Last week–actually for the past two weeks, I had some old friends coming down to visit me and the funny thing is that they still read my blog. They really do. They like my writing and they tell me “oh…I would never write like that!” or they tell me “I just don’t know how to write like you do!”

Funny especially if you haven’t seen these people for the past two or three years that they’ve been popping through your blog once in a while instead checking of checking through your Facebook.

I sure do think blogging transcends Facebook .

Trying to find the time to blog so here I am awake at 8 am trying to write this post. During my workweek I start so early. I wake up 6 am or earlier to get to work before 7. Some days after work are busier than others though :-/.

How do you guys find time to write a blog post?

Got this at the Little Italy Farmer’s Market on Saturday. The booth at the farmer’s market was called “Castaway Shell Garden.”

I’ve been wanting to buy some cactus or some sort of succulent plant but I’ve got so many seeds waiting to be germinated and potted.

Anyways this was an impulse buy and I thought it was a cute idea. Maybe when my wildflowers begin to germinate I’ll try to transfer to a shell

Tip: You can cut off off one of the buds and put it in another another pot. The bud roots itself in a new container and voila!

The following week was wildflower seeds and blue bells.

The week after that was red chili peppers, spinach, red and green bell peppers, and persian buttercups.

Definitely been growing a lot more stuff. Here’s a picture of the persian buttercups bulb before I put it in a bag to germinate.

Dehydrated!

Here’s a picture of the bulb in a Ziploc bag with a wet paper towel after one hour.

Completely plump!

To try things out, I put a bulb directly int the soil just to compare but it seems like everything that has started in a plastic bag has germinated. I sure would like to try other things though.

In other news since my “backyard” is really a porch, I’ll design something to keep plants and vegetables together and NOT take up space in a 3 by 6 ft porch. I really am enjoying my urban garden experiment and I urge you to try to do the same.

Also the paint I used was Glidden Duo in Deepest Aqua (can be found in Home Depot and Walmart). It made the perfect Tiffany Blue. They sell this color in a sample size.

Also I got the drawers from IKEA — the wood was untreated. Perfect for those who like to get a little be creative.

This one is before I put glaze.

Here are the “after” pics.

This part of my room is empty but I’m really happy to make thing happen. I guess my “to do something creative everyday” is really coming along. The paper underneath the drawer is actually liner paper. I should start cutting that out .

My finishing touch would be replacing those wood knobs for brass knobs and it would look complete.

My next upcoming project would be make a bookshelf for the empty living room.

• Butter
• Garlic
• Garlic Salt
• Basil

Use amount to as much as desired

It went well with this pesto dish.

The sauce recipe is found in an older post. Did some modifications though like subbing PLAIN Greek yogurt instead of Parmigio-Reggiano Cheese and it tasted better.

Happy cooking!

Moved the cilantro, basil and chives to the bigger pots. Still waiting for the onions to get bigger.

In the meantime I want to grow more flowers.

Anyway we decided to get: chives, cilantro, basil, and green onion. So far the project is going smoothly and it also has inspired her to grow some wild flowers. I also picked up another very unique plant that is known for eating bugs… the Venus Flytrap! I’m hoping it grows because I want to use it to ward off insects and birds if possible.

The cost for everything was pretty minimal. Less than $20. Includes the dirt, pot, seeds.

First step: getting the seeds to germinate. Here are some seeds that have been sitting for a week starting on 12/28/11 – 1/4/12

Here are some photos of some that we started a week prior to the picture above.

Basil at 2.5 weeks from 12/17/11 – 1/4/12

Green Onion 2.5 weeks from 12/17/11 – 1/4/12

Cilantro 2.5 weeks from 12/17/11 – 1/4/12

Chives 2.5 weeks from 12/17/11 – 1/4/12. The leaf is towards the bottom of the cup. You can kind of see it.

Present Day, about 20 mins ago….

These Chives were put into a cut up bottle to mimic a green house to protect it because its so small. We’re not sure if we can leave it outside yet.

Green Onions. Just like the Chives we kept these indoors to protect them.

You can definitely tell these are Cilantros.

Last but not least, Basil.

The wild flowers haven’t started blooming yet but pictures will be posted when they do. I hope the plants don’t get eaten by birds or other pests otherwise I would be sad =[. That Flytrap better work =p

I guess I want to do more DIY stuff and here it is. I’m even thinking of taking an interior design class — it’s free and I need to pay for the materials fee .

Here’s the inspiration:

(source)

Dang! Shipping alone is 85 dollars??!

Here’s my version so far…

I only bought a sample size of the blue paint. It was the perfect robin’s egg blue I was looking for .

Anyways I’m thinking of adding a little bit on contrast in the drawers, particularly with the knobs and the trim. Here’s some color schemes I was looking at.

all from design-seeds.com

from http://www.webexhibits.org

Oh ya! We even met another celebrity, Lamb-Chop. She sure liked Khoi!

On New Years Eve we went to a comedy club (that was on my 101 things list).

Khoi even went on stage and met all the comedians!

And the night ended with some dessert and champagne.

Was a good ending to 2011 indeed!

Why wait a whole year for this one day for hope and changes?

You’ve got everyday– 365 chances in the whole year to turn your life around. Instead of living up your year. Live up your days.