Spring Books & Flowers
We are one day away from the end of March and it is so refreshing to feel more of the sun on my skin in the mornings. I did some deep cleaning after breakfast today and opened all of the windows to let the cool air circulate.
I believe I am a little behind on updating my recent recipes to this blog, but today I want to yap about some housekeeping, plants, and a few other snippets of life.
Currently, I am reading Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. I found this book during a stroll in Barnes and Noble. So far it is very witty, engaging, funny, and very minimal spice. I’ve found that a few of the spicy books I've been reading do very little for me. The scenes take away from the love story plot and become viral online for all of the wrong reasons.
You can follow my progress in this book on Fable – a great alternative to GoodReads.
While we’re on the topic of books. I ordered a few from Thrift Books at the tail end of last week. I had always been a bit curious about this online store because from the title, I assumed that the books would be trashed/ripped/tore up, and this was someone’s last attempt at saving them from a landfill. After a bit of research and a few enticing sale prices, I realized that this company is legit and they even service many of the book orders you would place on Amazon. They have a sizable database of books, both old and new. Their background story is worth reading up on!
These are the books I am looking forward to receiving, as well as how much I paid for them because I feel that’s important to mention here too:
Great Parties Recipes, Menus, and Ideas for Perfect Gatherings, $8.29 (usually $38)
Christmas with Martha Stewart Living Classic Crafts and Recipes for the Holidays, $5.29
The Martha Manual: How to Do (Almost) Everything, $17.79 (usually $48)
As you can see.. Martha Stewart is a bit of a vibe these days. I love her hosting ideas, crafts for each holiday, and her great attention to detail. I feel like I'm getting a bit older and the maturity that I am developing is leading me to a place where I value community, and wanting to make safe spaces like my home feel more comforting. Living many years in survival mode made me see my personal space a lot like a plain box and easy to run from. Let’s hope these books inspire some more creativity for me in the upcoming year ahead. I have become so accustomed to reading Martha’s books at the library and putting them back after I've filled my head with so many new ideas for gardening and outdoor hosting spaces. I am incredibly excited to finally own some of these books!
Every spring I do an outdoor garden on my patio and this year is no different. I got a few ads on my socials for Second Chance Plants that opened up near me. Think of them like a discount shopping store, but in a parking lot and the products are live plants. I felt it was too good to be true and I was getting a bit impatient about starting my herbs before the weather got any warmer. I made my way over to one of their locations on a perfectly sunny Thursday morning – color me surprised! They did not have everything that I was looking for, but the prices were 50-70% cheaper than Home Depot and Lowes for veggies, herbs, and beautiful flowers. Definitely worth checking out if you have one in your area.
The special flower of the season for me are ranunculuses.
Their color is so vibrant and the petals are just so beautiful to admire.
I did a bit more volunteering this weekend at a nearby food pantry, took another trip to the outlet mall for some summer pieces from Arie. As a company who markets themselves as a free-spirited young brand, I have been surprisingly obsessed with their denim. I am a tall girl with a rear end and it has been ROUGH finding a pair of jeans that fall right above my sneakers. Not only do they have great jeans, but cute little pieces for warmer weather too!
I have some more cleaning to do before lunch. Hopefully my next update isn’t as far between the last few.
Happy Spring ya’ll!
Fran.
