Landscape & Lifestyles

Elves

2011-12-05T13:37:00.000-05:00

So I came across this amazing site through another blog, but I am totally down with this website and couldn't pass up an opportunity to share!!

Elfster.com is a genius idea. Apparently I don't spend enough time on the internet...can't imagine why not...In any event, it's a website that tracks your gift wish list! It allows you to add things and for other users to see what has been purchased off your list. A great way to avoid duplicates and an awesome way to track holiday gifting.

And here I thought I was awesome for putting it in my phone-hah, I guess I have a LOT to learn!

Hope this helps keep you a little more organized!

Happy Holidays!
Amy

Business Cards

2011-11-14T07:00:00.004-05:00

So I've had a few things "come up" while I've been out on maternity leave. The main one has made me realize that I MAY need to get on the ball and actually do something with this little ole blog. So if you know of anyone who can whip up an amazing blog probably on my own domain name in perhaps wordpress, please, please send them my way!

This break has also led me to pursue business cards, so I've been on the hunt...

I love the simple, clean letterpress. The graphic scroll around the center is classic but still young and fun. And the color, totally my jam!

This has nothing to do with Landscape and Lifestyles, but I loved the bird cutout. It would get shredded in my wallet, but still, a very unique idea.

Totally love the tree and the fact that it's clear, something different that you can SEE the landscape through, very cool.

My talented friend Wendy Wade of Weswen Design will be customizing something for me, so if you want to link up your business cards, please do, I love inspiration!

Happy Monday!
Amy

Annnndd, I'm back!

2011-11-11T15:36:00.000-05:00

Wow, that was a longer hiatus than I had planned on. But I can't think of a better reason to be back than to show off this talented lady!!
Lauren Liess of The Pure Style and Pure Style Home has just launched her new textile line.

I was lucky enough to find Lauren through a random website 3+ years ago and we hit it off right away. She helped us with curtains for our home, and boy oh boy do I wish we had waited a few years! Lookie here and see what she's been up to!

LL Textiles

LL Textiles "Fog" collection

If you don't know her yet, please RUN do not walk over to her website and blog and check out all her goodies, she is incredibly gifted, kind, funny and one of the most humble people I know. She has worked her BUTT off to get this off the ground and I can't think of someone more deserving of a huge pat on the back and big hug.

SO proud of you Lauren! And so proud of your beautiful family for supporting you on this great adventure.

Much love,

Amy

All photos were taken by the very talented Helen Norman

Apartment Therapy-we're LIVE!!

2011-08-26T11:39:00.000-04:00

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get in touch with the talented Leah Moss of the blog Moss Eclectic. She and her husband have two beautiful daughters and just welcomed a son to their family earlier this spring, so I even got some great mom tips! She is an amazing interior designer, DIY'er, blogger, mom, an Apartment Therapy contributor, and an all around joy to be around, please go visit her blog!

We were so excited and flattered to have her shoot our house & garden a few weeks ago. I was a bundle of nerves preparing for the big day, being 9 months pregnant probably only made me more OCD-ha! Leah was cool, calm and so sweet to work with. I've attached the link to our house tour, so please stop by and check it out.

Image via Leah Moss

This is the first time we've really shown off our house, so be kind :) I'm going to post some before and after's in the coming weeks. Now that you've seen the final product, stay tuned and please let me know what you think! And Leah, thank you SO much for coming and for the beautiful write up, we hope to see you soon!

*Amy

Something To Celebrate!!

2011-08-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

So I've been an inconsistent blogger as of late...and here is my reason...
We are thrilled to welcome the newest additon to our family.

Graham Hunter Strunk

Born 8-14-11

8:54 a.m.

7lbs. 10oz.

We are SO in love and are adjusting well. He's an amazing sleeper and quite the hungry little guy. I never knew you could love someone so much. He's filled our life with so much joy, so we're going to enjoy every second with him! I will be doing posts while I'm home on maternity leave so please do stay tuned!

Wishing you all a great week & please come back to check in!

*Amy

Happy Birthday!

2011-08-08T12:31:00.000-04:00

No, don't worry, there's no baby to report...yet...but today marks the start of the August Birthday's in my life. My sweet husband Greg was born today and I am SO thankful to his parents (photo below) for bringing him into the world.

Chris, Susan, Greg and I

Christmas in Naples, FL

Greg, you have made the past 7+ years of my life wonderful in so many ways and I can't imagine my life without you.

You make traveling and exploring new places so much fun. Plotting and planning are only second to spending every day of vacations with you!

Honeymoon, St. Lucia

Family weddings are always a fun adventure and never boring!

Cousins wedding

Charleston, SC

You inspire me even more to love the outdoors, nature and animals! And you MAY even talk me into owning enough acreage one day to have chickens...

Company picnic (Bosses' chickens)

You have made me laugh so many times I've lost count! Thank you for having a huge heart and an even greater sense of humor.

Eric and Greg

BOW Winery

Eric, Hallie, Amy & Greg

BOW Winery

Neal, Greg, JR

Barring it up

You have pushed yourself (and me) to try new things we didn't think we could accomplish but did!

After completing our first triathlon

I can't wait to share this next chapter of our life together, you're going to make a wonderful father I can't wait to share even more years with you-300+ still left on our "lease"?

Yesterday-post birthday brunch at my parents house (9 1/2 months)

You are the best friend and partner a girl could ask for.

Happy Birthday bug, I love you!!

*Amy

Giraffe on the brain

2011-08-04T12:39:00.000-04:00

So without showing you the nursery just yet (SOOON I promise!!) this gives you a HINT into our little one's new lair...

I found these adorable notecards from Magpie Lovely that I may have to order to be used as future thank you notes from our little guy. I mean I do want a polite and proper baby boy after all, and everyone needs their own stationery! What do you think? Too much for a boy? Or too adorable to pass up?

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I'm thinking of going with Pool, so please let me know what you think! I don't want to be "that mom" that overburdens her children with thank you's, but I do think they'd be nice to have on hand when the time comes. I love handwritten notes and think it's an important art to pass on!

*Amy

Heat Wave & Watering Tips

2011-07-27T07:50:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't live on the East Coast perhaps you don't know that we're experiencing a bit of a heat wave...

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And for those of you who DO live here, wow oh wow it's been H-O-T!

I thought I'd pass along a few tips of the trade for keeping your containers alive and well-watered when it seems like nothing you're doing is helping. I know even we get home every night to a few weepy plants even though we may have watered them that morning or the evening before. Our tomatoes have been known to drink 4 gallons of water in a day (each!!)

So without further ado, let me introduce you to a few of my favorite things:

Soil Moist is a fantastic product, they're small crystals that expand when you wet them. They need to be incorporated into the soil when you plant, so if your containers are already in for the season keep this in mind for next year. Here are a few of the highlights from their website:

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•Stores over 200 times its weight in tap water

•Releases a steady supply of water as your plants need it

•Non-toxic, safe and economical to use

•Reduces plant watering by 50%**

•Reduces transplant shock

•Lasts several seasons**

Of course there's always the disclaimer section:
Note: Soil Moist must be incorporated into the soil at the root level of the plant/green good. Do not top dress or place on the surface.

** Results may vary depending on soil conditions such as salt, pH, microorganisms, u-v light

I have used this product for years with great success and I have a TON of happy clients who I've used it for as well.

A few other similar products to check out are Water-Keep and Water Crystals, I haven't used these but the look really similar and may be worth adding to your summer planting list.

This next product is something I recommend if you're going on vacation, but can also be used short-term in containers, the key is water BEFORE you put this in your soil!

Gel spike

Their website does have guide for how many to use per pot, etc, so check it out!

Dramm watering wand

These watering wands from Dramm are amazing. I have one on both levels of my garden-deck and patio and use them a LOT. The most effective way to water is to soak the roots thoroughly avoiding the foliage if you can, so these gets the water where it's needed. It has a nice cushy handle and an easy to use shut-off valve on the handle so you don't have to rush to the hose bib to turn it off.

Soaker hose

The other trick for large garden beds is to use soaker hoses, I install mine under the mulch with sod pins to keep them from popping up and you never even see them. We have used them several times, the trick with these is to water deeply and infrequently. We may turn ours on for 8 hours once a month (although our garden is established now it's been in 4 years). This is a great way to minimize water loss through evaporation of normal sprinklers, will save you a lot of time and money and is so much better for your plants!

Whew, thank you for hanging in there with me if you read this whole post! I know there's a lot of information out there on watering, products, etc., but if you have questions, want to know more or even share your own tips and tricks please do! I'm happy to help keep your gardens looking great!

*Amy

Weekend Recap

2011-07-25T09:55:00.000-04:00

We finally had a weekend "off" with no house projects-wahoo!! So we made some time to hit up the local farmer's market on Saturday morning in Reston on Lake Anne.

Crowds ready for all the good produce!

Farm truck brining all their goods to the market

Bright burst of color with these summer annuals (zinnias & celosia)

Beautiful veggies, look at the color of those onions!

I loved how these were displayed a perfect checkerboard of fruits. The blueberries were too good to pass up! (Check out three & four photos below)

Here I am, 9 months today-almost baby time!!

Did I mention it was also the Ukelele festival?? They had a woman doing Hula along with the band and there were lots of people sitting in the courtyard listening and watching.

Those blueberries were put to good use-my sweet husband made me blueberry pancakes on Sunday morning.

Nothing beats fat, plump blueberries hot off the griddle with fresh Vermont maple syrup. Mmmmm!

And of course we had our fur babies close by keeping us company.

Any farmers markets close by that you like to visit? What did you do?

*Amy

Organization

2011-07-20T10:41:00.000-04:00

I know we all have "that drawer" (okay or more) in our house that we just throw stuff in. See exhibit A:

We have a desk in our kitchen and I LOVE having it there (most of the time) but occasionally I think "Ahh, what a waste of space, it always ends up cluttered!!" Anyone else have this issue?

Okay, well my mom works at The Container Store (yes, go ahead and be jealous) it's an amazing place and an awesome perk to be related to someone as Type A as I am-love you mom! So I called her with the drawer dilemma and thankfully she came to the rescue!

These bamboo boxes were the perfect fit. The two small ones slide into the ridge along the bottom one, so you can see what's in the front and back of each compartment-genius!

I moved the boxes around until I found what worked best for me. Our spare car keys and locks that we don't use very often are in the way back, checkbook, stamps, letter opener (and yes, those are pruning shears) in the front and business cards on the right in the black folder with blank envelopes behind it. The top drawer holds our rubber bands and extra 3M command hooks.

It's so much better now and easier to find things which we both love. Now I just have to organize the bottom two drawers and the top one. Hey, I can only do so much in one afternoon...

Any organization projects on your horizon? Or is every space neat and tidy?

Please share!

*Amy

Capitol Hill Garden - Before & After

2011-07-18T09:57:00.000-04:00

Last week I had an installation up on Capitol Hill. Although DC is super close (11 miles from my office) traffic makes it seem like 1,100 miles away. BUT, there are some very cool houses and gardens so when I get "the call" to work on a project down there I'm totally on board!

This was no exception, a very small space, which I like because I feel you have to be more judicious in your plant choices and there's no where to "hide" things or not so ideal plants, etc...

My wonderful customer wanted a low-maintenance space with some fragrance and some four-season interest. She is a busy lady (working on the hill) and doesn't have time to dedicate to daily maintenance. So I created a space that will bloom for a long time, has some evergreen structure, add some fragrance when she walks by and will allow her to clip a few blooms to bring inside if she wants.

So here was the garden when I arrived.

Facing the front of the house

Looking up the sidewalk (very cool steps!)

Bed to the right of the walkway

And here are the afters

Same view of the front

Again, left side of bed

Right of walkway

And a few close-ups...

Fragrant Angel Coneflower

Limelight Hydrangea (tree form)

Fragrant Bouquet Hosta

We did keep some of her existing plants-she had some family iris that were re-incorporated and she loved the liriope lining the path, but I did divide it so it wasn't so overgrown.

I added Boxwood against the brick stoop which will eventually get 2x2, some helleborus (a winter bloomer), and the coneflower, hosta. So although it was a small job, I think the space is so much neater, tidier and more organzied. When it fills out a little it should be perfect!

Any thoughts? Questions? Did you do any gardening this week?

Happy Monday!!

*Amy

DIY - Lavender Sachets

2011-07-07T07:37:00.000-04:00

Here's my tutorial on making your own lavender sachets. These were the ones I used as thank you takeaway's at our baby shower.

First step was to rummage through my fabric. Thankfully I found this beautiful silk moire that was the RIGHT color for the project-whoo hoo! Love it when that happens.

Next up, a LOT of measuring. I wanted to make a few strips at one time, so I measured the fabric both ways to make sure it would fit before I did any cutting without any waste.

Using my awesome cutting wheel and a metal yardstick I was able to just run down the fabric and get a nice straight cut.

Of course I didn't write down my sizing (bad blogger) but you can really make these any size you want. I like them on the small side, I think they're cuter, but they are a little trickier to fill and sew. All said and done mine were about a 3.5" square.

Alright, so the strips are cut to size.

Then I folded them over. The moire does have a front and a back to the fabric, so I flipped them inside out so I was stamping on the right side.

Here were the stamps, again, a lucky find, $1.00 each in a miscellaneous bin at Michael's craft store, but perfect for what we wanted! I liked having two different templates to work with.

Again, bad blogger, I don't have a photo of my sewing them-whoops. I think I was just into the groove! But I basically flipped them inside out, sewed up the two sides and 1/2 way up the last side. I wanted a small opening to be able to fill the lavender.

Mmmm, the lavender. We did a lot of looking locally but couldn't find anything that wasn't $20+ a pound, not what I had in mind, so we ended up ordering it online (when I track down the website I'll add it). But it was bagged in 1 lb. bags and smelled delicious!

Once they were sewn up I flipped them right-side-out, inked up the stamps and went to town. After the ink had dried I began the filling process. I tried several things, but a small funnel was the best and then ended up using my fingers for the last few pinches. When they were all full I then hand stitched the last inch or so. I surprised my mom with my TINY stitches, again, who knew I had it in me??

Here's the final product at the shower! Everyone LOVED them and I hope they will remind them of what a wonderful time we had that day and all the love and thanks they have from us.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I wasn't clear on something, I'm happy to help!

What projects have you done lately?

*Amy

Barefoot

2011-07-05T08:02:00.000-04:00

I have always been a summer and warm weather kinda girl, growing up in tropical locales around the world led my sister and I to be water babies and were most usually barefoot or in flip flops. When I met my husband he was very much the same way. His mother used to double check him before he left the house to make sure he had shoes on (it was MOST likely that he didn't-fyi, I still check him some days!) Even when he did have shoes on he used to pull them off! Can't wait to see what our little one will do-nature or nurture??

While doing a little gardening this weekend I happened to stop and take a look down...

My footprint in our flagstone patio

Mine up top, Greg's below

Here's the back corner of our garden, the ferns are finally starting to take off!! We just planted the climbing hydrangea this year and it did bloom, now it just needs to start creeping along the brick, fingers crossed it'll start doing it's thing!

How about you-do you prefer to be shoeless??

*Amy

Showered with Love

2011-06-29T07:54:00.000-04:00

We had quite the whirlwind week and weekend. Saturday was Baby Shower Day! And man oh man, did we get spoiled!

Here was our load of goodies, we got some ADORABLE things! Makes me even more eager to meet this little guy so I can have a photo shoot with him and all of his loot!

I was in charge of the flowers for the shower because I love to do them, and it kept me out of the planning so it was a surprise. I was told, green, white and blue, but other than that had no idea. So I used white and lightly tinged blue hydrangeas, green trick dianthus and curly willow with a few butterflies clipped on it.

This larger arrangement I did in our silver trophy cup was for the food bar is of lacecap hydrangea, green trick dianthus and again the curly willow and butterflies.

The delicious spread! Fruit salad, tortellini salad, mini cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad on croissants, green salad, cheese straws, and of course a cheese tray!

I have really been craving crunchy veggies especially cauliflower (strange I know) but hey, at least I'm craving healthy things! So they put together a tzatziki dip and veggie tray for me (thanks guys!!)

There were two different iced teas in these adorable dispensers.

And here are the grandma's! My mom on the left and Greg's mom on the right. I am so lucky to have two great mom's and role models in my life. They are amazing!!

My sister made this bag for her gifts, most certainly my favorite packaging!!

Here was everyone working on one of the shower games. A very studious bunch!

And what would a shower be without a dessert bar???

Greg's family recipe for pound cake-YUM!

The carrott cake recipe from a co-worker and made by my mom-delish!

Chocolate cake with chocolate drizzle, SO tasty! And the little bird's nest I created.

My Aunt's from Pittsburgh made these cookies; a family tradition for weddings and baby showers, some filled with apricot jam, and some filled with nuts and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

I think it's a nice touch to have a little favor to thank everyone for coming, so with my newfound craftiness I made these moire satin lavender-filled sachets with the help of my mom and sister.

Here is the basekt of beautiful cookie favors my mom and sister made also as takeaways!!

Me and my sis back at our house after the shower.

We had a lot of the out of town family back to our house after the shower. We ordered pizza, drank some wine (sadly none for me) and caught-up since we aren't lucky enough to live close to them, it was wonderful to spend extra time together.

I am happy to post some photos of the sachets and flowers so you guys can see the process. Hopefully I can get to it this week!

All in all, I had a wonderful time and was so thrilled so many people made an effort to come from near and far to celebrate with us. We really were showered with love.

*Amy

Summer Solstice

2011-06-21T15:52:00.000-04:00

Wishing you a happy Summer Solstice, the first day of summer and the longest day of the year has arrived!! Sadly I am at work and not lounging at the pool or the beach, BUT I will leave you these beautiful images of places I'm sure we'd all rather be.

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Any big plans this summer? I'll just be having our first baby in August...other than that, you know, not much going on... :)

*Amy

She's crafty

2011-06-21T07:31:00.000-04:00

So in my almost 8 month pregnant and state of being, I've decided to get crafty and try my hand at sewing. For those of you who know me, yes, you are shocked as I am. Now I was into scrapbooking in my day, and I've been known to put together a mean collage or two, but sewing...isn't that why we have our moms?? I feel like perhaps I was "absent" on that day in school-do they even still teach sewing or home ec?

In any event, In my most recent run to JoAnne's fabric (yes, I know this is becoming a recent thing ya'll) I noticed a fabric SALE sign. Who doesn't love the word SALE? So I thought, I'll just look and see if there's anything I like. I was in the market for some outdoor pillows for our patio furniture and thought, I'll just make some!

Here were my selections, a nice bold green, white, yellow and blue stripe, a quilted yellow for some texture and of course can't forget the ZEBRA print!

Ah Amy, ever the grand planner. I work 6 days a week usually 60ish hours, teach Pilates classes Monday night's, take a water aerobics class on Friday's, workout at least two other days, oh and manage to help plan and prep dinner most nights (Greg does the cooking-thank heavens for a good husband!). WHEN would one think I am learning to sew and actually make these pillows?? Oh yeah, and my goal was before my baby shower (on SATURDAY-hah!)

After a slight panick attack once I had purchased the fabric I made one quick speedial to...MOM...annnnd, here we are!

Fabric is cut (1" in less than the pillow form size so they're fat and fluffy), flipped inside out and pinned along the edges. Awesome mom tip, if you run the pins left to right in the fabric you can sew right over them-Genius.

Running right along the edge of the fabric.

Mom and her "helper" our kitten Fawkes. He was busy trying to catch the foot pedal every time she pressed it, hilarous to me the cutter-pinner, not hilarious to the one getting their foot nibbled on. So he was checkin' out the sewing machine, perhaps he'll help with the next project??

We left an opening so we'd be able to get the pillow form in, always, ALWAYS double or back-stitch your opening so when you pull the fabric apart the seam doesn't come out!

I turned the fabric rightside out. Now it just needs a pillow form stuffed in it and for me to sew the opening closed.

Here's the little zebra print, ahhh I love this print!

And here's the yellow quilted fabric.

So stay tuned, I'll get pillow forms and will take some photos of them in their new home!

Have you attempted sewing? Were you inspired and found a hidden talent? Or did you quit it like a bad habit? So far I'm hooked-lookout, I may try and learn how to do piping next!

*Amy

Bloomin' Beauties

2011-06-14T11:21:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted a pic of my garden and now that's is bursting into bloom I thought it's about time! So here it is!

The tree in background on the left is a Weeping Redbud, Yellow Climbing Rose 'Golden Showers' in center, the plant on the right is Catmint 'Walkers Low' and the plant on left is Sage 'May Night'

Closeup of Catmint 'Walkers Low'

Clematis 'Jackmanii'

Bloom unfurling

Almost there...

Fully open and ready to face the world. I LOVE this color!

What's blooming in your garden?

*Amy

Pat Yourself On The Back

2011-06-08T08:18:00.000-04:00

I think we so often don't realize how much we really DO. Please take today to thank YOURSELF. You are an amazing, talented, friend, sister, brother, mother, father, wife, husband, co-worker and have many, many gifts to offer. Each one of you is creative in your own way, special in your own way and you deserve to give yourself a break, pat yourself on the back for everything that you do.

Sending lots of virtual hugs out to all my blog readers today just beacuse you deserve it!

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine - Thomas Jefferson

*Amy

Image from here

Demo & Reno

2011-06-06T09:17:00.000-04:00

So although we've done a LOT of work in our house since we bought it in 2007, we had overlooked the basement. Well, not overlooked, we just pretty much neglected it. It's the only area in the house with a TV (our man-cave), the access to the back yard and garage and is also where the laundry room and the 4th bathroom are located. We rarely "entertain" down here and it was fine for us. But after doing everything but moving walls to the rest of the house, we got the "well, we really should make it match the rest of the house vibe". Perhaps it's just my nesting instincts kicking in?? There were three types of flooring in the three spaces-tile, lineolum and carpet which always drove us nuts, but we never had the time or extra money to deal with it until now.

Our baby shower is June 25th and we really wanted to get this project moving and done before our friends and family come to town-nothing like a deadline right??

After much looking into flooring, we thought it would be best to do click-in-place laminate. We have real hardwood (Brazilian Cherry) on our main level, but didn't want to spend that kind of money down here. Plus, with this being the access in and out of the house we wanted something pretty indestructable. We did a lot of looking, but ended up with this great product from Lowes. It is a an exotic that looks almost identical to our floors upstairs, but you'll never see them at the same time.

Nothin' beats a toilet in the family room-hah. This was actually toilet 1 of 3. Long story, but basically our "rough in" is 10" which is NOT standard these days, so finding a toilet was an awesome challenge. If you are doing this yourself, measure, measure-we did and still had issues!

Best husband ever!! He was measuring for the baseboards-they need to go in first so you have something to push the wood up against.

New floors in!! And yes, this was all done in a morning-go Greg go!

Of course as he was ready to install the sink, the ever helpful wife says: "Why don't we paint the wall first?"

Greg: "Really Amy, I've got the plumbing all ready to go."

Amy: "Oh, okay, I was just thinking it'd be easier than un-hooking the toilet and sink to paint behind it."

Greg: Pause..."Why don't you just go up to the pool and relax babe."

Three hours and a tan wife later...

A painted wall AND new sink! Gotta love home projects and GOOD husbands!

We're saving the hallway, laundry room and living room for when the in-laws arrive, they're coming in next week-YAY!! The guys will crank through that project while MIL and I can shop for new sconces, tp holder and towel bar.

So that was our weekend, what did you get into?

*Amy

Cocktails anyone?

2011-06-02T09:30:00.000-04:00

Well, this is sort of "false advertising" since I'm not really drinking cocktails this summer (BIG BUMMER!) but hey, it's a small sacrifice in order to be creating this little baby we already love so much! Since I'm a clever one, I am managing to come up with some good mocktails so I still feel like a grown-up when all my friends and family are imbibing in the real deal.

In our shopping adventure on Saturday, we stumbled upon this little treasure...The Hour Cocktail Collection. It is an entire store devoted to bar ware!!

I thought HOW perfect, even though I may not be drinking alcohol, that doesn't mean it shouldn't still be served in a beautiful vessel and boy do they have a selection!

I loved these lemon glasses in the vintage holder, and those gorgeous napkins (Trina Turk I think)

Loved this weatermelon and green tray with the delicate stemware on it. Not only would those be perfect for a little evening drink, but with some sorbet and a biscotti they'd be equally as stunning.

Mmmm, blue. If y'all havent' met me, I'll admit that I have an affinity to blue anything. So these stole my heart right out the gate. Look at that twisty swirled rim-yikes!! Oh and the lamp is pretty cool too, but man I'd hate to dust it!

I'm not usually into ornate designs, but something about these floral and gold high-balls really caught my eye.

Here's a photo of one of the rooms in the shop. For as many different styles as they have it's all beautifully presented. So if you need a gift or are looking to add to your own collection and are ever in Old Town, stop by, I'm sure you'll find something you can't leave without!

Do you just collect glasses as you find them and have an eclectic collection? Or is there as style you prefer and stick with? Please share!

*Amy

Girls Day Out

2011-06-01T11:45:00.000-04:00

I am really lucky to have some of the BEST girlfriends a girl could ask for-starting with the one who's put up with me since she was born-my sister Kathy (aka-Chicky). Ever since we were little our parents always called us their "chicks" and it just stuck as Kath's nickname. Here we are at brunch this past weekend, Kath on the left me on the right-and yes, that's finally a baby bump!! It was 7 months on Monday-whoo hoo!

The ladies decided to have brunch at Evening Star Cafe in Del Ray, a cute little neighborhood just outside of Old Town, Alexandria and do a little shopping afterwards. The food was great (sorry I didn't take a photo, I claim preggers hunger as the piping french toast and cheddar grits were placed in front of me as my distraction).

They even humored me and went into a consignment maternity and baby store. I got a new top and a swimsuit for a great deal. I did not buy this adorable baby suit, but oh my HOW cute!!

Not much is better than time spent with good friends. And I am lucky to call these gals mine.

My sis and D

Of course no brunch is complete without a little stop at the local ice cream shop. The Dairy Godmother did not disappoint. The Lemon-Lavender Sorbet was dee-lish.

S and me

I will promise I will post some design-related things again soon, work has swamped me and belive it or not, growing a person is exhausting!

How was your weekend??

*Amy

Time Flies

2011-05-02T12:44:00.000-04:00

Wow, where do the weeks go?

I had great intentions of posting some good updates last week, but with an install Tuesday and a big pond job Wednesday-Friday (pics later this week) I apparently got sidetracked. Perhaps working 60 hours and being 6 months pregnant doesn't help?? Guess I really am trying to keep my normal schedule even though having a baby is a "new normal" I'm having to learn!

I also was a loser and forgot my camera on the kitchen island this morning. So I will leave you with a few of the things I can find on the internet in the meantime.

Saturday afternoon my sister and I went to a baby shower for one of my girlfriends (photos this week) and then met another group of friends for dinner at a new (to us) place in Falls Church-Clare and Don's beach shack. The food was delish (I had fish tacos YUM) and the band was good as well, a nice evening to sit outside and catch up.

During our errand running yesterday while hubs was in the ceiling fan store (post for tomorrow) I ~~RAN~~ wandered into DSW Shoe Warehouse, aka. heaven. Of course there were lots of beautiful things, but I had my eye on this little number:

Adrienne Vittadini Viv Black

I chickened out and didn't buy them. I was nervous b/c everyone tells me my feet will change! I already wear a size 10-10.5 ahhh, please say this isn't true! I love my shoe collection and do NOT want to send them to new homes! Any advice??

What did you do this weekend?

*Amy

Lemmie OUT!

2011-04-26T08:01:00.000-04:00

While we were grilling last night I turned around on the deck and looked back into the living room to find...

Pips, our little girl trying to escape and Fawkes, her brother standing by for backup.

Think she was interested in our pineapple and pork kebabs??

I mean they were delicious.

Happy Tuesday!

*Amy

Easter Weekend

2011-04-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a safe, happy Easter. My parents live about 9 miles from us, so we trekked on over there on Sunday to celebrate with them and a big group of friends (12 of us total!) The menu was amazing as usual:

Honeybaked Ham, Turkey, Pineapple Casserole, Asparagus, Paska Bread, Potato Casserole, Corn Souffle, all of which were delicious and of course I was bad and didn't take any photos...

I did however remember to take a photo of the flowers I did for the kitchen table, aka-the dessert buffet!

Yellow Tulips, Orange & Yellow Parrott Tulips, White Dogwood & Purple Wisteria

Here's my carrott cake in the background, it was a BIG hit again this year. YUM!

Friday my mom, sis and I had a baking day and then frosted these cuties. Bunnies, carrotts and flowers.

It was our first foray into color-flow frosting. WOW, what a lot of work! But dang if they didn't look adorable! And tasted pretty good too!

Have you attempted color flow? Any amazing secrets?

How was your weekend?

*Amy

Plant of the week

2011-04-21T11:49:00.000-04:00

This week's feature plant is Pulmonaria, also called Lungwort. This spring bloomer is a great shade garden addition. It likes moist soil and can actually take it quite wet. I'm posting two of my favorite cultivars, but there are others, I've just found these to be tough performers over time (which gets a gold star in my book!)

Lungwort 'Trevi Fountain'

Size: Clumping foliage 1' tall, 2' wide; flowers 1" above the foliage

I love it's gorgeous mottled leaves and ruffled bright blue-purple flowers

Lungwort 'Silver Bouquet'

Size: Clumping foliage 7" tall, 20" wide; flowers 10" above the foliage

I love it's silvery mottled leaves and ruffled combo of pink and purple flowers

Like them, have them, would add them?? Let me know!

*Amy

Eventbrite

2011-04-19T07:34:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I'm in the dark ages as this website started in 2006-whoops I am late to the party! But I stumbled upon this website today and was AMAZED. Perhaps it's just the simple things that are really getting me going lately? But seriously, I'd heard of other meetup organizations and webpages, so I'm not totally in the past, right?? but, wow oh wow, the internet really is an amazing place!

So go check out Eventbrite, it's a website that lets you know of events going on in many cities across our good ole' USofA. You can search by event, date, place, price, the list goes on and on. I'm sure you can find something new and fun to do, if so please let me know!

*Amy

Architecture

2011-04-18T08:48:00.000-04:00

They just don't build 'em like they used to. Well, I guess they do, but it's crazy expensive to do and most firms aren't interested in this type of detail work.

While I was sitting in traffic on my way to a job in DC last week I managed to snag a few photos of some buildings I thought were worth showing off (taken from the sunroof or windows of my car-super safe I know).

Here's a full shot of the building

Closeup of the front door and gorgeous bump out. LOVE that copper patina!! Even the brick detail above the windows is beautiful, and the copper gutters, mmmmm

The wavy roofline-SO beautiful! That little window peeking out of the roof is just the right touch, I imagine it to be a cool space inside as well.

I love the limestone and copper trim that has aged, and those urns, ughh, so beautiful! Even the overhang details were well thought out.

I love the three types of windows, columns and balustrades on this traditional brick building.

These next two reminded me of a Dovecote or Pigeonnier (the last photo has been turned into a house-SO awesome, I'd love to have this as my weekend getaway.)

Are there any buildings in your town that inspire you? Are you drawn to great architecture?
Happy Monday! I'll be updating you guys this week with a fun weekend DIY project, so come on back!

*Amy

Alphabet Soup and my Announcement** if you can find it!

2011-04-13T11:54:00.000-04:00

This has been floating around on some blogs I’ve been reading and thought it would be a good way for you all to learn a little more about me and for me to learn a little more about you! So please link up and share your Alphabet!

A – Age: 31, as of January 13th, what a good way to start the year, it’s gonna be a good one, I just know it!

B – Bed size: King, thank heaven!! I’m 5'9" and Hubs is 6'3", so it really was the best investment we made, totally worth the wait and space! Plus, we can snuggle with the kittens and still have room!

C – Chore you hate: Sad to say I kinda like chores, I think it’s the OCD neat-freak in me. Although I do usually have a pile of clean laundry that needs folding, so that’s probably my worst offense.

D – Dogs: No dogs until we have enough land they can run around on, we’re currently in a townhouse, but we do have two adorable kittens, Pips and Fakes and one awesome “dogson” Xander.

E – Essential Start your Day Item: Kiss from husband! Don’t go a morning without it.

F – Favorite Color: Blue, ocean, and sky-Bam! Say no more.

G – Gold or Silver: Depends on what I’m wearing…Now diamonds, that's an everday item!

H – Height, whoops already answered that, I love being tall!

I – Instruments you Play: Piano (still) and Clarinet, although let’s be honest, H.S. was a LONG time ago, so you probably don’t want to ask me to play now, it could get ugly…

J – Job Title: Landscape Designer

K** – Kids: As of August that’ll be ONE!! I'm 21 weeks pregnant with our first baby!

L – Live: Virginia, the only two things that would make it better would be less traffic and being closer to swimable water.

M – Mom’s name: Patty, Patricia, Tat, Mom

N – Nickname: Oh boy-to be honest or not to be honest…Okayyy, honest, Hollywood, Mooch, Stretch, Lovebug and Dreamboat (yeah yeah, I’m being honest here alright cut me a break!) Ames, Eme, Aimilee, Aimes, Seester, Blondie

O – Overnight Hospital Stays: None so far thankfully, I’m sure that’ll change in August when we have our little one!

P – Pet Peeve: Negativity, towards others and just in general, it only brings everyone down! People that drive BELOW the speed limit in the far left lane, holy wow that makes me mad!

Q – Quote from a Movie: So many good ones are involved in my daily life!! I’ll try to limit myself:
Are you two brothers (sisters)? No…YEAH! (and they high five) – A Night at the Roxbury
She takes spinning classes like they’re M&M’s –Just go With It

R – Right or Left Handed: Righty

S – Siblings: 1, younger sister by 2 years 11 months and she is awesome!! Love my Chick!

T – Time you wake up: In busy season usually 5:45 so I can hit the gym before arriving at work at 7, In the winter between 8 and 9, yay for seasonal work!

U – Underwear: When working out usually none, who wants to pull a wedgie out when you’re running, daily cotton-BOring I know, weekends, well now, that’s private! ;)

V – Vegetable you Dislike: Lately butternut squash, I think it’s the preggers hormones…But normally Okra, and yes, I even went to school in Charleston, sorry I just don’t dig it!

W – What makes you Late: Northern Virginia Traffic-ugh

X – X-Rays: Practically my whole body, dang you sports!

Y – Yummy Food you Make: When I cook (it’s usually Greg, I’m so spoiled) I make a mean butternut squash and sage lasagna, chicken and broccoli casserole, spaghetti sauce. But baking-look out, I LOVE to bake!! Here are my homemade carrott cake cupcakes I took to a housewarming last weekend. Which is why I love to workout!

Z – Zoo Animal Favorite: Ooh, probably Giraffe’s they are TOO cute with their long graceful necks and good lookin spots, mm, mm! Although Elephants are good luck and they are actually quite gentle creatures for being so big. And maybe Penguins too, because they waddle and who doesn’t love that? Guess I’m an equal opportunity animal lover…

Now how about you? Please do share!

*Amy

Spring is springing!!

2011-04-12T10:39:00.000-04:00

Okay, so my lack of posts is becoming very apparent, Spring has most certainly sprung here at work! I've got jobs lined up every day until May 17th-yikes!! Good for business, bad for blogging! My goal is to get organized enough to have posts in advance ready to go for you guys! But for today I thought I'd share these beauties from a recent trek through a local garden.

Camellia japonica 'Jerry Hill'

Daffodil 'Tete a tete'

Chionodoxa also called Glory-of-the-snow

What's blooming in your garden?

*Amy

Tech-NO

2011-04-04T22:08:00.000-04:00

There are some things we each do well, some things we don't...apparently this blog design thing is NOT "my jam" as my cool cousin Kate would say. Sorry for the crazy changes in backgrounds over the past few days, this is totally out of my area of expertise and I can't seem to get it back to "normal." Soo, if anyone has great advice, bring it on! In the meantime I'm going to look into all avenues, trying to "reset" this blog, new blog designers who can come up with something amazing but in the meantime maybe I should look into blogs for dummies??
I'll be back tomorrow with a GOOD update!!
*Amy

DC Design House - Press Day

2011-04-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

Today's post will be short and sweet, I'm off to the press day for the DC Design House!!

With so many talented designers I'm excited to see what they've all done! I'll take photos (if they'll let me) and will post a recap if not this afternoon Monday for sure! So please stay tuned!

In the meantime, please enjoy some eye candy from the many designers! I'm sure you'll find something to make your Friday fly by!

Cindy McClure - http://www.grossmuellers.com/
Gary Lovejoy
Iantha Carley - http://www.ianthainteriors.com/
Patrick Sutton - http://www.patricksutton.com,%20www.patricksuttonhome.com/
Rill Architects - jrill@rillarchitects.com
Whitney Stewart - http://www.whitneystewartinteriordesign.com/
Samantha Friedman - http://www.samanthafriedmaninteriors.com/
Nancy Colbert - info@designpartnersllc.com
Liz Levin - http://www.lizlevininteriors.com/
Lauren Liess - http://www.thepurestyle.com/
Jason Hodges - jason@jhodgesandassociates.com
Erin Paige Pitts - http://www.erinpaigepittsinteriors.com/
David Mitchell
Denise Willard - http://www.decorbydenise.com/
Camille Saum - http://www.camillesaum.com/
Nadia Subaran - http://www.aidandesign.com/
Barbara Franceski - http://www.barbarafranceski.com/
Allie Mann - http://www.casedesign.com/

Happy almost weekend!
*Amy

Work

2011-03-29T08:49:00.000-04:00

This totally cracked me up. I'm off to check on jobs and then meet some new customers today, so this doesn't really apply (today at least) but I thought I'd throw out a laugh into the blogosphere.

Image from here

Happy Tuesday y'all!

*Amy

Weekend Recap

2011-03-28T10:34:00.000-04:00

It was a whirlwind weekend at our house, we picked up my MIL on Thursday night, SO glad she was able to come up to help us!! After a quick dinner out (we all need a night off cooking now and then!) we plotted and planned our weekend tasks.

Friday: First stop: DuBois Textiles in Baltimore. BEST fabric store EVER!! For those of you not lucky enough to have been introduced to it, I am truly sorry, it is a treasure trove of goodness. Meg, of Pigtown Design had a "Tour de Baltimore" last year that I trekked up for and have been back to three or four times since then, always finding great things, this was no exception! Funny enough, we actually ran into Meg while shopping-it really is a small world!

Second stop: Cafe Hon, a local Baltimore eatery, good food, good ambiance and GREAT flair!!

Who doesn't need a larger than life flamingo on the outside of their restaurant??

Third stop: I'm keeping a secret until next week, so come on back!

Fourth stop: Benjamin Moore back in VA, since we found such amazing fabric we needed paint!! I will show you the color soon, I promise!

Fifth stop: Also a secret, but it'll make sense next week!

Sixth stop: HOME! A nice salad, sweet potato and filet on the grill topped off a really busy, but very productive day.

How about you? What did you do this weekend?

*Amy

Plant of the Week

2011-03-24T08:34:00.000-04:00

The plant I'm showcasing this week is the Helleborus, also called Lenten Rose. I thought it was appropriate as we are in the season of Lent (for those who celebrate), and for those who don't, this is still a plant not to miss adding to your garden!! Helleborus, also called Hellebore is an evergreen perennial which is yes, unusual, as most perennials die back to the ground in winter and don't emerge until late spring (usually late March- early April). This beauty BLOOMS in winter! It keeps its foliage throughout the year and blooms starting in early late February or March depending on weather and will last at least 6 weeks. Helleborus x hybridus was named the 2005 'Perennial Plant of the Year' by the Perennial Plant Association.

Here are a few I photographed at work, but there are TONS more, I will put some links to other photos below mine of some of my faves (and there are a LOT!)

Helleborus 'Winter Sunshine'

Height: 12"

Width: 18-24"

Helleborus 'Winter Song"

Height: 15-18"

Width: 24"

Helleborus 'Pink Lady'

Height: 18-20"

Width: 18-24"

Helleborus 'Green Corsican'

Height: 10"

Width: 24"

These beauties can tolerate deep shade but also appreciate some sun, they like well-drained soil (if you amend with organic matter or compost even better) and they are deer tolerant! Their leaves (when cut or bruised) emit a toxic sap that can irritate skin so wash well after pruning off any dead foliage in late winter when these gorgeous flowers begin opening their eyes to the chilly spring sky, it'll showcase the blooms that much more and make you happy you added them to your garden!

Both images from here

Would this be something you'd add to your garden? I know I'm always happy to see them blooming away when it's still chilly out!

Happy Gardening!
*Amy

DIY - Spring Wreath

2011-03-21T11:36:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday bloggers!! I was inspired by the profusion of color at work while pulling plants last week, so I thought I'd whip up something springy for our front door.

I made a quick stop at Michael's on the way home to pick up a grapevine wreath, some artificial forsythia and viburnum, then home to craft I went!

Here's the grapevine wreath on our kitchen counter before I got started.

My trusty supplies, world's smallest gluegun-perfect for projects like this! Extra glue sticks, nothing worse than running out mid-way through a project, and my wire cutters to snip the branches into manageable sections.

The artificial flowers and wreath on my counter, notice my "helper" there on the floor, our little girl Pips likes to supervise my projects. It's probably a good thing, that hot glue gets HOT!!

I cut all my branches into smaller sections and laid them out on the counter first. Then I worked them in sections into the wreath, I started with the Forsythia as it's the smaller flower and used that as my "base." Once that was evenly placed throughout my wreath I added in the Viburnum.

Next, I added the rest of the Viburnum clusters and some extra leaves for a little added greenery around the edges, although it's artificial, I like the wreath to look a little wild and natural. I'm not usually a big artificial flower person, BUT the wreath is really mostly seen from the street, we rarely use our front door, so it's nice to see a burst of color when we pull up.

Amd here's the finished product hung up before I left for work this morning! Yes, I know a brown door, it was most certainly NOT our color choice. We live in an awesome neighborhood, but our HOA has certain colors you have to paint your door. So ours is pre-designated "Fairfax Brown", ugh. Hey, at least we have an HOA that enforces this rule, as much as I love hot pink, I can't say I'd be thrilled if my neighbors door was painted that color...

So that's my DIY spring wreath for you guys. Have you made something for your door? If so please let me know, I'd love to see what you're up to!

*Amy

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T14:58:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd inject a dose of green on my blog on this festive day! Being 1/2 Irish I rarely pass up an opportunity to celebrate! And being a Landscape Designer, I NEVER pass up an opportunity to promote "GREEN." Here are few things on my list this St. Patties Day, what's on your list??

Enjoy a Guinness or green beer for me!
Cheers!

*Amy
Image credit:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

New Spring Series - "Plant of the Week"

2011-03-16T13:45:00.000-04:00

I have had a few requests to share more about some plants here on this blog 'o mine so I thought this would be a great opportunity to start a new series called "Plant of the Week." This way, I am able to share with you some of my plant knowledge AND perhaps introduce you to some plants or cultivars you may never have come across otherwise. I would also love this to be a way for you guys to chime in and let me know if it's something you would plant, have planted, have killed, etc...The only way for me to know if you guys like this or not is for you to comment! So please don't be shy! I'm pretty laid-back, especially with some peppermint tea and cadbury eggs in me :)

So, for my inagural plant I've chosen one of my favorites...Ranunculus, it's name means "Little Frog" in Late Latin. How cute is that!! And aptly named-frogs like to live near water, so do Ranuculus.

Average size of foliage is 6-12" across, average height of blooms is anywhere from 8-18" tall.

The Tecolote strain I would say is the most common and has large, 3-6" double flowers.

The Bloomingdale strain can also be found, usually in higher-end garden centers (not Home Depot or Lowes), and tends to be a little shorter, typically 10" also with double flowers.

Ranunculus, for the most part, are frost-hardy cool-season perennials. They perform best where winters are relatively mild and springs are long and cool. Sorry deep South!!

I have also found they do best when planted in their container in your larger container. That enables you to pull them out when they're done blooming. When you're ready for your May/June seasonal color, remove the pot, lay the container on its side to make sure no water rots the bulb and then store in a cool, dry place and save for next year! You can also treat them as an annual and just toss them if you're not into upkeep.

One of their charms is the multiple layers of delicate, crepe paper--thin petals, looking like an origami masterwork. Greg bought me some gorgeous white/yellow ones (similar to the photo below) from Israel for Valentines Day and they lasted over a month!

They are a bulb (really a tuber-like potatoes!), can be planted in the fall and will bloom in late winter/early spring for most of the country.

Bulb size predicts the number of flowers, so bigger is better! Each jumbo bulb will produce some 35 cuttable flowers, compared to a fifth as many from a number three bulb. Number ones will make about 20 flowers, number twos a dozen or more. Stick to jumbos for containers and most smaller plantings. Smaller number twos or even threes serve well for mass plantings. If you are purchasing pre-potted from a nursery they are typically jumbo or #1's, more bang for your buck!

They come in an array of colors, sizes and blooms, I always select them with at least one flower in bloom so I know the "true color" I'm getting in my containers. Although some people like a surprise, I'm too much of a color-combo planner!

I purchased some of my own (third photo-purple and white tinged ones) to put in our containers by our front door. My mother-in-law is coming to visit tomorrow and I wanted to spruce it up! So I'll show you the planting combo once they're happily in the soil.

So there you have it! Please let me know if you like this and want to see more! Who doesn't love a little beauty (and learning)!

Have a great Wednesday!

*Amy

Two Things

2011-03-15T08:40:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd share a few quick faves of mine on this bright and sunny Tuesday morning. Please do share your faves, it's always nice to see what others can't live without!

Recently Numi's Moroccan Mint Tea (We lived in Morocco when I was a baby and I am mildly obsessed with good tea, mint in particular and have spent many years testing teas, this one is amazing, I promise they are not bribing me to say so, although I would accecpt bribes-in the form of tea of course...)

Cadbury Mini Eggs, again, I may or may not be rationing them out...don't judge, they are SO good! And they're only around once a year, so I have to enjoy them right? This is why I teach Pilates and train for triathlons-so I can have my "treats" when I want them :)

Beautiful image of their deliciousness from here

And here

So at least you know what I'm up to, nutritionally sound, perhaps not, but delicious...YES!

What can't you live without lately?

Happy Tuesday!

*Amy

SPRING!!!

2011-03-14T14:06:00.000-04:00

I have seen the first bulbs blooming this week, so it's definatley spring in our neck of the woods!

Although I'm thrilled for the better weather and sunshine although my 6 day work-weeks are quickly limiting our weekend project potential! But stay tuned I have a BIG announcement later this week!!

Happy Monday!
*Amy

Chair Recovering Project - Part 1

2011-03-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned in the winter I'm lucky to be able to do "inside work." Helping set up and break down Christmas, get the store ready for Spring, bring out and set up new products and even do some crafty projects.

I recently was tasked with finding some fabric to recover 4 chairs at a table we'll use for display in the store. Jo Ann fabric's is just up the street so I took at little field trip on over to see what I could scout.

There were a TON of great colors, patterns, etc. I was instructed to look for something bright, happy and with a pattern so it wouldn't show wear and tear easily.

This is the original chair:

And here were a few of the fabric options:

Loved this bohemian/florentine print, such happy colors! I did buy some for another project :)

Very MOD waves

Ovalicious but a little too much orange for what the area it was going in

Loved this print, but wrong colors

The one on the left was also purchased for another area of the store

But here is the finished product:

A bright, happy vine print, appropriate since we are a garden center! And it coordinates nicely with our green walls and white table that goes with these chairs.

I'll give you the tutorial tomorrow, so stick around!

*Amy

Cat Nappin

2011-02-28T16:54:00.000-05:00

Today started with a beautiful sunny sky...

Which turned into black storm clouds,

CRAZY torrential downpours & tornado warnings,

And has continued to be gray and drizzly.

Oh spring, why must you tempt me!

I wish I could just do a little cat nappin like my little loves at home...

Rough life!!

Happy Monday! *Amy

By George...I think he's got it!

2011-02-21T14:50:00.000-05:00

George Washington that is...Happy President's Day! I know many of you have the day off (not I) so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to showcase some of our first President's gardening skills!

Here's a quick lay of the land:

Image from here

George Washington (Born: February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, VA– Died: December 14, 1799 at his home Mt. Vernon, VA) was President from April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797. During this time he had quite a full to-do list. Imagine what he could have accomplished with a blackberry and facebook!

I found it fascinating that his occupation is listed as both Farmer (planter) and soldier. What a humble guy! We are lucky enough to live about 15 miles from his home Mount Vernon, a beautifully restored estate on the banks of the Potomac River just outside Washington, DC and have made multiple visits through every season. (Thanks Mom and Dad for the year passes!) His gardens are nothing short of stunning and the care and forethought that went into planning them quite meticulous.

Beautiful image of the front of Mt. Vernon taken by David Paul Ohmer @flickr

From Mount Vernon's Website you can lean more about each of his gardens, but here's a quick rundown:

Pleasure Garden - The boxwood garden is certainly a key element in this garden, although I think the beautiful blooming annuals, perennials, bulbs and trees help make this area of the garden a beautiful visit year round.

Image from here

Kitchen Garden - Close to the house for easy access this garden was a favorite of his wife Martha's. They grew an abundance of herbs, fruits and vegetables. Although it's a complex garden to plan and plant I love the simple, organized layout!

Image from here

Botanical Garden - This area of his property was devoted to growing plants and seeds given to him as gifts from friends and admirers often in foreign countries.

Fruit Garden & Nursery - The orchard he planted provided enough fruit for his estate nearly six months out of the year! By using his plant knowledge to screen his fruit bearing trees with a thorny honeylocust tree he was able to prevent his crop from being eaten by animals. This is a trend that is coming back into style and is called companion plantings.

I love this quote from our founding father:
"It will not be doubted, that with reference either to individual, or National Welfare, Agriculture is of primary importance. In proportions as Nations advance in population, and other circumstances of maturity, this truth becomes more apparent; and renders the cultivation of the soil more and more, an object of public patronage. " -George Washington

(Eighth Annual Address to Congress, December 7, 1796)

I hope you've been inspired to perhaps plan or tend to a garden of your own this season!

*Amy

Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T12:55:00.001-05:00

MIA again this week-ugh, I don't know how you bloggers do it so consistently. Please, please share your insider secrets!! Do you plan posts so you have backups? Do you write daily, nightly? Apparently I need to pull it together!

I do have a good reason for not blogging, I was about 3,000 roses deep-yes, Valentine's Day. We have a floral area in our stores and I am lucky enough to help out when they need it, and need me they did! Getting these bad boys in water, stripping their leaves, de-thorning them, cutting them to size and water tubing them for transport to their lucky new homes is quite a process!! But one I was thrilled to work on.

Gorgeous mix of roses we got in for Valentine's Day!

Freedom Roses

Green Tea Roses

Here are few photos of one of the arrangements I made for Valentine's Day

Antique Hydrangea, Yellow Freesia, White Rose with Pink tinged edges, White Mini Calla Lily

White Rose with Pink tinged edges, Pink Protea, Yellow Freesia, Green Tea Roses

The ribbon was pink (not purple) as it looks in the photo, sorry for the bad light! I was just happy to be cranking out arrangements and remembering to take photos!

I did take some beauties of my own home, gotta love a husband that says "Just make whatever you want honey." I'll ask them to pose for photos tonight. So check in tomorrow, they include one of my FAVORITE flowers-which is saying a lot...

Did you do something special or was it just another Hallmark day?

*Amy

Boulder Walls

2011-02-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

I have had some requests for "finished" wall photos from my job around Christmas-sorry life has been a little crazy as of late. To me there is no such thing as finished...I'm sure any other designers understand. There is always adding of plants, tweaking of stones, additional patios, or seating areas, steps, etc...BUT, both myself and the customer are thrilled with what's been completed thus far, take a look and let me know what you think!

Looking back at the house, this is the upper wall

Upper and middle walls

Close-up of the stones, I asked the guys to stagger the stones so they could be used as seating, this is roughly 19" above grade, perfect butt height!

Side view of upper two walls with level area in between-future patio site??

Photo from rear of property, lowest wall in foreground then upper two in background

We still have plantings to do (hopefully this spring), so I will post more photos as we progress, but for now this is the "finished" project.

Do you have a tricky yard? I'm always up for new projects!

*Amy

Talk Nautical To Me

2011-01-25T08:42:00.000-05:00

Does a Landscape Designer have any business commenting on fashion?? Well, probably not consindering I wear jeans to work every day, BUT I do have to say I LOVE, love, LOVE a good stripe, especially as I am a water baby, and played around working at a marina and sailing in college, a good prepster stripe gets me every time.

Oh J. Crew-how I love thee

Images from here and here

And Boden USA-nice work

Images from here and here

Banana Republic-even you don't disappoint

Image from here

Looks like stripes are big for spring-count me in! Will you be joining me?

*Amy

Down and out

2011-01-24T16:01:00.000-05:00

But unfortunatley not in Beverly Hills...Anyone else remember that??

Wow, this has been quite the winter for me. Shortly into the new year I got the flu (over my birthday no less). Not just a cold with a stuffy head, but the real deal-big, bad influenza. Although the virus looks colorful and fun in this image below it was anything but-three days of over a 100 fever and not keeping food down, almost being admitted to the ER for dehydration and aches and pains like I've never had.

Image from here

So PLEASE get a flu shot!! If you're needle averse get the nasal mist, but please do not mess around with this year's virus, it is nasty!

I was off work on bed rest for nine days-ick and am now just getting back into the swing of things.

I know I've missed a lot, like the new year, my birthday-celebration still to be planned, lots of great blog posts-I have good intentions on catching up and even make some changes and announcements around here, so please stick with me!

And please let me know if you're reading, even if you just say hi, I love to see who's checking me out! And it leads me other talented bloggers!

Health and hugs,

*Amy

2011-Rock on!

2011-01-05T09:17:00.000-05:00

Welcome 2011!! Sorry I'm delayed in wishing everyone a Happy New Year, as I'm sure you know, the holiday's can sweep you up!

I'm off to finish up a boulder wall job with 15 pallets of these beauties!!

On this site-YIKES it's steep!

Please check back later this week, I'll have more photos up!

*Amy

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

We are so lucky to have my family who lives here in VA AND Greg's family who are now in FL here to celebrate Christmas with us. I couldn't have asked for better parents or in-laws, I know that is a rare treat, and one I sure don't take for granted!

I did a little Christmasting up of our house before everyone arrived, starting with our mantle.

The framed horse is a pencil drawing done by Greg's grandfather, we love it and it stays in place even through Christmas! I added red Root candles along with some darker burgundy ones I had for some color variation. Our garland is artificial and pre-lit but I added fresh magnolia to bulk it up and give some texture and height to the mantle.

The lighting of the tree is a BIG deal for me. With all my years of Christmas decorating I can light a mean tree, our 7 1/2' Frasier Fir typically has about 1,100 lights, that's right, my general guideline is a minimum of 100 lights per foot of tree and then some for good measure:) We didn't even need lamps on in the living room! Ha, just kidding, well, partly...

All done! I start with the gold Abaca deep in the tree to add some light, sparkle and texture. We add ornament after ornament until we've gotten through our boxes. It's so nice to look through our treasures we've collected over the years and to add the things that were passed down.

Please meet the newest addition to our lives, they were a joint anniversary present and we've had them a little over a month and are IN LOVE!! Pips, the girl is on the left and Fawkes the boy is on the right. We rescued them from the shelter and couldn't have gotten better kittens!

Our table all set for Christmas dinner. The silver urn was a family heirloom on Greg's side and we're thrilled to have it, I added fresh greens to it as the table centerpeice. It's filled with Magnolia, Boxwood, Cedar and Arizona Cypress. The brass candlesticks were my MIL's and she's passed them down, so I included them, personally I like mixing metals so they were "in" for me for Christmas.

I made 6 of these mini-centerpeices in Jefferson cups, also passed down. They're a mix of boxwood, white carnations and white mums. Simple, clean and low so we could see our guests!

I hope you and your families had a wonderful holiday. Please do share what your traditions are! And thank you to all who read my blog, comment and even those who don't. I know you're there :) and appreciate your kind words, support and encouragement.

*Amy

Amaryllis

2010-12-21T09:15:00.000-05:00

As I'm sure you have guessed by now I have a SLIGHT addiction to plants, I guess being a Landscape Designer does that to you... Yes, there are worse things to be addicted to, but these consume a LOT of space in our house, well mostly our kitchen.

We did a little transplanting of our Amaryllis collection so they will have room to grow and bloom. The Amaryllis originated in South America's tropical regions and has the botanical name Hippeastrum. I love to have them in my house for the holiday's. Ideally I would have transplanted them earlier, BUT it is what it is, and so they're happy now and should bloom in about 4-6 weeks.

I removed the bulb from it's old soil and gently teased the roots. They DO like to be a little crowded in their containers, but not root bound. So ideally you should re pot them yearly.

You should have about an inch of soil between the edge of the bulb and the edge of the container. Their "shoulders" should be exposed, so 2/3 of the bulb below soil, 1/3 above. I press the soil in nice and tight so when I water I don't have to add more soil.

I did a few containers with multiples for bigger effect and also to save some space on my shelves. The bulb on the left is the "parent" bulb, the little one to it's right is it's "baby". It sent off an offshoot that had its own root system, so I gently pulled it apart and put them in the pot together.

Here is a beautiful photo of a cultivar called "Aphrodite" from White Flower Farm. I love the red tinged tips and the double blooms, so soft!

This beauty is called "Red Peacock" also from White Flower Farm. Again, LOVE the double blooms and that deep red color. There are tons of cultivar's to choose from, white, pink, red, salmon, doubles, singles, so there really is one for every household or occasion.

Here are a few quick tips:

•Ideal planting Period: October until the end of April (or November if you're me-whoops!)

•Flowering Period: Late December until the end of June (probably January for the ones I just did...)

•Flowering time is 7-10 weeks (a good long bloom time, and they are great as a cut flower as well, lasting several weeks.)

•Larger bulbs produce more flowers (and often send off new baby bulbs!)

•Always store un-planted bulbs in a cool place between 40-50 deg. F. (I pull mine out of the soil in late summer after they've been in the garden so they can develop foliage then store them in the garage in sawdust to keep them dry.)

After Bloom Care:

After-Flowering. After the amaryllis has stopped flowering, it can be made to flower again. Cut the old flowers from the stem after flowering, and when the stem starts to sag, cut it back to the top of the bulb.

Leaf Growth and Development. Continue to water and fertilize as normal all summer, or for at least 5-6 months, allowing the leaves to fully develop and grow. When the leaves begin to yellow, which normally occurs in the early fall, cut the leaves back to about 2 inches from the top of the bulb and remove the bulb from the soil.

Bulb Storage. Clean the bulb and place it in a cool (40-50 deg. F), dark place such as the crisper of your refrigerator for a minimum of 6 weeks. Caution: Do not store amaryllis bulbs in a refrigerator that contains apples, this will sterilize the bulbs. Store the bulbs for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Plant Again. After 6 weeks you may remove bulbs whenever you would like to plant them. Plant bulbs 8 weeks before you would like them to bloom.

I'll post progress photos as the bulbs develop so you can see them, feel free to share any tales you've had growing bulbs as well.

*Amy

The Smell of Christmas

2010-12-20T09:17:00.000-05:00

Ever since Greg and I have been married (5 years for you new blog readers) we have always done a real Christmas tree, usually a Frasier Fir. They tend to be fat, full, and long lasting against needle drop in our house, they also have a light smell, which I love!

However, not everyone can have a real tree, either for allergies, pets, or just access issues. So for those of you who can't have the real deal, get on over to your nearest retail outlet to purchase this amazing product line:

I have been a big fan of the Thymes products for a long time and this is no exception. I have used this as a good holiday go-to hostess gift. Especially for those living in a warmer climate who can't always get a real tree, this brings the smell of Christmas into the house without the mess!

The diffuser is also a nice gift, I usually have one in the bathroom for the holiday's. But they do last FOREVER, so you can re-cap it and save it for another year if you don't want to smell the holiday's into Valentines day :)

Have you tried these? Are there any other good scents you use for the holiday season?

Happy Monday!

*Amy

18 trees and counting...

2010-12-15T09:06:00.000-05:00

So far this year I have set up, light and or decorated 18 trees, whew. I think I am MORE than Christmased up this year!

Please excuse the exit sign, photoshop is obviously not in my skill set...yet!

This is a tree I did for a local restaurant called 2941. We did the planting, patios, ponds, etc. for the restaurant several years ago and I have been decorating their tree for many years as well. VERY EARLY in the morning the day after Thanksgiving I head over to make some holiday magic happen.

Without further ado...

Here's the tree topper, I used a bunch of branches that had nests, berries, and flowers in it to help give the tree some height and whimsy.

Here is the middle of the tree, I tied ribbon in that matched the carpet of the restaurant for a modern look. I know, a lot of people thought it was an odd color combo, but I think it was funky and fun!

And I'm STLL decorating!! More photos to come tomorrow, so stay tuned! Are you done decorating? Do you have a "commercial" looking tree such as this one or are you more traditional with your family ornaments? I'd love to know!

*Amy

Don't mind the glitter...

2010-12-09T09:08:00.000-05:00

One of the many awesome aspects of my job is when it gets super cold (as it is now) my planting jobs slow down, SO I get to transition to Christmas decorating!! Usually I help set up many of the themed trees in our stores. This year I was so busy installing jobs (good news) I didn't help much (bad news). However, since we have a lot of amazing customers we've worked with for years I get to go and decorate their houses (great news!)

This was a mantle I did for a customer's formal living room. We used a mixed evergren garland, wide gold ribbon, thin red firefly ribbon, matte and shiny red balls and some glittery holly garland I cut into peices and stuck throughout for some *BLING* factor.

I will post the photos of their family room mantle tomorrow along with their tree.

I'm off to decorate another house today!

Happy Holidays!
*Amy

Thankful

2010-12-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Wow, I did not intend to be gone from blogging for so long, turns out my "cold" was bronchitis and I was put on bed rest for several days. You would think I'd be all inspired to blog and even get some extra posts together right? I wish! I was so tired all I did was sleep and cough, oh and host 9 family members for Thanksgiving :)

Even feeling under the weather, I managed to whip up some flowers for our Thanksgiving day table, I can't pass up an opportunity to do some beautiful flowers for family and friends. I dropped one off at a girlfriends house for her table as well. Spreading a little bit of happiness to those we're thankful for is what this season's all about!

I like to clean all the stems, removing leaves, thorns, etc. and lay each flower in a pile so I can just grab and go! My pruners are amazing, I have a pair with me all the time, no kidding, they're in my car right now :)

Here's the finished product, yellow sunflowers, babe orange spray roses, purple delphinium, purple statice, green hydrangea, one yellow lemon and two mini-crab apples, finished off with some salal leaves.

I took a walk Thanksgiving morning to hunt for pine cones for the table and wrote out each guests name on a piece of orange construction paper (supposed to be leaves) as individual place cards.

Here was the table before the pine cone place cards and wineglasses.

Mmm, Turkey in the oven!! He was a DELICIOUS bird! Thanks Kath!

Our pie selection, apple, pumpkin and pecan, all were good, but the pecan was my fave!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. I am back in action now and will be posting regularly! So please say hi! I am thankful to have fellow bloggers!

*Amy

Wedding Bouquets

2010-11-19T10:48:00.000-05:00

First things first, when getting inspired to do flowers you must be well-caffeinated...Starbucks run!

Now that we had our priorities in order it was time to start in on the bouquets!

Craspedia also called Billy Balls were a tad too yellow for my color palate, so I just hit them with a few light mists of design master orange spray paint. That got them to the shade I wanted!

Tina had all the flowers read to go in buckets grouped by flower. She had stripped all the leaves and re cut the stems so they were fresh and ready to go. It's so much easier to have things grouped so you can just grab what you need. Bouquets go quickly when you're in progress and with a handful of flowers there is little time to stop and re-group.

Here is Wendy's bouquet, we added Purple Anemone to hers along with those COOL ferns, they were artificial but no one knew! To the right of the fern is the orange protea and below that is purple lisianthus. Above the anemone is freesia, the green hydrangea and then the billy ball to the left. Another purple lisianthus and then an orange rose finish off this side.

I am a detail oriented person and wanted a way to distinguish the bridesmaids from the maid and matron of honor, so I found this amazing silk ribbon in orange, one of Wendy's colors and Tina found pins to offset the wrap.

And here is the green velvet ribbon with orange pins for the maid and matron of honor. After the wedding the matron of honor came up to me and told me she was so nervous she was rubbing the velvet to help calm her nerves. That is EXACTLY why I chose that ribbon, I'm so glad she used it the way I intended!

And here is the bride's wrap, yes, it's a little busy, but she LOVES funky! I used an eggplant velvet, which was the same color as the girls dresses. Green is her favorite color, so I incorporated those for the pins, and the copper cord was too cool to pass up! I also tied her father's wedding ring into the bouquet, he lost a long battle with cancer 10 years ago this summer. Both Wen and her mom knew they couldn't get through all the emotions of the day and bring his name up, so they had beautiful subtle ways for him to be with them throughout the night. She also told me she was rubbing the ring as she walked down the aisle.

Here are Tina and I, I can't remember if that was pre or post caffeine...Hmmm...

And here were all the bouquets loaded up and ready to go!

Hope you enjoyed seeing the process, I sure enjoyed doing them! Working with Tina is a blast, she has taught me a TON.

*Amy

Under the Weather

2010-11-18T09:03:00.000-05:00

So I woke up with a scratchy throat and stuffy ears for the second day in a row, boo for fall colds. Of course this is the week I have crews running two jobs each day-yikes! I'm sorry I haven't posted the promised photos from the wedding, but I will do it tomorrow, it'll be a Friday treat.

For now I'm off to lay out plants in Alexandria and then off to meet some prospective customers, hope I don't sneeze on them.

*Amy

Image from here

In Vino Veritas

2010-11-15T10:39:00.003-05:00

In Wine (there is) Truth, a great saying, also appropriate for this post, as Veritas in Afton, VA was the vineyard Wendy and Jason were married at on Saturday. And the truth is the wedding was AMAZING!

Groom & Bride!!

It was a GORGEOUS day, sunny and warm, and thankfully still great fall color! A cool sculpture at the entrance to the vineyard with some of their vines in the background.

Greg & I loaded up the Suburban (work car) and drove from Fairfax down to Wintergreen to do all the setup. I will show you all the progress photos throughout the week, but I thought EVERYONE wants to see the final product first! Right?

The wedding was held outside on the deck of the vineyard at 6 p.m. There were beautiful bistro lights strung over our seats and there was a great fire roaring in the stone fireplace.

It was a beautiful setting, intimate, romantic and perfect for Wendy & Jason. The ceremony was very personal, lighthearted and fun. It was so nice to see the vows they said be so specific to their relationship.

The cocktail hour was held in the tasting room. The gnarled wood tables made a perfect backdrop for the modern floral arrangements, purple dendrobium orchids, mango & picasso calla lilies and a little ruscus for some greenery.

Here is one of my moss W's for their new last name on the corner of the bar.

On the gift table I brought along this cool birdcage, tied some purple-black feathers into the orange bow and lined the bottom of the cage with moss. Behind the birdcage I set a tall glass vase with purple and clear underwater lights and purple and clear glass marbles. They are showing off the submerged Cymbidium orchid. I also made these birch tea light holders, another DIY for later this week.

The escort card table. I brought along some birch logs to separate every few rows of cards. I think a whole table of cards is a little boring, plus, the texture of the bark is awesome! Wendy & Jason had family photos on the table of their parents' weddings and loved ones who had passed away. Such a thoughtful detail that everyone loved seeing.

Two of Wendy's gorgeous bridesmaids holding their bouquets! I was so thrilled everyone loved the flowers, and man did those dresses make those flowers POP!

The reception!! Man oh man was I happy to see it all finished! Greg blew up the balloons while I did all the other setup. Of course when we were working it was daylight, so we didn't get the full effect until we walked in with all the other guests. But the reactions were amazing! I found these 3' balloons in NYC and they were a big hit. Not only did they created awesome shadows on the walls, but they brought a sense of fun and whimsy to the party, exactly what Wendy & Jason wanted.

These were the tall arrangements, we alternated tables of high and low to get a big effect and still allow people to talk over and through the arrangements. These were the copper branches (a post earlier this fall). I tucked dendrobium orchids into some of the branch crotches for some pops of purple. The amber glass votives were from NYC as well, and really added another layer of glowing light to the room.

And here were the low table arrangements. Again, I'll post the progress photos this week. Wendy named all the tables after their favorite ski slopes on Wintergreen mountain. Each escort card had a note explaining that on the back. Amazing attention to detail, but that's what makes an event so special and personal.

Wedding cake!! I loved the rough textured ridges on the layers and I LOVED the rosettes along the front. Watching her assemble the cake was very cool, and I was glad she used the extra flowers I brought along. Also loved the log as the cake stand, so glad she carried through the natural elements!

Groom's cake, Jason LOVES Captain America, so Wendy surprised him with a custom cake. He was thrilled!

To wrap up the night Wendy & Jason did a sparkler sendoff. A fun, festive way to close out a great evening and one HECK of a party!!

Congratulations to you both, we wish you many years of happiness, health, laughs and love!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your big day!

*Amy

Sky Scapes

2010-11-11T08:07:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been obsessed with the sky.

Not sure why, but I often find myself staring at the clouds, watching them shift.

Noticing all the colors of the sunsets and how quickly they fade into the horizon.

How about you? Do you ever have your head in the clouds?

What little things do you take the time to appreciate?

*Amy

DIY - Moss Letter

2010-11-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

One of my good girlfriends from High School is getting married on Saturday!! FOUR days to go!! Woot woot!

The bride, Wendy, is a talented and wildly creative graphic designer, so when we began brainstorming for wedding flowers and decor I was thrilled to "think outside the box." In my 9 month break from my Landscape Design and Garden Center career I worked as Event Planner, we did large scale corporate and congressional events. Highly chaotic but I learned a lot! I have always had a passion for flowers, parties, etc. So when I get a chance to "run with it" I really RUNNNNN!

Wendy has designed all of her invitations, escort cards, table cards, the program, etc....I will post photos after the wedding. She wanted something unique, natural and keeping with her color scheme of green, purple and orange. I wanted to do something to surprise her. So Wen, if you're reading...STOP here!

I thought an over scaled letter covered in moss would be awesome. So here's my DIY...

I chose a large piece of Styrofoam and got my sharpie out to trace my "W" for their last name.

I actually made two letters, one with this preserved sheet moss (in chunks) and one that was on a mesh backing.

Hot glue pot, I went through a LOT of glue, and a lot of "Oww, dang, that's hot" (And not in a Paris Hilton sorta way) in a burned again, really? sort of way.

I traced my letter with the sharpie, yes, I did measure it so it was wide enough at the base to stand (although I think I've found a cool way to mount it instead, I'll show you after the wedding.)

Once I got the first one cut I just traced it and cut the second one. I used a knife with a serrated blade so I got a nice clean edge.

I laid all the moss out on the table and did a dry fit first to make sure I had enough to cover the front, top and sides. The back will not be seen, so I didn't do it. Then I methodically glued each chunk onto my form.

Here is the end result!

I will show you where I put it at the wedding and how it was displayed, so come back Monday the 15th!

What you do think?

*Amy

Giveaway @ The Zhush

2010-11-08T10:12:00.001-05:00

A blog I have admired for awhile is hosting a GREAT giveaway. The very talented and super sweet Sue from the blog The Zhush has just opened an online store, go check it out.

Now I really do hope I win because I love the prize! The print is great, I love the contrasting trim and the size is perfect for keys, business cards, change, or any array of items in a house, office or perhaps your vanity??

This cute glass tray dimensions are: 1 1/2" x 6 3/4" x 7 1/2":

BUT, since she is so sweet and has been very encouraging to me I thought I'd do the right thing and pass her blog along to my readers!

If you don't win, they will be available on her site soon, so you could still add one to your holiday wish list.

So please go over and check her out, say hi and feel free to enter to win!

*Amy

Five Years

2010-11-05T10:06:00.000-04:00

Wow! Five years ago today my husband and I tied the knot! Time really does fly when you're having fun.

Probably cliche, but it really was an amazing day. We liked the date 11-5-05, easy to remember, and for you history nuts, it's Guy Fawkes Day check out the Wikipedia info, in a nutshell he tried to blow up Parliament.

Back of my wedding day hair, it took 52 bobby pins to hold this up (but man it looked good!!) Greg was a trooper for undoing them after the reception, yet another reason I love him!

My parents did such an amazing job letting me plan my dream wedding, however, they managed to surprise us with a BENTLEY to take us from the church to the reception, a huge surprise and wow oh wow.

Our delicious cake with our monogram on it, our beautiful venue some tables had flowers cascading out of tall silver candelabras and other tables the flowers were tumbling out of low footed silver compotes. It was everything I had imagined and then some.

Not only did I get to marry my best friend, but we were surrounded by all the people who have loved and supported us throughout our lives.

Our sisters, hah, can you tell they can't stand each other (lol) more like two peas in a pod!

The family air fiddlin to Dixieland Delight!!

Our last dance of the night.

Thank you Greg for making the past 5 years better than I could have imagined.

Cheers to celebrating many more wonderful years with you.

With Love,

Amy

(All photos were taken by the amazingly talented and super charming Bryan Blanken at Freed Photography)

Fall in Fairfax

2010-11-03T15:39:00.000-04:00

I was killing a little time on a job the other morning and thought the fallen leaves would make a beautiful heart. Love the color variation, just goes to show, mother nature really does know her stuff!

Beautiful blazing tree

Walk in the woods

No I didn't spray paint a touch of red on that yellow leaf on the left, although that is TOTALLY something I would do to get "the look". Hah, I know I'm not the only one who would do that...right??

Fess up fellow bloggers, I know some of you would you do it!

And do let me know, what's your favorite season??

*Amy

Pumpkins!

2010-11-02T10:15:00.000-04:00

Nothing says fall like a trip to the pumpkin patch! I am pretty nuts about getting a good shaped pumpkin. I mean really Amy, who cares about that?? Apparently I do, so I pick through them to find just the right height, width, etc...

Passing a few ghoulish faces along the way...

Here are my beauties this year.

We were invited to our friends Andrew and Mary Anne's (picture of them in our living room) to carve pumpkins the other night.

They just bought a cute house in Falls Church that we were excited to see. So we grabbed the fattest of our pumpkins and headed over.

I was really concentrating. Apparently I also have a knack for choosing a tough pattern to carve. So in the time it took me to do my ONE pumpkin, Andrew did three, yes, three. Show off.

Always scoop out the insides, give them a wash of a little bleach solution (it helps them keep longer)

Keep the seeds for roasting, we separated ours and did half with oil and salt and half with cinnamon sugar. We thought we'd have leftovers, but somehow they all got eaten, whoops!

Here were Andrew's pumpkins

Carving the smallest pumpkin known to man...

And here was mine, see it's detailed! I was not THAT slow, I'm just a perfectionist!

Safely at home on our porch and a few fall leaves

I moved it up to our bench last night for the Trick or Treaters. We live on a dead end and I wanted them to know people were home, so they could see it from the top of the street.

We had my parents over for dinner last night so we could stay home to give out candy. We got some real cuties last night, it's nice to live in a neighborhood with lots of little ones, makes for a fun evening.

I noticed a lot of dad's out with kids and mom's home giving out candy. Is that the trend in your area as well?

Hope everyone had a safe weekend!

*Amy

Halloween Part 2

2010-11-01T12:47:00.000-04:00

Our second party on Saturday was in DC, "Welcome to H'Elle" hosted by the lovely Elle. She throws the most insane, over the top, creepy Halloween party I've ever been to. And I assure you, she would take that as a compliment!

Schoolgirl (Tammy), Spice rack (Amy), Football player (Greg), Autumn Fairy (Elle, hostess!!), Hippie (Kathy), Chef (Marian)

The headless horseman carriage on her front "lawn"

Kathy inside with the gallows of dead people, body parts, etc.

Welcome to "H'Elle"

The upstairs bathroom was snaked out

And in case you needed additional toilet paper, you'd have to be careful under the sink...the terrarium had a snake in it-YIKES!

Brain...cantaloupe...

Ghost grilled cheese were AMAZING! Her catering team did a fantastic job keeping the food out, hot and and very well themed!

Delicious pumpkin cake from Dean & Deluca

The back porch, don't know the character (I'm not a fan of scary movies, yes, I am a wimp) but he had pins all over his face and spoke when you bumped him...well excuuuusee me.

One of the many drink stations...

Loved the light up cups and the creepy skull

The Witch's den (basement) had Tarot card readers

Delicious candied apples and shots

Creepy witches with crystal balls

And of course another well-stocked wine bar with custom glasses

The champagne bar, just in case you needed an extra hand...

Bottle openers and beer id's at the ready

The downstairs bathroom was also themed, yet another creepy movie I didn't see, but man, what thought out details!! Monogrammed linens...

The medicine cabinet was filled with potions and brews (because everyone checks out medicine cabinets!)

And then there was this guy in the shower-AHHH! Good thing you were already in the bathroom!

Me and my cutie hubs :)

And of course, the treat bar to take on your way home.

All in all two amazing parties in two nights, great fun with good friends and lots of wonderful memories. Can't wait to see what next Halloween holds!

What did you do?

*Amy

Halloween Part 1

2010-11-01T11:31:00.000-04:00

What a weekend!!

Lauren and I

We had TWO great parties to attend this weekend, the first on Friday night was Lauren & Dave's - we had a blast! There were some good costumes.

Audrey and Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors (she MADE her Venus flytrap out of paper maiche!!)

Tiger Woods

And of course BUFFY!! (She also made her costume and wooden stakes)

They had great witch's brew out on their farm table, beer in their haunted shed and some really fun games, good to know our flip cup skills from college were revived and we still had it! Go girls!

We also had a good 'ole dance party in their basement before we went to a local bar to continue the night. Of course what Halloween is complete without THRILLER....

I will post Part 2 this afternoon, so stay tuned it is SUPER creepy!
*Amy

Pizza Pizza

2010-10-28T07:20:00.000-04:00

Although my heritage is Irish and Czechoslovakian, I think I could be Italian...I LOVE their food. If I had to pick one cultural food to eat forever, it would be Italian. So when my in-laws suggested a new pizza place that opened up a few blocks from their house I was ON BOARD!

From what I have researched Rosso Pomodoro (translated to "Red Tomato") is a chain that started in, you guessed it, Naples Italy in the 1990s. They have over 80 restaurants globally. And they are MUCH more than just a red tomato I assure you!

The wood floors and chairs match, tables are sleek and the red pleather is stylish and easy to clean. They also have high tables (which I dig) but you probably can't see.

Yes, this is the bathroom sink. I couldn't resist! What a great bow front dresser!! It was shiny, shiny! I LOVE a piece of furniture with a great shape and legs, and I especially love things in high gloss, so this met my quota for cool, hence the photo...don't worry I was alone in the bathroom so no one else thought I was crazy for taking a photo of the sink. Well, aside from you all, but hey, you blog too, we document all kinds of crazy stuff!

This was the bar area where you enter the restaurant, sleek white pleather swivel bar chairs with tufting, sign me up! The slick red counter played nicely off the chairs in the restaurant area, partitioned off by a large sheet of glass. Oh Italians, you are so stylish!

Here were the two pizza chef's in front of the pizza oven. In case you were wondering, yes, it was encrusted in tiny gold metallic mosaic tiles. *I die* Who wouldn't love a gilded pizza oven?? And yes, my dinner was a thumbs up, grazie mille!

Have you eaten at this chain? Or do you have a favorite pizza place? Please share!

Mangia Bene,

*Amy

Traditions

2010-10-26T08:46:00.000-04:00

It's rare for me to give up a beach day for anything...

However, this shop...Traditions is TOTALLY worth it!!

It is in downtown Naples, FL just off the main drag 5th Avenue (I think every city has a 5th Avenue...I mean, it's not NYC, but it's still pretty cute.)

Loved this couch in the window, it was a woven seagrass with nail head trim and white cushions. I also LOVED the pillows, I think by Barclay Butera (correct me if I'm wrong), but for $500 a pop, they stayed in the store...

Digging the star burst mirrors, I liked that the mirror was SMALL compared to the frame, and it looks like a flower, another plus in my book.

I loved this pillow, white linen with a tan pattern on top. It was very textural, important for me because I like a LOT of WHITE. So having some pattern on a neutral gives things longer lives in our house.

I was surprised my husband sat down in it's matching partner and said "I love this chair, the fabric is awesome." Haha, what have I done?? Hey, at least he appreciates good design! I also loved the scalloped detail on the bottom, and those over sized nail heads, mmm, mmm!

This white cane chair was very cool, liked the soft linen with the piping and buttons in a different color. Can you all tell my house is khaki, blue, green and gold?? Hey, at least I'm consistent with what I like...

I thought this lamp was too cute not to share. Stacked turtles and a rectangular shade, modern yet a little traditional.

To me it was worth swinging by, you never know what you'll find! What treasures have you found lately?

*Amy

Back in Action!!

2010-10-25T15:08:00.000-04:00

The first day back from vacation is always hard! Especially when you've left the BEACH!

I miss waking up when my body is ready instead of when my alarm sounds.
I miss tooling around on our bikes and checking out the flora and fauna.

I miss drinking my coffee while reading a magazine and munching on AMAZING pineapple.
I miss being spoiled by my in-laws when they cook or take us out for cocktails or dinner nightly :)

I miss wandering 5 blocks to hit the beach when we're ready, whatever time that may be,
But MOST of all,
I miss being with my husband all the time.

Cheesy, I know, but we really do have a blast together and vacation is the only time we really get to chill out all day every day.

I will put up some more Florida fun photos tomorrow, I did get one afternoon of shopping in, so stay tuned, they had some GORGEOUS things!

Can't wait to see what you all were up to! Did you miss me??

*Amy

Shed some light

2010-10-15T09:01:00.000-04:00

So many garden sheds are eyesores...

Don't worry, I fixed the access to this one...

Sorry it's at an odd angle, I will go back and take a better one the right way...

And then there are some that I WISH were my own!

This was designed and installed by a company called Living Roofs, Inc. they have implemented some BEAUTIFUL designs. I can't wait until we build or buy a house (we're currently in a townhouse with an HOA) so we can use this technology!

Here is a cedar shed we built and installed in a display outside one of our stores, I love that it looks like it could be used as an outdoor room.

The fall leaf wreath and chimnea are a nice touch to warming up the space. That cute little sedge by the door is supposed to be that color, it's not dead :).

Here's the left side of the shed, the planter with the face holds an upright pyracantha. Great orange berries in the fall, wicked thorns all year 'round!

Of course I'm sure you've all seen the beautiful shed/outdoor playroom the talented Lauren Liess and her handy husband Dave built, but if not, go check it out! I was lucky enough to "find" Lauren online when I was looking for someone to help us with some window treatments almost two years ago and am thrilled to count her as not only my go to resource for any of my interior design dilemma's, but also as a friend. She is truly as sweet in person as she comes across online and we feel lucky to have her and her family in our lives!

Garden sheds can often be tucked into the landscape so you don't even know they're there, but when you have one that's this beautiful why hide it??

Do you have a shed? Would you deep-six yours now that you've seen what can be done??

Happy Weekend everyone!

I will be away with my honey all next week in Naples, FL visiting my in-laws. I will do my best to post, but will mostly be enjoying some fun in the sun and a few mojito's!

Can't wait to see what you've all been up to when I get back, I know I'll be sharing some beautiful photos so check back in Monday the 25th.

Until then,
*Amy

Random, but I like it!

2010-10-14T11:23:00.000-04:00

As I was perusing my daily "deal" websites, I came across this set of mugs, plates and a serving platter called "A Walk in the Woods" by Rosanna, no idea why, but it really caught my eye.

Perhaps it's the color? Maybe it's that each mug has a different print on the inside of the mug (I LOVE a good surprise when drinking a cup of tea or coffee) or perhaps it's the deer with the wreath around it's neck...very fall like, very hunt country meets mod.

Or, perhaps it's just because it's Thursday, raining, I have a ton of work to do and I leave for vacation on Sunday and all I can think about is the beach...

Do you ever see things that aren't normally your style but catch your eye?

*Amy

Fall Tidbits

2010-10-13T07:52:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd share with you some recent fall photos I've taken at one of our stores and then a couple of plant photos I thought were timely for fall! I really love this book 'Plant Driven Design', it's always nice to have good reading material to inspire you and this is a nice one. I fully admit to being a plant geek so when I saw the title I knew it was for me! However, I know not everyone shares my sense of enthusiam for plants, and it is a great book for the average weekend gardener. It teaches a lot about plant selection as and is full of inspirational photos. I also really loved the dark landscape painting on the white wall, that olive green is the right shade of green for this time of year. I wish that glass canister was a bell jar, I am on the hunt for a smallish one...

In my opinion, fall is the perfect time to showcase some sunflowers. They are a happy addition to any yard, or home, that splash of late summer color is much needed (for me at least) before I put my garden beds to sleep for the winter and plot and plan what to add for next season! I love that yellow tuscan urn, but I really love the cabinet everything is housed in, that tall first shelf allow for a lot of storage or display space and the glass lets in a TON of light to showcase all your goodies.

Here is a beautiful close-up of a River birch on our lot before it headed out to a planting job. I love the texture of this plant, the peely, shreddy bark only gets better as the plant matures. It has GREAT winter interest, beautiful leaves and rustle when they move in the wind and a good yellow fall color. Yes, they can be messy and drop branches, but their other merits still put them on my must have list!

And finally, FALL COLOR!! With the drought we've had for the past several summers it's always a toss up as to whether or not the color will be good in the fall.

(Oh science class how I miss you) Here's a little info on why the leaves change, very interesting for those who don't know...

During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis so the trees go dormant, and live off the food they stored during the summer. As their growth slows in the fall, they begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.

The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.

This is a gorgeous maple, I'm just hoping we don't have any gusts of wind so I can continue to enjoy these brilliant colors for a few more days!

How about you? Do you get great fall color in your area? Do you like it? Do you miss it? Or are you happy to have sun all year long??

*Amy

The Watergate...With no Scandal...

2010-10-07T08:17:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to get some very sweet customers who live in the Watergate. Yes, THAT Watergate...

Image from: here

They have a first floor apartment, actually first and second floor, but they have a ground level patio. The fountain was there when I began working with them although we have "redecked it" because the wood was getting old. The cedar is turning a nice silvery gray now that it's been in a full season.

You can see it in this photo, their sculpture is stitting on the pond ledge.

I update their containers every 4 months so things are fresh and they have season color to enjoy when they entertain. The wife will leave me a message letting me know "It's time for you (meaning me) to work your magic, put us on the schedule." Who doesn't love a voicemail like that??

I added this very cool Cinderella pumpkin to the grouping of pots and stuck a little pansy in their terra cotta fish container.

Here is one of their stuccoed walls. The trellis was there when I began working on the space. There was a wisteria on the lattice that had never bloomed. So I removed it and added Carolina Jessamine a semi-evergreen vine with a beautiful tubular yellow flower and a purple clematis. They now have color spring, summer and fall and have something green covering the wall in the winter.

I got a happy phone call from them last night saying "We love it all!" So if they're happy, I'm happy!

*Amy

Burned

2010-10-06T17:21:00.000-04:00

Nothing like checking your e-mail at the end of the day when you're feelin' good about all you've accomplished and the new customers you've met that day to read one from an unhappy customer. Someone I have worked with for several years is mad because we cut a lighting line (UNDERGROUND, UNMARKED that we didn't install!!) when we were planting two weeks ago. And I told him we could fix it but there would be a charge because it is not our responsibility to not hit things we can't see. Seems like a reasonable policy. Apparently not. So we are going out, at no charge to fix it and hopefully make him a happy customer again.

So I'm feeling a little burned at the moment, sorry for no Watergate photos, I will put them up just not this moment...I'm really ready to call it a day.

*Amy

Warm Welcome

2010-10-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Fall is most certainly here in Virginia. I had to wear my North Face jacket to work today-ahhh, I am NOT ready for the cold!! I'm off to a container planting job in DC (at the Watergate) some very sweet customers, I will post photos tomorrow.

In the meantime I thought I'd post some doormats I found at my most recent trip to IKEA. I like to put out a new doormat in the Fall. We entertain a lot and I think it's nice to have a fresh, clean mat on your stoop to welcome your guests, maybe it's just me?? When I get around to putting out my pumpkins and freshening up my containers this weekend I will post those photos as well.

For now, here are these lovelies.

Round Mat (I like the unique shape!)

Rectangular (But love the geometric pattern!)

Rectangular Mat (I think I could stencil a border or put our initials on it...hmmm...DIY??)

Any you can't live without?

*Amy

Passionatley Pink

2010-10-04T17:09:00.000-04:00

I am a little late to the dance with this post on blogging PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but better late than never!

There are some amazing organizations out there bringing awareness to a disease that has affected many of us, I feel like every family has at least once cancer story (if not more), but even one is one too many if you ask me.

The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) organization is a partnership of national public service organizations, professional medical associations, and government agencies working together to promote breast cancer awareness, share information on the disease, and provide greater access to screening services. Please go check out their website if you want additional information or are interested in learning more.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is another wonderful organization which I have supported for many years now. My Aunt is a two time breast cancer survivor, one time ovarian cancer survivor and one of my best friend's mom's lost the battle to breast cancer shortly after we graduated from high school. I have participated in many of their events and think they are a wonderful cause with a TON of positive people. Again, feel free to pop on over and check out all the information and support they have to offer.

I know there are SO many more companies, organizations, products, etc. that support, promote and bring our attention to this disease so if you have a favorite or one you want other people to know about, please share! The stronger we are by supporting one another hopefully the fewer people we will lose along the way.

Yesterday when I was watching some FOOTBALL I noticed a lot of the NFL items are pink, and I loved it! What a great way to get the word out on the field. Many people think this is just a female disease, but many men are affected as well. So great job to the PR departments and companies who teamed up, I am proud of you! Now hopefully they will auction off their gear at the end of the season to raise some $$$$. Not that anyone that high up reads my blog, but it's **Just a hint**

I wanted to share some PINK flowers that I have taken photos of. These plants are my small tribute to those who fight courageously and those who support them. Know that lots of people are going through your struggles and are here to support you. We are your cheerleaders, and you are our heroes!

*Amy

Off the wagon

2010-10-03T20:42:00.000-04:00

Okay, so apparently I fell off the blogging wagon this past week...

We had a TON of rain which meant catching up on paperwork, drawings, phone calls, emails, billing, and all the other office things you never have time for when you're busy putting plants in the ground!

I promise this week I will be much more dedicated and organized so I can be here for you guys, I do have some new posts and a few projects I've been working on!

When I started blogging I never thought it'd be something I'd enjoy, but I've found that when I don't post for a few days I miss it. Even if I'm not one of the "top blogs" that's not the reason I blog. I blog to get my ideas out there, keep my creative juices flowing and pass on some good tips (I hope!) now and then. It's also a wonderful community of people who have inspired me, so I hope to pass that along as well.

Hope you all had a great weekend, we just returned home from the THIRD wedding! Woot-woot! Three down two more to go! I will post wedding photos this week, so stick around. And feel free to drop me a comment or an e-mail, I love to see who's reading!

*Amy

Front Yard - Before & After

2010-09-28T11:34:00.000-04:00

Everyone loves a good before and after shot right?? This is a project I've been working on in phases for a few seasons now. We developed a plan for each area of the yard and as time and budget have allowed we have been working consistently on each space so my customer's have a yard they can use and are happy with.

Here was the front foundation before:

There were some overgrown hollies "eating the house" and some boulders just arranged, I use that term loosely by the front steps. Also, those downspouts needed to be less visible and were buried with pop-up drains so the water is now used in the planting bed instead of running off into the lawn. Why waste water???

And here is the after:

We have actually made some changes to even this plan, the laurel in the middle has since died (it is right below the dryer vent) gotta love builders!! So we have removed it and are waiting to see if it's something that can be moved or diverted. If not I will have to come up with something else! The camellia by the steps is even bigger now and has bloomed! The holly on the right corner anchors the house and is a great evergreen screen to buffer the neighbors. Perennials have filled out and are really looking good.

It's so wonderful to see projects over a few year time span, you can make changes if necessary as things fill in. I am lucky to have these great clients who trust me and let me do what's best for the site while still working within their parameters.

Do you have projects you follow-up on? I find checking in is another great opportunity to get more work, people love to add on as they see their yards fill in and grow.

*Amy

Journey Chic - Guest Post

2010-09-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

Through blogging I have "met" some amazing women. One of them being Laura of Journey Chic. She and her husband just welcomed their first bundle of joy into the world and she asked for some bloggy help doing some posts while she transitioned into mommyhood, kinda like bloggyhood only WAY harder I'm sure.

So I was thrilled to help out and do a post on freshening up your containers for fall (like this one above), so stop on over and check out my post along with many of her posts and lots of great guests bloggers.

Thanks again for including me!

*Amy
Images: all my own

Whirlwind Weekend

2010-09-27T12:08:00.000-04:00

Wow, how did it get to be Monday already??

One of my good friends (actually both the bride and groom) got married on Saturday, this is wedding #2 of the season!!

Since I was in charge of the flowers, Thursday was spent doing prep work with one of my awesome co-workers (also a florist-comes in super handy!!). Friday was spent getting the bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages ready!!

This is reason I had NO blog posts, sorry guys, but wedding flowers take priority!!

This was the bride's bouquet, white satin ribbon wrapped as the first layer, then hot pink organza ribbon corseted around the white satin. Everything was secured with white pearl head pins.

These were the wrist corsages for the mom's, hot pink spray roses, orange wax flower, pittosporum, hypericum berries and a little bear grass in the back.

These are the boutonnieres for the groom, groomsmen and dad's, mini mango calla lilly with hypericum berries, salal leaf and bear grass in loops.

These were the bouquets for the bridesmaids, orange and pink roses, orange wax flower, pittosporum and salal leaves, orange dahlia's, pink and orange gerber daises and hypericum berries.

Here are all the bouquets DONE!! The bride's is in the middle, she LOVES white daisies so they were worked into her bouquet as well as the swags that went on the arbor they were married under.

Here I am putting up the swags, they were REALLY tied on there with floral wire, Greg and I shook the arbor to make sure they weren't going anywhere. Haha pay no attention to my shinyness, this was before I showered for the wedding, as you bloggers know, we keep it real, no fake photos here!

This is the reception room all ready for the ceremony!

All in all it was a beautiful day for a wedding and we're happy our friends are married!!

Oh yeah, and what would a wedding be without a little ELVIS??

Happy Monday everyone!!

*Amy

Fall into the season

2010-09-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

So it's Fall, already??

It had to happen sometime or another, and apparently this weekend was the first rustle of the cool breezes. When we were down in Wintergreen (near Charlottesville for Labor Day weekend with friends-photo above) we actually lit up the firepit Saturday night! As much as I like Spring and LOVE Summer, I also really enjoy Fall. Maybe because it's when Greg and I got married, or perhaps it's because I'm not so DANG hot at work anymore, or maybe it's because I get to wear sweaters and boots and scarves??

Greg with Bauer (our friends dog-he thought it'd be awesome to take the sticks we had rounded up for the fire)

Anyone else feel this way about Fall? What is your favorite season?
*Amy

Images: all are my own

Bridal Shower!

2010-09-20T13:50:00.000-04:00

The last bride of our wedding season for this year had her shower on Saturday. It was thrown by some of her girlfriends and I was happy to be a guest!

Here are her gorgeous shoes for the wedding, she's been breaking them in so they are COMFY for the big day.

I am doing the flowers for the wedding and wanted Wendy (the bride) to get an idea of what the low table centerpieces would look like, so in keeping with her purple and orange theme, here it is!

Flowers used: Sunflowers, Purple Lisianthus, Mini Mango Calla Lilies, Orange Ranucculus and Variegated Pittosporum.

I used a purple raw silk ribbon to hide the stems, never have liked seeing stems in arrangements so I try to come up with easy solutions to make it a little more interesting.

At the shower my arrangement was set on the dessert table with the yummy cupcakes and cookies.

I also whipped up a corsage for Wendy to wear, she IS the Bride after all! She looked adorable opening all her presents! I am so excited for she and Jason, I know they are a well-suited match and will have a long, happy road ahead of them!

Groom & BRIDE!! Less than 2 months to go!!

What did you do this weekend?

*Amy

Thirsty Thursday

2010-09-16T08:03:00.000-04:00

Today's recipe is courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens. I have always been inspired by at least one thing in each issue (if not more!) and was happy to find this delicious looking fall cocktail.

Ingredients
2 teaspoons whole cloves
1/2 of a vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 64-ounce bottle apple-cranberry juice
4 medium purple and/or green plums, pitted and sliced
1 750-ml bottle Gewurztraminer, or other fruity white wine*
Ice cubes

Directions
1. Place cloves and vanilla bean in center of a double-thick 6-inch square of 100-percent-cotton cheesecloth. Bring corners of cloth together; tie closed with clean string. Pour apple-cranberry juice into a large container or pitcher. Add plums and spice bag. Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours.
2. Remove and discard cheesecloth bag. Stir in Gewurztraminer. Serve beverage and plum slices over ice. (Or omit the ice and heat the juice mixture and wine in a 4-quart Dutch oven until hot. Serve in heatproof mugs.) Makes 10 to 12 servings.
*Nonalcoholic Option: Substitute two 12-ounce cans chilled ginger ale for the Gewurztraminer, and serve over ice.

We love to entertain and often throw dinner parties for 10 or more, I will be adding this to the list of new drinks to try, will you put this on your party list?

*Amy

Image from: here

Finding your Niche

2010-09-15T07:24:00.000-04:00

Ahh house projects...

They do seem to drag along don't they?

Perhaps it's just us? With five weddings this fall our weekends are VERY limited, typically I work one of the two days which gives Greg and I ONE day to get stuff done together-YIKES!

Lucky for us we are GET IT DONE kinda people (when we are around...)

We usually divide and conquer, I'll dust, swiffer, vacuum and pick up the house, sort the mail, etc...

Greg will throw in laundry and then either get dirty in the garden or build stuff!

This weekend he finished building the niche in our master bathroom:
Mr. Perfection with the level!

Here are the new brackets to hold up the shelves.

And here it is!

And I got to style it!

This is a close-up of the middle shelf, the beach photo is one of our favorites it was taken in Corolla, NC, where Greg's family had a beach house for years and where we got engaged. The footed crystal waterford dish was a wedding present, the fish petroglyph was a present from my mom for Greg's birthday, it's over 4,000 years old. The candle was a recent purchase that is very calming, I light it before I shower and just bliss out and relax.

What do you think?? Spa-like??

We also started a new workout called P90x, very hard, but very awesome! That rain shower is feeling REALLY good these days!

Does your bathroom give you a spa like feeling?
*Amy

Pink Sky

2010-09-14T09:14:00.005-04:00

Have you ever heard the phrase "Pink sky at night sailor's take delight, pink sky in the morning, sailor's take warning?" My uncle is a boat captain and I was lucky enough to grow up around the water, so we do pay attention to nature's cues.

I wish I was sailing this morning, even with these pink clouds! Alas, I have been at work for a few hours already, but this was the beautiful sunrise that greeted me on my way in to work this morning.

Traffic usually raises my blood pressure, so I try to enjoy my commute as much as possible because I want to keep my heart healthy so I am around for a long, long time!

Finding the joy in the every-day things such as a sunrise while I'm in my car is something I am paying more and more attention to. I think the older I get, the more I appreciate the people around me and what a wonderful life I live.

I hope you all take a little time-out for yourselves today. Breathe deeply, smile and know that you are loved.

*Amy

Images: are all my own

Fun weekend and a Wedding DIY

2010-09-13T12:01:00.012-04:00

So this project post wasn't what we did THIS weekend, I'll post on that tomorrow, but it's still a fun project that I thought I'd share. While we were in Wintergreen last weekend with our friends Wendy & Jason (photo below on top of Wintergreen mountain) who are getting married in November we tested one idea for their tall table arrangements.

Wendy and I were pretty tight in High School and somehow managed to drift apart when I headed to Charleston for college. I am two years older and she was still in HS when I went away. We were lucky enough to run into each other one night at the gym, traded numbers and have been back on track ever since. I LOVE it when that happens, so rare, but so wonderful. She was a great friend then and I am lucky to have her back in my life now (here we at the vineyard they're getting married at!)

Wen is a very talented graphic designer so she is not your average bride, she likes the unusual, unique, a little off the wall, so as her "floral and event design helper" we have brainstormed some ways to save some money with not using flowers at every table.

Her mom bought some tall cylinder vases in varying heights which we will fill with green or purple moss and limes and tangerines (I'll show you those one day soon, the photos are on my home computer). We will then add branches, but not just ANY branches, spray painted branches, here is the DIY...

I bought two different types of spray paint, their colors are a rich pumpkin/rust color and a beautiful shade of eggplant/plum. Perfect for a winery wedding in November!

Here is the purple branch:

And here is the copper:

Any thoughts? I promise I'm not crazy to be using branches, and how COOL of a bride to like something that biodegrades when we're done!

I'll post what we ended up with after the wedding in November! Have you done your own tablescapes? Please share! I know you are a talented bunch of bloggers!

Happy Monday!
*Amy

Planting Indoors

2010-09-10T12:27:00.011-04:00

As I'm sure you all know, most of my work is OUTSIDE! But on occasion I am lucky to get a lead for office plants. I love doing these because I know it makes such a difference in the quality of their work spaces.

So yesterday I crammed my SUV (thanks honey for my new ride) full of plants, containers, plant food, a watering can and of course myself and headed over to put it all together!

Here is the front desk now:
A Phalaenopsis orchid on the desk
A Spathiphyllum also known as Peace lily on the floor

Seating area in the lobby:
Dracaena mass cane

Fragrant orchid on the side table

Boss's office:
A gorgeous Fiddle Leaf Ficus

The building is very sleek and modern, here is the lobby:

My client was an aviation planning and management company who wanted simple, clean lined containers to match the style of the building and greenery to enhance their surroundings. I went back today to take these photos and they were thrilled with the results. It's so nice to have people love and appreciate what you do!

Do you grow houseplants, if so what's your favorite? Is it important to you to have greenery around?

Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!

*Amy

Thirsty Thursday

2010-09-09T07:26:00.006-04:00

With this beautiful fall weather that has started to push in I thought it appropriate to bring back one of my cool weather drinks. No, not this gorgeous Serviceberry...

The Hot Toddy

I thought "Toddy" was a funny word and did a little research, come to find out it may have orginated in Asia or Africa as an alcoholic beverage made from the sap of palm trees. I love the internet, there is all kinds of great information!

Traditional Scottish recipe from Wikipedia

Pour a shot of Whisky into a cup or mug, add boiling water to it. Add a spoonful of honey or sugar. Add a half slice of lemon, 2 cloves and, if you have one, a cinnamon stick. leave it is to brew for 3–5 minutes. I like to take the cloves out when done steeping and keep the cinnamon stick out but close by so I can give it a swirl around the mug now and again.

This is the perfect cool weather drink, it really warms you up on a drizzly day.

Do you have a favorite cool weather drink? Please share!

*Amy

Images from: my own, here and here

I'm a guest!

2010-09-08T12:39:00.003-04:00

I was lucky enough to be able to participate in THE (Through Her Eyes) Series on the amazing blog Layers of Meaning written by the very sweet Maria Fe and today is the first post of the series, "Your Purse."

I know we are all nosy to see what we carry around with us on a daily basis, so she was clever to think up such a cute way to share some insight into us bloggers out there.

So go on over and check out myself and the other talented ladies I've been grouped with, this is the year end roundup, so we got in under the gun so to speak! Maria Fe and her husband Brad are welcoming their first BABY in the New Year, so stay tuned for what I'm sure will be even more stylish updates on living with a little one!

Let me know what you carry, I know there's something good in there!!

Happy mid-week!
*Amy