Nesting

I've been in my own apartment with Ryan for the last 3 months now.  I think most of you know how good it feels to finally have your own place. I am a nester. I love to collect little items that remind me of all the things I have done and places I have been.

I think it is really important to make every place you live in unique to you. Even when Ry and I were moving into a new apartment every year in Chicago, I always took the time to put up pictures and decorate it to feel like home. I need to feel like it is my own nest, not just a place I am passing through.

One thing I have always craved to have was a little garden space. It didn't have to be big, but I wanted a little private piece of the outdoors all to myself (and Ryan of course). I have a wee bit of an obsession with plants that goes beyond a hippie-ish need to sit under trees. I like to know their scientific names and how they grow. I enjoy knowing all the different kinds of plants I see. I competed in a Horticulture contest in High School (Identification and the like) and got Third place in LA County. I love plants hardcore.

 Sadly I have killed nearly every plant I have ever owned. Even Cacti. 

Shame.

Proof that I have the best boyfriend in the world: With full knowledge and disclosure (even personal observation) of my black thumb, my boyfriend decided to give me the gift of plants when we moved in to the new apartment in January. Passion Flower vines, Jasmine, Ferns, Bougainvillea, strawberries, tomato plants... many many wonderful things. He gave me a little trust.

And in the past three months, even though there was one casualty of a rainforest plant getting scorched in the sun... I have managed to make most of my plants thrive. Here's to achieving little goals :)

Since moving in I have undergone many a DIY project... including buying cheap used furniture and fixing it up into something more me....

Every day when I walk through my front gate I smile. Every single day. I love having a place to call my own again.