manzanita

in the garden

If you follow me on instagram you may have noticed my new obsession with flowers and arranging them. This isn't the cheapest hobby so as soon as I started getting into it Dustin has been pushing me to plant a flower garden. We made a veggie garden last year, which he has essentially taken over because my schedule is so busy it is hard for me to get outside.

Well, this past weekend I decided it was time to go for it so I spent the weekend outside clearing the space and laying out rocks to form a little U shape bed around our cherry tree. My sweet and crazy strong little brother David came by to help me dig the holes for all the flowers and shrubs, thanks Dave! 

Dustin installed an irrigation system in the veggie garden while I was working on the flowers this weekend and last night he brought it over to the flower garden. It is amazing to wake up in the morning and already have everything getting water! I didn't really help much with this, but he made it look pretty easy!

I planted mostly perennials with just a few annuals and a couple of shrubs because I love how branches look in arrangments. I really want things to boom more and more each year. Here is a photo of the first arrangement I made entirely from the garden. My mom is a pretty amazing vegetable gardener so I have been around this stuff for a long time, but I've never really given it the attention it deserves. I love how it gets me outside since most of my hobbies are indoor hobbies. Do you have a garden? What is your favorite thing to grow?

 

besitos,
rebecca

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kitchen cart re-style

I work in property management and when people move out of their homes sometimes they leave things behind. Most of the time its junk, but every once in a while I snag something that has some potential. This cart was full of stickers and missing a back when I found it, but I hoped that with a little attention it could be a cute addition to our little kitchen.

I scrubbed the thing down, took it apart to put a backing on it, painted it, and added some pretty world market knobs to match our cabinets. It took me about an hour and I think it's perfect. The color is a bit loud, but I think I like how much character it gives the room. What do you think?

Today Dustin and I are relaxing and going to meet up with friends for dinner. Have I said that I love the weekend?

besitos,
rebecca

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blooms

I have been trying to make keeping flowers around the house a priority lately. With Spring on its way it feels nice to have pops of blooms and color through the house. I took these photos with my canon ae-1 this passed weekend. I love my DSLR but there really is something magical that happens when I pull my film cameras out. The glow that happens, you can't reproduce it.

Yesterday was little Sadie's birthday. I can't believe she is 6 years old. That little creature brings more pure joy to my life than anything else. I love her.

besitos,
rebecca

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DIY// beetle kill pine counter tops

My mom and step dad recently did a project with some beetle kill pine wood. Once they were finished they had quite a bit of it left over so they made new countertops for themselves using it. Once I saw it I fell in love immediately! Being the sweet and lovely people they are they came over to our little place last weekend and put them in for us as well!

While we were at it we also decided to put in a new sink, can't tell you how much of difference the whole project made. I wanted to share it here because it was so simple and cheap and I love how it looks. 

For starters here is a before photo of our little kitchen. The sink was really tiny and low and the counters were just sort of blah. Of course you can use whatever wood you would like, personally I love the dark streaks in beetle kill pine. You will want to cut the wood to fit the shape of your counter top. Once you have the wood cut out you will want to take a liquid laminate and pour it over the entire surface. This will give the counter a very glossy look and it makes it much easier to wipe down and clean. We used this brand from home depot. For our little space we needed two coats. Each coat needs to dry overnight and vuala!

We have plans to put matching beetle kill pine cabinets in where you see the shelf in the photo, probably some time this spring.

Have you done any home improvement projects lately?

besitos,
rebecca

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DIY// tripod lamp

Hi all! So with all the rearranging that we have been doing to our little home some things have popped up as necessities that we weren't expecting. One of which is lighting! My mom got me this beautiful old tripod a couple years ago from a friend. I took it with me on a few photo shoots and while I am sure I looked "really cool" it really wasn't practical. So, I was excited when D and I came up with the idea of making it into a lamp. 

It is a pretty simple and affordable project. I got a lamp making kit at home depot and my lamp shade at target. You will just want to assemble the light fixture by following the instructions on your package, then attach the fixture to the tripod. This part will depend on your tripod but mine had a convenient hole that the bottom of fixture fit right into. 

If you would like to make one for yourself you can find some pretty cool old tripods on etsy and ebay!

How was your weekend? Dustin and I had his brother, his lady, and their adorable little baby here. I love it when Annabelle is here, it gives me such baby fever. I get so excited about having kids with Dustin:)

besitos,
rebecca

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the beautiful Isabel in her garden

Hi everyone! As promised here are some photos of my beautiful mother in her garden. In case you missed the last post showing you the sign I painted for her and telling the story of how she made her way to Boulder, you can read it here.

I have been reading a lot of posts lately from fellow bloggers about their relationships ending, or how they are not sure they want to continue blogging after their children get older, or how people have been saying very hurtful things to them in comments. All this has got me thinking about my own internet presence and how it might evolve over time.

Right now it is easy to come here and share my life because for the most part it is really good right now. I have a loving and healthy family, a kind and respectful husband, and a safe home. Of course my life isn't perfect, but it's not hard for me to accept the bad with he good. I wonder if I would be so willing to document my everyday life if I wasn't essentially happy, I hope so.

Mostly I just wanted to say thank you to my readers. I have been hugely blessed with people who come to manzanita and leave the sweetest and most supportive comments, and I know that this can not always be the case. I am not sure how I would react to people leaving rude or mean comments. I hope that I will just accept that is something that comes with putting yourself out there. I don't really know where manzanita will go in the future, but right now it is a place for me to come and share my projects, my business, my photography, and any other thing that might inspire me. It means the world to me that some of my actions reach people who I have never met and might inspire them to try something new and creative. Thank you everyone for being so sweet!

besitos,
rebecca

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Fur n' Wings Urban Farm

When I was 13 my mother plucked us out of the busy and populated city life of Brooklyn, NY and transplanted me and my brothers and sister's in rural Pennsylvania. Needless to say we weren't too thrilled. After school we had to collect eggs, milk the goats, lug hay around, and of course water the garden. It's hilarious to me now that I ever thought this was a bad thing, because now that I am an adult that little pink and blue house we lived in is my dream house. Dustin and I can't wait to buy some land and live far away from town, grow our own food, and have goats!

Since then my siblings, myself, and my mother have all moved around the country. My mother found an adorable little farm to live on in North Carolina after I graduated high school and she was there for about seven years before she ventured out west to be closer to me and my older brother. She left her big house, lovely garden, and all those adorable farm animals behind to move into the trailer park that we now both live in! Now, that is what I call love!

The first thing she did when she landed here in Boulder, CO was plant her garden. It has been two years now and the garden is exploding with veggies and fruit, my mother has become a certified permaculturist, and she has a beautiful little urban farm. She even convinced our little park to allow her to keep chickens. She is awesome.

She asked me to make her a sign for her urban farm and this is what I came up with! I love the look of painting on old windows, and it fits her space so well. I will be sharing more photos of her in her garden at some point this week, so watch out!

besitos,
rebecca

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adventures in flower pressing

The week before we left for New York I took a little walk around my neighborhood and collected some flowers. My mother gifted me this cute little flower press a while ago and I had been meaning to use it. I let them press for about a month and a half. I wasn't sure how long it would take since the only other time I had pressed flowers was when I threw them in between the pages of my favorite books.

Well a couple of days ago I opened them up and I was happy to find that most of their color was retained. The lilacs got a bit brown in spots, not sure if there is something I could have done to avoid that.

I peeled them off their white pages, put them into some gold mismatched frames, and gave my entry way table a little makeover. My mother always had pressed flowers around the house so it is nostalgic for me to have them collected like this in a spot that I see everyday. Aren't they pretty?! Do you press flowers? Any tips?

Thanks for all your supportive and sweet comments on yesterdays post! It is helpful to feel like I have a bunch of people out there who seem to have so much faith in me, you have no idea how motivating that is!

The lovely Nicole of Pussycat Vintage is giving away this beautiful vintage bag and scarf, enter to win them here.

besitos,
rebecca

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dresser re-style

Dustin's dresser lives in the corner of our bedroom and it is really easy to ignore. I hate the ugly thing, so normally that is what I do. Last week I thought it was time to do something about it so I pulled it out into the yard and gave it a little makeover. 

While I can't say I love it, I can say it makes a huge difference! It actually looks like it was put there on purpose now:) Dustin seems to like it, he said it reminds him of paint swatches from home depot.

All in all, this probably took about 20 mins. So, if you have an ugly old dresser that you find yourself ignoring, pick a few shades of your favorite color and give it a little face lift:)

I also wanted to say thank you thank you thank you for all the lovely comments that everyone left on yesterday's crochet dress post. With all the sweet comments here, the flattering tweets, and the excited comments on instagram I felt so supported by this little community of ours. I never thought in a million years that someone else would be as excited as I am about my little crafty endeavors, never mind a whole bunch of people! Seriously thank you!

Don't forget to enter to win a $75 GC at Shabby Apple!

besitos,
rebecca

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the camp

The first summer that Dustin and I spent together we lived in a small cabin in the woods of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. His family has owned hundreds of acres of land there for generations. We had a chance to go back there during our trip a couple of weeks ago when we were in NY. Him and his brothers call it the camp.

I will admit that when I lived at the camp four years ago I hated it. The woods are thick and old and scary! The cabin is pretty much falling apart. There are animals and creepy crawlers everywhere. As much as I love nature, I was raised in Brooklyn and I am easily made uncomfortable in the forest.

This time however, I loved it! I even let mine and Dustin's imagination go wild with plans of maybe building a little home there for ourselves. As you can see the place is just full of beautiful, old, and dilapidated goodies to photograph. I definitely would not mind living in a small cabin, crocheting near a fireplace, photographing the landscape and taking my babies on walks through the woods every morning. Maybe someday...

And, don't forget to enter to win a pair of Blowfish shoes here on manzanita!

besitos,
rebecca

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