march blooms and missing lalou

The first of March. Yay! It's my birthday month. One of my favorite things about having a birthday this time of year is that everything is starting to bloom. The other day I noticed bright yellow daffodils along the side of the road as I was driving by. Although it's still been cold and wet most of the days, seeing bits of color against the gray skies really makes me smile. And with all the candy colored Easter pastels filling the shops I always feel like someone is throwing a great big sweet girly birthday party just for me.

The fruit trees in my backyard are blooming too and today I did something I haven't done in nearly 3 months. I went out there and said hello to the trees and gave the pretty pink buds a proper welcome. I have been avoiding my backyard since we lost LaLou last December. I couldn't bring myself to visit the plum tree where she loved to sit and watch the birds.

I also walked by the spot in our fence where LaLou came through to visit me. She lived in the house next door but she spent most of the day in my backyard waiting for me. When she couldn't hop over our fence anymore I took off two slats so she could get through. I just don't have the heart to put the slats back. I keep thinking she might come walking through anytime.

LaLou's plum tree has been bare all winter but as you can see it just started to bloom. So I went out there today, under cloudy skies and in the frosty air. There still isn't much sun to warm the spot where LaLou and I sat together. But the flowers are so pretty and every now and then the wind would catch a lone blossom and I'd watch it fall gently to the ground. I imagined LaLou nudging it with her cute little nose, waiting patiently for the next one to drop.

My friend Marfi made this beautiful piece for me. I will treasure it always. It has been such a comfort  to have this picture of us under our plum tree. I took it outside with me today and brought it to our spot. I thought LaLou might like that.

Thank you for letting me share this with you. You can see that Luna and I miss our beautiful gray friend very much. These furry creatures just have a way of holding on to our hearts. I know many of you feel the same way.

I still want this to be a happy post and I'm honestly very excited about Spring and my birthday month. I have been dreaming about purple pansies, blue hydrangeas, old fashioned roses and of course frosted petunias!

How about these adorable potted pansies? Can you believe they're cupcakes? The recipe is at Woman's Day. Oh I would love one of these on my very own happy cupcake day.

What are you excited about this month?

Are you seeing signs of Spring where you are?

Hope you're having a wonderful first day of March. In honor of sweet LaLou and my birthday month, Luna and I have decided that March will be

"Treat Yourself to a Cupcake Month!"

Have a beautiful day.

hold on

I started playing with new colors this weekend and really fell in love with a new combination. Something different from my usual raspberry, green and aquamarine.

A recent conversation I had inspired this piece. While trying to diffuse another case of  household melodrama I commented that I sometimes feel like I'm up on a tightrope trying not to drop my cupcake.

The minute I said that I thought how fun it would be to actually paint it.

Of course just the idea of painting this averted any and all drama and now when I think I might start stressing out over something I close my eyes, take a deep breath and tell myself to hold on. So the next time you feel like you're up on that tightrope just hold on and don't drop your cupcake!

"Hold On" is available in my Etsy shop.

Thank you for sharing your favorite tv shows on my last post! It's great to see so many of you also addicted to Once Upon A Time. What do you suppose happened to Katherine?

what are you watching?

I have been watching way too much TV lately. It's not something I normally do a lot but we have actually been watching a couple of shows together as a family. Big change from how it used to be which was my son and I watching one thing and my husband either away in another room watching something else or just somewhere else all together. He's really trying hard now.

So last week we decided to check out Alcatraz and caught up on all the episodes. And we also decided to check out Grimm. Now we're addicted to both. Plus I've been watching Once Upon A Time since it started last October. I'm still trying to figure out which fairy tale character the mysterious writer is suppose to be.

Anyone else follow these shows? What are you watching out there? What cancelled show do you really miss? One of the episodes of Grimm had Jamie Ray Newman who was on Eastwick about a year ago. You know I really liked that show. It was an updated version of the movie (and book by John Updike) The Witches of Eastwick. But it was cancelled after about 12 or so episodes. I still keep hoping they would bring it back. Don't you hate it when you get hooked on a new show and it gets cancelled before it even has a chance to really develop? Drives me nuts sometimes.

That's it for a quickie post today. I hope you had a lovely Valentines day.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. Ricki Jill's comment made me think of guilty pleasure shows I like too. This season it's The Voice and I just discovered a show on Animal Planet called My Cat From Hell. It's like a kitty version of Dog Whisperer. Thank goodness I've never had a cat with problems like those!

strong hearts

I saw an interview with Jane Fonda a few weeks ago. She was talking about the many lessons she learned throughout her life and how she was able to get through some of the more painful parts. At age 74 she seems finally content to be living what she calls her 'third act' or the third half of her life.

She also said something that I will always remember and that was that you can be strongest in the areas where you are broken. The parts of your life that have been the most painful can also be the ones with the most important lessons. Lessons that can make those same places your strongest ones.

We all have areas in our lives that break in different ways but the trickiest one to heal is probably a broken heart. It can be little breaks or really big unbearable ones. I believe that each day you learn to appreciate the fact that you can choose to be stronger and wiser. You can choose to focus on the positive and you learn to have a different perspective which can keep you moving forward. I know it's always easier said than done. Some days it feels like you've taken two steps forward and four steps back. Life is funny that way isn't it? But you owe it to yourself to keep moving forward.

FORWARD is my word for this year.

This Valentines Day I want to honor all the strong hearts out there. Whether your heart is physically mending from illness or healing in an emotional way. My own heart is still mending but I'm also learning to be grateful that it's stronger than it has been in a long time. Sometimes I think it might even have wings.

I hope your heart is healthy and strong in every way.

I hope you can find sweet moments of bliss everyday.

Have a beautiful and magical Valentines Day.