Just Lauren

I had a lovely visit with my parents this weekend. We visited two plant shops! Two! First, we stopped at Phelan Gardens and let me tell you, it is a fantastic place, I fell in love with it instantly. They have a great set up, some really cute decor pieces (including a citrus poster I’m eyeing now) and lots of house plants. Prices are comparable to local nursery shops in Denver too, although a couple of their plants may have even been slightly cheaper. I’m not quite in the market to buy more plants right now as I want to get a new shelf and add grow lights before I buy anything else so I walked out of the store empty handed but extremely happy. As my dad said, this is my kind of window shopping. I was really impressed with this store and would definitely visit again next time I’m in town. They even had a whimsical desk filled with dried flowers and fresh flowers, I took a picture of part of it that you can see above. It was really well done.

We went to Heidrich’s Tree Farm after that where we saw some butterfly bushes still in bloom (they smelled wonderful) and I discovered there’s a hydrangea species that is bee friendly. How cool is that? There weren’t any house plants at this place but I still enjoyed myself looking at all the bushes, trees, and perennials they had. It sparked the thought that I could plan for future balcony plants. That’s something I can do in the cold winter months – dream about spring. I’m thinking hostas at the very least but some trailing plants could be nice too.

We took Colt on a walk at the park after that and had delicious homemade teriyaki chicken for dinner, the recipe of which has now been added to my personal recipe database. We ended the evening by watching Groundhogs Day, a classic. This morning we played two games of Sushi Go and my mom made another delicious pasta dish, one of my favorites, so I could have some for lunch and take some home. How lucky am I?!

I even came home with an old dutch oven pot too. The one that my grandma used when my mom was growing up. I’m super excited because now I can try the other bread recipe that Ben sent me. I’m thinking next Saturday will be perfect for that and I’m already yearning for that fresh baked bread smell.

I checked on the flowers I was pressing and while they are pressed, they didn’t quite turn out how I had hoped. I won’t be putting them in between glass like I originally hoped but I still like them enough that I’m keeping them around a bit longer to see if another use for them pops into my head. The colors are fantastic, but I was hoping that the petals would have been fuller. Perhaps I need different flowers to press.

I also rearranged the bouquet that Kayla brought me and Elisabeth last Wednesday so that we have three vases of fresh flowers. I put a vase on each desk and one on the dining table. I’m working on watering my house plants now and shall spend the rest of the day on other random chores I have assigned for myself. No roots on my polka dot propagation plants yet but it’s only been a week, I think these things can take a month or so, especially in the colder months so I’ll keep my eyes out and be as patient as I can. What a great weekend.