diggin in the dirt...

It was my birthday the other day and I spent a good portion of it playing in my garden, planting new things from Mum, and re-arranging my pathway and walls with new rocks I'd found. Its definitely a work-in-progress garden right now. Although it was a pretty low-key birthday, it was a delightful way to spend part of the sunny afternoon, in my opinion.

I planted this sweet Bleeding Heart.

And I wore these old gloves...

...while I couldn't quite bear to get these pretty new gloves dirty yet.

And I just had to photograph my Grape Hyacinths...which were just reaching their peak of prettiness, especially with the sunlight streaming in. I adore these tiny colorful flowers!

Oh how I love my little garden...and I make Hub look at it with me about every 5 minutes, almost. He teases me that if he laid down in it, end to end, he would cover it up. But really, its not quite that little. ;)

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We're off for more birthday celebrations. April and May are busy birthday months for us. Wishing you a flowery good weekend!

~xoxo~

backyard garden party

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week I went to a pretty backyard birthday lunch, hosted by my Mum. She, of course, had many sweet touches that I just had to share! First off, the weather was just gorgeous, which is always a prerequisite for a delightful backyard party. It was such a quaint setting, being in the backyard of my parent's new home...surrounded by Mum's garden, the woods, chipper bird songs, and her cute old potting shed in the background.

She strung up a pretty birthday garland in the old oak tree above.
And at each place setting was a tiny little Viola planted in a darling, handpainted pot.
Handpainted by who, you say? Why Mum of course!
Each pot featured a different little bird that she modeled after pictures in one of her bird books. Amazing, oui? And if that wasn't cute enough, she had my Dad fashion little shepherd hooks out of sturdy wire to stick in the pot and dangle a tiny birdhouse ornament upon.
And what backyard garden party would be complete without delicious food as well...here, some delicious and refreshing frozen fruit cups...one of Mum's specialties. (See recipe below!)
An empty birdbath was repurposed as a clever, cute spot to hold a
pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade.
Finally, Mum's homemade cake...which really is another garden party prerequisite, no?
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Thanks for the lovely day, Mum!

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Update: (per Mrs. C's request, here's the recipe from Mum. Enjoy!)

Frozen Fruit Salad Recipe

8 oz pkg cream cheese

2 1/2 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

Mix in your mixer, starting out slowly but increasing speed until well blended.

Add the following:

1 can of mandarin oranges, drained

1 can of pineapple tidbits, drained

2 bananas, cut up

& any fresh berries you like (strawberries, raspberries, etc.)

May be frozen in a bread pan, muffin cups, or aluminum jello molds. Unmold by running a knife around the edge and easing each out with the knife stuck in the side. Don't put in warm water to unmold because the will get mushy really fast and won't look nice and crisp.

embellishing small packages

I had some tiny little gifts to wrap up last week. I've probably said this before but I love having plain boxes, pillow-style boxes, and glassine bags on hand just for this sort of thing. Pretty ribbons, rub-ons, and graceful little punches (similar to what I shared in the past here) can simply top them off quite nicely.

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{Coming soon, I'll share a few photos of the pretty garden party that I took these gifts to!}

up the shore...

Yesterday we drove north just a bit. Just to get out of town.

The day was overcast, windy. The shoreline was peaceful, yet the waves were strong.

We breathed in the fresh, crisp air.

We found a few pretty pieces of smooth sea glass to add to my collection.

And we both wondered, why don't we do this more often?

marsh marigolds {the first sign of spring flora!}

Just in the past day or two, the lovely Marsh Marigolds have begun to bloom all over our marshy woods, dotting them with pretty bright yellow spots. I think this is the first wildflower to bloom here in this northern region...even a little bit early this year, given the above-average temps we've been having. And I just couldn't resist picking a little bunch the other day to brighten up our table as well. I remember when Hub and I first looked at this house...and we roamed about the property along with Mum & Dad on a particularly cloudy, gray day in May of 2007....the day we trooped through so many houses here in our hectic quest for a home. The first thing I recall (and probably always will) was Mum's joy and exclamation about the Marsh Marigolds blooming everywhere! At the time, I had never heard of them and had no idea what she was talking about...I was far more concerned with figuring out what the master bedroom would look like! Yet now, I look forward to this cheery yellow flower so much each Spring! According to my wildflower book, since this flower also grows in England, there's a plethora of antiquated common names for it as well...one of them being "Mary-buds"...which, rather interestingly, this book also notes found its way into one of Shakespeare's plays, Cymbeline:

"And winking Mary-buds begin

to ope their golden eyes;

With everything that pretty is,

My lady sweet arise!"

little bits of green

After all of the landscaping, planting, and creating my little garden in the woods last year, its been so exciting to see how things have fared after winter. I'm happy to report that most things are doing quite well. I'm especially excited about our special Double Flowering Plum bush (2nd photo) that is chock full of tiny pink flower buds right on the verge of bursting and transforming this brown twiggy plant into a sea of pink.

With nice Spring weather coming early this year, I've been outside a lot already, busy pruning plants and removing leaves and finding new rocks for our gardens. I recently learned that the frost pushes up new rocks each spring. I had no idea! I love finding rocks!

I realize my garden is not much to speak of right now...looking mostly like a rock garden at this point, yet little bits of green and even some flowers like my sweet grape hyacinths are making way and sprouting after another long winter. Don't you love Spring?

More soon (when I can pull myself out of the garden)!

sunny sunday

It's been a gorgeous weekend. The kind you don't want to end. We had the perfect mix of fun and getting work done all the while enjoying this lovely Spring weather. And wearing my favorite red dress to church and standing upon a patch of green moss doesn't hurt any either.

Hope your weekend was just as brilliant!

nighties...

After coming home with 2 new nighties one day a week or so ago, I made a proclamation to Hub: I am now going to wear a nightgown every single night to bed!

No more flannel pajama pants with penguins or hot pink ones with squirrels or those oh so cozy pinecone print ones. No! From now on I was going to embrace all the pretty nighties I have and don't wear very much except for on very hot summer nights. It was now their time to shine!

But then, come evening, I'd be tired, cold, and I'd opt for my cozy pajama pants and tee.

And every night for the first few nights of my new resolution, Hub would NOT let me forget what I'd said. He'd say: I thought you were going to wear a nightgown from now on?
Oh yes, yes...I'm still planning to, I'd reply, But I really want to start off this NEW resolution by wearing my NEW nightgown...and I haven't washed it yet. It needs to be washed first.
Hub: Ohhh.

Next few nights: Same exact conversation was had between us. (We are reliable like that.)
So finally, after days of still forgetting to wash it, I just dug in and wore an older nightgown the other night so that I could finally keep my word.

But my new one is hanging up now, drying out the last bits of dampness from washing it, almost ready to go.

And I think I've found another good use for my pink birdcage as well: a pretty nightie-drying spot!