a lesson in bondage ...

...bondage of trees that is! scared ya there for a minute! didn't i?

so, bondage isn't the correct word, but it's certainly what my little trees look like. right? the true term is espalier. according to wikipedia here's the best definition/explanation (because if i tried to explain it in my own words, you be probably be lost...)

"Espalier is the horticultural technique of training trees through pruning and grafting in order to create formal "two-dimensional" or single plane patterns by the branches of the tree. The technique was popular in the Middle Ages in Europe to produce fruit inside the walls of a typical castle courtyard without interfering with the open space, and to decorate solid walls by such trees planted near them."

i know it sounds much more complicated than in really is... they are basically just trees trained to grow flat and pruned in a pattern. see..

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neat looking, right?

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and you can even grow them into a fence!! wow! how cool is that!?

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supposedly is mostly done with fruit trees, but i guess it could work with others. anything is worth a shot right?

and here is mine!

pathetic right now. i know. this one i planted last year. i believe its a dwarf apple tree of sorts. maybe pear? i forget. it's budding (see photos above), so i'm happy to see it survived the winter. (as you can see it planted in a hole i chipped out of the blacktop...not easy) the actual tree only cost me $20! great right!? if you buy a trees that's already espaliered, they can run close to $200! yikes. plus... it takes away all the fun.

when choosing the tree, i did take the time to look for one that had two branches sort of coming out of the trunk at the same level. (sorry i didn't take a picture of the tree when i first got it.) then i trimmed off the excess and tied things up. as you can see above i have three rows. one row is right where the siding meets the cement block (kinda hard to see). i'm going to create as many rows as i can on this tree. it's in front of a shed of sorts. so i'd like it to extend to the top and all the way across. we'll see!

then this tree i just bought a week or so ago. it's a bing cherry. this one's not quite as tall, but it was super straight and had four very good arms!

the goal for this one is to get it too look like this. neat right?

once the leaves on my trees come out, i'll post some more pictures.

so what do you think? cool, right? do you have an espalier tree? do you want one? they are really, really easy, and you can't screw up... i suppose. and for $20, who cares if you do.

just do a bit of research, like here or here or here if you want to learn more about growing/shaping one yourself.

and i have to tell you, i read the instructions myself, some ideas i did take away, but i'm not much of a planner.... so basically i'm doing what i think will work and hoping for the best! that's how i roll.

now that's divine

do you watch HGTV? agh. who am i kidding? of course you do. well, divine design is my guilty pleasure. if i had to choose one designer to do a room in my home it would be Candice Olson.

everything she does, i just love. it looks so crisp and bright.

look at that lighting in the kitchen! a little mini crystal sparkle...in the kitchen! beautiful and clean...

formal... but inviting.

fancy, yet comfortable

neutral, but bold

Candice, if you somehow found my little blog and are still reading please come to my house. i won't be able to pay you... but i can cook you a darn good breakfast.

knock, knock

i started painting my front and back door cherry tomato red this weekend. unfortunatly the rain as prevented me from finishing. hopefully i can wrao things up later this week when the rain stops and the temperatures reach the 70s! yahoo! i'll share pictures then, but so far, i'm pretty happy with the look. it reminds me of those red telephone booths in england. it really add some spice and personality to the house.

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as i was painting i was thinking about what i want on my door, if anything. so i did an internet search and came up with some ideas. not neccessarily all my favorites, but i was curious to see what you thought.

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a wreath? seems to be a door standard, but is it too expected? over used?

... oh and i love this purple front door! wouldn't work on my house, but i do love it.

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a basket? this is sort of christmas specific, but could work for other times of the year.

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a plant/living wreath?  oh, and i do love those stake planters! omg. it looks like a topiary without all the fuss of a topiary. i think i may need to try this. as long as i can find these stake planters at a reasonable price.

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and i'm also loving these vinyl transfers both with house numbers and the 'welcome' below. while i found the above images on someone else blog, i know for a fact that this image is also in my file of favorite magazine images.

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i know seeing my front door would be helpful, and i will post pictures soon, but what do you think? what's on your front door? have your tried these vinyl transfers? what works for you? what look do you like?

any advice is appreciated. have a great week everyone!

an inspired new look for my dining room

a couple months ago i was at a barnes & noble and was simply overwhelmed by the amount a magazines they had. if you haven't caught on yet, i have a bit of an obsession with magazines. i could sit in a barnes & noble for hours reading magazines...good thing there isn't one closer. anyway, there were european versions of all my favorite magazines and some wonderful magazines from canada. one i really liked was canadian house & home. so, not thinking, i sent in the little card in the magazine to get a subscription. i think it was advertised for like $25 for a year. not bad i thought. well, that was until i got the bill. $60!! ouch. i guess the $25 was for delivery in canada. needless to say, i quickly returned  unpaid bill and asked them to please cancel my subscription.

between them getting my notice to cancel, i actually have recieve two magazines. lucky me! and while the magazine is pretty good. it's not worth $60.

but i was inpsired by something in the issue i just recieved last week.

i've been wanting to do something different on my dining room table. i thought this idea was super cool. i had one of the three tier disply thingys (i'm sure they have a name) and never really knew how to use it. if you can't see they have african violets on top, herbs in the middle and fresh fruit on the bottom.

looks cool right? i'm sure creating their look cost thousands of dollars, but here's what i came up with.

what do you think? the top tier is orange/yellow/red primrose from walmart. second tier is wine corks collected over the years. and the bottom is fruit. i'm really happy with the way it turned out. the three tier display i got at pottery barn about four years ago.

i also just added those big charcoal apothecary jars to my dining room too! do you like them? they have been in my gift shoppe for two years and no one bought them! can you believe it!? they are too cool, so instead of reducing them in price i decided to keep them. (yes, having a gift shoppe in your house does have it's benefits) and i got an amazing yellow orchid from wal-mart for $12. that's the deal of the week people. it's beautiful! love it. have a great saturday everyone!

vacancy

i got a bird feeder for christmas. this one.

and although bird feeders seem to create nothing but a mess (seeds everywhere and little birdie 'presents' around), i still love having one. it's nice watching the birds come and go. and hearing their sweet summer song.

i originally had it hung on that hook in the middle of the porch on that white beam, can you see it? anyway, that created a big mess. lots of cracked seeds all over the porch. so i decide to move it to this brick piller. i liked it so much that i bought another feeder. looks good right? there is a climbing hydrenda vine below (you can sort of see it climbing up). i'm hoping the vine will cover the brick pillar some day. another element of green!

anyway, i had tons of little birds when i just had my one feeder, but now, with two... a birdie buffet if you will... all the birds have gone. weird right? hopefully they come back.

oh, and my rain barrel arrived yesterday afternoon! yay! i hooked it up this morning and it's already filling up at the dusting of snow (yeah... it snowed) melts off the roof. it looks amazing. i really, really love it. i'll post pictures soon. tgif people. tgif.

somewhere that's green

i love my house. i do. it was built in 1916. it's almost 100 years old (we'll have a big party when it is... watch out 2016!) and it still stands strong. while an older home has it's disadvantages they are more than outnumbered by it's character. i don't think i could ever live in a 'new' home.

anyway, unfortunately my backyard is basically non existent. it was small to begin with and the previous owners of the bed and breakfast decided to pave basically every surface. and while this make maintenance a bit easier, for me, it looks a bit hard (and i love having my hands in the dirt). if i had the power/knowledge i would seriously rip up anything that wasn't needed for parking... i'm sure some day i will. so, last year, i planted about 11 trees/shrubs in the front of the house and so far this year, i planted 8 trees in the back of the house. and while these little guys are still small and have some growing to do... what a difference.

with the leaves just about to bloom, i'll share some pictures when things look a little more green.

(don't you love how better homes and gardens magazine used to look in that video!? so cool! i'd love to get like six old magazines and frame them and hang them on the wall! love it!)

anyway the real reason i'm talking about green is that i just purchased a rain barrel! yay. do you have one? mine is probably on a UPS truck somewhere on the way to my humble abode. i love the anticipation of a package arriving in the mail. anyway... this is it. ta-da!

for rain barrels, it's pretty cute right? you can even plant a flower on the top! genius! and it comes in terra cotta too! to my surprise, according to one of my guests, some people aren't allowed to collect rain water. which i find shocking and sad and just weird. basically certain cities 'own' the rain. how is this even possible!? i don't get the world sometimes. seriously.

so, i'm sure it won't make worlds of difference, but with all my new plantings and flowers (coming soon) this should take care of watering all of them, and every little bit helps to make our planet a little better. (and maybe decrease my water bill too... in the summer it takes me at least an hour to water... lots of plants people.)

from the reviews on amazon it seems like a quality barrel and at a nice price (and free shipping - thanks amazon!). i'll be sure to let you know how it works to create my somewhere that's green.

inspired by ... outstanding in the field

good afternoon all. yesterday i was over here reading and saw this book hiding in the background. so i did a little research and i'm glad i did. i feel like i discovered a needle in a haystack. (even though this was much easier as it was basically staring me in the face.) anyway, while doing my research i found that design*sponge just did a post about this a week ago and even though i faithful follow their posts i somehow missed it. maybe it's this new google reader thing i'm using. anyone else miss stuff with this program? ah. focus michael.


back to outstanding in the field have you heard/seen this yet? man, if i had an extra $180 laying around i would by a ticket yesterday. just a warning, i may not explain this as well as i should, that's why i'm trying to include lots of links and there is a video at the end of this post.

what is outstanding in the field? basically it's a traveling restaurant that brings together local farmers, chefs, winemakers, food artists, etc. they travel all over (you can see if they will be near you here), set up large winding and beautiful tables in the middle of fields, farms, even beaches and serve food made by local chefs grown at local farms.

it's all about connecting to the environment. being one with nature. seeing where your food comes from. (and drinking a little wine) does this not sound and look amazing?

the man that created the idea, Jim Denevan, is so talented on so many levels. he's a 'maker of moments.' i am so thankful that there are people like this in the world.

and his talent doesn't stop there. you need to watch this video (yes, it is a bit long, but it's good). He creates these sand drawings that will blow your mind! and there's a book too! maybe not this year, but someday i will attend one of these dinners (i need to add it to my goals). it really does seem magical. right? think they'd come to little St. Marys? i won't hold my breath.

if you go.. or have gone.. please tell us about it! i'd love to hear more.

not here, but here

so, there is no giveaway here this week (sorry... maybe next week), but there is one here! check it out. it's from a fellow blogger at Joy Ever After. you may have saw her link in my blog parade yesterday. isn't her esty shop the cutest!? she's giving away one of her vintage notebooks.

what are you waiting for? head on over to baked by joanna to enter!

a taste and a tune for your tuesday

last night i made some more jam. did you see my jam counter go up?it was my lucky day... my gram found some rhubarb in her freezer from this past summer and strawberries are finally coming down in price. (thank goodness.) so, tada, strawberry rhubarb jam. and let me tell you, it's crazy good. i love strawberry and rhubarb together. have you ever had strawberry rhubarb pie? no? stop what you are doing and make it ... or have someone make it for you. so delicious.

and have you seen or heard of pomplamoose yet? well, today is your lucky day! i found their youtube page over the weekend and have been listening to them nonstop. (i believe their music is available on amazon, itunes, etc.) not only are they talented musicians/singers. they are too fun! this first video, i believe, is an original song. please correct me if i'm wrong.

and if you don't know this song, you've been living under a rock.

they're great right? and fun!

it's still raining here. which is good, it's making everything green again. but, i for one can't wait for the sun to return. happy tuesday.

don't rain on my parade

it's rainy here today. which, i am kind of happy about. it's an excuse to stay inside and finish some 'inside projects' before the sun returns on wednesday bringing with it a new landscaping project. (remember i mentioned this last week? well, i got my trees yesterday - i went with the river birch. i'll be sure to show you how it turns out.)

anyway, i saw this neat 'parade of blogs' the other day over at marta writes and i really enjoyed checking out her favorites. and it was fun to know why. so i thought i'd play along. for the most part i just used the thriry subject she used by changed a couple around.

you're weclome to play along. use the same subject is did or choose thirty new ones and link them up. spread the love. and i hope you enjoy mine!

link a blogger who...
makes me smile: bedlam of beefy
makes me go ooh la la: life in the fun lane
posts charming photos: hula seventy
is making a house a home: thirtyeight20
i adore: oh, hello friend.
has incredible taste: pink wallpaper
posts fun finds: copy cat chic
is a new-to-me blog: heart of light
discusses deliciousness: smitten kitchen
is downright darling: S.HOPtalk
blogs life beautifully: posie get cozy
is completely creative: scrumdillydilly
is a daily must: design*sponge
makes me look at life differently: makeunder my life
i've bookmarked: post secret
is always sharing something genious: newlywoodwards
has an online shop: joy ever after
is a storm of style: eddie ross
blogs 'bout brides: weddings and cookies
is oh so unique: marta writes
is a new favorite: the blah blah blagh
is an old favorite: orangette
has an eye for design: the lettered cottage
features fabulous tips: giver's log
posts prettiness: sfgirlbybay
is an inspiring do-it-yourselfer: the diy diaries
recently subscribed to: 100 layer cake
inspires me: crafty sisters
is doing what they love: barn house boys
is awesomely artistic: color me katie

as the tulips grow, so does a winner

thanks for your patience everybody!

i'm happy to announce the winner from our most recent giveway! yay!

drumroll please...

and the winner is Khak! many, many congrats! please email me your address and i will put your bracelet and earrings in the mail.

thanks to everyone that entered! i'm not sure what the next giveaway will be... but hopefully, in the next week or two, we'll have another.

art you eat and art you see

although this 'technically' isn't art, i'm a firm believe that some desserts are good enough to be! Remember i said my mom was making these for my open house. well, she did ... and i must tell you they taste delicious! seriously. super moist. orange and chocolate together. wow. dynamite!

and don't they look cute too? they proved to be slightly challenging to make, but i think the end result was more than worth it, don't you?

and this... i love. my nephew (who at the time was 2 1/2 ish) painted me a large painting. and i loved it. it hung on my fridge for a while, like all good artwork should, and i loved how it looked in my kitchen.

so when i painted my kitchen this january i decided that this artwork should be a permanent addition. and although it killed me to cut it up into three pieces, i think the final result was perfect.

when he was here a couple weeks ago, i asked him, 'who painted this?' he said, 'nicholas.' i kid you not, he has one of the best memories i've ever witnessed.

it makes me think of him, his brother and their new baby sister everyday. and although it's probably the thriftiest artwork in my house, to me, it's priceless.

until saturday

so, due to a mistake on my part (my apologies) the giveaway winner will be announced tomorrow, saturday, sometime after 5pm.

the good news is that you have more time to enter. the bad news is that the winner (who is still TBD) has to wait till tomorrow to hear the good news.

i'd chat more, but it a busy day. which is a good thing. i hope.

i'll be back a bit later.

bakers twine - use#3

is it really thursday already? wow. time sure flies when it's sunny. so i did get a couple more packages from my giveaway win. please know, i'm sharing these giveaways with you because i really, really love the stuff i'm getting and i think that the people/retails that participated are really sweet and talented people.

but, before we get to what i got, check out what i made!

these little goodie bags are for my open house this weekend. (speaking of open house ... did you see our new items and enter the giveaway?) so i used some glassine bags that i won from here and filled them with some yummy candy and another special treat (which i can't speak of yet). closed the bag, wrapped it with baker's twine and sealed everything with a homemade sticker. i designed the image myself in MS publisher and used this sticker paper to print the stickers.

everyone that makes a purchase in the shoppe will get a little bag. aren't they cute? i think these would make really unique baby/bridal shower favors...even wedding favors... or fun gifts for a dinner party! i love that they are customizable.

thanks to pack it pretty for the wonderful goodies (and ultimately inspired my giveaway bags)!

and a big thanks to caramelos for these goodies!

this is how my things were wrapped. neat! i really need to get myself a circle punch. but surprisingly they seem oddly expensive!? i can't get over the price tag. maybe it's just me.

little mini candle sticks. too sweet.

i love anything lime green, and although this mushrooms look quite big here they are only about a half an in tall. fun. fun. fun! makes and plant (or package) look extra special!

lovely boxwood leaf ribbon.

still waiting for one more package. i think it may be here tomorrow or saturday. now back to work. still pretty busy around these parts.