With the harsh winter New Jersey had this past year, I was worried our rose and berry bushes would take a beating.  I was wrong.  Our berry bushes have grown twice the size they were last year and seem to be producing twice as many berries!  I keep joking that I’ll put a “pick-your-own” sign on our front lawn.  Our roses just recently started to bud and bloom, opening to expose such vibrant colors and fragrant petals.

A recent trip to flower shop with my mother allowed me to finish off decorating our front steps with flowers.  I can’t get enough of my Black Cat Petunias purchased from a local greenhouse.  I found two beautiful glazed ceramic pots on sale over the weekend as well as a fern and fiery orange Impatiens to plant inside them.

I also purchased Marigolds on that trip, a natural pest deterrent.  They were planted in the ground in our backyard earlier this week.  They seem to flourish in our yard becoming as big as small bushes!

Our garden is really starting to strive.  Our garlic will be ready to pick in about another month or so.  Our first row of beets should be ready in just another week or two (I’m so excited!).  Our kale and spinach has taken off.  I need to clip it back and make a fresh saute or salad.  I just wish it didn’t get so “buggy.”  Any tips for natural pesticides to keep the critters away?  We pulled the last of our radishes over the weekend and probably won’t plant anymore until towards the end of the season.  We have two types of peppers and tomatoes in the ground that are just starting to bud.  We loved frying up our peppers in dishes last summer.  And nothing beats a Jersey tomato!

We also have our collection of herb pots and hanging plants and the succulents on the deck.  It’s lovely to see our hard work paying off.  Nothing is better than picking fresh greens, fruits and veggies right from the backyard.  It’s healthier, tastes better and helps pinch pennies!  And the sense of accomplishment as your seeds and little plants start to blossom lends a real sense of pride as you sit back and admire the work you put in that nature took a hand in creating.

Saturday was kind of a bust.  The weather wasn’t too beautiful, I had sinus issues and some work to finish.  Sunday completely made up for that!  We spent the entire day together and most of it outdoors.  We spent the morning washing and waxing the cars, then headed inside to work on a project idea I’ve had hanging on the fridge for a couple months.  Target had a wooden storage box with a chalkboard-painted area on the front for sale in one of their flyers. The box was being used for magazine storage.  My husband always has scrap wood lying around for these projects I come up with so I knew it would be a cheap DIY! We needed new stain so we took a walk to Sears where I picked up a can in the color “Gunstock.”  It’s a beautiful, rich reddish-brown with good cover.

Both sides of my wood are stained and an area has been prepped for my chalkboard.  I can’t wait until this project is completely put together.  I’ll be sure to share a how-to on the blog!  I would love to show you the other project we made together, but being that it’s a Mother’s Day gift I have to hold off.  It was awesome to work on!  Especially when my husband suggested the final touches that gave it a very distinct look and were added with a blow torch!  It looks so good that I kind of want to make one for myself (and have an excuse to use the blow torch again).

After lunch, we took our usual weekend walk by the water and trip to Home Depot.  We’ve seriously been there every weekend, but I think my husband enjoys the fact that I’m into the store now as well.  My husband let me go wild in the flower department, but since I have an upcoming trip to a rather large greenhouse coming up after Mother’s Day, I stuck to a little English Daisy plant to fill an empty pot in the backyard.  My husband found another hummingbird for the garden (he knows how I love them!) and we also bought two pepper plants to put into the ground next month.

Our night ended with homemade ham and cheese calzone for dinner using pizza dough, mozzarella and provolone cheeses and some leftover ham.  I thought I created a pretty excellent calzone.  My husband wasn’t a big fan of the ham I used so next time I’ll try something different.  We rounded the evening off by tying up some loose ends (aka making the shopping list and getting plans together for the week) and a little TV and computer time.

These weekends come and go so quickly.  Being that the weeks fly by pretty fast as well, there’s hope for another for a fast arrival of another nice weekend!

My cousin and I attend Downtown Westfield’s Girls Night Out twice a year. Once in the Spring and again in the Fall. We’ve been registering for this event for about two years and it’s always been a good time out to enjoy discounted meals, drinks and store promotions.  We both agree that the event was disappointing this time around.  But we made due and still had a nice evening out.

One of the better things about Girls Night Out was the more organized set up of checking in.  Pretty tissue paper flowers lined the wall and welcomed guests as they found the table marked with their last name’s initials.  In prior years, we received some awesome guest gifts.  While I don’t want to complain about a freebie, receiving an umbrella and tote was far less exciting than the knotted earrings we received in the Fall from South Moon Under.

We headed to our Girls Night Out spot, Jeffrey’s of Westfield, for dinner.  Their GNO menu usually consists of a specially priced drink menu and 1/2 price appetizers.  The drinks were still their usual rates, but weren’t offering 1/2 price appetizers this time.  We liked to share a variety of appetizers, but had a hard time deciding on our meal.  While we were limited on the selection due to my cousin’s pregnancy restrictions, the appetizers weren’t very exciting choices anyway.  After much deciding, we chose to split an order of chicken fingers and a bacon cheddar burger with a side of sweet potato fries.  

While Jeffrey’s food is usually a delicious sampling, we were very disappointed with this visit.  The best thing I had was my Black Cherry Cosmo.  Our chicken fingers were bland and dry and thankfully came with a side of honey mustard.  The burger was initially brought to us undercooked when it was specified to be medium-well.  My cousin had to send back her half to be cooked more.  The bacon that topped the burger was overcooked to the point of blackness.  I could hardly cut through it with a knife while splitting the burger in half.  The sweet potatoes fries were okay, but I would have preferred them to be cooked more as well.

We have never had a bad meal there until now.  Maybe it was a rough night or different chef, but I think we’ll be exploring other options. 

 
After our meal, it was time to shop.  The Alex and Ani store was holding a grand opening.  We had both hoped to purchase new bracelets, but couldn’t get near the store.  There was a line wrapped around the building to get in.  We’re downtown enough that we decided to just go to the store another time.

We stopped in Papyrus for a card and to have a look around.  They were offering 20% off gift items.  Just as we were about to leave the store, we saw a candle display.  We were told they were part of the 20% off promotion.  I bought a Pomegranate & Pineapple scented candle that smells amazing and fresh for the upcoming Summer season. 

We then headed to Le Bain Boutique, a natural and organic bath and body boutique I discovered through an Instagram follow from them (thank you for that!).  The store was offering a shopping discount plus free gift with purchase.  They also had beverages and bites and a photo booth set up (love the “hot mess” sign!).  The store itself is quite gorgeous with a beautiful stone sink set in the middle of the store so customers can try before they buy.  Always a hand cream junkie, I bought myself a 100% natural honey and almond lotion and a fresh cut bar of grapefruit soap.  My purchase came with free bath bombs and a couple Lollia “Breathe” samples.  Le Bain is definitely a store I will visit again and again if not just to stop and smell….basically everything in the store!

We visited our friends in Savory Spice Shop where John’s Meat Market and Charlie Thyme demoed pulled pork and infused cocktails, respectively.  We stopped to say hello at the drink station and I got to sample a delicious frozen peach bellini.  Our visit to Savory was also one of necessity as I was fresh out of their Italian Dressing Blend and wanted to see if they had a Ranch blend.  I was offered the Foothills Salad Seasoning, the closest thing to it.  My purchase came with a sample of Sequoia Canyon Parmesan Pepper Mix.  It’s a seasoning that sounds like it will come in quite handy while preparing meats on the grill!

We ended our evening with a free scoop of ice cream at Coldstone since the other shops we were hoping to visit were closed for the evening.  Another disappointment considering these shops had also offered promotions for the event. 

Our evening ended much earlier than we had expected, but we brought home a few goodies.  While I think it’s great that the crowds bring a boost in small business and the local market, we’ve both wondered if we’ll continue to register for this event in the future.  As I’ve said, we both frequent the downtown area a lot throughout the year.  We may just stick to visits during the week, during regular hours with far less crowds and frustration.