New Years Resolutions

To be honest, I have never been particuarly committed to making resolutions, however this year might be a nice time to start. Without labelling them as resolutions, I have already decided on a couple of set goals.

The big focus is on paying off our debts. I am awesome at budgetting but the wedding put us back a bit (not to mention 2 overseas holidays last year), but we are on our way to getting our credit cards back to zero. And hopefully by our 1 year anniversary in October, we will be able to afford a nice little tropical holiday. Vanuatu maybe? Phuket? Either would be nice.

I am also committed to ensuring my veggies grow well and do not suffer the fate of previous attempts. Thankfully it hasn’t stopped raining in the past 2 months in Queensland, Australia, so that’s kind of easy.

I will also dedicate lots of time to finishing my scrap books from Europe (2008 & 2010), honeymoon (Fiji) and wedding. As well as exploring new and exciting forms of DIY.

Then of course, my plan to post at least once a week to this blog.

DIY – Raised Veggie Patch

For christmas this year I asked my parents to get me a raised garden bed. The hardware stores had corrugated iron or wood ones, but were too small or really expensive, so my Dad built me one.

Pretty much all you need is treated wood to the size you want you garden bed, some nails, a hammer and weed mesh, then just soil and seeds once you’re ready to go. My garden bed is around 2.4 x 1.8 metres. Then it is just a matter of placing it where you want it, remembering it is not something you can move around as there is no base. A location that gets the morning sun most often during the year is best.

Then just fill it with soil or bags of potting mix & get planting! I used potting mix and it took about 16 bags, but at least I know it’s made for growing, already full of nutrients.

Here is the garden bed prior to planting. As you can see it has a layer of weed mesh underneath to prevent weeds growing through.

The next two pictures are of my veggie patch less than 2 weeks after planing and already there are shoots coming through. Very exciting for someone lacking a green thumb!

I will be sure to keep you posted on my gardening progress… as in the past I have managed to kill my prior attempts. But they were in pots… so surely by getting this serious, it will be a total success

A Post a Week in 2011

To help get my new blog going, I am committing to The Daily Post weekly blog challenge and  will be aiming to post to this blog  once a week for all of 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you have already discovered and begun to read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

Signed,

Harmony Sweetpea

Wedding Wednesday – You’re Engaged…Now What?

He popped the question. You’ve told everyone you know and now you keep getting asked ‘When is the big day?’. So what happens now?

There is so much to organise for a wedding that people often underestimate the effort that goes into planning the perfect day. Unless you’ve already been planning this day from the moment you could walk, its likely you will have a lot to decide before you can even start. The most important place to start is by having a detailed discussion with your partner. Focus on the following:

• Type of wedding you both want
• Approximate number of guests
• Sit down, cocktail, lunch, dinner, etc
• Your budget
• When you want to get married – spring, summer, etc
• Where you want to get married – garden, beach, etc
• How you want to get married – priest, celebrant, etc
• And any other important aspects either of you wish to include

It is also vital to talk to your families and anyone else who may be contributing to costs, to assist you in working out your budget.

From there you need to start your research on venues and begin short-listing a few that you like through internet searches and bridal magazines. Its essential that your venue has the type of meal options you want, enough room to accommodate your guests and any other considerations you need to make. Also if you are set on a particular date, this plays an important role in picking your venue.

Once you have your short list, make appointments and go check out some potential wedding reception locations. Once this is locked in, not only will you have the where, but also the when and the rest of your wedding plans will flow much easier from this point on!

Every story must have a beginning

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In 2010, I became a happily married wife. In the year leading up to my wedding, I also became a DIY addict.

We had a fairly large wedding, so I wanted to try and keep costs down where I could, but also loved the idea of creating something for my special day, as it was far more personal than paying someone else to do it. So as a result, I made my own invitations, menus, order of service booklets, confetti cones, seating chart and place cards, etc… and loved every minute of it.

Now that my relationship status has changed from bride-to-be to wife, I have experienced major DIY withdrawals which are only partially satisfied by scrapbooking our wedding photos. This lead me to realise how much I love DIY and thus resulting in this website, where I can help others realise the passion and excitement of creating something from scratch!