#the upper right aphid is having a baby

[textless]

[thiswasinevitableid]

#08 with Danbrey, sfw please!

Here you go!

08.  I wrote my crush a note except I started it with ‘dear you’ and my friend stuck it into the wrong locker and now you think I have a crush on you 

“Dude, chill, you look like you’re gonna pass out in lunch.”

“I’m fine, totally fine.” Aubrey continues jiggling her leg and scanning the quad.

“Gotta side with Jake on this one�� Duck pokes her with her unopened tupperware of salad, “c’mon, can’t work your charm on an empty stomach.”

“But what if it slipped out, or I wrote the directions wrong, or she loses it-”

“Dude, I put it in the locker myself, super careful and shit.”

“Uh, Aubrey, is that her?”

“Huh? Uh nope” Aubrey follows Duck’s pointer finger to a blonde girl in a green sweater and copper skirt who is clearly looking for someone. She’s cute, but she’s not who Aubrey is hoping to see.

“You sure? Because now she’s lookin’ right at us.”

Aubrey’s glad she hasn’t eaten, because it would be making it’s way back up. 

“Jake, what locker did you put the note in?”

“453?”

“453 B?”

“There’s more than one?”

“That’s the section of school that has an upper and lower level!” Aubrey squeak-hisses as the girl notices her.

“Ohhhhh. Sorry dude.”

Duck whacks his hand against his forehead as Aubrey goes deer in headlights under hazel eyes. 

“Uh, hi, Aubrey?”

“Yep.”

“I found this in my locker. I, we have bio and english together, but I hadn’t realized you’d been paying that much attention to me.”

“Yep, I sure have.” Aubrey can’t stop smiling; it’s like some kind of horrible survival mechanism. Crap, what is this girl’s name?

The sweet smile falters, “you don’t know I am, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. I mean, I guess ‘dear you’ is kind of vague, so maybe I shouldn’t have assumed, but it was in my locker.”

“There was, um, a mix-up, it was supposed to go in someone else’s but the messenger messed up.”

“Sorry.” Jake gives his best baby-seal sad eyes.

“Okay.” The girl says, sheen of friendliness over her disappointment, “that’s, that’s totally fine. Mistakes happen. Here” she hands back the note, “so you can try again.”

Aubrey takes it, watches her turn, and lets her guilt the better of her, “wait, um, uh, um-”

“Dani.” The girl says flatly.

“Dani, right. Would you, like, want to come to this magic show I’m doing tonight? You seem super cool and my act is pretty good. Duck and Jake are coming, right guys?”

“Apparently.” Duck looks at Jake, who shrugs. 

“Uh, sure. That sounds cool.

“Cool. Cool cool.” Aubrey hurriedly scribbles her phone number and the address of the cafe on the back of the mis-delivered note, “see you then.”

As they watch Dani walk away, Duck leans over and mumbles, “did you just ask a girl you barely know on a date?”

“No, I asked her to come to my show. Totally not a date.”

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Okay, so this totally isn’t a date. Dani finds a spot on the right side of the room, sets her chai latte and scoots the chair across the scratched hardwood.

But if it’s not a date, then where are Aubrey’s two friends? Aubrey asking her feels pretty date-ish (unbeknownst to her, Jake has fallen asleep and Duck is busy “studying” with his boyfriend). 

Aubrey takes the stage to mild applause and Dani sighs; she looks so cool, so pretty in her magicians outfit. Just like she looks cool and pretty in her denim vest and combat boots at school, or when she’s staring out the window during class and the light hits her face and hair just right and she looks like a painting. 

Dani’s had a crush on her since the fall, has brainstormed with her best friend, Barclay, how to ask her out. But when they inevitably come to the conclusion that asking her out involves actually talking to her, Dani panics and gives up. 

When she’d found the note, she couldn’t believe her luck. Then, when she learned the truth, she still couldn’t believe it, because man was that some shitty luck. 

Aubrey runs through her act, Dani entranced every moment of it. She’s even more dynamic onstage than she is in class, her energy coursing through the room and making everyone turn and look at her. She has a minor hiccup when her animal assistant, Dr. Harris Bonkers, PhD, runs off with her prop, but she plays it off and has the audience laughing as she sets the indignant bunny back on his spot. 

When the show is over, Dani goes to join her as she packs up her stuff. 

“That was so cool.”

“Thanks!”

“Seriously, it was like you’re a professional, you were so incredible up there.”

“Practicing in the bathroom mirror works wonders. And annoys my dad when I do it for two hours non-stop.”

“How’d you do the thing with the fire and the coin? Oh, wait, you're not supposed to reveal your secrets right?”

“I mean that’s kinda like the magician’s code, but…” Aubrey smiles teasingly, tapping her chin in exaggerated thought. 

“Please?” Dani bats her eyelashes, making Aubrey giggle, a sound that’s even better up close, and the reaction emboldens her, “what if I buy you ice cream as a trade?”

“Pretty sure I can, like, bend the code for that.” She hoists her bag over one shoulder and lifts Dr. Harris Bonker’s carrier with her hand, “let me just put some stuff in my car first.”

Soon they’re sitting at the nearby Yogurt Castle, on a stone bench outside since they have the rabbit with them. Dani takes a sliced strawberry from the top of her cone and holds it up to the carrier. The rabbit chomps down and devours the fruit with alarming speed. 

“Hungry bunny.” 

“He wants you to think I never feed him so he’ll get more strawberries. But I do. When I first got him I gave him too many treats and he wouldn’t fit in the compartment for the hat trick.”

“Did he have to go on a bunny diet?”

“Yep” Aubrey licks her spoon and Dani blushes, hoping the darkness covers it, “he ate my boots in revenge.”

“Dr. Harris Bonker’s, that was very rude.”

Aubrey nudges their feet together, “thanks for using his full title, he worked hard for that PhD.”

They spend the next hour just chatting, and Dani learns that Aubrey likes most of the same bands as her and that her face crinkles in the most adorable way when she grins. 

“Hey” Aubrey touches her arm as they’re walking back to their cars, “I really liked hanging out with you. Do you, um, wanna hang out again sometime?”

“That sounds great.” 

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“See, when they’re planted like this, the marigolds help keep aphids away.” Dani finishes patting soil around the small plants, budding but not yet blooming. 

“Wow. It’s like natures bug control.”

“Yep” Dani nods, adjusting her straw hat, “we try really hard not to use pesticides and stuff in the community gardens. C’mon, let’s go check on the strawberries.”

Aubrey takes her offered hand, standing and following her through the rows of seedlings and saplings, spring sun soaking into her shoulders. She’s been spending more and more of her weekends here in the gardens with Dani helping her when she can and talking with her while she tends to her patches of the space. Dr. Harris Bonkers comes sometimes, Dani insisting that his nibbling on plants is offset by the fact that his poop is excellent compost. Aubrey comes to give them both fresh air, to give the rabbit some enrichment and herself the chance to learn something totally new. 

But mostly she comes because Dani is here. 

The crush crept up on her little by little, solidified the day Dani suggested they go on a picnic and then made a mini-salad for Dr. Harris Bonkers. Aubrey’s had plenty of crushes over this year, but with Dani it’s like someone whacked her in the head with the two-by-four of love. 

Dani kneels down in the earth by the strawberry plants, looking at the leaves and little unripe berries to make sure they’re growing okay. Her hair drapes like molten gold across her face and shoulders, and when she brushes it out of the way she leaves a streak of dirt on her cheek, laugh like a birdsong when she notices. She looks like a goddess, some ethereal creature of sunlight and growth sent to earth. And Aubrey is ready to worship her. 

---------------------------------

“Aubrey, you know you can just ask her out for real, right?”

“But what if she doesn’t believe me or thinks it’s a mistake again or she actually isn’t interested in me but is just being super nice and touchy-feely in a friend way?”

“Because none of that sounds like her?”

“Agggh, what do I do Duck?”

“Please just ask her out already.” Rumbles a voice behind them. 

Aubrey and Duck jolt, tun to find the source of the voice is Barclay, Dani’s friend. 

“Seriously, all she does is talk about you, which is good because I like seeing her happy, but if I have to hear her agonizing over whether you like-like her one more time, I’m gonna lose it.”

“Is that enough proof?”

“But, like, what if-”

“Aubrey” Duck crosses his arms, “just ask her, or I’m goin’ back on my promise to bunny-sit.”

“Fine.”

“Thank fuck.”

“And I think I, like, maybe have an idea about how to do it…

-------------------------

The note falls out when she opens her locker after school.

Dear you, meet me by the red benches out front. Love, your secret admirer

She crosses her fingers and toes as she walks out to the front of the school, hoping to see black hair and a freckled, smiling face waiting for her on that bench. 

She does. 

“Um, hey.” Aubrey keeps looking nervously down at her shoes.

“This isn’t another mistake, right?”

“Nope. I wanted to ask you out because I’ve got a big fucking crush on you, cutie.”

Dani drops down onto the bench with relief, “thank god because I could not handle that mix-up twice. I have a huge crush on you too, fireblossom. I have for months.”

“Hold the fuck on, months? Like, before we were hanging out? Ugh, oh god, the first note, now I feel like even more of a jerk for the mistake.”

Dani loops her arm over Aubrey’s shoulder, “want to know how to make it up to me?”

“Hoo boy do I.”

Dani cups her chin, leans in and kisses her gently. Aubrey sighs, scooting closer as the kiss deepens and finally ending up in her lap. When they break apart, Aubrey bumps their noses together in what she always calls a bunny kiss. 

“Sooooooo this means you want to go out with me, right?” Aubrey smiles, only half-joking. 

“Yes, hot stuff, it does.”

Aubrey sighs, kisses her neck before resting against her. And for the third time in months, Dani can’t believe her luck.  

[makeuptips10-blog]

Cold Weather Is Here—It’s Time to Reassess Your Plant Mom Strategy

New Post has been published on https://www.claritymakeupartistry.com/cold-weather-is-here-its-time-to-reassess-your-plant-mom-strategy/

Cold Weather Is Here—It’s Time to Reassess Your Plant Mom Strategy

As temperatures continue to dip, it’s time to reassess your plant mom strategy. Specifically, it’s time to move your plants indoors—and prepare those plants for the cold months that lie ahead.

Adjusting your routine is key for keeping your plants healthy from season to season. And even if you don’t have a great track record for keeping plants alive (guilty as charged), there are some easy steps you can take to get keep your plants straight-up thriving all winter long.

“Bringing plants inside in the fall needs to be a step-by-step process to ensure success,” Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, author of Houseplants, The Complete Guide to Choosing, Growing, and Caring for Indoor Plants, explains. “Many people mistakenly leave their plants outside too long until it is colder than most tropical plants want to be.”

So Step 1 is pretty obvious: Get those plants inside.

Image: Sarah Sherman Samuel.

OK, but when do I move my plants inside?

Steinkopf’s recommendation: the moment the temperature dips below 50 degrees F. If you can, move your plants to a shady location outside before that happens, so they get used to lower light levels before becoming full-time indoor plants.

Be sure to wash your windows, too—those plants need all the light they can get. “I cannot stress that enough!” Steinkopf says. “Our windows need to be clean so that nothing is blocking even a fraction of the light that our plants will need to grow well.” Removing window screens is also a good move.

Be sure to inspect your plants before moving them inside.

“Unwanted pests, such as aphids, mealybugs and spider mites can thrive indoors,” says Jennifer Morganthaler, clinical instructor and orchard manager at Missouri State University.

To avoid unwittingly bringing these minuscule uninvited guests into your home, make sure to wash the foliage with insecticidal soap or use a neem oil spray to treat pests prior to moving plants inside.

Image: Decoist.

Try to put your plants near windows, if possible.

Maximize light by putting your plants near windows. But minimize harsh conditions by keeping them at least four inches away from cold, drafty air. “Most plants do well at indoor temperatures of 65 to 70 degrees,” Morganthaler says. “Avoid areas with cold drafts, as some tropical houseplants can suffer injury if the temperature drops below 40 degrees.”

Beware of hot air, too. Avoid placing plants too close to heaters or fireplaces, as hot air blowing on the plant can cause the leaves to brown and die.

Image: The Glitter Guide.

Watch out for humidity.

The air inside our home dries out when we crank the heat in the winter. Many houseplants will need extra humidity during these colder months to keep leaf tips from turning yellow or brown.

You can mist your plants a couple of times a day with water, but that’s not really a long-term solution for achieving the humidity plants crave. Steinkopf recommends using in-room humidifiers or placing plants on pebble trays filled with water, which adds moisture to the air.

You can also try putting your plants in the bathroom (near a window if possible), which provides the warm, damp environment plants crave.

Keep checking on your plant babies.

This tip might be the hardest to adhere to, but similar to caring for any living thing, it’s important to be aware of your plants’ needs.

“The key to keeping your plants healthy and thriving is simply to pay attention to them,” Steinkopf says. “Make sure they are never too dry or standing in water. Keep them clean and give them the right amount of light.”

A good rule of thumb when it comes to quenching your plants’ thirst is to allow the upper inch of soil to dry out completely before watering your plant.

Follow these tips, and you will be on the path toward houseplant success this winter. If things go south quickly, though, they make some really, really high-quality fake plants these days.

Originally posted on SheKnows.

Source: https://stylecaster.com/keep-your-plants-alive-this-winter/