My Happy Spot!

Happy TGIFriday folks....its going to be a glorious warm weekend in Virgina, just the way I like it!  I will be in the pit at the Tim McGraw/Jake Owen concert tomorrow with my daughter and I cannot wait.  Tim is numero uno in my book....well next to my Luke Bryan that is :)  Can you feel my excitement reverebating thru this post....heeheehee!

My Happy Spot!

I thought I'd share my backyard pics with you today which is my Happy Spot at my home!  We still have 2 bushes to plant and 2 trees to be planted but other than that most of my yard is DONE...so we can just maintain and enjoy it.  Three years of work on this and happy to say we are almost there LOL.

This is what our backyard looks like now...the plants have really matured after 3 years and I couldn'tbe more thrilled.  I designed this backyard...every detail and plant and curve and pillow and color LOL.  We had Holloway build the cabana, fireplace and patio of course but I worked alongside them to come up with this design.  We originally had wanted a screened in porch off the kitchen but I was petrified of losing the sunlight in all my back windows....you see, I'm a bit of a light freak.  I hate DARK...I like the sun shining in and I didn't want to lose it.  So we came up with the cabana idea.

This is what it looks like from the back steps...steps are done in Trex as is the facing (white parts) of the cabana.  The countertops are Bluestone and easy to maintain.  Eventually I will get 2 more barstools for the round bar top but for now we use it as a landing place for food when we have people over.  We try to eat outside most nights when the weather is nice.  The backyard gets shaded around 3-4 pm so its always nice and cool back here.

This is the backside of the cabana and I have plans for it hee hee!  I'm painting the old firepit a pretty color as I use it for a coffee table now.  Usually that side chair is out more, not sure why it got shoved back there but you can "pretend" its out more around the table ok LOL.  I'm making a stone urn fountain for this area...I love the sound of running water.  I got most of my supplies, just have to get some help from hubby and his drill ;)  The large bush/tree is a butterfly bush and the hummingbirds and butterflies LOVE it when its in bloom....another week and I think the buds will all be open!

Here's our main sitting area in front of the fireplace....we are out here A LOT especially in the evenings.  I love the fireplace and my spot is right up next to it LOL.  We roast marshmallows and make S'mores in it regularly.  The plants here are all succulents...easy to care for and they love the shade.  The furniture is by Lane for outdoors and its super durable & comfy.  The ottomans under the coffee table are extra seating or foot-props as I use them LOL.

This is the backside of the bar...we have a built in fridge and I keep drinks and condiments out here in the summer.  I also have a trashcan underneath and we have a row of outlets for anything we need to plug in.  The flower is a Gerber daisy...they love the shade of the patio so I always get 1 or 2 for the patio each year...they are such a HAPPY flower :)

We love the large bar area...not only does it make a great spot to eat and lay out food for barbecues BUT it screens the sitting area in and gives it privacy.  Makes it cozy feeling!  We have recessed potlights above the bar as well that shine down for light in the evenings.

This is the inside of the cabana ceiling...its all cherry wood and keeps a nice golden glow.  We had lights installed to shine up on it at night so it just glows.  I also have a fan with light which is nice when its hot to create a soft breeze and helps keep the buggies away.  We also have electric installed in the rafters for the TV and heaters....we have YET to put in either LOL but we do have a TV we put out in the summer to watch, we just haven't formally attached it as I'm a scaredy cat about putting holes in the wood.

These are the steps down into the yard...I love rocks of all kinds and these actually came from our yard when they were digging out the patio.  The soil here is VERY rocky which means planting things is hard and takes forever to dig.  Hubby and I did all the flower gardens ourselves...I planned them out, hubby dug and planted and I did the mulch :)

Here's a view from our lower yard....isn't the grass pretty & green.  See that path on the left with a ball sitting next to it....yeah that's the DOGS path they take to get down towards the woods to bark at the wildlife LOL.  I told hubby we should put in stepping stones as its always worn down.  I also use it because my veggie garden is down in that area so its always getting trampled on.  We are lucky that our house backs up to a large nature preserve in our neighborhood so we have woods behind us with all kinds of wildlife coming around...wild turkeys, racoons, deer, squirrels and fox. The front of our house looks into woods that lead down to Beaver Creek...the creek runs about a mile and a half to the Potomac River.  There is a kayak/canoe launch and we have some rapids back there that you can hear on a quiet evening.  One thing I love about my neighborhood is even though its HUGE, its very wooded and quiet which is odd given the sheer amount of homes but it truly is.  I took these pics a few weeks ago and now the garden is even more in bloom so it looks even better...a few plants hadn't popped yet when I took these pics...oh well.  

**I'll share my raised bed veggie garden pics next week with you**

Here's a close up of our back steps.  This area is weirdly shaped because we have a huge bay in the eating area and then our family room juts out 10 feet as well so we decided wide steps that go all the way to the family room extension looked best.  I love them because I like to have lots of pretty pots in bloom...some I just planted so they haven't grown yet but by mid-summer they will be HUGE.  We have lights in the steps that turn on every night as well.  The area to the left of the steps is where we keep our grill, hose and then I have another garden up against the house.  We have to plant my lilac bush there still so I didn't photograph it yet LOL.  **New back light and front lights are going up real soon...I got them in the garage but gotta nag hubby to actually put them in, he loves when I have MORE projects for him...ha!**

And this is my front porch...my other happy spot!  I love me some front porches and

I always decorate mine for the seasons.  This year I went with red & white...classic and gives a great pop of color!

So there you go...that's my happy spot at home.  

If I'm not cleaning or working you probably will find me in my backyard doing something.  If its the weekend then I will be out there laying in the sun and reading :)

What's your "Happy Spot" at your house??

Taking Care of Business!

 

Taking Care of Biznesssss!

Ahhhhh hahahahaha I'm not really talking about human kinda bizness but I am talking about kitty duty.  If you have cats then this post is for you.  If you don't then maybe this won't appeal to you so much LOL.  But after using this particular litter system for a few months and trying it out I felt the need to post SOMETHING about it for any of my readers that have cats.

I have 6 cats...that's a whole lot of litter and litter boxes.  We have 6 boxes in our house....two in the laundry room and 4 in our back basement.  I hate the smell of cat poo and urine so I'm always cleaning boxes...plus a few of my cats will stick their noses up like cats tend to do if the box is too dirty for them.  And I clean the boxes in the laundry room at least 2x a day if not more.  The basement boxes get cleaned once a day as they tend to only use those in the evening.

One thing about traditional boxes is all the litter they use each week between the litter that gets out of the boxes and the litter that you have to scoop to get the yuck out...AND they produce A LOT of litter dust.  I hate that...you always gotta dust and vacuum to clean it up...drives me crazy.  I don't want people to come in my house and immediately KNOW I have cats cuz of the smell so I'm a bit obsessive about it!

So when I heard about these litter boxes from Purina Tidy Cats called "Breeze" and saw they were running a special I decided to get one and try it.  I loved it so much that I now have 3 of them and 3 traditional boxes.  I priced it out as well to see how much we spend on litter and then how much this new system would cost us a month.  It ended up being $3 more a month for 3 of these boxes...which for the ease of them is worth every darn penny and NO SMELL...I love that!

So you have to buy the pellets, they are good for a long time...I change mine out once a month in each box.  I regularly rake them over the box to make sure they get dry...but they leave NO scent when the cats pee on them and NO dust.  The pee goes thru the pellets and thru the grate into a pad below that you need to change (easy to pull out and change) and the pad doesn't allow any smell to leak thru.  So you also need to keep the pads on hand as well.  I change the pads about once a week...I turn the pad around 180 degs in the middle of the week to make sure I get the whole pad used.  The boxes come with a special scoop so you can easily scoop the poop without taking all the pellets with it and the scoop hangs on the side of the box.

There is a $7 off coupon for the complete litter box set HERE...and if your store is like mine and has a SALE on the complete set they will allow you take the $7 off the SALE prize too...whoot!  That's the way to do it.  I got all mine at PetSmart but Petco, Target, Walmart, Amazon.com and other stores carry these if you are interested.

To get my cats used to the boxes I did as the company suggested...I put some pellets in their traditional boxes so they could smell them and get used to the feel.  Within the first day a few of my cats were already using them...and now they all use them.  I plan on replacing 2 more boxes with these and having just 2 traditional boxes.  I LOVE THEM...I love the no dust mess, the no smell factor and they are easier to deal with.  And with 6 cats and 6 boxes they make my life easier.

No I didn't get paid by Purina or receive a free box set...so this is NOT a paid endorsement LOL.  If you've read my other ScrapBitz blog over the past 5+ years you know I don't play that game.  If I don't love it or use it myself you will NEVER hear me talk about it...I am only interested in sharing things I love and that work well.  And I highly recommend this system for cat owners.

Prettiness for You!

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend if you celebrate Memorial Day wherever you live!  We had a great weekend and spent a lot of time as a family.  Alexa & I went to see Kenny Chesney/Eric Church at FedEx Field on Saturday.  I had won front row tix and when we went to pick them up they asked if we'd rather have the sand bar tix right up next to the stage...are you KIDDING ME...ummm yes!  So we were one person from the stage and had an amazing time....this weekend we are in the pit for my "love" Tim McGraw & all his hotness LOL!!

 Pretty Pretty!

I love fresh flowers...I think they can be a frivolous expense as they can be pricey but sometimes its nice to just have some pretty flowers in the house right?  Sometimes I'll pick up some tulips or roses at Costco if I feel in the mood.  BUT I have a BIG ISSUE...one of our cats Tucker aka "Trouble" likes to EAT them.  And I mean he can smell them a mile away, in 2 secs he's on them and shredding them....drives me nutters.  So I have to be strategic where I put them...behind closed doors or wayyyyyy up high.  And now that my flower beds are in bloom I have been plucking a few each week to display in the house.  I'm so happy my flowers have matured so I can now cut flowers off of them for the house.

 This is one of five Knockout Rose bushes I have around my house.  I love

them because they are very hardy and bloom thru October.  The key is to cut them back after every full bloom and they will keep producing.  They smell delicious too!

I took my clippers and a basket outside and clipped quite a grouping...enough for 4 bouquets in the house.

I like to call this my Redneck Bouquet LOL...a few blooms in my Redneck Wine glass

on my kitchen window sill.  You don't always have to have fancy vases or a ton of blooms for a 

pretty bouquet.  A few blooms and something to hold water and you're set!

I love round vases...sometimes I put flower crystals in the bottom for sparkle.

With the round vases you need to strip the leaves off and cut down the stems then pack them in to create a full bouquet.  This one sits on my sidetable in my bedroom...behind CLOSED doors so Tucker cannot eat them LOL.

This one I had sitting on my table in my living room.  The cats don't venture in here much and I was able to have them there for 4 days before Tucker found them...errrr sniffed them out LOL but by that time they were pretty much done in.  This is a Southern Living vase with a ceramic frog top to place your stems thru.

And I had enough for one more bouquet in my powder room...another Southern Living container fitted with a small plastic container to hold water.  This powder room door stays shut most of the time...one of our cats (Millie) liked to go in and flush the toilet over & over...yeah the cats are a bunch of fun sometimes eh? LOL!  So I was able to have a small bouquet on the back of the toilet!

So there ya go...some prettieness for you!  Even if you don't have any large rose bushes or flower beds you can still make some bouquets.  I like to clip spring green tree branches and arrange them in long vases...they give a nice impact as well.  Or buy a bunch of flowers and divvy them up into a few smaller bouquets to stretch them out!

We ALL deserve some prettiness in our lives yes?

Happy Memorial Day!

Have a safe, fun & relaxing Memorial Day Weekend to those in the US!!!

We are at a Washington Nats game in DC today....they are playing the Baltimore Orioles our other hometown team so its gonna be a tough match.  PLAYYYYYYY BALL!!

Coral Me Happy!

I like pretty things.  I like coordination and symmetry.  I like flowers and summer and sun and fun. And as much as I love decorating INSIDE my house, I love decorating the OUTSIDE just as much!  So when Spring arrives and nice weather with it...you will find me outside most days doing some kind of project on my patio or in my gardens.  I have quite a few OUTSIDE projects coming your way but today I will just share ONE...don't want to overwhelm anyone ;)

We have a lovely patio table that we've had for years.  And although our backyard gets afternoon shade we do get full sun for the first part of the day.  That means our table needs the umbrella over it during those times when the sun is beating down.  So we have an umbrella pole sticking out of the center of the table...we keep it in all the time so we can easily pop on the umbrella when needed.  But it creates issues for me as I cannot center ANYTHING on the table...not planters, candles, NOTHING...arghhhh drives me crazy.  Because I like symmetry & balance...period...I'm anal that way LOL!

Yup there is that darn pole in the middle of the table that tries to drive me nuts.

But NOT anymore...ha ha ha!

I'd seen this project somewhere on Pinterest months ago and was so excited I literally squealed in my chair!  And I could NOT wait to execute my own version.  They had used a plastic bundt pan that they got from a garage sale on the cheap.  Well I visited Walmart and got a heavier metal pan for $5.  Some newpaper and Valspar Outdoor Spray Paint (good on plastic, wood & metals) from Lowes and I was all set to go.

On a nice sunny day I spray painted the bundt pan with 3 coats of white spray paint letting each coat dry for about an hour each coat.  I did one side and then the inside of the pan.  I chose white so that no matter what color scheme I decide to go with on my patio it will always match.  But the spray paint comes in so many colors that you can go to color-town if you'd like! :)

My new patio tableware is a new purchase from Target.  I have an obsession with tableware as stated in other posts on this blog.  I buy some new "stuffs" every year....or so.  In fact my husband was literally GROANING out loud as I pondered the various goodies Target had to offer for the patio this spring.  Should I do yellow, or blue or coral?  Hey, that's a BIG decision for me!  I chose this coral pattern that has sage greens and butter yellows in it because it goes with my patio pillows and cushions.  I bought the plates, salad plates, some bowls, a serving platter, glasses and a divided serving plate.  It all just makes me soooo happy...pretty colors, pretty dishes...just makes me SMILE!

I set the table as though I were having some friends over for a dessert garden party to take these pictures.  The neighbor's landscapers were watching me set up and take pictures and I'm pretty sure they thought I was TOTALLY NUTTERS when I cleaned it all up with no guests ever having arrived...ahahahaha!  

I filled my planter with some organic potting soil and then petunias and geraniums in a pretty coral color.  I got all these flowers plus a few more for only $6!!  I love the way this looks and if I want different color flowers (I'm thinking red & white for the 4th of July)...it is super easy to pull these out and plant in another pot and add new ones!

I will share more pics of our outside patio area real soon!  I finally got some good pictures with everything in bloom that I cannot wait to share...so stay tuned for that.


LINK UPS:

Southern Lovely

Savvy Southern Style

No Minimalist Here 

I'm entering this into A Bowl Full of Lemons Linky Party

I Heart Organizing

What outdoor projects are you planning on this summer?

PS.....if you see this now

when you hover over a picture...don't panic! 
Its just an easy way to pin pictures/links from my site to Pinterest if you wish!

Breathing....

Breathing Again....

One of the things I hoped to do with this new blog is some down-home-deep-digging-soul-baring-life-thinking-decision-changing-hard truths kinda journaling.  And I hadn't really done it yet.  Why?  Not sure since I regularly blog things in my head at night when I should be sleeping because I'm usually not sleeping.  But I'd like to blame it on time...never having enough...never doing enough with the time I have.  I have over-achiever-Type-A-never-slow-down-do-more-and never rest syndrome.  Guilty as charged.  I am someone who over the years has learned {or tried} to be plain-as-day-honest to myself, my friends and my family...lay it all out there...be who I am, express what I feel no matter what.  And some days that good intention gets mired down in the muck and mud of everyday living and lack of time.  But I'm trying, really trying and that's all we can do as humans is try our best.  Some days we give our best, some we try our best and some days we just hope for the best yes?  Amen.

The first step...breathing...first thing we do when we are born is breathe..breathing...the first step to everything

For the past 30+ years of my life I have packed it in.  Packed a lot of living in.  A lot of to-do's in.  School, marriage, kids, friends, jobs, trips...you name it and I either achieved it, tried it or aspired to it.  I had two kids 22 months apart after getting married young and out of school. {NO regrets} I quickly transitioned from full-time daughter, student and worker to full time stay at home mom and wife.  I filled my days with baby time, play dates, room mom duties, field trip mom, arts-n-crafts mom, baking mom, cleaning mom, chauffuer and then also a part-time working mom.  {NO regrets}.  My kids grew and they thrived and lived and soon headed to middle school.  The kid's "needs" started lessening in some ways for me and so I had time to start doing things that interested ME (SELF) again...starting to do art again, crafting again and meeting people that shared my passions and hobbies and making friends that weren't just the moms of my kid's friends.  I BREATHED AGAIN. Then I was suddenly working...full-time...from home but still working and I relished it. Kids grew into teens and headed to high school.  I went from super-busy-stay-at-home-do-everything mom to do-everything-but-add-in-full-time-work mom.  Never catch my breath...just move, go, work, do, and be within the 24 hours of each day.   I started working non-stop and traveling non-stop and doing non-stop.  I live in an area of the non-stop people...24 hour stores...cell phone at ready 24 hours...work with heed kinda town.  I NEEDED to be the everything-mom and the everything-wife and the everything-friend and the everything-worker....I can do it, I can be that woman.  That kind of pressure can cause cracks and frissons I have to say I didn't always see within myself.  I am seeing wisps of it now as I look back and think on it.  I see lumps of time that are foggy...I know I lived them and I know hours and days went by...but I can't always say I REMEMBER what I did in those moments.  If you can't remember moments does that mean they didn't matter?  I'm working on answering that right now myself and that's been a "whooooaaa nelly" revelation for me.  And I'm not unique...I'm not the sole person living like this...but I am the SOLE owner of my life and my body and my time....so I said to self "its time for some change and you're in charge".  And so I've been trying that change just a bit at a time.

I said I do everything 120%...and I don't lie.  If I'm into it...I'm into it 120% and then some...whatever it may be.  I was raised that way...taught to be that way...EXPECTED to be that way.  I liken it to almost an addiction...maybe not for someone else but for me goals, actions, work and to-do's are an addiction for me.  I fill as many to-do's as I can a day and try to add a few more in even after that...it never stops...like a merry-go-round of to-do's and have to's.   I'm a pusher...a self-pusher I've realized...if I'm sedentary I want to do more, do something, do ANYTHING...I feel anxious if I'm not doing SOMETHING.  So I've eased back on some things...lessened my work load a bit...trying to take some time to JUST BE.  Its hard I'm not gonna lie...its totally not me...I'm not really that girl...but being the overachiever I am I'm going to try real hard to be better.  And I've realized it only takes small slivers of time, time you already had but just didn't know how to use.

I figure I am doing it with bits and pieces of time and thoughts and moments and yes, even some work.  Because I do ENJOY work, I enjoy it a lot and would never stop but I'm learning to edit it a bit.  I enjoy life, my life...I want to suck up as much life as I can...with myself, my family and my friends.  I want to learn more, travel more, love more and be more. Always MORE MORE MORE! But I also want to just BE.  Listen to the quiet..STOP for a second...be IN the moment...be me...be nothing for a bit.  Not being in the moment AND thinking of the things I should or could be doing...the things I want to do...the things I'm "supposed" to do.  Is that part of the meaning of our lives...to edit ourselves and our lives over the course of time?  I have come to the conclusion, that for me, yes it is.  It may have taken me 39 years to get to it but I would not really be "ME" without all those paths I had taken, lumps, bumps, bruises and all.  So I have decided to try some new paths, veer off the comfortable roads and try the bumpy roads instead and see where they may lead.  They say fear is the greatest motivator...some of the things you are most fearful of are the things that you should head towards.  And admitting those fears is step one...that's the hardest part...but I'm going to share with you a few of my fears that the deepest part of me has held inside...because admitting these fears is facing the FEAR itself.

(1) Fear of not leaving an impact on the world and not having anyone know who you are or what your journey was in the time you lived your life on earth.  Making a difference...to life, to people, to everyting.
(2) Fear of time...the fear that there is never enough, not to do the things I want or need.
(3) Fear of non-achievement...never achieving the things that which I have esteemed for or aspired towards or think are important.  Not accomplishing my goals...whoa..there's the big "tostado" for me right there.
(4) Fear of imperfection...never doing it exactly right or how I "think" it should be or want it to be
(5) Fear of self-laziness and lack of motivation to do all the things I think "myself" should be doing
(6) Fear of failure or failing in other's expectations of myself
(7) Fear of rejection in life, relationships, work, and love

And it is with those SEVEN fears that I can see some of who I am and how I arrived to where I am now...its soul searching at its best with Ms. mySELF as my free therapist people! Whooooaaaa nelly, facing one's SELF is a hard one.  Once you lay it all bare you can see the how, why and what of your life in so many different ways it can be a bit unraveling.  Yes you can be critical if you choose or simply accept SELF as what it is...I accept who I am 100%.  Do I mean to rid myself of all my fears?  NO, its who I am and part of what makes me "ME".  But by better understanding them I can maybe make the better decision of what works best for me, at this time, in this life at this moment instead of what I HAVE to do because FEAR said so.  I'm not beating myself up about it, just taking the time to acknowledge how I am and who I am without blame, shame or fear or the worry/need to CHANGE it all at once or the need to change some things at all.

Tonight after the sun had set and temperatures had cooled, the teens were inside doing homework (hubby is away on business travel) that I set outside to finish up some "chores" that needed doing.  Cleaning up the patio from dinner, watering plants and wiping down pollen-dusted furniture and then to weed my vegetable garden.  Things I know I have to do and usually do mindlessly as quickly as possible so I can get to the next to-do item on my list.  Then I STOPPED...stopped even before I had started.  I've really been trying to follow what I preach and that of "living in the moment".  So as I watered the flowers I laughed as the dogs ran to the fence & barked at the same darn cats next door they see everyday and bark at...its always new to them regardless if they just saw them an hour ago. WOW...that was a bit of a revelation to me...doing the same things everyday but seeing them in a new light each time.  That's a whooooaaa nelly again.  And I'm not speaking of cleaning the toilet and seeing it anew each day people...come on now...I'm not that new-aged-therapist minded LOL.  But sometimes in life there are things that you do mindlessly, carelessly and maybe if for just a second, you thought about it in a new way it would change the course of that MOMENT.  Yeahhhhh that's what I want to do...see some things in a different light...have gratitude for BEING in that moment even if its doing something I may not be fond of.  Life is nothing but a series of moments.

Then I went down and weeded the garden...just me, my bare hands and the weeds.  Super quiet outside as everyone was inside in our neighborhood either finishing dinner or getting little ones ready for bed or relaxing for the day.  I realized that I for once was actually just "being"...pulling the weeds, enjoying the fresh air, listening to our local deer family rustle through the woods, watching the hummingbirds zipping around to all the flowers before nightfall, but most of all listening to the QUIET.  Instead of rushing through the chore, I took my time and just enjoyed the "quiet time", no interruptions, no one needing me at that moment in time....and instead of thinking of what was next on my list of to-do's...I just BREATHED.

Summer Fun!

 Summertime Fun!

Hi everyone!  I have some gardening pics, project pics and backyard pics going up later this week here so check back for those.  Just waiting for paint to dry and such LOL!  In the meantime thought I'd share a few fun and fab things that I think are super cool for summer!  Summer is my favorite time of year...just something about blue skies, sun out, green grass and the promise of some time off to just enjoy life.  These items below make me happy!!!

I adore this retro cooler...in love with the style and color...comes in many colors

and is $60 HERE!

I want a picnic basket...I want one that can hold a ton of stuff...and I'm slightly old-fashioned in that I want a wicker one.  There's just something about a wicker basket picnic basket that makes you want to pack it up, head out on a beautiful day and just enjoy life!  This particular one is the one I want currently...the plates/linens come in different colors but I like this butter yellow combo!

I also like these for the beach...we have a cooler with wheels we use but I like this one for other food items and it zips closed so no sand in can blow in there.  Bonus....only $19.99 at World Market and lots of pretty patterns too!

I love the durability of Thirty-One Bags...they hold a ton, hold up well and come in so many fun patterns.  This large utility tote is one of my faves as it can hold a ton of beach towels, sand toys and magazines for the beach AND then come home and hold sports gear, groceries, etc.

 I love pretty beach towels...for myself LOL...and I may have a "few" shhhh but I love the colors in this Vera Bradley beach towel.  So cute!!

We have a large outdoor area that we use as much as possible..I am addicted to pillows...its a problem LOL and I like lots of pretty patterns.  So a few of these are headed my way...they match my outdoor furniture as you will see in an upcoming post.  $44 for two from Overstock.com

I also love to light lots of tiki torches, candles, hurricanes and lanterns outside...I bought a few of these lanterns in white from Pier 1 Imports in different sizes.  And you can spray paint them any color if you need too...hmmmm LOL!

I love to plant in galvanized metal planters/troughs...I have some copper ones I love and have planted succulents in for under our cabana.  But I also love that you can find them in pretty colors AND if not you can paint them...a can of spray paint is the easy way to play!!

Summer is about ICE CREAM...its the only time of year I will eat it (odd I am, yes I know) and I love pretty ice cream dishes...shoot me but I have a few...its that glassware obsession again LOL!  I like the old fashioned ones best and we have a set like these above....12 for only $24.99 at Bed, Bath & Beyond *use that 20% coupon you get in mail or online too*

Shoot me but I'm a sucker for the fun and kitschy at times so these condiment holders make me smile!  I love the lil picnic table and umbrella...how cute for your patio table or buffet this summer right?  Only $14.99 too...I may be getting one of these...hee!

And no garden is complete with a garden gnome to look over it...there are so many fun varieties out there but I love the all white ceramic ones I've seen.  Target had them but I missed out HOWEVER I found some online so my garden will be "gnomed" :)

What's your favorite summertime find??