Sparks & Recreation: May Long Weekend Edition

For Canadians celebrating Queen Victoria (correct me if I'm wrong?) we have this Monday off which means a long weekend! In the spirit of fun things like long weekends, I thought I'd share some more fun parts of the internet. Here are some of the sites that we go to for a good laugh after a rough week.

Hyperbole & a Half just started back up again, and her posts are hilarious. There are for sure more famous posts than this one, but it makes me laugh a lot. I also like reading about her dumb dog and guide dog. 

The Oatmeal is hilarious (but not always very G-rated). Definitely not everyone's sense of humor, but we thoroughly enjoy it on occassion, and have 2 of Matthew Inman's books. 

Jake & Amir are hilarious. Their videos can be found on College Humor, or their dedicated site that I linked to. They also recently started an advice podcast (that I'm listening to for the first time right now while writing this). 

What do you read when you want a good laugh?

Sparks & Recreation

It seemed that this week in the blogosphere (I felt like such a nerd writing that), there have been a lot of exciting announcements!

Young House Love bought a new house, and I couldn't be more excited. Okay, maybe I could, like if it was actual news for someone I knew and loved (although if I met them I'm pretty sure we'd be best friends). I'm especially excited because sometimes our house projects can be really discouraging, because we haven't really reached the cosmetic change stage yet, and so it'll be nice to read their blog starting from scratch on a fixer-upper so that maybe I can see them do some of the projects we have on the horizon. 

In other blog news, East Coast Creative's Jess is expecting a surprise baby, so that's exciting! I like to include a picture with each post, but the only picture is of a pregnant stomach that says "Yup there's a baby in there", and I'm afraid of a grandparent seeing it while skimming and jumping to conclusions. Not worth the risk!

The Pinterest Challenge has returned, I'm not sure what I'll make yet but I hope to contribute something. Will have to do some brainstorming this weekend!

This e-book bundle is so tempting to me. It's 97 e-books for $29.97. That's a really good deal. I've resisted so far, but I hope someone I know will buy it so I can live vicariously through them.

What have you read this week? Any interesting new blogs being added to your daily routine? Let me know about them in the comments!

Sparks and Recreation

This Apartment Therapy link is all about games...something that Philip and I make a big part of our leisure time. You can find us playing a game at least 3 times a week, so maybe we'll have to make one of these. I'm especially loving the giant outdoor Scrabble board!

Since we've been talking about budgeting and finances lately, this blog post is a great addition to that. You can pay off your debt, and this is a great testimony to just that.

As Spring finally begins to arrive, some of you might be gearing up to do some gardening. This post talks about some of the great reasons to start a vegetable garden in your own backyard. 

Have a sticky label to remove? This DIY Goo Remover is a great solution, and the free printable labels are the icing on the cake. 

Hope you enjoy this weekend, I'm always tempted to buy rain boots when I see them in the store because they're so adorable but I talk myself out of it because "when will I wear them?". Today I would wear them. There are some very splashable puddles in our yard and I can't wait for it all to dry up so I can go and explore the yard we bought this house for. 

Sparks and Recreation

This week, there weren't as many articles that I found to share, but these four are a good representation of quality over quantity. 

The first is another example of simple living and finding ways to do things yourself at home with ingredients you already have. 

This next article is a new homeowner's guide, with a lot of great tip on home maintenance. 

If you`re looking to add some character to your home, this door trim tutorial is really helpful. I love Craftsman style homes, especially exteriors. 

This last article provides just the inspiration you need to put together your beginning of Spring party. It has a bunch of menu ideas for buffet style/make it yourself dining that can be really fun in a group. 

Hope you had a great week, I try to provide links to a variety of topics that might be of interest to our readers - DIY topics ranging from home improvement, to beauty, to money saving tips. Let me know in the comments what types of articles are your favourite or you'd like to read more about here and I'll do my best to oblige!

Sparks and Recreation

We have a great roundup of links for you this week, things that generally sparked our interest or provided inspiration. Hope you'll enjoy visiting a couple of new blogs, and maybe learning something that helps you in your day to day!

This first link includes some car-maintenance-for-dummies like tips that can help one who isn't familiar with the inner workings of their automobile know where to start with some of the basics. 

If you have files or binders that are less than inspiring to work with, head over to The Pretty Blog for some free printables. She has binder labels that make tax time look like a breeze. 

The last couple of weeks we've had plans every evening. It's getting a little bit hectic. It's articles like this one that brings me back down to earth, this month we're hoping to save 2 evenings each week as free nights and tell people we have plans. We'll either have a date together, get a couple things done on our house, or have some much needed relaxation with a board game or Netflix. 

I've been really into the idea of a terrarium lately. I want to make 38 terrariums. That's an exaggeration, but you get the point. 

Philip and I have yet to try our hand at any actual building of things. Ana White provides some great free plans for building projects that make it seem somewhat doable.

Last but certainly not least, The Nest this week shared a list of 20 tools one should have handy. A great way to start your collection, put some of these on the birthday list this year.

What great reads did you find this week? Feel free to share them in the comments. Have a great Easter!

Sparks and Recreation

Last Saturday we started a new series, where we share some of the great articles and blog posts we read throughout the week. It's just a good opportunity for you to be introduced to some new blogs, or just read something interesting. We're trying to keep some good variety, from home improvement, to self improvement, information that's interesting to bloggers or those who don't spend hours in front of the computer trying to come up with something interesting to write about. 

On Simple Mom this week, Tsh shared recipes for some of the homemade beauty products she uses. Philip has had a ball making fun of this the whole week (coming up with his own "homemade beauty remedies" including tomatoes as deodorant , but I have to admit I was somewhat intrigued. Nothing really to lose in trying it, so once our bathroom is set up I'm going to give a couple of these a go and let you know how it was. My mom already used coconut oil as lip balm/moisturizer like Tsh recommends here, so they can't all be crazy! I'd recommend reading the previous posts she links to where she originally wrote about each beauty regimen in detail, I found them interesting!

For those of you who know us, or who have been reading regularly, you know we don't have a hot clue what we're doing (where does that saying come from anyway??). We had to patch a few holes in the ceiling from where the old air conditioning vents were, and the patching did not turn out great. Here's how we should have done it. 

This is not house related at all, although I guess it is do-it-yourself. Lately we've been buying this salad at Costco that has "7 superfoods", I came across this blog post teaching how to make a variation on it yourself. 

Can you imagine living in 40 sq. feet? This Apartment Therapy post shares photos of homes in Hong Kong where they live in 40 sq foot areas because of the housing crisis. My purging urges would definitely come in handy if I had to live in that small a space.

Until grade nine, I needed my mom to do a ponytail for me. I don't know how quickly I will learn these hair tutorials, but some of them are really cute! I also love having one link to access 20 hairstyles, very handy.

Last but not least, on Project Organize Your Entire Life, I came across this giveaway which links to LearnVest.com. It seems like a great budget tool. I get sucked in by clean graphics and pretty colors, so this is definitely tempting to me. In the coming weeks we're going to be starting a series on finances and budgeting and all that jazz so definitely get excited for that (Philip's a Marketing & Finance major so he knows his stuff). We try and be responsible with our money, plan for the future, and be good stewards of what we're given. Our system works for us, but if you don't have one, a site like this might be a great idea! Otherwise hold out for a couple weeks, and join us in a financial planning series that will help you to get your act together.

That's all for this week! What blog posts/articles did you see this week that were interesting to you? We'd love to be introduced to a new blog or just an interesting piece of information we may not have heard. We don't have cable, so sometimes we're out of the loop on this kind of stuff (although I should speak for myself, Philip weirdly knows everything that's going on all the time while I live in ignorant bliss).