Northwest Flower & Garden Festival 2020: City Living: Urban Earth Nursery

The City Living area of the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival is designed to highlight the many ways you can design a very small patio or balcony area. Each area is 6 ft x 12 ft and can represent a small apartment balcony or condo courtyard. The year I moved to Seattle, it was said that 25,000 people came with me. So many people that can benefit from garden show features like this, tailored to living in small spaces. 

This mini garden is called “Alice’s Woodland” by Urban Earth Nursery.

It combines birch stools, succulent planters, moss pads and a froth of flowering quince to make a magical "sit and dream" atmosphere.

#cityliving #nwfgs #seattle #apartmentliving #balconylife #smallgarden #bigdreamsmallspaces #finddelight #beautyofeverydaylife

Neighborly: The Kindness Overwhelmed Me

I have been wrestling with how exactly to tell this story. We experienced a gesture so sweet, it simply has to go in the chronicles of "moving to Seattle."

We haven't lived in an apartment in 23 years. We are used to our wonderful cul-de-sac, where we've been neighbors with almost exactly the same people for ages. We had years of chatting at the mailbox, waving as we drove in, planning activities kind of neighborhood and now we find ourselves living where people in their 20's come and go at all hours with almost no connection or acknowledgement of each other. Ants in an ant farm. Everyone that we speak to is friendly, but we probably won't run into each other again on the property. The number of tenants is large and everyone is on their own schedule.

Which brings me to this story. We had a medical emergency very early one Saturday morning and I needed help. I ran to the apartment where I knew a young couple lived - I had occasionally chatted with the girl when we were both getting out of our cars. All I had to say was "I need help" and this darling couple in pajamas ran out of their apartment after me. Long story short, they were a tremendous help to me and we were grateful. 

The young wife stopped by the next day with cookies to ask how things were. So nice! Then we snuck a thank you note with a restaurant gift card under their door. I wrote that I knew it was unnecessary to send them out to dinner, but that was part of the fun. That night, they texted us a selfie from the restaurant. A millennial thank you of the cutest proportion.

Two days later, we came home to find this wreath on our door. The girl we hardly knew had jazzed up our temporary home with a wreath she made - including an "R" for Reeves. Her note said that she tried to match the colors in our doormat. If that isn't the epitome of neighborly and wonderful, I don't know what is.

Their help and kindness is another reason I feel great about this epic move across the country. 

Fall Baking: Kitchen Aid and Pyrex Make Me Happy

There are a lot of things that I love in this picture.  It is important for me to "look at what I love" and my apartment counter is pretty crowded lately. When we scoured our house in Michigan, looking for duplicate items to set up an apartment in Washington, I knew it was time for my vintage Pyrex collection to step up. I needed my beloved pieces to transition out of the treasured decorative items category and back to their status as an everyday kitchen workhorse. 

I use them daily, now and they are fantastic. The white bowl in front holds the batter for some quick blueberry muffins. I like how the Pyrex looks, so I keep it stacked on the counter.

When the holidays (and my 6-month stint living in an apartment in Washington) began last October, I got really nervous about holiday baking. I love making muffins, cakes, cookies repeat. When I say I am a big holiday baker, I mean that I bake almost every day. It's relaxing. It makes the house smell good. I can give these treats away. It is a big part of my October November December.

How would I bake without a mixer in the apartment?
Should I buy a hand mixer? I don't want a hand mixer. 
Should I buy a stand mixer? I don't want a stand mixer. 
I want my white Kitchen Aid mixer that is on the counter in Michigan. Dan saw me start to twitch and suggested that my Christmas present could be a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer that just happened to arrive in October. *sigh* I love this man.

We scoured the internet for colors and options and decided, who were we kidding, I was an aqua girl, through and through. I had the Pyrex to prove it. 

Some bakers store their stand mixer because counter space is too valuable. I can't. I like to see this beauty and get inspired to bake and mix and stir. It's part of the fun of being in the kitchen. And it looks perfect with the Pyrex. Our apartment is small, but my holiday plans are big. As for my Michigan mixer, it's in a box in storage awaiting my next move.

Do you feel this way about your mixer? 

#kitchenaidmixer #baking #holidaybaking #aqua #bakersgottabake #apartmentliving #vintagepyrex 

A Balcony Rose Update

Tah-dah! I wanted to reassure you that you can indeed grow roses in a pot on a balcony in Seattle. I have had this beauty since March 2015 and she is as happy as ever right now (Oct 2016)! 

Remember when she first started to sprout again in January? Dan has been in charge of her from April until now, since I was in Michigan most of this year, and boy did he do a good job!

I have only grown roses in Michigan in a garden with a soaker hose, so attempting to nurture a rose in a pot over a long stretch of time seemed like a 50/50 proposition. This Apricot Candy hybrid tea has been a gorgeous addition to our balcony garden.

Apartment Living: Baked Goods & A Roaring Fire

Let's just say we were having a good night. Dan and I are living in an apartment outside Seattle as we transition our lives to Washington. Our apartment complex is brand new and in addition to having a nice swimming pool and community garden, they have an outdoor fireplace!

I knew that we would like sitting outside around a fire in the evening - who wouldn't? But until we walked over with a thermos of decaf and some blueberry gateau, did I realize just how perfect this is for us.

It was around 7:30 in the evening, a little too cool for swimmers, so we had the whole place to ourselves. While we made be crowded inside the apartment, this kind of amenity makes our space feel much more open.

*Have you made "my" blueberry gateau? I have written about it so much that many of the internet photos of blueberry gateau are mine! It is a wonderful recipe first printed in Country Living magazine and I know you'll love it.

Happy Flower Box

Happiness is planting a flower box in the sun. My best friend flew out to Seattle the week of March 12th to check out my new life. 

We had fun scouring the local garden center for colorful blooms that would read: happy to live here from the balcony above. We planted a mix of blue anemone, yellow and solid pink ranunculus, red tulips, orange trailing petunias and yellow pansies. This window box will rest on the floor of the balcony against the railing and the blooms can sway and grow through the bars. 

I just love how it looks and Kim thought our accomplishment warranted a picture. Tah-dah!

My Seattle Rose

Dan sent me a picture of our rose blooming on the balcony of our Seattle apartment. It's Spring!

Buds in January: A Rosarian's Dream

In May 2015, I was only in Seattle for a few weeks, but did what I could to make our little apartment feel home-y. And when I say home-y, I also mean garden-y. I'll show you how our decorating is coming along in the next few days, but the big news here is that my rose has a bud! And is leafing out. IN JANUARY. I noticed our first bud on January 29. Things are looking up.

Last May, I bought a beautiful "Apricot Candy" hybrid tea rose for $14.99 at the grocery store giant, Fred Meyer's garden center. It had big peachy pink blooms and had buds all over it. We planted it into a plastic outdoor pot with drainage holes (about 4 sizes larger than the container it was planted it) and used bagged dirt that was specifically for roses. This is my rose in her glorly last summer.

It bloomed until October and has been on the deck out of the wind for the last 3 months, receiving only the water Mother Nature blew her way. Could Seattle roses (facing North) possibly start to leaf out and grow in January? I knew that we had an extended growing season, but this is incredible!

Stay tuned.

Heart of Christmas

It was a year of changes for us. Christmas away from family, without my dad and in a little apartment we now call home. Truly bittersweet.

We are lucky in so many ways. Healthy and strong with good jobs and a bright future in an exciting part of the country. We are together and we are forging a new path. I tried my best to make a beautiful and cozy Christmas for Dan, my mom and me.

When I was in Michigan in November, I packed a box of Christmas decorations and mailed them out here, making sure to include one of my vintage nativity sets. 

The light was streaming into our apartment window and it gave my little gathering a happy mood. It was only later when I was looking at the photograph that I noticed one ornament was reflected in the window. A single heart.

Wherever you are this year, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Nate Berkus: That Cutie Pie Knows Design

This was the first room I tackled in our new apartment in Seattle. The key design materials are grey, black and white - a cookie cutter bathroom if there ever was one. My goal was to create a bathroom that looked beautiful, but not feminine.

My life saver was Nate Berkus and his current collection at Target. Have you seen his striking collection of linens and housewares? Bulls eye, indeed. 

What a difference a shower curtain makes! I immediately knew that this was the direction that I wanted to go in. The "quaint blue" diamond pattern (truly lavender, to my eye) was graphic, but not dizzying. Confident, but not demanding. Can fabric be described in such a way? You bet your boots. I also bought the companion bath rug and it was a perfect fit in this cozy bathroom.

When I was shopping in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, look what I found! A beautiful white ceramic dish with a pale lavender blue hydrangea blossom lid. Each petal is made of ceramic. I swooned at Homegoods and then put it in my cart. This lovely dish will start by housing Q-tips on the bathroom counter top, but if I get too nervous about it chipping, I'll move it to my bedroom dresser. Either way, I know that I will continue to love it every time I see it.

You can see how beautiful it looks next to one of my Nate Berkus for Target "quaint blue" towels.

Want to hear the kicker? This very dish is featured in Victoria magazine this month! The May/June 2015 issue, page 16. It is referred to as the "Gracie" box from The Import Collection, but I wasn't able to find you a link online. I love when designs I love get featured in magazines, even if its just to show Dan that other girls "had to have it" too.

As for the overall bathroom design, thank you, Nate Berkus. I can't really paint this apartment. Wallpaper is out of reach, but you've given my bathroom style for miles. Yes, I still think of you as Cutie Pie. I loved all of the work you did on the Oprah show and I am so very happy to bring your aesthetic into my new home. I owe you one.

Blank Walls and Big Opportunities

Where have I been and what's going on? I have been distracted with finding and then setting up an apartment in Seattle.  Last year, many of my blog posts came to you from our darling room at a Residence Inn in a suburb of Seattle, Washington. Whenever I was in town, I baked desserts in my convection toaster oven and had a wonderful time trying new restaurants and writing about shops, sweets and treats I discovered.

This year we decided to put hotels behind us and set up a pied a terre - a small living unit in a city that is close to work. It has been incredibly fun having a blank canvas to decorate and I know that I won't be able to resist sharing some of my decorating successes.  Projects, artwork, design ideas...even apartment gardening. I find inspiration everywhere I turn when I am in the Pacific Northwest. And I've been having the most interesting conversations.

Are you looking forward to seeing what I come up with in this new environment? I am!