LET'S TAKE THIS OUTSIDE

About two weeks ago, a good friend of mine accompanied me on a little landscape shopping excursion.

She is a very experienced gardener, something I am not. 

This is what we came home with.....

  

Okay, so it turns out it wasn't such a little shopping excursion.  

In my defense, I had been patiently waiting on this semi-annual plant sale for months. 

Okay, let me mentally prepare you for the next picture.  

I've been keeping an ugly secret from you, our backyard.

This is how part of our backyard has looked for three years now. 

It's so embarrassing that we sometimes pretend it's not even our yard.

It was time to stop pretending and start planting. 

I know this isn't the best after picture, but you must admit, it's a huge improvement. 

Let's just ignore the ugly concrete sidewalks and the hideous 2x4 handrails.  

We got a call from our insurance company soon after we purchased the house.  

They said if we did't get a handrail up in 48 hours, 

they would cancel our home owner's insurance policy. 

We hastily had one put up and it is unfortunately still there. 

Here's my grand plan to hide the ugly concrete sidewalks in between the terraced beds. 

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I plan to order loads of pea gravel to go directly over top of the concrete.  

Then I will add some natural stepping stones for a path. 

Problem solved (after hauling load after load of pea gravel down the stairs).

The bottom of the yard is fairly flat and the top of the yard is covered in concrete.

Both areas need tons of attention.

One thing at a time.  

Oh yes, and while we were plant shopping, we picked up some lovely sedum plants. 

I planted my right away in my big pots on the front porch.

The very helpful employee at the nursery said, and I quote, 

"If you kill these plants, you should just hang up your gardening gloves for good". 

I went to check on them earlier in the week and was disturbed to see this. 

I thought the deer had gotten a hold of this poor little plant.

Then my husband pointed this out to me.....

There on the side of the porch, hidden from sight, sat these poor plucked off leaves.

I immediately confronted my little guy.  

Believe it or not, he tried to blame the neighbor.

After a harsh interrogation, he fessed up.  

I'm thinking an appropriate punishment might be

to have him hot glue each leaf back on the stem.  

That'll teach him to mess with my plants.

Kidding! Have a great weekend. 

KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

I recently stumbled up on this cute little index card box at the thrift store for 50 cents.  

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  

Since my kids were little, I have had a similar box (ugly and plastic) in my kitchen.  

When they would say something that would have me laughing so hard I was crying, or something down right silly, I would write it on an index card along with the date and file it under their name.

There have been plenty of occasions when we were out and about and something was said that I desperately wanted to remember.  In that case, I would just jot it down on a scrap piece of paper and file that in the box when we got home.

I love sharing the crazy things that come out of their mouths with the grandparents.  

I often get "You have to write that down".  

Most of the time I can reply with  "I already did!"

I transferred the cards to this more fashionable box.  

I used to keep the plastic box hidden away in the cabinet.  

Now I can proudly display the new one on the kitchen counter. 

Way back when they were babies, I kept a journal everyday about what they would say and do. 

Well, of course baby number one has every dirty diaper documented.  

When baby number two came along, I was lucky if I recorded his first word.  

I can barely remember baby number three's birthdate!  Kidding.  

However, with three kids four and under, I had to simplify.  

The index card system made me feel good about preserving memories 

without having to pull out a baby book or three everyday.

Do you have a system in place for remembering the "darndest" things your kids say.

Sharing with:
Savvy Southern Style 

GREEN WITH ENVY

I have been pondering starting a little collection.  

Problem is, I wasn't sure what I wanted to collect.  

Well, this beautiful photograph helped me decide.

I just can't seem to get this image out of my head.

I love everything about these rooms 

(minus the white ceiling fan over the dining room table).

But I especially love the collection of green vases.

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I was contemplating collecting jadite pieces.
I was even on the lookout for them at the last antique show I attended.

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However, I don't actually plan on using the pieces, I just want to display them.
Jadite is fairly easy to come by, but certain pieces can be pricey.

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I think I prefer a mix of shades of green/blue and a mix of variation of of styles for my collection.

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I have the perfect spot to display the collection.
Right here in this antique cabinet that belonged to my husband's grandmother.
It currently houses my daughter's collection of miniature tea sets.
I think we can find another spot for those.

Are you the collecting type?
I am excited to start my search.

OUT AND ABOUT

When I am out and about, I always snap a few I-phone pictures of things that catch my eye. 

Most often, I come home empty handed.

This gigantic glass lamp at Anthro had me drooling.  

The price tag, on the other hand, did not. 

Yes, I'm a little obsessed with brass and this assortment at an antique fair peeked my interest.  

I went home with three brass swans.  

Next stop, Ballard Designs Outlet.  I have no use for these pretty pale pink chairs, 

but one or two of them would look mighty fancy in a little girl's room.

I love the look of these oversize glass vases.

I should have noted the price, because I can think of a million uses for these.

This canvas map would make quite the statement.

I was seriously digging this orange settee.  Wish I had a place for it. 

Someone needs to go snag this round bone mirror. 

So, I like the wicker console and the wicker x benches, but not together.  

One or the other would be enough for me. 

Next stop, Grandin Road Outlet.  I kept going back to this red chair.  

I ended up leaving without it, but I definitely did a double take. 

And a white version of the Louis ghost chair.

This quirky metal arrow caught my attention.  Odd as it was, I bought it.  

Apparently, it qualified as wall art which happened to be 50% off that day.

It's hanging in the playroom now.  I'll show you soon.

Now, on to TJ Maxx. 

Gotta love this place.  Where else can you score a wicker chair, 

a purple bra and some strappy sandals all in once place.

I definitely don't need anymore toys or stuff in my house, but if I did, 

I could hide them away in these awesome canvas storage baskets. 

Since Target is my second home, I snapped a picture of these great round storage ottomans. 

I love the nailhead trim.

Yes, I've been all over the place lately.  

This child size vintage beverage cart was for sale

at a huge outdoor antique show I attended over the weekend.

I didn't buy it, but it was so darn cute. 

As was this child size library cart. It was sold before we got to it. 

Believe it or not, I came home completely empty handed from the show. 

However on the way home, we stopped at three, yes, you heard me, three different TJ Maxx stores.   My friend was on the hunt for a particular pillow sham.  

She found the sham and I made small purchases from each TJ Maxx.  

So much for coming home empty handed. 

I didn't buy this super cool bench, but it would look so fabulous at the end of a bed. 

I really am more of a browser than a buyer.

How about you, are you a browser or a buyer?  

PURE MICHIGAN

 Way back in August, we took a trip to Northern Michigan.  

It was our first time vacationing in the beautiful state. 

We stayed in a cozy cottage in the woods in the small town of Bellaire

We made the short drive to a beach almost everyday. 

The water was so clean and the rock collecting kept the kids busy for hours. 

I thought it was more fun than collecting seashells. 

Here is my son's rock fortress.  They thought it was more fun than sand also. 

Don't worry, as soon as we got home, both boys got a haircut!

We loved hanging out in the little town of Bellaire.  

There were cute shops, great ice cream and fabulous restaurants. 

Believe it or not, they didn't intentionally color coordinate with the chairs.

Just stopped to take a break.

After a long day at the beach, we started a little fire at the cottage, roasted hotdogs and made s'mores.

The perfect s'more.

A look at our surroundings. 

Our favorite part of the vacation was a little day trip we took to Mackinac Island.

We loaded our bikes onto the ferry and spent the day pedaling around the island.

And of course we stopped to check out all the sights. 

The homes on the island were absolutely gorgeous.  I found myself daydreaming about living there.

I'm not sure I would love the winters, but I could definitely handle spending my summers living in one of those amazing homes perched on top of the hill.  

We also spent a day at the Dunes, which I also blogged about here.  

Standing at the bottom of the dunes, I thought the hike up would be pretty easy.

Not the case, my friends.  I am in good shape and I was huffing and puffing half way up the first dune.

The kids were troopers, but boy were they exhausted at the end.

Even though we didn't make it all the way to the Lake, this view made was worth the effort. 

Overall it was a great trip and the kids are already looking forward to going back. 

Where did you spend your summer vacation?