September 18, 2011

Quick, easy, and down right cheap.

I love love love flowers and gardening but renting in a city such as LA limits me to what I can actually do. I get it from my dad who used to grow squash as big as my forearm in his backyard. We’d catch people (usually old Asian grannies) stop by our copious amounts of mint leaves to snip some off and welcome them to do so. Dad would construct planters out of an old claw foot bathtub, empty paint buckets, barrels, anything that could hold tiny life.

My dad taught me the true meaning of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” and to always look for a good reason to re-purpose or keep something that others deemed unworthy.

Jay and I both love iced tea and lemonade and we will try every flavor/brand out there if given the chance. Lately, Jay has been trying out the different flavors of these Hubert’s Lemonade drinks. Look how beautiful the bottles are! There was no way I could throw these out and I’ve been looking for small glass vases. They were about $2 a bottle and I had four them … four matching vases!

First things first, I need to remove the labels. This was a fairly easy task but they left some of the hard-to-get-off-my-god-just-get-off sticky residue. Goo Gone to the rescue! This is only my second time using Goo Gone and I wish I had known about this product back in my art school days. Ugh, the hours this could have saved me. I don’t want to think about it.

I sprayed some Goo Gone on all the sticky residue on the bottles and let them sit for a minute or two. Using a clean cloth I wiped and rubbed each bottle until all the sticky stuff disappeared. Next, I rinsed each bottle to get the Goo Gone off and then wiped them clean with a few paper towels. The tulips were then snipped, the bottles filled with some water, and the tulips placed inside.

I re-arranged them on the window above my sink and that is where they’ll sit. They look so pretty in my kitchen and make me so happy.