My sweet friend Mary Carlic of The Wren’s Den is opening a retail store… tomorrow… right here in Central New York! The store has a lovely eclectic mix of goodies with lots of beautiful topiaries!!! Just in time for Mother’s Day… just sayin!

“It won’t be a gift shop, really, nor an art gallery, either. It’s just something different. And it will be different every time you visit.”

The Wren’s Den annual spring open house is actually a Grand Opening this year. If you are in the area you must stop in Sat. April 28th, 11 – 6pm! Mary’s shop is in the retail store located at Hillside Gardens- 2756 West Seneca Turnpike. I’m so happy to have my cards, sachets and prints available there!

Enjoy a sneak peak!!

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I love these shoes! Clogs + Espadrilles = funky, happy shoes. They are so comfortable and fun to wear. Farmboy bought them for me because he knew I had a crush on them.

Today I saw that they were part of the 20% off sale at Sahalie in case you needed to get some for your little sweet feet. The discount code is 15034 thru 4/15!

Happy Fabulous Find Friday!

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How was your weekend? Did the Easter Bunny come to visit? This little guy had to find someone else to pull his wagon I’m pretty sure.

We had the opportunity to host the family dinner at our house- it was alot of fun as you will see. I have SO enjoyed Pintrest lately and seeing all of the beautiful Easter/Springtime decorations inspired me to do some projects with the kids.

This is what I was aiming for…

This is how it turned out including gummie worms, peeps, twizzlers and jelly beans. : ) The containers will be turned into terrariums later this week!

The kids and their cousin made some sweet tissue paper poufs to hang from the light fixtures for our family dinner. The children’s table looked very happy and inviting we thought.

After an early morning spent searching for Easter baskets, eating chocolate, breakfast and more chocolate we attended a beautiful service at Grace Chapel and came home to hunt Easter eggs. The dogs only ate 2, we think, although 2 others are still missing…

I love cooking for a crowd! Everything about it, coming up with the menu, the table settings, the smells, the noise and laughter of a house full of people and the memories that it creates for my kids. Farmboy made the most amazing Snickers Cheesecake Saturday night AFTER working all day at the farm. He is such a Renaissance man. The recipe for the cheesecake came from a recent dinner club featuring a “Seinfeld Theme”. Who knew there were so many food references on Seinfeld!? I’ll try to post it soon!

Here is the Easter Dinner menu for this year.

Appetizers

Banana Pepper Dip
Fresh Veggies and Dip
Deviled Eggs

Main Course

Whiskey and Cola Basted Ham
Herb Roasted Turkey Breast

Sides

Blanched Fresh Asparagus w/Lemon
Pennies From Heaven Carrots
Cheese Souffle
German Potato Salad
Red Quinoa and Avocado Salad

Desserts

Snickers Cheesecake with Oreo Crust
Strawberry & Raspberry Trifle
Strawberry Pie

 At the end of a long, glorious day I looked at beautiful family pics on Facebook that friends had posted from their weekend and something that my high-school English teacher (Don’t you love that about Facebook!?) put up made the most sense for me to share at Easter… because I KNOW grace, forgiveness and mercy and the beauty of those actions make a profound difference in this world and in the lives of other people.  : )

“”I serve a risen Savior-he’s in the world today-I know that He is living, no matter what men may say”. It’s simple, your wrongs are forgiven. Today, in honor of His sacrifice, forgive someone.”

It is the essence of Easter.

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My seventh year at the Flower Show was wonderful, renewing and affirming. It was great fun to see our friends in Kennett Square, PA. Our family of 4  bombards their family of 8 for a couple of nights as I set up for the show. A needed time for our families to reconnect. Once the show is in full swing I head into Philly to the Hilton Garden Inn (love that place), Junebug (my mom) flies in to help and Farmboy and the kiddos head for home- back to school, work and the animals.

Junebug is my right hand during the show. She is on top of it all. Isn’t she beautiful? If I had a nickel for everytime during the week that I hear “you two must be sisters”… I’d be rich.  We discuss what books we are bringing to read a month in advance. (I was reading Sacred Hearts and Ellen Foster. Momma was reading One Thousand White Women.) Sitting in the hotel after the show with a book and a glass of wine is quite a luxury for me. Throughout the week we take turns checking out the displays and discussing what we think would work in our own gardens.

My new booth space was great. I’m amazed at the number of people that came in and asked if it was my first year- that they had never seen my work before! How can that be after 7 years? There is just so much to see.

I saw many familiar faces and had the opportunity to catch up on friends from the previous year. The new show layout was a challenge. I am used to having a corner and (ahem) spreading, just a bit. It was wonderful getting to know my new neighbors! Let me introduce you: Toni and Dave from Beekman’s C.O.P.A. Soaps. A great story/business- wish I had had more time to get to know them. I’m enjoying my cold press natural soap called Forest- lots of rosemary. I love it.

On my other side was Trenny and Bob of High Beams in Vermont. Love their work. I’ve admired it for years.  Trenny and I got to discuss vegetable gardening. It was fun to tell her about winter sowing. I started some containers the week I got back!

Other friends with great businesses that I look forward to seeing every year are: Colby from Colby Smith Doorknockers, Mary from La Contessa Jewerly and Carrie from pucciManuli.

My readers know how I love ceramics and Liz Kinder of Liz Kinder Ceramic’s work was gorgeous! One of her large lovely bowls was my “take home” piece this year. Drool. Drool.

Jerry Fritz from Linden Hill Gardens signed his book for me. His booth was full of beautiful terrariums, hellebores and numerous perennials. Gotta plant some hellebores soon.

Sandstone Gardens from MO. never fails to disappoint. I’ve purchased 2 fountains from them over the years as well as other smaller pieces. We’ve had to limit Junebug’s statuary purchases due to Farmboy’s back and space in the trailer! I wish that they would ship.

The last couple of years I’ve purchased fresh flowers from Kremp Florist. A family owned florist outside of Philadelphia in Bucks Co. They have numerous booths throughout the Flower Show. This year they added videos showing tips for refreshing your cut flowers. I learned so much!  The roses I purchased lasted for weeks. All of the family received a dozen for helping with the kiddos while I was away. : )

Oh my goodness… what a treat it was to meet Ellen Parlipiano from Mompreneursonline.com. We have been communicating online since I was pregnant with Ryder formally known as “the bean” (ten years ago)! I screamed and hugged her when I saw her. She was delightful and we have a date for the NYBG soon I hope.

Once again I was captivated by terrariums and miniature gardens, not to mention I have committed myself to a hypertufa day here at the farm. I’m a little behind the curve on that one but better late than never, right? Twig Terrariums from Brooklyn had a lovely booth with very charming pieces for sale. Check them out- great, creative work.

So, terrariums are on the schedule with the kids for Spring Break. I’ve found a nice supply of moss down by the woods, collected lots of rocks and purchased some inexpensive apothcrathy jars for the kids to use. I’ll post our projects!!

The theme of the show was Hawaii and although I’ve never been, I do hope to go one day! It was a bit hard for me to relate to so many tropicals in regards to my own garden. That being said I did buy three huge Caladium bulbs to put in pots on my deck when I got home. All of the foliage was beautiful and lush.

Shown below are some photos from the show. Come along for a little tour, won’t you?

Next year put it on your calender! The theme is Brilliant! All about Great Britain… can’t wait. Perennials, formal gardens, Cottage Gardens… count me in!!!!

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Our marble coasters tiles are back and better than ever! The detail is amazing (although the photo above is slightly out of focus). A recent investment in a new printing process has brought beautiful results. We will have a limited selection of our most popular designs at the Flower Show.

The tiles (each signed by the artist and padded with cork bumpers) will be available at michellemasters.com in mid-March. Until then give us a ring to order what you would like! Each coaster is $12 or a set of 4 for $40.

Which design would you like to see on the coasters? Let us know!

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Finished pots and saucers! Yay! I can just imagine them planted with petite topiaries. Here are a few close ups- hand thrown and deliciously imperfect. Each stoneware pot is stamped with a swirly seal and encouragement to d r e a m. A cream glaze around the rim sets off each pot.

There are only 8 available for the Flower Show… assuming that the others come out of the kiln in one piece! Let me know if you want me to hold one for you. I’m thinking they will cost between $48 and $55 depending on the plant. Matching saucer included. : )

Oh, if there were only more hours in the day…

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~ Appetizers ~
Crab Tostadas
Mango and Brie Quesadillas

~ Entree ~
Beef Hot Tamales with Red Chili Sauce

~ Sides ~
Creamy Coleslaw
Mexican Black Beans

~ Dessert ~
Citrus Parfait with Pineapple and Mango

Farmboy and I are hosting dinner club this weekend and I thought it would be fun to post the menu. Tonight we will undertake the making/assembly of the tamales! I’ve never made them before but we have a couple of extra sets of hands and I have promised sombreros to wear, Margaritas to sip on while listening to some Texas Tornados and Freddy Fender music. How can you go wrong!?

I wish you could smell the warm spice of the red chili sauce in cooking in the kitchen. So fragrant.

The first time Hubby had tamales was during a visit to Mississippi to see my grandmother and sister. The four of us drove over to Natchez (so beautiful when the azaleas are blooming), did some site seeing and had a tasty treat from Fat Mama’s.  You might not associate Missisippi and Mexican food… but tamales have quite a history in the Mississippi Delta. I remember large pots of them cooking next to the bonfire at our Outdoor Club get togethers in high school.

If you are in the area and wearing an apron… stop in and we will put you to work. Now, do tell- what is your favorite Mexican dish?

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Lavender sachets door hangers make the sweetest add-on shower gifts. I wish you could smell them. Heavenly. Dreamy.

Each linen hemstitched sachet has an organza ribbon for hanging and is filled with aromatic french lavender buds. After numerous customer recommendations, lime-green and soft-yellow borders are now available for the yet-to-be-announced Special Delivery.

The door hangers also make a nice gift to give with the coordinating canvas wrapped birth announcement wall art. For ordering information click here.

Sweet Dreams, Little One… : )

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