Color: Green

Green:

Described as : The color green is associated with people that are slow paced and task oriented. They tend to go slowly and make the best decision. They are good listeners and communicate details well.

Ain't dat da trut?

I was walking around yesterday, St. Patty's day, BTW Top 'O The Morninin' :), and found myself surrounded in beautiful greens!

You have to love the clovers!

The beautiful Dogwoods! (not so green, but pretty, pretty!)

Holly Bush & Ivy

 And chocolate!

The kids are still off for spring break, so we picked out some plants to make a garden! We got strawberries, bell peppers & tulips :) We'll spend tomorrow planting them...I'll letcha know how it goes.

What are you gardening this year?

Welcome Warm Weather

Well, this week is Spring break for the girls. This means they need to be entertained. We have different friends scheduled to come over all week and a different movie and activity for each day! Today was butterfly cakes and Fruity Punch (recipe below) It's super easy and makes snack time that much more fun!

The butterfly cakes were made in these cute butterfly tins I got from a friend filled with just cake mixes then sprinkled with turbinado sugar. 

 

Fruity Punch

Recipe: makes 2 1/2 gallons

5 pkgs. Hawaiian Punch Kool aid mix

5 cups sugar

3 oranges

Water

Ice

Mix Kool Aid per package instructions with mix, sugar & water into a drinking dispenser like I used or a punch bowl. Slice oranges, discarding ends. Add ice and orange slices to drink mix, stir.  Voila. That's it! :p

Garnish glasses with orange slice and you can even sprinkle sugar around the cup rim.

And it looks pretty!

Happy Spring Break

Please go check out my Willow House Facebook page...

Inspired by Iron

Iron is one of my favorite elements to decorate with. It's masculine, yet can be feminine.  Here's how/where I've used it at home.

My keys

 Candelabra & I'm not sure what the jars are..but they're cool :)

In the bathroom

In the bedroom

In the dining room

 My favorite places to find cool iron decor is at flea markets and antique shops... And I love to search through Google images for ideas - Google's my best friend!  What's neat is that most people think of iron as more of an outdoor element, but it's really functional both ways!  Do you use iron decor?
xoxo for now <3

How Serene

I have always wanted an asian inspired cottage garden. (If you can picture that). There's just something about English Ivy and the scattered chaos of color like the piercing red of a Japanese Maple tree or the bridges & pagodas - that takes me to a compfy place.

Here's some inspiration I found online. Don't you  just love??

(click on the images for source credit)

And this inspires some great ideas for back yard entertaining.....

The following you can find in my store. :)

I am not a gardener (usually), I mean, I buy geraniums every year from the Auxillary, but that's about as good as I get...Oh, and I pull weeds. But as far as growing anything, I'v never had much luck. So, pray for me that I have success with this.  LOL

Does anyone have a good recipe for moulton lava cake?

I've been dying for one of these and Chili's is too far away ;P

Disney on a Dime

So, I've been planning a trip to Disney for us for years...Or at least in my heart, that is where I have always wanted to take the kiddos. But...it's an insanely expensive trip, especially for a family of 6. I have convinced myself that the only way to make that dream come true is have a "Disney Dish" (special savings, that is) I just started adding to the Dish last month, we had a few huge payments that were ending, so we figured it was the best time of any to start really saving. I opened the Dish with $100 and since 2/1 our total is up to $509.37. I had a half.com (from book sales) deposit and we got an escrow refund (I didn't even know you could get those :P) So, with the plan of:

6 Day Resort Reservation & Park tickets :       $2488

Estimated gas - (we are driving)                         $500
New tires ( to get us there & back safe)             $328
Food (pit stops) ($1 menu, baby)                      $100
Meals while @ resort (estimated)                      $600
Spending @ Resort (also plan on hitting up        $600

Disney Outlet)                                                  $4616
Misc. emergency or spending                              $384

Total cost to Disney                                          $5000

So....Just $4490.63 to go!

We are planning to go August 12-17, 2012. Its the end of the summer season (and pricing). (travel, discount or any advice would be mucho appreciated! :)

 I've added my little countain widget  :) so you can count down with us.

Fabulous Find

I've been wanting to find a vintage butterfly picture (kinda like the one below) for my bathroom...I've browsed everywhere and within my price range, i just couldn't find what i wanted or was willing to settle for, until.....

I walked into Family Dollar and found this really great butterfly picture.  I think I like even better than what I wanted. My hanging pendant looks so great with it, too. Don't you think?

Tip: small spaces can be dramitically impacted and your space can seem twice as large when you decorate with mirrors. They give the illusion of the space going on forever.

Pretty Pictures

Yay! I got a new camera! I finally upgraded from a 5mp to a 14mp. What a huge difference in picture quality! So, you know, like a little kid I went around taking pictures of everything ;P. Hope you have as much fun seeing them as I did taking them :)

The is a corner of the dining room

 View from the front door

Living room side table

 Jazz - those are her real lips, too :P

Chef 1 in dining room

 view into dining room

 Chef 2 in dining room

Apothecary jars <3

 Tip: For making a smaller room appear larger - use larger furniture. Yes, larger furniture, like you can see I've done.  Sometimes, lots of smaller furniture can make the room seem cluttered with no real flow. But, try not to cover your windows with the large furniture. Light is also, a factor in making a room feel more open and spacious.