THE VINTAGE MARKETPLACE

Last weekend I decided to check out a new-to-me vintage boutique that is only open one weekend a month. The best part is it's only 15 minutes away from my house and nearly across the street from my old middle school so getting there is a piece of cake!

I asked my BFF if she wanted to join and she was down for the ride.

I saw these chairs on their Facebook page and immediately fell in love with them. I believe they were around 538 each, so I sadly passed for now. 

They had tons of unique, solid wood dressers and side tables that were really reasonably priced! 

I loved this glass lamp that was only 50 bucks.

If you love blue mason jars, they had tons of vintage ones scattered throughout the store!

Cute to place over a cupcake or succulent plant. 

I loved these photos and frames for a kitchen, bath or laundry room. 

Four of these dining chairs for only 159 - that was a steal! You could easily reupholster the cushions. 

If you are looking for a good vintage market - they are having their vintage palooza in June - check their FB page for more info.

MOTHER'S DAY

This year I hosted a Mother's Day brunch for my mom and grandmother at our house. This is something I would love make into a tradition, eventually with our future kids as well. 

I knew I wanted a very Spring theme - especially since I finished our garden this year. Friday during lunch I headed to my favorite place to get fresh cut flowers... Trader Joe's. Seriously, you won't find a better selection or prices than good ole TJ's. 

I grabbed some blue hyacinths, white and purple tulips for the table. I hadn't even realized these were the exact same color of tulips I have around our front tree. I obviously gravitate towards these colors.

Once I got home I trimmed the bottoms of the tulips and divided them all up into separate glass vases. I knew I wanted some varying heights, so I went out into our yard and snipped a few blooms for a smaller vase.

I know - I have an obsession with purples and blues in my yard. I always wanted a cutting garden since I love fresh flowers in the house and it feels good to finally have one!

I filled a few wine glasses with water and fresh cut lilacs my mom had brought me on Saturday and set them around the table as well. Those porcelain votive holders are from West Elm and I love love love them! 

The table smelled so good with the lilacs and hyacinths! I made a simple sangria using Moscato and flavored San Pellegrino with fresh berries. For brunch I made a french toast casserole and hash brown quiche. 

And for dessert I made lemon blackberry cupcakes with a blackberry icing. I love using TJ's vanilla bean baking mix as a base and then added the juice from a lemon with some of it's zest and I added a few blackberries to the batter. The icing was a standard recipe (1 part powdered sugar, 1 part butter, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1/2 cup of blackberry jam.)

My mom got both me and my grandmother a hanging basket - she's the best. I'm planning on hanging ours on our back deck. 

After brunch and walking around the garden we were off to the nursery garden! I've been planting flowers that remind me of people I love, and as long as I can remember her and my grandfather always had gorgeous roses blooming in their garden. Roses are the perfect reminder of them. 

While we were strolling the aisle my grandmother spotted a purple rose (my favorite color) and after smelling it (it smells like lemons) we knew it had to come home with us. We also picked out a white english (they almost look like peonies) climbing rose to plant next to it. I can't wait for them both to be in full bloom and bring in cuttings for the house. 

It was a perfect day and I can't wait to make this a tradition! 

WIAW - ONLY, IT'S THURSDAY

Not all of our meals are 100% healthy, but with summer coming up we are aiming towards healthier options in our daily eats. 

If you are new to WIAW - it a link party that was created by the adorable Jenn at Peas and Crayons. Other bloggers link up their weekly eats to give them and YOU meal inspirations! 

Rather than a traditional margarita with sour mix, I opted for a frozen peach margarita using Skinnygirl White Peach Margarita and frozen peaches. I processed this in our magic bullet and it was ready in seconds!

Using our homemade turkey taco leftovers, I made a taco salad for work the next day. If I wanted to cut back more I could always leave out the cheese. But who am I kidding - I love cheese too much to do that. 

The great thing about taco salads is you don't need dressing. There is enough flavor in there to go without!

I've been making the classic "ants on a log" lately for an afternoon snack - substituting craisins for regular raisins. 

Quiona "fried rice" is one of my go-to lazy meals. I pop in a steamable frozen veggie bag into the microwave, cook up some quinoa and cook up two eggs with soy sauce once the quinoa is cooked. I mix everything together and dinner is served!

One of my favorite finds is steamable bags of edamame. Those things are like crack! I could go through half a bag without realizing it. Once they are steamed, I toss some sea salt on top and they are done!

I love salmon cooked with EVOO and a few lemon slices and then topped with OLD BAY. What would Maryland be without OLD BAY?!

Check out the other blogger meals over at Peas and Crayons!

WEEKEND RECAP

Just recently I have been making an effort in starting up a consistent workout routine again. I started going to spin class 2x a week and running 3x. This is only my second week, but I am making a conscious effort to not fall off the band wagon. 

We've had such an amazing Spring so far this year! The weather has been perfect for working outside and going on evening and weekend runs. I'm using the Nike run and Map My Run apps to keep track of my distance and time. 

This past Saturday we celebrated this gorgeous girl graduating from UMD!

How stinking cute are these two? 

I couldn't ask for better (or more gorgeous) friends! 

I love maxi dresses and found mine at Francesca's collections. I bought the Essie turks and caicos nail polish to match and I'm obsessed with the color! Definitely working on expanding my Essie collection.

I'm looking forward to hosting Mother's Day at our house this weekend for my mom and grandmother!

THE DOLL HOUSE - TARGET'S THRESHOLD COLLECTION

Is anyone else obsessing over the Target real-life "doll house" set up in Grand Central Station? Target's Threshold collection furnishes this real-life doll house for the next two days (may 6th and 7th) at New York's Grand Central Station.

I've been keeping my eye on all of the decor through Instagram. You can too by searching #thedollhouse. Here are some of my favorite finds...

Target has so many cute vases and baskets lately - love this aqua one!

I never thought of adding multiples of the same mirror over a couch. I love this idea - especially with fun starburst mirrors!

Loving how they have kitchen towel rolled up within this dipped basket in their kitchen. And you know I love the white cabinets with black hardware - just like we have in ours!

These dishes are totally calling my name! I'd love to pick up some of the gray ones for our dining room to bring out on special occasions. I also love the S&P and vase on top of a cake platter as a centerpiece!

Love these layered rugs. I am a sucker for wicker furniture and woven rugs so this has my name all over it!

How adorable is this corner nook? I bet if you had a small space you could easily recreate this in a basement or living room. I've sat on those chairs and they are super comfy!

A cluster of pendants with different shades is really cute!

Again - love the rustic table with the upholstered chairs.

Sea glass containers and cherry blossom branches bring in the Spring - I definitely have plenty of those branches. I might try and arrangement like this for Mother's day!

You can't go wrong with a storage ottoman in a living room! Love the rope pulls on this table tray too.

Gourd lamps never go out of style and I love how they added a fun shade to this one to make it pop.

Are you loving this as much as me?!

SPRING CLEANING - GARDEN UPDATE

Although I grew up in a family where just about everyone had green thumbs, it wasn't until I had a house and yard of my own that I started paying attention to plants or even enjoyed gardening. My mom was always out in the yard and is well known for being a plant expert in our family (she used to want to be a horticulturist) - so I guess you could say that all of these years of her talking plants to me finally rubbed off. I've officially come down with the gardening bug.

This past Saturday marked one full year in our home and I have to say we fall more in love with it each day. After a crazy first year of planning our wedding and tackling some projects over the winter I was excited to dive into our yard and garden.

This is how our yard started...

I don't have any pre-fence photos since we had them install the fence right after we settled so the dogs would have a place to stay, but this shows what we started with pretty well. 

Here is a pretty good representation of where we are now:

We updated the shutters and front door color this past winter, planted some bulbs around the front cherry tree, edged the flower beds with pavers to match our back yard retaining wall and all of my perennials from last year popped back up in the front flower beds.

It really is exciting to see things you planted last year come back bigger and better this year. It sounds extremely nerdy - but it's so interesting to me now to watch how different plants grow.

Hostas, speedwell and pansies are getting HUGE in our front flower bed!

Last year as a house warming gift, my mom helped us create a retaining wall/firepit area with two planters on the side. I wasn't kidding when I said she was amazing in the yard! She drew up some plans and spent countless hours helping us create this space all by ourselves. She even took off work to work on it while we were both at the office. I'll have to do a post on the retaining wall she is working on in her yard - it's outrageous! (hint - she's putting in a pizza oven and waterfall on the wall.)

This gives you a better idea of how the retaining wall and fire pit area are positioned on the left side of our back yard. We back filled the retaining wall with dirt and planted some seed last fall and it's looking great! We still have to secure the tops of the planters and wall, but it works for now.

I won't bore you with a garden tour of our house, but I can't say it enough - gardening has been so rewarding to me. I love walking around and seeing what is popping up next and it was such a stress reliever when work was going crazy!

If you are looking for some great perennials, here are some I chose:
Bearded Iris
Astilbe
Day Lilies
Hosta
Hydrangea
Peonies
Viburnum
Bleeding Heart
Sedum
Columbine
Hyacinth
Tulips
Gladiolus
Phlox
And much more...