Birthday Day Date

I just had a birthday! I celebrated my real day with Colin and he said we could go whatever I wanted.  So just like last year we headed to one of our favorite little towns to get a yummy lunch and wander around!

Before we got there we headed to one of the vineyards we had gone to for valentines day a year ago.  We had gotten a blackberry wine which made the best sangria!  So we headed back for some more, a case more!!! We got a variety of flavors, so hopefully they all make yummy sangria so there will be sangria on the patio all summer long!!!

Then we went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch and ate outside in their lovely courtyard.

After lunch we hit up some gift and antique stores.  And I trespassed on people's yard to take pictures of their flowers. ha!

I want something like this for our dining room at some point the future. : )

Look at these window baskets! Lovely!

I saw a Jeep filled with plants and flowers and got really excited, I did my best to snap a picture quickly! I miss my Jeep!

I asked Colin if we could get these for the patio (They were HUGE) and he said Yes without looking since he was only half listening to me! HA! Don't worry, we didn't get them.

Did I get anything you ask? Why, yes I did!  I saw these 2 tiny bottle in one of the antique stores and when the dealer said they were $3 each, I said sold! Sold to the lady in the orange shorts she wears too often! : )

As soon as we got home I filled my new tiny bottles with some roses from the rose bush I was planning on cutting down and some iris from my neighbors yard.  You can pick flowers from other people's yard if you never met them right? : /  I never got caught, so it was ok!

(Is trespassing a theme of my birthday this year?)

I also got flowers from the girls at work!  Then the following weekend I celebrated with friends and family, but sadly did not documents with photos.

 

It was a great birthday!

Teen Witch Party

Do you remember the movie Teen Witch???? If not, here is the trailer.....

It is a movie about a young girl who discovers she is a witch and uses her new found powers to become popular and snag the dreamy popular stud...naturally.....

It is so 80's, it is too fabulous for words...big hair, stone washed denim, pale purple leotards....and Brad, Brad the red hot lover!!!  I remember watching it as a kid, then we would watch it in high school and college just for a good laugh.  SO I decided to host a Teen Witch viewing party!

I decorated the house with pale pink and pale purple balloons and streamers and cranked up the Debbie Gibson Pandora until Aimee showed up with a special 80's mix tape playlist for our listening pleasure.

Since I was having just a small group of ladies, I decided to whip up a delightful app spread and then people brought some yummy food as well.  I was tempted to serve the type of junk food we would have eaten as kids/teens, but something about a huge bowl of cheese puffs just wasn't calling my name. ha!

We had:

Mac and Cheese Cups
White Bean Dip, Hummus, and Ranch with Pitas and Veggies

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomatoes with Fresh Pesto Erin made

Then fancy fruit and chocolate tarts and an eclair cake.

Aimee dressed full on 80's, the rest of us only committed to the side pony!  We had a great time eating, laughing, and watching the movie.  I think we will do another movie night in the fall...perhaps Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie, not tv show!!!) and maybe someone can find the game 'Girl Talk' buried at their parents house.  That game should be fun after a few glasses of wine!

And I shall leave you with this JEM! HA!

Yay Teen Witch!!!!

Flowers and Finding Time to Blog

So many photos, so little time! : )  I have so much to share, just no time to do it!  BUT today is a lazy rainy Saturday, so hopefully I can write a few posts.  We can start with some flowers I picked at work a few weeks ago! Yay free flowers!

Sadly, the setting wasn't right on the camera so they didn't come out great, but please enjoy some photos of summer's bounty while I work on some more exiting posts for you!

 

 

 

 

Farmers Market!

Guess what time it is???? Farmer's Market Time!!!!  The farmer's markets finally opened around where we live.  Our new town has one within walking distance every weekend. Our old town had a really good one, so we were excited to see how our new towns's compared.

 

 

Well it doesn't quite compare, but it is still pretty good.  There weren't as many produce vendors, nor did it have the big farm that has the huge stand. But there were a number of other fun vendors, some of which were the same as our old town.  And there was a one man woman band! Which was fun!  I wonder if that is every weekend?

 

 

 

 

 

We got some fancy bread, fancy ravioli's and crumb cake for my dad and pop for fathers day.

I am glad we have one in walking distance, but I am sure at some point this summer, we will head back to our old town for their market too!

Bring on the fresh produce!!!!

 

It time for some plants!!!

So I am sure you can all image how excited I was to draw up a planting plan for around the patio.

I had ideas for the front, and I had ideas for the perennial garden along the side, but to be honest, I hadn't given the plants around the patio too much thought.  There were existing over-grown plants along the side and back of the house.  As much as I wanted them GONE Colin convinced me pruning them and keeping them for the time being, to not spend too money, was the way to go. BUT as I had posted earlier, when we had a crew of men and a machine, we decided to take advantage and have then all ripped out.

So now I had a empty canvas to paint with planties!!!

I know I do this for a living so I should be able to come up with a planting plan no problem, BUT I like so many plants I had a really hard time narrowing it down! ha! And the beds were only 2-3' wide, so I couldn't go crazy.

I whipped up a couple of plans and narrowed it down. I had a plan I liked, but I realized there was no drift roses in it, so I drew up a few variations that would incorporate them. Ultimatley we went with the original 'drift rose free' plan, so I will need to find another place for them. : )

Now that the planning was done, it was time for the shopping!!!! We didn't get all the plants on the plan, just enough to get the space looking nice, and we can fill in as we have the time and money.

I dragged my two main men to the nursery with me on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. (I think my Dad came willingly, but I bet I did "drag" Colin, especially since we were there as soon as they opened! haha)  They mainly talked sports as I spun around like a little plant tornado chosing the right boxwood variety and picking and chosing which perennials I wanted to get with the budget Colin had laid out.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at me with TWO carts of shrubs and perennials in front of me ready to come to my house and be my plant friends! YAY!!!

 

 

 

Ok, back to the plan....I wanted a classic plant palette with went with our classic patio. For around the lounge area, which can be seen everyday from the driveway, I decided on Boxwood, Endless Summer Hydrangea, Frances Williams Hosta and Rozanne Geranium.  A lovely combo, if I do say so mysellf! I love Boxwood and Hydrangea so that was an easy pick. I also love the 2 green tones of the Hosta AND the geranium variety I chose has purple blooms from spring to frost! Can't beat that! You should get some too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that we shopped, it is time to plant! And then to mulch!

 

 

I did pack the plants in more than I would suggest a client do, but I wanted what I wanted, and I am fine with moving around perennials as needed as things grow.
 (I packed perennials in, NOT shrubs. Don't be deceived, little shrubs get big!!!! Always pay attention to mature size when spacing plants!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the eating area I had some thoughts, but less concrete ideas. I knew I wanted something to screen the gas meter, so I went with 3 boxwood, but a different variety as on the other side, a variety that grows more tall than wide.  I don't love ornamental grasses, but I do like them, and I thought they would be a good fit for the corners of the eating patio.  They would add texture and movement to hard lines of that space.  So 3 Dwarf Hamlin Grass went on either corner.

 

 

 

 

Side Note - Landscape Architects like things in odd numbers, not even ones.  We do ones or threes or fives or sevens.  We do not do twos or fours! NO NO NO! 

There are some bare areas around the eating patio and the whole one side if empy, but plants are expensive, so we will evenually fill in those spaces with more perennials! I think everything came out great and the areas without plants, at least have a nice layer of mulch so they look tidy until we get around to getting the plants in.

YAY PLANTS!!!!

A birthday hose and some annuals

 

 

I asked Colin for a coil hose for my birthday.  I really wanted one!  We had 2 hoses left by the old owner but they were long and heavy and very cumbersome for me to be dragging around the yard to get the plants watered.  I wanted something light and easy for everyday watering.

Colin passed along my wish to his parents and when his dad came over on my birthday to help put our railing back up, there was a pretty package just for me with a coil hose inside!!!! yay!!!!  (not sure they got it from the link or if they found it at lowes/homedepot/walmart/garden center - just in case you want one.)  And you should want one! It doesn't replace a real hose but to water pots and plants in a small area, it works great.

And considering one of the old hoses exploded the night before, it was a perfectly timed gift!!! (Side note - I looked inside the hose and it was slimy and gross, so don't drink from your hoses kids!)

 

I dragged my 3 blue-ish pots out of hiding and set them up by the faucet since I figured the largest one would be perfect for holding the new hose.  (Not that I really want a hose front and center as you enter the house, but you can't have flowers without water, so this aesthetically driven girl is just trying to be practical!)  Then I clustered the 2 little pots around it to help it blend in.

 

But those pots were empty since I am not supposed to be spending money!  But an empty pots make me sad.... SO I snuck over to the garden center yesterday to fill them! (I spent around $10, so I am not feeling too guilty.)

 

 

They came out lovely.  I got 3 annuals and then stole some of the creeping jenny (bright green vine) from a pot I had done earlier in the season.

 

 

I would love love love to fill the whole patio with fabulous annual planters, but that just isn't in the budget this year, so these little pots will have to do! : )

 

 

 

 

I am keeping things watered and keeping things classy!

 

A New Door Mat

The state of my stoops are bad...and the states of my door mats are also bad...The stoops are not an easy fix, but the door mats are!

In the front, we still have the door mat that was here when we moved in.  If someone told me I would have a door mat like this in the front of my home for almost 6 months, I would have laughed in their face or fallen over in disbelief, but kids, it is the truth, this is what my front door mat has been and STILL IS! Yikes!!! There is just so much to do when you get a house.....

(The fact that the awful mat isn't centered is diving me a little crazy while looking at this picture, but I must stay true to the title of my blog! haha)

In the back yard there was no door mat, but that I decided to do something about.  I often look through Ballard Designs and picture all the lovely things in my house.  BUT I had never actually bought anything, until now. I treated myself to a chevron door mat for the back door! I dig chevron but I hesitate to go crazy with it in case it goes out of style quickly, but I figured no harm done on a door mat! Yay! I love it!

I'll get around the replacing the front one at some point.  Perhaps this weekend I will just throw that awful rubber thing away whether I have a replacement or not.  Not like anyone ever uses the front door anyway!!!!