Catch Up

Remember this post last Monday?  This is what transpired that evening.

Even though it was a school night, the kids (and dad) made good use of the snow by sledding late into the night.  Gotta take advantage of it 'cause you never know how long (or not so long) it will stick around! 

It did start raining early the next morning and the snow was ALL gone by the time the kids got home from school. 

White Flowers

Ahhhh...the hope of Spring.

 Hyacinths just starting to pop

Had to buy myself these mini tulips at the market yesterday.  Okay, it wasn't the market, but the grocery store.  Just love the sound of market much better.  The cashier asked if they were for someone else or me.  They're for ME, of course!  Every girl needs some fresh cut flowers in the house every now and again, right?!?  Especially when skies are gray - hence, the not so great lighting (I dislike using flash). 

The pretty flowers make me want to get outside and work in the garden, but it's so cold out still.  Can you believe the weekend is just around the corner again?  Where do the days go?  What are your plans this weekend?

Around the Yard

It has been fun working on our "upper" yard. It was a wild jumble of plants and weeds until recently. We inherited a bunch of rhododendrons from Keith's aunt and uncle who have raised them for years. They have now formed the border of this little garden area nearest the road. The hanging thing was already there - we just moved it and raised it higher. It will be adorned with little hanging baskets and maybe some bird feeders soon. We transplanted a few rose bushes.
Keith and I created a little seating area with the picket fence in the background to camouflage the electrical box. Most of the plants we put in were from a show we did a while back. I need to find something pretty to climb it and fill in. Any suggestions? There are already a few purple plants along it. The maple is in front of the telephone pole to eventually hide it with a salvaged door (from our last house) leaning against the pole. The cement bench was rescued from our neighbor's garbage pile. Yes, I realize the pillars underneath are crooked - must fix... The wire triangle will be graced with climbing English Ivy as soon as I can find some. The pavers are leftovers from a landscaping job Keith did. We'll fill them in with gravel. It's meant to be a bit rustic and cottage-like.
We've planted lavender on either side of the bench, purple campanula, a small boxwood hedge and existing huckleberry that needs some shearing. I found the cutest little metal gate to go between the two huckleberry. I'll post a picture when I remember to take one. It'll look prettier when we get some bark spread around, too.

What do you think so far?

More flowers from the yard. It's always fun to see what comes up this time of year.

Love the afternoon sun on these beautiful smelling roses.

What's a Girl to Do...

...on a Sunday afternoon? Make bouquets, of course! Brooklyn was looking for something to do and decided to fill all my canning jars with fresh bouquets from what was blooming around the yard. Two of our neighbors were lucky recipients as well!

Beautiful pink Rhododendrons and sweet Bluebells.

We now have bouquets on the kitchen windowsill, on the dining table, on an end table in the living room and even on top of the wood stove.

Ahhh . . . . Spring in the Pacific Northwest.

Northwest Flower and Garden Show

I cannot believe how February flew by! The first weekend of the month, Keith and I spent a couple of nights in downtown Seattle. We attended the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in the downtown convention center. What a great way to be inspired and get one in the mood for Spring!

A picture perfect potting bench! (hint, hint - Keith)

I loved this planter - a mix of natural wood and industrial metal complete with beautiful flowers (I want to say larkspur or delphinium, but I'm not sure. Keith....where are you?)

Isn't it wonderful?

Loved these sweet little flowers - again, I had to ask Keith what they were and have since forgotten. I love picking his brain when I see something I want to know the name of!

Can you imagine this on the wall of your home? Gorgeous!

I loved these metal pots (galvanized metal?). Sorry the pictures aren't the best. Crazy indoor lighting. All of these flowers were forced/greenhouse flowers. It wasn't quite tulip season.

Cute metal garden trellis - I think I see a project for Jordan in his near future. . . .

Isn't this a fun chair for a garden? There's an abandoned one out of driftwood near our house that I've been dying to ask if the landowners will let me take home. I just haven't gotten up the courage to ask and I know Keith already thinks I'm a little cuckoo for wanting it. But I can just see it in the garden of our beach house - uh, you know . . . the one we're going to have in a few short years (wink, wink).

Bad lighting and you can't tell how MASSIVE this tree was. I'm still wondering how they got it up 3 or 4 flights of stairs and set up indoors as well as securing it so it wouldn't topple on the crowds if bumped.

An outdoor retreat. What you can't see is that the back wall under the plants had a water feature/waterfall. What a peaceful place to relax!

The show even had a couple of booths with my favorite kinds of vintage wares.

An unfocused picture that I'm embarrassed to post, but I just had to show you. It's not my taste, but I appreciated the whimsy of this canoe mantle. It was beautiful wood, too!

The rustic wood and stone combination was a nice idea.

More beautiful flowers under bad lighting.

A unique garden gate.

Fun checkerboard moss carpet!

A very whimsical table for a garden theme: stepping stone chargers, burlap napkins, fairy garden, twiggy table. Cute idea! But I'd have to post a sign - no leggy spiders, wiggly worms or hungry ants are invited!

Fabulous cut flowers and timeless ivy.

Love hydrangea!

An example of ingenuity. The chair, pillow on chair, picture frame, chandelier, rug, and even the dog are made out of some form of vegetation.

Did you enjoy the tour? We did, but it was even better in person! We had a great weekend complete with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, shopping at Anthropologie, some treats from See's Candies, and good ol' city immersion.

And the Winner Is...

Pattywack!

Congratulations, Patty!

Your gift basket will be sent out by Monday.

Thank you to everybody who played along with us. What fun it was, to see who visits!!! Thank you for taking time out to leave a comment even if you don't usually do so.

It would have been impossible for me to choose someone myself, so of course I had the computer do it for me. I listed each person who commented and then the computer randomly mixed up the names and assigned numbers.

Then I had the computer randomly select a number from that list and voila!

#7 - Pattywack it is!

That was fun! I wish we could send something out to each of you. We'll have to do another giveaway sometime.

Look at the last of our summer bounty! Yummo tomatoes! Looks like we'll have to find some good recipes. Of course, we love eating them fresh, too.

Good night to all!

Fabulous Fourth

We decided to host a potluck this year with family and friends on the Fourth of July. There were 58 people that showed up this year (including the five of us)! We had a blast (literally) doing it and would like to possibly start an annual tradition. Wouldn't that be fun? Special thanks to everyone who came and made it happen!!! We couldn't have done it without you!

The invite said to come for Flags, Food & Fun and we believe that's exactly what it was!! We provided the burgers and hot dogs and everyone else pitched in with side dishes and desserts. As usual, there was plenty and then some!

You can see the hubby manning the BBQ. The ladies in their patriotic colors and my father-in-law with his fun parade hat!
As you can see, we had people of all ages.
A sitting area.
A flag centerpiece.
Everyone enjoying each others company and dishing up the yummy food.


Jordan looking forward to devouring his burger.

Now why did we get lots of pics of the dessert table? Hmmm...
Isn't it all so pretty, though?

And I was so busy that I didn't even taste more than one or two things.

That's why we have to do it again next year!

Isn't the hanging basket pretty?
Keith picked out our flowers this year and I'm so glad we went with the
red, white, and blue theme.
Hi Joyce!!!
A grandma and her sweet granddaughter. Love their patriotic outfits!

Braxton doing what boys do best!
Isn't he a cutie? That's his sweet sis above.
Wish I'd gotten a picture of them together in their cute outfits!

Darling Sara! Isn't she photogenic? Her husband is a professional photographer.

Isn't he lucky to have such a beautiful practice subject?

The die-hard Rook players...
Hi again, Joyce!!
Some of the ladies playing dominos.
One of many volleyball games they played.

Some of the children - a mini cheer team.

A horseshoe game in progress...
Our wild daisy bouquets in canning jars.

Keith and the kids got up early to go pick these by the side of the road.

More of the domino game.

See our garden? You can see the horseshoe pits in the background, too.

Derek - nephew of the photographer. Doesn't he have gorgeous eyes?

Everyone pretty much left around 4:30 or so to go do what they wanted for fireworks.

We decided to do our own show for the first time. It's been one of the only times that Jordan has actually been with us on the 4th and not in AZ where having your own fireworks is illegal. We had fun watching him enjoy himself.

The kids lighting sparklers.

We also took the opportunity to enjoy our neighbor's fireworks.

The kid's easel came in really handy when we tried thinking of something that would be highly visible on the side of the road to show newcomers where we live! We tied some patriotic balloons to it and were able to write on both sides of the easel so traffic from either side could read it. Kids toys ARE useful for something!!
Our lovely flowers.


We hope your 4th was fabulous!