Look How Much Spring Five Dollars Buys You

Christmas decs came down yesterday and now the house is looking kinda bare. Working on more permanent ways to remedy that, like perhaps some new artwork and some kind of festive-in-a-non-holidays-way treatment for the front window. I don't know if I'm ready to go full-on spring quite yet; I kind of feel like we've been robbed of winter thus far. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not missing the bitter cold, but a bit more snow to help enjoy cozy days inside would be alright, until it's the proper time of year. It's been so warm, my daffs came up, I think it was early December, and that kind of weirds me out.

But regardless, I couldn't resist this bouquet at Whole Foods yesterday, for $5! They must have been cleaning out the cooler post holidays. Way more that $5 worth of loveliness here. And actually, it's not really too spring-y. Just every so cheery.

♡,

Erin

P.S. I am loving the Hipstamatic Foodie SnapPak. I think it's $.99. As you can see, it's great for flower shots too!

Growing Gifts

I hope everyone in the States had an excellent Thanksgiving yesterday. We are in Illinois for the long weekend. We had a traditional turkey dinner yesterday with Greg's family and today we're on to a beef roast with mine. Monday I think I will be on to some sort of in-between-holiday detox and workout regimen. As today is Black Friday, tomorrow is Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday will be here before we know it, I wanted to share the paperwhite forcing gift sets I put into Little Green Vintage earlier in the week. 

I have two single bulb sets in these lovely silver goblets. Just the perfect size to snug the bulb in with just a bit of room below for water. They are engraved "Gene & Shirley 10-1-83", probably wedding favors once upon a time, and come tied off with vintage red and blue taffeta bows. 

I also have one three bulb set in this frosted Diamond Point pattern Indiana Glass compote, finished with a big bow of vintage silver ribbon and polished creamy colored river rocks for nestling the bulbs in.

All sets come gift wrapped. (And I'll soon have a gift wrapping option with the same basic materials available for everything else in the shop too, should you want to gift any of the other vintage goodies I've got on offer.) Inside a lidded gift box, vintage dictionary and silver tissue shred keep things padded and safe (compote will be bubbled and wrapped in tissue for extra protection). Bulbs are wrapped in tissue and tied up with twine and forcing instructions.  

Gift then comes wrapped in silver tissue and embellished with jute twine, green and white sparkle-infused baker's twine, a silver chenille stem star, white gift tag, and sprig of fresh cedar. 

All right, it's official, I've got the spirit. Bring on the rest of the holly-days!

♡,

Erin

How My Garden Grew

Well, there was no hot sunshine nor pool involved in my trip to Florida. It poured rain my entire visit, until Monday when I flew home. However there were plenty of birthday cupcakes, and it was wonderful to meet our newborn niece and play, play, play with the 3rd birthday girl.

The day before I left, I took these pics of the front garden. I had just replaced some spent summer plants with some new specimens including these violas and the cabbage below. 

And this fuchsia celosia.

More work to do for sure next spring and summer towards my English cottage-y vision. 

Don't have the variety name at hand, but I swear this is the most gorgeous orange mum I've ever met.

Things are looking a bit shabbier now two weeks on, however my dahlias are still going strong. (You knew there'd be dahlias. Seriously, I am so smitten with these flowers.)

Putting together this post has definitely given me some needed cheer. It was a chilly, rainy day here in Oh-hi-yo. It feels like winter is right around the corner.

My dad is currently visiting and we're back at refinishing the finished side of our basement. The good news is it's starting to look more like rooms and less like a multi-chambered dungeon.

Apologies for being a bad blogger for the last almost two weeks. I just needed a bit of a break from the interwebs. (Well, I definitely didn't go completely cold turkey, I'm way too addicted for that. But I did cut back some.) But it's good to be back.

♡,

Erin 

Golden Highlights

This weekend we were back at the basement, this time with help from Greg's Mom and Dad. But there was an escape from the dungeon (as I'm sort of starting to think of it) by Greg's Mom and I long enough to take in the Farmer's Market (as per the usual for me, as you already know).

I've wanted to try one of Sassafras Bakery's (super cute website) lovely goodies for awhile. As by the time we were ready to pack it in and return home, it was nearly 11:00 and I was still sans breakfast, I finally just couldn't resist any longer, and upon being told it was the last chance, brought home this gorgeous peach basil scone. (Last chance because Ohio peaches are nearly gone till next year. Boo.) And oh boy, it was as good as it looks! 

Also on offer at the market was the new fall edition of Edible Columbus, published quarterly and devoted to covering the wonderful producers and purveyors in the region.

So before getting back to work, I brewed up a cup and took a load off. (I swear the sweet fall palette of this assemblage is a happy coincidence!) 

So happy to see Honeyrun Farm featured! (See previous Farmer's Market tribute.)

(At risk of it seeming like this blog is completely devoted to farmers markets and dahlias) later in the afternoon I plucked these lovelies from my own front garden!...

and jammed them into a few little arrangements for around the house. I've been hooked on fresh flowers on the dining table for quite awhile now, and after sticking some in the office and spare bedroom for the benefit of our Labor Day weekend guests, I've now gotten used to peeking into these rooms and having cheery bouquets sitting there staring back at me. So for now, while they're abundantly free for the cutting, I think I'm going to keep indulging.

Anywho, progress was made in the basement; optimistic projection is that we'll be watching college bowl games down there. Pessimistic, the Super Bowl.

Back soon.

♡,

Erin

I Spy...

I came to be hoofing it along High St. in Clintonville (the area of Columbus just south of Worthington) today and I spotted fall trying to blend in amongst a bunch of zinnias. Random pumpkins ♥.

This pretty little garden flanks the entrance to The Cornerstone Deli-Café's parking lot. I've never eaten there, but I like their effort to brighten things up a little bit in the midst of an expanse of blacktop. 

In other news, I am actually, really, truly adding items to The Little Green Vintage Shop. As you read. 

And we're having friends come to visit over the long Labor Day weekend, so the next couple of days are going to be busy getting work done and the house spiffed up prior to their arrival. But the weekend itself should be a blast. 

So in case I'm not back till next week, have a great (and hopefully long) one yourself!

♡,

Erin

German Village Haus and Garten Tour

Greg and I spent Sunday afternoon strolling around German Village on the occasion of the neighborhood's 52nd Annual Haus and Garten Tour. 

German Village, located just south of downtown Columbus was home to (as the name implies) the city's large population of German immigrants beginning in the early 19th century through the start of the 20th. The neighborhood declined due to anti-German sentiment over the course of the World Wars, and by the 1950s a good chunk had been demolished and the remainder was considered a slum. But a massive preservation effort was undertaken beginning in the 1960s as a result of the efforts of a few far-sighted individuals who were able to convince friends and friends-of-friends to buy in. The entire neighborhood is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It's a fantastically frozen-in-time collection of brick (including sidewalks and streets) and clapboard, residential and commercial, with plenty of postage-stamp gardens and window boxes thrown in for good measure.

I spy a Sputnik. So very in love with these light fixtures. But that's a story for a different day.

Even the weedies are all charming and variegated.

I ♥ white hydrangeas. Much more appealing than those blues and pinks that just look like they're trying too hard and aren't hardy at all to boot. I miss you Annabelle (the variety on the right of which I had one at each front corner of our house in Kalamazoo).

To be quite honest, we didn't actually make it to too many of the stops on the tour. The lines to get through the houses and gardens were fairly long and eventually our tummies got the better of us. Schmidt's Restaurant and Sausage Haus is a Columbus must-do that we hadn't done yet. So the time was then. The family's been making sausages since 1886 and doing the restaurant thing since 1967. It lived up to its history. After a large portion of German fare and a large beer (though not the largest they offer), we did a bit more wandering.

If you're ever in Columbus, do check out German Village. It's lovely to stroll around every season of the year. And there are some lovely shops and fantastic restaurants.

♡,

Erin