how does your garden grow?

By all accounts, I have a black thumb. I'm a chronic over-waterer and no matter how hard I try, I just can't keep any plant alive. I give them to my mom for rehabilitation - she's so much better than I am. But recently, I was over at my friend's house celebrating her birthday and I spotted several ranunculus sitting pretty in a pot on her front porch. The blooms were so beautiful that I was inspired to try my hand at potted gardening again.

I went to Home Depot and Lowe's to find the perfect plants {by the way, Lowe's had the best and healthiest-looking selection} and pick up a couple of extra pots, then spent the weekend planting and praying that my flowers make it more than a week.

To help me from over-watering, Mark bought some Aqua Globes. If you look closely, you can see the green and blue glass bulbs peeking out from behind the foliage.

Mark also helped me clean off the back patio - which for some reason always collects an astonishingly large amount of bouganvilla flowers, leaves and dirt - by using one of his favorite yard toys...the electric blower. I have to say that I'm not a fan of the gas blowers {they're pollutants - both in the sense of noise and air}, but the electric blower is much quieter and doesn't spew gross gas into the atmosphere.

~please note the fashionable footwear~

And in case my flowers do fail, I picked up a lovely little succulent for the front yard.

gilding the lid-dy

I am an eye person when it comes to makeup. I like to play up my brown - sometimes hazel - hue. And I've found one of the best ways to do that is with gold shadow.


Some of my favorites include

...bareMinerals In the Buff...

...Smashbox On Stage...

...NARS Kuala Lumpur...

 

food coma

This weekend, Mark and I flew to San Diego to test out some cake bakers and caterers and I think we're still stuffed.

Wanna see a few shots?

:: our gorgeous venue ::

:: appetizers, anyone? ::

:: sweet treats ::

hola! bonjour! nin hao!

Have you seen these videos for ef.com? It makes me want to travel around the world, immerse myself in the culture, make friends, learn a language...just generally expand my horizons.

While I love the one from Paris, my favorite has this one from Barcelona {I may be biased since I studied in Spain}. You can also check out the videos promoting London and Beijing.

EF - Live The Language - Barcelona from Albin Holmqvist on Vimeo.

love shack

My sweet Valentine's Day gift.

napoleon {non} complex

It's been a while since I've shared a yummy recipe with you, and today I have something light and healthy for you.

On it's own, this tasty recipe is super easy. However, I took a cue from Sandra Lee and make it even more simple!

My not-so-secret timesaving tip : Trader Joe's - one of my favorite grocery stores - sells prebaked chicken breasts in the meat section. Seasoned with a little salt and pepper, just pop these individually wrapped packets into the mircowave or pot of boiling water and, voila! Juicy, tender chicken. It's perfect for when you want to make something healthy but are short on time {which is the case for me, most days}.

~fresh avocado~

~my sous chef slicing chicken~

~cutting the puff pastry~

~tomato for mark~

~avocado for me~

~quick and easy sweet potato fries~

bag lady

~image via here~

So I came across this post over at Hey Little Birdie and thought - what a wonderful idea for an art wall - designer shopping bags!

I have an obsession with saving paper shopping bags {I use them for everything from lunch totes to carry-alls} and recently acquired a Louis Vuitton one {which carried my 30th birthday present to myself}. I know I have a Tiffany one hanging around, too, so I could absolutely recreate this wall as an ode to my shopping addiction passion.

There are so many more photos of this closet and the framed bags {as well as where to get the frames!} over at Moth Design.