Through The Tulips Words of 'Wiz'dom

February 3, 2017

Happy February

Filed under: Holidays,Home,Life — gardener @ 12:34 pm

Day three of the second month of the year and I heard through the grapevine that we’ll be getting six more weeks of winter as Mister Phil saw his shadow.     Quite truthfully-  aside from the grey days and a few days of really cold weather, we haven’t seen ‘that’ much winter, so I wouldn’t mind a bit of snow.

I know-   my summer-loving friends are cursing me under their breath about right now, wondering how I could dare wish for such a thing when there are sunnier skies and warmer weather to be had.    I am a love-all-seasons kind of girl, and I do love the coziness or hygge of the winter months.   I’ve been getting some writing projects done, working on various organizing projects, plus work has been keeping me busy as well.  Add the social activities and life has a good buzz happening.

What about you?  Do you prefer the hustle and bustle of Summer or the coziness of Winter?

 

 

January 23, 2017

Getting Organized

Filed under: Home,Life,Things I Love,Women — gardener @ 11:01 am

It’s hard for me to believe that we are in the last week of the first month of 2017 and it seems like a huge blur.   When I look back, I can’t figure out where the month has gone, and I also can’t figure out what I’ve done this past month, although I know that I’ve accomplished more than my mind first thinks of.

I’ve been in the process of reorganizing my business supplies and finding a better way to utilize the space that I have.    At times- I wish I had more space or at least a professional organizer, but since I don’t- I’m making the most of researching containers to store things in and creating a better system to keep everything much more organized.

I know having photo props, event items, plus cake pans, fondants, cookie cutters, and ingredients all labeled and organized by season and so forth will make life SO much easier for me when it comes to creating-    I also love beautiful packaging, so I’ve got an ever growing supply of ribbon as well.  I love it though 🙂

What are your favorite tips for organizing supplies?    Any favorite product ideas you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them!

December 10, 2016

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Filed under: Gratitude,Holidays,Home,Life,Memories — gardener @ 12:31 pm

Marcel and I spent a few days away earlier in the week and on the first day we were gone, we arrived at our hotel to find that the ground was covered in white.  It wasn’t snow, but a heavy frost that stayed all day (with the exception of where the sun shined directly on it), and it was absolutely breathtaking.

I was able to grab a few photos before the sun went down, and my intention was to get up early the next morning and to visit some of the hiking trails and take a few more shots of the beautiful area and frost.    Unfortunately the blue skies were replaced with grey and during the night the frost had melted, leaving behind the magic of the frost.

Since I grew up in the Deep South and a white Christmas is almost unheard of,  I dream every year of having a White Christmas.   Since moving I’ve had one twice in the last fourteen years, plus I had one once when I lived in Williamsburg, but that’s all.    It’s beautiful, peaceful and filled with magic and I’d love one this year.    I know I’m not the only one, and I also know with snow comes road hazards, but Let it snow! Let it Snow!   If only for a day!

November 29, 2016

Grateful for Friends

Filed under: Gratitude,Holidays,Life,Things I Love,Women — gardener @ 12:30 pm

Sunday we celebrated “Friendsgiving” with a few friends.  One couple and their adorable children, plus the husband of a friend of ours.  She’s visiting her family and he was ‘home alone’, so we thought he would enjoy spending the day with us eating good food, laughing and playing games.   He felt that he would also, and said YES to joining us.  Roses

Even though I wasn’t feeling my optimum self, we still had a wonderful time and the food was delicious.   I brought several dishes and the hostess also made several dishes and it was more than enough to feed our very small crowd.   Plus we all had leftovers, which is always a huge plus in my book when it comes to Thanksgiving.    I’m grateful for these friends, plus my other friends both here and back ‘home’.   Life is better when shared with friends.

Martijn surprised Bobbi and I both with a huge bouquet of flowers each.  The photo is a shot of my flowers-   and is one of my favorite bouquets to receive of all time.  I love the white roses with the red ornamental peppers-   There’s something about the pop of color that makes me happy every single time I look at them.

How did you spend your Thanksgiving?

Slow Progression

Filed under: Home,Life — gardener @ 12:23 pm

If you know me in my real life- then chances are you’ve seen some of the improvements we’ve made to our home over the past year. I would love to be able to say that we are done, but truth is- it’s a slow process. We get sidetracked with other projects and other things take priority, and the home improvements take the back burner.

With all that being said- there is still a LOT to be done, but progress is being made, albeit slowly, so I can’t and won’t complain. We still have painting to do, plus some painting that has been done has to be touched up due to doors hitting the wall and so forth. I’ve found some wonderful lighting at www.warehouselighting.com, plus we are now considering the idea of ceiling fans for the living room and both of the bedrooms that are used as bedrooms. There is a lot to decide, but we have time.

One thing is for certain- I definitely want to see more progress being made over the next year or so. It’s time.

A New Month Cometh

Filed under: Holidays,Inspiration,Life,Life's Little Hiccups — gardener @ 12:17 pm

Can you believe tomorrow is the last day of November? Don’t worry- I can’t either but I admit I’m ready for the holiday month! After a really big day of sadness on Saturday (which I have attributed to missing being home for the holidays, plus hormones), I came out the other side feeling pretty awesome and festive. After all- tis the season and all that jazz.

The reality is- despite the fact that some people think that my life is always perfect and I’m always happy- that isn’t the case. I would be lying to you and myself to pretend that was the case. I have bad days- sometimes (as in Saturday), I have really bad ones. In this case there was no rhyme or reason other than the aforementioned ones. I usually try to figure out what’s going on and when I can’t, I try to focus on all the blessings in my life (and there are many) and my mood shifts on its own. This time that didn’t happen, but rather than make it harder on myself, I gave myself the time to feel what I was feeling, went to bed that evening and the following day woke up feeling somewhat better. I felt a little like I was coming down with a bug- but I attributed that to all the toxic that was running through my veins the day before and it needed to come out in one way or the other. Sunday night I slept really well and by yesterday I felt like an entirely new person. Like “ME” again.

The lesson in this? For me- I knew that being honest with myself and my feelings was essential. I couldn’t find a specific reason behind how I was feeling, but I gave myself the time to work through whatever ‘it’ was that I couldn’t fully define and it worked itself out. I was true to what I needed and went with it. No negative attachments, it was what it was. I didn’t live there- but I went there for a little while. We all do.

You know what? It isn’t a bad thing. It’s in the darkness and coming out into the light- that we really find ourselves appreciating it even more. That was the case with me- and I continue to feel that today.

I am grateful for the life I have- and for the people in it.

What about you? What are you grateful for today?

Making Progress

Filed under: Home,Life,Life's Little Hiccups — gardener @ 12:04 pm

This morning I went out to our storage shed with the idea that I was going to browse our Christmas decorations and possibly find some inspiration as to what we would like to do for our tree this year in terms of size and decoration / theme. What happened instead, was me going down a rabbit hole of getting certain things organized out there, as I couldn’t make heads or tails of some of the boxes out there. I found several rca cables just lying on a shelf. No name, no labels, no boxes they should go in nearby. I also found some flower pots that should have been tossed last season due to cracks and so forth. Needless to say, it was a productive time in the shed, but not the same type of productivity that I’d envisioned. BUT with that being said- it’s one less thing to have to think of that I can check off my ‘to do’ list- even if I didn’t have any idea it was ‘that bad’ out there.

Do you have a space in your home or garage that seems to never stay organized?

A Few of My Favorite Things

Filed under: Gratitude,Holidays,Home — gardener @ 11:59 am

Do you ever have certain things about seasons that bring you a great deal of joy? I have a few things with Fall and Winter weather. One of my favorite things about being ‘home’ for the holidays (outside of the obvious time with family and friends), is that I love the days when it’s really cold and we have clear blue skies. I love to take that time to sit outside with a huge cup of coffee and enjoy! It’s perfect.

Here, the weather is often very cold and dreary- which doesn’t give way to the same type of euphoric feeling that the blue skies give. I don’t know what it is- but the sunshine and blue skies combined with cold- is perfect!

I’ve been EXTREMELY grateful for the fact that despite missing being ‘home’ for the holidays, the weather has been absolutely perfect- embodying all the things I love and miss about being ‘home’ in the South this time of the year.

My question to you, dear reader- What things about the season bring you joy? Not the obvious things- but the little things. The things that often are taken for granted or go unnoticed?

A New Sound

Filed under: In the Neighborhood,Life — gardener @ 11:52 am

Today Marcel and I were listening to a few tracks from something one of our neighbors is working on.  He gave Marcel a recording and asked for us to have a listen and give him some feedback.   I am not a fan of the type of music that he usually plays, but I have to admit that I loved the softer side to these tracks. I asked Marcel if he knew if Dave used a fxpansion, but he really had no idea. He did say that he’d ask just to satisfy my curiosity. I haven’t personally talked to Dave as of yet, but if this is a new side to his music that he’s hoping to explore, then I may just become a fan yet.

November 22, 2016

The Beginning of the End

Filed under: Gratitude,Women — gardener @ 9:18 am

That title sounds pretty gloomy doesn’t it?    It isn’t- I assure you.    It’s the week of Thanksgiving.   It’s also the beginning of the end of November, which means that we are walking up to the door of December and preparing to knock.

This year has been a blur for me.    Seriously-   When I think back, there have been so many wonderful moments-   Seeing Ainsley and Tyler say “I DO”,   seeing Caroline and Eric build their second home in the Deep South,  seeing my favorite sibling say I do and also move into his new home.     The list goes on and on.    I have so many favorite moments when I stop and think about it, but at the same time-  it seems like 2016 was just starting and the year of “Make it Happen” was beginning.

I haven’t read my list lately-   the card that I sent to myself at the beginning of the year of things I wanted to be ‘more’ of this year.     Where I haven’t accomplished some things (being in a regular exercise routine and dropping some of the extra weight I planned to drop), at the same time I haven’t given up, I’ve learned a lot about myself along the road, plus there are other things that happened that have been beautiful.

So while this may be the beginning of the end of 2016-   there is so much still to encounter, plus 2017 is shaping up to be an amazing year.    Maybe the best yet.

 

 

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