Celebrating Spring with a New Skirt

It’s almost a rite of passage into springtime when the time comes to pack away my winter standby’s—scarves and sweaters and stockings—and in their place pull out the things that come with the warmer days. For me, one of those is pulling out my skirts.

Sure I could wear them in the winter, but even in a layer of tights, I’m still often too cold. And cute can only get you so far when you’re freezing.

So it was that I officially proclaimed it springtime when I pulled out a new skirt I got from Shabby Apple (called the “Jubjub Bird Skirt,” available here) to review on my blog.

It’s a 1950s-inspired number, complete with an oversized blue-and-green-and-cream floral print and handy-dandy side pockets for stowing ladylike things like hankies and bobby pins. It’s made of a sateen-sort of material that holds its shape really well (even after coming through the mail!) and you can actually machine wash it.

I’ve noticed that a lot of their clothes run large, so I ordered this one a size smaller than I normally would. It’s a tad tighter than I’d like, but since it’s retro to begin with I think having it sit at my natural waist is actually, well, fitting. (Still, I'd recommend ordering your normal size if you pick this one out.)

I twirled around in it on our back porch, and here are some photos for you:





You can find the Jubjub Bird Skirt on Shabby Apple or search through their entire collection of vintage-inspired women’s dresses, maternity dresses or even dresses for little girls.

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The History of My Blog and How It's Grown Over the Past Two Years: Starting from Scratch (Part 1)

I’ve written before about why I started my blog, a lot of the behind-the-scenes details about updates and upgrades to my blog, but I haven’t ever really documented the progress of my blog. For those of who you have been around from the very beginning (Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!), then this might seem a little redundant to you.

But over the past couple of months, I’ve started receiving emails from some of you who have blogs of your own and are interested in growing your blog and ask me the question: “How did you do it?”

I think a lot can be learned from hearing someone else’s story, so I figured I’d try to retrace my steps on this little blog of mine. For the record, I do still consider my blog to be rather small and still very much a work in progress. But that’s kind of been the story of it, all along. So we’ll start there…



Before starting Life Blessons, I’d had a couple of other blogs, as well, but they were more of your “Dear Diary,” look-at-my-life kind of stuff; nothing intentional, just random bits of information as it passed.

However, I did have some experience that was really helpful to me first starting out: In high school, I’d taken an HTML class, which I’d kept up over the years, making my own websites for fun as well as for my professional portfolio. (You can see my most recent example of that, here.)

Additionally, because I had that HTML experience, I was able to work on the websites of two different national magazines (Health.com and HOWdesign.com), not as a web designer but as an editor, overseeing and uploading the content. With that experience, I gained a stronger understanding of things like writing compelling titles for online content, linking within articles and using images to attract more readers.

When I first started noodling with the idea of starting this blog, I knew I wanted to approach it differently than anything I'd done in the past, both personally and professionally. I wanted to make it the kind of destination spot that other blogs had become for me: Ones that were filled with ever-evolving content, content that impacted my life.

One of the first things I did was start writing—ever before I even started the blog. I wanted to make sure that I had enough stuff to write about—and keep writing about—before I plunged into the world of blogging. For a few weeks, I wrote post after post, exploring ideas and realizing that there was a treasure trove of possibilities in this burgeoning blog. Once I saw that I could sustain the idea, I went to setting up my blog. (If you want to see more about why I chose to use Blogger as my blogging platform, you can read more about that here.)

That first step—of practicing blogging before I ever launched it—was a crucial one that I would recommend to anyone starting out with a blog. Because not only did it give me the motivation to continue with the blog, but it also gave me a safety net of having posts in the coffer for those times when writing inspiration was nowhere to be found. I still keep to this system today: I have dozens of posts sitting in my draft folder, just waiting to be posted. This gives me freedom in my writing: I can write when I feel inspired, not because I feel like I have to keep my blog up-to-date.

But then, even once you have the content, comes the task of getting people to read it. Even though I had a folder full of fodder and some technical expertise in my pocket, there was one crucial bit missing from the equation: I had no readers.

Click here to read Part 2 of this story about how I started my blog, where I look at some more specifics regarding what I did to grow my blog at the very beginning.

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Blog Statistics: How to Not Get Overwhelmed by All the Numbers

One question I recently received is:

“I FIND THAT I’M ALWAYS CHECKING MY BLOG STATISTICS AND WORRYING ABOUT THE NUMBERS. HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT?”

Ah. The double-edged sword of blog statistics.

It’s true that programs like Google Analytics can be an awesome tool and resource for bloggers; it’s one that I rely on to help me figure out how I can wisely make use of my blog. But it also can be a snare, in that you can get bogged down in numbers and clicks and visits and fretting over why there aren’t more of this or that.

I have felt that way, too. And I imagine most bloggers who desire to see their blog grow do, too.

But I think that it’s important—for our own sake and our contentment—that we not linger in this place for too long. Doing so can sap the energy and enthusiasm out of blogging if all you’re concerned about is who is or who isn’t reading along.

Like with almost anything else, it’s important to find a healthy balance in between, where we use the statistics for the good they provide without leaning on them so much that we get hung up on the numbers.

One of the things that has helped me the most is to limit how often I check my statistics.

For instance, a couple times a week, I’ll log into my analytics and check to see if any other sites are linking to my blog. If so, I might go and leave a “thank you” comment on their post or, if they’re sending lots of traffic my way—which happened a couple months ago when Etsy linked to one of my craft projects—then I might update the post with a little “welcome” message, like this.

For me, knowing where traffic is coming from is important so that I can do these kinds of things.

But other than that? I don’t really pay attention to my numbers too much.

That’s because I’ve realized that sometimes, ignorance is bliss. If I’m not ticking off every subscriber, then I don’t have the chance to worry about whether a few drop off or if the number stays stagnant. If I’m not reloading my daily traffic report, then I’m unaware of how many people came today versus yesterday or last week.

Because if I spend too much time looking at statistics, it can get overwhelming and almost burdensome. And for what? It’s just a bunch of numbers—and what can you really do with that? Not much, methinks.

Instead, if I’m not fretting about those things—which, really, I can’t do much about anyway—then I can instead focus my energy elsewhere, like creating quality content. And you know what? I have paid attention enough to know that when I write more, people read more—and then my statistics reflect that.

So really, when you look at it that way, if I am going to worry about my statistics, then I ought to stop looking at the numbers and start writing! Isn’t that funny how that works?

This post is part of my Better Blogging series, where I respond to some of the most common questions that I receive about blogging. Feel free to read all of the posts in this series here.

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Creating His-and-Hers Silhouette Art for the Bedroom

While the boxes have been unpacked for months now, there’s one notable element that has yet to find its place in this still rather new home of ours: artwork.

Though the shelves and drawers are full, the walls are still pretty bare. That’s because artwork is not something I just want to throw up on the walls simply to fill a space. But I want it to be meaningful, to be beautiful, to fill that space well.

So, I’ve been taking my time to fill those spaces while I waffle between the what and where of it all.

One of the first pieces of art that I was steadfast about, however, was a pair of his-and-hers silhouette images that I wanted to put up in our bedroom.

I’d first created these images for our wedding, which I framed and we hung up on the stone mantel of the fireplace that was in the lodge where we had our reception (and, coincidentally, also the wedding ceremony, thanks to a freak rainstorm!).

Here’s a mini step-by-step of how I created the silhouette of my picture:


I created it basically by taking a profile photo against a plain-colored wall and tracing (in Microsoft Paint, no less!) around my face and then filling the spaces in. Tedious? Sure. Overwhelming? Not really. I probably spent just a couple hours on each of them, which I think was totally worth the effort!



I originally framed them in some square record-album frames I already had and matted them with a springy green which matched my wedding colors. But after a couple of years, that green was just too bright, and so I decided to give them some new life with a little help of one of my best DIY friends: spray paint.

Krylon was kind enough to send me a couple of shades of their interior/exterior spray paint to try out for some craft projects around the house. This seemed like the perfect time to put some to good use, so I whipped out a can of Bahama Ocean Blue, which matched our shams perfectly, and spraypainted the frame’s cardboard backing for a new mat.







Oh my.

I love this color. I think peacock blue is my new favorite and this confirmed that for me. I especially like how well it complements the gray walls of the bedroom. (If you want to read more about how we repainted the bedroom, including the paint color we chose, click here.)

With my new mats dry, I simply used a tiny piece of double-stick tape to attach each silhouette (which was printed on regular computer paper) to the middle of the board. Then, sandwiched it between the glass and the frame, and they were ready to hang on the wall in our bedroom:











The fun thing about the placement I chose for them is that my husband’s face is closest to his closet and my face is closer to my closet (which is actually on the opposite side of the room). So they function kind of like directional images. (Alternatively, if I had put them over the bed, I would have had to flip them because I sleep on the left and of course I’d have to have them line up correctly!)

Up next? I still need to figure out some artwork for over the bed and a couple of other corner nooks in the bedroom. But, of course, there’s no rush!

Find out more about Krylon’s huge variety of spray paints—there’s one for nearly all your craft and DIY needs—by visiting their website. You can also like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

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More Exploring The Beauty in My Backyard, March Edition

When we bought this house in November, it was the interior that sold us. (You can see a sneak-peek at what the house looked like when we first bought it here.) We loved that the outside was filled with tree after tree, but all the leaves had fallen and hidden the rest of the yard beneath a blanket of fallen foliage and pine needles.

So now that the weather is turning and new life is starting to come to this yard of ours, it’s been like a secret garden to see what pops up, what has been lying beneath the surface unbeknownst to us, its new owners and admirers.

Back in February, I spent an afternoon exploring all the natural beauty that was hidden throughout my yard. (You can see photos from that romp around my yard here.)

It’s now more than a month later, and the landscape of our home continues to catch my eye and take my breath away. I wanted to continue documenting how our yard is changing with the seasons, so here are some photos of the newcomers I’ve noticed around the place…

In the post I made of our yard in February, I mentioned that the daffodils were in full bloom and showed some pictures of them and how I brought them inside for decorating our fireplace mantle. Now, that bounty of yellow sunshine has withered away with the warmer days and all that’s left are the telltale stalks of stems:


But where one flower says goodbye, another springs to life. Even though the daffodils are long gone, in their place are some others, like these vibrant numbers:








New bushes are pushing up through the brush:




Leaves budding on the tree branches!



I also noticed these lovely trails of ivy climbing up some trees in our yard:


Doesn’t this little under-the-tree nook look like the perfect place for a fairy to live?


I can’t wait to see what else comes into bloom and unfurls itself in our yard. We also have a forsythia bush that threw out some lovely yellow flowers, but they’d already come and gone before I thought to snap a photo. Oh well, I guess there’s always next year!

Any surprises popping up in your yard?


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More of My Favorite Free Fonts to Download

I love when bloggers share what some of their favorite free fonts are, because there are just so many out there, it can be daunting to drill down into the plethora and fish out just the right one.

Awhile ago, I posted some of my favorite fonts for free download and was thrilled to see them popping up in some of your blog posts. (I think Lullaby was an especial favorite for you all! Click here to see that list of favorite fonts.)

Well, because there are always more fonts I find myself fancying, here's another tribute to my favorite fonts of late, as well, set in a favorite Bible verse about Jesus ministering to the people:



CLICK HERE FOR LINKS TO DOWNLOAD THESE FONTS

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My Thoughts on Spending Money on My Blog

One question I recently received about blogging was:

“HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH IN TERMS OF SPENDING FOR A BLOG?”

That’s a difficult question to answer because I don’t know that there’s a pat answer that can answer that. Instead, I imagine that it has more to do with personal preference and vision and risk than anything.

For me, I have to say I have been very cautious when it comes to spending money on my blog. I have lots of time to spare so I invest plenty of that, but money at my household has been tight ever since I launched this blog, so I have been wary of spending money on this that could be used to buy us lunch instead.

When I first started out with my blog, I did have hopes of being able to turn a profit off of it. But I didn’t have a game plan for doing that or know if that would actually happen. So, I made it a point from the beginning that I would not spend any money on the blog until I’d made some.

That’s why for the first year or so, I used a free Photobucket account. Then when I started getting enough views that was pushing me above the free limit, I had made money and could justify buying a pro account. (I do know that you can upload photos for free through Blogger, but I find they load a lot faster by using Photobucket so that’s why I chose that.)

By nature, I am very risk-adverse and not very entrepreneurial unless I can guarantee there will be a pay-off in the end. So I think that explains my approach to spending money on my blog more than anything.

But of course, money isn’t everything. Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve spent plenty of time. And time comes with its own costs as well. I’ve spent hours and hours and hours tweaking the HTML coding and design of my blog to get it just right. Whereas I’m still happy to DIY my own design and I have that time to spare, for someone else, they might rather pay a hundred or so dollars to have someone else do all that and only commit a half hour to implementing it.

Much of my blog growth has come from word-of-mouth and slow networking, all of which I didn’t spend a dime to do. But that kind of growth took a long time to come to fruition. I mentioned before in my post about monetizing my blog, that I didn’t make any money from my blog until I’d been writing it for a year and a half.

You may not have that time to wait so spending the money to speed that process up might be very worthwhile for you. It all depends on your circumstances.

If I were to start spending more money to network and promote my blog, though, here are some things I would keep in mind that you might find helpful if you’re interested in doing the same, whether it’s buying advertising or paying someone to design your layout:

1. Find vendors who do work that I love. If I’m going to pay money for something, especially design-wise, I don’t think there’s any reason to put down a penny if it’s not great work. There’s tons of mediocre design out there, and so I think it’s worth it to pay more to get quality work. I’m pretty picky about design work (I used to work for a design magazine, after all), so that’s why I end up doing all of my design myself since I can do mediocre work for free!
   
   
2. Pair up with like-minded bloggers. If I’m going to buy advertising, I am going to target blogs that are very similar to my own but with a much larger audience. Because even if I can buy advertising from a mondo blog, say Pioneer Woman, and get tons of clicks; if those people don’t stick around and become regular readers, then I don’t personally think that was a wise purchase. I want to use my advertising money to find people who are going to fall in love with my blog and stick around.
   
   
3. Vary my approaches. Since I’m still really green when it comes to spending money on my blog, what I’d do is to vary the ways I spend it to see what pays off. For instance, I might try spending $25 to buy one month’s advertising off of blog A and another $25 from blog B. I’d track to see how many people come from those clicks and tailor future advertising purchases accordingly. I also might spend another $25 to buy a gift card to giveaway on my blog and see how that fares or another $25 to get some HTML work done that needs it desperately. Each purchase is pretty small, but attack the goal of gaining exposure from different aspects, which I believe usually ends up having a cumulative advantage. Then, if one of those tactics isn’t successful, I’ve only put out $25 and can reallocate that money somewhere else in the future.

What about you? How have you dealt with spending money on your blog? What are some of the best ways you've invested in your blog and seen some of those things pay off? Let me know in the comments!

This post is part of my Better Blogging series, where I respond to some of the most common questions that I receive about blogging. Feel free to read all of the posts in this series here.


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The Easiest Dinner I Make: Layered Mexican Casserole Recipe

I'm a fan of simple meals. The kind that include simple ingredients that I have on hand and come with effortless instructions. The kind that can be served up in a pinch without a ton of preparation. The kind that don't leave my kitchen in a mess and sink full of dishes. The kind that you can't believe it tastes so good with so little work.

This is one of my favorite go-to dishes because it could not be any simpler.

I came up with it one night when my husband wasn't home and I wanted to use up some leftovers that we had: a little bit of rice, some broken tortilla chips in the bottom of the bag. I layered them in a dish along with some refried beans, corn and salsa, and baked them in the oven for fifteen minutes or so.

And I was pleasantly surprised with how well the casserole turned out, being thrown together on a whim. A couple days later, I served it to my husband—when dinner was already running late—and he became an instant fan of the dish as well, despite the fact that it is such an easy combo.

Want to see how easy it is to throw together? Here are step-by-step photos I took while I made it the other night. (Read on for the full recipe.)










See? So super simple.

The great thing about this dish is that it's an incredibly forgiving recipe that you can customize to your heart's desire with whatever you have on hand. So feel free to use the recipe below as a template or follow it to the letter. Either way, you really can't go wrong. Start experimenting and see where it leads you...

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using a 9-inch pie plate or an 8x8 baking dish, spread 1 to 1½ cups of refried beans on the bottom in an even layer.
3. Next, spread 1 cup of brown rice (that has already been cooked) in an even layer.
4. Add 1 cup of corn. (You can use fresh, frozen or canned corn that has been drained. I like to heat up a skillet first and saute the corn a little with some chipotle spices so that the edges get browned and there's some extra flavor to them.)
5. Add 2 to 3 handfuls of tortilla chips that have been broken into pieces. (This is a great way to use up the extra pieces at the bottom of the bag, even if they've started to go a little stale. Once it's baked, you won't be able to tell at all! Also, I prefer to put the salsa on top of the chips, because when you bake it, the salsa will help the chips soften. However, if you want the chips to be crispy, you can put them on last. Totally personal preference.)
6. Add ½ cup to 1 cup of salsa in an even layer. (Click here for my recipe about how to make your own salsa.)
7. If you have some avocado on hand, chop up ¼ to ½ of an avocado and sprinkle sections on top.
8. Raid your fridge for other leftovers that you can add in. I had a single slice of cheddar cheese that I tore into sections and added in. I also had one black-bean burger patty that I crumbled over top. You can consider other things like olives, peppers, onions, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, etc.
9. Pop it into the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, so that the entire casserole is thoroughly heated.
10. Remove from oven, spoon into bowls, and serve!

This dish will make 2 to 3 servings. However, you can easily double (or triple!) the ingredients and bake in a 9x13 dish to serve more. Like I said: This dish is ridiculously customizable. Enjoy!

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A Few of My Favorite Things: Blogging Edition

These are A Few of My Favorite Things, an on-going, once-a-month series that sheds some light on, well, my favorite items throughout my home. (To read through all posts in the series, click here.)

In this Blogging Edition, I'll be looking at five of the essential items that help me in the day-to-day tasks of working on this little blog of mine. As we continue through the Better Blogging series that I've been running for the past few weeks, I thought sharing these would be particularly fitting! They are the things that make life on this side of the screen a little bit easier and a lot less painful. (Read on to see what I mean!)



1. ASUS Bamboo Laptop: If you've been reading along for awhile, you might remember that a couple of winters ago, I dropped my laptop and shattered the screen. The laptop itself still worked but I had to plug a screen into it to actually use (and see anything on) it. About a year later, my husband urged me to get a new laptop. (Good guy, huh?!)

After quite a bit of research, I settled on this ASUS model. First of all, I think it is beautiful. The casing is made from bamboo, so it actually has a wood-grain veneer on the top and along the keyboard. I love me a dark wood grain, so aesthetically, this was perfect. But it's also very functional, being incredibly light weight (necessary, given that the laptop I dropped was heavy!), and it's pretty fast. I've had it for more than a year now, and have no regrets! Unfortunately, the bamboo version I bought doesn't seem to be available any more, but you can find a similar version in brown, here.

2. Canon PowerShot Elph Camera: I love photography and getting to play around with lighting and all the different functions on a camera. In my dream world, I'd love to purchase a digital SLR camera with all the bells and whistles that come with being able to manually change nearly every aspect and get professional quality photos all on my own. Unfortunately, I can't really justify the expense of a $500+ camera plus lenses for a hobby that I only use to snap pictures every couple of weeks or so.

However, when I was in the market to upgrade my older point-and-shoot, I did a ton of research to find one that would offer me some of the flexibility of being able to manually control some functions but that would fall into a more reasonable budget. Which was that I decided I'd only pick one that I could pay for entirely with Amazon gift cards I'd earned through Swagbucks. After saving up for about a year, this was the model I settled on. (Click here to read more about how you can use Swagbucks to get free gift cards, if you're curious to learn more about that.)

The main reason I picked it was because you can adjust the aperture and shutter speeds.  It also takes pictures without much delay, comes with a couple more white-balance settings than my previous camera and features some fun photo-taking settings (such as "fisheye" or "miniature," which makes a photo look like it's toy-sized).

3. Wireless Mobile Mouse: I have an older version that is really similar to this mouse that I bought when I upgraded from a desktop computer to a laptop five years ago. This mouse outlasted that computer (you can read about the fate of that guy here) and is still going strong. And it only seems to need a battery change once a year or less, which makes me happy!

4. Wrist Support: Sitting at a desk for most of the day started getting to my joints after awhile, especially in my right wrist. I tried some of those gel wrist pads you put at your keyboard or by your mouse, but those just seemed to make the pain worse. I finally bought this brace and it has helped immensely! I always strap it on whenever I know I'll be at a computer typing for any length of time and I don't have any lingering pains. I like that this one comes in various sizes so that you can make sure it really fits your wrist to provide the best support.

5. USB Keyboard: Another problem I started experiencing after sitting at the computer for a long time was that my eyes would hurt so, so much, even if I turned the brightness on my computer screen down to the dimmest setting. It got so bad I actually sat at my computer one time with sunglasses to see if it would be better. Ridiculous, huh?

Well, I realized that one of the reasons why my screen was bothering my eyes so much was because I was having to sit so close to the screen just to type. I decided to get this keyboard to see if being able to push my laptop screen farther away would help the problem. And it did! I haven't even been tempted to don sunglasses once since getting it. (And I even cranked my brightness up a few notches!)

You can view all of the previous editions of A Few of My Favorite Things here, including ones about my favorite gadgets to use in the kitchen, coffee-making supplies, books about love, and more!

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Playing With Paint Colors: Choosing A Palette for Our Entire House

If you haven’t noticed, we’ve only painted two rooms in our house: the kitchen and the bedroom. And for both rooms, we’ve selected colors that have a touch of gray to them. (If you want to see photos, click here to see the kitchen re-do and click here to see the master bedroom makeover.)

It’s enough to make me wonder if the winter gloom is getting to us or if we’re simply afraid of variety.

But, as I hope you’d agree, I don’t think it’s either of those…

One blog I started reading when we bought our house—and I could finally start indulging those dreams of renovating and redecorating to my heart’s (well, really just to my limited budget’s) delight—was Young House Love. If you’re into decorating, you’ve probably heard of it.

Well, as I was going through their archives, I came across a post about choosing a whole-house palette.

They mentioned how, with their first house, they used a bunch of different colors—nearly every color in the rainbow—to paint just a handful of rooms. It’s a tendency we can all lean toward, perhaps because we feel like we shouldn’t repeat colors or because it will look too boring. But what they found was that they colors were all too different which made the house feel disjointed as you went from one room and one color to another.

Instead, they instituted a color scheme for the entire house, with colors that all complemented one another. Similar in tones or hues, they gave the house the personality it needed.

When I was first thinking about the colors for our house, I kept coming back to a vision of soft blues and grays and creams. But I wondered if it was too bland, too similar. But now, I feel emboldened to trust my gut.

I’ve been doing a little bit of thinking, of palette dreaming. Here are some ideas of what I’m thinking:

(By the way, I couldn't find a cream color that would show up well against the white background, so just imagine it's included in there in the left-hand collection!)

We’ve now painted our kitchen and our bedroom. Next on the list will be the living room and dining room (which we’re making into a library!!). For now, though, we’re waiting to paint these rooms, because we don’t want to jump into slapping just any old paint color on the walls. We want to take the time to wait and weigh our possibilities, to give ourselves time to settle into the space and see what our tastes give way to.

But until then, I’ve got some ideas in mind…

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My Indoor Garden: Learning How to Not Kill Houseplants

One of my goals for this new house of ours is to incorporate more greenery; deck the halls with flora and foliage, you’d say.

I’ve never had much of a green thumb when it comes to indoor plants. Last summer I started an outdoor container garden that gave way to lettuce and green beans that made their way to our dinner plates.

But indoors? I’ve killed almost every plant I’ve owned. The only one that has survived is my bamboo branch, perched in water. I’ve managed to keep that one alive for a year now, which is nothing short of victory.

With a house of my own though, I am trying to reverse that and I’ve started collecting a few more plants to test the waters.

Because, to me, the natural world is one of the most beautiful decorations you can find. I’m not one for clutter, but cover a sideboard in potted plants and crowd a window-sill full of saucers of vegetation and I’m smitten. It doesn’t hurt that my favorite color is green, either, and hence has taken the spotlight in a lot of my wardrobe and decorating.

Often I’ve even found myself walking past a boutique or a pub and wanted to patron there—simply because the storefronts are filled with leafy cascades and tendrils.

All this to say, I wanted—I needed—this handicap of mine to go away. It’s like loving a pet, but every time you go near, you end up stepping on its paw or tripping and landing on top of it. You don’t mean to, but someone always ends up getting hurt.

So when we first moved into our house, my in-laws brought over some house-warming plants. With their pretty, glossy leaves, I was thrilled and then immediately reminded that this could very well be their deathbed; if history was any measure, they could very well be dead by the end of the month.

I mentioned that and my father-in-law gave me one simple piece of advice for indoor gardening that has revolutionized my ability to keep these fronded friends alive. He told me to pick one day a week to water the plants, rather than go by looking or touching the soil. In the past I’ve always ended up overwatering the plants and drowning them to death, so I loved the simplicity of it.

Monday was the day I picked. And for the past two months, each Monday morning, I’ve watered these new friends of mine with care. And incredibly? No casualties. I can even see new leaves unfurling and stems getting stronger.

I’m still taking it slow, but I’ve since bought two more plants to add to my collection. I couldn’t be happier!

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