Why hello there pretty

I found this baby hiding out behind my shed. Well, the vase wasn't. I definitely don't remember these flowers last spring, but they could have been hidden underneath some unruly azalea shrubs. I have no idea what this flower is called, but I think it's gorgeous! Plus, that is one big bulb.

Hmmm, maybe putting the flower on the living room entertainment center was too subtle of a hint that the hubs should randomly surprise me with flowers every once in a blue moon. I guess I'll just have to wait and see on that one.

(Anyone know what this flower is called?)

Update- My gut instinct was telling me that the flower was a peonie, but the pink streaks were throwing me for a loop. My neighbor has the same flowers and she said they were peonies. Then, Pigtown Design showed pictures of some peonies she picked up at the farmer's market and mine look just like hers. I know that isn't the most exact and scientific of rationals, but I'm going with it.

Is it spring yet?

I love winter, as it's the perfect season for a pale person like myself. I love bundling up in cozy sweaters and wearing knit hats every possible second. I love hot chocolate and baking fresh muffins. I love skiing and snow ball fights. So it is with a great deal of difficulty that I have to admit I want it to be spring time.

I don't know if you heard, but Pantone declared Mimosa as the color of year. Thank goodness! I love yellow and now there are plenty of yellow accessories to choose from this year. Of course, my favorite color palette is black, white and yellow. You could say that I'm inspired by my dog:




Coach Parker Satchel. Okay, it isn't quite Mimosa, but it is definitely a playful shade of yellow. For a person who doesn't wear yellow well, such as myself, a bright yellow bag is a perfect way to get in on the trend without looking like a light bulb. The price tag, $458, is way out of my price range, but I can certainly dream. I could spend all of my birthday money on this one bag, but I'd rather buy a few items instead.


Kate Spade "Idiom" Thin Enamel Bangle. Even the name, "A Place in the Sun" is calling out to be worn during the spring and summer. There is even a bangle with polka dots if you like those better.


J. Crew Nicolette Strappy Heels. A list of yummy yellow accessories wouldn't be complete without something from J.Crew. Preppy and bright go hand and hand at J. Crew. These sandals are yellow without being too much yellow material. I think I could pull these off a lot easier than say a pair of bright yellow patent leather pumps.


CB2 Daisy Pillow. The poster child of Mimosa! I would have bought these pillows already, but I don't live anywhere near a CB2 store and I'd rather see them in person before purchasing them (oh, who am I kidding, I'll probably end up buying these!).


Pottery Barn Organic Embroidered Dot Duvet Cover & Sham. Yellow, check. Polka dots, check. Organic, check. Perfect for those who don't want a ton of yellow, but still want to brighten up their bedroom a tad.


Pottery Barn Lemon Toile Salad Plates. Cuteness overload! How could anyone criticize anything about your cooking with these adorable plates. Now, I know the hubs will object to these plates because we already have yellow plates. Grrrr!


Hunter "Original" Rain Boot. Now these babies are perfect for all that spring time rain! If you happen to have a vegetable or flower garden, well these would be perfect for working in your garden.

Any other yellow items that you've coveting?

Caught redhanded!!!

I swear, I have more going on in my life than just obsessing over my sunflower plants. Really, I do and in a few days I'm sure I'll get over these darn plants and talk about something else.

I snapped this picture this morning. Yes, it is a crappy picture, but I couldn't exactly open the window, remove the screen and direct the squirrel. So, here is one of the squirrels that is enjoying my sunflowers. As you can see in the photo, you can only see one other flower head... yeah the punks have eaten the rest of the flowers on that particular plant. I don't want to acknowledge this as reality yet, but I only have four plants left that have all of their flowers intact. Part of me wants to rip all of the plants up this weekend, just so I don't have to look at these gigantic flowerless plants.

Thankfully, I might be able to save some of my plants. I asked for help on the Nest and a few gals came to the rescue. I'm going to try spraying the plants with a water and vinegar solution. I was going to spray the plants this morning, but with a 70% chance of rain, I didn't want to waste my precious vinegar. Hopefully that will do the trick and then my sob story will have a happily ever after.

Tropical Storm Hanna???

As I proclaimed yesterday, my house didn't suffer any major damage due to Tropical Storm Hanna. Upon further inspection this morning I did notice a few minor problems. One, the normal dirt packed area behind my shed is now a big ol' mud hole. Two, a 4 foot long tree branch managed to knock over one of my tomato cages and snapped the plant's stem. Finally, quite a few of my sunflowers were snapped. I think this had to do more with the fact that the sunflower heads became incredibly heavy due to being water-logged. So all in all, really, nothing too bad. I really shouldn't even be complaining, considering that people lost their lives in this storm and I lost a few plants.

This morning my lovely next door neighbor called me. She's that stereotypical little old lady- she'll talk your ear off at any chance. She called and actually got my name right (I've lived next door for over a year now and she still calls me "Holly" or "Heather" most of the time) and told me to look outside my front windows. I thought, "great, what's going on that she wants me to look at?" Well, the punk got away before I could get a picture of him, but there was a very fat squirrel sitting on my front porch and he/she was eating my sunflower plants!!!

Now, I've noticed a few decapitated sunflower heads in my lawn over the past few weeks. I thought, okay, the wind must have blown them off or the occasional bird may have swooped and had a snack. This squirrel on the other hand was feasting on what I counted to be five different sunflower heads. When an unknown animal attacked and destroyed two of my tomato plants I chalked it up to survival of the fittest, but this is a fat squirrel. There are a ton of acorns in my back yard and plenty of other plants in the neighborhood, so this squirrel could easily feast on a multitude of other delicious treats.

Sigh.... It seems I have a squirrel problem. I'm not really sure how I'm even going to attempt to solve my "problem." Short of letting Jewels sleep outside on my front porch, which isn't really an option, I guess the squirrels are going to get the best of my sunflowers. Oh well, they were pretty while they lasted.

Next year though... it's on like Donkey Kong!

The carnage.


A centerpiece I put together earlier this week from a few sunflowers.

Sunflowers

My green thumb isn't so green. Well, it could be green, but it's a beginner green. My dad always had this massive garden when I was growing up. Oddly enough, I hated helping him with his garden. I swear the thing was built on top of a giant slate mine. "Helping out" in the garden usually meant picking rocks. I don't understand how my siblings and I would pick rocks every year and then the following year there seemed to be even more rocks to pick up. Needless to say I know I picked more rocks in that garden than any fruits and vegetables.

Rocks aside, there were many pleasant moments in my dad's garden. I remember taking a big bowl over to the garden, which was across the street from our house, and filling it up with snap peas for dinner. Of course, I ate more peas than I put in the bowl. That happened on more than one occasion. There were so many wonderful and edible things in that garden. Every year it seemed my dad would try something new. Finally, when I was in high school he seemed to be getting the hang of things. Our harvest would include: tomatoes, corn, snap peas, cucumbers, potatoes, broccoli, watermelon, any many other delicious treats. My dad was probably known in the neighborhood for his pumpkins. He'd grow those massive giants and these adorable little white pumpkins. For Halloween my freshmen year at college my dad sent me two white pumpkins in the mail.

Outside of the garden my dad would grow wild flowers. He would joke that he would try to temp the deer with the flowers and hope they would fill up on those and not ravish his garden. I've always loved sunflowers and my dad grew these amazing reddish-colored sunflowers for me. I'd love how they would chase the sun in the summertime.

So, this year I attempted something all by myself. Sure, I planted a few flowers in my flower beds and planted a small vegetable garden. I bought all of those plants from a local nursery. In all honesty I felt like a cheater. My dad grows all of his plants from seeds. A few weeks after I purchased all of my plants I went back and bought a package of sunflower seeds. I started them off in little plastic containers and then transplanted them into my front flower beds. My landlord thought they were weeds. I'll admit the truth, sunflowers don't look very attractive while they are growing. All of that quickly went out the window this morning. The first sign of a sunflower head began to pop this morning. I was so excited I even dragged my husband out to gaze upon this masterpiece. Okay, that was a bit dramatic! Anyway, I did it. I grew something from a little tiny seed! Next year I'll have to expand and try to grow more things from seeds.