Hydrangea

My hydrangeas are finally blooming!  I was getting a little worried about them but I guess they just wanted to take their sweet time.  Oh well, it was worth the wait. 

Wishing you a happy weekend! 

Projects I Need To Finish

I need some serious motivation when it comes to finishing furniture projects.  I can't resist a cheap piece of furniture when I see one at a garage sale or thrift store, but then it ends up sitting in our garage forever since painting furniture is not my favorite thing to do!  Good thing we have a three car garage ;)
Here are my current projects that need to be finished:

I found this black and blue dresser at a thrift store for $10.  It's Bassett and seems to be in great condition.


This next piece was free!  I found it at my parents' house and somehow it ended up coming home with me :).  The backing was in pretty bad shape so I removed it and will replace it with a new piece of plywood.  I've sanded everything and I plan to use a dark stain on the top and paint the rest off-white.  I think it will look cute with some wicker baskets on the shelves.


I found this chair at a thrift store for $10.  The cushion is pretty gross so I plan to replace it and paint the chair.  I found some really cute fabric this weekend to add to the seat. 


Here is my find from the one and only garage sale I went to this year.  I plan to paint it off-white and use it in my craft room for storage.  The cubby holes aren't very big so I've been on the lookout for some small baskets that will fit.  I did find some really cute little tin boxes on the dollar aisle at Target that will fit nicely.

Hopefully I'll have some posts soon showing off the finished product!

Linked to: Garage Salen Partay @ Debbiedoos, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Strut Your Stuff @ Somewhat Simple, Show & Tell @ My Romantic Home, Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed, New Friend Friday @ The Girl Creative, Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt

My hubby and I enjoyed the company of our good friends this weekend.  On Saturday my friend was telling me about a new frozen yogurt place called Orange Leaf that just opened where they live and it sounded like such a fun place to try.  While we were out shopping later that afternoon, we couldn't believe our eyes when we spotted an Orange Leaf that had a big banner saying "Now Open".  We gave it a try the next day and we were not disappointed.  What a fun place to visit!  The frozen yogurt and topping bar is self serve and the flavor possibilities are endless.  It was hard to decide on just one, so I tried several different flavors and they were all delicious.  Check to see if you have one around where you live.  It's such a happy little place to visit!

Dollar Flowers

While grocery shopping the other day, I happened to walk past the floral department and noticed several bouquets of fresh flowers marked down to a $1.00.  How could I resist?!  I brought them home and separated the flowers to make several smaller arrangements.  After it was all said and done, I had flowers in several rooms of the house.  Not bad for only spending $2.00!  I love a good deal :) 

Linked to: Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple, Show & Tell @ My Romantic Home, Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous

Garden Goodness

My blog posts from now until this fall will probably pertain to tomatoes and my love of summer. :)  I plan on looking at these pictures this winter as I am bundled up in my extra layers of clothing and socks while dreaming of warmer weather and my garden.  Until then, I'm enjoying every minute of this season and savoring everything it has to offer.

Nothing like a fresh batch of pesto made with basil from my garden.  Yum!

Even though my tomato plants aren't looking super healthy this year, I can't complain about what they are producing!

Here's one of my favorite summer salads.  Mix a simple dressing made with oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.  Then add tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and feta cheese.  It's also fantastic with kalamata olives.  Mmmm...

I just had my first BLT of the summer and it was delicious!


Linked to:

Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple, Show & Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday @ Blessed with Grace, Key Lime Blog Design

Summer Collage

Linked to: Mosaic Monday @ Dear Little Red House

Summer Evenings {And a Winner!}

It doesn't get much better than summer evenings on the patio...

 

 

On another note, the winner of the $40 gift card to CSN Stores is...

Entry # 46 - Chelsea from Room to Inspire. 

Congratulations Chelsea!

Zinnia

Linked to: It's a Hodgepidge Friday, My Romantic Home

Tomatoes and Adobe

Here are my first ripe cherry tomatoes of the season.  Aren't they cute?!  More importantly, they are very tasty and have added a touch of summer goodness to several meals lately.  Have I mentioned recently how much I love summer?  Ahh, it's the best!  

I am taking some Adobe classes this summer and I feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head from staring at the computer so much.  I am taking Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.  There is so much to learn with each program and I'm blown away by the graphics that can be designed in Adobe. 

I'm not even going to tell you how long this practice sheet took me to make!  It doesn't help that my computer isn't able to perform all the functions since apparently it's low on RAM.   

Garden Update III

Last night when I was watering my garden I spotted my first ripe tomatoes of the season!  There are a couple sweet 100 and yellow pear tomatoes that are almost ready to be devoured. 

I am a little bummed about my garden this year.  I don't know if it's due to the massive amount of rain we received in June and now a dry spell, but a lot of the leaves have turned yellow and most of the blossoms have dried up.  I'm trying not to think about it too much because it really frustrates me!  Last year my tomato plants were so lush and green.  I'm going to blame it on the new dirt we added and mother nature.  That makes me feel a little bit better :).

Stanley loves helping me outside.  He's on bunny patrol and chases those pesky critters out of the yard.  Needless to say, he's feeling like a new dog after his knee surgery!

 

Linked to: Show & Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home, Remodelaholic, Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring, Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous