The Sweetly Decorated Life: Colorful Plants for Shady Garden Spots

The Sweetly Decorated Life: Colorful Plants for Shady Garden Spots: Brunnera Courtesy of "Inspirations" magazine published and created by Homestead Gardens; I thought it pertinent to bring to...

Colorful Plants for Shady Garden Spots

Brunnera

Courtesy of "Inspirations" magazine published and created by Homestead Gardens; I thought it pertinent to bring to life the plants that enliven our souls, freshen a dark space, and bring life to our community.

Before I had the chance to read about these types of plants, I was quite sure I was going to go with Forsythia or Skip Laurels for the shaded area of my lawn-bordering the property of a vacated lot but hence, things are subject to change in Stephanie Land.  (my family and husband's terminology)  Smile here.

Here are some of my favorites and go figure for this year they all bring color to the garden!

Kalmia

Hydrangeas

Pulmonaria

If you like Perennials with Colorful Leaves, here are my favorites.  I go for the wildflower-cottage look so having ground cover mixes it up a bit.  This year I'll buy Lamium to start and maybe if I'm feeling bold Heucherella, which in the vein of this leaf protrudes a strong rich color.  Lamium is also good because of the purple blooms.  I love green foliage but for me there must be some kind of color.  I love the color purple.

Lamium

Heucherella

I love the variation of this plant here.  It exudes confidence to me and I believe it hardy because my neighbor has her hostas in partial shade and sun and they come back strong year after year.  I love gardening I'd say just as she does.  Here I am in Paris.  I posed here because I thought the scale of the gardens in proportion to the Ferris Wheel was interesting.  The time of my life. To be present in the gardens of Paris and smell the blooms was intoxicating.  

Enjoy gardening whatever you plant.  As always pick well-drained soil and fertilize with as much stuff as you can salvage from your kids fruits and veggies.  I use those scraps, banana peels and coffee grinds to supplement locally grown compost from Maryland, my home state.  

For more information on the amazing gardens at Homestead, please visit homesteadgardens.com or attend their Spring Flower Show for Celebrate Maryland, March 14th-22nd!

There Davidsonville location is worth taking the kids to!  You might see a neat exotic animal or two nearby!

Planning for IVF again-Step 1

Honestly I didn't think I would be in this position.  41 and trying to have another baby but I believe lots of women today are in this position.  They've had their careers, traveled, and scapbooked their trips to Europe. Me, I've done all those things gratefully never thinking it's time to have kids.  Your getting older.  Watch the clock.  I just didn't do that.  I lived my life.  I don't even think I thought about a baby actually which to me now is kinda scary!

So here I am, I am married with two teen children (my stepchildren but I call them mine!), twins that are five about to enter kindergarten and our senior cute puppy dog Belle.  I love my life most times.  It's busy, and fun, and creative but something in me just isn't settled about trying again for Baby#3.

When they retrieved my eggs and my husband's participation (can't say that), they ended up having three strong embryos.  When I say strong I mean, they grade them, A, B, or C's.  I was told mine were strong A-B's.  Okay great let's put three in.  They told me, I wouldn't recommend that.  You could miscarry one, two or all three and be back to the beginning.  We'll we didn't want that.  They put in two and the rest is history. They froze the other and told me we would get billed every year for the storage of such embryo.  That blessed embryo has been stored and cyrofrozen in Rockville, Md for almost six years!

For the last two years the idea of having a son really appealed to me.  When I was pregnant with twins, I definitely wanted healthy girls.  Two little girls.  It's what I prayed for.  It's what I held far into my highest reaching consciousness and it happened.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude and still am.  When I look at my daughters I am swept away with gratitude.

I know I shouldn't ask for one more of anything but that big happy loving patient part of me wants to do it all over again and succeed.  Here's the plan:

1) We meet with my fertility doctor tomorrow to discuss the impact of this choice.  My age, the age of the embryo, the girls and moving forward with medical appointments.
2) On Day 3 - 5 of my cycle I go into the fertility center (luckily I live close by) to have my blood tested; checking hormone levels.
3) On Day 28 I start my pill pack of light hormones. Birth control pills.  Odd isn't it?  It builds up the lining of the uterus.
4) After completing the pill pack, on Day 1 of the next month, I start hormone shots and progesterone related hormones.  I believe it's for 15 days.
5) Schedule Embryo Transfer.

I'm excited as one can imagine but also very nervous.  I'm actually looking forward to the process, to seeing my doctor and the group of fertility specialists I worked with.  It felt like family there.  The hardest part is waiting.  I'm sure many women find that the longer you wait for something, the more intense the feeling of having that something is.  On with the show.  The countdown to Day 3 is on..............

Because we live next door to the U.S. Naval Academy I decided I'd love a nautical nursery.  Sounds cool right?  I love the sleigh crib which matches our bed in the master bedroom.  I hope and I pray as I go on this journey.  I have ten days to go to begin.

Creating your Magical Dream Board, a Stay-in-Day-kind-of-Project

Dad and Me. Finally-a dream come true!

Before the dream board, I had never had a good relationship with my father.  Many daughters suffer this same issue. We talked. We just weren't close.  He wasn't the father a young woman needed in high school or even growing up as a little girl.  I held onto negativity for years. Many years later, my daughters were born on his 59th birthday and a miracle began to unfold.

My then boyfriend, now husband and I started volunteering at the local shelter in town and this was my first experience starting a dream board.  I was to become a mentor for a shelter mother.  I found it ironic because I found myself stuck, unable to find HOPE. That day I drafted a dream board and connected with my mentee, a woman with three young children, jobless, homeless. Several years later my good friend Joy gave me a special book and the rest is history.

Right now if you live in the northeast part of the country, you may be stuck inside wondering what else can I do?  You might feel negative because your tired of the snow and cold weather.  Your chores are done. Laundry bins are empty.  The kitchen is clean. Closets cleaned out and organized. Groceries purchased for extended lengthy days in hibernation.  St. Patrick's Day decor out and on display. What else is there to do? START A DREAM BOARD. Get out all those old magazines piling up in your living room and put them to use!  You can do one of these with your kids and have fun dreaming!

Have you ever worked on a Dream Board?  Your probably asking me what exactly is a dream board? What do I do?  I came across a dream board several times in my walk (walk in life that is) and asked the same question.  I happen to be going through a trying time in my life when a good friend introduced me to a book called The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes; it was there in that book when I learned I could and needed to create my life story.

Mind blowing!

After I read this I couldn't believe I hadn't done a dream board?  How easy-I could do this I thought and I did.  Here we go. Find a bunch of magazines you subscribe to or coupon magazines that come in the mail. Set a timeline for your dream board and write the timeline on the top (be flexible).  Mine is a lifetime-from now until then.  Yours could be a ten year timeline.  Go back to school.  Start a yoga class.  Put money down on a beach house!  

What do you dream about?  What do you envision?  How much have you thought about this?  The time is now.

Cut magazine titles, pictures, and slogans and paste them onto your dream board using an acid free glue stick. I paste them onto the back of sturdy cardboard. The pictures don't have to be perfectly aligned, pictures side by side.  Put the cut outs wherever the spirit nudges you.  It's your dream board.  When I started my first dream board, I was amazed when looking at it a few years later, how many things occurred. Big things. The home I had dreamed about and visualized, came to fruition.  It was in New York and I was living in it.  The twins I had visualized came true.  I focused and prayed on these visual pictures beforehand-I got serious.  I got grateful for living and the rest was just positive thinking.

It took some work though.  For a dream board to manifest itself, You, the dreamer must do the work.  One important ideal that came from reading the book The Secret was "the power is in your thoughts, so stay aware."  Negative thoughts attract more negative thoughts and bring that experience to you and likewise positive attracts positive.  Everything is energy.  I became keenly aware and still am, how my thoughts attract what I receive.  I try to stay conscious of this always.

Today: I keep my dream board by my bed.  I see it when I go to bed and I see it when I wake up.  I look at it and smile.  It's a culmination of my thoughts and wants and feelings.  It says it all.  Note: there are no fancy cars on my dream board.  I have to change that.  I keep staring at those Range Rovers.  They're neat.  They remind me of being on a safari somewhere glorious.  A big thank you to my dear friend Joy and to my Dad for sliding into home plate.

Beating the Winter Blues...."Seriously!" Ten ways to get out there and feel Happy!

Blues, greens, yellows, it's time for Spring! (bhg.com)

Here are some of the fun and creative ways to beat the winter blues.  I've had them.  I've heard more snow is on the way and when I heard that I thought "Seriously."  That's our family's new saying, "Seriously."  I love it.  The twins are saying it now.

Okay I like snow but seriously enough already.  I usually like winter in stages......I like going to bed early, snuggling and sleeping in, playing in the snow and taking winter walks but I'm done, seriously.  I'm ready for Spring.  I'm ready for flowers to emerge.  I'm ready for my girls to be on the soccer field (we'll.....).  I'm really ready but until then this is what you can and might be able to do to get out of the dreaded winter blues and find some hope for now.

1) Go get your nails done!  I took my youngest daughter yesterday and the nail salon had the door open.  I know why but it didn't matter I felt Spring in the air!  My nails looked great too!  Just taking that extra time to sit under the dryer gave me to time to reflect and pause.  Nature is taking it's course.

2) Go tanning-I plan to do a spray tan but always be safe and exercise caution when tanning.  Having a bit of color reminds us that we are human and not actually a snowman/woman.

3) Go to to your local YMCA and swim.  It's warm inside the center and it reminds you of Summer. Swimming also releases endorphins just the same way running outside does.  It doesn't burn as many calories but you know your getting some form of exercise.  You'll walk out feeling great knowing you did something for you!

4) Walk the mall for exercise. I know it's hard when you may not have the funding to buy all those cute Spring clothes you'll love but eventually the sales will happen and you'll be back!  Seeing folks from all walks of life in the mall puts us back in touch with our true selves.  There are many people who grace our world!

5) Take something to a charity. From my husband's hotel stays, he's accumulated hundreds of sample soaps, lotions, and travel kits.  We pack them up and take them to the Lighthouse Shelter. When you do something good for someone else you feel enlivened and the benefit lasts long after for both parties.

6) Try a new hairstyle.  I know for winter you've had that hair back or in a ponytail all winter.  Maybe now it's time for something new.  I won't reveal it now but the "b" word is making a comeback!  Bangs people. Smile.

7) Try an indoor playground if you have kids.  I know it's for them but you'd be surprised how many playground showrooms allow adults to be kids all over again!  Your feet never have to hit the snow and for a small fee your kids get tired out running on all that green turf stuff!

8) Meet a friend out at your favorite lunchtime spot!  I see so many parents that bring their kids because that's truly their only option for meeting out.  If you can nab your husband working from home one day or a trusty relative that can watch your little one, get out there. My favorite spot for lunchtime happiness, Panera Bread!  The sandwiches and salads melt in your mouth and my Panera has a fireplace.  I love it there and it's a popular place so your bound to see lots of folks dining in happy!  Frontera Chicken sandwich-the Best!

9) Go Spring for your Kitchen!  Looking at some floral rugs for my kitchen always gets me pumped.  I love changing out rugs, pillows, and linens for Springs arrival.  Greens, blues, and a little yellow make me feel color-enlivened.  Go for i!  This living room says welcome.  I love the drapes and how they pull from the pillows.  It's light and airy in this room which boost the spirit.  The hydrangeas in the vase, a bonus!

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

10) Call or visit a relative in need.  Recently I ventured out to visit with my Great Aunt and Great Uncle in Virginia.  They've been married for 60 years.  They are the heart and soul of what "family" means to me.  My daughters have not stopped talking about their visit with them.  It made such an impression and cheered me on for days after.  

I know it's hard, the winter sometimes.  That lack of Vitamin D can push people right back into their houses but try, try, try to get out of the house and do something good for yourself. Beating the winter blues takes one first step and then your there.  Just walk in.  A friendly smile is just around the corner.