My DIY Terrarium

Have you noticed that terrariums are making a come back? Flip through the pages of some trendy home decor magazines and you'll see (here and here to name just a few). And the prices at those trendy places seem to be just trending upward - that second example is a "mini" terrarium and it's on sale for $98! But I liked these things so much that I had to have one. So instead of breaking the bank, I made a few myself.

First I went out and bought three glass containers at Home Goods. They ranged in price from $2.99 for the smallest to $7.99 for the big one. On one of our recent Home Depot outings I stopped by the household plant section and found a few good houseplants (and few small outdoor perennials) on sale. I choose plants that like part sun since they won't be getting full sun all of the time indoors. I also picked up some dried moss, pebbles and used some potting soil we already had. The total for all of my materials came to about $35, including the glass containers.

First I put the rocks in on the bottom followed by a layer of moss.

Topped it with potting soil, stuffed in as many plants as possible and covered the soil with another light layer of moss.

I had several extra plants so I filled the left over pots with them.

Turns out $35 goes a long way on house plants if you spend it right!

The Vegas Strip

After enjoying some time in the desert, we made our way to the Strip. Let's face it, you can't really visit Vegas without taking a stroll down Las Vegas Boulevard. Vegas is a strange place. I can't make up my mind about this place. Some see it as an adult fantasyland and perhaps it is, but to me, it's not without some seriously sad undertones.

We found time to see Jersey Boys while we were in town. It is a musical about the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I didn't know if I'd really like it because I'm a little too young to have been a big fan of the music, but it was really, really good. And I was surprised how many songs I actually knew. If you're in Vegas or NY, I give this show a big seal of approval. Go see!

Cary and the Jumping Cactus

I spent last week in Nevada for a family wedding. We had a few days to explore Las Vegas and the surrounding area before the weekend events. One of the places we visited was Eldorado Canyon and the Techatticup Gold Mine. This place was literally a ghost town. A family purchased the land and then discovered the old abandoned mine. They reopened the mine to tourists several years ago. It was nice to get away from the bright lights and busyness of the city and there was no shortage of interesting things to look at out in the desert.

It's too bad James wasn't able to come with us because he would have really liked this place. There were tons of old vehicles and "junk" to snap pictures of. It was a pickers paradise. My favorite was this teal Chevy truck. I keep trying to get James to buy and restore one for me. Maybe some day.

The tour took us through the abandoned mine and explained how they mined for gold in the late 1800's. It sounded like hard work. It was creepy and cool.

By now you might be wondering about that jumping cactus I mentioned in the title of this post. This part of the desert was literally covered with Cholla cactus. These cactus are also know as "jumping cactus" because of the ease at which the stems, which are covered with double sided barbs, detach when a person or animal gets close enough to them. Perhaps you can see where this story is going...I found this out the hard way. I got a little too close (ok a LOT too close!) while trying to take a photograph of the cactus and in no time found myself literally covered in cactus. The spines of this plant are barbed like fish hooks on both ends making it extremely painful to remove. I had to have someone help me remove them one by one with pliers. The sweater I was wearing was completely destroyed and had to be thrown away. One of the stems actually went through my shoe and into my foot. I was able to snap a quick picture of that one, see below. So, I learned my lesson. But at least I got a few nice pictures of the cactus out of it, right?

It was bad, but thankfully not as bad as this guy. Ouch!

What a Difference a Year Makes

I took a look back and realized that almost exactly a year ago this week we broke ground. What a year 2011 turned out to be. There were so many days filled with excitement, anticipation, frustration, exhaustion and joy. Blood, sweat and tears. But look how far we've come in one year.

And yet, there is still plenty of work left to do.

Happy Birthday James!

Today is James' 29th Birthday. Unfortunately, he's spending it flying to Georgia to work with Caterpillar this week. He's helping them design and make fuel injection nozzles for their heavy earth moving machines. Sexy, huh? I told him to tell them it was his birthday, maybe they'll send him home with a backhoe or something...not that we need another one or anything!

We did get to enjoy breakfast together this morning and made some time this past weekend for birthday dinners, lunches and family time. I made some yummy low sugar red velvet cupcakes and surprised him with a new geeked-out gadget, because let's face it, that's just how we roll.

James had been expressing interest in exploring the stars since we moved in and realized the position of the house and the amount of the windows make the night's sky amazingly accessible from several rooms in the house. So I did a little research and decided to get James the Astromaster for his birthday. I just like saying the name...the ASTROMASTER! I can't get it out of my head. In fact, I've been walking around the house spouting out "THE ASTROMASTER" in my best deep space voice for the past three days (I gave him the tele on Friday b/c I couldn't wait). It's just fun to say I guess...try it.

This telescope is cool. The moon looks so amazing through it. You can explore all of the craters on it and we could even see Jupiter and Venus. The telescope has a special mount to attach my DSLR to it. I took a few pictures of the moon but they only came out so-so. I need to practice a little more but you get the idea.

It looks kind of ginormous from this angle. Sorry for the blurry iPhone pic.

We also enjoyed some time with both sides of the family to celebrate James' birthday and Easter. I'm heading off to Las Vegas this week and weekend with my parents for a family wedding. Unfortunately, due to work schedules and limited vacation time, James and my brother's family won't be able to join us so the Easter bunny had to make an early appearance.

Next week I'll have a Las Vegas recap and a sneak peek at photos from the wedding. My cousin is getting married and asked me to be her photographer (say, what?!). Oh and she's a wedding photographer herself (no pressure or anything). I guess the fact that I mostly take pictures of dogs and trees didn't dissuade her from thinking it would be a good idea for my first wedding shoot to be hers. Keep your fingers crossed for me, I might need a lot of luck!