Hello New Friend, Welcome to my Garden

Some Rhododendrons for you to enjoy

Veinte de Mayo Dinner

So last week I had my annual "Cinco de Mayo" party, that is never actually on the 5th. haha









Friends and Toppings:




Margaritas:








Yummy Summer White Wine (aka White Sangria)
This was SO good, and so simple! I have whipped up many a white wine cocktail/spritzer/sangria in my day, but this might be the best one.

1 big bottle of white wine
1 small bottle of club soda (1/2 liter)
1/3 cup sugar
Fruit - I used a whole orange, which I think should be used regardless of the other fruit. Then berries just since that was what looked the best at the store.

serves - depends who is drinking it! : )


Baby Tilley came to the party and some strawberries to go with brownies courtesy of Erin.



My friend Aimee is home from Korea, so she came to play before she jets off to France for the summer. Quite the world traveler!



For food I set up a make your own burrito bar, that way everyone gets what they want! I used a recipe I got at a cooking class I went to with my mom. We also had some chips, salsa, guac and naughty taco dip courtesy of Alexis and Lindsay.

Chicken Burritos

This recipe was part of a packet of quick and easy meals

1 roasted chicken (the pre-cooked ones)

1 envelope taco seasoning mix

1 (16oz) can refried beans

1 pack 8" tortillas

1 pkg shredded sharp cheddar cheese

(I just used the mexican mix cheese-no seasoning- just the mix of cheeses)

3 plum tomatoes, diced

1 small onion, diced

1 small can sliced olive
cilantro

then for toppings - salsa, guac, and sour cream

1. Remove chicken from bones and chop. Place chicken and seasoning mix in a strong food storage bag and shake to coat chicken.

(I find cutting the chicken off the bones is alot of work, next time i might just boil some cutlets in chicken stock and chop those...)

2. Spread beans evenly down the center of tortillas. Top with chicken, cheese, and other ingredients of your choice (cilantro, olives, onion, tomatoes) and roll up.

3.Wrap each burrito in foil. Don't worry about over stuffing and having trouble rolling since it all stays together once you take it out of the oven from the foil.

* Handy tip - Have everyone write their name on the foil with a sharpie that way everyone knows who's is who's if you do a "make your own bar" like I always do.

4. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes on a cookie sheet. Add your topping and gobble up!

serves - 4 to 6, easy meal to double, and they taste good after being frozen too!

I love the smell of freshly cut limes!



Late night photo shoot! Only one of many! haha

How the other half live

So you want to know how the other half live? Oh, they live with beautiful gardens like these! So you want to know what I do all day? Oh, that would be design beautiful gardens like these.

Well that is a little white lie, I didn't actually design this one, my boss did. Another Landscape Architect and the house Architect did the hardscape (patios, walks, walls, pool) and my boss did the landscape (planting). I have been out in the field laying perennials out though. If you have to do manual labor, this is not a bad place to have to do it right?

So enjoy these gardens designed by my firm, and soon enough I'll get some of mine designs up too! Just need to get some pictures. : )






This is actually an all white garden. All of the plants are white, no exceptions. So these purple irises need to go! They were mis-labeled last fall.















The pool area is going to be gorgeous in the summer when all the white hydrangea are blooming (and the cover is off haha)!










A pool house nicer than most people's regular houses! You should see the inside! It is so beautiful!






This woodland garden is all new, all the plants were designed and newly planted and all those walks are new.

Crunchy Health Salad

So I have been trying to eat more meals that are mostly veggies and I found this salad at Kings that I really like. It is mainly broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Then accented with crasins, raisins, sun flower seeds, and onion in a light sweet dressing.





After I got it a few times I tried to figure out if I could make it myself. I did a pretty decent job if I do say so myself...although the dressing still needs a little work.

I found broccoli slaw at the Shoprite and I also added cabbage since rumor has it it is good for you.



Then I mixed in crasins, raisins and some walnuts. I didn't have any sunflower seeds and I left out the onion since I don't really care for onion.



I read the ingredients on the dressing from the Kings container to attempt to recreate. Although mine didn't taste bad, it didn't really taste like the food store one. I whisked together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard power, water, honey and sugar. I had WAY too much vinegar so I added more honey and sugar, but it still wasn't right. So I added a tiny bit of light mayo. That might seem kind of gross, vinegar and mayo, but it seems to do the trick. I didn't list portions of any of these since I kind of just kept adding stuff. If I seem to get it right next time, I'll post the portions. : )

A Fab Ladies Night (with a husband mixed in)

So 2 weekend ago I went over to my friend Nicole's cute house for some much needed girl talk and catching up! Her husband Matt joined in on ladies night this time around. : ) But of course we can drink wine endlessly and chat endlessly so we outlasted him. hehe

I had such a great time hanging out and catching up AND playing with her cute puppy Maya, who gave me lots of "love hives"! Sadly I didn't get her picture!

First Course. Yum! And Bogle, one of my new fav wines since it is tasty AND cheap! yay!



She made a awesome dinner! Salmon Caesar salad with great bread to dip in olive oil yum! Head over to Nicole's blog Ingredients for a Wonderful Life for the recipe. I can't wait to have it again, it was so good! And since Nicole and her hubby are deluxe chefs everything was whole made down to the croutons and the dressing! Impressive!





My pics of the evening didn't come out well since I had my flash off, but you get the idea. : ) You can head to her blog for some more pictures of our fun night! Check her blog in a few days too since last weekend she made these awesome lemon cookies. I can't wait to get the recipe for those!

Oh she also made pound cake and ice cream.



And please note her antique sofa table/buffet which we got in December when we went antique shopping like fancy ladies! : )

Antique Frame

So last weekend Molly and I did some impromptu antiquing. I picked her up from taking her SATS at my old high school (so weird to be sitting outside my old hs!) and we went to Macaroni Grill (since I was mildly hungover and that bread was calling my name!) then we wandered around Babies R Us for way too long trying to find a shower gift.

Then as I was driving her home, I spied some tables on the curb outside a small antique store. I totally forgot there are bunch of antique stores in her downtown. I was looking for a small square or circle coffee table to paint red as my next project so we wandered in. No table fitting my description could be found but it was still fun wandering around. We checked out 2 stores, the first had a creepy guy who followed us around listening and commenting on our conversations. Weirdo! The second store had a lot of nice furniture, nothing that I needed, but I still liked checking it all out.

Did I get anything you ask? Well yes, yes I did. Not going to lie, I was pretty jealous of the frame Nicole got in December so I was excited when I stumbled upon an old frame. It is kind of falling apart, like literally - in my hands - falling apart, but it was pretty so I brought it home. : )





I want to paint it white and either make it a bulletin board or put that metal radiator mesh in it to hang jewelry from. TBD! I bet my Dad is excited for another project! : )

Oh we also found those disgusting animal scarves with the heads on them. Sick!