Flowers Make Spring Magical

Finally pictures of my very own flowers!! Its been hard to get good pics since during the morning sunlight hours I am at work, so the full effect will not be felt until I am able to take some pictures during this time. Few more weeks...


These are my geraniums! I have a wonderful pot of these lilac pinkish and white flowers that I absolutely love. They are super easy to care for as well.



I have to water everything more often then I expected, but its actually sort of enjoyable and rewarding to see them all happy when I do.


Its amazing how quickly the flower buds change when you water them!

Next, I have a hanging basket of rosemary (it smells soooo good!) with these bellflowers and a little alyssum just to add some depth into the mix. The bluebells were such a surprise when I stumbled across them but I absolutley love them.

I heart their shape and color! They are definitely blue but they do have a hint of purple hehe.

Now for the drummond phlox!! I know I know they are really pink hehe, but they didn't really have the blue purple color I wanted so this worked well. Look at all the flowers hat bloom on it!

Drum roll pleeeeeeease.... My hydrangeas! They are the perfect perfect color blue. Once they get used to the soil in the pot I think they may start turning a bit purplish, so i will have to keep maintaining a balance using a pH lowering fertilizer.

I am so happy with them though! I wish wish wish I could have a whole backyard fence lined with these bushes hehe.

I planted a bit of creeping jenny with them as well just to add a bi of trailing color to the pot. The bright green just seems so friendly to me...

I still haven't figured out what this flower is!? They look exactly like daisies except a lilac color... What ARE these?!!!

Spring and Summer Madness

Yay for finally being able to walk outside without my fingers stiffening with frost bite! Spring time is here and I am super excited about all the possibilities. Reminiscent of Maria's summer time post, I decided it would be productive, now that the MCAT studying is officially on the shelf as of now, to come up with my own list of things I am looking forward to doing now.

1. Guadelupe tubing trip- this time the water level will actually be high!

2. Canton antique festival- they have a monthly antique show about a hour outside of Dallas

3. Ft. Worth farmer's market- this place has a bunch of crap that I don't need but for some reason enjoy walking around anyway

4. Six flags- roller coasters!!! I will bring lots of water this time...

5. Dallas Aquarium- just because I can. Its in a fun area downtown too so I think it will be fun just to spend the day down there.

6. Dallas Arboretum- they will finally have flowers!! And I have a free pass for this whole year as well which helps

7. Murder mystery dinner- so I have been wanting to do one of these for awhile now since it has been a couple of years since the last one. I just need 7 other people to want to as well lol.

8. Grilling/Pool party- I have a tiny grill, a cute patio, and a great pool side view, so of course!

9. Pete's Piano Bar- dualing pianist performers and lots of beer!

10. Complete 2 full portrait sketches- so I am working on one right now, but I need another inspiration to fulfill this.

11. Ballroom dancing lessons- keeping fingers crosses I can possibly start this in the fall or at the middle of summer.

12. Sky diving trip- maaaaaybe.

13. Work on clay figurines- just another random fun project

14. Rock climbing adventure- I want to at least try this once!

15. White water rafting trip- very expensive, so maaaaaaybe.

16. Camping trip with kayaking- not very expensive, so Yes!

17. Monterey and San Fransisco Cali vacation!!!- So uber excited about this u have no idea. Definitely will be the highlight for sure.

Potted Plants

Now that the flowers are being brought out in all the Nurseries and Lowes and such, I have had such fun browsing the aisles and picking out a collection for my potted garden. The first step will be to purchase these beautiful petunias for 2 hanging baskets. I might include some pure dark purple flowers with these as well just for more color variation, but we will see! These are definitely my favorite as far as color.

These ones are called “Grace ward” or lithoridaor. The plants grow a bit taller so I might not put them in my flower boxes but rather one of the large pots on the patio. They might work only if they tend to droop.

Below are Purple Drummond Phlox. These also grow a bit tall so again, possible a potted plant rather than my flower boxes. I love the pale purplish bluish color though!

Now I fell in love with Foxglove quite awhile ago, and even though it is a bit too cold for the flowers to be out once they are being sold I definitely plan on getting just a large full overflowing pot of these. I might do a mixed pot as well with these in the back, but we will see.

Finally a flower for my flower boxes! Simple white geraniums I think will compliment all the other colors extremely well.



These little Starbursts I jut thought looked super cute. I am not sure how to care for them yet so once I research that I can know if they would suit a potted plant garden well. They just seem very fun!

Finally, the hydrangeas. Ah. If only I had a huge yard to grow bushes and bushes of these. Absolutely beautiful. The exception is that you have to keep the soil slighly acidic to grow this color. Yay for ammonium sulfate, pine needles, or oak leaves hehe. I plan on growing one bush of them in my pot, and keeping up with the soil pH will be much easier when dealing with only one pot!

As it apparently snowed yet again this past Sunday, I am glad I didn't purchase all these prior to this past weekend. I think I will wait a bit longer to purchase the actual flowers to avoid any frost issues. I can at least get all the hanging pots and flower boxes set up though! And I need a couple of smallish patio chairs for lounging... Yay!

I heart the relaxing color scheme....

Imriel Trilogy

After finishing the phedre novels in the Kushiel Series, the next two books following Imriel's life have been staring at me from my bookshelf for quite a few months.





This 4th novel of Jaqueline Carey's fell far from my expectations based on her first 3. I think where she really went wrong was in introducing the struggles Imriel faced as a child into Phedre's point of view.




His character was introduced as a shephard orphan living quietly at a temple, not knowing his true royal birthright, where as the events leading up to his birth were a huge part of Phedre's story. He was then kidnapped and sold into slavery to an insane ruler in a far off land to be part of some demonic God worship rituals. The 3rd novel follows Phedre as she hunts his wherabouts down at the behest of Imriel's mother, a traitor of the realm and former enemy of Phedre's.

This novel could have quite easily left out this plot for another time, and focused instead on the other part of the plot entirely, that of discovering a way to rescue a different friend from a curse of the Gods. This could quite easily have been a wonderful end to her story, and left her the ability to introduce Imriel's character from a much younger age and describe his emotional struggles as he experiences them and built rapport with the reader. Instead, she based her first Imriel novel long after he was rescued and more about his emotional struggles with dealing with his history rather than true plot substance. Not the best, thats for sure.




Her 2nd Imriel novel turned out much better. This one had real plot and was much more seperate from his past. All in all a good read, and I am hopeful the 3rd and final chapter will be even better.


What I am most excited about though is another of Carey's novels entirely! Naamah's Kiss actually seems more like Phedre's story, but not entangled in this mixed up plot mentioned above. Quite excited to read that one! .... She really is a good writer, although the religious hints are anything but subtle.

Oscars 2010

The last and final celebratory day of festivities for 2009 films has ended. What glorious fun!


The night began with a wonderful win by Christian Waltz for his magnificently memorable performance portraying a villainous nazi in Inglourious Basterds. I was so happy because he realy deserved to win for best supporting actor role.


On to the real reason for the Oscars... Fashion!!! hehehe just kidding of course. But really, the dresses worn last night were by far much better overall than the previous award night shows. It was a wonderfully glamorous affair for sure.



My absolute favorite, which I was excited that I finally had one, was Sandra Bullock's. It was so reminiscent of a wedding dress in the diamond embroidery... yet the shape was perfect for a formal evening dress. It began with the vine embroidery at the top, which then pooled to her feet in a silky liquid silver fabric. Love, love, LOVE!




Did I mention I love bling. Shiny! Just beautiful. And of course, she won her very first Oscar!!!

Next up, Carey Mulligan. I pretty much fell in love with her earrings at first, I have to admit. With the lightness of her hair, I think they not only flattered her dress but also her face. Those earrings were way better than going with a necklace! She so rocked the short do.


The front of her gown actually ended rather short above her shoes, which I also loved. At first I was a bit hesitant but in the end I think the top really balances the bottom. Loved the beading....

Annnnnd, the beautiful Anne Kendrick. Her dress really represented the new spring 2010 colors of blush. Beautiful against her skin tone and hair color. Wonderfully romantic and ethereal I thought. Lovely.

The next dress that I found riveting was Elizabeth Banks. When she walked out to present, I was definitely all eyes on her. The blue was again, perfect for the spring season as well as her coloring, and it was just a fun dress! I could just imagine it swooshing and swishing across the red carpet...

All in all, beautiful dresses, and a wonderful event. Not as entertaining as others, but Steven Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted well together to be sure. Now for next year!

Fireplace Mantle

Even though it is not exactly how I would like it to be and there are some adjustments I will make in the future, for now, this is my mantle!

This is one of the three mirrors I bought from Target, and the other two I have hanging vertically in my dining room. I liked it because I was initially going to try to get a venetian style mirror but that ended up being too expensive as well as a bit too gaudy. This was my simpler and cheaper alternative hehe.

I might swap it out for a larger one with an espresso wood frame... I also plan on getting a few more frames that are larger as well. Maybe a few more class candle holders that are even taller. Another trip to Hobby Lobby!!

All these sort of vintage feeling jeweled frames I bought at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. Even the little camouflaged clock I found there!

If I could somehow bring more light into the living room area without this lamp on the mantle I would also like to move this, but I would need to get a chandelier for this.

Do you like my little matchbox?

I have so many candles that I have all the rest of the matchboxes in a larger box on my bar, but this was perfect for the few I need to light my fireplace mantle candles.

I heart candles... and shiny things hehe.

I also printed out all my photos with low degrees of color saturation so that the color wasn't fighting with the actual frames. Since I do not have black and white in my living space, I didn't want to loose all color entirely though. They have more of the appearance of old faded photos but without as much sepia tone.

Now I just need to continue my collection of photos throughout my home! :)

Christmas '09... Part 2

I swear this is the last christmas 09 update. Promise!














This was my buffet bar area that I never use and never really plan on using for anything useful. I do like that I have it though... Useful for decorating as well as storage! I have all my pens and scissors and tape and batteries, as well as my important documents within easy access here.

Do you not love the wreath? Jen's Mom was so wonderful to make it for me last christmas.

And this little christmas tree is another christmas present from my mom a few years ago which I at first was quite disappointed about, but once the next year came around I decided I could make it work. I think the addition of the candles adds just the right interest! :)