Easing Into Summertime

 

 Trips out to the Miami Whitewater river to go canoeing, laying on the couch

in the middle of the afternoon enjoying the breeze, and refreshing fruity drinks to quench my thirst. Yes, I do believe I'm ready for a little summertime.

(Pictures taken with the Instagram app. Follow me @livvielane)

Treasury Tuesday

I saw this beautiful treasury on Etsy the other day and I just had to share it with you guys. Such a beautiful collection of purples and pinks.  Very different for this time of year. Enjoy! 

'Colour' by foldi

Treasury tool by StylishHome.

Mother's Day surprise

I wasn't able to make it home for Mother's Day this year so I wanted to make it extra special for my Mom.

About a year ago on a visit back home to NC, I was going through some old stuff of my Dad's when we came across several home movies. These things looked like they had been to Hell and back (seriously).  But because they were family videos and they might be salvageable I told Mom I wanted 'em anyway. 

Well, fast-forward a year and a half later. I found a service called iMemories.com that would take those old memories and put them on DVD.  My, oh my, what magic it was to preview those little snippets of life from way back then.  I knew I had done a great thing by hanging on to those old movies. If I was getting teary-eyed, I knew Mom would treasure it forever.

My next project?  A little something for my sister's birthday next month. Wink, wink. ;)

Pickling, anyone?

Garden Growth

After lots and LOTS of rain at the beginning of last week, we were glad we didn't transplant anything to the garden last weekend. The tomatoes (second picture) look like they're doing great and will be ready to transplant pretty soon though. I'm still amazed that there IS such a thing as purple basil (the third picture -- I still can't wait to try it!) and the regular basil is of course fragrant and enticing. Also, we are loving the convenience of home-grown strawberries. It's a fairly young, small plant with minimal produce, but it's awesome nonetheless!

In this last picture, you'll see the hop trellis that Tim built with our friend Brent a few weeks ago. At first I was a little ambivalent on this project but as long, as the trellis gets stained and looks pretty, I'm cool with it. ;) Until the hops grow and fill in the structure, we will just have the hostas to look at for now.

What new garden happenings or projects are happening at your home?

Need a little help for Mother's Day?

 

Sign up for the Handmade auction on Tophatter.com for some great gift items on sale this Saturday! TopHatter is a virtual auction website that features handmade and one-of-a-kind pieces. (A lot of fantastic Etsy sellers are on there, including yours truly.) Check it out and you'll be sure to find something that you and your mom love.

Hello May!

   This month I am ready to take on new tasks and expand my photography horizons. As you can see, I have posted this month's idea list for the 365 photo challenge. I don't usually stick to the prompts but I thought it would be fun this month to follow along. Feel free to check out the website and grab your list here.

Join me, won't you? :)