Inspiration Vintage

Hi everyone! Long time, no see. I've been missing you all. I hope to be back with a little chit-chat on Friday, but today is more of a news announcement.

I wanted to let you know about a wonderful new magazine called Inspiration Vintage, put together by the lovely Melinda from Alabaster Rose Lifestyle. I was so pleased that she asked me to be a part of her premiere issue...my contribution being a few photos and a yummy blueberry recipe :)

Copies of the magazine are available in both digital or print formats. If you'd like to purchase one, you can click HERE. Melinda is also having a giveaway to celebrate the launch of the publication...click HERE to enter.

Hope you're having a wonderful week! See you soon.

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May Flowers

Hi everyone! Well, here it is May already. Can you believe it? After our long winter, I've been eagerly awaiting this time of year and the warmer weather and sunny skies that it brings.

For what seems like months now, there's been thoughts dancing around in my head about how wonderful it will be to get outdoors...wondering what flowers I should plant...if I should make a little garden. I try to block any notion of pulling weeds, painting the fence or of voles that have completely ruined my yard. Sadly though, I haven't gotten much of anything done, since nice days have been few and far between.

I'm thinking that instead of saying "April showers bring May flowers," the more appropriate phrase around here would be "April snow brings May flowers." Let's hope anyway, since there's not a whole lot of bloomin' going on in these parts.

A few weeks back the florist called to tell me that they had finally received one of my flower favorites...ranunculus. I needed a little slice of spring so I rushed right over. I can't wait for my yard to start sprouting some others that I love like lilacs, peonies and hydrangeas. Do you have a favorite flower that you plant every year or one that you can't wait for it to bloom?

As I was snapping away, I remembered that I had this pretty round box...it's covered in vintage wallpaper. Isn't it a cute little prop? I wish I didn't love little odds and ends like this so much, I never know what to do with them other than use them for photos. I tell myself that that's a good enough reason to have them around.

Well, that's all for today...just a few flower photos.

Thanks for visiting. Hope you have a happy weekend!

Rustic and Refined...Ball Jars and Pretty Plates

Pairing rustic items with things that are a little more refined has long been my favorite style of decorating. I love the look of time-worn patinas and natural materials, like weathered wood and casual flower arrangements, combined with something a bit more...I don't know quite what the word is...elegant, perhaps? It seems like it's a look that you can dress up or down, where all the elements shine and feel more fresh. In my way of thinking, anyway :)

Recently, I was contacted by someone from Mikasa generously offering to send me some of their products to put together a tablesetting. In the past, I've never agreed to do any kind of advertising or accept items from companies since they didn't feel like a natural extension of what I do here on my blog...but this did, so I said, "Yes."

Working from my thoughts on the rustic and refined combination, I selected these pretty white dishes and the aqua colored ones too. I thought I'd do a mix and match sort of thing. The flower patterned plates perfectly match those vintage Ball jars, don't you think? That was a happy discovery.

I think I'm going to have to expand my collection of antique flatware...if you can call six spoons a collection. Trying to come up with a way to incorporate those lonely spoons into the mix, I decided to tie a little camomile flower around the handle with a piece of baker's twine. It's a fancy meets farm sort of thing.

And since I've been on a blueberry frenzy lately, so I thought I might as well use some of those too...blue jars, blue plates, blueberries. Yep, it works. I bought that white ceramic basket that they're in from Anthropologie recently. I have a smaller one too. They're so nice for displaying fruits and veggies.

It's funny the things you notice after you take all your photos and you're reviewing them on the computer, don't you think? Apparently, I was too focused on how cute that flower-filled inkwell would look on the plate, that I was blind to those two little flowers poking out like antennae. Oh, well :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

xo

I'm sharing my post at:
Common Ground
French Country Cottage

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You can find Mikasa at Macy's and Bed, Bath and Beyond stores.

The two patterns shown above are called Antique White and Silk Floral.

Randomness

Hi everyone! Since I'm feeling rather unfocused lately, today's post is going to be one of complete randomness...cats, flowers, snow, a dream about my hair...let's see, what else is there?

Let's start with these photos. You know how I basically only show you two rooms in my house, the living room and the dining room? Surprise, the first topic is a continuation on that theme. I bought some pretty purple flowers, left them in the sink for about a day while I wondered what to do with them and eventually decided to stuff them in a woven bag that's in the living room. See, right up there? Before too long this plan went all awry when the cats took notice of this new outdoorsy change and things ended up on this order...

Miss Maisy is very mischievous. Did I ever tell you that one day she managed to get up on top of my kitchen cabinets? You know, like eight feet high. Yeah, that was a surprise.

So anyway, it snowed yesterday. I'm not talking about a little bit either, so much that we had to get out the snow blower. As if that all that snow wasn't bad enough, I was looking at some photos from last year and saw this...

I took this picture one year ago on April 4th! When I look at all the shots from that day, I can see that my daylillies are about a foot tall. There's practically a tear coming out of my eye as a think about it. Can you all band together and pray that some warmer weather comes my way...and that I don't go crazy before it gets here?

Speaking of crazy, I have to tell you about a dream that I had recently. Oh my goodness, it was awful. Last week, after I went and got my hair colored and cut, I had a dream that my hair-do lady, Sarah, gave me a look reminiscent the 1980's! Think mall bangs, perms and lots of layers. I remember looking in the mirror, holding up the hair on the top of my head and seeing that it was only a few inches long. I was horrified and she was smiling. It would've been funny to have a photo of me from the 80's right here, wouldn't it? No. It wouldn't. FYI, I love Sarah...I have no idea why I dreamt this.

Anyway, my subconscious more than made up for that nightmare when a few days later, after I stayed up late and watched Criminal Minds, I had a dream that Shemar Moore was my boyfriend :)

Well okay, on that note, I think that's all I've got.

Hope you have a super weekend!

xo

Pink Posies

Hello people! What's new with you? I've been busy with this, that and the other...no big happenings, but always on the go. You know what I mean? 

When I was out and about last week, I picked up a few more pink tulips. I'm not sure of the variety, but I loved that they were petite and ruffled...a little different than the ones I usually see. I applied a texture to these photos since I didn't really love the way they turned out. I'm not sure if it helped, but sometimes you just have to work with what you got, ya know?!

Speaking of working with what you've got, I've been cleaning and purging and arranging my kitchen.I figured I'd paint it and maybe brighten it up a little. I'm also hoping that the Mister will finally see the light and paint the cabinets for me. He likes that look too, but knows that if we paint all the woodwork in that room it would be a big domino effect and we'd have to continue on with everything else...on that level of our house anyway.

All in all, it would be lots of work. I'm thinking it might just be easier to move...to someplace warm would be even better ;)

Well, I have to run to the store before my kids get home...just thought I'd say hello. Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Chat later...

A Look at the Living Room

On one of those seemingly rare days when I see a golden sphere in the sky that I vaguely remember as being the sun, I try to do two things...bask for a few moments in its warm rays and then take advantage of all the wonderful light and find something to photograph. A few weeks back, when we were blessed with one of those beautiful days, I managed to snap a few shots of not only the dining room, but the living room too.

Sticking to my love of a simple and natural decorating scheme, I mostly just freshened up the room with some pretty pink hydrangeas and a few little accessories. I'm figuring out that my favorite style is a nice, light look with lots of texture and a bright pop of color.

Don't you just love hydrangeas?! They make me think of summer. This variety is called Firelight. I've seen conflicting information about the zone hardiness, so I'm not sure if they would survive in our climate. I figure when things warm up outside, I'll plant them and hope for the best, but otherwise I've sure enjoyed looking at those big pink flowers here in the house.

Oh, remember when I talked about painting my armoire? Well, one of the things I was so excited to do when I finished that project was to organize the inside...crazy, I know!

Anyway, even though it doesn't happen too often around here, I totally subscribe to the idea of a place for everything and everything in its place. So I got rid of a few things, bought some baskets and boxes for the rest and managed to cram all my art and crafty stuff into the armoire. See?!

Those fabric covered boxes weren't quite the look I was going for, but after driving here, there and everywhere I figured that they were good enough and just rolled with it. It feels nice to open the doors and actually be able to find what I'm looking for. Yay!!

My current project has been my daughter's little fort under the stairs...or the Cottage, as she's been calling it. It's such a dark space, but if I can get some okay photos, I'll show you when I'm all finished dolling it up.

Well, lovely people, that's all for today...hope you have a good weekend and that you see the sun!

xo

I'm sharing my post at:

Common Ground: Be Inspired Friday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday

Decorating in the Dining Room

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a good week. Does it feel like spring in your corner of the world? Yeah...not so much here. Looking out the window at all the drifts of snow piled high and kids sledding down the hill, I have a hard time thinking that spring is only a few short weeks away.

Since I'm starting to feel like winter is never going to end, I figured it was time to bring a little bit of a springish feel indoors with some flowers. I bought tulips for the dining room and hydrangeas for the living room...I'm saving the living room until next week though since it's always so hard for me to think of things to post about ;)

Because my light fixture is so large, I wanted to use a flower container that felt in proportion. I really like this galvanized bucket...the only bad part was that I needed a lot of flowers to fill it! I ended up getting forty  stems!

Oh, I just remembered that I've never shown you the new light fixture that I got for this room until now. I ordered it last fall, let it sit around in the box for a few months and then shortly before Christmas, finally talked the Mister into putting in up. I just love it! It's covered in a warm white burlap...it seems more me than the old fixture that was previously in this spot.

After I set up my flowers, I thought this basket of grapefruit would look nice in the dining room too. With the flowers it seems so springy and fresh, don't you think?

My mother-in-law sent us two boxes of freshly picked grapefruits from the tree in her yard. Mmm, wouldn't you love to have citrus trees growing right outside your door?! I can hardly even imagine how wonderful and delicious that would be. I'd be putting lemons in everything and before too long I probably wouldn't have any enamel left on my teeth ;)

Well, peeps, that's all for now! I hope things are warming up for you and you're feeling a spring in your step...lol. Have a great weekend! Chat later...

xo

I'm sharing my post at:

Common Ground: Be Inspired Friday
French Country Cottage: Feathered Nest Friday

A Texas Pearl

Photo from Magnolia Pearl



Hi everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. I wanted to pop in and let you know that Anne from Fiona and Twig is currently hosting a great giveaway for two beautiful outfits courtesy of Magnolia Pearl Clothing. Look at that bag...I'm in love with it!

She is also showcasing the Magnolia Pearl ranch, which is located on 38 acres in the heart of Texas hill country and is currently for sale. Oh my, isn't that such a pretty setting?! I sure would love to look out my window at that cute little building and gorgeous garden, instead of the snow that I'm currently seeing :)

Photo from Magnolia Pearl

To get all the details about the property and enter the giveaway, visit Anne's blog HERE. Hope you have a good day and I'll see you later this week!

xo