People will forget what you said,

people will forget what you did,

but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-Maya Angelou  

Go make someone feel good today!

Give peace a chance...

This summer I've become privy to the life & likes of a tweener.  If you're not in the know, a "tweener" is a kid in the 10-12 age group.  Perhaps you recall Skylarcation?  She gave me a crash course in this realm of life.  Her current obsession (other than Twilight & Justin Beiber) is the peace sign.  Her eyes would sparkle every time she saw something relevant that she didn't already have (she has a lot... i.e. earrings, t-shirts, bathing suites, etc).

A few month's ago my friend (who is a licensed artist), Genieve Gail, had a request for peace sign jewelry.  When she told me about this request I was slightly taken aback.  Prior to this, peace signs & hearts made my skin crawl.  Upon my recent trip to mart, I realized that they are the "it" thing amongst all the tweeners.  I vaguely remember liking them, so perhaps their popularity is cyclical or maybe the tweeners will/have always liked them?

Skylar ran across a little painting that she liked, so I just painted my version of it to send her.

With all of this talk about peace, I set out to find a few peace signs that I could live with.    Along the way I realized that I find them perfectly acceptable in Christmas decor.

I found it a little difficult outside of that, but did manage to find a few more acceptable items.

Now, you can imagine my suprise when I ran across a piece of jewlery that I might wear.  Peacock Park Designs is the source.  There is an excellent chance I'm influenced by their amazing showroom, but this is still a shocking revelation for me.  

A Beautiful Woman

A few quotes from Mother Teresa to wrap up the week....

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, 

there can be no more hurt, only more love.

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that 
we belong to each other.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. 

It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.

Well, I'm off to the Walk to Emmaus today.  I'm a bit apprehensive, but I do have an open mind, so we'll see.   I'm going to share some of my favorite blogs with you to keep you entertained while I'm away.  I really don't remember what I did with my spare time before I was introduced to the blogosphere.

1. Urban Grace- this chick had a baby, so she isn't updating the way she once did, but her design work is my fav

2. Little Green Notebook- She always has great inspiration photos & very economical design projects

3. Design Sponge- excellent chance you've already checked this one out.  She's actually making a living by blogging.  That alone is what makes this blog interesting.

4. La Dolce Vita- I like her style

5.  Cote De Texas- I've got a lot of others, but this is my go-to when I've got a lot of time.  She has links to all the good design blogs on the left of her page.

And two other random blogs that I find very interesting.....

Happy wasting time (time worth wasting) & Happy Weekend!

A few lessons learned by 

a novice gardener…..

Unfortunately, the pollen is inevitable.  It plays an important role in nature though, so we must bear it.  Never complain about rain.... in fact, pray for it.  It will wash our pollen woes away.

  

Bulbs are priceless.  They're low maintenance & totally rewarding.

Don't dismiss annuals.  They're inexpensive 

& as long as you water and deadhead 

them they'll bloom into the fall.

Ferns are grand.  Whether a Woodland perennial or $7 Boston that gets tossed after the first freeze.

Loropetalum is pretty year around.  Pink blooms in the spring, purple foliage in the fall.  This one was already established when we moved in... I tried to grow some in the back yard, but the dogs ate it.  Weird, huh?  Every dog that came over would gnaw on the branches.  

Ground covers are wonderful in low sunny beds.  Trent really likes phlox.                                           

     

Gotta keep an eye on the Lamb's Ear.  It will take a bed over in a heartbeat.

Cast Iron plants can grow anywhere and are near impossible to kill.  They don't multiply very fast, but the nice thing is they require very little water.  Excellent for our drought prone region.

Camillias are a must, creeping jenny is wonderful for pots, interesting foliage can be better than flowers, and one man's weed is another man's treasure!
And some new favorites:

  Anise... an evergreen indigenous to the south.  Requires little sun & water.

 Chinese Snowball.

A few lessons not learned (yet)…. how to grow a rose bush, how to grow a lawn with a big dog romping on it, and how to successfully grow large tomatoes.

This weather has me wanting to curl up in bed with my sketchbook, the new House Beautiful (which I haven't opened yet), and Three Cups of Tea (the book I'm currently reading & probably will be for the next few months because I'm an extremely slow reader).

Even if I had that luxury, I don't trust myself to execute the plan with the temptation of the computer, television, and phone at my fingertips.  So, I'm packing my bags (in my imagination, of course) and taking a silent retreat.  I've never been to Green Bough House of Prayer, but my mom & several of her friends love it.  I've tried to go on the spur of the moment a few times, but they are always booked.  Sounds like a really cool place and I'd love the challenge of being silent for a couple of days.  And that would be a challenge.                                                  

Even though I'll be bouncing around in the rain today, I'm going to channel the peace from this morning's mental vacation.  Happy Weekend!

 If you haven't noticed, Valentine's Day is on a Sunday this year.  That's perfect for planning a dinner in.  The whole eating out thing is what contributes to V-day's bad rap, in my opinion.    Anyhow, my go-to meals always include pasta.  I'm a self-proclaimed Italian (though my blood line shows no proof of that).

This year I may stray from that.  Prompted by the Sekhar's:

 They gave me a basket of Indian spices & recipes.  This may not sounds like a big deal to you, but I've never made a meal that doesn't include cheese, so I was taken aback.  The beautiful spices were so inspiring, I had to try my hand at Indian cuisine immediately.

 

Curry over basmati rice with sauteed okra (so good, so spicy)

Raitha (not sure if it's supposed to be that thick), but so delish served with pita chips. 

Working in the yard has been on my mind a lot lately.  The main reason being the dog has turned the back into mud pit.  It is truly awful.  Trent and I stare out the window on a regular basis in dismay & discuss our options.  He's tried to seed it multiple times, I've tried to come up with clever ways to distract from the lack of lawn, Vince keeps kicking up his heels & making all of our attempts impossible.  No joke, I've looked on HGTV.com to see if they have any "yard makeover " contests.  My point is... well, I have no point.  Hopefully I'll be able to blog a brilliant solution by spring.

The other reason yard work has been on my mind is two big empty pots on our front porch.  This story actually has a positive ending.  I've been trying to figure out what I can plant that will survive in the middle of winter.  I've visited Lowes & a local nursery and left empty handed.  I had grand visions in my head of what I wanted, but knew I couldn't afford & didn't know if they would survive.  Here's what I was thinking (images found on internet):

In no shape or form does my solution look like these, but I did discover a southern evergreen perennial that I'd never heard of (thanks to Thyme after Thyme).... Florida Anise.  Mine looks like a little tree & will supposedly bloom in the spring:

 We'll see about that, but it does have a loverly fragrance right now.  There's your horticulture lesson for the day!