Restyling

My brother worked for Bath and Body Works several years ago and used to bring home display pieces once they were done with them. They used to throw their displays away (what a waste!) but he used to find uses for some pieces and decided to bring them home.

He once brought home these wooden square shadow box-looking pieces but gave them to me because he had no use for them. They were painted a light cream color and had a shabby-chic chipped paint look to them. I knew they'd match the light lilac colored walls in my room  and decided to make a little display on my wall. I decorated them with things I already had around my room, and voila!

It's hard to compete with the natural light that pours into my room during the day without any photo editing software, so sorry for the poor picture quality.

Lantern- Target

Cupcake Candle- gift

Alarm clock- Ikea

Trinket box- Target World Collection

Marble horse statue- made by my very talented grandfather

Heart reed infuser- gift from my mom

Lenox trinket box- gift from my grandmother

Rabbit candle- Target

It makes for a cute accent to my room and allows me to change things up a bit whenever I feel like it, too!

The Tortoise and the Hare

Before my family arrived for our barbecue on the 4th, I went outside on the deck to clean up. This is what I found:

 A seemingly normal chair cushion on top of our other chair because have a certain bunny who likes to chew and eat things.

Upon further inspection, I found a Frannie bunny hiding underneath that cushion!

We also have a turtle named Philbert, who really hasn't gotten much love on the blog. He lives in a tank with water, but can survive outside of water, too. Philbert is a daredevil at heart and loves to escape out of the tank. Mind you, his tank rests on a table that is much too high off the ground for a turtle to fall off of. There have been a number of times that we heard strange noises around the house, and later discovered Philbert in different rooms than where his tank is located. Thankfully he's never made his way down the stairs, because I'd be too upset if he fell.

So lately I've been trying to let Philbert walk around the house a few times a week, to give him some exercise and prevent him from playing Evil Kenevil. He seems to be very comfortable and unafraid around me, and he loves adventuring around my room. One day I found him in Rosie's bed, amongst all her toys, just chilling. Ever since then, he's been gravitating towards her bed every time he wanders in my room. He looks to funny sitting in there, and the best part is that he lounges in it, and looks at me as if I'm disturbing him!

4th of July

To be quite honest, I just didn't feel up to taking loads of pictures on the 4th of July. I was cooking/cleaning/preparing for most of the day and didn't always have the time to snap some photos. By the time it got dark, William (who worked that day) and I opted to go to his grandmother's house on the bay to watch fireworks. It was a really beautiful location (aside from bugs biting us) and I couldn't think of a better spot to be! We then walked to the docks and sat down on a bench for a while before 11 pm rolled around and everyone stopped lighting fireworks.

After we barbecued, I did play around with close up shots around my garden. By no means do I consider myself a photographer, and I certainly do not have the best of cameras. I don't even know how to edit my photos, but I am pleased with how these came out.

Whaling Museum

For this week's date, William decided that we'd get lunch at Panera and then visit the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum. I'd been wanting to go to the museum for months, so I was so excited when he chose it for our next date.

The museum is a small building, located amidst the quiet and charming residential section of Cold Spring Harbor. We parked on a side street, and I must admit that some of the homes/properties took my breath away! I'm a sucker for old, victorian-style homes that have quaint little gardens and lots of property.

Although the building itself is small, the museum holds lots of interesting pieces from the American whaling era and many interactive displays. My favorite part of the museum was where we got to listen to whale songs. Some aspects of the museum were very sad, seeing as I'm against whaling, but I tried to focus on the conservation efforts people have enforced. I was so fascinated with all of the interesting facts and displays that the museum had to offer, and I would definitely recommend it! Whales are such beautiful animals, and it was so cool to learn about their form of communication. While at the museum, I decided that I would absolutely love to one day swim with whales, which I immediately started researching upon getting home.

This display of whale bones was so interesting. The picture really doesn't give you a good enough idea of how huge these bones were. It was crazy to stand alongside these humungous things, trying to picture just how large these animals are!

A dolphin tailbone.

This photo doesn't do this much justice, but this whale rib bone was hugeeee!

The little tiny rectangle in the right corner of this picture displays a mouse skull, as compared to the giant whale skull next to it.

This is a whale tail fluke, which collects food as the whales swim along.

 This cauldron-like pot was used to melt blubber into oil.

 The crow's nest.

Summer

On the first official day of summer, William and I decided to take a ride out to Jones Beach. We arrived there about an hour before sunset and the weather was so enjoyable. We walked the boardwalk, discovered that not only did they drastically change the mini-golf course, but it was also closed, and eventually made our way onto the beach.

Although I live on Long Island, I don't really enjoy the beach. I hate how it gets so crowded, I hate sand getting on my blanket and food, and I especially hate the uncomfortable feeling of sand sticking to my body after I come out of the water. However, I do enjoy the water. Ocean water only, that is. Bay water is dirty and full of animals and critters that just terrify me.

After walking all the way down to the water, I was intrigued by the waves and water splashing along the shore, so I just had to get my feet wet. The water was freezing, but I was loving every second of it. (That is until a really big wave crept up on me and my jeans got all wet and sand started sticking to me).

I thought this little guy was a gross bug until William pointed out that it was a frog.