Blooms

Summer has SUDDENLY arrived in Texas so that means 100+ degree temps and lots of dying plants and grass. A lot of my annuals are starting to wither away, but other plants are fighting to stay alive. I went ahead and snapped some pics just in case they die off in the next few weeks... #blackthumb

We planted some Russian Sage flanking our garage doors last weekend and I cannot believe we waited so long to figure this out. I think they look great against our house colors and I can't wait for them to get big and bushy! They are supposed to be drought tolerant and perennials...we'll see. 

Our big pecan trees are full and green, too!

My hydrangea are turning colors...this one has been green for a while, but I'm thinking its going to turn pink eventually. See the pink on the edges? They change colors depending on the soil acidity and there is a house down the street that has a bunch of pink hydrangea, so I'm thinking that's what we are in for. Can't wait for them to make up their mind!

I relocated all of my petunias to the back where they get more sun. They should be annuals (right?) but as long as I give them plenty of water, they are happy! Also, #patternmixing. :)

I love green onions but we don't seem to use them fast enough and they go bad. Here's a tip - stick the roots in water and they will grow! I had them cut down all the way to the blue sticker, so everything else is growth. Love this tip!

..and this is my bloom failure. I picked this orchid up from TJ's for $5 a couple months back. It did fine and was independent for a good 45 days but suddenly it shriveled up and the flowers died. The bottom still looks alive so I just chopped off the flowers and moved it to the windowsill. Crossing my fingers it comes back! Any orchid experts out there want to chime in?

Fresh flowers, as usual. :) I picked these up for $1.49 at Kroger on Saturday. LOVE!

We have ivy surrounding our house, and it has decided to start taking over this flowerbed. I'm totally OK with it right here since it's bare anyway, but should I be concerned about it popping up all over our back lawn? 

Everywhere. 

I hope some of these blooms stay alive into next winter. I love lush, green plants!

The one where we plant a tree

I got the sweetest gift from Mark - he promised to buy and plant a tree in our backyard! That was on our anniversary...6 months ago. SO the time finally came that I dragged him out of the house and down the street to Home Depot to "get me my tree, dangit!"

Yep, I forced him to pose at Home Depot. I then made him turn in his man card.

I'm not sure why he was so worried about how we would get it home...

I swear, I'm going to have like 2 total pictures of my kids...but I'll have a million of that time we planted a tree!

After a small amount of research, we decided to go with an "autumn blaze" maple tree. I crack up every time I say the name, but it's supposed to have 'exceptional' fall color which was basically my #1 requirement for my tree.

Breaking ground!

I touched the top of the tree and said "goodbye! grow tall and strong!" 

I'm so weird.

I was very helpful.

Motley LOVES her new tree! It's like a sister to her.

SO I REALLY wanted to get a picture in front of our tree and continue documenting it on our anniversary to see how it grows. Easier said than done, my friends. Check out our little photobomber...

She is insane. Anyway, here we are on day 1 of our tree journey! I'm so excited to watch it grow!

Hocus Pocus - a story of decor

It's Friday and I'm ready to share my Fall decorating, so it's a good day all around!

Over the years I've come to really enjoy Fall and Halloween. I don't remember Halloween ever being a favorite holiday, but I've never been a fan of scary, gory, horrifying things, so that makes sense. Over the last couple of years, though, I've found myself getting giddy over the thought of Halloween. That being said, I've started my own collection of decorations. 

This year I didn't buy anything since our house isn't 100% set up yet. I don't really decorate private areas of the house and I scatter just a few things around the kitchen, so there is only so much decor that can fit in these small 1200 square feet. 

First off, here is our entry. 

(edit: I was looking back on old posts and found this guy below. Look at what a difference about 2 months, some black paint, and decor makes!)

I'm so glad I got the black door and trim painted before this holiday. I cannot imagine this looking good with a maroon door!

All of the orange pumpkins are real pumpkins that Mark and I picked up at Home Depot last weekend. The white one is a fake I got a few years ago. I don't remember buying that galvanized witch thing...Kelly, is that yours? If not, I probably picked it up at HomeGoods.

I found the skull and the black jack-o-lantern at Target and we picked up those mums at Home Depot when we got the pumpkins.

I had an extra strand of leaf garland (snagged at Joann's or Hobby Lobby on sale one year) that I couldn't place anywhere in the house, so I literally just rolled it up and stuck it in the middle of my burlap wreath (seen here). Also, that "B" came from the wreaths I made for our wedding and it fell off in the move.

(there's the original B's location at our old apartment)

It was just lying in our front closet so I grabbed it and stuck it right in with the leaves! So, yeah, DIY cheat, none of that is actually being held in place. Less work for me! :)

I ended up moving this scrolled side table into the entryway to serve as a semi-entry table when we got the new couch. I'm still working things out as far as layout, since the space is a little odd! I have the same cheery books (Blink and The Happiness Project) all together with a glow-in-the-dark skull, purple glitter "EEK!" and a Yankee Candle Company "Autumn Festival" candle. I highly recommend this candle, by the way! Plus, I LOVE the spooky shadow it casts on the "EEK!" sign! 

I have a never-ending assortment of pumpkins, so these are just scattered around the living room. My favorite is still the wicker pumpkin and its slight chevron pattern. :)

Kelly calls this orange and black pillow my 'Halloween pillow" and while I have it out all year, it definitely gets moved to the front in October. Also, I picked up that pillow at the very back from Target a few years ago. On one side it has black and white stripes and on the other it has words like "spooky" and "scary". It's a favorite! As you can see, I laid my other leaf garland here on the windowsill.

I re purposed the $20 TV stand I bought at Wal-Mart a couple years ago into a lonnnngggg end table by the sofa, and I really like it there so far! Mark has a war plane book entitled Ghosts and it works perfectly with book 7 of the Harry Potter series to give a spooky backdrop. I throw in a mushy photo, a glitter pumpkin, two fake baby pumpkins, and a raven and we've got ourselves a vignette! 

I'm a sucker for seasonal candy (even though you can't tell - that sunlight in the back made for a washed out photo!) so I always fill glasses and vases with seasonal M&M's. They don't tempt me much (I'm more of a cookie/cake type of girl) but Mark already warned me that they would be gone soon. I think they are about half of that now. Also, I scored this SWEET little vulture baby at Joann's a couple years ago. It sits appropriately by another glitter sign, "BEWARE". I got it and the "EEK!" sign in the dollar section at Target when I first moved to Dallas.

So, that's my decor for this year! I'm proud of myself for not buying any new items and just working with what I've got! Does anyone else LOVE Halloween out there? Do you decorate your house to the max, or just here and there? I'd love to hear!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One more thing - I still haven't done anything with this mirror but I'm hoping to use my weekend to get something done. I'm taking votes! Should I paint it? Leave it natural? Distress it? Give it a wash? Give me your thoughts!

Have a happy weekend!