china shepherdess

Flowers of the Week: Fill in the Blank

 

It was a tough week and it was nice to see some cheery color whenever I returned home.

Flowers of the Week: A carpet of peonies

 

My peonies popped and then a storm knocked off most of the petals. Walking across them made me feel like I was at a tropical resort instead of taking out the recycling. Here's to summer!

Flowers of the Week: Lawn Cares

Minnesota can't seem to make up its mind as to whether it is spring or not, but the weeds have made their vote. I pulled up all the dandelions using my weed hound a couple of weeks back, but I guess they decided I was their enemy and they came back with a vengeance. My yard is covered in them with a bit of sorry looking grass in between. If I could, I'd rip it all out and start over, but that isn't in the picture for now.

If I'm going to have a yard covered in weeds, I wish I could have more of these:

 

 

And fewer of these:

 

It was quite fun knocking them down with my lawn mower, but the poor battery gave up the ghost after I mowed less than half of my front yard. I hope it recovers soon so I can finish them off.

How is your yard coming along?

 

Flowers of the Week: Royal Fever Edition

Life is getting back to normal now that my big project at work is live. I took some time off last week to relax, paint my office and, of course, watch the royal wedding. By the time the big day rolled around I was suffering from a near fatal case of royal fever. My sister and a good friend came over at around 4 AM and we donned our fascinators to watch the big event. British flags and bunting were hard to come by (should've ordered ahead from Party Pieces, I guess), so this mug of flowers was the only themed decoration present.* Too bad I couldn't find yellow posies to match the Her Majesty's dress.

 

*OK, we may have also taken turns wearing a replica of a certain bauble. All in good fun!

Branches of the Week: Every now and then I get a little tired of flowers and I buy berry covered branches instead.

 

Will I ever tire of iPhone photography apps that simulate plastic lenses and light leaks? My latest favorite is Plastic Bullet which I downloaded last night thanks to a post on Vale Design.

In the photo you can also spy a couple of the home-related Christmas gifts I received this year. My sister bought me the cool feather-shaped tray and my dad picked up Lili Diallo's Details. Not shown are some of the other awesome presents I received including cute tea towels from a nice auntie and a fancy remote control. It was a nice holiday. The gifts were all great, but my favorite part was continuing the tradition we started last New Year's Eve -- karaoke. There's nothing like belting out Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart and other silly songs with your loved ones.

My flowers this week are actually some type of berry covered branch. I suppose they're a bit Christmasy, but that's ok because I still have my tree and other decorations up. It's good to keep the sparkle going as we say sayonara to the year.

Here's a to a happy and inspiring new year!

 

Flowers of the Week: Under the Mistletoe

Ok, so mistletoe is not really a flower, but rather a parasitic plant spread from tree to tree in the feces of birds and one that, when eaten, causes acute gastrointestinal problems including stomach pain, and diarrhea along with low pulse.

When I was a kid we always had a kissing ball, rather than actual mistletoe. Probably because one of us kids would probably have chowed down on it causing the aforementioned unfortunate symptoms. Either way, the same rules apply -- if you catch someone under the misteltoe, you had better give them a smooch.

Flowers of the Week: It's about time!

 

I've been a total flowers of the week slacker. It has been over a month since I treated myself. When I went to the grocery store to pick up some last minute Thanksgiving ingredients I finally managed to nab myself a rather festive bouquet (shown here in shadow because I snapped this with my iphone and the straight on shot looked boring and blurry).

Flowers of the Week: United Nations

 

A quick post before I dash off to work on the last day of a very crazy week. These lovelies were a surprise gift. Tulips always makes me smile even though they flop around and I can never find the right vase for them. They're resting on a United Nations trivet my wee sister bought for me. She has shared my fondness for that institution and its mid-century iconography since we first saw Gidget Grows Up on reruns many years ago. After seeing that telemovie what girl wouldn't want to move to NYC and become a guide at the UN?

The Cottage Cheese is selling a bizarre, but tempting painting of the United Nations. I kind of want it to come home with me, but I'm afraid it would be the topic of conversations I wouldn't want to have.

Toodles!

Postscript: I realize there's a copy of Dwell peeking out in the corner. I promise you I am anything but an Unhappy Hipster. I don't make enough cash money to make my house, err machine for living, that cool.

Flowers of the Week: A change of scenery.

I have no idea what variety of flower these furry alien-like bloom are, but their weirdness complements mine.

The keen reader will note that I have my flowers sitting on my kitchen table in my actual kitchen, err, dining nook, whatever you want to call it. That can only mean my living room furniture is in my actual living room. Hurrah! My kitchen feels gigantic. I can't wait to show off the living room, but you'll have to be patient and wait for another day.

Flowers of the week: Out of paint.

It's been awhile since I posted any flowers of the week. These lilies were a surprise that greeted me when I got home from enjoying Waking Sleeping Beauty (an excellent documentary, BTW) and a quick cocktail on the lovely rooftop deck at Sky Bar. As you can see, my living room is still hanging out with me in the kitchen. The reason for this interesting design indecision is that I ran out of paint yesterday morning. ARGH.

This was remedied when I made a quick trip to the paint store this morning and picked up another gallon of my beloved Benjamin Moore Abalone. I'm not sure if there's enough free time left this weekend to finish painting, but try I shall. Are you working on any projects this Labor Day weekend?