I met some celebrities!

well, what I consider celebrities, anyway.

I went to the Country Living show in Austin, Texas this past weekend.  Imagine my surprise when a group from "Sisters on the Fly" were there.  I was so excited.  They had three of their trailers parked and were letting us in them.

I have wanted to do "Sisters on the fly" for about two years.  (See, I even posted about it here almost exactly two years ago) .  The ladies were really sweet and answered lots of my questions.  They even said I don't have to have a trailer to be a "sister".  Pretty cool, huh?  Though I think it would be awesome to have one.

So I'm debating.  Some minutes I tell myself, "GO for it!", the next I'm saying "wait for the last one to go to college and you'll have more time"...I think I'm leaning for the "go for it" part but we'll see. 

Rare Visitors

We had a couple of rare visitors on Saturday.  Living in a city as big as Houston has it's wildlife drawbacks.  One if which is a lack of colorful birds.  I don't know if it is regional, big city, or just suburban blight, but it is rare that we see birds like these. 

We occasionally see cardinals like this one:

but I have never, ever, seen a bird like this!  There were in fact, two, but one went and hid after I got my camera out. 

I don't know what kind of bird it is, but it is so pretty and we were pretty excited to see it. 

Blessed

I made this ring for myself today.  It's somewhat like me and my life.  Absolutely not perfect, a little beat up, a little ragged but definitely blessed.  Definitely.  

Most of the time things go well, I am blessed.  Sometimes things don't go well, I am still blessed.  In all the good and bad, ups and downs, I am blessed.  Blessed through Jesus, blessed because of Jesus.  That is all I need. 


......and on a less philosophical/theological note:  here's what left the shop today.

Have a Blessed week~

Mother's Day Coupon

Its coming up fast.  I've added a coupon code for mother's day shopping.

"MomsRGreat"  will get you 15% off any item this week. 

Order deadline for guaranteed delivery is May 5.  Only two weeks!  Wow!

Back Porch Project

I needed to be outside today.  The weather has been so wonderful I had to work outside.  What better way to spend a day outside than a special project!

 I saw this picture on Pinterest and remembered I have a chair that would do just nicely.  I have a thing about chairs, I'm not sure why.  I have several old chairs in the attic of my garage.


Here's my chair.  Not as much detail, but suitable.   I've had this chair for a while.

I also had some paint from a couple of years ago.  You can see it needs to be stirred a little.

I found a few of the same plants in the picture (purple petunias, chartreuse vine) and added a few of my own.  I like the yellow better than the red and a little pop of pink.

So all painted and dry.  I painted a board that sits between the chair slats on the side to support the pot.  I didn't paint the pot because I like the clay pot look, plus, after time the paint would peel and look yucky.

It needs a little time to grow and fill out but it will be lovely.  Now I just have to find a nice spot for it. 

I also got to work with an audience.  She looked a little confused at what I was doing.

My garden

When we first moved to our house and put in our pool my husband was all about wanting a tropical garden.  Palm trees, hibiscus, grasses, birds of paradise, etc.  Though I wanted a cottage garden, being the wife I was (note I said was, lol)  I let him have his way.  We planted palms that quickly took over the area that we planted them in, or they died in unexpected snowfalls.  We planted hibiscus that, when you treat them just right they bloom, but we learned they are very finicky and just get rangy and spindly with no blooms if you don't have the magic formula that we could never figure out.  So, over the years our tropical garden has died out.  Slowly, and little by little I have worked on creating and developing my cottage garden.   I've stopped asking what he wants (that comes with years of marriage) and decided it's my turn.  He really doesn't care, I'm not a selfish b... like it sounds...:-) 

Though it's still in development, my garden is coming along nicely. 

My rose/flower border along my fence:  

I made this a while ago in my "mosaic phase".

I seem to gravitate towards pink and yellow. 

I've had the most beautiful irises this year.

My favorite spot for breakfast.

My amaryllis are late bloomers and my daylillies are a constant, though not showy.  I found them almost overtaken earlier this spring in the middle of the irises.

A few more lovelies to add:

And last, but certainly not least and most definitely worth waiting for:  PEACHES! 

That is my glorious garden this year.  I am loving every minute of it!

I hope you have a small green patch to call your own. 

Off the bench and out the door

I took last week off  and put my etsy shop in vacation mode to take care of a few issues and to catch up on some orders.  I have been so blessed this year, and I truly count it as a blessing.  I know it's an overflowing of gifts and grace given to me because of who knows why..but I am  thankful and so grateful.

Anyway, it's been hectic.  I've been busy making the same ring over and over.  I love all my customers and the stories they tell.  I had one customer tell me they bought one of my prehnite rings for a "push present" for his wife.  She is about to deliver their third child.  Wow!  It is such an honor.  I get a lot of anniversaries and birthdays, and a few engagements.  It is so humbling to be part of someones special days.

So, this was my week, well, three days of it anyway. 

I've decided I am  going to try to take Fridays off during this beautiful weather we are having to enjoy working in my garden ( which is fantastic by the way due to the extremely mild winter and wet spring we've had...I have pictures to share later). 

So, off to the post office today and then back to the bench to finish a few custom orders and a re-size. 

I hope you have a great rest of the week and a glorious weekend.

New from the Bench

Simple for summer necklaces.

Garden addition

I made this today!

I used this tutorial I saw on Pinterest.  Man I love that place! 


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