Gray granny blanket ta-daah!

Ta-daaaah!

It's complete! 

I actually completed this on Sunday night... just been lazy to getting the pictures uploaded. 

 

I ended up making a shell edge for the blanket. Simple, improvised, pretty.

 

My mom said she loves it. And I do too. :)

 

So on to the next blanket. Thank goodness this one is going to be smaller! 

Our tomatoes have done the impossible (kind of). They've thrived, grown huge...and are starting to bloom!! I can't believe we might have actually pulled this off! 

(The little jalapenos haven't done so well...especially with the cat eating leaves here and there....)

We bought a chili plant from the market a month or so ago, since the ones we grew from seed were struggling. This one has managed to survive somewhat the damage from the cat and is actually blooming and on it's way to producing jalapenos. 

 

Due to work and rain, I haven't been lucky enough to make it to the garden.  However, my parents and my hubby have been a few times without me to pick the strawberries. Mmmmmm.... I've eaten strawberries in yogurt, on salad, plain (the best!), and in a fruit salad. 

Ohhhh summer tastes so good!

So that's it for me tonight. 

Just wanted to share my finished blanket! 

Thanks for popping in! Hope you've had a nice Wednesday! 

:)

Summer winding down

As summer is winding down, I'm winding up. Only 13 more days of work to go... you can't imagine how thrilled I am!!

The other night we had a gorgeous sunset. Well, we've been having beautiful sunsets all summer, but this one I actually caught on camera. Note that this was taken around midnight!! 

I've been cuddling a lot with my boo-bear. Goodness me, I love that puppy!!! 

 

Hubby had his birthday and I happened to get the day off... We spent a leisurely morning lounging around, then we walked to all the best flea markets and thrift stores in town (bought a few cute things, will share another time), and then made sushi for dinner and invited my parents over. It was a great day and we had such a nice time just walking around together. 

 

Oh, and every celebration needs a little bubbly. And a little Iittala. ;)

 

Oooh...and every birthday needs a dessert too!! Hubby chose these caramelitas (I showed him my baking board on pinterest and told him to pick something!) and we ate them with vanilla ice cream.... OH-EM-GEE holy caloric intake!! These are SO ridiculous, over-indulgent, r-i-c-h....and absolutely mind blowingly amazing!!! YUM!

 

I made a 9x13 pan of them and doubled the recipe per instructions...but didn't have enough of the oatmeal cookie layer to coat the bottom and crumble on top...so I used coconut instead. 

Another thing that I've been up to but haven't taken pictures of.... my gray granny blanket... 

IT'S ALL CROCHETED TOGETHER!! 

Yaaaaaaay!!

Now I just need to work on the border and I'm DONE! Woohooo!

It's taken me longer than I hoped, but hey, life is life. (and it has a bad habit of getting in the way of my crafty endeavors!)

It's so pretty... I'll take pictures soon and share... 

Thanks for stopping by, I'm sure I'll be around before too long. 

Have a wonderful weekend!!

peonies!

Oh. my.

Aren't they beautiful?

I've been told that they have all faded since last Sunday... good thing I was there to witness it and take the pictures to share! ;)

By the by, anyone else waiting for August like it's never going to come? 

Or better yet, December?

All I think about is, "please end July, please be over summer".

Oh silly business!!

Happy Friday the 13th!! :)

And happy weekend!!

♥

Roses!

Last weekend, we made a trip to the arboretum. I have always loved it there, and probably always will.

There is a wonderful rose garden...the place of my dreams!

"Peace", such a classic!

Can't remember the name of this rose, but it was such a violent shade of red. Wow!

Weird triple rose anomaly...

Other than the roses (and trees), the arboretum makes my heart swell with the colors and diversity of the flowers elsewhere. 

These are, I believe, a summer variety of primula.

Oh! And peonies! I think I'll dedicate a post to peonies on their own. I don't remember ever seeing so many and all the bushes just BLOOMED OUT! What a year for them! 

There are lots of ducks at the arboretum (around the pond and lake) and there hasn't been a time yet that I haven't seen someone feeding the ducks bread. The squirrels have caught on and have become very tame, running up to see if you have anything for them as well. This little one circled around us and then scattered off as soon as he realized we were empty handed! 

I can't wait to go back in a couple weeks or so when it's really in full bloom. Last weekend, there were just a few of the early bloomers to admire. :)

The weekend

What a great weekend! 

My cousin from the US came to stay with us so we spent time and showed her around this great little city. :)

Another wonderful part of the weekend... playing with my new Canon 50mm USM lens. Um yeah!!  Seriously, money well spent. Nice when something good comes out of working your butt off!

I baked stuffed peppers... One of my first pictures with the new lens.

The peppers were awesome!

And my favorite models, Koda and Kissa, helped me out testing settings...

We had a waterfront "picnic" with deli goods with my cousin and my parents. The weather was pretty cloudy, but it was nice and cool.

We walked to scenic spots.

I took every peony picture I could. :)

Low f-stops. ♥

We stopped by the garden...

...and picked the first ripe strawberries at the garden. So sweet!!

 

It was such a fun weekend and so awesome to get to spend time with my cousin! 

Hope you had a nice weekend! 

Happy Monday!

Garden post 7...

Yeah, I could be doing stuff. Yeah, I should be doing stuff.

But it's hard to when the sun is shining, it's finally warm outside (!)...and Bob Marley is telling me not to worry about a thing.

:) 

The pink daisies above have graced our dining table for quite a while...talk about a hardy cut flower!

And the pansies below have changed twice since this picture...not so hardy, but let me tell ya -- falling asleep with the scent of pansies is amazing!

We went to the garden yesterday and put nets out on the almost ripe strawberries (to stop pesky thieving birds!), and to weed. Boy, there was a lot to weed! Glad we've been staying on top of it rather well.

The clematis that no one thought would survive the winter is doing amazingly well. 

The foxgloves are finally blooming! :) They're as tall as me!!

Couldn't keep myself away from the neighbor's poppies again...

Evening summer light... gorgeous!

This week I have:

-worked

-spent time with family from out of town

-cleaned (how exciting...)

-shopped (New curtains to block out the morning sun! Hi sleep!)

...oh...bought a new camera lens... YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAH!!! Hopefully it gets here by the end of the week because I'm STOKED! Best part of my summer so far :D

Can't wait for the weekend, not only because I'm off, but because I'm spending it with my cousin that I haven't seen in forever!! I have all kinds of fun stuff planned! :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Hope your week is off to a nice start!

Remember, it's summer -- "don't you worry about a thing, because every little thing is gonna be alright" 

:)