Lemon-Rosemary Cake

I tried out a new recipe over the weekend and it was scrumptious! If you love lemon and rosemary
then you will love this cake!

{this is what was left after cutting a few pieces to take to my bff and truth be told the whole cake did
not look so great! I can make a cake 100 times and it turns out just fine UNTIL I want to take photos
and then part of the cake stays in the pan...grr}

Every single bite is so yummy!

I cut a slice just for you...can you taste it?

Minced fresh rosemary mixed into the batter gives just the right amount of that luscious rosemary flavor.

The glaze, sliced almonds, lemon zest and rosemary sprigs make it look so pretty.

This is the magazine I got the recipe from. I would print it here for you, but I think that is
probably a no-no so just go and buy the magazine. It is totally worth the 7.99 spent. 

Remember this apple crisp from a few posts ago? It is also in the same magazine.

Happy Monday everyone! Go out and celebrate life!!

Playing in the potting shed

I have been busy lately playing in my potting shed so I thought I would give you
a few more peeks at what I am doing.

Do you remember this old white shelf that I purchased a few weeks ago? It ended up out here and I
think it is just right for my goodies.

I did add a bit of fake greenery before I got the bright idea {DUH!} to add real plants. :)

My flowers are still doing just wonderful despite the awful heat we had this summer.

I love this chippy green chair. I purchased FOUR of these chairs at an estate sale
years ago for 50 cents each! Everything was cheap at that sale and I was carrying
my baby granddaughter who was living with us at the time so that was about 11 or 12
 years ago. This is the ONLY green one I have left. I have two more that I let set outside
and they lost all of their paint and I sold one in my booth {dumb thing to do I know!}
I am hanging onto this one!

I love real bird nests and this one is a beauty.

Still trying to figure out if this is too much shelving , but it is what it is right now
so it is staying for awhile anyways.

Did you notice what I had hubby do?? This shed does not have interior walls except
on the back wall. It is something we have always intended to do , but just have not
gotten around to it. I was tired of waiting so a week or two ago I grabbed some paint
that we had sitting around and painted the top two thirds of the walls white.
I painted OSB board, I painted old beams...I painted, painted, painted!

Then I had hubby put the fence around the bottom part of the walls! I love how it
turned out, but once again the whole shed is not done, so you are seeing this one
wall! ha! We replaced a few sections of fence this year that were rotting and I
wanted it all to match so we took the above fence down also even though we had
just put it up a year or two ago. I do LOVE to recycle!!

More fake greenery in this cast iron wall vase.

I realized I should have added some gardening gloves and clippers or scissors , but I had already
spent too long taking photos so I opted not to redo it. I don't know how photographers do it!!
It must take them DAYS to do some photo shoots.

I have lots of goodies so I have pottery and all kinds of treasures sitting around in here.

Still lovin' my burlap potting bench skirt. See the slats in the top of my bench?
When hubby made the bench he added a pull out plastic tub underneath the slats so
that after I pot my plants, I can just grab a whisk broom and brush all the soil
 down the holes and right into the tub. Then take it out and dump it and wa-la all
nice and clean! :)

My favorite chair again with my pretty pink impatiens.

Loving my little *GROW* knife that I made last year.

A little nest that I spray painted white. That ends the tour for now. I know it isn't the most perfect
shed in the world , but it is mine and I love it. I decided whatever I did to fix it up this year I was
NOT going to spend any money doing it and I am happy how it turned out. Now on to the other
walls...oh goodness. Woman's work is never done...:)

The landscape of summer

I suppose technically summer doesn't arrive until June 20, but it sure looks like summer
around these parts. I love to visit the greenhouses at the very first chance I get and I
know for a lot of us it was earlier this year than ever. I planted several things in clay
pots this year and I love the look.

My chives always put on a good show and I enjoy it every year.

This is the path leading up to our back door. I wish I had some before photos because this area was
nothing but rocky soil when we moved in over 30 years ago. I wonder if I have any photos lurking
around. I will have to go on a hunt. :)

My mother gave me this purple flowered plant for Mothers Day. It might be called
*million bells* , but I don't remember for sure. I added it to this pail along with some
white allysum.

I have shown you my front porch before, but here we go again.  I was tossing around the idea of
painting the floor white  , but I just don't think it will look right ...do you? I would love to replace
the screen door with an old wooden chippy white door that I have in the potting shed, but I
haven't even mentioned it to hubby yet...don't think he will quite understand. LOL

Geraniums and vinca hanging out together.

I LOVE ferns on my porch in the summer!! I may just have to get a couple more next time
I get to the greenhouse. 

I found this old crate in my potting shed and decided to bring it out. I wanted to add
some asparagus fern to it as well, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

We made the mistake years ago of putting two brackets for hanging baskets on our posts.
We didn't realize until later that the person walking up the step would whack their head on
 the basket so right now I have wind chimes hanging on it. I am thinking about putting
 it on the other side of the post, but then I think it would hide my fern...oh my what is
 a girl to do?? hee hee

Happy Tuesday and enjoy your day!!

A day away in Shipshewana!

My bff and I hit the road bright and early last Saturday morning and headed out to
 Shipshewana, Indiana.
I was so looking forward to attending their antique and garden show on the lawn of
the antique mall.  I just knew it would be huge, amazing , etc...yea , well not so much!
It was not at all what I had anticipated.  There were maybe 12 vendors in all and in
my book that is not huge.  I have been to an antique show there once before and it
  WAS huge, so I don't know what happened this time around.

I picked out the flower above at a shop in downtown Shipshewana. They were giving
them away free in honor of the towns Mayfest. 

There was a neat garden vendor at the show and I purchased a few violas. This one is called,
 "Rebecca".
Isn't she amazing with her white petals tinged in purple? This flower is prized for it's compact
habit and tempting vanilla fragrance.

I also purchased a columbine that my bff said is called
 "Grandmothers bonnet"
...how neat is that name? Love it! Hope it does well for me.

I always purchase a few different varieties of basil. This one is called Pesto Basil.

This pretty viola is called
"Etain".
Large lemon yellow flowers accented with contrasting
lavender-purple edge and lightly scented.

Love my basil!

Rebecca peeking through. :)

I purchased these purple violas at Wally World a few weeks ago.

This is what my back porch entry looked like a couple weeks ago.  Now not so much.
The lilacs are done for and it is time to spruce it up again.

I A.D.O.R.E. rosemary and I can never have too much of it!

Love any chippy old doors that I find along with their old doorknobs intact.

I also purchased this huge white ceiling tile and these three posts in Shipshewana.   Thankful
that the day didn't turn out to be a total flop. We had a great time just being together as those
days are very few and far between anymore. Although I will say I was so tired by the time
we got home. I crashed and still haven't fully recovered. hee hee

I can't wait to go to the flea market there and the auction that they have every week.
It is always fun times to go to that part of Indiana and luckily for me it is only a little
over an hour away! Happy Wednesday everyone!!

{My get up and go has got up and went and I would really like it to come back home!}