Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Oh Baby, It's Cold Outside...



...but, the sun is shining which means that the butterflies are dancing and the flowers are blooming inside the Frederik Meijer Gardens!  The annual Butterflies are Blooming exhibit opens March 1 and will continue through the end of April.  The butterflies don't pay attention to dates.  If you happen to stop in early on a sunny, snow-filled winter day, just to breath deep and embrace anything green, you might catch a few fun photos.
there are always beautiful arrangements to see when you enter
The orchid display always smells amazing.















Love the texture...
Succulents!









...and back outside we go...
We love the Gardens at any time of the year.  We've loved to see it grow and change through the years and especially love that we had our wedding reception there when it was quite new.  Seeing it grow and bloom has been a joy.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Creativity fun...

It is over the top snowy in Michigan! This year's winter reminds me of my childhood, snow to my knees, lasting forever, embracing every snow flake.  Today, as I hiked out to feed our mini's and chicks, the snow was once again to my knees.  I can't say that I've embraced every snow flake, but I did take the time to notice the sun catching the flakes that were blowing from the trees making it look like fairy dust sprinkling, refreshing, lovely.

The snow plus the slow down of racing from wedding to wedding, preparing flowers for beautiful brides and their husbands to be, has given me time to organize, clean and create.  A breath of fresh air.  Space in the seemingly endless schedule.  A bit odd actually!  Refreshing to have time to think, breathe and enjoy.

Aside from painting our spare bath, organizing and painting the interior of 2 storage closets, organizing what seemed to be about a million wedding supplies and keeping the gift of kids and blessing of a husband fed, happy and sweetly humored, I began working on a few other projects.....

This...
Used to be this....
disassembled....
Cleaned and painted....
Slowly transformed....
While my grandpa's long used lunchbox,
held hardware to be polished...
And ta da....
 

Next project, the random thrift store finds.....

work in progress...
while other random bargain shopping items gather...
and wait while I ponder...
another angle....
 and another...
Idea in motion, work in progress...
and again....
one project almost done: ta da, on glass jar stilts...
and another work in progress, nearly complete...
assembled in the office...
and the snow lit sunroom...
and another icy angle....
I do believe it's time for a party!
but until then, we'll wait together....
...for the Michigan thaw, to party with y'all!
(-sorry, that was my Southern college side coming thru :)!~)