Around the garden - May

Some new flowers and plants!

Off we go!

Safe travels to those of you brave enough to navigate your way home for the holidays!

Grateful

So glad that it's Friday and that BK comes home today.  Never thought I would say this, but evidently you can eat too much Captain Crunch cereal...

Wishlist Wednesday: Feather prints

Feeling a little more crazy bird lady than usual and made a collage of my favorite feather prints!

Clockwise: One Feather Print by satchelandsage; Dalmeny dress by Rag and Bone; Feather key hook by NewDuds; Gold feather bracelet by gazellejewelry

Wishlist Wednesday: Jenna Rose Handmade

I am completely in love with the textiles from Jenna Rose Handmade--it's so wonderful that she's a featured seller on etsy today!  Here are a few of my favorites from her shop:

Starlings

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

This is pretty incredible.  Not super cute like the owl video, but it's still pretty amazing!
The goodness starts at 0:25

Your cuteness for the day

Best video ever!  Of course owls shouldn't be pets but I just want to pet one!!!

Wishlist Wednesday: Blue birds

Via etsy: (clockwise) 

Wool felt blue bird

Porcelain pair of bluebirds

Baby blue crochet bird

Stuffed blue bird

Wishlist Wednesday: Penguin sweaters

I really wish I knew how to knit!!  A current oil spill in New Zealand has affected the blue penguin population and rather than traumatizing the penguins more by scrubbing and cleaning them immediately, the rescuers are putting little wool sweaters on them so they won't try to groom themselves and inadvertently swallow the toxic oil.  Skeinz yarn has provided detailed instructions and a mailing address where you can send the sweaters to be used in the rescue effort. We had the opportunity to see the little blue penguins during our visit to Phillip Island in Australia and I hope that this mess can get cleaned up quickly and that these little penguins stay warm in their wool sweaters!

Original story and picture here

a little friend

Your regularly scheduled blog posts (Vintage Monday, Wishlist Wednesday and Favorite Friday Recipes) will hopefully resume next week.  Thanks for allowing me to hijack with all this travel talk for the past two weeks.  Hope everyone has a great weekend ahead and I'll leave you with some last pictures from Barbados--featuring a little visitor we had each day on our balcony (who may or may not have been lured there by bread crumbs set out by B).

 I spy a little bird sitting on the table

Carefully choosing his morsel of food

That's the one

Showing off

The luckiest penguin

 The crazy bird lady in me adores penguins and I had to share this heartwarming story as soon as I read it.

To summarize:  Lucky is a Humboldt penguin who lives at the Santa Barbara zoo.  Humboldt penguins originate in the Pacific coast of South America and are considered "vulnerable", one stage before "endangered".  When Lucky began walking, the zookeepers noticed that he had splayed legs which did not respond to treatment.  When he walked, he would put pressure on the wrong parts of his foot, resulting in sores.  They contacted Teva, the popular outdoor shoe company, who had helped out with an elephant in a previous incident and they created a special boot for Lucky!  It is lightweight, water resistant, comfortable and provides traction so he won't slip when he goes in and out of the water.  The boots are changed out daily to be washed and Teva has promised a lifetime supply.

Just when I thought penguins couldn't get any cuter...

Sometimes it pays off to have a blog...

December marks the trifecta of my wedding anniversary, birthday and Christmas.  Usually I take pity on B and try to buy my own gifts but this past year I wanted a few surprises.  From the heart.  Nothing I wouldn't like of course.  Because a present really shows how much you know and love someone.  No pressure, honey.  Really.

Well luckily for B (and me), he perused my past Wednesday wishlist posts, sneaked onto my etsy account to find my favorites list, and picked out some really lovely gifts this year.  I am a lucky gal and my advice to all you ladies out there is to start a blog with a wishlist and not so subtly ask your husband each day to read it.

Oh and B also hunted down something amazing that was at the top of my wishlist.  Can you guess what it is?  I'll post pictures on Monday...

Vintage Monday: Crystal Birds

Crazy bird lady alert!  I can't resist little bird figurines, especially ones in clear or blue crystal.  These little guys sit at our window and have a view of the backyard.

And even though it's November, we put up a hummingbird feeder.  We've had a few sightings and are hoping the hummingbirds can stop here and fill up their little bellies before flying south for the winter.

Vintage Monday: Penguin baking soda holder

Like a model crazy bird lady, I love penguins.  Desperately.  When I was little, I would tell anyone who would listen how much I wanted a penguin and that if I had one, I would keep him in the refrigerator.  Well... my dreams have come true.  This little guy was spotted at Hog Wild Vintage, another great store at North Loop, and the best part is that he's actually supposed to live in the fridge! 

According to the directions, you pour in the baking soda and through the little holes in his back, it helps absorb odors and keep your fridge smelling fresh. (or at least not like Chinese food all the time)

I would've posted a picture of him in his new home in our fridge but found it much too incriminating.  I mean, I have a shelf just for chocolate...

Wishlist Wednesday: from Modcloth

I was looking at Modcloth today and found the apartment section was filled with super cute items!

French bulldog desk calendar

Penguin print

Save the Date, Wood You? calendar

Mark my Words stamp

I'm a little penguin mug

Bunny paper clips

Wishlist Wednesday: Chicago

I'm surprising B with a birthday weekend trip to Chicago and here are some of the activities we're hoping to do while we're there:

Cheer on the Kansas City Royals as they play the White Sox

Watch the penguins at the Shedd Aquarium

Take in the Chicago skyline on an architectural boat cruise

Eat our weight in Chicago style hot dogs, pizza, and this amazing popcorn

Save room for these famous and delicious mint chocolates from Macys (formally Marshall Fields)

 Stroll down Wicker Park for Chicago Renegade!

Oh and I might just have to stop by one of these as well...

Vintage Monday: Ceramic Quails

This little trio of ceramic quail birds is one of my first and favorite buys from etsy.  You can usually find them perched on a cake stand on our dining room table.

Wishlist Wednesdsay: It's a bird! It's another bird!

So if you haven't noticed already, I really like birds.  I am a crazy bird lady at heart and one day it will be just B and me in our house with a huge collection of owls staring down on us.  For today's wishlist wednesday,  I was looking through my etsy favorites list and realized that there were quite a few items with birds or in the shape of birds.  Note that I haven't bought any of these yet, but there's still time yet...

Mini speckled birds by Koalachickens

Love bird vase by Redhotpotery

Owl tea cozy by Robinandmould

Love birds sculpture by Artmind

Bird planter by Prettyrandomobjects

Bird creamer by Whitneysmith

Vintage Monday: more owls and elephants

Just scored these vintage Trifari owl and elephant hat pins on etsy. I don't think my obsession will ever end.

We had a lovely time in Dallas and the pups enjoyed their treats, toys, and doggy beds at the hotel.  There was lots of eating, walking around, shopping and spending time with family.  The Dallas Flea was fun though a bit smaller than I expected (B was glad).  Definitely worth a trip if you live in Dallas--I loved the location of the event. Two of my favorite buys:

Print by Leah Duncan (who is actually from Austin!)

And this decal from Shanna Murray via Enid--a cute little store in Fredericksburg that I missed when we were there a few weekends ago--so I was glad they were at the Dallas Flea!