my wacky house quirk

In my mind, every room in my house not only has it's own color scheme BUT it's own scent.

This means candles and accessories give the mental image of the scent. This is most easily evidenced by the fact that by every sink, there is a distinct scented soap that corresponds with the room. The kitchen is of course, lemons.

But since Jill won this bottle of fancy soap at a shower (and generously donated to me), we've been using it. Truffles & Zucchini which is okay because its food. Once it runs out I think I'll get some citrus scented stuff.

The guest bath, with its purpley flowers, is in my mind scented lavender or lilac.

Jill gave me this bottle so it's the designated purple scent in there. Gee, Jill gives me a lot of stuff. Thanks JILL!

The downstairs half bath is always aimed at being gender neutral so the scent... 

 

Is my good friend JR Watkins Aloe & Green Tea hand soap.

 

Our bedroom I've always imagined as a calm, soothing scent, ready for bed.

Mrs Meyers liquid hand soap in lavender. Mrs Meyers stuff is also eco and fantastic so I recommend her highly. I also have this hand soap in a lotion and their lavender is just right, not too girly, not overly powerful, just enough to smell yummy.

So that's my wacky quirk.

Yes, I purchase four different brands of hand soap for each room. NUT.

regret

It looks like this. Because I should have bought that freaking bench when it was on sale ($130) and now it's gone and will I ever see it again?

I was gonna do this too, put it in front of my sofa bed in the office.

cleaning at our house

Matt & I are green veggies. Ick can anything be worse than snotty vegetarians and their lifestyles? Anyway, I usually enjoy reading posts about housekeeping on other blogs because I'm obsessed with cleaning supplies (weird-o) and maybe just maybe, you guys might enjoy reading it too? I'm posting my favorite eco-friendly/biodegradable products too because its probably a good idea to think about hazardous things in your homes to be rid of. Especially for little chilluns.

I hate mopping. More than anything. Our kitchen is giant so it takes a long time to clean, not that I'm complaining, yay giant kitchen! Plus I always feel like something's not right with the mopping.

Well... the mom in-law bought me a mop I actually like now. It's by Cedar I think but the bottom is a microfiber material which is awesome stuff and really gets the dirt out.

 

I use Ecover floor soap. Good and bad about this stuff. Good: great cleanser, great smell, concentrated so you get a lot for a less money. Bad: hard to find. The only place I can find ecover products, and they're all pretty great, is Whole Foods which means when I'm working in LA proper.

 We have an heirloom tea set that's made with actual silver that has to be polished. Never in life did I ever imagine I'd own silver but I love our tea set. Made me cry when I received it at the bridal shower.

 

I use a microfiber cleaning cloth...

...and I think I should be using silver polish for it but I actually use JR Watkins aloe and green tea all purpose spray (available at Target) that I swear by. It's pretty, it smells wonderful, and it's a fantastic cleaner. It gets out practically anything.

 I dunno what Martha Stewart would tell me to do but the combo works. See? All shiny.

For the dishes by hand, I use JR Watkins aloe & green tea dish soap and for the dishwasher I use Seventh Generation automatic dishwasher gel. In the lemon scent of course.

And because I have OCD, I couldn't help but buy these puppies that work great too (actually I have the whole JR Watkins line of this green tea smell) and are biodegradable. I always find anything disposable like that to be bad but when something is able to decompose in a landfill, I don't feel bad at all. Which is why I've recently made the effort to have biodegradable party supplies that of course my brosky made fun of me for.

And this is probably one of the best discoveries made. I have tins of it in almost every bath in the house and the kitchen. Unbelievable the stuff it gets out. My fridge was caked with oil splashed on it from the stove and it got it all out with some scrubbing. You can get it everywhere, I even found it at the 99 Cent Store. It's rooted in history, doesn't scratch, GO GET SOME. For your pots, showers, countertops, ovens.

Tomorrow I will post about another quirk of mine in our home relating to cleaning products.

brosky and bono

On Sunday, my little brother and I went to the Rose Bowl to see U2.

There was like 100,000 people there, parking was terrible, the lines for everything were long, we had to take a 20 minute shuttle with about 10,000 other people, their performance was meh (not as good as the chili peppers), and we had terrible seats.

We had a great time. Seriously.  We don't know the meaning of the word "not fun".

family. and words.

I have nothing to complain about in my world. Life is great.

My family's world is another story.

That's all.

freaking cute picture

Someone posted this image of their daughter who wants to be an astronaut when she grows up watching Toy Story and I cannot explain to you how adorable I find the image.

After all, I'm still into the whole space exploration thing.

gadgey cat

Saved you a seat. Obviously, this side is mine.

Incidentally, good idea on the covering the hair trapper thing you call a "couch".

b & b works

That Bath & Body Works place is a trap. You go in there to buy a candle and they trick you with claims of a free item with a purchase. I went in with the intention of buying some soothing scents for a backrub for Matt (yes, be jealous) and left with more.

 

They act all innocent too. Freaking salesgirls. If you buy one item for $15 or more you get an item of $13 or less free. Well now I have to buy the $16 massage oil so I can get the $13 body lotion for free. Matt would want it that way, it's a good deal! Or so I told myself.

And since I already had the lavender vanilla room spray that I swear helps me sleep better sometimes, it helped create a little soothing spa-ish vignette on the bedroom bookshelf. Proof that it need not be obvious to be decorative.

&

This pair of letters we've had since we used them at our wedding. I painted the & symbol (originally purple, then white, now black) and put it betwixt our letters. I can also now retire from blogging because I used the word betwixt in context.

Dude, I am really on letters and numbers overload aren't I?

the pup and me

In an effort to distract myself from thinking about the impending U2 concert that night, I took the puppy out on a long date.

First we dropped my sister off at the Green Line. Then we went to the dog park where Lebowski met a soul that had more energy that he does. An actual puppy. Lebowski has a funny habit, I call it noseyness. Whenever he sees a dog running, he bolts to whatever is happening and why that dog is running. Seriously, from one end of the park to the other he RAN like he was chasing Gadget up the stairs. Silly dog. I also felt really high and mightly cause there was a lady there who kept talking loudly to her dog and I, of dog whisperer education, said very little to get my dog to do anything. I wanted him to drink water so I got up, motioned with my head and the dog followed me to the fountain. I put the bowl down, he drank it. He's actually a very smart dog. The other day he actually used his nose to open the screen door.

Then, since I was feeling adventurous, I took him to Petsmart because well, it's the only store where I can take my dog. I actually asked his opinions of things. I'd hold up a bag of treats and make him smell them. His reaction led me to my purchases.

  

And since the dog whisperer advises you bathe a dog upon returning from a dog park (well said too, he had other dog's drool on his back) I did. Wet dogs are so uncomfortably funny. And then they shake and its even funnier.

recent anthropologie scores

Warning: all scores are numbers or letters.

There isn't really an Anthropologie store near us but since we were in Newport Beach for the weekend, what else could we do but shop?

I got these little jars. 22 is the day of our wedding.

I got this F hook to hold Lebowski's leash. I had second thoughts once I hung it. I think I should have gotten an L for Lebowski and when he is no longer with us, it could just be L for leash. If I go back I'll get the L. The F I'm certain can find another home.

And my lovely ma in-law got me this mug in the letter E.

Ever since I saw these mugs at the kids from younghouselove I've wanted one.

Couldn't photograph my mug cause it was in the dishwasher but trust me, it's cute.

it went grey

The record player & table that was formerly in the drum room was moved downstairs to this little corner of the living room.

 It used to be wood colored, now it's grey. Sounds familiar?

I was working while listening to Beethoven on vinyl.

So sweet.

DIY art

I added a much needed art type thing to the guest room

I stole this idea from somewhere else and customized it to suit La Mirada.

I plan on doing another one just like it with more Los Angeles/Orange County landmarks to add to this barren wall.

it went white

BEFORE

AFTER

Yes, it's been spray painted white. Fits much better in this room.

Also got new hardware from a field trip to Anthropologie.

I did score other stuff at Anthro, you'll have to wait and see.

updated tea shelf

The shelf that once had cookbooks is now exclusively all about tea.

The glass jar with chalk label is from Cost Plus, the teabag holder is by Forte tea and was  a gift from Jill, the tea service for one pot is part of a pair, Ambre has the other one. The teacup & saucer is from Crown & Crumpet in San Francisco.

The honeypot with bee honey drip stick is from Marshalls, the yellow teapot was $2 at Goodwill, the F teacup is from Home Goods, and the book was a gift from Mr Fredrich.

This print, mmm, I love it. It's from etsy which is still the best place to get any kinds of prints or handmade gifts.

Ta-da. And yes, I actually use the items on the shelf. In fact I might go downstairs and make me a spot of tea right now.

fabric shopping

I do own a sewing machine but I don't really use it much. There's a few projects I'm thinking of doing and so I went to Joann's in search of some potential fabric.

Here's some contenders for the office to use as curtains. Yellow. Grey. Striped. Patterned.

This is a strong contender to use for a headboard I want to make in the guest room.

This brown striped one is another contender for the headboard.

And those black and white ones with the circled patterns. They would either be fantastic curtains in the kitchen or umm.. something else. Anyway it's pretty.

I actually did purchase half a yard of a fabric I'm doing something with in the office... it's really boring but I'll show it anyway

matt said

I like to have Matt or anyone sit on the stools when I'm making dinner. It makes me feel like we're doing something together even if they're just sitting there.

He says he doesn't like sitting on them cause they're not comfortable.

So he said, why don't we put the extra couch in here. As a joke.

Hmm...

Now, while it doesn't exactly look good, it's really too long for this area. It is useful.

I can sit on a comfy couch in the kitchen and a certain four legged canine can lay on it all he wants and I have the luxury of not caring if he drools or gets his hair on it.

I'm sure the felines of the family will also enjoy having a new window seat. I know I do.