Mother's Day

Yesterday my husband brought me home tulips for Mother's Day. Isn't it amazing what fresh flowers do for a table and for a room? The whole room came alive with just that simple addition.

My kids, not to be outdone, decided to write messages for me on our driveway. I'm sure they don't realize this but the better gift was those two playing together in peace. My oldest and my youngest, ohhhh the arguments they have, always bugging one another. Thirty minutes of playing with no arguing, no teasing, no shoving......yup, now that's a perfect Mother's Day present right there.

To all my blog readers that are lucky enough to be celebrating this weekend with their precious children, whether they are playing peacefully or not, Happy Mother's Day!

Cottage Gardening

Ever since we moved into this house 4 years ago, I've been slowly working on curb appeal and landscaping....painting, planting perennials, trimming, and dreaming. It's a slow process due to budget constraints but eventually I know I'll have the cottage garden I dream of.

Last year I had a woman come to my house to pick something up that I listed on craigslist. As we walked to the backyard she looked at the small space by the side of my house and said, "Your garden is so pretty."

My GARDEN??

It was such a simple compliment but it meant so much to me. She thought I had a pretty garden....not just a random collection of plants thrown together, a garden. To someone like me who has trouble putting plants together, it was a moment of pride.

I'll continue planting in my garden this summer, making our little yard shine just a bit more. And someday....just someday, I'll be staring at a garden like the ones above.

Sources:

1. Martha Stewart

2. Country Living

3. http://definingyourhome.blogspot.com/2008/11/garden-inspiration-cottage-garden.html

4. Meadowbrook Farm (Endless amounts of garden inspiration!)

5. http://images.mooseyscountrygarden.com/chelsea-flower-show/2004/60/

Novica

A few months ago I was approached to review product for a website called NOVICA. The website was new to me and I had a great time browsing through the entire site, I'm pretty sure I looked at every category. After much deliberation, I settled on jewelry. My choices were the rose quartz beaded bracelet and the gorgeous necklace you see below called Snow Blossom. It's white, shocking, I know......

I took a little while to do my review because I wanted to wear the items and give an accurate review. After ordering, the package came quickly. The items came in such pretty boxes that, if you were ordering as a gift, would require no wrapping.

After wearing both pieces, I can tell you that I am absolutely thrilled. The quality is wonderful, they are beautiful and I have received a ton of compliments on the necklace. I can wear my Snow Blossom necklace with a dressy outfit or spruce up a basic jeans and t-shirt day.

There are many different sections to browse such as, Home Decor, Furniture, Handbags, Tableware and Corporate Gifts .

If you are looking for handmade items that are created with care, I would recommend this site to my blog readers.


From their mission statement:

"We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow. "

Happy Shopping!!

http://www.novica.com/

fair trade corporate gifts
Novica Live
green gifts
microfinance

Sunday

Happy Easter from our family to yours!!

Spring Dreaming

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It's cold and snowing here on this April 1st! Welcome to Pennsylvania! This weather has me down so I needed some perking up with pretty pictures that remind me of spring. The real spring, not this white, wet, cold stuff we're doing now.

How's the weather where you live?

Growing Up

This little boy is officially registered for Kindergarten 2011-2012! It's a sad thought that he'll be in school a full day next year. He's the youngest and when the youngest goes to school, there are officially no more babies in the house. No more lazy mornings spent in pajamas, no more lunches out with his mama, no more random trips to Target to get him a toy "just because."

Nope, he'll be with the big kids. I'm going to enjoy every last minute of this school year while he's still home.

I'm going to miss that dimpled face of his when he's in school.

My baby is growing up.

Granola Take 2

Okay I'm probably boring you right now with two granola bar posts but I made the new ones yesterday and wanted to post before I forgot. They were a hit with the kids! I did replace the raisins in the recipe with chocolate chips. My kids just will not eat raisins. You could probably starve them for a week and they still wouldn't touch them.


The recipe calls for quite a bit of oil which isn't a big deal for the kids but for us adults that are watching our calories, there are suggestions in the comments for replacing it with peanut butter, applesauce, etc. to cut down. They are more like dessert than granola bars.

You can find the recipe HERE . Enjoy!!