In bloom

One of my greatest sources of simple joy lately is my back yard. And my front yard, too.

Everyday I get to discover something new that is popping up.  New plants, new perennials, and maybe even a few weeds that are kinda pretty. 🙂

First came the periwinkle border with its lovely purple flowers.  Next were the crocus, the daffodils and the fern.  Oh. My. Word – those ferns are getting HUGE!     I’m having so much fun peeking in my yard to see what surprise awaits.  As soon as I find where I place my camera connector – I’ll have to upload some pics.

One of the most pleasant arrivals are my lilacs.  I have 3 on my property (two lavender, one white) and another purple one that borders my yard & my neighbors.  Lilacs have always been one of my favorites.  They bloom right around my birthday each year and I love. Love. LOVE the way the smell.  Yum.  I have a few jelly jars and bud vases around the house right now with purple and white blooms in them.  They add so much cheer – and my place smells great. 🙂

Imagine a whole, big, windy vine of these! photo by ladycarolina19 - taken from photobucket.

But – here’s the real winner so far this spring:  I have two wisteria.  I’ve never seen them before, but the neighbors told me about how pretty they were, and how great they smelled.  One is way out on the corner of my lot, but the other is right outside my family room doorwall.  Each afternoon they are getting more full and more lovely.  And the perfume – Wow!  I can’t get over it.  So sweet and rich.  I just discovered it tonight and inhaled deeply a few times.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings….

Anticipation

So…. one of the things I’ve been busy with lately, is my new favorite pastime: House Hunting.

I’ve fully allowed myself to indulge in my voyeurism over the past two months.  It’s so interesting to see how other people live, how they decorate and what their style is.  It’s also fascinating to see just how some people abuse perfectly good homes.

Given the Michigan economy – many of the houses I looked at were foreclosures.  God bless my realtor – she suffered through some horrible viewings with me.  One of the places smelled so bad that I didn’t make it past the front hallway.  Most were colder on the inside than it was outside.  Brrr!  I am truly grateful for Linda’s patience, advice and all of the time she spent looking through listings for ones that I might like.

 

And her hard work paid off.  She found one last week that she suggested to me.  I was on the fence about looking at it – but decided to give it a try at the end of our day together.  I stepped in the front door at 6pm on Saturday night – and spent close to an hour there.   Went back on Sunday to the Open House to talk to the listing agent,  see the house better in daylight and to check out my “competition”.   Monday afternoon I put the bid in.  Tuesday afternoon the terms were agreed to by myself and the seller.

And in 22 days I get the keys to this place:

My new home!

The last good canoli

He said it felt strange

To be walking anywhere

not holding her hand.

 

Haiku for my great-uncle Jim.  He’s been married to my great-aunt for 40 years and it’s just so great to see them still walking hand in hand wherever they go.  We were out for a big family dinner when they visited this weekend.  Jim and Sheila drove in separate cars (Girls in one, guys in the other).  I had driven by myself and parked by the guys car.  As we’re walking there, he looked over where Sheila was, then looked down at his hand. 

“It’s so odd,” Jim said, “I’m just so used to holding her hand.”

I’m tucking that memory in my heart to pull out when I need a reminder of how beautiful life, love and family are

party all the time

Yawn – I still feel like I’m on a rollercoaster – shooting from one thrill to another, never knowing what’s around the next turn. But I guess that’s part of the fun of living, right?

It’s been a very social couple of weeks, with an action-packed schedule. (so action packed, in fact, that I am having difficulty setting a date/time for a first date – but that’s a whole other story.) (note #2 – I’m working on it Jessie, ok??!)

To start off with last week – a lot of fun was had at Chez Juli. Over 60 peeps showed up for the festivities. Some people scoffed at the idea of a moonwalk (Yes, I’m looking at you, Patrick). While the visionaries among us knew it would be a huge hit. And speaking of hits – there was some serious WWF style rough play going on in there, and some people may have to be more closely monitored next time. Apparently, some of my friends don’t necessarily know how to “play nice with others”. I’m not naming names, though.

Most everyone had a great time, although things got a little scary from time to time. Here’s a game for you: can you find all 6 people hidden in this picture?:

No serious injuries occurred, and we all got a few great laughs throughout the night. And after you’ve worked up an appetite, what’s better than some dessert?

Yup – that would be Aaron & April’s Ice cream truck. Right in my driveway!. And there was free ice cream for the birthday girls. Sigh. Did I mention yet how much I love my friends?? (In case you were wondering, I had some chocolate-chocolate cone thingy that was just fabulous, and yet not too chocolatey. I don’t know the name, but Aaron can point you in the right direction.)

People came. They bounced. They ate. They bonfired and s’mored. Cocktails were consumed and so was pop. Pancake making started around 12:30 am – and were enjoyed by many. (Taco Bell is not the original home of 4th meal!) And I had to finally kick the last guest out at 4am. (But I still love ya, Melissa!!!). And the joys that awaited me the next morning? oh. yeah….

Can’t wait until next year!

just resting…

Hello Innernets! It’s been a long, sleep deprived week. I apologize for the lack of posts!  It doesn’t help that I’ve had problems with my work computer crashing every time I tried to save or publish.

Sometimes I don’t really *heart* technology.

But back to some hawesomeness – and the reason I’ve been too pooped to post:

To kick it off – I had a GREAT party this last Sunday. About 60+ of my closest friends – and some people I’ve never met before – got together to eat freshly-popped corn, bounce on a moonwalk, and hit up the ice cream truck that stopped by. Also there were burgers, dogs, beer, pop, s’mores. Football, ladder golf, bonfire. Life is good. Life is really really good.

However – life does suck just a little when you are cleaning up after kicking the last guest out at 4am! Getting up a 9 to finish up the heavy cleaning/dishes/etc.

No one threw up on the moonwalk – Yay! Although I was concerned about one of my sangria-influenced friends. 🙂 However, we did have a lot of minor injuries of the bruising/vinyl-burn type from the WWF style activities going on inside the giant inflatable frog. Picture to follow.

* note to self: include bandaids, gauze, and neosporin in next year’s party supply list.

To all my friends (old & new): Thank you for making it a great night (and morning!) – and a great year! I love you all. 🙂

Also to come soon. *golf *getting girly *and taking Jessie’s challenge to go on a date! (I promise I’m working on it, girl!)

Take care – miss ya!

haiku for lawn mowing motivation

The dandelions

growing tall in the back yard

embarrass me so.

Mother’s Day

For all the amazing, hardworking moms out there – especially mine.

Thank you for all the love, bedtime stories, carpools, recreational sports, band-aids, home cooked meals, laughter, and wisdom.

Thank you for sending me out into the world as a capable, caring citizen.

Love,

J

Marching one by one….

I stumbled into the kitchen this morning for a post-late-night fix and discovered this:

and this:

ew. ew. ew. I’ve seen a stray ant here & there over the last week or so, but this was a full on siege of my kitchen. I guess it is officially spring in Michigan now. It looks like they are coming in through the top of the doorwall. I found a gap in the molding there that will have to be fixed this weekend. Oh joy. Any suggestions would be SO appreciated!

There wasn’t an ant problem last summer, or the one before, so I guess I’ve just been lucky?

On a better note – The dinner for Bossy last night was a blast! There was such a diverse group of great women. We talked for hours. and ate. and drank wine & martinis & some blueberry lemon drops. Yum.

And of course, as all good guests do – we followed the hostesses strict rules:

well – we tried at least!

Thank you Bossy for getting us together. And to Mommy’s Martini for being such a fabulous hostess!