Monday, April 14, 2014

culture. and flowers. always flowers.

It was a perfect spring weekend. SUPER perfect.

For example, take Friday night. First we ate Argentinian food on the restaurant's porch. Not only was the food amazing, but we were surrounded by flowering trees and a view of some of Athens's loveliest gigantic antebellum mansions-turned-frat houses (sad but true story). 


After we stuffed our bellies, we headed to the Georgia Museum of Art to take a gander at the new MFA exhibit. It was...arty. What can I say. I really don't understand much art, but I can look at it and cock my head in a thoughtful manner and nod slowly...so maybe I blend in with the true art appreciators? Maybe. At any rate, I enthusiastically eat the free food and drink the free beer and wine like I know what I'm doing (and I do!), so there's that. 

I'm telling you. Sometimes there are some true advantages to living in a college town. I submit art shows with free (quality! local! Terrapin!!) beer as Exhibit A.

After our fill of art (and refreshments) we headed across the lawn to a scene I'm a little more familiar with: the UGA Wind Symphony's spring concert. Band concerts are my love language and I'm always thankful when Matt takes the initiative to figure out when and where they're taking place and then goes to them with me.

Pre-concert, obviously.
I was in band for all of middle and high school...and not just in band, but like...REALLY INTO BAND. My life more or less revolved around band, my friends in band, my private lessons, weekend honor bands, auditions, competitions, camps, and spending every spare minute of the day in the band room. I was just as cool as you're imagining. I loved every minute of it. Sadly, Matt went to a very tiny private school that had NO BAND, so he's woefully uneducated in the ways of music and band. But that's okay because it means he asks hilarious (to me and other music-educated folks) questions and makes funny observations about things in the concert program, the wind symphony itself, and music. It's very entertaining. So I would have to say that going to a band concert with Matt is probably the best thing ever. Therefore Friday night was pretty awesome. Again- thanks for the free entertainment, UGA! 

While our Friday was quite a cultural and artsy experience, Saturday was all about flowers. SHOCKING, right?

Our favorite local nursery was having its annual spring open house, which meant that in addition to plant sales, there was live music and free food! (You could say that we spent the weekend chasing free food...and it was glorious.)

A dude singing in a nursery-- HOW DO I GET THIS JOB??!


The combination of free food, lovely weather, live music, and good prices meant that we bought a ridiculous amount of flowers. Two new hydrangeas, three lantana (MOST CRAZY LANTANA COLOR VARIETIES EVER!!), and some super fabulous dahlias. And a raspberry bush! And some other things I can't remember the names of.

Hello ridiculously pretty dahlias!
Obviously this meant we spent the rest of Saturday afternoon digging and planting. And pruning and sweating and planning and examining. Shockingly, after all the new things were in the ground, we discovered that we 'needed' even more flowers. Funny how that works. So we had to go back yesterday and do it all again. What a tragedy. It was really torturous, let me tell ya. On the plus side, at least our flower beds will be super fabulous this summer!

Other plant-y observations:
1. With every plant I put in the ground, it adds to the feeling that I will probably never be able to sell the house and move. LEAVE MY BABIES BEHIND?!?! What if the new owners didn't care about flowers? What if they let them all die?!??!! The thought of this is unnecessarily stressful for someone that isn't even really considering moving. Ugh.
2. I'm pretty sure I just spent a week's pay on flowers. Workin' for the flowers, yall.

After all of that yard beautification on Saturday, I felt that the front door was looking sad and boring. I needed a spring/early summer wreath to get me through til it's time for the Fourth of July wreath. Allison inspired me with her fun natural-and-burlap wreath that she made a few weeks ago, so I set out to make one similar. But then I got sidetracked by things that were bright colors, so mine is a little less neutral and a little more TURQUOISE, but I'm okay with that.


The pictures suck because it was getting dark and iPhone pictures in the semi-dark and/or using a flash are a joke, but you get the idea. For a wreath that took about 20 minutes to make, I think it's pretty great! And it makes my front door look WAY happier. 

So with that, spring has been officially welcomed at our house. We knew it was really official when we both got multiple mosquito bites. Yup. Between the pollen, mosquitoes, and humidity, Georgia makes sure we never get too satisfied with the current weather. By the time the pollen leaves, it'll be 920 degrees every day...but my plants will be happy and blooming, so really, I don't care. Bring it.

20 comments:

  1. 1. Is Matt eating an Argentinian hamburger in that first photo?
    2. You guys are ADORABLE and so cultural.
    3. I kill every plant I've ever owned, but I did buy myself some fresh tulips yesterday.
    4. LOVE your wreath!

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  2. I love the colors of your wreath!! From the beautiful plants you bought, your yard must looking AWESOME!! :)

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  3. Yay for good food and good music and good flowers and good crafting!

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  4. I feel like I NEED to see pictures of all your flowers! I need yard inspiration. Please don't deprive me.

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  5. Those dahlias are gorgeous!!! What kind of raspberry bush did you get? Sounds like you had a great weekend!

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  6. I need you to make me one of those wreaths :)

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  7. Super cute wreath! We spent the weekend planting, too. It is just too beautiful right now to NOT spent time outdoors!

    Also, substitute choir for band and you just described my high school experience. We are clearly the coolest kids in school.

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  8. I think this makes two back to back awesome weekends for you guys... Winning!

    Those dahlias are so beautiful... do they come back every year??? I can't deal with stuff that dies and requires MORE arduous labor and money each year!

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  9. You left out the most important part...what instrument did you play??? I also was in band in middle and high school, including private lessons, jazz band and all of that other stuff. I can for sure appreciate listening to a band and it's a huge help being able to read music at church when it comes time to sing something new :) Your wreath looks great!!

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  10. Good thing you are free food all weekend consider the amount of money you spent on flowers!!! Brilliant, just brilliant!!!!

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  11. 1. You need to stop bragging about your perfect weekends.
    2. Live music at a nursery?! So hilarious and yet so fun. My dad owns a nursery...I don't know why we've never done this.

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  12. Uh, yes, this weekend's weather was simply perfect. If only Georgia could be that way year round! Also, when my parents sold our house when I was in middle school, my mom dug up all her favorite plants and flowers and took them with her, like a 100 year old hydrangea and azaleas from my grandmother in Savannah. Ain't no way she was leaving those! So, you could always do that if you ever move!

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  13. Oh how I wish I still lived in Athens! I never went to Cofer's but I definitely need to make a pit stop next time I'm in town! Did I miss whether or not your seed packets worked out? Nothing here on my end!

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  14. That wreath is adorable. I don't think you could ever live in Colorado - but can visit, anytime, tomorrow! - because nothing blooms here. It's all prarie and then steep gorgeous mountains, pines and a few aspens. Nothing grows. I love those dahlias. My favorite dahlias are Sangria.

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  15. Sounds like a great weekend to me! Brandon also spent most of Saturday afternoon flower shopping,planting , and basically making our yard beautiful again. . . husband for the win!

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  16. I cannot believe I've gone all this time not knowing you were a BAND GEEK! ME TOO! Yay.

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  17. love your wreath!
    The coral and turquoise. Pretty.
    :)

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  18. I love pretty much everything about this post. My best friend was a total band nerd and I was just a sort-of band nerd. You already know how much I love flowers -- another plus on the "move to Georgia" column -- longer growing season -- and I CANNOT WAIT to start planting them at our new house. Which we will never sell due to knowing that I will have too many amazing plants to leave behind.

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  19. That wreath could not be any cuter!!!

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