summer garden

time to plant the summer garden---hands in dirt with fingers crossed that something grows---lots of greens and chasing away squirrels.

seed to start to food

it's garden planting time! we skipped tending one last year while i was very pregnant and i couldn't wait to get back into the swing of things this time around. we've been spending our days gathering up seeds and starts and forever trying to get dirty hands clean. bee has the most eager little trouble fingers...ripping away at lettuce leaves and raking up dirt to mouth. max is a sweet teacher to her..."this is a pumpkin seed, bee"...and "aaahhh...don't eat that!".

gardening has always been a bit of a "cross your fingers/here's hoping" kind of hobby for us. but every year a little something catches and grows. max calls it magic when seeds sprout and vegetables are plucked and food is washed and ready for dinner. i think he's right on the money...

happy monday, friends!

greenhouse heart

bee and i have been hiding away in the quiet greenhouse these snowy and rainy days. i not-so-secretly stick my fingers down into the dirt and run my palms across greenest greens. it does wonders for a soul already looking forward to springtime. we leave with frizziest humidity hair and sacks of plants and reminders from the people working that its okay for me to poke at the plants. it's a thing. apparently i'm not the only one needing a little winter healing...

 

senses today-- pinching succulent leaves // smelling the last bits of our winter candles // tasting leftovers from a homemade dinner with friends // listening to max spin wild tales of his school day // reading walt whitman's song of the open road over and over again...

weeding and elbow grease

a bit of normalcy has finally headed back home and is settling in around here. newness is wearing and blending in with the old. it's a happy place to be.

max is home and crazy as ever...days are devoted to cleaning and laundry and i finally got back outside in my element...pulling weeds and digging in dirt. 

(something i haven't been able to do since being pregnant...3 cheers for a napping baby and being able to bend over again!)

it's amazing what a little weeding and elbow grease can do for a girl's sense of self...

signs of summer

summer is bursting at the seams...with our summer baby bee finally here...a garden full of tiny tomatoes... a vase of freshly cut purple weeds on the table because no other flower has survived the heat. max smells of forever sunscreen and pool and matt has developed a green thumb during his time off of work.

the days are running together in the best kind of way and even though we haven't done much with our summer yet, this has to be my most favorite one yet. things are simple...and happy.

 

if ever there were a time to own a hammock and a shade tree it would be now...

today

today has been filled with lots of funny and happy things...matt surprising me with him having the afternoon off // lots of orange // slow dancing and doing the frug to old ludacris // his and her outdoor work (and finally planting the collection of roses i discovered matt buying in the middle of the night off of QVC...catching him on the phone whispering with a QVC operator will forever be one of my favorite memories of him ) // bbq dinner out // ornery max and mimi // open window bedtime

hoping your thursday was a fine one! 

xoxo

buckets of berries

 

it's the beginning of strawberry season and there is nothing better this time of year than freshly picked berries straight out of the sun. there is a sweetness that is all but forgotten during the winter that i was reminded of this morning as my sister amy and i stopped for quarts and quarts to take home.

each one is a sweet little reminder that summer is coming not too far...

flowers and stones

i love this time of year with all of her yellow and wish-and-blow dandelions...whirly birds twirling down from tall trees and seedling starting to put on a show. 

it calls for a day of dirty hands and funny over-sized garden hats i think...weed pulling and snack breaks in the shade...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

p.s. i can't thank you all enough for the sweetness about the peony wall in sis's room! 

it's funny, before i posted the pictures i had an itch to paint over the whole thing and do something a little less bold. i'm clearly in no position to be making decisions in all my pregnant state. haha. 

so i thank you again and again for allowing me to see the wall fresh and new through your eyes!

xoxo

how does your garden grow

i'm daydreaming over my garden today...itching to get my bare hands in the dirt and seeing what pops up!

i've found a sweet kind of therapy in sowing seeds and pulling weeds. this year's garden will be a good soulful place for me to find some peace while we wait for our own little sweet pea sis to pop up come july!

 

we're hoping for lettuce and radish and squash and cucumber this year...and i'm already looking forward to being barefoot and pregnant and filthy.

there's just something about garden soil under the nails that can take a gal to the heavens!

california-part 2 huntington botanicals

we all agreed that the gardens at the huntington would be the most ideal place for a blanket, a book, and a snack. it was definitely a place i wished i could have packed away and taken home with me. we only planned on stopping in for a bit but ended up staying half the day...walking through the gardens, sitting under shade trees, laying in the grass.

and now that i'm home, i've got my memories of the sun and the gardens there stowed away to save for a cold and snowy ohio day.