Terrariums, Cooking, and Watercolors

Brad says that I have to start this blog with an apology for being a lazy blogger. I don't really want to, though. I certainly appreciate anyone who clicks on this blog and spends a few minutes with me, but I hope you also understand that sometimes life gets in the way of blogging, especially when the blog is a hobby.

 I have six weeks left of this school year and then a glorious summer stretches out before me. There will be lazy days by the pool, walks to the library, building a house on a church mission trip, and a girl's trip to Florida. There will be dinners on the balcony with Brad and date nights sprinkled in here and there. There will be baking and crafting. There will be no alarm clock. There will be renewal and refreshment for my being.  Until then, please hang in there. I do have lots to say and lots of things have been happening. It may be that I haven't gotten permission to write about them yet or that I don't have the words (or the courage) yet.  Please be patient with me.

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This weekend I finally got around to planting some things. I had some petunias that Brad's mom gave us for Easter that I planted (no pictures) and this bonsai-like tree (from Ikea!) that I finally planted in my amazing glass jar from Target. I'm still staring at it and deciding if I like it or not. I feel like the tree should sit a little lower in the jar, but the roots are preventing that. As a result, I kind of want to cut off part of the tree. I also want to do away with the rocks and lay down some moss in there. I'll keep you posted.  Your thoughts, of course, are always appreciated and welcomed.

 A miracle occurred last night--I felt like cooking dinner! I quit pinteresting and cooked.  And, readers, it was amazing.  I have a weakness for the McCormick seasoning packs because they make a recipe foolproof and delicious every single time. You can do a test-run with a recipe before you buy huge jars of all the spices required. I'll let you in on a secret--I own probably three to four kinds of Mrs. Dash and the spices needed for pumpkin pie. That's it. I'm working on my kitchen skills and expanding the list of foods I'll eat, so these spice packs are perfect. They also include a recipe card to hang on to.

 Make this dinner and try to tell me it's not amazing.

Excuse the cell phone pictures (I'm sure you're used to them by now)

and look at this delicousness.

Brad and I also sat down last night to continue watching the Back to the Future trilogy and I did a bit of crafting. I recently purchased some watercolor paper and played around with my watercolor pencils. I'm nowhere near as good as Liz and the cards that she makes, but she inspires me to keep trying.

One of my favorite stamps.

Experimenting with background color.

What craftiness have you been up to lately? Any tips for working with watercolors?

--Melanie