Spring Home Tour!

 

Well, I can’t seem to stay inside these days.  I find myself in the backyard.  Again and again and again.  I think my backyard is my favorite room of the house.  Spring does that to me.   I love planting more and more impatiens, moving things from here to there and then sitting back and marveling at God’s handiwork.  I’m amazed at the beauty of His roses and the colors on His birds' little chests.  Wow, do I sound like a grandma or what?  Actually, I sound like my grandpa.  My mom’s dad loved all things roses and birds.  I think I got his genes.  Lucky me.

Well, if you love all things backyard, roses and birds too, then please drop by the Christian Girl’s Cottage Spring Home Tour on Saturday, May 18th from 10 am to 4 pm.  Picture our Christmas home tour, but with an emphasis on our gardens, and as always, our faith.   Opening her home this spring, along with ours, is Susan Yokoi, a His Flower Girl alumna, who has an adorable little “cottage” in North Ranch.  You’ll love her garden and I know you will love her kitchen (and her too!)  I could have gone over there and taken pictures to tease you, but I’ll tease you by making you go over and see it for yourself.  It's darling.

So this is the plan for the day.  Start at Susan’s home, then head over to ours and then head over to Vintage Garden and Bloom.  Laurie, the owner of the store and my sweet, new friend, has a treat for you.  For any of you who bring her an old terra cotta or ceramic pot or anything in which you can plant flowers in on the day of the tour, she will take 15% off anything in her store.  And, trust me girlfriends, you’ll want everything in her store!  I blogged about her store  
here.

So mark your calendars for a day of fun and faith.   

Here are the details:

Susan’s address is 4659 Tam O’Shanter Drive, Westlake Village.

Our address is 1608 Brentford Avenue, Westlake Village.  

Vintage Garden and Bloom’s address is 1696 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

If you get lost or have any questions, call me on my cell phone at 805.402.9360.  

Can’t wait for you to “stop and smell His roses” with us!

Mark you calendars - Saturday, May 18th.  And feel free to forward this invitation and bring a friend or two!

xoxo

Bloomin' Blooms...

Can you believe my front door is behind all of these flowers?  I can't.

I walk outside to the curb, turn around and say, "This is amazing.  Our garden has never looked like this."

Enrique (the gardner extraordinaire) has got the touch.  He tends the garden around the corner from me, and when I got cancer, I realized I probably wouldn't have the time or the energy to devote to my garden anymore.  So we hired him.  Good move, wouldn't you say?  Another bonus of having cancer. 

I just planted a six pack of daisies above the mailbox.  They will soon spill out over the wire basket.  I love overflowing flower baskets.

These roses line the driveway where I park.  I keep a pair of scissors in my car so when I get home, I can immediately clip a few and bring them into the house.  Because if I wait until I get into the house to grab the scissors, I'll say, "Now why did I need these scissors?"  You know that drill.

These are Eden roses (one of my favorites) that I planted about two years ago. I wanted to train them to grow along the picket fence.  And I think they've mastered it!  This time last year, I think there were about seven blossoms.  As of Saturday night, I think there's now about 100!  Enrique apparently knows how to use a bag of fertilizer.

Count all these buds!

This is another view.  I can hardly even see my fence anymore.

Here are a few of the roses clipped and placed into my thrift store finds in the dining room.

And in the downstairs bathroom.

This is one of my favorite vignettes.  I made the "stop and smell His roses" sign a few years back.  I love how the sun and the rain have given it it's chippy look.

Well, I just couldn't resist taking a few photos of the front yard and sharing them with you.  I haven't posted on this blog in awhile as I haven't done much of anything around the house to share with you.   However, I did submit photos of our home to Fifi O'Neil, the author/editor/photographer/stylist, and she'll be coming out in June to shoot our house as well as the homes of two other friends of mine.  That's pretty crazy 'cus we're all in love with her books and the magazines she writes for.  I told her I hope she captures my faith in our home.  Now that's what I want to see in a magazine!

And in case you're wondering about my new treatments, they kind of stink (not very "rosey").  The drug I'm on (Taxol) is appropriately named as it's quite taxing on my body.  I've had high fevers and muscle aches again.  Today was my third treatment (of way too many more to come) and we decided to hydrate my body for four days following each treatment which helped rid my body of the fevers and the pain in the past.  Praying it will do the job again this time.

What fun it was before to have cancer, not feel like it, go through treatment, and have not one side effect.  As my son likes to say, "good times."

  Funny story.  As I was having treatment this morning, the wife of a patient looks over at me after listening to the nurse and I talk.  After the nurse leaves, she says, "I have to ask what kind of cancer you have.  Because you're too young and too pretty to look like you have cancer."  I pointed out all of my wrinkles and my nice, new turkey neck and said, "Well, I think you need to take a closer look at my face and maybe get a new prescription for your glasses."  Here's to hoping that sweet, "blind" woman is there again next week!

Well, these new treatment days aren't filled with running all over town like they used to be, but for now, I'm up for simple things like walking outside and marveling at God's handiwork that is abundantly blooming in my front yard  -- with a little help from Enrique.