Vintage Monday: wood llama

Andrea was quick to spot this wooden llama on our thrifting trip and when she pointed it out to me, I immediately snapped it up.  Good thing for eagle eyes and quick hands because the lady at the cash register acted like she would clobber us over the head with the llama and run off with it at first opportunity.  She kept commenting on how "mid century" he was.  Over and over again.  And then eyeing and sizing us up as if to see who would win in a foot race.  I don't blame her, I think I would do the same if I worked in any sort of thrift or vintage store.  I'd be in the back hoarding all things owl and Pyrex. 

Thank you to Jill for the beautiful peonies!

Gardening: Peonies

BK and I are going to attempt what might be a foolhardy adventure in planting and growing peonies in zone 8b.  We've ordered bulbs from the Hollingsworth Nursery and will be planting them in some new flower beds he has built.  Hopefully we won't have as brutal of a summer like last year (80 days of over 100 degree temperatures!).  Any advice for peony planting?

Birthday flowers

Enjoying these lovely flowers, good food, snuggly puppies and bossing BK around today!

Flowers of the month: June

For this month's flowers I decided to head down to Austin Flower Co. to see what they had in store.  I had previously ordered my wedding flowers from them and really love the different varieties and quality of flowers that they offer.

They have a little cold room in back with all the flowers and I was in absolute heaven! (1.  b/c it was hotter than hot outside and 2. flowers!  lots of flowers!)


It was difficult to choose from among all these gorgeous varieties!

Hydrangeas of every color:

My favorite ranunculus:

Huge peonies:

Icelandic poppies:

And I didn't get the name of these but they're so lovely in a wildflower sort of way

So what did I come home with?

PEONIES of course! 

They're a different variety than the kind I usually get--I think they might be Coral Charms.  The petals are heavy and succulent and after I cut and arranged them in a vaseful of water, they started opening almost immediately to reveal their bright yellow centers.