Featured – Unlikely Martha

classic & plain style

March 4, 2016

My husband is very attentive and will blurt out random facts at his discretion. As I was heading to Target one day he asked if I owned clothes that weren’t denim, white, black, gray, striped or plaid.

I hadn’t really ever noticed that I am drawn to said clothing descriptors but I like what I like and while it is very plain in the eyes of some I just like my look to be classic and simple in shape and color.

Ventured out to brunch with my Fab Five blog buddies and got Lashawn to snag a few photos of my outfit of the day in all of its plain glory. Can I mention how much I am loving boyfriend jeans right now. These are in heavy rotation, and I plan to snag a few more pair to distress using this tutorial.

Flats are my shoe of choice these days and most likely will be until I depart this Earth. Heels and I see each other very rarely these days. I remember a day when I would not be seen in flats. Didn’t own a pair or tennis shoes.

In the past I’ve worn accessories sparingly but now I’m dialing it up on the bling factor. Loving on my costume jewelry.

Trench: Thrifted | Blouse: Thrifted | Jeans: Thrifted | Shoes: Old Navy | Necklace: Macys | Name Necklace: Pynkluxe | Bracelet: Thrifted | Bag: Wilson’s Leather (on super sale, I’m salty)

What is your signature style?

by Mimi

14 Comments

Featured• Living

hello march | hai 37

March 2, 2016

Today is my 37th birthday.

As I inch closer and closer to 40, I truly feel like I’m finding my groove. This past year I jumped a great hurdle by putting on my big girl panties, doing that mental work and getting deeply rooted into who I am and making no apologies for it.

I would love to believe I am on the downslope from here. That whole thing about the journey not being given to the swift? All of that. Life is good and I am blessed to usher in 37 healthy, happy and whole.

Let’s not skip around the fact that it is currently March, and the month is starting off in a bit of chaos. My house looked like this a few days ago and isn’t much better now. My husband scraped the popcorn off the ceiling, I’ll be back later with more holy dust Batman pictures and some tips on what and what not to do when scraping your ceiling.

I spoke about my woman/mom cave, and I’ve moved into the space but it will be a few months before I get down there because we are making some major changes around here and I can’t wait to share them. Once the dust clears I’ll come back and share.

I am entering March with the belief that great things are on the horizon, the weather is warming, we’ll be traveling in a few weeks and my seedlings are growing.

Life is good!

Helloooooooo March!

by Mimi

7 Comments

Featured• Gardening

how to start a garden with $10

February 24, 2016

I jumped into gardening in 2014 when we purchased this home. Not being sure if it was something I would be totally interested in, I opted to have a container garden instead of having my husband dig an in ground one and get Treequote.com in to remove some of the trees out back. Unfortunately due to the slope in our backyard and an overabundance of shade in the areas where the land is flat I’ve decided to upgrade to square foot gardening this year.

Now don’t get me wrong, over the years I’ve accumulated tons of tools, ranging from a backpack blower (read backpack blower reviews here), a lawn mower, tons of different seeds, gloves and just general equipment. But, I didn’t start that way.

We are currently in that funny phase of weather where the days are warmer but the nights are still a little cold and we can’t write off one last frost. I’m sure it’s like this in other parts of the world but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a head start on your garden by starting your seeds indoors.

With $10 or less you can start your seedlings with just a few items that you can pick up from your local big box retailer or home improvement store.

You will need:

seeds { $1.29 – 3.29 per pack}
aluminum pan { 2 for $1 at Dollar Tree}
peat pellets { approx. $3.50 for 36 }
water

Start with laying the peat pellets at the bottom of the aluminum pan. Do not crowd them, once you add water they expand

Once they are all laid out, pour water into the corner of the pan. and wait for the pellets to swell. They will grow to about an inch in height.

Once they have grown, peel some of the netting back, take a toothpick and lift the dirt a little bit, drop the seeds in and lightly cover them. Only add about three seeds. You will eventually thin them out, at this point you just want to make sure you have some germinate.

After you have planted the seeds, empty the water from the pan. You do not want the peat pellets to sit in water.

Now it is time to watch them grow. Lettuce will germinate within 3-5 days. Now you want to make sure your seedlings get light. I have put mine under a grow light to ensure they get a good start. I’ll be back next week to show you how to make your grow light for around $10.

Happy Gardening until next week.

Save

by Mimi

4 Comments

Featured• Home• Organization

junk drawer organization

February 16, 2016

I don’t think there is a kitchen in existence that doesn’t have a junk drawer. The drawer that catches all of the wayward items that

a. Don’t have a dedicated home

b. Have a home but someone is too lazy to take the few steps to place it there

c. It actually belongs in the kitchen but no time has been taken to give it a dedicated space there.

My junk drawer was getting a bit ridiculous. Went to stuff something else in there and couldn’t close it and decided it was time to do something about it.

I started by removing all of the items and going through them. Let’s be honest some of the stuff in those drawers need to be in the trash. After discarding everything I used some wire trays and plastic baskets from Dollar Tree to store everything else. I’ll come back around and make it pretty, think gold spray paint and a new drawer liner but I needed it to function now.

When it comes to what I keep in my junk drawer outside of the normal things like spare keys, batteries and pens I try to think of all of the things that go wrong when we are on or way out of the door. Somebody comes in the kitchen ready to go with a nasty or ashy face, there is lint on my black sweater that I didn’t see, I’ll be talking to people and need a stick of gum.

Think about how your life works and make your junk drawer not just a place to house “junk” but a place that stores last minute necessities so you don’t have to run back into the house when you are on your way out of the door.

I am slowly working through my drawers and cabinets. If you’ve missed any of these posts, here is how I organized my pantry, and coffee station.

by Mimi

9 Comments

Older Posts