I'm Crushing on Succulents

Every time I go to the nursery I see more and more wonderful succulents.

I picked up a couple last weekend to put into this cream and sugar set

I picked up at a thrift shop years ago.  Now they are at home on a wicker

table on the veranda.

I moved this bowl of succulents to a place that has more protection 

because they were getting too soggy.   Hopefully they will be 

happier here.

I bought a hen and chicks plant for this shell above.  I need more plants now!

I also did not realize that I need cactus soil, so that is on my list now too

along with some sand and more pebbles.

I found this YouTube video and I want to plant by dough bowl like this

now too.  It's a great project and a good video, but you will need to wait

for a short commercial for it to begin.

Don't y'all want to try this?  I sure do!

Happy planting.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

My Shabby Chic Teacup Wreath

Hi ~ it's been a while!  I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day

weekend.  We did.  Lots of rest and relaxation and some great time

spent with friends.  I did some more shopping for the garden.  I 

planted two knockout rose bushes and am adding some ornamental

grasses to a new bed.  But I am most excited about the shabby chic

teacup wreath I created for my office/studio door.  

If you remember last Thursday's post, I showed you the little tea set

I purchased with the idea of incorporating it into a wreath.

Well .... here it is.

I had so much fun hunting for the right flowers and looking for ribbon.

I bought a new grapevine wreath too and sprayed it off white.

I had so much fun putting this together.  I hope you like it as much as

I do.

Wow Us Wednesday

Can't wait to show you my succulent planter too.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

An Idea for a New Craft Project

I recently had an idea for a wreath to hang on the door of my office/studio.

I decided to use tea pots and teacups as my theme, so I started hunting for

tea cups and then it dawned on me that a child size tea set would be ideal.

I went onto eBay and found this adorable set.  It arrived in the mail today.

This gardening wreath is what really got me dreaming about theme 

wreaths.  You may recall this one I shared on the blog a few weeks ago.

I spend so much time in my office, especially since I have been hard at

work doing research for my book ~ which by the way is a mystery ~ and

I am completely caught up in the personality of my protagonist and the

murder she attempts to solve.  Everything I have in this space is meant

to encourage my creative pursuits and it's truly my hideaway and I only

share it with Bentley.  I always have music playing in the background, and

I often have a cup of tea by my iMac, and Bentley is usually curled up

in his favorite chair by the window.   It's a shabby chic, cottage style 

type of Zen.  

It's a good spot for reading too and I keep a stack of some of my very 

favorite mysteries in the bookcase.  

For many years, I wondered and searched the answers to my longing to find

the true meaning of my life.  Now I know, and my my mind and my heart is

just over flowing with ideas.  I believe that this little room in my house has

been a conduit for all this creative activity and I treasure every moment I

spend here.

I hope to gather all the supplies I need to create this special wreath over

the weekend.  I plan to share it with you next week.  It will be a signal that

once you pass through the doorway and it's teacup wreath, you will be

entering my special creative Zen Zone where hopes and dreams come

to life.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Sometimes Life Can Be Bittersweet

Recently, David and I were talking about a couple who we knew years ago

before we were married.  We met this couple while sitting around the pool of

our apartment complex.  The four of us instantly hit it off and we started doing

lots of things together.  Their names were Ken and Kathy.

They were a well educated, professional couple who had been living

abroad with Marathon Oil and were now back in the states and living

at this complex full of upwardly mobile and mostly single twenty somethings.

There were barbecues and parties around the pool every weekend and 

Ken and Kathy just fit in and had fun for a time.  

They were married and we were engaged, so our days at the swinging

single apartment complex were numbered as we were all looking to put

down more permanent and stable roots.  They were looking for a house

to buy in the West University area and we were looking there too.  Kathy

found a house first and we spent Saturdays going to tag and garage sales

looking for things to fill up their home.

We still managed to do fun things together as a couple and I have

very fond memories of the time we all rented a condo down in Galveston

for Mardi Gras.  We stood in a huge crowd of people and listened to

Otis Day and the Knights sing the iconic song Shout.

Kathy and I sang our hearts out along with Otis.  It was so much

fun and I will never forget it!

Kathy is the one who helped me find this wonderful hutch that lives

in my breakfast room.  We found it at a garage sale in West University,

and it has been with me at our homes in Virginia and Idaho and now

back in Texas.  Kathy bought a vintage car for Ken and had it restored

as a surprise for him.  When it was finished, we all got dressed up and

drove the car on our way to dinner.   Fun times, great memories.

David accepted a new job in Virginia and after our wedding we took off

for our new life there leaving Ken and Kathy behind in Texas.  We managed

to stay in touch and visited with them the first couple times we came 

back to Houston for a visit.  Then they moved again and we moved to

Idaho and unfortunately, the four of us loss touch.  

A week or so ago, David and I were sitting around talking and the

subject of Ken and Kathy came up.  I was determined to find them and

discovered an address for them in one of the coastal towns on the

Texas Gulf coast.  We found a Facebook page for Ken and so David

sent him a message.

Ken responded, but the news he shared was sad.   He lost Kathy a couple

of years ago.  He lost a wife, and we lost an old friend.  Oh how I wish we

had searched for them sooner.  

I have been thinking of Kathy since I heard the news yesterday.  She was

a sweet, cheerful and fun loving person.  I have such fond memories of

her.  Kathy, if you can hear me now, one more time, this one is for you ...

Till we meet again.  I hope that we can sing to this song

together in Heaven.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Anti-Aging Skin Care For Free!

Here is a photo of me back in my twenties visiting the ruins of the

old fort in Manama, Bahrain.  I was young and beautiful.  No, I am not

bragging, everyone is beautiful in their twenties.  Super slim, long hair,

deep dark tan. Young, beautiful and stupid!  Why stupid?  Because 

here I am standing out in the hot and blistering sun in midday and no doubt,

not wearing sunscreen!  My idea of skin care back then was a quick shower,

throwing on some lotion, shorts and a tee and heading out the door.  I,

like others who are young, thought I had all the time in the world and

that aging was just not in my future.

Jump ahead to 2017 and I have a completely different perspective.

Now I take care of myself and learn all I can to slow down the 

aging process.  So, let me share with you what I have learned 

about how to care for your skin and slow down and help prevent

the dreaded wrinkles and sagging that the passing of the years

can bring.

First of all, not everything we do to look younger must have a big

price tag.  Many of the things we can tweak to make us look

younger are free or close to being free!

1.  SLEEP BABY SLEEP

During sleep our bodies repair tissues.  Sleeping less than 7 hours per

night can prevent us from rebuilding the collagen that keeps wrinkles

at bay and helps to prevent the dreaded sag.  Sleep heals and restores and

aids in flushing out toxins.  How can we help ourselves to get a good

night's sleep?  Turn off the TV (I know that most of us have them in our

bedrooms) because the TV is not our bedtime friend.  Keep the room as

dark as possible.  Get a sleep mask to block out the light from clocks,

street lights, etc.  A sleep mask works wonders for me.

Also, sleep on your back if you can.  Dreaded chest wrinkles can be

avoided by doing this one little thing.  I try to do it, but so far I have

been unsuccessful.  I start out on my back, but during the night I end

up on my side.  Hopefully, you will have more luck than I.

2.  ADD SUPER FOODS TO YOUR DIET

I start almost every day with a bowl of slow cooked oatmeal and

a handful (well, more than a handful because I am an overachiever)

of berries.  I love raspberries and blueberries.  I buy frozen because

they are picked ripe and freezing keeps their vital nutrients fresher

longer.  

Learn to love salmon.  It's on every anti-aging diet regimen I have

read.  Get it fresh, frozen or canned.  Grill it, bake it, use it in salads.

Salmon is heart healthy and full of Omegas that help keep our skin

plump and happy.

Eat your leafy green veggies.  My husband will be cringing right

now if he is reading this.  He is not a fan, but I am, so I often eat veggies

for lunch.  

Other super foods are walnuts and almonds.  Other fatty fishes like 

tuna and sardines.  Slow cooked oatmeal is good too.  

While on the subject of superfoods, let's talk about wine.  There are

many studies that show that the resveratrol in red wine is beneficial

to our health.  I am not disputing those studies, however I also know

that too much of a good thing can be bad for us and will be wrinkle

producing.  Alcohol in all forms is dehydrating and we need to

remember the old saying from biology class ~ a turgid cell is a happy

cell.  Let's keep those skin cells fat and happy!  So, limit that glass

of wine or spirits to one, or not at all.  We want to always be

friendly to our livers too if we want it to keep clearing out the toxins.

Also, cut back on sugar.  Sugar is not our friend in the anti-aging

battle!

3.  SLATHER ON THAT SUNSCREEN!

There is no doubt that the very most important anti-aging skin care

we can purchase is sunscreen.  We need to wear it every day, all day,

365 days a year.  It doesn't matter if it's cloudy because the rays of

the sun sneak right through and onto our skin.  Although we are 

talking about wrinkles here, we want to prevent skin cancer too.

Don't forget to reapply!

4. LEARN TO LOVE HATS

Last summer when we were staying up in Austin at the Barton Creek Resort,

David bought me this hat with UVA protection built into the fibers.  I wear it 

when I am working out in the garden along with my sun glasses and my

sunscreen.  Lots of long sleeve swim shirts come with UVA protection in 

the fabric fibers also.  Check them out!

5. EXERCISE!!!

Exercise keeps us lean and limber.  It aids with keeping our bones strong 

and our hearts healthy, but did you know that it also thickens our dermis?

Well it does and a thicker dermis means less wrinkling and sagging.  

The outer layer of our skin ~ the stratum corneum, is what we see when we

look in the mirror. The dermis lies underneath providing support for what

we see.  As we age, this dermis gets thinner and loses its cushioning

effect.  The good news is that no matter what our age right now, we

can build up our dermis with exercise and we can do it in just a few 

short months!!!  I am going to send you to this LINK where you can

read for yourself.  Now you have no excuse not to exercise if you are

serious about keeping your skin looking beautiful.

Next time I will talk about lotions and potions that help to

turn back the clock, but remember that although there are

products that we can slather on our skin to help us to look younger,

a good healthy foundation is what we all need.  No lotion or

potion will help us look younger if we don't sleep, eat a 

healthy diet, forget to protect our skin from the sun and refuse to

exercise.  

We all want our houses to look their best and we want to 

look our personal best too.  To give you a jump start on this 

process I want to introduce you to my favorite YouTube anti-aging

personality, Angie from Hot and Flashy Over 50.  Some of

you already know her, and if you do not, you will find her

no nonsense approach to anti-aging refreshing.  You can read

her blog HERE and you may visit her YouTube channel

HERE.

Every 28 days we have a chance to build healthier and younger

looking skin.  It's never too late to get on track!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Let's Talk Wrinkles Over Lunch in the Garden

Let's have lunch in the garden because in a week or two it will probably

too hot to sit out here.  Normally, I like to set tables with either a blue

and white theme, or a red and white theme, but in the garden I love

to use pinks and greens.  My potted geranium is doing well right now.  It's

one of the few flowers that will last through the scorching hot days ahead.

The pinks and greens look so pretty out here.  They look fresh and

young and sweet.  

Lately I have been thinking about how fast the days go by and what

lies ahead for me.  I was chatting with a childhood friend last week and

we were discussing the news that yet another old school mate had passed

away.  The death of a peer is hard to accept.  What happened?  Why

so young?  It certainly makes me think about my own mortality and

the quality of my life.

Aging I suppose, is inevitable, and I don't know about you, but

I am working on preserving what I have for as long as I can. 

Like this geranium, I want to stay healthy and vibrant and full of

life for as long as I can.  So starting tomorrow, I want to start sharing

what I have learned about health and beauty and how to preserve it.

I'm not talking about looking and dressing like a 20 something forever,

but looking and feeling good for as long as we can.  

Several years ago, while still living back in Idaho, I was in

the Boise Co-Op's supplement department and started chatting

with an older woman.  She confessed to me that she was in her 80's

and I was stunned at how beautiful her skin still was and she was

so youthful and vibrant that I knew I wanted to look like her one day.

She shared with me that she never thought about her age, and only

thought about eating a healthy diet and walked every single day

rain or shine.  She told me that staying active and interested in life

was her key to remaining youthful.

I have done quite a bit of research on skin care and diet and want to 

share what I have learned with you.  I hope you will feel free to add to

the discussion too.  What really prompted me to bring this topic up

was Katie over at Let's Add Sprinkles who posted on Facebook that

she had a dream about hooded eyes.  I commented about a YouTube

channel I watch and Laura over at White Spray Paint watches the same

channel and others as well.  Anti-aging skin care and make-up tips are

something many of us are interested in, so let's share what we have

learned!  See you back here tomorrow.

Tablescape Thursday

Vintage Charm

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Southern Charm, Southern Gossip

Here's what's common in the South ~ grandma's rocking chair on the

porch, sweet tea, slow cooked ribs, green beans with bacon and onion,

and gossip!

Even if you are from a big, sophisticated city up North, you will soon

find yourself caught up in the colorful local tales.  In my small city, everyone

seems to know everyone else going back for generations.  This is not the 

kind of gossip that is limited to the older generation.  Twenty somethings

know who is who, and what happened to whom, and so on.  It's a tradition

that is cherished and nurtured from one generation to the next.  No one is

immune and men gossip too.

Of course it does help that there seems to be a large pool of very 

colorful, larger than life type characters.  How do they evolve I wonder?

Is it the hot sun and the steamy nights that breeds fascinating

characteristics in a person?  Does the relentless heat slow everyone

down so much that people pay much closer attention to what one

is doing, and with whom?  

While I find it all quite fascinating, I am very careful not to be too active

a participant.   I'm currently just sitting back and enjoying the drama.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

My Daisy Gardenias

I stopped by a favorite nursery on Saturday and found two 

Daisy Gardenia bushes.  I have placed them in the large planter

boxes on either side of the garden steps leading up to the French

doors of the guest bedroom.  This area is just off the patio and is

reached by a flagstone path.  

The blossoms are a bit smaller than on a standard Gardenia bush,

 and they turn to a pale yellow as they start to fade.  My are they

fragrant!  The entire patio is blessed by their perfume.

Look at their sweet faces.  They tolerate partial shade which is just perfect

for this area.  They bloom from mid May through July.  

My Impatiens are doing well so far.  I have to watch them carefully

because the snails love them.  A woman at the nursery told me to 

sprinkle salt around the plants and the snails will not bother them.  I 

hope this technique works.  I don't like to use snail bait because it

is deadly for the birds.

Speaking of birds, I am trying to attract more hummingbirds to the

garden, so I planted this trailing Vinca.

The weather here is crazy today.  Lots of wind blowing moisture up

from the Gulf of Mexico which is predicted to create havoc when it

meets with the cold front that is working its way down to west Texas

from Colorado and New Mexico.  Hope we can avoid it!

Wow Us Wednesday

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

My Love Affair With The Lamp

I'm not quite sure exactly when my love affair with lamps began, but

I know that it has been a very long and lasting relationship.  Every lamp

I have ever loved has possessed a distinct one of a kind personality.

I have lots and lots of lamps.  David loves to tease me about how

many we have, but I can't seem to help myself when I see one that

I think is unique and adds an extra bit of charm to a room.  

In our family room, den, great room, or whatever you choose to call

it, I have lots of lamps that are designed to give the room the old 

English country house look.  There are lots of corners to grab a book

and curl up by the soft glow of an old lamp.

There are lamps that give warmth to nooks and crannies.

A lamp that shines over the shoulder unto the Wall Street Journal

or a good book, or to complete the crossword puzzle.

A lamp that lights up a table between two easy chairs.

Of course there is a bit of an equestrian theme going on here too.

And here.

And here ....

And here too.  

So that's our room with lamps aglow.  It's cloudy out today, so we

really need the extra light.

Before it begins to rain (always a possibility) I am going to head out

to the garden to pot some flowers to attract and feed the hummingbirds.

Until next time!

Inspire Me

The Scoop

Bentley ~ it's your job this afternoon to chase away the squirrels

from the feeder so that the birds can eat too.  I know Bentley will

gladly accept the job.

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley