I'm pinterested in showing you ....

a casual summer outfit

a garden in a gutter

vintage mexican stamps

a home with fabulous art and a great chair

three-cheese mini macs

and a paint-your-own-fabric skirt.

I'm telling you, I just can't get enough of Pinterest! Follow me and don't forget to say hi so I can follow you back!

I'm back with a few wedding pictures!

An adorable couple who just happen to be my parents-in-law:) I did her hair and make-up!

Me dancing with the handsome groom, Matt:)

I reactivated my husband's old Facebook just long enough to steal all these pictures from Michelle, then I deactivated it again, ha! Thanks, Michelle;)

 The whole ginormous family!

And now for some random updates ...

I got a new 20th century portrait for my collection a few weeks ago. Isn't he awesome? I love his glasses.

And my friend Zoe noticed how much I love black and white sketches, so when I told her that I'd love to own some of her art, she was kind enough to give me this gorgeous sketch of the woman in the evening gown:) Thanks, Zoe!

Whenever I have a bunch of random stuff I want to display, but there's no rhyme or reason to it, I just throw it all on a tray and suddenly it looks like a collection!

This picture is here for two reasons. One: because I upgraded my compost to an actual compost container instead of the gallon water jug I'd been using.

This cute white container came from World Market, and it has this charcoal filter thing on the top that seems to really help keep the bad smell at bay.

And the second reason for the picture? Because it has my little birthday girl in it! Jemima is 4 years old today:) Happy birthday, Jemima! I love everything about you!

Even your underbite.

I'm pinterested in following you

It took me forever to jump on the bandwagon, but now that I've been on it for a while, I have to say: I HEART PINTEREST!!! And no, not a cent was paid to me to sing Pinterest's praises. I just really, really heart it. Here are a few of my favorite pins:

I got this pin from my buddy Niki over world in a paper cup.

This is a vintage food mill turned into a planter.

I love everything Karla wears, but this outfit is just perfect.

DIY watering can - so smart!

how cute are these DIY poms?

line drawing of William Faulkner by my one of my current favorite artists, Jason Polan.

Love everything about this room, especially the random rope!

Are any of you on Pinterest? Leave me a comment or send me an email so I can follow you! Happy pinning:)

out with the old, in with the new-ish

I don't know what it is about spring-time that makes me want to shed all the extra layers, clean out, throw away, give away, and simplify, but I love it. This time every year I find myself full of energy and inspiration to organize, garden, eat better, and clean! Here are a few projects I've been working on lately.

Composting! I confess: I've never done this before. I read that before you go out and buy the supplies to make a large compost pile, you should start with "container composting" to see if you'll actually keep up with it. I sort of followed these directions, then piled in some not-so-fresh bread, fruits, veggies from the fridge. So, (bonus!) beginning composting also prompted a much-needed fridge clean out session. So far all I can say about composting is this: it's gross, but it's gross in a fun way ... like the green slime from the old school Nickelodeon game shows.

I've also been stripping away layer after layer of paint and rust off of this old trunk my friend Becca found out on the street, awaiting the garbage man.

I know this might sound crazy, but I actually asked her if I could re-furbish it for her. It's just so old and awesome and has so much history, I wanted to get my hands on it and fix it up as well as I could, for the trunk's sake:) It's made entirely of metal and wood, no laminate or plastic to be found. I felt a bit like an archeologist as I started working on it.

I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but underneath all that white paint, the inside was once lined with this adorable pin-wheel pattern art deco wallpaper. Under that was cheesecloth, I guess to even out the lines between the wood.

And underneath the turquoise paint on top were green and yellow stickers. I tried so hard to remove the paint without scraping off the stickers, but it was nearly impossible. All I could make out was an R, L and a P (I think) on the top row, an A, L, and L on the middle row, and F, S on the bottom.

Here's the trunk in it's current state.

Not exactly picture-perfect, but it's coming along nicely and I'm having fun doing it!

You may recall that just last week I was blogging about my love for art, well, I have two new additions to my collection! This awesome line drawing (I just adore line drawings) of Greta Garbo came courtesy of one of my favorite stores in San Diego, the Newport Avenue Antique Center.

She didn't look like much to write home about in that cheap, ill-fitting gold frame, but it's amazing how much better she looks now that I've found her a new home in a nicely matted black and white frame:)

I'm also pleased to introduce a new addition to my 20th Century Portrait collection!

Isn't he handsome?

He needs a name, and suggestions are welcome! I couldn't have been more impressed with all of your excellent suggestions for this gentlemen, who ultimately ended up being named Colonel Milton Edgar Randolph III (AKA "Milt"), which was a compilation of as many of your suggestions as I could fit into one man's name!

But back to the original point of this post, I wish I could say that my back patio always looks like this, but that would be a lie. It currently looks like this:

The first thing on my spring cleaning list is the back patio. It's been neglected over the winter, and the fence and furniture need to be scrubbed, the seat covers and pillows need to be washed, and the floor needs to be thoroughly vacuumed. Another patio problem has already been addressed: I pruned back the palm, the impatiens, and I replaced some other dead and dying potted plants.

But that's just the beginning of my spring cleaning list! What's on yours? If you're having trouble getting started, check out this list my mother emailed me recently. It's handy!

the fate of these plants rest in your hands

These are by far the least attractive photos I've ever put on this blog, but if there's a way to make dead/dying plants look attractive, I'm yet to figure out how to do it! In September SoCal suffered a maaaaaaajor heat wave, as in record-breaking heat wave. I had the good fortune of being out of town visiting my parents during said heat wave, but my plants were not so fortunate. They were left in the care of my husband, who did not go to quite the extreme measures I might have taken to keep them from suffering. I guess he thinks he's "too busy" to go out and buy 25 umbrellas and lovingly, carefully string them up over each individual plant;)

Out of my 18 plants, only about 10 lived to tell the horrible tales. Almost immediately, the big plant in the top photo began to brown. This picture was taken about 3 weeks ago, and since then, all but about two of the large leaves have browned and/or fallen off. So my question is, do I put it out of it's misery? Is there any chance at all that it might somehow spring back? Is there some sort of test I can give it to see if it still stands a chance of being resuscitated? If I should put it out of it's misery, is there a way to save the impatiens? Is there a way to plant a new large plant in there without damaging the impatiens?

Also, the little purple flowers in the second picture have somehow not only survived, but thrived, am I supposed to be trimming and pruning them? They've grown at least two inches since this picture was taken.

Any and all advice is most appreciated! 

PS I realize that the porch looks filthy, and I apologize. I took these photos one morning after several days of rain, so there was no way to sweep it clean for the pictures. I do sweep it, I promise!

PPS I have added a "videos" button up at the top, and a "thanks for the mention" section on the right. It's a work in progress, so if you have ever written about me or my blog on your blog, and you are not included in this list, please email me with the link at whitewaxflower@gmail.com so I can add you!

While going for a jog through our neighborhood recently, I spotted these absolutely gorgeous flowers. I snapped this picture with my phone, in the hopes that someone out there could identify them for me! Another person's yard had some in pink, but I couldn't get close enough to snap a picture without walking across their lawn, and I'm not that crazy;)

Can anyone tell me what these are? I'd really like to try and grow some!