I'm aware many of you are enjoying a gorgeous winter wonderland this season (I envy it), but for those of us living in Zone 9, including Phoenix - we enjoying an extended gardening season! You know this is my favorite time of year - fall. I used to love spring but with allergies it made me change my mind, tee hee. But I still do love spring because everything I planted for fall really flourishes come spring!
How was your Thanksgiving, Black Friday, rival football game weekend? My Thanksgiving was delicious as always since we started going to Benjamin's relatives and also get some goody leftovers to enjoy later that night and the next afternoon. We indulged heavily in Black Friday since we had lots of things to buy for the expansion and saved up, more on that in a second. The fact that the items I had been eyeing and saved on Pinterest, were all on sale, we just decided to buy buy buy! When you've been waiting for the right moment then Black Friday and Cyber Monday rolls around, oh boy! My team lost in the territorial cup, but I didn't watch the game since I was decorating the house for Christmas and Mr. Wonderful was hanging Christmas lights.
I've been shooting a lot more in my house, have you noticed? The light is pouring in through the windows now that the patio is taken down so I'm taking advantage of it! I also love shooting in my own home, it's like I get to invite you into my house (and also makes shoots easier). The goal is to shoot more in my own home this next year. When the expansion goes up (replacing where the patio was) we are adding a skylight anyway so we will still get some light in this area. And once the expansion is done, more entertaining for guests!
It's that time of year again, my longtime girlfriends, Club MED back at it - MED for Melissa, Emily and Diana. I met Melissa in college, and Emily during a summer internship at an LA station the year before our senior year in college. Post college we all lived in LA, and over the years it's been a split of us being located anywhere between LA, SF, and Phoenix. Our yearly traditions of getaways together have taken to us to Santa Barbara, Cabo San Lucas, San Francisco, Scottsdale, and this weekend, Phoenix and Sedona. But no matter where we are, we don't care where, it's us, great conversation and incredible fun.
I’ve been going, going since Yellowstone and while it might look like I’m on vacation, I’m still working! So, yesterday...
Great news on the home expansion, we're moving forward and we've signed with a general contractor! After a ton of interviews, five to be exact, and hard decisions while learning about what we can or can't do on top of budgets, we are starting! We found someone that is already starting the tear down this weekend and project completion will be by February 1. So fast! We thought maybe it would be late spring. Of course I'd love it by Christmas but I think we're too late on a start with that and I've let that idea go. It's OK.
I enjoy continually challenging myself to improve my personal habits and one of them is saving money. We can all improve and strive to find better ways to save and find deals, am I right? Benjamin always approves when I'm saving money - he also never hesitates to remind me we are on a "savings-spree" especially with the home expansion underway. I'm always looking for ways to save money through deals, or having days off from the bank account - remember my week long spending freeze?
Life began in a garden. It’s planting season in Phoenix and most have prepared our lawn for winter rye –...
