Don’t you just hate it when a shop puts together a room a that make you want to sell your husband* and then has links to all the stuff you’d need to buy to make your room look just. like. that? I felt that feeling today when browsing at Wake Up Frankie – a store I really ought to stay away from, since their tagline is ‘Fashion for your room” as if that’s the only space you have and they’re featured in such fine publications as Cosmo Girl and American Cheerleader. Yeesh.

But still, I’m loving this black, white, and yellow bedroom, even though I’m a super mature grown-up lady and definitely not a teenage girl (not even just in my mind even a little bit, cross my heart).

All that’s missing is this uber sweet Marilyn Monroe chair:

*But that’s only because the *me* who’d really want the above bedroom is the me of, oh, twelve years ago, and back then I didn’t even have a husband, so there. It’s really only the chair I want, anyway, and with the economy, surely no one is buying husbands?

I’m still on a color kick – since I need to do something about my way-too-neutral living room – so here’s some whole house inspiration from Molly Luetkemeyer of M. Design Interiors. There are plenty more sweet pics under the cut!

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When I looked for a plant for my garden that would be as awesome as it would be hard to kill, I settled on lavender. With a rich history – it was used by the Egyptians in mummification, by the Romans in cooking and bathing, and medicinally during the Renaissance and thereafter – lavender is surprisingly easy to care for as it, as the post’s title suggestions, thrives on neglect. Lavender is a hardy, drought-tolerant perennial that will grow in poor soils, and I should mention that the lavender you pluck from your garden will look and smell just like the lavender you can buy bundled or in sachets on farmers’ market days.

Seriously, when I carelessly mow over the lavender stalks that hang out onto the lawn, the scent is delicious! That heady, sweet, instantly-recognizable scent doesn’t just attract people, however. Lavender attracts bees, so you can’t go wrong planting one or two by your vegetable garden where they’ll ensure that plenty of pollinators stop and pick up a load before moving on. Don’t trust yourself to plant and grow it? I heartily recommend The Sawmill Ballroom Lavender Farm Guide to Growing Lavender.

What to do with it when it’s grown? You could hang it to dry, fill a few sachets, and try selling them to yuppies at the farmers’ market *grin* Or, depending on the sort of lavender you choose to grow, and there are many different kinds, you could cook with it (classic English lavender or Hidcote), make perfume with it (Provence or Grosso), make an eye pillow, use it to flavor sugar, or use it in your bath. Of course, if you’re a bit lazy like me, you might just leave it in your garden where it will emit its subtle perfume whenever kicked, mowed over, or chewed on by a cat.