Succulents and Sunnies

Last year was hard. A lot of good things happened: we bought a house; we got married; we expanded our family by eight very furry paws. But I also lost two grandparents and got incredibly burnt out trying to make our house livable in five weeks and spent a lot of time worrying about our new senior dogs’ health. We didn’t have the time to travel or enjoy our new backyard or spend all that much time with friends.

This year is going to be different. Because I’m going to make it that way. This year, I want to feel excited about and delighted by my life. This year, I want to be inspired, in more ways than one.

I want to be inspired by my spaces.
We’re homeowners! And while it sucks when the furnace repair man completely kills your heat while troubleshooting, homeownership also means creating spaces you love. We are so darn close to having a living room, bathroom, bedroom and guest room that reflect who we are and how we spend time in our home. I know there’s always more to be done, but this feels like a step in the right direction after making things livable last year.

I want to be inspired by new (and old) places.
When you’re renovating and wedding planning, you don’t leave the area code much. This year we’re back on weekend road trips and are beginning to think about a honeymoon. While I doubt we’ll ever return to our pre-pandemic level of travel, it feels good to have some trips to look forward to.

I want to be inspired by my outfit.
I turn 30 this year, and that seems like an appropriate time to really love the clothes looking back at me when I open my closet. I’m slowly ordering updated basics and splurging a little bit on staples like a new laptop bag and wedding guest dresses.

I want to be inspired to create and contribute.
Last year, I did a lot of consuming. Mindless scrolling while I ate or waited for the shower that didn’t really serve any purpose but killing time and taking my mind off my to do list. This year, I want to do things and think things and curate things that make me excited to share.

For the last few years, rather than set a New Year’s resolution, I’ve chosen a word to focus on. In 2020, the focus was on investing; last year, I thought a lot about cultivating. After some debate (as well as two months into the new year and a full year since my last blog post), I’m spending 2022 with the word “settle” in mind.

Settling might be interpreted as being okay with “good enough” but that’s not how I’m thinking about it. In 2022, I want to settle into all of the wonderful, life-changing events taking place this year.

By the end of this year (if all goes according to plan, which we all know is not guaranteed these days), Cody and I will be celebrating our first Christmas as husband and wife, as well as our first holiday season in our new home. I want to lean into the (long) journey of making our house a home and enjoy the process of planning a wedding the reflects who we are and the people we love.

For me, settling into this next stage is about stepping back and appreciating the hard work that got me (and us) here. This is the reward for late nights finishing work for freelance clients, a year of house hunting and the willingness to see past (and scrub off) decades of cigarette smoke.

I tend to reach a milestone and push on toward the next. Not this time. This year is for taking a deep breath and settling into exactly where I am.

Last year, I chose to approach the year with a word in mind, rather than focusing on a specific resolution. I really enjoyed spending the year working toward the general theme of investment, especially considering a lot of 2020 was kind of useless for things like travel, something I initially thought would be a big part of the year. Opting for a focus over a resolution made it easier to make progress without feeling like the whole goal was pointless.

With so much still up in the air, choosing a word to focus on seems like a good idea for 2021 too. This year, I’m approaching things with the word cultivate in mind. There are five ways I’d like to incorporate it into my life throughout 2021:

Growing a Garden

This is a very literal interpretation of the word cultivate. Last year, I had some modest success starting flower and vegetable seeds in our living room. I’d like to have an even bigger and better garden this year, so I’ll start planning soon! I grow primarily in containers, so I’m not going to let our house hunt keep me from enjoying the weird pride of watching your seeds sprout and flowers bloom.

Creating Rather Than Consuming

Over the last year, I’ve sunk pretty deep into the habit of doom-scrolling, especially during breakfast and right before going to sleep. I’d love to mindfully opt for creating rather than consuming once in a while. Whether this is doodling in a coloring book, taking photos or writing blog posts (more on that in a minute), if it keeps me off my phone, I’m in.

Enriching My Community

I volunteered a lot during high school but I let it fall to the wayside during college. It’s way past time to find a couple of organizations I care about and start making a difference in my community.

Expanding My Personal Brand

When we were stuck at home last spring, I jumped on the online course train with everyone else. I started Introduction to Personal Branding through Coursera and made it through a quarter of the syllabus before it got warm enough to spend time outside. It’s time to revisit the material and put some real thought into what I want my personal brand to look like, especially online.

Building Succulents & Sunnies

Succulents and Sunnies did not benefit from my extra time in 2020. It was really hard to find the motivation to post on a lifestyle blog when my lifestyle was something like “work from home gardener” rather than my usual “weekend getaway-obsessed Buffalonian.” I do miss documenting the big (and little) moments with something more substantial than an Instagram post. I want to spend some time creating a blog that feels more like me and be better about amplifying the posts I do write.

When Cody suggested spending a day drinking beer in the Finger Lakes last month, I wasn’t going to say no. This summer has been slower than most—for obvious, coronavirus-related reasons—and the thought of spending a beautiful summer day at picnic tables with beautiful views sounded great.

We started at Climbing Bines, which Cody and I have visited before, where I opted for the Honey Apricot on draft. There were plenty of open, socially distant tables under umbrellas and sun sails, perfect for enjoying what was turning out to be a perfect late-summer day. When everyone agreed on walking through the bines before getting another drink, I happily followed.

Shannon and Patrick posed for a cute picture in the bines and suggested Cody and I do the same. It was truly a picture-perfect backdrop, so I obviously agreed. I should have realized when Patrick, Shannon and Morgan were all taking pictures that this was not just any cute picture.

As I tried to walk away, Cody got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. Honestly, if the conversation wasn’t on video, I wouldn’t be sure I said yes. I was so overwhelmed by the absolutely perfect setting, the thought of spending forever with my favorite person, and the stunning ring he was holding in front of me.

After some deep breaths and laughs and more pictures, we were ready to grab that second drink we were after pre-engagement. During our second drinks, Cody shared all the details of planning the day in my favorite place, we called and texted our parents, and we enjoyed our second round (with way less stressful than the first round for everyone in on Cody’s plan—everyone but me).

We got takeout from Top of the Lake and headed to Abandon Brewing Company for even better views than Climbing Bines, which I didn’t think was possible. I had never been here before and was instantly in love with its view, its beer, and its welcoming, unpretentious atmosphere. Shannon put together the cutest “She said yes” basket, complete with champagne and the best farmers’ market cookies.  We toasted to forever, drank sours and IPAs, and talked to a few more family members while looking over Keuka Lake.

Last but not least was Other Half Brewing Finger Lakes. I was so excited to try something a little different from what we find at other breweries in Western New York and the Finger Lakes. The bright pink sour slushie did not disappoint. Enjoying one last drink as the sun started to set was the perfect end to an absolutely unforgettable day.

On the way home, we filled in a few more family members and really let the day sink in.

When we started apartment hunting three years ago, we weren’t necessarily looking for a second bedroom. When we found a duplex that not only offered two bedrooms, but half a basement and half a garage, we jumped at the opportunity for a little extra space. The second bedroom slowly became part guest room/part junk room. It collected Christmas presents we didn’t quite have a home for yet, drying clothes, empty boxes, craft supplies, and a lot more.

When I started working from home in March, it was the first time I had ever sat at the desk we put in the second bedroom almost three years ago. The extra space became a saving grace; without it, I would have turned our kitchen table into a semi-permanent office space. At first, the clutter and mismatched furniture didn’t bother me – everyone was making do with odd spaces while working from home.

However, as it became obvious that this would be my workspace for a lot longer than originally anticipated and our clients headed back to their offices, working in this space lost what little draw it had initially.

My Do It Yourself Upgrade

How could I make the room both more welcoming for guests and more functional for the 40 hours a week I now spend in it? Of course, I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money on updates, so I needed to utilize furniture I already had. The bed and desk stayed, as did the lamp. I swapped out plastic drawers for a dresser that was still at my parents’ house.

I wanted to take what we already had and meet three goals:

1. A Less Cluttered Workspace

This room now has to function as an office, first and foremost. I made two big changes to make working from the guest room a little bit easier. First, I rearranged the furniture to add more space between the big pieces of furniture. Switching the desk and bed to opposite walls, along with flipping the direction of the area rug, makes it easier to move my chair around. I also moved the shelves to the top of my desk (they had been below it) to give my legs a little bit more room.

The plastic drawers, which were remnants of dorm room living, were the thing I liked least about my video chat background. One was filled with craft supplies, while the other held a combination of skincare and scarves. I knew I still needed that storage space, so I brought my childhood dresser to the apartment. It still had tulip drawer pulls and hand-painted grass on it, which is not exactly the aesthetic I had in mind for this update. Two coats of Behr’s Whitewash Oak and simple drawer pulls gave this dresser new life.

In the coming weeks, we’ll probably add a small table next to the desk for our printer too. Hopefully, we can find something for next to nothing at a garage sale or on Facebook Marketplace and, if we need to, use leftover paint or stain to freshen it up.

2. An Upgraded Guest Experience

We have an extra bed, and I would hate to have it off-limits just because our guest bedroom is also an office now. Nothing was really wrong with the bedding, but it is primarily what’s in the background of my video calls so I decided an upgrade was worth it. A new white bedspread (from Hearth & Hand) lightens the room and offers a neutral backdrop for a few guest must-haves. It also gives us a place to use a gorgeous live edge plank my dad finished and a beautiful quilt Cody’s grandma made.

3. A Few Pretty Touches

Paige gifted Cody and I a stunning two-panel painting of a cliff outside an Irish fishing village a few years ago. I didn’t want to hang it somewhere I wouldn’t see it, so it’s been living in a box at my parents’ house (where I never saw it…) instead. This seemed like a good opportunity to put the painting in a space where I would see it constantly. I’m also over the whole “we can’t put nails in the walls” thing, because after three years we will probably not see much of our security deposit anyway.

The other noticeable upgrade was turning a very ’90s lamp into something that didn’t stick out like a sore thumb. Two coats from a can of spray paint and a new lamp shade were all this lamp needed. I also covered two clipboards with a map of the Austin Capital Metro system for an easy way to display photos and other memories.

I think that I’d like to use the wall space above the lamp for a very low key gallery wall that wraps around the corner. This is definitely going to take a while to get right, so I’m not holding my breath. The succulents on the desk could also probably use some stones over the soil, so I’ll keep that in mind on my next run to Lowe’s or Home Depot.

The Total Cost

I wanted to keep the cost of this refresh below $150. But I also knew that making my workspace more functional was worth investing in. I chose not to spend money on updates that we wouldn’t be able to take with us when we left, like painting the walls or installing new blinds. Instead, I focused on pieces that will live beyond this office.

Dresser:

• Paint: $15.20
• Drawer pulls: $12.96

Bed:

• Bedding: $97.86
• Amenities: $20.62

Lamp:

• Paint: $4.33
• Lamp shade: $21.72

Total Cost: $172.69

Staying home isn’t all bad. While I’m sure it will only get harder as the weather gets warmer, for me and Cody, isolating ourselves means more conversation, more music, more cooking and more time to think about how our “gardens” will look this year.

For now, I only plant in containers; I don’t want to change our rented space in any way that would leave it worse off when we move out. I also don’t love weeding and containers make managing weeds a million times easier. The last two summers my planting strategy had been haphazard at best. I stop at the nursery on the way home from work, put what looks nice in my cart, and call it a day.

There’s nothing wrong with that strategy. I actually really loved how the planters on our porch turned out last summer, so I’ll probably take a similar approach to them this year. However, my vegetables have been less than stellar the last few summers and this year there’s a new space I want to fill with blooms.

Last Saturday was Buffalo’s first truly nice afternoon. We spent hours outside, not really planning to get much done, just glad to be out of the house. I started going at a patch of weeds, vines and small trees that had slowly expanded over the last couple of years. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. By Sunday afternoon I was left with a blank slate between our garage and the neighbor’s fence.

I hadn’t realized what an eyesore the corner had become until it was gone. Now comes the fun part: what’s the best way to fill this space? I’ve been searching Instagram, gardening blogs and Google images for inspiration. My biggest challenge is that the space gets literally zero direct sun. I tracked it every hour just to be sure. Nada.

My goal is to create a space that we can set up lawn chairs in and enjoy after work. I want to use what was until very recently an ugly corner and make it a welcoming space where I can spend an hour reading or writing with a cup of tea or cold drink.

It’s going to take some time to create that corner. Lucky for summer me, spring me has a lot of time on her hands. Here’s what’s on my container garden to do list:

1. Order seeds. With extra time on my hands, I’m going to try to start some what I would normally buy from a nursery. Earlier this week, I ordered cucumber, spinach, cherry tomato, cilantro and lettuce seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds. I also bought nasturtium and mint seeds from Renee’s Garden.
2. Plant seeds. Buffalo’s last frost date is at the beginning of May, so we’re just about a month away from planting outside. For most veggies, this is the perfect time to start seeds inside. Hopefully, the seeds I ordered will arrive this week or next so I can get them in soil.
3. Buy materials. I love the containers on our front porch, so I’ll get a couple more of those for the new spot. It will also need some stakes and a few 2×8 boards to wrap some of the more utilitarian containers I’m planning to use.
4. Build. Even though it’s too early to put plants in the ground, I want to lay out containers and see how everything will look. That way I can edge the new space, add the wood and put up wire fencing before seedlings go in.
5. Plant! I’ll still go to the nursery for most of my flowers when it’s warm enough to plant outside. There will be two planters in the new space, which will need to be shade-friendly. Two more planters will go on the front steps, which get a lot more sun. I’ll also plant the vegetables and herbs I started inside.

Fingers crossed that the extra work now will pay off this summer. I can’t wait to have a cozy space to enjoy time outside!