What do Massachusetts, a road trip, and cross country have in common?

Admittedly, not too much. However, the other weekend, all three of those things converged in my life...

And after a few hours on the road...

I found myself in the middle of a field in Massachusetts getting ready to watch the first cross country meet of my life.

The best part of the whole weekend was the last-minute nature of everything. About mid-week I learned that my aunt and uncle were flying out to the east coast to watch my cousin in her second-ever college cross country match. They happened to be flying into NYC, where they had planned to rent a car and drive up to UMass to watch the race. When they asked if I wanted to tag along, I jumped at the chance!

So on a beautiful, sunny Saturday I found myself at the UMass Invitational, surrounded by all sorts of runners, fans and coaches! Since it was my first match, I had a lot to learn.

Luckily, the boys ran first, so I had a chance to practice taking pictures as they sped by...

Before I high-tailed it to another part of the course to catch some more action shots. (Thank goodness my uncle had scouted out the course ahead of time and was able to tell me exactly where I needed to run to, etc. in order to see as many spurs of the course as possible!

Therefore, by the time the girls were ready to race...

I was an old-hand at taking photos of people running.

That's actually not true at all: I just snapped as many pictures as possible when my cousin ran by in hopes that some of them would turn out.

And you know what?

Some of them miraculously did!

I must say, my cousin is a fast runner...

And it was so much fun watching her whiz by!

And while I thought she was running really fast...

I had no idea what was in store as she neared the finish line.

My shutter-finger was going crazy at that point...

But I was so glad to have captured these shots as she blew past the girl from BC!

And not only did she come in 3rd for her team...

But the race also happened to be a PR (personal record) for her! (She was realizing just how fast she had run in this shot!)

As you can see, it was an exciting day for everyone...

And I'm so thankful that I was able to be there! So thanks to my Uncle D and Aunt J for bringing me along, and congrats to R on an amazing race!

Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Fabulous fern

My brother is turning out to be quite the horticulturalist. Even though he lives amongst the high rises of downtown Detroit, he's cultivated quite an indoor oasis in terms of house plants. He has a beautiful collection of succulents and ferns that thrive under his care; every time I visit him I gaze in envy at his "garden."

So earlier this summer, when I visited my brother, he surprised me with a garden of my own, grown from cuttings of his plants! I was thrilled (as you can imagine) and couldn't wait to get back to NYC to plant them.

Of course, getting them here to the city meant somehow getting them into my luggage, which was no easy task. Luckily my brother is quite brilliant, and grew one of my cuttings in a sandwich bag, which made slipping it into my carry-on surprisingly simple.

See? I wasn't kidding! And while this sandwich bag was meant as a temporary solution, by the time the plant made it to my apartment, it was surviving so well that I didn't feel the urge to replant it. This went on for a couple of weeks, and then I started feeling really guilty that this poor little guy was struggling (quite successfully, I might add) in a plastic bag with no soil.

However, I also knew that he would only grow bigger, and I didn't want to invest a lot of money into a planter that he would outgrow in a few short months.

Enter: my recycling.

That's right- I did what any creative/cheap person would do: I looked around my apartment to see what I could re-purpose into a temporary planter that I wouldn't mind ruining in the process. Of course, this 'miracle' planter had to fulfill several requirements: I wanted something that I could drill/poke holes into to create drainage (so no glass/ceramic), and I wanted something that wouldn't rust/decompose (no cardboard, etc.). So I eventually turned to a can that until quite recently enclosed a handful of artichoke hearts.

The first step of my planter transformation had to do with the can itself. After I had removed the label and washed it with soap and water, I made my drainage holes. Using a can opener I inherited from my grandparents' kitchen, I punched 4 holes in the bottom of the can.

Since my can at one point had held a liquid substance, it was lined with a plastic-y coating, so I was pretty sure the can wouldn't rust from the inside. However, those little holes I poked and the exposed edge at the top seemed more susceptible to water and rust. So I grabbed a bottle of nail polish in a color I no longer wear...

And proceeded to seal the edges of the exposed can. (As you can see from this somewhat blurry photo, I painted the edge around the top of the can as well as the punched holes.) It's not the best paint job I've ever accomplished, but since most of it would be covered in soil, I decided not to sweat it!

Now, my brother's beautiful fern couldn't be planted in an ugly, old can! So I grabbed some paint, a foam brush, and sandpaper in order to transform my new planter.

I sanded the can a bit, so that my layers of white paint would adhere. I used regular craft paint (acrylic), but I'm sure there are special paints out there for metal surfaces that would be even better for a project like this. Once the base coat of white was dry, I used an old cork to dab abstract red dots all over the can.

And once the dots had dried, I planted that poor fern in as much soil as the can would hold...

And put it on display in a prominent corner of my little kitchen!

While it's not the most 'elegant' planter I've ever seen, it fits my aesthetic (and budget) quite well! And I think my little fern is much happier with his new home!

Thank you for stopping by- I hope you have a great day! (And SBV- thanks again for the plant!

Living the "high" life

When my little brother came to visit recently, we visited one of my favorite new places in NYC.

Do you know the place I'm talking about? Make sure to stop by tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it!

More Cloisters fun!

As I shared with you yesterday, when my brother visited recently we visited the Cloisters.

We enjoyed all sorts of medieval art in the museum... like these silver-stained roundrels. This one is called "Souls Tormented in Hell" and was painted between 1500-1510.

This one is titled "Playing at Quintain" and was painted in 1500...

And this "Nativity" was painted between 1510-1520.

We also spent some time in the West-Guilhem Cloister, which was built in the 12th century.

We particularly liked this cloister because each of the capitols and shafts are different. (This one is really intricate- and it was carved before the year 1200!!)

My brother really liked the zig-zaggy shafts... they were so cool!

As if the interior of the cloisters weren't lovely enough, there's also a garden cloister.

From wild honeysuckle...

To other fruit trees...

There are many different plants growing in the cloister. Some of the beds are thematic, featuring some of the plants/herbs that would have been growing when the cloisters were inhabited in France.

These areas of the museum show how practical, and beautiful, gardens can be.

See?

There are also dwarfed fruit trees...

And trained fruit trees on the property (I love this pear tree SO much!).

Oh, and remember how I told you about the thematic gardens?

This one is the "magic" garden, and it's full of poisonous plants! (That pyramid-shaped structure supports a bittersweet bush.)

In one corner of the property there's also a gardener's area, and I loved walking by because it smelled like the room where my grandma used to dry flowers when I was a kid... yum!

Of course, after all that time wandering through amazing art and beautiful gardens, we were in need of some sustenance. So we selected a table, pulled up some chairs...

And dug into lunch! When a museum serves mozzarella and tomato sandwiches that are this good, you can't lose!

As you can tell, I'm a pretty big fan of the Cloisters. So if you're ever in NYC and you have time to travel up to the museum, I highly recommend it!

Thanks for visiting- I hope you have a great day!