cucumber and onion

Hey guess what... I am a vinegar lover.  And this is one of my most favorite recipes.  Every time I walk into a meat and three (which is not so often anymore) I scour the menu for a side dish of cucumber and onion.  It is super simple to make, requires very few ingredients and surprisingly goes really well with just about any meal.  Especially meat and threes!  So if you've still got cucumbers growing like crazy in your garden like I do this is a great recipe to try.

 



image inspiration

I wasn't sure if I should name this post Image Inspiration or Stuff I'm Drooling Over.  They both apply greatly to these photos.  I was in the mood this morning to find new places.  New places on the internet.  I love my favorite blog list of sites I cruise regularly, but (like me) they sometimes don't post as often as I would like.  Hey... none of we bloggers are perfect!  Unless maybe the ones that get paid to blog but then what's the fun in that... besides the getting paid to do it part.  I never really wanted to get paid to blog or venture down that route because I don't want to lose the fun in it.  If it felt like a job I probably wouldn't want to do it... you know if I felt like I "had" to blog.  Anyway, I found a few new places this morning... one happily leading to the next.  Then one happily leading to me wanting to spend thirty one bucks on a piece of enamelware which isn't abnormal for my enamelware love affair that I have been in for simply years now.  I'm probably gonna do it.  Afterall... I don't have a cream can to put flowers in... and oh how I didn't realize I wanted one until literally within the last half hour. 

 

 

Image Inspiration

 

I know..... I'm going to have to bite the bullet.  Probably as soon as I finish this post.

Found in this lovely etsy shop called Vintage Goodness.  Oh she has some awesome stuff.

 

 

 

And... I own several floral paintings that live happily ever after in my bedroom.  They aren't fancy but are oh so pretty to look at.  This post from DesignSponge has got me wanting more.  So in fact that I have already texted my sister this morning for a date to the next Nashville flea market.  She gladly accepted.

 

Very prettily placed upon the top shelf.

This picture made me start a list of home décor updates.  Intentions of moving my floral paintings to the kitchen and redecorating the blue barn wood shelf in the living room.  I always have good intentions when I am not at home.  Then I get there, tired after work, and it never happens.  Maybe not "never".  Sometimes it happens.

Also found on DesignSponge, I was led to a very talented illustrators blog named Frances Macleod.  I adore the pattern below along with many of others she has.  I am thinking of placing it on the background of this blog.  If I can get it to work.

 

 

Ok, that's all for now folks.  I have lists of blog posts that I want to do.  Finding the time if a different story.  So for now you get spur of the moment stuff.  XOxo

 



lovin right now

Guess what!! I took myself shopping last weekend!  I know... that doesn't happen.  I mean I might order a shirt online or dream about it but the last time I went into a store and bought something new was last summer before we went to Florida on vacation to get a couple of new bathing suits.  This time I was in the market for loose shorts and tops and something new to sleep in (my old tanks are getting ratty!).  Luckily, and I promise I didn't even think about it beforehand, summer clothes are on the way out so everything is on sale!! BONUS!  I picked up five tops at Loft that are light colored and very airy (although when I washed them one of them shrank in the dryer to the size of a 2T dang near.. ugh!)  I got five pair of loose, flowy shorts at Belk and I bought a few things to sleep in that are super comfy at Kohl's .  Now I'm set to play outside in immense heat for the rest of the summer and sleep in thin comfortable bliss each night.

 

And then we get on to the other reason I will probably need loose clothing that I can grow into after forming an addiction to Lil' Drums!  When you want a little something sweet these are perfect at about five inches tall and 130 calories each.  Tough part is there's twelve in a box and somebody's got to eat 'em!!

 

And when I need a lil' something else, I grab onto a handful of seasoned croutons.  Am I the only one that snacks on croutons?  They have such flavor.  It's like an entire Italian meal in one little cube... if you close your eyes and imagine it.

 

A friend of mine introduced me to Ferti-Lome blooming and rooting plant fertilizer this year and I really like it.  I've only used Miracle Grow in the past but all of my flowers really seem to like this stuff.

 

And that's what I am "lovin' right now" kids... besides loving summer itself!  I truly to the depth of my soul am a summertime child.  I like to grow plants and watch flowers bloom.  Eat vegetables right out of the garden and have tomato juice drip off my chin.  I love to hear all of the different voices of summer like birds that are here for the summer, katydids, locust, hummingbirds zooming by.  I love to go barefoot (my heels pay dearly for that!) everywhere and was my feet under the hose pipe.  I enjoy sitting outside with Shaun and friends anytime we want to from morning to evening or all night long!  I don't even mind wearing bug spray... Lord knows I need it!  I love that my laundry takes longer to pile up because the clothes are thinner and smaller than winter clothes.  I like the quick summer meals that are sometimes not made or served until after nine pm.  I love being able to take the day care kids outside at any given moment to play instead of being cooped up inside because it's too cold.  I even like being chilled by air conditioning and curling up with a blanket and watching the original Parent Trap.  I could seriously go on and on. 

 

Look around before it's gone. 

Soak in each part of the season that you walk past every day and just stop for a second. 

July is almost gone yet again. 

This is my forty first summer.  I hope to see many, many more!

around here

In Bloom was the title I envisioned for this post.  But it truly is what's going on "around here."

 

 

I have said it before.  I believe there are two "most wonderful times of the year." 

 

If you came to my home right now

and took a stroll around with me

here's what you would see.

 

3rd year Caladiums.

Begonias from a friend.

One of my QVC bulbous begonias.

and another.

and another.

Yellow roses.

Tomato blooms.

 

Butterflies loving the milkweed.

Green bean blooms.

Zucchini blossoms.

Dragonflies resting atop corn stalks.

Black bean blooms.

Basil blooming too fast for me to snip it.

Orange Zinnias  -  new to me this year.

Pixie zinnias from saved seeds.

Cucumber vine flowers.

Water Hyacinth from a friend.

Begonias from a friend.

I am right fascinated by this one.  How lovely.

Can you spot the tadpole in my water hyacinth?

It is one of many... many... many tadpoles in there.