My Roses pictures in Sepia

A little while ago John gave me a bouquet of flowers and there were some beautiful roses in the arrangement. I decided to take some of the pictures and make them sepia colored. I love the way they turned out!

It is raining cats and dogs here!!

We are having horrible weather here in Charlotte! It is monsoon type rains here! We are also having thunder and lightning. Yesterday the sun was out and had gotten warm again, but not today it is hovering around 49 degrees right now. I want my spring lovely weather back!

Hope you are having better weather in your part of the world!

Etsy Jewelry Site

Just wanted to let everyone know I am turning off my etsy jewelry site until 5/1/11. As you all know, I am in the process of moving and I feel I can't take care of my customers in the manner I have been in the past. I will be opening the shop again on 5/1 and I will be posting alot of new items then! Thanks for all your past purchases and I hope you hang in there for the new ones!!

The Beauty of Bird Nests

I have always been fascinated by bird nests. My Nana taught me at a very young age all about the different kinds of birds and their nests. We would walk around her property and she would find all these lovely bird nests, some occupied and some not. I remember the very first robin nest I found. I was walking around with her and I spied the robin flying along and then disappearing into a tree and then almost as quickly fly out. I told Nana about it and she said well lets have a look. We carefully pulled back the branches of the tree and lo and behold there was a nest with 4 lovely blue eggs in it!! I was so excited I almost toppled the eggs out of the nest! She pulled me aside gently and explained that I should only look at the eggs and enjoy them with my eyes not my hands. It intrigues me how these little birds find bits of mud, hair, straw, grass, etc. and weave these intricate nests-works of art actually! Over the years I have collected abandoned birds nest of all kinds. I am sorry to say they did not fare well when we moved from NJ to NC. Most were destroyed. Once we get settled in our house next month, I will be starting a new collection of them. Hopefully I will be able to share them with my grandson that is due in July when he gets older.

All these pictures I found on google.com.


What a beautiful nest tucked in the branches of a tree. This is one of my favorite pictures I found online.


Robin Nest


This is a bluebirds nest with eggs. I love the coloring of their eggs almost as much as a robins.


This is a cardinals nest. How dull colored the eggs are compared to the beautiful coloring the cardinals have. I am sure the eggs are colored this way so they blend into the nest.


This is a painted nest I found online-really pretty!

Just remember if you are going to start a collection of nests, make sure the nests have been abandoned-we wouldn't want to take someones home! Now I sound like my Nana!!

My Nature Stroll around the neighborhood.

Yesterday when I got home from work it was so nice outside. I grabbed my camera and John and I set our for a walk around our neighborhood. We knew rain was in the forecast for this weekend, so it was a perfect time to stroll around and snap some photos of everything that is blooming.


These lovely little pansies are in a wire basket my Mom gave me. They are right at the front door to greet everyone.

The wisteria is really blooming in the courtyard now. The scent is heavenly!







The beautiful magenta tree peony I've got is just starting to open it's first bud!


My mint is growing rather nicely. Can't wait to make the mojitos of the season!!



This beautiful dianthus is blooming in a large container on our patio.


I was shocked my moss rose has buds on it already! That means roses are not far away.

Carolina Jasmine is blooming like crazy here and it is absolutely gorgeous. Here are some of my neighbors fences dripping with Carolina Jasmine-they are just beautiful!!







The knockout roses are blooming already around he neighborhood. Here are some glimpses of them:








Lastly, the dogwood trees are starting to bloom. I couldn't get a closer picture, but they are really gorgeous!

Dining Room Paint Choices

When we move into the new rental the Dining Room is painted blue. While I like blue, I don't care for this color blue for my Dining Room. I looked online and have narrowed it down to either a pale green Dining room or a cream dining room with green accents. I think I am leaning towards the cream dining room with green accents. Here are some of the photos I found on google to help me make a choice:


I love the paint color in this foyer. It would look really nice in a dining room though I think.


I love this color green. The lighter wood table is very pretty, but my table is a golden oak antique table, which would still look really nice with the green.


I love this Dining Room! The cream color is just perfect and I love the greenery in the centerpiece on the table and the 2 urns on the sideboard.


This is a very elegant dining room. I love the graceful curve of the chairs! Just gorgeous. The huge green arrangement on the table just is enough pop against the cream. This is my favorite room!


There really isn't any green in this room except the stems on the beautiful flowers, but I do love that table! Here's another thought too cream with black accent

It is so nice to be able to decorate and make a house a home again!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Spring has Sprung at our House!

I went outside to water all my plants in the courtyard and guess what y'all, Spring has sprung at our house!!! It has been really warm here and it has made my flowers pop. I just love it!! Come on a little walk with me...


This wisteria is actually my neighbors. It climbs up the fence and comes and visits us and I love it! Just gorgeous!




The fragrance from this wisteria is just awesome! It is a sweet, cinnamon scent to me.




I have about 5 hostas and this one is just unfurling before our eyes!!


This huge bud is on my tree peony. There are some other buds forming too. It is a gorgeous magenta color with a golden center-just beautiful.


This water sprinkled lamb's ears is one of my favorite plants. The leaves are just so soft, just like a little lambs ears!


I planted this dianthus last year in one of my planters. I love the color and the scent!


I bought my annual basil plant a week ago. It has tripled in size already!

Thanks for coming on my little courtyard tour. Enjoy Spring!!

Wooohooooo! We have a house!!

We have finally heard from our realtor and they have accepted our application for the house we wanted!!!! I am so excited and relieved! John called to tell me and seriously I wanted to cry. It has been so stressful on both of us. The owners asked us to wait one more week from what they had originally said and that works out perfect for us! We will be moving boxes over starting 4/26 and moving our furniture over on 5/7. It will be wonderful! That gives me more time to pack and get rid of some things. It will also give us more time to arrange for a truck, help, etc. This house has a fenced in yard for Teddy (our Golden Retriever) to romp around and a really nice paver patio! The owners said I can also garden and they are really happy that if we like it there we will buy it from the in 2 yrs! I also got my front porch and the owners said we can put up a porch swing if we want too! We can also paint the rooms any color we want to!

This is one happy day in our family! Thanks for everyone putting up with me, saying prayers for us and crossing your fingers :)!

I'm not ignoring everyone, just won't be posting everyday.

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not ignoring you all, John and I have been trying to find a rental home and it has consumed all of our time. Our Landlord put the townhouse we have been living in for the past 2 yrs. on the market and we are looking for a new home but it seems our area of Charlotte has become the popular spot and as soon as something comes on for rent it is snatched up right away! We have been answering ads, going round to prospective rentals with realtors and so far nothing has worked out. We are optimistic that the right house for us is right around the corner! I will be posting but it might not be every day until this frustrating, exhausting task is done.

Hope you all understand!

The Potting Bench

I have always wanted to have a proper potting bench for my garden. I saw this potting bench on an e-mail I received from Country Living yesterday:


The woman that created this lovely bench took a portion of her garage and gathered all the supplies to make it. She bought a sink, kitchen cabinets, etc. and created a beautiful potting bench! Just amazing. This would be my ultimate potting bench!! Just gorgeous!

That got me thinking about potting benches in general and I found these lovelies online:


This lovely green (green is my favorite color!!) potting bench has a sink in it too. It looks like the sink was repurposed, which is an awesome idea!! I love the color of this bench against the brick. I love this one as much as the one above!


The weathered blue paint and gray of the wood on this one is just perfect! While it doesn't have a sink, it has plenty of room for repotting plants, storing things, watering cans. etc. I love the ivy in the pot on it too!


This bench was on benches.com. This bench isn't as big as the others but it is functional and works well if you don't have a large space for it. I love the graceful lines of it.

I'm going to save these pictures and someday I am going to create my own potting bench just for me! Everyone have a lovely day, the weather here is just gorgeous!!

Spring Flowers at the Botanical Garden

Sunday John and I went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden. It was a lovely sunny day! Here are some Spring lovelies we saw:



Love these sunny yellow Daffodils!


The Orchid Extravaganza was just beautiful and wonderful! This lovely orchid was one of my favorites!


Hellebores are wonderful plants. These mauve ones are my favorites!


These coral colored quince just popped out from amongst the green. Isn't this color gorgeous!!


These white anemones are just gorgeous!!


These ruffled purple pansies were so cute! They always have these lovely little "faces"!


Pink anenomes are so beautiful!


These peach colored orchids were just stunning!


I have always loved begonias. These lovely pink blossoms were just hanging there looking beautiful.


I always felt crocus were one of the first flowers of Spring.


This pink camellia is my favorite photo! I just love camellias.


In the conservatory there was an orchid case and inside that glass case was this absolutely gorgeous orange orchid grouping!


This tropical plant was very unusual.The vivid red and yellow was so rich!


I don't know what this plant is called but it was really beautiful! This vine was just hanging amongst the greenery and it was just gorgeous!


This large urn was filled with these beautiful orchids. Actually there were two huge urns on the way into the orchid conservatory.

I have alot more photos but this is all I'm going to show you. I just love the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden and enjoy every visit there!!