My favorite shopping area

This is our newest shopping area and I just love it!!! It has the most beautiful, manicured beds and containers as well as my favorite store, The Fresh Market!! I love that place! It's a little pricey but worth it. It's new to town and new stores are opening up all the time. We love to go here and just walk around.

The containers above have Gaura planted in them. I never would think of putting Gaura in a hanging basket but it looked like a little waterfall flowing out of the basket.

Backyard bed redo........

After
Before
Back of lot bed

This afternoon we did a little yard work. "Gloria" now has some new digs. I bought these three shrubs at work to try to liven up her little corner of the yard. You'll notice in the before picture she almost gets lost in the fence. Now with a little help from the shrubs she stands out much better.

This last picture is at the back of our house. I hadn't really planned on making it much of a flower bed but with all the "throw-away" plants from work, well they have to go somewhere!!

It Finally Rained!!

After several days of dry, hot, humid weather the Heavens finally opened up and gave us some much needed rain. It rained for a wonderful couple of hours.

I stepped out on my front porch to capture the in-between. It was actually storming all around except this one little area.

You just wait.....

Coral Vine

I know it doesn't look like much right now but you just wait. When I started working for the nursery last year we got in two flats of this vine. I had never seen it before and trust me, it didn't look like much. Then one day we had a customer come in who said her grandmother loved it and she bought several. Well we ended up planting some out by our white picket fence at work. Can I just tell you how beautiful it was when it finally bloomed!!! It has the most beautiful pinky, rose blooms. Everyone that drove by the nursery wanted to know what it was.

So, when we got it in this year, I bought me one. So far, it hasn't done much but later on this summer it should be gorgeous. At least, I hope so!!

David's office

This is where all the action comes from. When we moved into this house David wanted this to be his office and I nicknamed it the "hole". Now, since I found blogging I have pretty much taken over. Sorry hon.

Front yard flowers

Knock-out roses
Knock-out roses
Miscanthus grass
New Gold lantana
Black and Blue Salvia

It seems anytime I write about my plants it is always the ones in the backyard. So, I thought I would do a little update on my front beds. At the corner of my house I have 3 of the Miscanthus grasses. I love these. They take up lots of space and are so low maintenance(love that).

I have 3 knock-out roses that are also so easy to maintain. A little pruning and they do great! I guess you could say all my front yard plants are low maintenance. The lantana is colorful and easy. I guess the most problematic plants are the black and blue salvia(Salvia guaranitica). I was beginning to wonder if they were going to come back from last year or not and they finally have. They are right by my lantana and the hummingbirds love them. That is if the hummingbirds ever come back. I keep hearing from different sources that the weather may have had some effect on them.

What's for Dinner?

From the freezer
To the skillet
To the plate

Okay, do you ever have one of those days where you want something really good for dinner but you don't really want to cook and you really don't want to burn up your gasoline to go get something? My suggestion is, Bertolli frozen pasta. It is simple to prepare and yummy. Just take it out of the freezer, put in the skillet for 10 minutes and tah, dah!!! Add a salad and your favorite bottle of vino and you got yourself a great dinner!

Yes, I do love to fix my own pasta, but on these hot nights, I go for simplicity.

It seems I've been tagged, so here goes.......

I'm so new to this blogging thing so this is my first tag.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

We were living outside of Atlanta, Georgia probably trying to get my lawn and flower gardens to look good and enjoying the lower price of gasoline that we thought was high at the time.(sorry for the run on sentence).

2. My favorite snacks.

Chips/salsa or any kind of dip. Crackers and cheese. Granola bars and fruit. (I'm not a health food junkie). I love chocolate but I don't eat it a lot.

3. Five things on my to do list today.

Since this is Sunday, the list is a little different than usual:

Go to Church
Exercise
Grocery shopping
Fix dinner
And of course, work on my blog

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.

Start some type of foundation to help disabled and homeless people. Give to my church. Share with family. Give to Samaritan's Purse. Help under-privileged families and elderly.

5. Five jobs I've had

Car hop at Sonic-many years ago
Insurance Coordinator at Plastic Surgeons office
Floriculture Manager at Landscape Company
Data-Entry operator for Medical software company
Sales associate for nursery

6. Five places I've lived

Newport, AR
Ft. Smith, AR
Amarillo, TX
Kennesaw, GA
Canton, MS

7. Five random things people wouldn't know about me.

I have a degree in horticulture.
I have won a national horticulture competition event.
I hate cold commode seats.
I am a reality t.v. junkie.
I have tried to get stories published in national magazines.

8. Five CD's I'd have to take on a desert island.

Jimmy Buffet-Take the Weather With You
Fernando Ortega-Home
James Taylor-October Road
John Denver-Greatest Hits
Nanci Griffith-Flyer

9. People I tag are...

None, I'm too new to blogging.

Flower surprises!!!

Daylily
Hibiscus bloom



Impatiens (different variety)

The daylily and hibiscus are doing great! These plants were in the throw-away pile at work last year so I brought them home. I had no idea what color the daylilies were but they have turned out so pretty. The impatiens were seeds given to my from my favorite aunt in Arkansas. I started them this past winter inside in little peat pots.

Update from the garden.........

Abundant tomatoes
Tequila red peppers
Cucumbers are growing
Lemon Boy tomatoes
Roma tomatoes(non-Salmonella variety)

My garden is doing great! While we were gone David's mom/dad watered it for us. The Roma produce so fast and the Lemon Boy tomatoes are so delicious. I have yet to eat one of the red peppers but they look wonderful! I wasn't sure how the cucumbers would do growing up a trellis and seemed to be a bit slow at producing but now are looking much better. Now my zucchini are very problematic. They are not doing anything but just sitting there. I guess they will either die or start growing.

Breakfast time!!

I got up this morning and decided to try to make regular oatmeal instead of the instant variety. Everytime we go on a cruise we always eat their oatmeal. It is so creamy and yummy!! I know, some people are thinking, oatmeal? Yes, oatmeal. Anyway, it turned out so great, especially with a little brown sugar, real butter and the Garden Section of the paper.

Then while we were eating a "Woody Woodpecker" found our birdfeeder. YEAH!!

He's the first visitor we have had since hanging it.

Morning of disembarkation

Statue of Liberty/Staten Island Ferry
Lady of Liberty Tip of Manhattan
Hello New York

The morning of disembarkation brings many different feelings. We had a great time and are sad to leave. But at the same time since we have to we might as well get it and go. We rose at 5:45 so we could see us come into New York Harbor. The temp was a pleasant 72 degrees and just a beautiful morning. We ate breakfast and stayed in our cabin til 8:00. Then we ventured out on deck to wait for our call. We left the ship about 9:00.

9th Day at Sea

Our table mates
Edwin our asst. waiter
Deck 6

Lope our waiter

This is our last day of the cruise. Sadness hangs over us like an unwanted dark cloud. The morning has started out hazy and windy but does clear up later. Today we have to pack in order to put our suitcases out in the hall before turning in for the night. I always hate that part.

After exercise and breakfast we head out for the pool. They had movies on today outside so we enjoyed that.

8th Day at Sea

Sports deck
Formal night
Lido deck
Champagne waterfall

Another beautiful sunny morning. I started off my day by exercising and then another great breakfast. We sat out mostly all day by the pool and watched the sea pass by. It was formal night once again. We really enjoy these nights. We don't have too many opportunities to dress up at home. Tonight's dinner for us was Beef Wellington. Lobster was the biggie of the night I'm not really a lobster person.

At 11:30 p.m. they had made champagne waterfalls out of over 700 glasses. It was kind of interesting to see but we

7th day at sea

Coming into port
Beautiful

Outside Margaritaville
Swimming pool at port

We arrived in Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos) about 1:00 p.m. We both walked/ran on Deck 7 before we got there. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. We had never been here and were excited to see it. The port area was built mainly for passengers. It had nice shopping, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, a gigantic pool, and a beautiful beach!

Snorkeling was great here! There was a large drop off and lots of beautiful fish. We even saw a stingray swimming by. We have actually fed them in the Caymen Islands but haven't seen them just swimming about. Our day here was fantastic! We left about 7:00 p.m. We wished we could have stayed all day.

6th day at sea

Magen's Bay in St. Thomas
Hill top view
Catching some rays
Enjoying the water

The sixth morning brought us to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is a hilly, beautiful island. It was 77 degrees with a high expected to be 81. We have been here before and loved it so off to Magens Bay we went. St. Thomas has replaced regular taxis with what looks similar to safari trucks. This can be kindy of scary riding over the hilltops on their skinny roads with nothing between you and the cliff side. The water was a little chilly but okay after you got into it. We snorkled a little but there isn't much to see in terms of fish. However we were treated to the greatest bird show. They had some type of sea birds, larger than gulls, but smaller than pelicans that put on the best show. They would hoover high above the water looking for fish then fold their wings back and dive. I tried to get a pic of this but couldn't time it right. The birds did this over and over. It was so entertaining!! Everyone would just stop what they were doing to watch. Even the pelican tried doing it but made such a big splash that it probably scared the fish off. Luckily it was beautiful and sunny the whole time we were there.

After a while it was time to return to the ship. Lucky us, we got to ride in the cab of the safari truck taxi. Okay, can I just say how scary that was. We didn't think the truck was going to make it over the hills. The driver saw I was trying to take a couple of pictures so he pulled over to the side of the road so I could. The poor people in the back probably thought they were going to go over the cliff for sure. Because you see, there really wasn't any side of the road to pull off on. I'm really glad we were in the cab. But I was really glad when we made it back to the ship.

Of course, later that afternoon it began to rain. We tried to sit out by the pool but that didn't happen. Funny thing is, it seemed to be sunny over the whole island except where the ship was.