Concert in the park

 We had a triple date planned and my friend Katie found out about a free symphony concert in the park. We all packed up some snacks and went out and enjoyed.

I love times out like that. I love that our city has events like this. Other then the nice weather this is why summer is my favorite time of year.

Our first build....Again

We're gearing up to build our second house (to sell) so I thought I would show you all the pictures and end result of our last house we built. I showed you a few picture a long time ago, but here's the inside, a couple of days before the new owners moved in.

Father's Day

 

So Father's Day. We decided that the easiest way to have us all together and celebrate and not have to split the day between the families is to have a big party at our place.

The plan was to order in Thai but turns out I didn't plan as well as I thought and the Thai place wasn't open until the evening...so lunch ended up being what was planned for our evening snacks....

...That didn't seem to matter too much because our snacks were very good. It was a hot day and we had spent the morning at church and then at the car show they have every year so add being really full to that and you get this...

...Lots of sleeping men...

After their nap we went outside and enjoyed the shade in the yard and it was gift time.

I told the dad's that they didn't look very happy with their gifts so they gave me this...better then not smiling I guess!

 

Isn't he cute? That's my man. I love him!!

Marshall is getting better at taking pictures of me (he took 6! ha ha) 

Ollie is always waiting for something to drop. He got some good treats that day!

My mom, gardening vicariously through my yard

As you know my mom is wonderful. She's always there for me and is always giving, always has good advice, is very encourage and is just all around fun to be around. Other then Marshall she's who I spend the most time with. I just have so much fun with my mom, she's my best friend.

My mom used to be really into gardening and loves doing it. She has a condo now so she doesn't have much space to work with. When she comes over I often wonder what's taking her so long to get in the house and I look out the window and she's started working in the front yard pulling weeds or prettying things up. She loves helping me make my yard wonderful and I love the help.

The other day she said "You need a hanging basket for by your front door" and the night went on to us going shopping for some plants and her putting together a basket for me. We found a basket in my garage (left from the last owners I think) and she worked with that.

It turned out pretty great right? She's not totally happy with the basket so I'll do a little update post when she finds something she really likes. But that's my mom for you, always giving, always helping, she's just all around a wonderful woman and mother!

My New Air Plants (yes, again....)

I got new air plants!! I didn't have the best luck with my first set of them and one by one they died off. I thought I was caring for them right but it turns out they do a lot better if you just mist them, instead of putting them in a bowl of water (note to self right?).

My girl friend who is studying horticulture told me that all she does is mist her's a few times a week and she's had it for well over a year...great...and all this time I thought I was caring for them right (what you find online isn't always correct!).

So as they were dying off I was putting the dead one in a bag and kept them in the back of my closet because I was hoping when the place I got them reopened for the season I could get replacements.

My mom had tried to get some new ones (she had the same problem) and they only have her like a 30% store credit of the original cost of the plant. I wasn't too hopeful at that point but I went there anyways on a date day with Marshall and I got all five of mine straight up exchanged. The attendant just told me to go and pick our new ones. I didn't even have to price match to get ones of the same value!

When we were leaving I felt like I had gotten away with murder (plant murder?) and was so excited that I got all new air plants!!

After my friend Sheri had told me how to care for the correctly I tried it on my one remaining air plant and it's worked so far so I'm certain that I can keep these five new ones alive.

And what's even more exciting? Now I have all this driftwood from our road trip that makes a perfect home for these plants!!



This one is sort of a cluster of a few small little air plants. Smaller variations of one of the other plants I have. I think if it grows I will find a way to separate them and maybe give a few as gifts.

(the above air plant was the one I still had. See it's doing pretty good right?)

I'm not too sure if I am going to keep the plants here but I thought I'd try it out for now. I'm loving how they just sit on the driftwood tho. It's so pretty and so similar to how they would grow in nature so I love it.

If you have air plants or are thinking of getting some here's some care info!