April round-up

I set a few goals for myself, my blog, my organizing and for doing some challenges this year.

So lets see how I did in April.

My Blog

I posted 17 times in April, which with 4 weeks and two days in it translates to well over 3 posts per week.

Here are the highlights from April



Left to right, top to bottom, here are the highlights of what I posted about in April.

1. Memory lane - the house we built in the 90s - 40 photos
2. Danish pancakes - aka crêpes.
3. Upstairs hall - the reveal - see how my craft cabinet came together
4. Kitchen plans - to get upper cabinets or not - and a mood board
5. 7 different forever plants in the garden
6. Searching for a rug or two or ... for outside. Find out which one(s) I picked
7. Garden (de) light at night - LED and solar
8. Birthday gift wrap idea for a tween boy
9. DIY barnwood and IKEA bracket shelf

Myself

My goals are:

1. Be less critical/judgemental - of others but also (mostly) of myself. - a work in progress.
   
2. Take more weekend trips.
3. Drink more champagne.

1. I have been really struggling with being critical of others this month. Tsk tsk tsk - shaking my finger at myself. I laugh at it sometimes, and then other times... sigh... Oh well.... Just to tell you that this past week hasn't been the best...

2. We went on a weekend trip. It was in the middle of the week, but that still counts, right?

We went on a field trip to Pala Mines in Pala. It's in Oceanside just north of San Diego. We spent a couple of nights at Pala Casino and Resort. Unfortunately this resort was not as family friendly as I had expected. When we go on these types of weekend trips our favorite thing is to hang out by the pool and go to the hot tub. Out of all the places we have been in California I have never before seen a sign like here where it said: 21 and over only.

B understandably got really sad when he could not go to the hot tub. I asked the towel person why they had that rule and was told it was a safety issue. A safety issue? Hmmm That doesn't sound right. I asked for the manager to see if I could get a better explanation.

She came and said the same thing: A safety issue. Because of the heat of the hot tub. It was separated into two tubs with a wall down the middle. One side of the tub was 98F, the other was 104F. Sounds like pretty normal hot tub temps to me. So I asked: what if you are 20 years old. What is the safety concern then?

In my mind, when confronted with ridiculous rules, I always secretly hope that they will respond with something along with: You know what? Now that I hear myself say this to you out loud, I can hear just how ridiculous it sounds. Let me make a few phone calls so we can take that sign down, why don't you just go over and enjoy the hot tub.

But one thing is expectation, another is reality. The reality is that this doesn't happen as often as you might think. Instead you get treated to some long rehearsed talk that is usually irrelevant to the topic discussed.

This was no different.



Anyway... we went to Pala Mine to search for gem stones. I just have to say if you have never been and you are in the area, I highly recommend this place. The owner is SUPER awesome. He showed us around the whole place and it's quite big. You can also spend the weekend there in a little cabin on the top of one of the peaks. With a breath taking view!!

The twinkle twinkle photo above is the ground there. So shiny. It's hard to concentrate

In B's hands above you see the two biggest finds: two pieces of crystal quarts. B found the bigger one, dh the smaller of the two. Aren't they amazing. I wish I could have them made into something.

In the lower right corner, the bigger of the pink stones was my favorite find. I don't think it's clear enough to made into anything unfortunately...

3. B went to a birthday party that was overnight. I showed you the present here and dh and I had a quiet evening to ourselves at home enjoying a bottle of champagne! Woot woot!

Features



I did not have nearly as many features in April as I did March, but I had my first feature on Curbly.com. They showed our recently remodeled guest powder room turned full bath.

If you are wondering about my Grass free garden board on Pinterest: Still going strong!

I did not participating in any challenges in April and I even forgot my own... did nothing for photo except this graphic. Hm. I wish I had done something...



I updated my Favorites page as I do each month. My tufted headboard is trending. Just thought you wanted to know... Up two places from last month

April went by really quickly. I have some bigger projects coming up like some true "after" pictures of the patio with some styling and B's room has another finished wall. We built a piece of furniture. Can't wait to show you.

Next
March round-up and new word for April
May round-up and new word for June