a milestone

Today my Mom was honored for serving as a nurse for 35 years!  Someone joked with her saying, “so you started when you were 5, right!?”

The time she has spent helping others has flown by so fast.  She’s been a nurse for my entire life and I’ve never imagined her doing anything different.  Despite my perceptions that the time has gone quickly, I can’t even imagine the depths of her sadness, having to witness (and sometimes carry) the pain of others, or the victories she’s delighted in when the sick are cured.  It takes a strong person to be a nurse… and amazing perseverance and tenacity to be so strong for so long.

The celebration was quite lovely–a high tea.

Even though this was what I shared with my Mom for Nurse Appreciation Day, it is something I am proud to share every day:

“Thank you for over 30 years of service as a nurse-for placing the needs of others before your own, for being willing to provide care to hurting friends, family, and even acquaintances, and for kissing my boo-boos & bandaging my scrapes. You are a wonderful mom and nurse and I am lucky to have you!”

have you peeqed?

I recently found a new website called sneakpeeq. It’s a shopping site that has daily features and a variety of different boutiques.  You earn credits or badges by “peeqing” at the prices of items and automatically receive a $10 discount on your first purchase by registering.  It’s a totally girly site-makeup, jewelry, clothing, specialty food items!  I haven’t purchased anything yet, but I keep checking-in to see if there’s a particularly cool item that I need.

Be sure to check it out here.  Here’s a preview of a few of the great things they’ve got

Have fun!

oh, the places we’ll go

Are you ever scrolling through Pinterest, watching a commercial, or browsing a magazine and stumble upon one of those snapshot pictures that only show a storefront or a sidewalk or a small spot in the sun…and even though it doesn’t show the whole thing, you know that you’d love to be there?  And you have no idea where it actually is, but wherever it is, it just looks awesome.

I keep having those moments.

{Maybe I’ll create a pin board named “I don’t know where this is, but I want to go there”}

I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve had a vacation…that was actually a vacation and not a to-do trip, and when I see pictures like these, it makes me crave one.

What do you think?  Wanna go?!

a few cool things

Have you heard about the new shops at Target?!  Every time I see the commercial I get so excited about it.  The shops opened up on May 6th, but if you haven’t hit the stores yet, here is a preview of the new selection.

{Hopefully this launch goes better than the choas that was Missoni}

The Candy Store

Cos Bar

Polka Dot Bakery

Privet House

The Webster

…dangerous

I found this great DIY the other day on A Subtle Revelry for mint infused honey…and you better believe it’s on my to-do list!  I bought some herb plants this weekend and I’m itching to use them!  This would be the perfect project.

It’s  easy and inexpensive!  Check out the full tutorial HERE

Hope you have fun plans for your weekend…because it’s almost here!

what’s up, may!?

Well, our little garden party/dinner went super well on Saturday.  It wasn’t overly stressful and everyone loved it, so I was quite pleased.  Thanks to my new Instagram app {yes, new.  I didn’t realize they had it for Android now!}, I even captured some fun pictures.

The lights!  Definitely the best part!

The tablescape

The centerpieces

The dessert–homemade ice cream {not made by me, but so delicious!}

The friends!

I would totally recommend doing something like this!  The weather was perfect {even in Florida!} and since our small group meetings are pot luck style, I didn’t have to stress about preparing a bunch of food–I just made it pretty.  We had our fire pit going and some tiki torches which also made it pretty cozy.  I would definitely do it again!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I wanted to share this great tutorial from Ez at Creature Comforts.  It would make a great MD gift or even a fun little personal project.

DIY Brushstroke Mini Bowls

See the full tutorial here  {they’re so easy!}

A new month means new desktop wallpapers from Smashing Magazine–here’s a little teaser.

Be sure to check them all out here!