town about an hour away and this morning we’ll be spending some time in the garden before we go about our day.

Reading

Finally finished Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin for Birchbloggers and now I’m focusing on People Over Profit by Dale Partridge. And then probably back to Julia Child biographies for a bit because I think I may want a break from self-help.

Wishing

I’d love just a spare moment to relax between driving back to Pittsburgh and jumping into my workday, but that won’t be happening.

Feeling

Tired, man. I was listening to one interview that Nicole did with Jeff Sanders about his “thing,” The 5 AM Miracle. He gets up and starts his day at 5am. When he was working, it gave him just enough time to get something meaningful done and could still be at work on time. I have inadvertently been doing that (lookin’ at you, dude revving outside at 5:30a). I need to work on my coordination because I can’t even fill a K-cup successfully this early, but it has real potential.

What have you been doing lately?


Sunday Lately, 20

I can’t believe it’s over halfway through the month and I’ve successfully written something every.single.day.  Huge thanks to Katy for that one!  Today’s Blogger, May I / Sunday Lately topics are…

What have you been up to lately? This is week 14 of Sunday Lately link up with Katy, Meghan, and Nicole!

Completing

Is it, can it be possible…I’m completing a blogging goal of writing every day for a month?  Yes!  I don’t know about you, but I’m loving Blogger, May I.  I want to keep writing every day even after May.  It’s a good habit to be in.

Speaking of habits, I’m almost done with Gretchen Rubin‘s Better Than Before (for a wayyy overdue Birchbloggers review).  She is fantastic, though, and I’m surprised it’s taking me so long to read her book because I ripped through The Happiness Project in about 3 days once I got going with it.

Visiting

Right now, my mom is visiting me.  My/her house is slightly chaotic and my schedule is kind of interrupted, but that’s okay.  It’s been since Thanksgiving when I saw her last, so I’ll take her company over a little schedule discomfort.

Seriously, though, I can be so set in my ways and get grouchy when my routine is thrown off.  I like things a certain way, I can’t help it.

Repeating

Trips to the Apple Store.  I’ve had problems with my iPhone charging, so I brought it into the Apple Store and of course, it worked just fine for them there, so I have to go back with the exact chargers I’m using and show them that I’m not insane, I can’t get it to charge in my house.  I’m about to rip the socket out of the wall and show them that, too.

Applauding

Everyone who is making their goals happen.  It takes a boatload of focus, dedication, and just plain insanity to pick something big and say to the world, This is what I want to do, this is how I want to leave the world having made it a better place.  Huge credit for this inspiration goes to Dale Partridge.  His book, People Over Profit, is so motivating.  Just the quotations that are in there are fantastic.  Go check it out, like, now.

Scheduling

Trying to get as much scheduled as I can before I leave for Virginia next weekend.  I’m very excited to have some time away and not worry about work or anything but enjoying myself.  Which is why I’m trying to get as much scheduled and crossed off my list as I can!  I know I can write all day if I wanted to, though, and my mom’s porch is the best place for reading/drinking beer/writing.

What are you up to lately?


Need the prompts for the Blogger, May I challenge?  Gotcha covered.  Want to use your own prompts?  No problem!  Just grab a button to show that you’re linking up with myself, Katy, and Meghan.  Oh, and use #BloggerMayI on Twitter/Instagram to keep the fun going even after you hit Publish!

Let’s Play

           

People Really Dug These

We Belong in the Garden Together