Around Here

A little peek into what things looked like this past Valentine's Day weekend. Hints of spring over here have me feeling pretty happy and motivated!

My little Valentine walked around holding a Pete the Cat book for most of the afternoon asking me to read it to him over and over again. It's slightly confusing that we have a cat named Pete.

As hard as the tantrums are and lack of real communication, seeing this look on his face (when he saw a fountain) makes it all worth it.

My flowers and our Valentine's day cards amongst our messy kitchen table. Sorry, all those Instagram photos you saw in your feed were fake. This is real life.

Delicious fresh juice made from kale, pineapple, ginger, lemon, apple and cucumber. Too bad the thing set me back $11. Yes, you read that right. Well, if I return the bottle I will get $2 back. That's the Bay Area for you.

 

 Brunching with my besties. My happy place is with a bloody mary and these three.

13 days until Spring!

While I am known to not let others jump the gun on fall, I kind of want to jump the gun on spring. Are we ready? I sure am! This mama wants nice warm weather so Jonas and I can get outside much more than we have. I always know spring is on the horizon when bright colors start creeping their way into my life again.

Anemones from the Farmer's Market// Tons of flowers from the Farmer's Market// DIY marbling some tags with nail polish// Jonas hanging out in his new Polarn O. Pyret onesie, just like Grandpa's Model A!

Lately

I am such a sucker for cute packaging and anything by Method, so I couldn't really resist this. The scent is Vanilla Chai, yum. Plus, I heard it's a good idea to stock up on hand soap before a new baby comes since we will be asking all the visitors to wash their hands before holding the baby.

After a horrible day, my sweet husband brought me home flowers to cheer me up. After I cut them and put them in water it wasn't long before they all wilted! What gives? Come to think of it, when I cut the ones in our yard and did the same thing they quickly wilted. Bummer-central. 

A corner in the nursery. Some newborn-ish toys in a wire basket hang on the wall. I love Land Of Nod and everything they have. BTW lots of things would pass for adult decor, too. Basically blows Pottery Barn Kids out of the water.

Funny how my purchases lately are focused more on post partum. Everything I've read says witch hazel will be my friend afterwards when everything is sore and stings. A maxi pad soaked in witch hazel and then frozen may offer some much needed relief.

Gotta love summer dinners where there is always a little stack of fresh homegrown tomatoes on the side.

weekend scenes.

Vintage strawberry pottery from Germany now houses my lip balms.

Beautiful dahlias from the Farmer's Market. 

Getting the nursery all painted! Ironically it was painted light blue, but I wanted it more fresh and open, which is why we went with white. The room is pretty tiny, so it helps to open it up a bit.

The cutest burb clothes I have seen, found on Etsy of course. 

A couple wooden toys for baby boy, purchased from Toy Joy in Austin.

Happy July!

Lately via Instagram

Vintage truck we picked up for the nursery, it's from the 1940's! And that lovely chipping orange paint is most likely lead based paint, so it will sit on a shelf only. // Enjoying a lime popsicle at the Alameda Flea Market. // Our first peony finally bloomed! I planted the bulb when we moved in, 3 years ago. It smells wonderful. // Having a mock-arita for Cinco de Mayo. I miss the salted rims of margaritas and bloody marys!

{Follow me on Instagram:  Hollyconda}

One warm weekend

What my weekend looked like, if you're interested.

Frozen yogurt on a hot day. But halfway through I smelled Subway and wished I had that instead. Weird!

Trying to get excited over sparkling water with lime and strawberry...but hard when you husband is drinking beer he brewed himself and you wish you could enjoy a glass too!

I got my first Birchbox. Verdict? Meh. I got some expired (2009!) moisturizer and duplicates of fashion tape among a few other things. Not impressed. I will give it one more month before canceling. I'd like to try out Bluum or Eco Emi.

Loving my new radio I got from Gilt. Had lots of background radio and Giants games going on recently. Plus, it's cute!

This is not how you made homemade rosewater (I wish!) but this looked and smelled pretty on the kitchen table.

Happy Friday!

{Kari Herer via Oh Joy!}

This week has been eventful but good. I think we are finally out of the gloomy days and onto the sunny days from here on out. We took care of a couple of big house projects to get ready for baby. I won't bore you with the details, but it felt good to cross some stuff off our list.

Some other thoughts this week:

-Can't wait to make this hummus chickpea salad with all our leftover cilantro. Have you read Umami Girl's blog? If not, you must, beautiful food photography and healthy eating.

-Email from my mom that made me smile: "I am happy and excited every day because you are having a baby :)"

-And on the flip side, someone telling me yesterday that I'm "so big"  and "the baby is so big" for only being 4 months. Ugh. Seriously. It is never okay to comment on a woman's body, got that?

-Getting excited for my lunch and shopping date with Jackie this weekend!

-Deciding on a vacation for June. Austin is it! We will def make it to DC another time.

-I think I felt the baby for the first time last night. They say if it's your first it is hard to distinguish the baby moving and your body doing its thing but I felt something a bit different. Hooray!

Happy weekend everyone!

Jon's 30th Birthday party

I think I stayed pretty true to my inspiration board for Jon's party this weekend. Some things I didn't have a chance to take pictures of, was too busy having fun. And Jon had a blast too, which is all that matters. Another one for the books.

Setting the stage on the patio...

 Papel picado lining the house.

Jarritos on ice. 

Fresh flowers on the table. Trader Joe's always has the best variety. 

 Loving my new pink sandals! Picture does not do the neon justice.

And back inside...

Colorful paper flowers lined the table.

The fake Chiclets were a huge hit with the kids.

Strawberry and key lime cupcakes made by Jon's mom. Not pictured: the chocolate ones!

And to top it all off, the Giants won! After the final score, the birthday boy poured up shots of Don Julio. Success!

Happy Friday!

{flowers from the backyard on my nightstand}

Can you believe we are in the first weekend of April, already? This year is just flying by. 

Here's to a happy, sunny Easter weekend for everyone!

See you Monday.

The Dirty 30

Guess who is about to turn the big 3-0? No, not me! I'm merely 28. :) My better half is about to celebrate this epic milestone. We are having a little taco party at our house and I put together this inspiration board to help me focus on the theme so it doesn't turn into a tacky Cinco de Mayo party.

I aim for lots of fresh bright colors in Mexican sodas, El Pato cans and crepe paper flowers. We will of course have some papel picado banners around the patio to define the party space. Limes will be plentiful, doubling as decor and additions to beer. We will have a full taco bar, guac and chips, sangria and Jon's home brewed beer. Am I missing anything?

Garden Plans

{Some early blooms in the backyard}

I am so excited to plant our garden this weekend. We have been soaked in rain the last couple weeks, which is why we are getting a late start. The chance of frost is over and now is the time to plant. Here are our plans:

Old favorites

Tomatoes-they make up the bulk of the garden. We like to get about 4-6 different varieties including some cherries, yellow ones, classic Brandywines and some heirlooms. 

Herbs-We still have our rosemary, sage and mint from years past but its time to replant the basil and cilantro. I actually never even cooked with the sage last year, my bad. 

Zucchini-it grows so well and we love cooking and baking with it. 

Radishes and carrots-grow very well from seed, can work them in throughout the season. Great additions to summer salads.

First time planting

Butternut Squash-yum yum yum

Pumpkins-would love to cover my porch with pumpkins all fall but they are sort of expensive, planting my own should help. 

Garlic-why not just stick a head in the ground and see what happens?

Not trying again

Cauliflower-winter crop and they take up too much room

Celery-just wasn't impressed and its so cheap at the store, why bother? Although I will miss having all that access to the leaves for my bloody marys.

Peppers-it just doesn't get hot enough here for them to grow well, and we don't eat them when they are ripe!

What am I missing? What are you planting this year? Whether in a garden or a patio potted garden, I'm interested! I am truly at my happiest in my overgrown garden. Here's to warm spring days and hot summer nights in the near future!

I'm taking notes

{hawaiian coconut}

I adore this flower arrangement. Mine never look like that! I think I always try too hard and it comes across looking that way. I love this awesome vase and how it looks like the assortment of different florals were just plunked in! My first Ranunculus bloomed yesterday, as if it peeked at the calender and thought "ahh, right on time".

Pins, lately

Source: reasonstobreathe.tumblr.com via suann on Pinterest

What a gorgeous bedside table. I cannot wait for peony season. And I have to say, I'd normally place the lamp on the side, but it's kinda of working it right there in the middle.

Source: google.com via Glitter on Pinterest

Sheesh, how gorgeous does Diane look? Simply stunning. She is 65. Speaking of, are people watching Project Runway Allstars? She was the guest judge last week and was very sweet and charming.

Source: housebeautiful.com via Hollyconda on Pinterest

Cute girly outdoor space. White wine and watermelon.

Source: onbeingblythe.squarespace.com via Hollyconda on Pinterest

Delicious and cute! Valentine's day is coming up, this is a great idea. Speaking of Valentine's day, I think I may not decorate this year. I mean, I'm running out of time for it to be worth it.

Source: merrimentevents.com via Hollyconda on Pinterest

I could stare at colorful flowers all day.

Source: ilovewelove.wordpress.com via Hollyconda on Pinterest

What I would give for these shoes!

The Botany of Desire

I read The Botany of Desire years ago and recently stumbled upon the program of the same name on PBS. I got sucked into Michael Pollen's world yet again. I was reminded of my second favorite section of the book, Tulip representing Beauty. Listen to this, each year we spend billions of dollars on something that serves no practical purpose and has a short shelf life. Why? Just because we think it is beautiful. I really like that about us. We cherish flowers. And what a boring world this would be without them, no? Inspired by the PBS special, (click here to see when it's showing in your area) I picked up some tulips.

Hey, where do you think you're going?!

And only one hour later. Petals are visibly separating and we have another rouge one! 

Besides beautiful, tulips are one of the more entertaining flowers.

This post is sponsored by my ancestors who were Dutch tulip farmers. ;)

Specifically related to the chap in the overalls in the right back.