What Followed the Mr Home

Happy Thursday!  My Favorite Day!

I took yesterday and today off of work. I know, I know, I am leaving next week.

Next week... one week from today, I will be a SAHM.  

So, I needed a few days to practice *wink*

Last weekend, the Mr went on a little junking trip without me.  The nerve!!  Can you imagine?

I have always had this love affair with organ knobs.  Who knows why I latch on to certain things... but I love them.  Must be the black and whiteness with the text.

Anyhow, since they weren't willing to let him strip the knobs off, he brought the whole thing home.

That is right.  We have an organ in our garage.

Mr. Hughes has all kinds of plans for it and I am on board!  

(I am not always on board, just like he would like me to stop repainting walls in the house.)

I will show you some of those projects very, very soon.

I also had to post a another peony photo.  Yes, I grew these.  It was hard, hard work. ha!

The lighter pink ones bloomed just as the hot pink ones were littering petals over the table.

I have been thrilled to have fresh flowers for the past few weeks... and these light pink ones smell amazing!!

Well, I see a sliver of sun, so I am thinking the hyena and I need some vitamin D after being cooped up with all the rain and greyness!

Oh, and don't forget my little giveaway

bye for now!

Little Changes + a Giveaway

Hello all!  How was your weekend?  Ours was rainy... booo!  Doesn't Mother Nature know it is May?

I have been making a few small changes around the casa lately.  I started selling these botanical prints (found by Mr. Hughes) in my booth a few months ago and they have been popular.  When I repainted the upstairs hall, I needed something to complement the new color (Rainwater by Martha Stewart, in case you would like to know.)

And since I like to change things up, (especially in wall decor,) and because I am not a lover of filling in and painting over holes.... I decided to put up a little botanical gallery wall with Japanese Washi Tape.

I adore the stuff!  And I can take this down anytime I like, with no holes!  

I just got the vintage sewing chair a few weeks ago and the Mr. found me a spouse for it this past weekend.  Almost identical. 

So that is my happy little hallway. 

And, while I have you here, talking to you about paper, let me throw a giveaway your way.

 Krista from Pendrops Couture hand makes these incredible little cards that are almost too pretty to send!

Krista handcrafts all these cards out of pure goodness....vintage textiles, organic cotton, antique books and sheet music, burlap, and old buttons...

All of her paper and envelopes are 100% recycled.  

Aren't they incredible?!?

You can win the above basket which includes 5 pendrops couture cards and it includes the adorable basket too!

Here is what you have to do to win:

One entry.... go to her site and tell me which the card you love the most... if you can pick just one!

Another entry...go to her facebook page and "like it"

You want another entry?  Well I like approval/ validation... so go to my site and "like it" as well.

And leave me a comment for each.  I will leave the giveaway open for a week and announce the winner next Tuesday.

I will be back soon to show you what the Mr. carted home the other day.  Our neighbors probably think we are nuts!!

bye for now!

Just Keep Swimming

The title seemed fitting...we are busy, busy, busy! Plus, we have been watching quite a bit of Finding Nemo lately, and Cars, of course.  We got a goldfish recently... I wish I could spell his name.  baby hughes named him.... it kind of sounds like the noise of some taking a bite out of an apple.  I call him Chomp. 

 I am keeping swimming while my head is flooded with *stuff* Booth stuff, etsy stuff, house stuff, 2nd birthday party stuff.  I have so many ideas and plans and not enough time to accomplish them all.  So, I took a break to take some pretty photos of what is happening outside my front door.  The bugs didn't take down my gardenia topiaries... and it is starting to smell like heaven outside my front door (my heaven smells like gardenias and waffle cones and baby with sunscreen with a splash of grapefruit... what does yours smell like?) 

We have been busy this week painting and screenprinting and stenciling stuff for the booth.  I still have to get my big piece painted.... that will have to wait to tomorrow.  Thank goodness for the long weekend!  And, I need to find time to update the etsy shop with some of the new stuff that we have started making. But, that will have to wait until after next Friday.  Plus, I have all the sudden wanted to start working on birthday party stuff for my little guy, we are having a "Whooo's Twooo?" party complete with all kinds of owl stuff... I am wanting to get a the rescue society to come out with some owls, but that might just be too much for the little guy.... not baby hughes.  The owl.  He would probably want to love it to death like Lenny.

Aren't they pretty?  Usually they are pink, but one day I watered them with the same can that I fertilized the gardenias with... and it turned them kind of blue.  It was a nice surprise.  I am glad that it blew up with flowers this year so I don't feel bad for taking a few and putting them in the house.

This is seriously the only pretty part of the house.  Every surface is covered with something.  Toys, projects, the floor is crunching from all the little *accents* that baby hughes has been throwing about.  And, we have a playdate tomorrow, so I need to clean on top of it all.  But, taking a short break just seemed more fun.

Hope you all have a fantabulous weekend!  We will be here, dealing with all the *stuff* and probably have a few beers and margaritas.

Cheers!

First Peony and Some Random Goodness

Hello Lovelies!  I hope you are having a great weekend.  We have been busy coming up with stuff for the booth.  We visited the booth this weekend and took measurements and photos to help me plan it out. I am planning on being in the booth the 1st Friday in June. Mr. Hughes took the picture of our 1st peony this season on Friday and I decided to go out and take some photos of our front porch and other little things that I have accomplished in the past couple of weeks.  I planted these peonies 3 years ago and this is the first year that this bright pink one came up.  I don't like where they are anymore, so I would love to move them... anyone have any tips for doing this?  We planted a peony bed in the back and I want these to go up there.  And, naturally, since it was so pretty, I clipped a few today and brought them in.

Nothing like them!  I clipped the lighter pink one too and added it to a tiny vintage mercury glass vase.

I really like this little vignette... I made a little burlap "est. 2006" and framed it and hung it above our wedding cake topper.  I had this kind of peony in my bouquet, so it is *perfect*

And, speaking of perfect, look what I found in a store that I hardly ever go in...

That's right... a wool hooked owl pillow for my owl crazy baby hughes!  I love it!  Now, I probably would have passed this up a few years ago, but I think it adds the perfect bit of quirk to our entry.

Moving on to other flowers... Mr. Hughes brought me home a gardenia to kill!  He actually suggested that I start a new blog called "The Dead Plant Diaries."  I actually just registered it...  It really isn't that bad... gardenias are suicidal. I will enjoy the heavenly scent and then move it outside where we will all be much happier.

I have heard that this is a blogger no-no, but here is our front door.  (Bad guys, we have an alarm system, guns, sharp knives and we are a little unstable, so don't bother.)  Do you see that hydrangea to the left?  Take that, Mr. Hughes... I haven't killed it!  In fact, it is thriving and is going to explode in a week.

This is one of my gardenia topiaries... the non-sick one... the other one has mealy bugs... I am open to suggestions to get rid of them!  I can't wait for it to bloom... it will smell so good every time we open the door.

Here is a little rusty mailbox that we found a few years ago.  These flowers seem to be doing well... but I think they are confused... they are supposed to grow down...

Now, this is a before of some chairs that I decided to ruin last year... they used to be medium oak.  I decided to paint them and just leave them outside.  Well, they are shabby now.  I wanted to give them a little pick me up.

So the pair got painted black... they are still quite worn.  I almost wish I would have painted them black originally and left them inside. 

Then, I added these great numbers that I had specially made.  I have listed them in my etsy shop along with some really neat write on labels.  I saved back a 1 and 2 for these chairs and a 3 for a small baby hughes size chair.

Some of you may remember me talking about buying a table at the Bloomin' Garden Show...  and how that table almost didn't fit in our car and how we had to take the carseat out of the middle and move it to the side...well, here it is.  It was perfect for our front porch and totally worth the trouble.

Well, that is all the trouble I got into this weekend.  There is still time to enter my *giveaway*

Bye for now!

Last Weekend

Well, I know it is Thursday Night and I am just now writing about our fun last weekend, but this week has been extremely busy with planting and bubbles and just enjoying the weather.  But here goes... oh, and this is a disclaimer... this post is long with lots of mediocre photos.... I had a baby on my hip the whole time trying to grab my camera.  

Last weekend we went to the Bloomin' Garden show like we do every year.  They were missing a few of our favorite vendors... Gardenia Liar Lady and Mr. Smokesalot who sells the most amazing citrus trees.  But, it was still quite great.

We got to see the wildlife rescue that rehabilitates birds.  There was a hawk and a crow.  But, most importantly (to baby hughes at least) there was a baby owl.  Unfortunately, the owl was in a little box and was quite sleepy... poor thing had fallen out of the tree...so I didn't get a photo.  The crow got his attention though... he was very loud.  We did find out in the booth next to this one that there is a whole owl sanctuary less than 30 minutes away... we will be checking that out soon.

These lilies were so pretty... and HUGE!

I so wanted one of these, but they were a little more than I wanted to spend.

This was a really neat water feature... too rustic for me, but the sound of the water was great coming off the tin roof

I love wheat grass!

This is part of one of the booths that I am always excited to see at this show... 

These canning jars were so neat with their glass lids... I came home with 2!

More vintage goodness!

Wanted it all!!  Look at those great urns!  And that is a horse waterer... I guess...I really don't know anything about horses

I have always wanted a tole chandelier... this one was petite and so cute

And check out that mirror... I am still regretting leaving that one there!

And, now here is one of my favorite places to visit... this is the booth that Three French Hens and The Roost in Nolensville set up.  We actually met these sweet ladies last year at this show and now we drive to Nolensville just to go to these 2 shops.  Check out the split peas... I want to buy some and put them in all kinds of stuff.... I just don't like peas!

Wanted this too!  Their booth was darling, lots of treasures.

Why oh why did I leave this bin there?  Hmm, maybe they still have one.

I also really want one of these necklaces.  The colors are so pretty!

I love moss wreaths

And, look at what they did with this brass chandelier... covered it in moss and wrapped the arms in fabric.  You can find this type of chandelier at the Habitat Home Store and do the same thing for your garden.

Moving on... so, after I bought a table from that booth (I will show you photos of it in a future post) we left the garden show to go out to Nolensville.  We had been there the past weekend and we found this great farmer's stand that was selling ferns and gardenia topiaries amongst other things.  Well, his prices couldn't be beat and his Boston ferns were HUGE!  Well, we bought 2 gardenia topiaries and some sun ferns for the deck.  So, naturally, we went back the following weekend when we had more space and bought the Bostons.  It was the weekend of the Buttercup Festival.  SO cute! And pretty busy.  We didn't get any photos, just because we weren't thinking. 

Well, we Mr. Hughes got this one... This was in the back of a little courtyard by a creek.  I want this to be my Studio!  

We found a great new shop that will be open for once a month sales.... Roses and Rustics.  The owner, Jane, has an amazing eye, I will definitely take photos next month at her sale.

After we bought 4 ginormous ferns, we started home.  We went through downtown Franklin and stopped by to see Scarlett and stopped by our weekly haunt

Sweet CeCe's.  Is Tennessee the only place where Frozen Yogurt is "in" again?  This place is too cute and baby hughes adores it.  He and I always share and my chocoholic husband gets his own... baby hughes and I prefer the fruity or non- chocolate stuff.

Then, on Sunday, Nana came to watch baby hughes while Mr. Hughes and I went to see this guy at the Ryman:

Can't tell who it is?  It is David Gray... one of the best shows ever.  He is amazing.  And great.  And British... have I mentioned I like most things British *wink*

Anyhow, I just found out that he is coming back to Nashville in August with the guy that just blows me away, Ray Lamontagne.  LOVE him.  And, it will be, I am sure, my all time favorite concert.  

So, last weekend was full of fabulousness.  And, as I am writing this, I am supposed to be packing for this weekend.  We were going to check out some places in North Carolina, but we just don't think baby hughes can take a 7 hour trip this weekend.... teething still and a little grumpy.  So, we are going to Chattanooga to the aquarium and stopping in some little towns along the way.

Here's hoping your weekend is muy spectacular!

My favorite flower

 

Image found at Frolic

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that peonies were my 2nd favorite flower.  What?!?  How can they no t be my first favorite.  Many of you asked what my favorite one was.  Well,  that spot has belonged to the Anemone for years now.  Sometimes the color changes (it is white right now,) but my favorite will always be this lovely flower with the big black center.  I wanted them so badly at my wedding, but they weren't in season.  I had to "settle" for peonies, hydrangeas and gerber daisies.  Don't get me wrong, my bouquet was beautiful.... 

  

(I wish I had one in color, but I don't while I am here at work on my lunch... I stole this off of my facebook page.  But, the peonies were white and pink with green hydrangeas and a darker pink gerber.)

Check out these next 2 and see if your favorite flower doesn't change:

Photo found at ambiencefloral.com

 

 Photo found at Brides.Com

Oh, and I am loving that dress...

It makes me want to plan another wedding.  I keep offering to divorce Mr. Hughes just so we can get remarried to each other and I get another wedding...  He doesn't seem up for it.  It isn't "cost-effective" or in our "budget."  C'mon!  What is he thinking?  I would even get to have a ring bearer this time, baby hughes, of course.

So, what is your favorite flower?