Loving my flowers!

 I'm working on a new vignette in my back garden.  I purchased this clock at TPT and I hung it on the fence with the Boston Ivy.  My little lion from Rogers Gardens was moved over to this spot and I bought two new David Austin Roses: Abraham Darby and Mary Rose which I hope to plant here.  I'm letting them sit in their pots for a couple of weeks while I determine if they are getting enough sun.

 The Abraham Darby is a beautiful pink with a apricot center.  It smells so good.  The Mary Rose is not open yet, but should be all pink.

 This scabiosa is flourishing.  Last year Gus ate it down to just a little stub and it has come back in full force.  He no longer seems to be interested in it, thank goodness!

This is my William Shakespeare rose.  Also David Austin.  I love it.  It is just opening in this picture, it is such an intricate rose with a wonderful fragrance.

Enjoy!

The Hunger Games

Have you read this book? This series of books?

It is our new obsession here in this house.

I've just read the first book, Delaney is reading the second book, we have ordered the third.

When I was told what the premise was, I didn't really want to read it. It sounded brutal and sad, but everyone was making such a big deal about it. Then Delaney read it and LOVED it. My curiosity got the best of me, I had to see what all the fuss was about.

I too LOVED it. I couldn't put it down.

I'm a little unsettled about the end of the first book and that is why I MUST read the second.

I'm HOOKED!

2012/2013 Broadway Series

I've just renewed my subscription to the Segrestrom Center for the Performing Arts 2012/2013 Broadway season. I'm excited about this season's line-up (I say that every year!). The line up is as follows:

Memphis

The Addams Family

War Horse

Billy Elliot

Flashdance

Sister Act

I say this every year, but you would be surprised at how reasonable buying season tickets is. You don't have to pay outrages prices at the last minute for something you want to see, you get great seats and its a fun evening out. Check it out.

The Potting Bench

About 7 years ago, I bought this potting bench from Target Online. I love it. It was the perfect size for my space (I wish I had bigger) and it is really handy. I use it EVERY DAY! I try to make it pretty, but at the same time useful.

Under that basket, the top of the bench is removeable and there is a tub. I store things in there and use it to plant or whatever. The little wire grid is perfect for keeping those things that you need often and you can just grab.

There is a little shelf on the side that pops up when needed and of course the great bottom shelf. I have no way of making this pretty. I've thought of putting a fabric curtain, but with the sun it would fade in no time and I'm afraid to stick my hand into a fabric covered dark space because of spiders. I really have to watch for black widows. I need that bottom shelf too much to store things. There is also a great little drawer.

This has been such a great little investment. (I think it was only $150.00 or less). I use it everyday and it has weathered the extreme sun and outdoor elements. Some of the best money I've ever spent.

Enjoying Spring!

Yesterday I took a quick spin around Roger's Gardens. It was beautiful as usual. They had some great urns jam packed with succulents. So it gave me an idea.

I bought 4 of these succulents and went home and gathered the gazing ball, some green glass rocks that I had and planted the bird bath. ( Don't feel sorry for the birds, the bird bath was too deep for them, they have a great time in our fountain.)

So I put the gazing ball in the middle instead of another plant, put the succulents around it and filled in the gaps with the glass rocks.

My snapdragons are growing like mad and the bunnies seem to leave them alone. My ranunculus on the other hand are being devastated by the bunnies and so are my fairy primroses.

The saga of the bunny is ridiculous. I put up chicken wire, he finds a way in. I plug the hole, he digs another. I've almost got the whole fence buttoned up - a hole at a time. The chicken wire did a great job for two years keeping the bunnies out, then the association made me take it down so they could paint the fence. I had a neighbor boy put it back up and it looked like it went all the way to the ground, but there was just enough space to give a bunny hope!

I recently planted this urn with succulents as well. They are popular right now and great for my backyard which faces west and gets the hot sun all day.

For my birthday, my friend Marlene gave me all these succulents in a beautiful little wire planter. I didn't hang it fast enough and our puppy Gus tore out the moss. So I planted them all in here. I like the way it turned out! You can see my fairy primrose in the background. Leaves growing like crazy, but no flowers. Bunnies eat them every night.

God is so creative in his design. No detail left undone!

Laguna Beach Uncorked!

On Saturday, we went to Laguna Beach Uncorked at the Pageant of the Masters grounds with HH, Alyssa and Greg. It was FABULOUS!!! It wasn't crowded, the food was delicious and the wine was great. They gave out generous portions and you could go back as many times as you liked. They gave you a pen and little book with all the vendors and room for notes, which was handy for noting which wines and restaurants you liked. You got to keep your wine glass.

Since I was the designated driver and I don't like wine all that much, I feasted on samples from the 25 restaurants and drank the free fiji water. Here is a list of the restaurants that participated:

230 Forest Avenue,The Beach House, Broadway by Amar Santana, Claes Ovation, The Deck,Dizz's As Is, Eva's Caribbean Kitchen, French 75, House of Big Fish & Ice Cold Beer, Katsuya, K'ya Bistro Bar, Laguna Culinary Arts, Las Brisas,Mosaic Bar & Grille at Montage, Mozambique Steakhouse, Nirvana Grille,Royal Hawaiian, Sapphire Restaurant & Pantry, Splashes Restaurant, Starfish Laguna, Sundried Tomato, Tabu Grill, Three Seventy Common Kitchen + Drink, Tommy Bahama and Watermarc Restaurant.

In no way could I have sampled from every restaurant (though I tried). I was so full by the end that all I could think of was a nap. My absolute favorites were:

K'ya - Lobster Meatball with Truffle Risotto -OMG! So good

Chocolate Peanut Crunch Bars - Delicious!

House of Big Fish and Cold Beer - Lobster Mac and Cheese (Best M&C EVER!)

Bananas Foster Bread Pudding with Coconut Rum Sauce

Montage Mosaic Bar & Grille-Shrimp Ceviche & Gazpacho

Yuzu Gogarashi Macaroons and S'more Shooters - HEAVEN! all of it

The worst thing I had, which I wanted to spit out as soon as I ate it was:

Dizz's As Is- Pate - Yuck (to be fair, I don't like Pate and it looked like a little Pastry)

The participating wineries were: Axel, Beacon Hill, Belasco de Baquedano,Bernardus, Boekenhoutskloof, Chateau Montelena, Domaine Serene,Fairview, Famille Perrin, Frank Family Vineyards, Fuedo Maccari, Hedges Family Estate, La Playa, Louis Michel & Fils, Marqués de Murrieta, Michele Chiarlo, Neil Ellis, Pazo de Barrantes, Penfolds, Retour, Tenute di Nozzole,Thompkin Cellars, Tres Sabores, Vincent Delaporte. Beer tastings provided byCismontane Brewing Company. Saki tastings provided by Ty Ku Sake.

The Handsome Husband found a few wines he liked:

Thompkin Cellars - Couchant (Cabernet Franc/Merlot) - his favorite

Tres Sabores - Por que no (Zinfandel blend) - Alyssa's favorite

Domaine Serene - Rock Block Syrah

He did take one drink of something and pour it right out.

It was a beautiful day, great food, good wine, nice live music and some fun people watching. Tickets are a little expensive, but it benefits CHOC so what the heck. We will definitely go again next year.

Happy Friday!

via A Little Loveliness

I love this picture, aren't those bookmarks beautiful?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Traces

Friday night the Handsome Husband and I went to see Traces by the 7 fingers performers at the Segrestrom Center of Performing Arts. Parts of it were FANTASTIC and parts of it were totally boring, but over all the good outweighed the bad and the price of the ticket was relatively inexpensive. They did a lot of acrobatics and feats of incredible body strength.

HH's favorite was this guy. He got inside this giant hula hoop things and spun it around in so many ways, danced through it and moved it all across the stage while inside it. Definitely the highlight of the show.

Another amazing thing they did was hold themselves up in various positions on these two poles. It was amazing. They even flipped from one pole to the next. Fell down the pole at a super fast speed and stopped themselves about 2 inches from the ground - face first! All in all a pretty good show.

Disneyland at Dawn

Disneyland at Dawn

Due to leap year, Disneyland stayed open to the public all night (24 hours) on Feb. 29th. I think it was a first, but I'm not sure. I know they have special events that go all night, like Grad night, but this is the first time it was open to everyone for 24 hours. Katie and Delaney decided to give it a go with the goal being to see the sun rise over the Castle. As they were leaving (both had full schedules at school today) they saw these characters lined up in their pajamas. So cute!

At one in the morning, Disneyland was full to capacity and had to close its doors for a few hours. Can you imagine?