UPF 50+ Luxletic 24" South Beach High Rise Midi Legging UPF 50+ Luxletic Justine Pullover

Weekends are for gardening + (my) life is to entertain!

UPF 50+ Luxletic 24" South Beach High Rise Midi Legging UPF 50+ Luxletic Justine Pullover

UPF 50+ Luxletic 24″ South Beach High Rise Midi Legging in size small / UPF 50+ Luxletic Justine Pullover size small

I have, or we have the longest list of things to do around here. Paint the gate (behind me) black again (it fades horribly), trim back a few things on a weekly basis, and painting walls, just things of that sort. Owning a home is never ending and you’re always spending money on it like it’s your hobby. But isn’t that the great part in some ways too? That we can do whatever we want to our home if money allows and we can make it how we want?

When we do these things it’s not for social media, though the house has certainly undergone a transformation over the years, and it has become a nice backdrop, but the money I make has changed, no longer do I get paid for blog posts so right now it seems as though all the gardening and such is really just exercise for us, and a sense of home ownership pride.

And we get to share it with lots of people we love along this journey on Earth.

I’m getting better at cooking, or should I say more confident in my cooking! I bought a mediterranean cookbook which makes everything seem so easy and quite affordable to prep that I am practicing on my husband and friends. My goal is to get better at it, more confident that I can whip these delicious and healthy recipes for friends and start inviting more people over.

The ingredients are fairly affordable too and there’s not a lot of complicated steps which makes it fun for me to try. Every week I bookmark a few recipes I liked and want to try again and go back to. Then I place the order on Safeway and pick up the ingredients! I’m sure this is what most people do for meal prep but it’s just a new thing for me since we usually order takeout when we host. I am going to attempt to not do that unless it’s a last minute guest or someone with really particular food preferences or dietary restrictions!

I have a list of people I want to have over. It’s never ending but I realized when a neighbor passed away how sad I was because he was on our list and we just put it off. I was going to type busy but that is untrue, we make time for things that are important to us.

Just like my dad said you have room for things you want to have room for and no room for the things you don’t want anymore. Isn’t that the truth!!


This week is my birthday week and I have friends coming over for coffee to catch up, and believe it or not, we are so behind on the holidays!

We haven’t taken our Christmas photos yet, the Halloween lights are still up but not plugged in, and Christmas isn’t up — because my Juicy Couture birthday party is happening! 

We are staying home for Thanksgiving and I told Benjamin maybe we should see if the Chinese restaurant is open and just order that for pick up. We are exhausted (but happy) but we just need to relax. 

Anyway, I can’t wait to share the party with you, and we are prioritizing being with our friends right now and loving it. Once I get our Christmas cards printed I will feel much better maybe, then out comes Christmas decor which I’m excited about!

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Diana Elizabeth Steffen setting the table for her annual garden party

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Diana Elizabeth is an author, photographer, and obsessive thrift shopper. You can typically find her in the garden wrist deep in dirt, at a local estate sale or planning her next creative themed party. She continues to blog weekly.

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