April Favorites

May! Finally!

I love May, I really think it is one of my favorite months.  The sun is finally shining, it's warm and it's just a happy month.

But before we get too excited about May, let's talk about all the things from April that were great.

First and most exciting, Mister and I jumped the gun on flower planting and starting on the yard and I couldn't be happier.  I've said it before, I want our whole yard flowers.  Mister is with me on this and has done an excellent job mulching and getting our yard prepped for all the flowers I want.  

Also this gave us a chance to put our metal anniversaries gifts to use.
See if you can spot them ;)

Other favorites this month included this Mexican mac and cheese dish. Totally not on my diet or what I should be eating but we had friends over and it was necessary.

Old Navy...I feel like they go through spurts there where things are great and things are terrible.  I ordered a couple things online and they were TERRIBLE but then I went in the store and gave them a large chunk of my paycheck.
I picked up some great spring/summer weekend items but am lacking spring stuff to wear to work.  Does anyone have any good suggestions where to look?

I recently switched to using BareMinerals Bare Skin foundation.  I haven't been using it consistently enough to give it a full review but so far, I really like it!  I haven't used a liquid foundation in years so this is a whole new world for me.  I picked up a (knock off) beauty blender to make the process even easier.  

And those were my April favorites...now let's do this, May!

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

Earlier this week I had the fabulous opportunity to visit the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden for a Tulip Event.  

I didn't know quite what to expect when going but I love flowers and I love animals so it seemed like a win win to me.

And a TOTAL win it was.  

We had a guided tour around the zoo and were able to learn all sorts of fascinating information about the flowers and tulips at the zoo.  The Cincinnati Zoo plants 110,000 tulips bulbs every year.  Isn't that nuts?! And boy oh boy they are beautiful!

After the event (and a delicious brunch!) we walked around the zoo and all of the animals were SO active.  

Mums the Word

I mentioned on Monday we picked up some mums over the weekend.

I cannot get enough of them.

I love the bright colors, the fullness and the punch of color they add to our yard.

Who knew mums came in such amazing colors?!

Now we just need some pumpkins to round out our fall decor!

But in the mean time...

The witch has landed! 

Of course my helper is never too far behind...

Floral and Bright

Last week I shared how our garden was growing. 

And this week it is time to see the rest of our yard. 

It is a toss up to me which one I love more...the veggies or the flowers.  

They both have special places in my heart.

I still am not entirely sure what I am doing in any area of the yard but I figure with enough water, love and attention something is bound to go right. 

I absolutely love pulling into our house and seeing these bright orange lovelies greet us.

I picked these little guys up on a whim from a local nursery and they have blossomed and multiplied like crazy and I just love them.  They are so bright and cheery!

My mother in law gave us this knock out rose bush for Mother's Day and it has taken off and is always the most beautiful fuscia color! 

Weekend Wrap Up : Mamas

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mamas (and dogs mamas!) out there!

We had a fabulous weekend celebrating ours around these parts.

We hosted a Mother's Day Luncheon on Saturday and our weekend was geared towards honoring them all weekend long!

Friday night my mama came up to help me get ready for the luncheon.

I love having help in the kitchen and if it's my mama, it's even better.

Saturday I squeezed in a quick bootcamp and then it was prep time for the luncheon.

We whipped up all sorts of goodies and had a full spread.

I wasn't able to taste any (stupid no sugar) but there were rave reviews on the Chocolate Mousse Pie and the Apple Fritter Cake. 

We had a fabulous day spending time with our families and eating yummy food!

Fun tidbit : Trader Joe's gave my mom these flowers for free because it was her first time there!
Sunday my mama and I shopped until we dropped and found some goodies.
(Loving this tank we picked up!  And this one that Mister gave me for Mother's Day)

Mister and I rounded out the day planting the knock out rose and mint his mom brought us!
I will say it again...if our yard could be all flowers, veggie and herbs we would be really happy!

Weekend Wrap Up : Highs and Lows

Oh Monday, you are here way too soon once again.

The weather this weekend was nothing short of perfection and we did our best to spend a lot of it outside.

Friday night we hit up Lowes (which is our spring Friday evening tradition #hugedorks) and picked up a ton of flowers and veggies because we knew we wanted to plant all day Saturday.

Once Spring arrives we had a mild (I use that word lightly) obsession with planting and flowers. 

If Lowes could go ahead and give us a gift card for about a million dollars to buy ALL the flowers that would be great.

Saturday went as planned and we planted our little hearts out.

Floyd even got in on the action.

Did you know the latest trend in gardening was to have your dog SIT on your flowers?

It works wonders...

We also planted our raised vegetable garden.

We are starting small this year and using a palette for our first go 'round.

A full DIY on the process will be coming to a blog near you shortly!

Floyd was extremely helpful in that planting process too...

Sunday did not go as planned, thanks to Floyd.

We woke up Sunday morning and he was just not acting like himself.  He wouldn't walk, get off our bed and was breathing strangely.  

We could just tell he was not himself and we decided to take him to the emergency vet.

Not the ideal place to spend our Sunday but in the he turned out to be okay.  

Initially we thought something was possibly stuck in his throat #panic 

They did X-rays and watched him for a while and he seemed to come around and thankfully did not have anything stuck.  He sure did scare us though.  

Needless to say our planned picnic did not happen but we did get some quality snuggling time in with our buddy.  We are just thankfully he is fine.  Lots of rest is in his future.

That and a chicken and rice diet which he does not seem to mind at all. 

How does your garden grow?

I'll be the first to admit that I know just about zero when it comes to gardening.

But I will also admit that I LOVE doing it and experimenting.

(With gardening gloves on, of course, I really hate getting my hands dirty. Ew yuck)

Last summer Mister and I dabbled in some gardening, planting and general yard sprucing up.

This year we have really gotten into more and I am loving it.

We have been buying flowers right and left.

We may be having beans and rice for dinner but gosh darnit we have a lot of flowers ;)

Honestly, I think we would both be happy if our entire yard were full of flowers and not grass. 

It seems like each weekend we end up at Lowes or a local nursery and pick up a few things here and there.  

Right now we are just trying different flowers and plants in different areas of the yard and praying for the best.

We've also experimented with buying flowers, bulbs and seeds from all different places.
We planted bulbs from Costco, seeds and lots of flowers from Lowes, a few random plants from a local nursery, succulents from Ikea and hostas and sweet potato plants from Meijer.  Just spreading our gardening love all over the city.

(my basil and rosemary are going bananas!)

This is the first year I've experimented with planting vegetables.  We picked up a raised vegetable container from Lowes and it has been so easy to use.  I planted cucumbers, onions and peppers.
Or so I thought.
I bought and planted 2 packets of pepper seeds.
You'll never guess what's growing...and it's not peppers.

After some research, I'm 99% sure I am growing squash.
I mean, I like squash, but I really wanted peppers.   The only thing I can figure out is that the seeds were mixed up in the packages.

The onions are finally starting to come up but I think the cucumbers may be a dud.
Regardless, I'm excited to be able to walk out the back door and pluck fresh veggies off the vine and cook them.

If you need me, I'll be in the yard.
Or at Lowes with my trusty assistant.