Twin Topiaries

I don't know about you, but I have become a fan of faux greenery over the past few years. I love having pops of green scattered throughout my home. 

While I would love to have real plants in my home, it is just not possible. As many of you know, I live in the woods and due to that fact, my home does not get much natural light. I have tried  a couple different houseplants over the years but  haven't had much success with them.  

So, I was excited when I was contacted by a company called HedgeScapes asking if I would like to give an honest review of one of their products. I decided to go have a look around to see if they had anything I wanted. I only wanted to choose a product that I knew I would use and enjoy. I was thrilled to see they had topiaries. 

I have always loved topiaries! These came in a set of two which was even better. I put my request in and received my package promptly. I was excited to open it and see if they looked as realistic as they had online. 

I was not disappointed. They look very realistic, from the foliage, to the stem and even the pot looks like it has dirt in it. The clay pots are really nice as well. 

When I ordered them, I had intentions of using them in my bedroom after we remodel, but since we aren't finished with that project, I decided to use them in the dining room for the holidays. I couldn't bear to leave them sitting in the box for months.

I really do love them! I have been asked to review a few products over the years and have only done so a couple of times. I won't review anything I wouldn't consider purchasing myself. 

I recently updated this space with my new cow pictures above the buffet, so here's a couple shots of it now. I am in love with the whole look!

I hope you enjoyed as well. 

If you are like me and like using faux greenery around your house, you may want to check out HedgeScapes for yourself. 

Again, I received these topiaries in exchange for my honest review of these products. 

If you are a blogger and are interested in reviewing a HedgeScapes product yourself, leave me a message and I will direct you to the representative.

I have lots of life updates I hope to share soon. I hope you are all well and have a wonderful week!

Until next time.....

Weekend Recap and a Winner!

Hello friends and happy Monday to you!

I was hoping to get a chance to blog over the weekend but it just didn't happen. As most of you know, I have been battling sickness for nearly a month...Wednesday will make 4 weeks. I went to the doctor last week and was prescribed three different medications that seem to have helped somewhat but unfortunately have not totally taken care of things. This cough is stubborn! Anywho, when I went to pick up my scripts, I couldn't help but check out the beautiful flowers they had for sale. I wanted one of everything, but that didn't happen. 

Aren't the hanging baskets gorgeous?

That's what I chose...a double impatien.

It's so pretty and I love the color.

Friday evening, the hubby and I went to Lake City to buy groceries. We had supper at Panda Express, then ran to the mall so I could pick up some Bath & Body Works candles. They are my favorite! I had to go through TJ Maxx to go in the mall and of course I had to look around. I was checking out the home decor aisles when I rounded the corner and I spotted the sweetest cow print! I think I squealed because the hubby was wondering what was wrong with me...lol! My heart skipped a beat and I immediately ran over, grabbed it and put it in my cart. 

Isn't she the sweetest? I named her Blossom. My grandparents had a cow named Blossom when I was younger. She lived to be very old...I think she was around 20 or more when she died. She was not this color but considering this cow is surrounded by blooms, I thought Blossom was the perfect name for her.

I had been wanting to replace the floral print I had on this wall for a while and I had also been wanting the perfect cow picture for a while as well so I didn't even have to justify my purchase. I absolutely love how it looks on the dark wood walls. It is perfection in my eyes and I smile every time I look at it.

I took down all the Easter decor over the weekend which meant I needed to give the buffet a new look. This is what I came up with. The hubby was a sweetie and repainted my lamps for me with my white milk glass paint. They are so pretty!

I shopped the house to put together a look that I love. 

I am really loving my galvanized perpetual calendar I picked up at Dollar General for $5. 

Look at that sweet face...:)

And speaking of sweet faces...

Rooster & Sadie modeled their party hats my niece Taylor made for them. She had a Gotcha Day party to celebrate her dog June's adoption day. My dogs did not go to the party because they don't do well with a crowd of dogs but she sent them hats and treats. They loved the treats...the hats...not so much. This was as good as it was going to get. LOL!

Here's a funny picture from the party I got off Miranda's blog...My Restless Soul. From left to right....Taylor & June, Miranda & Bell, and Shelby & Violet. All the dogs are adopted rescue dogs. Taylor & Shelby are my nieces. You probably remember me sharing their weddings. Taylor got married in January and Shelby got married last year in March, I love this picture!

Here's one before they got too rowdy. Aren't they cute in their hats?

I had a wonderful weekend overall. I worked in my classroom for a few hours Saturday and managed to get caught up on lots of things I had gotten behind on during the last month while I've been sick. Saturday evening was pretty lazy...just piddling around for a bit. Sunday I worked on some projects for school which I will share soon and then went to the Gotcha party for a bit at my sister's house. I love a weekend spent mostly at home. 

I want to thank each of you who participated in the jellybean estimation fun. It was fun for me each time I read a comment and saw your guess. When Linda commented first and guessed 266, I was pretty sure she was going to be the winner. She was after all only 7 numbers off! But then, Carol guessed 278, which was one number less than my estimate when I played and won. The actual number was 273,  so that put Carol two numbers closer than Linda and made her the winner. Had she guessed 279 which was my estimate, both she and Linda wound have won. It was super fun and I hope you all enjoyed playing along! I will be contacting you soon Carol. Congratulations!

Thank you all for visiting today! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Until next time.....

 

 

Weekend Recap

Hello friends! Welcome back to Willie Mae Lane. I am so glad I have gotten back to blogging. I missed it so much but maybe the break was what I needed. Anywho, I just got home from my first day back to work after my spring break. It was a very good day...Mondays usually are though. I think attitude determines how your day will flow so I try to start each one with a positive attitude. Today I want to share my weekend with you.

Saturday began with my 8:00 AM workout. After that, I dashed home to shower and get ready to head to Gainesville. When I posted last, I mentioned that I was going to see Beauty and the Beast on Saturday with some of my family. I picked  up my sister Nancy and my Aunt Loretta and we headed to Gainesville to meet my daughter Miranda and my sister's girls, Shelby and Taylor. They all live there. 

We met at Square 1, which is a great place to eat. They have wonderful, unique burgers which is what I usually get, but this time I tried something different. I had the Aloha Chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries. The sandwich was a grilled ground chicken patty with applewood smoked bacon, grilled pineapple, and a terryaki & ginger sauce on it. Oh my was it delicious!

After lunch, we went to see Beauty and the Beast. I had pre-ordered our tickets because we didn't want to risk not getting them. The movie was outstanding! It is my favorite Disney movie of all time and I didn't think they could do anything to improve it, but they did. They added some parts that gave a little more history of both Belle and the Beasts lives. It was so very good and I will definitely purchase this one when it is released.

I picked up an order from Pier 1 while I was in Gainesville. I had to put my blinders on when I went in the store because they had all their spring decor out and oh my...everything was so gorgeous!

I loved this sweet place setting!

I went in for this though! I had mentioned here a couple months ago that I really wanted this tiered tray for my coffee cart but I thought it would be too big. Well, I decided I just had to have it so I ordered it online while there was a 15% off sale going on and just picked it up in the store. I do not regret my decision to purchase this piece. This piece is so versatile and can be used for many things over the years. 

I LOVE it! Galvanized and copper...does it get any better?

Here it is styled for spring.

After I got home Saturday evening, the hubby and I went to visit his mom and her boyfriend. She is doing very well with her treatments. She is finished with chemo and will finish radiation this week. She has tolerated the treatments so well. The only issue she had was a blood clot where her port was placed so they removed it. She hasn't lost her hair yet either and the doctors told her she probably won't at this point. She will have to wait three months for another scan to see if the treatments worked and I'm sure waiting won't be easy. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. They mean so much!

Sunday I piddled around the house finishing little projects, tweaking my decor and so on. I was itching to paint something else with the milk glass paint I purchased last week. This lamp was already painted white, but as you can see in the picture, it was quite dingy. The paint had a flat finish and dust was hard to get off. 

So, I sprayed it with the milk glass paint and it is so pretty now! It will be easier to clean now as well.

I added one of my old ladders to the end of the sofa to hold blankets. I am enjoying this addition to the living room. I also moved the tulips from the dining table to the coffee table. 

They look so pretty..... I wish I could keep fresh tulips here all the time!

I purchased this adorable frame at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and printed a picture of the hubby and I to clip in it for now. This is an old picture but one of my favorites. 

I purchased this piece at Hobby Lobby after the movie on Saturday to put in the new tiered tray from Pier 1. I decided to paint it since it was the same color as the tray. 

So, I used the new jade paint I purchased at the same time as the milk glass paint. It looks so pretty. I also picked up the sweet little white egg at Hobby Lobby.

The hubby and I had an awful craving for some warm home baked cookies, so I whipped up a batch. I hardly ever bake anymore since we are eating healthier most of the time. Every now and then though, you have to have a really good treat.

I was craving chocolate chip cookies but had none on hand, so I improvised. I had some Wilton Candy Melts left over in the freezer from Christmas. I substituted the buttered toffee flavored ones for chocolate chips in my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I also added chopped pecans to half the batch and oh my, were they delicious! I think they were better than chocolate chip!

We both love chewy cookies and these fit the bill! Here's the hubby's plate with his milk. I'm not a milk drinker! I still have some of the candy melts in the freezer as well as some salted caramel ones for when we get a craving again. 

I picked this little box up at Harbor Freight on Friday when the hubby and I went to town. I wanted it for an organization project in my craft room.

I have been picking up sequins in the Target Dollar Spot each season when they get new colors. The containers they come in will not stay together after you pull the tape off, so I thought these little boxes would be perfect to store them in.

Lots of room to grow! There are 24 boxes and I only filled 9 of them.

I labeled the box with my handy dandy label maker...still one of my favorite thrifting finds of all time!

I enjoyed my spring break so much. I didn't do much away from home, but it was nice to have the time off from the stress of work. Teaching is fun and rewarding in many ways, but we teachers have an incredible amount of stress on us too. So much is expected of us and our students and when you teach in a high poverty area like I do, the stress is even greater. I do love my job and am not complaining, but these breaks help me get through the year. This school year is fast coming to an end...I can't believe we only have about 10 weeks of school left!

Thank you so much for visiting. 

I hope you all have a lovely week.  I hope to keep posting on a fairly regular basis so I will see you again soon!

Until then.....