Garden Delights

Without any prior planning, purchasing, seeding or really any maintenance, I found that at this time of year, I have multi-colored day lilies blooming all around my property!  This one is my particular favorite. The color really is spectacular–a deep pinkish fuchsia with subtle white stripes and a warm yellow center. It is such a surprise and delight to discover these blooming after such a dreary winter.

Now these here are the tangerine/coral variety and have recently spouted up all over my front yard. I cut several buds and arranged them in a pretty vase. I also forgot that they are day lilies; meaning they bloom and wilt within a period of a day. When they bloom, they are large and magnificent. When they wilt, they get this awful purple juice on my white wicker furniture. Maybe they don’t make the best table centerpiece indoors, but I thought it would brighten up my sunroom so much!

These lovelies are my hydrangeas. I only know this variety of flower from Harry Potter book 5 :). Just look at these velvety, lush petals! The pink is vibrant and the lavender shade is mixed with a je ne sui pas hint of periwinkle. Beautiful! These last much longer than the day lilies as home decor pieces. They have been going for a week strong now! 

Mid-July mani time! I used H&M mint shade on the bluish side and drew a vertical stripe using an e.l.f metallic pink. I like the pastel/pool like they create.

This past weekend, my OSU gals paid me a quick visit! We went hiking and frisbee throwing in Frick park. Check out our daring ravine escapade!

This image is courtesy of my friend Lauren (from above). She enjoyed my landscaping efforts and wanted to capture the spirit of our pond/waterfall from this view.

100 Followers Giveaway!!! Reposted

100 Followers Giveaway!!!.

 

Kitten Dreams

The most important event that happened to me since my last post was that I am officially a pet owner! I adopted this sweet, tiny little kitten! My husband and I decided long ago that if we were ever to get a cat, its name would be Pangur Ban. We were inspired after watching the animated feature The Secret of Kells. There was a clever ghost cat named Pangur Ban her own theme song. My mom keeps pronouncing it wrong and calling her “Pikachu” or “Peter Pan.” Her Chinese nickname is also acceptable–Xiao Mimi.

Pangur Ban’s mother is a feral cat and I saw a picture of her; she is a gorgeous long-haired sweetie pie with a glossy heather gray coat. Pangur Ban has the potential to be a beauty queen when she grows out of her kitten scruffiness! She is the newest love in my life, and both the hubs and I adore the crap out of her!

  
  I’m starting July off right with a sophisticated mani. This is an e.l.f shade called Nude and the ring finger has a topcoat from H&M that goes spectacularly with a blush background. I wish every glitter shade I own could look like this bottle. It’s also easier to remove than those obstinate chunks of crazy glitter.

 The hubs and I attended another round of high tea (because I am obsessed with everything tea!). This time, our location was Flowers in the Attic.

Pros:

-Victorian house setting was perfect and beautiful

-Shops, galleries and gardens all around and inside the house were fun to peruse

-Size and taste of sandwiches were great. High teas tend to lean heavy on the sweet side so it was nice to be able to call this a brunch

-Iced tea was an option and came with its own small carafe for a refill

-Our server was great and attentive

Cons:

-Even with my Groupon that I already paid for, there was still an additional $15 charge for tiny amounts of food. Guess I’m paying to be in the house?! The same Groupon for the fancy Omni William Penn was only $25 for 2 people with ZERO extra charges.

-No credit card option. I at least thought I could pay the extra charges with plastic but that wasn’t an option. *sigh* I seriously will avoid small businesses if they don’t let me pay with credit card. I will even pay in bitcoin before counting out coins and crap.

-Desserts here were lacking. No fruit on the side, no devonshire cream, and the scones were as big as my finger. Uh…this is not worth $24 a person. Yeesh.

-Mandatory included gratuity of 20%. I felt better about tipping at the Omni because it was up to me. Forcing a fixed amount to the customer is in bad taste especially since everything else was so overpriced. Pay your servers a living wage so the burden of their paycheck doesn’t fall to me.

Bottom line: will I recommend this place or visit in the future? Nope. Cute experience, but not even another Groupon can lead me back here.