green {and purple} with envy

my friend mary has the most beautiful vegetable garden.  i snapped a few pictures from our recent stay with them and wanted to share some of the beautiful egg plant with you!

pretty little things

thought i would give you a peak at a few of my new favorite pretty little things.

i am a collector of many things, and just to clear it up with the hubs - collecting is not hoarding. hehe. i come from a long line of collectors. my great grandfather collected coins and stones. my grandfather has the most extensive stamp collection i have ever seen. my grandmother collected fabric. i could go on and on but you get the point. well a few years ago, i was in my favorite {thrift/vintage/crap/hoarding} store of all time. and one of the the crazy old rednecks that ran the place was talking to another customer about amethyst bottles. i was drawn in instantly. and the next thing i knew i was standing there as if i was in line to be taught the ways of the bottle collector. from that moment on i was hooked. even now, years later i marvel at every amethyst bottle i find. this particular addition to my collection was a gift from one of the kindest people i know. jessica was with me through the early stages of my {obsession/collection}. she listened for hours as i would go on and on about these pre-industrial revolution beauties. where ever we went we were on the search for that glimmer of purple glass. it's so nice and amazing to me that friends like this exist. even though we now live far away, and she's on a travelers budget, her search still continues. now i can say that i have this bottle, which was found by one of my best friends in the cutest little shop in new haven, ct.

while we are on the subject of {presents/bottle obsessions}. mary has been on a creative spree...see her latest creation here. this lady sure knows how to make some beautiful treasures out of beach vacation memories. mary has been making these hand painted bottle and adorning them with shells. i can't get over the color and simplicity of this bottle. it is so perfect and so beautiful. maybe if we all ask nicely she would do a guest DIY for us?!?!?! mary!?!?!? please?!?!?

i mentioned a couple of weeks ago the impromptu trip to the gulf coast to visit with the family and celebrate with my sister. well this is the picture that my grandmother passed along to me that has become my new favorite picture from my childhood. this is me and my great grandfather, my childhood best friend. the house where the hubs and i live now reminds me constantly of the house that my great grandparents lived in when i was a kid. so it's nice to not only feel surrounded by them, but to also see them everyday.

sea shell memories

i just received the most awesome surprise gift from my most favorite mom friends. when i saw the package in the mail box i got super excited but automatically assumed that it was something for the boy. but boy oh boy was i excited to get a little happy in the mail. all the kids (and all the hubs) collected sea shells during our recent trip to long boat key. i have been staring at the boys shell collection wondering what to do with it. (last night we used most of the shells to "beirut" a coiled up object in the tree to determine if it was a snake....it was.)

anyway....i am getting side tracked.

"mama weeks" made these adorable candles out of the shells her cuties collected. i just love them, and there is no way that i can bring myself to burn them. thank you so much, you are so clever.