Outdoor Living

I am happy to once again be joining a fun group of bloggers for a Pinterest Challenge.

Thanks Cindy of County Road 407 for hosting each Pinterest Challenge.

If you are visiting in order, then you were just at the home of my friend Julie who is full of inspiration.

Th inspiration photo for the month of May is from Brie Hammel Interiors.

Our porch is tiny with no room for sitting so I wasn't sure about joining the challenge this month,

but we do have a strip of flat concrete where our old garden bench sits.

 I decided to focus on 3 elements in the photo - the tree, the bench and the table.

The only thing I bought for the challenge was a plant because a tree would become too heavy to lift - the bucket is sitting on top of the can I use to hide our hose.

 We made a coffee table out of an orange crate (from my childhood when I lived on an orange grove property), but it was too low so it's been sitting in the shed.

We have had the bench for years - free from a neighbor.

I know it's time for patriotic colors, but I wanted to use these pillows I recently made out of an old tablecloth.

The other thing I wanted to use was my Colorku game board - I love color and balls so of course I love the look, but it's also relaxing and will be nice to play outside.

The window above the bench got a bucket full of blooms and faux greenery - yes faux because climbing on the bench to change out the greenery every other day is a pain.

I wasn't sure what Steve's reaction would be to the change, but we both are enjoying having a table.

I really love all the blue and yellow in the garden right now,

but Memorial Day arrived and I needed to see red, white and blue.

It was a quiet day here on Memorial Day.

We sat on the bench after a walk on the beach 

and the table was great for drinks while we read in the garden.

Our outdoor space is the biggest "room" in our house -

can you tell that we like to spend our days outside?

I love the yellow and blue pillows, but they shout spring and Memorial Day always feels like Opening Day for summer.

So, red, white and blue will be hanging around for quite awhile.

And now I send you off to the home of my friend Lora who is always up to something fun.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Winging It

In most aspects of my life, I'm a planner and list maker.

Surprisingly, when it comes to blogging, I pretty much wing it.

I see all sorts of planners, lists and tips on being organized, 

but unless I have just completed a project or have joined a blog hop,

I simply snap a pic for Instagram each day.

And that explains why I don't blog regularly.

But yesterday, this pic I snapped for Instagram actually led to a blog post.

I was looking for a quote to use as a caption and I came across these lovely words from Charlotte Moss.

There are plenty of things "off-key" in my decor,

but the objects "tell our story" or as Charlotte Moss suggests, "play our song".

Grandpa's pitchfork and grandma's sewing machine base make me smile - no singing because you don't want to hear me sing!

The window was used in our son's library themed wedding.

 I found the copper container in boxes Joshua left in the attic - it's mine now.

The hand is just one in my silly collection.

Books are definitely part of who Steve and I are and tucking books into vignettes is one way I can show our love of reading.

Colorful flowers snipped from the garden add just the right touch to the table.

I love keeping the door open so I can look out at the porch.

I should do some planting, but the garden bench is calling me.

So, I'm curious - are you a planner with your blog and/or Instagram or do you wing it like me and just go with something that catches your eye at the time?

It's been over 8 weeks since my surgery and today was my first long walk and this is the view that caught my eye.