TBIF on Friday = Friday Finds, full of flowers

Last night I fell asleep before I could get my act together to write this blog, but I was too excited to skip a day and/or skip telling the 4.7 people who read this blog about this amazing company.

My favorite go-to lady for whiskey drinks and romantic entanglement stories, KK, shared this on the fassse-boouuk.

Flowers for Dreams

As someone who has ordered several bouquets and received two (#humblebrag) in the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time being disgusted by the ticketmaster-esque gouging by florists.

Not anymore, mi amigo.

Flowers for Dreams has a flat rate system. Something says $35, you pay $35 (+tax because #chicago). Its a game changer, folks. Not only that, but a portion of however much you spend on flowers goes to their monthly charity partner, so you can feel good about buying flowers for someone because 1- You're being nice to a single person and 2- You're being nice to humanity. Extra double bonus points.

Also, in case you were confused, their bouquets are gorgeous. You have some capacity to select the flowers you want (although, they're flowers - if people get bitchy about getting the "wrong kind," they don't deserve them) but their limited selection is why they are priced so reasonably. Also now you don't have to pretend like you know something about flowers.

Now for the sad news - they are a Chi-town (and surrounding areas) exclusive. You may only have this if you have ridden the struggle bus through Chibera and now want to live a Spring/Summer chock-full of flowers and delight.

Is it wrong that I want to buy myself flowers all the time now? It is for a good cause, right? Also, Friendly reminder if your mom lives in the 606-area you should buy her some good-for-the-world flowers.

A week away

So. I took a week off from blogging. I was tired and pulled away from everything that wasn't totally necessary. It was a week of saying no mostly, instead of yes.

Instead of blogging here are some things I did:

-smelled flowers (I was gifted not one, but TWO bouquets last week. Twice as many as I have ever received in ever. I love having fresh flowers around. It is quite addicting).
-ate things that were so delicious. Mostly this.
-slept on the couch too much.
-wrote thank you notes.
-went to the zoo.
-finished three books (almost. let's just say 2.75).
-did some lunges and squats.
-regretted most lunges and all squats.
-forgot to wash my hair.
-encouraged people.
-considered the future.
-planned a party.
-drank a mint julep.
-stole a gold-painted horse.

Real life (and blogging) starts again tomorrow.

with silver bells & habanero peppers, part 2

I still have a garden! I will make it through the summer or die trying.

The good news!

We have...

For the record: I way over-edited the images from the last garden post. And immediately I decided I hated them (but had done too much work to re-do the post) - so these are completely unedited, with the exception of the captions (which I did on Over). My strawberries are that gorgeous.

The bad news!

I'm struggling with the rest of my flowers. My lobelia, once a gorgeous globe of blue & white, is now just brown. Perhaps its because I didn't de-bud it fast enough and now I cannot catch up. Or can I? If I were to take off all the dried out buds, would it stand a chance? Because I'll do it. I have some free time.

My gorgeous dahlia that has already had it's own blog post and half a dozen photo shoots seems to be fresh out of buds. sadtrombooooone. I keep watering in the hopes that it'll bloom again, but it is making no promises.

My bell peppers are either the slowest maturing plants ever, or they are not going to make peppers. I cannot tell. I'm not giving up on them yet. But their buds are small and they don't seem particularly interested in blooming.

Things I'm learning!

Stop being so gee.dee impatient with the strawberries, son. They have to be total ripe before they taste like anything but sour death fruit.

This Chicago summer has been brutal. My once-a-day watering might not be cutting it. I'm going to kick it up to two days while I can but I'm nervous about how the plants going to fair while we're out of town.

Cucumbers were a bad choice. They need to be able to run free and cannot be contained by a window box. I'm getting these tee-tiny baby cukes, which are worth the cost of the plant in adorableness but I'm nervous that they are not going to get much bigger before they die.

Basil goes in EVERYTHING! And if you can't figure out how to get basil involved, make pesto! And if you're bored with pesto, add an avocado and make creamy pesto! But you will always have more basil and it will never ever die.

Banana peppers don't taste how you think they taste until you pickle them. So, get on that! Pickle some peppers, peter piper. (I am so scared of canning that even though I've bought the cans, they might never come out of the box. Luckily, the internet has some fridge canning options that I'm going to try out with this first batch).

Also this!
Years ago my friend told me that when a woman turns 30 she has a baby, buys a dog, or starts a garden. I'm noticing a lot more veggie-pics these days. -- (posted by a friend on facebook.)

Dahlia, Dahlia quite fancy...

I know I wasn't going to post about gardening again until next month but check out these blooms, y'all!

They made me so happy this morning I picked them immediately and brought them to work in a juice glass. They make up for the fact that the perfect strawberry I picked earlier this week was easily the sourest thing I have ever eaten.  

For the record - this picture is totally unfiltered. They are exactly that amazing orange-pink combination. I love love love them. Also, for the record, this blog has had 3 different pictures, because I was not satisfied with them...until this one...for now.

Happy Summer! Happy Blackhawks! Happy noma' DOMA! Happy Happy!