Balcony Makeover - Spring Has Sprung

Hello there Kittens!  And Happy Spring (admittedly, I'm a bit late with that one)!

While I'm not a spring or summer kind of girl, preferring autumn and winter's cool days and moody skies, I have accepted that sometimes you simply can't fight the inevitable arrival of spring.  The last time I tended to my balcony, I channeled the spirit of the holidays with a bunch of poinsettias.  While I had to be careful with these plants when I first got them because the temperatures dropped to the point that freezing was a real possibility, these little buggers were incredibly sturdy!  With very little effort on my part, four of the six poinsettias survived for four months and were still going strong when I decided it was finally time for my balcony to bid the last remnants of the holidays farewell.

So, I took a little trip to Home Depot after work about a week ago and picked up new flowers for my fabulous upgraded planters, another jasmine plant after my first foray into balcony gardening killed all my plants - including my amazing jasmine plant, and a few bags of potting soil.  I didn't have time to do much that afternoon, so I took out the poinsettias which were still in their original pots in the planters (which was brilliant if I do say so myself) and placed the new plants into them until I could actually replant the next afternoon.  Unfortunately, while I was at work the next day, the winds picked up and the pots shifted and changed the weight distribution, which made it possible for the winds to pick up the planter and throw it (and its contents) all over my balcony.  It looked like a tornado touched down!  As if my balcony wasn't dirty enough...

Remember when I said that I removed the poinsettias from the planters?  Well, I had just placed them on the ground until I had the chance to deal with them.  And the turbulence didn't budge them in the least.  Despite what you think, this was NOT a staged photo and I'd REALLY like an explanation as to how this is possible...

After I sat dumbfounded for a bit, dreading all the cleaning I had before me, I sucked it up and got to work.  After I repotted my six beautiful geraniums, swept up approximately three pounds of soil that was covering the ground, and Swiffered the patio for far longer than would be considered sane, even by OCD standards, I had a sparkly new patio!  And a perfect spring upgrade!

Okay, so red may not be what most people consider to be a spring color, but these geraniums are beautiful and cheery and bushy and look amazing in my shiny black planters!  (I LOVE a good theme and I'm nothing if not consistent.)

I have a good feeling about my geraniums, so perhaps this will be the last post like this for a while.  Though there could be a few new potted plants in my future...only time will tell.

Sometimes something as simple as a few new flowers can change your perspective.  You know, perhaps spring isn't so bad after all...

Maybe a little planting this weekend will do your mood some good as well.
Happy Planting, Kittens!
XOXO!!!

It's Still Looking A Lot Like Christmas...

Good Evening Kittens and Happy Boxing Day!

I hope everyone had a lovely Holiday, whatever you were celebrating.  While I am not religious, I enjoy decorating for Christmas as part of the cultural and family traditions that are wrapped up in the holidays.  People of different backgrounds may have different variations on the main theme, but the Christmas tree is an undisputed staple.

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While the tree itself is a staple, everyone has their own preferences as far as size goes.  Some like them tall.

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Some like them wide.

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And some don't particularly care as long as they have a buddy to help them decorate.

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  Take Princess Grace and Prince Albert, for example.

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And still, on the other hand, some like to go it alone.  Like Rita Hayworth.

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And Jayne Mansfield.

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While I went it alone like Jayne and share her love of a good color scheme, my tree was not decorated in pink, but rather in red.  Unlike my usual preference for black with accents of red (I'm sure that information shocks you), my tree is the opposite - mostly red with accents of black.  And, if I do say so myself, it's pretty fabulous!

Unfortunately, with all the red, it's rather difficult to get a photo that clearly shows the beauty of the tree.

Since I favor a nice big, full tree and decorate on my own, I like to have my decorations up for as long as possible.  I put my tree the first week of December and like to have it up through the first of the year.  I consider New Year's Eve to be part of the holiday season and who can't use a little more sparkle through that time?  

With all the other lights out, my tree gives off an amazing red glow!

The history of the Christmas Tree as well as the different amounts of time they are left up is actually quite interesting.  I had fun on this Wikipedia page...maybe some of this will come in handy during a holiday-themed trivia game?

I'm excited to spend another week with my tree.  How long do you keep your tree up?

Since the month of December is almost over, I'm going to stuff as much into the remaining few days of the year, so until next time Kittens!

XOXO!!

Balcony Makeover - Holiday Edition

Hello Lovelies!

On Sunday I hosted a fabulous Advent party for my family, The Ladies, and their families.  If you are new here or haven't been paying much attention, my Oma and her two closest friends have known each other since 1959 and the three of them together have come to be known as The Ladies.

Through the sixties and into the seventies, the families would get together to celebrate the four Advent Sundays each year, but at a certain point that tradition, for a multitude of reasons I'm assuming, faded away.  Since I grew up hearing the stories of the Advent parties and all the other important and seemingly unimportant reasons that used to bring everyone together, I decided that I would start the tradition back up.

Traditions are fabulous...but there is A LOT of pressure when throwing a party that all three of The Ladies will be attending.  Or maybe it was just me that was putting a lot of pressure on myself since I saw the importance of the passing of this torch.  The Ladies threw Advent parties every year, but their children dropped the ball, so as the first grandchild to have any type of party with all The Ladies in attendance, I knew I had to do it right!

And that started with the terrible state that my herb garden had fallen into.  Shortly after I created my fabulous patio herb planters, I got some kind of virus and this:

 Deteriorated into this:

I am convinced that my new plants or even the soil had some plant disease of some kind as the jasmine that had been flourishing for two and a half years suddenly died as well.

There was no way that I could allow The Ladies to see my balcony in this state.

When I first purchased the planters, I was very unhappy with the teracotta color, but didn't really have the time to do much about it.  Since I had something of a second chance, I decided to deal with the planters themselves while I was dealing with the plants for the second balcony makeover.  So that's where I started, with the help of my fabulous neighbors.  Bridget's husband, Mike, got inventive and lined the planters with wrapping paper, taped them up, and we spray painted the outside and the inside of the lip.  This way, when I finally plant something else, it will look amazing without having the paint kill my new plants.

 Now that I had some fancy planters, I thought I would keep things simple and festive for the holidays.  So I went with poinsettias.  A bunch of them.

Not wanting a lot of fuss, I simply unwrapped them and dropped them, pots and all, into the new jazzed-up planters.  And the end result is something that I like to call Holiday Glam.

Three large plants in each turned out to be perfect!!

Unfortunately, the day I put the planters together was the first day of the cold snap here in Southern California and I was so afraid of something happening to my new friends that I have been tucking them in at night.  That's right, I build a little fort for them with my patio chairs and some old towels to keep them warm.  I don't think most people realize that poinsettias are actually tropical plants because we associate them with the holiday season.  Essentially they die if they are exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees and the second I brought them home, the nighttime lows dropped into the low forties.  FANTASTIC, but I tucked them in every night and they seem to be doing well.

Nite, nite little babies!

My little fort may not be very pretty, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!  Hopefully this will ensure things on my balcony stay holiday-tastic for the forseeable future.

Until our next balcony makeover!
XOXO!!

A Twist on the Traditional Christmas Wreath

Good Morning Kittens!

I hope everyone had a fabulous week!  Per usual, this first week of the month was crazy for me at work, which has been compounded with getting ready for an Advent party that I'm hosting on Sunday.  In the last five days, I've received four packages - three of the four were items I'd ordered to get ready for the party.  (A party that I'm determined to make into an epic event!)

The packages arrived throughout the week - last item arriving on Thursday and I was so excited to get it home to open it, I almost couldn't contain myself!

I consider myself somewhat traditional and somewhat not.  While I consider wreaths to be pretty traditional and I mainly associate them with moms in puffy-painted sweaters (I apologize if you are wearing a puffy-painted sweater right now...we can still be friends?), lately I've discovered some pretty fabulous wreaths.  So, it is with some hesitation that I admit that I might just be becoming a wreath kinda girl...  Now, I need to stipulate that it needs to be the right kind of wreath.

You may remember my fabulous Victorian wreath for Halloween, well, I am now the proud owner of a fabulous Christmas wreath!  While all the materials were Christmas-y, incorporating black into it is definitely NOT traditional.  Not traditional, but totally gorgeous!!

Some of the ornaments are so shiny that you can literally see yourself in them!

A few weeks back, I decided that I needed a Christmas wreath and started my search.  If you search for wreaths, most are pretty terrible!  It's damn-near impossible to find something that is not incredibly tacky and looks like a bunch of women in puffy-painted sweatshirts got together, drank too many wine coolers, and decided to have arts and crafts time.  (I simply can't bring myself to apologize for the lack of love puffy painted articles of clothing are getting today - admit it, you think they're terrible too!)  If you need some proof - here is the Google Image results page for 'Christmas Wreath'.  And if you want to visit the website for the first image and scroll down, the other items on the site...well, I can't tell which is the worst.  Perhaps the wreath made entirely of peppermints or perhaps the pine cone and apple wreath?  I really can't decide....and there are so many other hideous ones to chose from.  It's good for a serious laugh!

Okay, so you might be thinking that I'm being too harsh or perhaps you think you aren't a fan of wreaths, but I'm pretty sure once you see all the wreaths in the PrettyClassyParty Etsy shop,  you might be singing a different tune.  The woman behind the shop, Leah, is A-Mazing!!  I've never seen more glamorous Christmas wreaths in my life!  And to boot, she makes them custom!  I initially saw this silver and gold one and fell in love!  Although silver and gold aren't my colors, I couldn't take my eyes off of it!

buy it here

While this wouldn't be my personal color choice either, here is another one of the wreaths that PrettyClassyParty carries.

buy it here

Leah's wreaths are all made of ribbon, foam, and over 150 shatterproof Christmas tree ornaments.  She will even make wreaths for the sports fan on your list in their team colors and incorporate their logo.  It was actually when I saw one of these team wreaths with the red and black combination (I don't pay attention to sports, so I have no idea who the team was) that got me excited and I immediately knew I'd be ordering one!

Once my tree is done, you will understand exactly why this wreath in red and black appealed to me so much.  While it may look a little Burton-esque, I think it's pretty perfectly inline with how I do Christmas and I am absolutely in love!  And up close, the care that Leah took creating this work of art is evident.  It's absolutely flawless!!  Even the back is pretty!

If you, or anyone you know, is the market for the most sumptuous, beautiful ornament wreath available, stop by the PrettyClassyParty Etsy shop.  You will NOT be disappointed with your purchase and Leah is so genuinely nice!  She seemed as jazzed about my wreath as I was and got it done in record time since she knew I wanted to have this up for my party.  If I could give this woman a big kiss, I would, for giving me the most beautiful Christmas wreath I could have ever hoped for!!

I hope your holiday decorating is coming along as nicely as mine is.  And now to run some errands and get my tree decorated for tomorrow!  A big thank you to my mother who tipped me off that it was supposed to rain this morning since I was going to get up early to get my tree today.  It all worked out rather perfectly - I went to get my tree after work yesterday and it is not only gorgeous, but I woke up to the most wonder smelling apartment!  I truly love this time of year!

PS - perhaps you should put wreath shopping on your to-do list for today.  I'm pretty sure if you find the right one, it'll make you very happy!

XOXO!!

Advent, Advent, Ein Lichtlein Brennt

Guten Abend Kätzchen!

I hope everyone had a great weekend with family and friends.  Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way and we are officially in December, I once again find myself surrounded by some really fabulous traditions!  I am not remotely religious, but I absolutely LOVE the Christmas season and all the traditions that come along with this time of year.  These traditions may be rooted in religion, but to me, they represent the family, friends, and warmth that fill the season.

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As I was raised in a German Catholic immigrant household, we've always celebrated Advent.  While I personally am not sure about all the details of Advent, (here is a little light reading if you're interested) I've always loved sitting down on the four Sundays prior to Christmas with an Adventskranz (Advent wreath) and a festive drink (and, if I'm being honest, perhaps a Christmas cookie or two) to light one candle to mark each Advent Sunday.

About two years ago, I thought that I should start putting my own stamp onto the traditions I've always enjoyed.  While I'm not in anyway an arts and crafts, DIY kinda girl, I was determined to make my own Adventskranz or Advent wreath.  I have some pretty crafty friends and the four of us have had a few Crafty Bitch Parties (where I typically end up as someone's helper) and I thought that I would throw my own party, where instead of everyone bringing a craft as we'd done before, we all make our own Adventskranz.  Sounds super fun, right?  Right!

So, I had everyone over on the First Advent, which I turned into a Brunch (SHOCKING, I know!) and also brought in my mother and our resident Adventskranz expert, Oma to lend some authenticity and credibility to the event.

This photo may be a little blurry, but it's quite apparent that the spinach scramble and potatoes were a success.  And were quite necessary - it's a well known fact that you have to fuel the craftiness.

An equally well-known fact is the fact that mimosas are integral to the creativity process!

My lovely crafters - Britni (with her pine cones), Lisa, and Stephanie!

I stocked up on all the necessary items to build our wreaths.  

And then we got to it!

Britni and her fabulous bow!

 I must say, our Adventscranzes turned out so great!

And then we rewarded ourselves with coffee and the traditional German Christmas cookies that Oma and I made over Thanksgiving weekend!

 It's okay to be jealous, it was a fabulous day!

And now, I have my very own Adventskranz to enjoy every year!  Which made last night possible.  I made a cup of boozy tea in a Christmas mug and lit the first candle to mark the First Advent.  As I was lighting the candle, I couldn't help but think of the German poem about lighting the Advent candles.

"Advent, Advent, Ein Lichtlein brennt.
 Erst eins, dann zwei,
 Dann drei, dann vier,
 Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür!"

Translation:
"Advent, Advent, a candle is burning.  First one, then two, then three, then four, and then the Christchild will be standing at your door."

Port and I hope all of you were able to celebrate the start of the holiday season in an equally fabulous way!

Happy Advent, Kittens!
XOXO!!