Gather ye flowers, while ye may... I remember when we first bought our house and the yard was a huge canvas full of possibilities. I wanted to fill it with every possible plant, and there have been as many failures as there have successes in terms of my Green Thumb. It's taken many years, and I don't always baby the yard with the attention it needs, but I'm thankful so many plants have accepted my Neglectful Gardening method and continue to flourish from year to year.

It's hard to get excited about things in stores when it's more inspiring to be outside. I admit to never being a huge fan of summer, what with the uncomfortable hot days and lugging the garden hose to water plants on long stretches of no rain. But I've become a convert to the Pacific Northwest summers -- it's about being chill and taking the time to appreciate the little things. I love that I don't have to travel far to visit a year-round favorite place that's especially stunning during summer -- the Willows Lodge hotel in Woodinville.

The Birdy is BACK! Or more to the point, the Birdy didn't really fly the coop, she stayed on terra firma and had a quiet few days off to tend to the homefront. I did not, in fact, make it to Hell-on-Earth-Nevada for the aforementioned trip, but I kept with the vacation days off and spent the much-needed break savoring some quality time with the Mister and our dear pup, Indy, who was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia last October.