my top five favorite: purchases in 2018

I decided to temporarily put "un deux trois" on hold because I just don't have the time to take that many outfit pictures right now, but I thought in the mean time I would resurrect another old blog series to take its place on Saturdays for a while.

For my first (well, not first ever, but first for now, lol!) post I thought I'd round up my top five favorite things that I purchased in 2018. As much as I love my dresses and fun accessories, all of my favorites in this post are totally random items that have nothing to do with clothes.

First up is the mannequin that I bought when my local Sears closed. I've always liked mannequins ever since I was a kid (probably a combination of that movie A Mom for Christmas - where a mannequin turns into Olivia Newton John - and the fact that my parents owned a t-shirt business and let me keep two of their old mannequins!) When I saw that Sears had all of their displays on sale I HAD TO HAVE ONE. This one reminded me of the Venus de Milo and I named her Marie.



I got this book stand a few months ago and it makes me so happy every time I look at it! I've been collecting movie tie-in paperbacks for ages but I never had a way to display them in a way where you'd be able to actually see their cool covers. This stand is technically for postcards but it fits two mass market paperbacks per pocket!



In January I got these drawer units for my work area and my life improved about, um, 400000% Everything is neatly organized and blissfully hidden from view. I use the bottom drawers for things that I don't need as often, and then the top drawers contain everything I need to pack orders or make buttons on a daily basis. Not only did this improve the aesthetics of my workspace but it made for a perfect backdrop for my outfit photos AND it streamlined my workflow. So happy I got these!



I had been thinking about getting an elliptical for years. Whenever I go to department stores I try them out because I think they're so fun, but they're usually large, bulky, and black, and I just didn't want that in my room. When I found this one, I was sold. I was casually looking at exercise equipment on the amazon app while I was in the McDonalds drive-thru with my dad, and there was literally a five minute gap between me saying "omg they have a pink elliptical!" and "I just bought a pink elliptical!" haha! I use this every single day for 10-20 minutes and it's held up very well. Sometimes I have to tighten the screws a little, but otherwise it's very sturdy. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone and I made it even MORE pink than it came by spray painting the black foot peddles and covering the black arms in pink duct tape ;)



Last but not least, my plants! I am so glad that I became a plant lady this year. Some of them cause me a little stress (why are the leaves falling off?? I just watered you!!") but overall they bring me so much joy and I enjoy seeing them grow and flourish so much! I don't have room for any more of them right now, but when I eventually have a bigger place I am definitely going to have plants EVERYWHERE. I can't wait.

plant propagation progress

Back in September I wrote a post about my plants, and there was this one that I had snipped off of another plant and attempted to get it to take root in water. I promised I would report back if it turned into a real plant and today is that day!! I dutifully kept changing the water once a week, rotating its exposure to the sun, and after about a month I moved it into a glass with a wider mouth. And then finally, this week, I planted it in soil!



Can you believe how beautiful it looks?! Look at all the new little buds! I can't believe that this actually worked, but now I'm so excited to try it again with some of my other plants whose pots are getting overcrowded with new growth.

This is going to be my first winter taking care of live plants and I can already tell that they need more water each week and some of them are looking a little droopier than they were in the bright summer sun. I hope they all make it through the cold dreary months okay. I'll definitely post another update on all of my plants as soon as spring is here again! :)

meet my plants!

This year I've gotten into growing plants, and I thought I'd share my little plant family with you! This year a lot of things in my life have felt crazy and out of control, so it's been really nice to have these plants (and my cat, obviously!) to take care of, and fuss over. It's rewarding to see them getting bigger and flourishing as I learn the best way to take care of them. I've been opening my blinds in the afternoon so the light-hungry ones can get some much needed rays. I rotate them around my room so everyone has a chance to soak up the sun, and my grandmom has been helping me learn the exact amount of water to give them since I had a bit of an overwatering habit at first (oops!)

All but one of these plants are pet-friendly. Arrietty is a really well-behaved cat and doesn't get into them anyway, but it's nice to know that even if she does decide to munch on one of the leaves when I'm not looking, she'll be just fine. I bought most of my plants from The Sill, and they have a section specifically for pet-friendly plants so I've been ordering from that section exclusively. You can also check out the ASPCA list of toxic and non-toxic plants if you're ordering from a greenhouse that doesn't specify which plants are pet-friendly.



This is a Peperomia Green plant, and it's one of the ones that I've had the best luck with so far. It's grown SO MUCH since I first got it (I think it's going to need an even bigger pot soon!) and I haven't had any leaves drop. The planter is vintage. I'm a sucker for creepy/cute cat planters :)



This one is a Calathea Freddie. It was a little itty bitty plant when I first got it and it's getting so big! The leaves kind of droop and close up at night and then perk up during the day when they're soaking up sunlight. It's so neat when you can really see that your plants are living (if that makes sense?)



This is a Bird’s Nest Fern, and it's really thriving, too! It's so nice to know this one is pet-friendly because its tentacles are starting to droop down to cat height and I'm pretty sure that even though she's not usually interested in plants, Arrietty is definitely going to start getting curious. I have this one in an IKEA canister right now but I think this one is going to need a larger pot soon, too.



I think this one is called a Peperomia Ripple, and it's been one of my trickiest plants. Some days it looks so healthy, like in this photo you can see how well the stems are holding up, but some days it just looks kind of droopy. Maybe it depends on how sunny it is out. I think this is my most delicate plant, so I'm especially happy to see that it's surviving, lol! The vase is vintage, but there are a TON of lady head vases on etsy and I. want. all. of. them.



This is another Peperomia Green plant, and it is also doing really well! I don't know if they are especially hearty plants or if they're just really well suited to the particular lighting and atmosphere of my room, but whenever I decide I want to add to my plant family I'm definitely going to be buying more of these. The flamingo planter is from At Home.



This one is a Staghorn Fern and it's doing so-so. It seems to be holding up well, the leaves aren't very droopy or anything, but the ends got crispy the first week I had it (I probably didn't water it enough) and it's just kind of stayed that way. My grandmom said that eventually those leaves will fall off and new ones that aren't crispy will take their place, but in the mean time it just looks a little sad.. The planter is one of my all-time favorite vintage buys.



Another Peperomia Green! haha! This one is from the Horti pet-friendly subscription plan. Each month you get a pet-friendly plant and a pot and a very awesome disc of soil that expands with water (I am definitely recording that for my IG stories when I get my next shipment!) This was my first shipment on the plan and I was super happy with it. I ended up using a different pot, that I decorated with Danielle Thompson's happy face decals.



This one is a Parlor Palm (and I'm just now realizing I have another one of these that I forgot to photograph for the post!) and it's doing pretty well considering UPS totally smashed the box it was shipped in, and all of the leaves were totally bent. It's recovering nicely and I'm just making sure it gets lots of light and the correct amount of water so it gets over that little hump in its development. I have this one in a tin that I got at Michaels.



This is my one single not-pet-friendly plant. It's hanging in a place that Arrietty can't get to (for anyone who's worried, trust me, she literally cannot get there, I would never take chances) so I feel safe with it being there. It's not the sunniest area, so I needed a plant that would thrive in low light and the Pothos Jade met my requirements. It's growing kind of wonky (it's supposed to have trailing vines but mine are all sitting straight with their shoulders back, lol!) but hopefully eventually it'll start looking the way it's supposed to. The blue planter is from Target, and the white hanging plant holder is from Amazon.



This is a Peperomia Marble hanging out in a super cute mug that I got as a gift from Casey. Even though this and my favorite plant are both called Peperomia, this variety is my least favorite plant that I own. I just can't get it to thrive. I had two of these (I gave one to my brother) and they are stubborn little guys! Every time I thought it was doing well, the leaves would fall off. This one is finally looking a little bit healthier, but considering the luck I've had with two of them I don't think I'll be getting any more of this variety.



Another Parlor Palm hanging out on my vanity. This is my favorite area of my bedroom, and it just makes me so happy to see my little plant now when I'm putting on my makeup in the morning. This one is also living in a canister from Michaels, but it's definitely going to need a transplant to a larger pot soon. I have a feeling these could get really tall!



Finally, I snipped off a little piece of one of my Peperomia Marble plants (I know, I know, I just said I don't like them, lol) and I'm trying to see if it will grow roots in water. I probably picked the worst plant to try this with, but it's been a few weeks now and I'm like 5% sure that there's a little hint of a root starting on the right edge of the stem. Do you see it? I'll definitely post updates if this actually turns into a real plant :)

And that wraps up my little plant tour! I'd love to do a follow up to this post a few months from now to see how much they've grown (assuming I manage to keep them all alive, haha!)